Okay these are the last shots from California for a while I promise. 

On my way to the west coast this summer I set up a craigslist deal in Oklahoma to spend more money than I had ever dreamed of spending on a lens. I purchased an incredible Nikon 300mm f2.8. This lens was bought mainly for sports but one day after shooting some world championship hockey in Huntington beach, I decided to head down to the shoreline to see what kind of shots I could get with my new gigantic lens. 

As the birds flew by I knew right away that my best bet for a good photo was to try and get the bird silhouettes against the sunset and ocean. So thats exactly what I started shooting. I got some shots I loved and fell in love with my new lens even more. I spent about 15 minutes shooting the different groups of seagulls as they flew by, and got a few shots that I really liked. Hope you enjoy :)

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Just so they don't sit in a folder on my computer and never see the light of day I am going to go ahead and throw out a few of the other favorites I got while shooting this scene. 

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While my wife and I were taking a few days to experience California before we drove back home, we decided to drive up the coastal hwy 1 and experience Big Sur. Well unfortunately the entire drive was fogged in so we didn't see anything at all. Which made me pretty upset.

But I did manage to get this image right as we started entering the fog. As I am still on a bit of a retro editing kick, I decided to try and go for a specific type of retro look. This is my attempt at getting a Fuji Superia 400 type feel. I liked the Sepia tone with this foggy seascape but I wanted to add a little more, so I went with a film type look and loved the outcome. Hope you enjoy :)

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Trying my hand at a more retro look for this shot. This fella was awful nice to pose for me right below half dome. I love getting wildlife in my landscape photos and I really like how this edit turned out.

I also have this shot that I edited a couple months back of the same scene. Since it won't be making any future "Pic of the Day" Posts I figured I should throw it up with todays shot. Hope you enjoy :)

Found this nice long range vantage point of Half Dome shortly after entering Yosemite National Park. 

I wish I could say that I set this shot up, but this nice stack of rocks was just there waiting for me when I found this spot. This was on my way through Yosemite National Park this summer. A beautiful place that I hope to get to revisit and really take the time to shoot the park from top to bottom.

I also took and edited a long exposure of the same scene. Since it won't make it into a "Pic of the Day" post I will go ahead and add it to this one :)