The official line at San Onofre State Beach

Biking at Camp Pendleton

Erinn and I spent a couple days last week camping at San Onofre State Beach and surfing at nearby Surf Beach. The camping, sandwiched between the bluffs and I-5 and an active Amtrak rail, leaves something to be desired, but Surf Beach may be my new favorite place in Southern California. As a novice surfer, there’s really no place better that I’ve found in my limited experience. The beach is a mile or so long with low waves steadily rolling in for most of the day, making it a great place to learn without fear of getting thrashed about.

Aside from 4 trips out into the surf, we also went for an afternoon bike ride on a trail that runs through Camp Pendleton, which begins on the south side of the park and extends for miles down to Oceanside, just north of San Diego. Not really the prettiest scenery there, but it made for a good ride.

We also met up with some friends Erinn knows through work who frequent the beach despite the 1 1/2 hour trek from LA. They do it right though, cruising down in a late-model VW camper complete with a bed and small kitchen. We met up with them on the beach and then joined them at their van, where they treated us to a home cooked meal.

Oh, and despite the beach’s reputation as a nude beach, we saw no sign of it other than numerous signs warning would-be nudists to keep their shorts on.

Nude beach or not, I’m sure we’ll be heading back there soon and often.

Biking at Camp Pendleton

Lunch at our friends' camper at Surf Beach

Erinn at San Onofre State Beach

Walking dogs at San Onofre State Beach

Sunset at San Onofre State Beach bluffs

The slobberingest French Mastiff I've ever seen

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In a week forecast to be plagued with day after day of thunderstorms, standing within arms length of this 175-lb French Mastiff  was about as close as I got to being rained on during my recent trip to Michigan. I spent the last week there, with a 24-hour jaunt to northern Ohio, in order to attend and shoot the wedding of Erinn’s sister and now brother-in-law, Heidi and Seth, who were married in Silver Lake, Mich., on the 26th. Since I was heading out, I decided to take advantage of the trip and spend a couple days visiting my beloved and too-seldom-visited sisters Tammy and Kim, and family, who all live in the area. First visit after flying into Detroit Rock City was with Tammy and Henry, who live on beautiful Lake Orion, an hour north of DTW. Although the forecast called for a day of thunderstorms, only one storm cloud rolled through in the late morning, making a quick exit after 30 minutes and leaving us with nothing but sunshine for the rest of the day. And take advantage of it we did, taking several spins in the lake to go waterskiing, tubing and jetskiing. In the afternoon some friends and extended family came over and joined us. We finished the day with grilled chicken and burgers and ample quantities of beer before I collapsed, exhausted, around midnight. I had taken the redeye in the night before and was running on empty after only 2 hours of sleep.

The next morning I arose at 6:30 and headed south to the home of my oldest sister Kim, who lives in the quaint town of Arlington, Ohio, which is outside of Findlay, which is outside of Toledo, with her husband Dave and 2 of her 3 children, Taylor and PJ. The eldest, Zac, is now living full-time at Bowling Green University and has recently moved off campus and into his first apartment. There I had a great time whooping up on the kids at Wii (at least that’s how I remember it) and catching up on all that’s been going on in their lives.

The last photos are from the end of the trip, skipping over the beautiful wedding that brought me there. There’s a lot to sort through, but I hope to post the photos within the next week or two.

That’s Erinn holding onto her new nephew Myles, who was born to her older sister six weeks ago and, other than the bride, was the center of the family’s attention during the week. I have much more endearing photos of him, of course, but like the humor in this one. The final image was from a visit to Muskegon, where Heidi and Seth live, the day after the wedding. It actually did rain quite a bit that day, but we were fortunate to get a break midday and took advantage by walking out to the beach, where we saw some lighthouses and enjoyed the post-rain humidity that so defines summer in the midwest.

The next morning we slowly made our way back to Detroit for an evening flight home. Along the way we stopped in the capitol city of Lansing and then took a quick drive through the Michigan State campus in East Lansing before stopping for lunch and a brew just east of there at the Michigan Brewing Company. Since we’ve been home brewing, anytime we’re out and about we try to find a local brew pub. It’s a great way to try a variety of great beers and there’s usually great food as well. From there we made it back to DTW and departed. Everything had gone pretty smoothly…

Until we got home. When we got there our friend came to pick us up and had the misfortune of breaking down in the LAX arrivals roundabout. It was just after 10 p.m., which is like rush hour there. So, not the best place to come to a halt. Lucky for him, he was still in the inner lanes at the time and was able to pull out of the way. AAA came to the rescue and after 2 hours we made it back to a garage about a mile away from our friend’s place. From there we walked back to his place and grabbed his roommate’s car and finally made it home. And then we couldn’t find our keys. After 5 minutes of looking Erinn finally found hers and we made it in the house. But not before I picked up my suitcase without having zipped it up, spilling my clothes all over the alley behind the apartment. “A perfect end to the night,” our friend said. You’d think so, but upon opening our apartment door we were greeted with the strong scent of natural gas. It was leaking from a hose on our water heater to the point that you could hear it hiss when you put your ear to it. No getting around this one, we opened the windows, called the gas company and waited an hour for a guy to come shut it off. Then, finally, at 2 a.m., 5 a.m. EST, we managed to end the night. This has me thinking about how there are no free rides, which is something I’ll perhaps elaborate on when I post the wedding photos.

Storm clouds move in over Lake Orion, Mich.

Henry Washington, Lake Orion, Michigan

Henry goes tubing

Tubing fail

10-year-old aspiring actress, Lake Orion, Mich.

Niece Taylor Marquart sitting in some nice window light at home in Arlington, Ohio.

Muskegon South Pier Light and Coast Guard Station, Lake Michigan

Angry baby! Actually, just a yawning Myles Lord, 1 1/2 months, the newest member of the Lord and Deshinsky families

Windsurfing at Huntington Beach

The Exposure section of the July issue of Outside magazine features a double truck photo I took earlier this year at Huntington Beach. On my way home from a meeting with an ad agency in Irvine I decided to swing by the beach to look for photos. It had been raining unusually hard that day all across Southern California and I figured the late afternoon sun that had started peaking through the storm clouds would make for some great images. When I got there the sun only lasted 2 minutes before an approaching set of clouds darkened the sky, ruining the beautiful light that had drawn me there. To my surprise though, as I walked along the beach near the pier, I saw a couple kites dancing around the gloomy skyline to the north. I figured they were only power kites being flown from the beach, but as I approached I saw that there were actually a couple of daring kite surfers taking advantage of the choppy water and high winds that had probably deterred the majority of their brethren. I figured they weren’t going to be out there for long and started jogging up the beach to get a closer shot. My timing was perfect, as they lasted only another minute before packing it in.

I blogged a couple of other photos from this experience just after it happened, but since this one just made it into print I figured I’d share it as well. The Exposure page is an ongoing feature in the magazine that focuses on unique outdoor photography and shares the photographers’ camera settings and a brief interview about the photographers’ experience. This one, besides being a nice stormy weather shot, I think had particular interest to them because of the recent relevance of offshore drilling. I hadn’t put much thought about it when taking the shot, but it’s amazing to see how close to the shore California once allowed wells to be drilled. Apparently, until 2008 there was a ban on new offshore stemming from a 1969 oil spill that leaked 4 million gallons of crude off the Santa Barbara coast. The ban was allowed to lapse after “drill now” pressures in response to skyrocketing gas prices. However, members of California’s congress are now pushing to reinstate it in light of recent events.

Exposure usually only features one photographer, from what I’ve seen, but this month there are four, all related to water. If you turn the page you’ll see a fantastic aerial photo of the Colorado River in Canyonland’s National Park by fellow Aurora Photos contributor and National Geographic regular Peter McBride. Not bad company to be in!

California poppy fields; Antelope Valley, Calif.

A couple days ago Erinn and I spent a beautiful, though chilly, evening in and around the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserves. I was there to shoot production stills for a friend’s film project, but will share those photos later. The fields are still in bloom and were incredible. Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Southern California in the spring. Here are a couple shots of the fields and also one of Erinn in what was probably the greenest wheat (I think?) field I’ve ever seen.

California Poppy Reserves; Antelope Valley, California

I recently spent a great couple of days camping and hiking with Erinn and my friend Matt in Death Valley National Park. I don’t think it rose above the low 80s during our visit, which was perfect for long days of exploring. It won’t be long before the summer temperatures start moving toward 120 degrees, at which point I would not want to be there! We did all of the usual stuff while there, getting up early for sunrise at the Eureka Sand Dunes on the first morning and Zabriskie Point on the second. We spent a couple of hours hunting for a 110-foot waterfall that we found out the next day had long ago dried up (not sure if the park ranger who sent us out there was messing with us or just didn’t know?), visited the salt flats at the Badwater Basin, and brought plenty of great food to grill up once the sun had set. One unusual aspect of our visit was that the park has had more rain in the first 3 months of the year than it normally receives in a year, which left pools of water over the normally parched salt flats. It was pretty and also interesting to see the salt crystals taking form in the water. The last photo in this entry is indeed a scorpion, which I spotted underneath Matt’s tent as we were packing up on the final morning. We did not, however, eat the scorpion, as the photo might imply. Just a way to examine it before tossing it back into the brush. Until this moment, we hadn’t seen any significant wildlife during our 48+ hour visit. It was a funny parallel to our previous visit to Joshua Tree N.P., where we also didn’t see anything until a rattlesnake crossed our paths on our very last hike before heading home.

Just wanted to announce that I mailed off a check today for the money I raised for Habitat for Humanity’s efforts in Haiti. Big big thank you to all who participated in my little fundraiser!! I hope you all enjoy your prints. When I hear that there’s something in the $11 billion range needed for reconstruction it seems like it’s impossible to make a dent, but every little bit helps. Hopefully I’ll be able to get down there in the next year to report on the progress and keep people’s awareness up so the help keeps coming.

We just got back from probably one of our favorite places in the world, the Boiling Crab in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Garden Grove, Calif. It’s about a 45 minute trek south of here, but totally worth it if you’re into Cajun-style crawdads. And if you’re not, one visit here and you will be. Assuming you’re not a vegetarian of course. I first discovered this place right after moving here when the L.A. Times did a write up on this little phenomenon occurring in Little Saigon, where a good 10 restaurants had recently opened featuring a dish you wouldn’t normally find west of the Gulf Coast. The first and best of them (not that we’ve tried any of the imitators) is the Boiling Crab, which was started by a Vietnamese family that lived somewhere along the gulf coast for a time and thought it would be a great idea to bring crawdads back to their community. The place has been hopping ever since, with waits of 45 min. – 1 1/2 hours common on a weekday evening. Hence the market for the imitators. The restaurant is usually packed with locals who feast on the shellfish that are sold for only $8/lb, making it an attractive option for even teenagers. A party of two can feast, including beer, for around $40, which is way cheaper than blue crabs on the east coast if I recall. If you’re ever anywhere in the L.A. area I recommend taking the drive down to experience it for yourself. We keep going back any chance we get and have also taken members of each of our families when they were visiting. This photo was actually taken on our last visit, which was right after we went down to photograph Sumo Dan and the sumo tournament I posted about a few months back.

My jaw dropped when I saw the destruction to the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on the news. Here’s a photo from when I was standing in front of the pristine landmark only 1 1/2 years ago. I can’t believe the destruction wrought by this catastrophe and can’t imagine a more vulnerable place for this to occur. This island just can’t seem to catch a break. My heart goes out to everyone there during the recovery. On that note I’m going to try to arrange a print sale of the work I did while I was down there in order to raise funds for the recovery. I have a number of prints ready that I already happened to be working on and will continue to print until I have enough for an exhibit. I haven’t yet figured out the venue or the charity yet, but will get it worked out soon. I’ll be sure to post an update on that when I know more.

Santa Ynez Valley vineyard

Santa Ynez Valley vineyard in autumn

Santa Ynez Valley vineyard in autumn

We just returned from a two-day, mid-week weekend in the Santa Ynez Valley wine country. As it was mid-week and off season we practically had the place to ourselves. While there we hit up Foxen, Curtis and Beckmen Vineyards, as well as the Flying Goat tasting room in the “wine ghetto” of Lompoc, a small town abutting the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. The name is derived from the fact that the tasting room is one of a few located in the town’s commercial warehouse district. Nevertheless, they served up some excellent Pinots from a number of the area’s vineyards. I was hoping for some more photo ops while we were there, but not much was going on as the season winds down. However, we were treated to some lovely landscapes as the effects of fall turned the vineyards a nice golden yellow. It’s nice to know that if we tire of the lack of seasons down here, autumn is only a couple hours away.

Los Angeles Fashion District

Good Year Blimp

Not much going on here. A couple weeks back Erinn and I went for a walk around the Fashion District and ended up not too far away on Broadway downtown, where the Goodyear Blimp was hovering overhead. Just a few pics taken along the way. I didn’t shoot a ton in the Fashion District, but the colors were great. I’m looking forward to going back on a more crowded afternoon.