Merry Christmas

Just a note to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  We feel blessed in spite of the ups and downs of this year.  So here's wishing you the best!

Five Days till Christmas...

and what am I doing?  A 40 mile bike ride.  My neighborhood guys have formed a little bike pack to keep in shape and to enjoy what a California coastal community has to offer.  Being a biker from way back (paperboy days), I decided to go along today.  We did a forty miler... oh, the hamstrings are a talk'in.

Anyway, as it always happens, someone has a flat!  We had been discussing "coffee" and as we came up along a McDonalds on the Camp Pendleton base, down goes his tire.  A shard of glass was the culprit.  So, out came a new tube a small canister of air, and in no time we were back on the ride.  We waited for the coffee break close to home!

Of course I carry a camera with me and here was a perfect moment for a shot!

Biking

More biking stories:  Ok, I know I'm boring, but riding a bike is a big exercise option for me.  I used to ride a "roadie": you know, thin tires, bike shorts with padded seat, bent over for miles at a time.  Then I bought a mountain bike and started tackling the hills around San Marcos and Carlsbad area.  Good cardio plus I didn't have to worry about being run over in the bike lane.

The other day the neighbor guys asked me to ride with them on Saturday mornings:  they all get together and hit the bike lanes early on Saturdays.  They stop at a couple of Starbucks along the way -- the California experience. 

So I had to get the Trek 1220 down from the hanger in the garage and dust it off.  Along the way to getting it ready, I snapped the gear shifter, so I took it down to the Trek dealer to get it repaired and tuned up.  Whoa... "that's an old bike!" (12 years old) "They don't have the parts!"  "You'll have to make it an 8 or 9 speed on the back ring!"  "Maybe a new bike would be the way to go." 

So after they told me it would cost a bunch (over 200), I started looking at the bikes.  Oh, they were sweet -- the one I liked was only $1300.  Of course, the better ones were in the 4s.  Finally, I took my old bike home.

Then I remembered the little ma and pop bike shop up in Vista... Sure they could fix it:  A new shifter would cost $69.99.  Ugh? 

So now, if the rain would let up, I'll be doing a practice run so I can make sure I can keep up with the boys.

Stock...

Stock photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific use by photographers for various stock companies.  Most images are made not on assignment, but rather by inspiration and vision by the individual photographer.

I contribute stock photography to two companies.  So I am constantly looking for images which I think would make could stock images.  Of course, holiday images are always usable.  So for this season, I went back to some of my original images taken over the last couple years and using my Photoshop skills tried to make some interesting images for the season.  Here are two examples:

I used lights from my neighbors, images of our Christmas ornaments and selective pieces from the nativity set to work my vision.  It is fun coming up with some of these images.  Hopefully someone likes them!

Alright,

I know it's no big deal to everyone else, but yesterday, we had a nice rain shower, some wind, and high surf.  We just went 164 days without any rain, so a bit of rain is welcome.  Currently, we are about 7 inches down from normal rainfall -- ok, you in Texas sometimes get 7 inches in a day; everything is bigger in Texas. 

And some of you get 7 inches of snow at one time -- some places have to have bragging rights; oh, and you get the cold to go along with it.

Speaking of cold, it dropped to the low 60's during the day here in the San Diego area!  A real cold snap.

Hopefully, we will receive our rain allotment during December (and you'll get your snow).  

And He took bread....

broke it, and gave Thanks!

So in abundance or the simplicity of what we face, we can still give thanks for what we have.  We hope you have a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving...

And don't forget to pause and give thanks for your blessings this year.

The Harbor

Recently, I was doing some commercial work in Oceanside and once again, I am reminded of the visual opportunities that surround us in our own back yard as I passed the harbor.  The Oceanside Harbor is a quaint little area with a light house with a couple of tourist shops and eateries.  There is a decent fishing trade that takes people out for day fishing, as well. 

The sunsets have been beautiful, so I spent about 45 minutes doing some photos around the harbor area.  I use the HDR method of capturing about 6 or seven images at different exposures of the same scene and then blend them together for the final.  On my Flickr site (on the right side just click on the Flickr site button) I've started posting a "Harbor Series" of these images.