Wildflower Sunset

Wildflowers and a sunset... lovely! I kinda love this new camera. 

A Little (Nikon) Lite Touch

I snatched up a little box of fun film and a cute point and shoot camera from the FPP (filmphotographyproject.com) and took the little camera out for a test drive. We spent a day walking around Old Town Orange and it was a good chance to take it for a spin! Turns out, I really, really like this new little Nikon Lite Touch. :)

A Newly Sealed Nikon FE

My Nikon FE (that I won from the awesome FPP!) (filmphotographyproject.com) got some new light seals, courtesy of my not so steady or skilled hands. It was my first time doing this type of repair, and it was honestly quite tricky. But, apparently my not so smooth job worked! It doesn't seem to have leaky issues anymore! :)

Welcome Back Nikon!

Well, we tried to love the mirrorless cameras, but it didn't seem to work out for us. While we had some good moments with those little Fuji's, we decided to go back to the land we are familiar with. Big, hefty, gorgeous, Nikon's. It's good to have a Nikon back in my hand!

We anxiously awaited the UPS guy, and quickly loaded our bags and headed out for a test run. The sun was falling quickly, so we grabbed a quick bite at Wahoo's and went to the little sculpture park in Newport for a walk. 

We also happened to be celebrating quite a historic day - the Supreme Court granted legality to same-sex marriages in all states. What better way to celebrate... Wahoo's, cold beers, sculptures, and new cameras with my wife. A good day, June 26th, 2015!

Tulips & Peonies!

Sometimes flowers just beg to have their photograph taken. For instance, tulips and peonies. They are too pretty not to remember. Even Zoe got her nose in for a sniff. A few little cacti got in front of the camera, too.

Tuna Crab Invasion

El Nino is bringing some real warm water to the coast of southern California. Along with the warm water, a bunch - like thousands - of little tuna crabs are floating in, too. 

We went kayaking on June 14th and saw a lot of these little guys bobbing around in the water. We had no idea what they were. They swim backwards, so they look kind of like squids in the water. We beached the kayak for lunch, and when we got out of the boat, the beach was red and covered in these things. Kind of gross and very strange. Still, we didn't know what we were witnessing. I didn't know until Monday when I heard a story on NPR explaining the red masses coming ashore. The warm water has brought them north, and they are covering the beaches. 

We went down to the beach on the next Wednesday to see how it was looking, and by then, it was just a lot of dead crabs and pieces of dead crabs. And wow, did they stink. I found a few still whole for some photos. 

They are creepy, but kind of interesting. They have alien eyes. And pinchers that pinch. :)

Memorial Day Camping

Memorial Day Weekend 2015. We prepped and headed to Idyllwild, to go deep into the mountains and camp out for a day or two. Well, we got to the mountain and the higher we drove, the foggier, colder, and more wet it got. Not ideal for camping. We paused on the side of the road and had to figure out where to go. Joshua Tree. Why not. Maybe there would be a camp site somewhere on the busiest camping weekend of the year!

The view from the road that climbs into Idyllwild: