tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16960829989694203602024-02-19T07:01:46.478-08:00Wandering ShutterbugA Travel Photography BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger448125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-53774857756069754692013-09-06T15:32:00.001-07:002013-09-06T15:32:22.174-07:00Catalina: Casino
Trip Summary:
B, C and I drove down to San Pedro this time (as opposed to using the Queen Mary port again), arriving 5 minutes before our expected departure time. We were able to call in the tickets the morning of, but didn't get our preferred arrival and departure times. It didn't matter though; our timing ended up being perfect.
On the boat ride over to Catalina, we met X who was travelingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-81184554395672160092013-09-04T12:49:00.002-07:002013-09-04T12:49:10.771-07:00Catalina: Petting a Donkey
Continuing with yesterday's theme, I'm posting another animal shot: a donkey that walked up to us. We didn't have any food (which I think it was expecting), but we were able to pet it anyway. There was a horse in the stall next door that we also petted, but that was a little more demanding of snacks and soon got bored with us. I have no idea if we were trespassing on someone's property or whatUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-63830572869210172202013-09-03T15:22:00.003-07:002013-09-03T15:58:31.885-07:00Catalina: Close Up of a Deer
Oh, boy! I'm definitely backlogged. I'll do my best to catch up now that summer is "officially" over. One of these posts will be a Catalina trip summary. For now, here's a cute deer that was curious as to what my lens was. What was funny was that I actually thought the deer was much further away than it actually was. It wasn't until all my friends started yelling at me to back up that I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-64479341380870282292013-08-02T11:24:00.001-07:002013-08-03T08:39:42.791-07:00LA (Santa Paula): Hot Air Balloons!
I just realized I should probably start posting hot air balloon photos since that's what the festival centered around. lol. I shot this as the sun was beginning to set and I was playing around with my settings and testing how good the ISO was on my camera. I was pretty lazy that day and pretty much stayed parked where my picnic blanket was.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-69663929697090755892013-07-31T21:59:00.000-07:002013-07-31T21:59:31.419-07:00LA (Santa Paula): Lemons
I saw a "lemon tree" constructed of real lemons hanging from chicken wire at the Citrus Class Hot Air Balloon Festival. I couldn't fit the whole tree in a shot, so I shot a close up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-63933831678965473942013-07-29T15:34:00.000-07:002013-07-30T11:16:33.369-07:00LA (Santa Paula): Citrus Classic Hot Air Balloon Festival (Car Show)
I attended the Citrus Class Hot Air Balloon Festival over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see that a car show/contest was also taking place on the grounds. Here's a shot of one of my favorites. I'm a little swamped right now, so I'll post more of the festival throughout the week.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-10566215285101835762013-07-24T13:37:00.002-07:002013-07-24T13:37:46.093-07:00LA: US Open of Surfing 2013 (Crowd Shots)
So, it's been a while folks, primarily because my camera has been out of commission for a while and I've been doing unexpected random trips these past few weeks. Consequently, I've had to take shots with my trusty Samsung Galaxy S4 when I attended the US Open of Surfing this year. I was too far to zoom in and take shots of the surfers themselves, so I hope you enjoy these location/crowd Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-5305491831296444422013-06-07T11:05:00.002-07:002013-06-07T11:39:56.991-07:00Hotel Stay Review: Conrad New York (in Lower Manhattan)
From what I understand, the "Conrad" brand of hotels are supposedly the premier line of Hilton hotels (at the front desk, there is, of course, the Hilton Honors priority check-in desk). I stayed at the New York location in downtown (Manhattan). The hotel is modern in design (love! love! love!) with an airy lobby. It is listed as a 5-star; however, my room felt more like a spacious&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-53374712623478377982013-06-07T08:02:00.001-07:002013-06-07T08:02:36.286-07:00Travel: NYC (Downtown) - Day 8
We checked out of our hotel. E and R picked B and I up and went directly to the super famous Katz's Delicatessen. We sat near the table where Harry and Sally had their orgasmic scene. I had a corned beef on rye sandwich along with matzo ball soup. B had a pastrami on rye sandwich. I believe E had kugel (which she reported wasn't that great). R also had corned beef on rye but with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-39127718171683711172013-06-06T14:56:00.002-07:002013-06-06T15:06:40.124-07:00Travel: NYC (Downtown) - Day 7
B and I figured that since we were in lower Manhattan, we'd just stay in the area. As we tried to get our bearings, we ran into our Improv teather! B and I then had breakfast at the Cosmopolitan Cafe in Tribeca where we each enjoyed rather generous portions of crepes. To walk it off, we wandered down to Wall Street, the Charging Bull sculpture, Bowling Green park, and Battery Park.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-63184962128852397062013-06-06T09:30:00.001-07:002013-06-06T12:29:08.310-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 6
E was busy in the city in the morning, so B and I cleaned her place (took out the trash, did dishes, went grocery shopping for her). We even walked M at the local dog park!
We met up for lunch in the city and, after going in circles searching for a place that wasn't jammed- packed, we finally agreed upon Wild Ginger Vegetarian Kitchen. I'm still not a fan of brown rice. :(
Since weUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-9951927209478981952013-06-05T13:28:00.004-07:002013-06-05T18:08:16.969-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 5
B and I stopped at The Bagel Store where after being given "the tour," I got an egg, bacon, and cheese bagel with butter (instead of cream cheese). B had something jalapeno-y and a solid coffee drink. We decided to eat in the very small space. As with most places we'd visited at this point, they were cash only.
We took an hour long subway ride to the Brooklyn Museum and from there walked Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-24425781654985067962013-06-05T09:06:00.001-07:002013-06-05T18:08:52.573-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 4
It rained all day. E, B, B2, and I drove around trying to find a place to eat and finally settled on Brooklyn Label. I had a mimosa with "Green Eggs & Ham" (read: basil omelette and bacon!). Yum. It was such a large breakfast though that we each had food coma afterward and, since it was raining anyway, we decided to just skip a day of sight-seeing.
On the way back to E's place, we Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-70638453107937280262013-06-04T14:52:00.001-07:002013-06-05T10:27:20.060-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 3
B and I got an early start since E was busy with other things. We each got unlimited passes to ride the subway and proceeded to Central Park. The "L" train was under construction that day and we had a little adventure riding around the bus system before eventually taking the subway.
On the way, we grabbed coffee and pastries. B really wanted to hit up a halal food truck that had a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-6500151656377334582013-06-04T11:59:00.001-07:002013-06-05T10:25:05.952-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 2
B and I woke up at 9am (local time) and met up with E and B2 at hipster-haven Harefield Road for brunch. Despite being sunny, it was incredibly windy that day. I had to borrow E's sweater which amazingly fit, considering she's so much tinier than I am.
Before making our way to Bedford Road and eventually to the East River, we made a pit stop at the 9th Annual Bicycle Fetish Day Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-25457348573852894192013-06-02T22:15:00.000-07:002013-06-04T11:59:43.186-07:00Travel: NYC (Brooklyn) - Day 1
B and I took a taxi to LAX to board a direct American Airlines flight to JFK at noon. This was the first time I had to check in luggage for a trip to NYC simply because the weather report showed that there would be a 40-degree swing in temperatures throughout the week. I know one should pack in layers for that sort of thing; but between sunny/rainy/cold/heat-wave weather and casual/dressy Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-53131296785769631712013-05-13T16:18:00.001-07:002013-05-13T16:18:52.417-07:00LA (Downtown): 110 Freeway Redux
So... on my mission to re-photograph everything and everyone with my new camera I found myself passing through downtown. I had not yet shot from this particular bridge (I shot this from one bridge over). Even after I did a lens distortion correction in PS, it still looks off. Oh well. This heat is making me too sleepy to correct it. :P
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-17669770235624416052013-05-10T10:59:00.000-07:002013-06-02T18:48:21.574-07:00LA: Santa Monica Beach
I was doing portraits around town last night. I was obviously at the beach when I snapped this test shot. Our shadows are even on the sand. hehe. I'm totally loving this camera. Whoever said equipment doesn't matter never held one of these babies. haha.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-34707151340866529152013-05-06T11:39:00.001-07:002013-05-06T11:39:16.744-07:00Baking Dishes / New Camera!!!
I finally received a new camera + lens (a Canon 6D with a 24-70mm f/2.8L ii lens). I'm so friggin excited to be shooting again. I definitely need to get accessories like a bigger, more secure camera bag and stuff but I can't believe I have a working camera again!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-62356369178448927262013-04-18T11:26:00.001-07:002013-04-18T11:26:03.957-07:00Travel: San Francisco - Berkeley
I'm reverting to my old trip summary format. I'm leaving out a lot of stuff, but this is the crux of it.
Day 1 (Friday): Since it was a last minute trip, B and I drove to SF from LA (airfare prices were in the $250/pp range already). Checked into the Hilton San Francisco (Union Square) and couldn't score a room with two queen sized beds (two conferences were going on that day). Instead got aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-54072447504238952712013-04-10T10:10:00.001-07:002013-04-10T10:10:07.935-07:00Travel: Las Vegas - Grand Lux Cafe
I think it's mainly because we're too lazy to leave the casino the majority of the time, but we end up eating at the Grand Lux Cafe if we're staying at the Venetian or at Palazzo at least once a trip. This here is their gnocchi with asparagus and breaded chicken. It was actually rather bland. :/
Ok, for reals, this will be my last post this week. :( See you all next week!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-27413809872510860452013-04-09T12:05:00.002-07:002013-04-09T12:05:51.149-07:00Travel: Las Vegas - The Valley
Oh, boy! This week is turning out to be eventful. I think the best part of trips is planning them and then seeing which amazing possibilities happened. Very, very busy right now with some coordination and totally excited. This may be my last post this week.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-60918842353622006032013-04-08T12:06:00.001-07:002013-04-08T12:06:47.062-07:00Travel: Las Vegas - Red Rock Canyon
Just got back from spending a few days in Vegas. I returned to Red Rock Canyon and took a few shots which I'll be sharing this week. It was the first time I had gone during non-winter weather so there is no snow in my photos. :( I'll continue tomorrow seeing as how I'm still unpacking and resting from this weekend. :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-70234520335378937472013-04-03T10:02:00.002-07:002013-04-03T10:02:39.873-07:00One Year on Google+
It's kind of an off week for me in terms of weekly photo themes so I hope you enjoy the potpourri.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone that's been following my work this past year and particularly those of you that have been here since the beginning. It's great to be able to stay in nice rooms around the world, take photos of pretty places, and share them with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696082998969420360.post-40990822876394655692013-04-02T09:45:00.000-07:002013-04-02T09:45:05.228-07:00Lamb Chops
Last week, I have no idea what happened, but between Passover meals and cravings, I ended up having three different lamb dishes. I had lamb on a rack, as chops, and as a shank. The above pictures is when I made them as chops and only fried them on a pan. The ingredients were fairly simple: salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. That's it. Sooo good! But I'm definitely lamb-ed out rightUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0