Big Sur

I was going to do a blog about Halloween...
I got so busy this week with a few gigs, i did not have the time to have a Halloween theme shoot (I did have some ideas, you know).
So I decided to share these lovely Big Sur moments with you!
It is one of our favorite spots for camping.

Enjoy and I always appreciate your comments!

Glee

Glee is my favorite new show!
We had a little fun with Jen, here are some of the results :o)

Painting the Night

The light is everything.  What we see around us is the reflection of light on different surfaces... Without light, we can't see anything.  Even in the absence of light, even in the situations we call pitch black, with the right exposure time, we may be able to "record" some light and therefore make something out of what we have recorded.

The following pictures were all taken at night during different camping trips.  I was able to record the light information by keeping the exposure long and the f stop low.  In most of them I also used artificial light (such as flashlight, a lighter etc.) along with the available light provided by the stars or the moon.  All of the pictures were taken in a single shot.  None of these are multi-exposure. None of them were retouched in Photoshop, except putting my business name on.

Let's start with a simple one.  The night sky in Sedona, AZ and the trace of a red-eye flight.

This one is next to the highway in Sedona, AZ as well.  The city lights in the horizon, the cars on the highway on the right and the moon and the stars in the sky.  I love the color of the bushes.

I took the next one in Joshua Tree.  I love the "space station" kind of eerie look.

Still in Joshua Tree, I took this one with the fish-eye that I love.  Full moon.

This was a great night.

Now to the fun stuff... Another full moon, this time in Limekiln, Big Sur, CA, one of the best camping grounds...  I only noticed the face of the rock after i took the pictures...

The same night, this time my wife Jennifer and her cuz Joe joined me.

I love the following one.

This one has no artificial light whatsoever.  Only the moonlight.

The same camping ground, but different time, this time there is no moon. I used a flash light and a lighter for this.

Another camping trip to Big Sur, CA.  This time we stayed at Kirk Creek as Limekiln was closed.

We put our tent right by the cliff.  We've been on this campsite before, and we put our tent at the same spot... Maybe closer to the fence.  But then, there was no fence, and in the middle of the night, I woke up and got out of the tent and I was too lazy to walk too the restrooms... I almost fell...

This is the view of the ocean from the same cliff late at night with a 3/4 full moon's light.

And this is the moon slowly setting as the morning approaches.  I took this one, waking up in the middle of the night as well.  That moment had an eerily beautiful feeling to it.

A good camp fire is one of the best things about camping!

I will leave you with some fun pictures we shot before we went to bed :o)

Iowa

In July 2009, my wife Jennifer Fontaine co-produced and starred in a film she co-wrote. The film was shot in Iowa. In a future blog, I will share some of the production stills and behind the scenes pictures from the set of that film called Aaseamah's Journey.

Today, I wanted to share the ones I took when I was not "on the clock"... Although, a photographer is (or at least should be) always on the clock ;o)

The production rented us a house in Eldridge. A calm, small town 20mn from Davenport. When we first arrived, we were picked up at the airport and this water tower was the first thing I noticed exiting the freeway.

We had a late start on a Sunday and the following Monday it was our day off.  Right after the shoot that wrapped around 3:30am, we had some cocktails at the hotel where most of the crew were staying and I went  downstairs with my camera to capture the beautiful sky.  The following 5 pictures are from that morning.

On the corner of Brady and 14th in Davenport where we shot most of the principal photography, I spotted a church on our way to and from the sets.  On my day off, I drove to Davenport and took a few pictures of this lovely building.

Children's Forest and the Memorial for the County Master Gardener Paul Clark!

On an overcast day, in between takes involving the process trailer, I snapped the picture of this street sign that reminded me of the famous Dire Straits song.

Same day, I had a lot of waiting to do, so I got creative :o)

I will leave you with this one...  Next to the production's temporary HQ in Bettendorf, two curious and somewhat friendly fawns allowed me to approach them as much as I could.

Yosemite June 2009

After a long break, I am back with my blog and I intend to keep it up as a weekly ongoing medium where I share my pictures with the blog-following public, my friends & family and my fans...

This one is from June when I had the opportunity to take a few days off with the fam and enjoy the natural beauty of Yosemite, CA.

After my morning coffee, I grabbed my camera and start hunting for stuff to shoot by the creek. The following few pictures are the result of that morning hunt and I had a blast shooting this incredibly busy business center for ants!







When we go camping, we try to plan it right and we try to get a good, if not the best campsite available. For me, the best campsite in a National Park is the one that is the most secluded from the others... The creek was right next to our camping site...



Me, in the middle of Jen Castle and Joe Mills, as happy as one can be!



And, how can you not be happy when you are in this place?



Here are some random shots...









I cannot remember the name of this "beach", but when we found it, we were in heaven! My wife Jennifer Fontaine and Jen Castle grooving to the select tunes that sure went well with the scenery. And a few random pictures of us... This is how we do it.





I'll finish this week's blog with the ducks :o)
See you next week!