Filed under: olympus om-2n, photography, travel by ramune

DIIV – Doused

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Greetings from San Francisco . . . my new home! The blog has been neglected for far too long, but I have been packing up my life to move across country to start an MFA in Design at California College of the Arts. Is that enough of an excuse?

Three weeks ago I landed in SFO and the July “winter” I was expecting wasn’t too bad. Having stayed in the eastern and central parts of the city, it’s nice to have sunny days and watch the fog roll in over the hills. I hope this never gets old.

I have to keep a blog for school and hope to be able to post more consistently once I get myself settled in a little more. In the meantime, here is a pickle in a sombrero . . . and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Loscil – Union Dusk

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This past weekend I flew to San Francisco for a quick trip and could not sleep at all on the flight. My attempts were futile because every time I closed my eyes I thought I was missing some amazing views and would have to open them. I have spent a good deal of time on the East Coast and have taken a number of trips to the West Coast, but most of the middle remains unexplored territory (hopefully not for too much longer).

While on the flight, I listened almost solely to Loscil and it has become my favorite music to listen to while flying, especially over deserts, canyons and mountains. It felt like I was in the middle of some Koyaanisqatsi meets Planet Earth film, learning about drying up rivers and water cutting through rock to create various formations.

Filed under: film, mamiya m645, photography, travel by ramune

Beach Fossils – Daydream

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Oh Cape Hatteras, how I love thee. I would be a very happy camper if I could jump into the ocean every day and look at the milky way from the beach every night. A few years back I went camping on Cape Hatteras for one night and swore I would go back. The stars were ridiculous, and as if they weren’t enough, there were bioluminescent plankton in the sand and water, so whenever you would step on them (or agitate them) they would light up yellow. My mind was blown.

This year I went back with a few friends in hopes to find the same amazing stars in the sky and sand (too cheesy?) and was not disappointed. Giddiness abounded. I spent as much time as possible playing in the ocean and looking at the stars and am already looking forward to next year’s trip.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Deerhunter – Revival

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One of the highlights of my trip out west was driving up to Mount Baker and having lunch among the glaciers with great views of both Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan. I can’t think of a better way to end a trip than to grab a tortilla chip, scoop it into a slice of perfectly ripe avocado and look out at snow covered volcanic mountains. I could get used to spending my lunches on Mount Baker.

If having lunch in snow on a volcanic mountain wasn’t enough, that evening we went out on the Shawmanee, a 65 foot sailboat, for “a three hour tour” of the Bellingham Bay, complete with delicious salmon chowder in bread bowls. It was a lovely day.

Note: As with all of my (more recent) posts, you can click on the images to see them larger. I think it’s worth it for these ones especially.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun

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It only took two months, but I have finally finished going through all of my photos from my west coast trip back in July/August. These are some of my favorites from the Washington portion of the trip, including Seattle and Bellingham. Tomorrow I will post photos from Mount Baker because I think they need their own post. More can be seen here.

Note: I could not resist posting some Soundgarden since we were in Seattle and they were one of my favorite bands back in elementary/high school.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Magnetic Fields – Roses

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Since the three year anniversary of this little endeavor of mine is coming up at the end of the month, I am going to post 17 projects by October 31st in an attempt to catch up and keep on track with my “weekly” project posts. Who knew October has 17 weeks and September only has one?

To kick off the marathon I give you roses from Portland. In general I am pretty tired of flower photos since I wore myself out when I first bought my macro lens, but when we were on the west coast I could not get over how beautiful the gardens were everywhere we went. During our very short visit to Portland (around 24 hours), we went to the International Rose Test Garden and I must have taken a hundred or more photos of the flowers. Here are some of the ones I liked the best. More can be seen here.

Note: Listen to the tune, it’s only 27 seconds.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Benoît Pioulard – Ragged Tint

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I took a little break from editing my west coast photos because I have had so many photos to go through recently, but I finally came back to them and am almost completely finished (two months later). These photos are some of my favorites from the Eureka, California to Eugene, Oregon and up to Portland portion of the trip. More can be seen here.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Gravenhurst – She Dances

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It’s been a bit over a week since I returned from my west coast trip and I have finally made it through all the photos from the San Francisco portion of the trip. Here is a selection of some of my favorites. More can be seen here. I am ready to go back for more!

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Mark Mothersbaugh – Zissou Society Blue Star Cadet/Ned’s Theme (Take 1) (from The Life Aquatic soundtrack)

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To follow up last week’s postcard, I am posting some diptychs I put together from my visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I absolutely love that place and although it is a bit pricey, it is well worth visiting.

Filed under: photography, travel by ramune

Tipper – California Rolls

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A couple weeks back I went to San Francisco to visit friends for a week and to celebrate my birthday. During my trip I drove down to Santa Cruz and Monterey with a friend. I had a fantastic time and hope to go back again soon (looking for work if anyone out there would like to hire me). These photos are from the Santa Cruz portion of my trip. I am absolutely in love with the cyprus trees along the coast (as you can see in the photo at the bottom taken by my friend) and would take one home if I could.

Photo by Alex P.