Traveling Back in Time

Last Saturday, I wandered the halls of the LA County Museum of Natural History in search of dinosaurs.  At the La Brea Tar Pits, there were numerous signs adamantly stating that the exhibits there were in the ~20,000 thousand years ago and that there were no dinosaurs there.  I really wonder how many times people needed to ask that they felt the need to bold and underscore it on multiple signs in multiple places. 

In any case, the Museum of Natural History is apparently the largest of its kind in the western part of the United States and houses nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts that cover ~4.5 billion years of history.  Even with almost 3 hours, I made it only through probably a third of their exhibits and will definitely have to head back to look at the other exhibits and the architecture of the building itself.  The only disappointing thing is that I find photographing museum exhibits indoors to be somewhat discouraging, since the glass frequently causes a reflection and ruins the best of photos.  The best pictures I get are generally things that are just in the open air and under natural light.

Now that I've gotten the first 100 hours under my belt, I think I'm going to stop focusing so much on subject based photography and start working on technique with specific areas like composition, lighting, color, etc.  And a series taken with just a regular point and shoot to force me to practice some of these elements.  Taking it up to the next level!!

A battle of Jurassic proportions

Immense and bizarre indeed!

From under the rotunda

Active Shooting Hours: 2
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 105

100 Hours

Reaching a milestone is a funny thing.  Leading up to it, there's nothing but breathless exhilaration and excitement.  This past weekend, having finally gotten to the 100th hour and clicked it away, the moment was just like every other hour - looking at the world with a keen eye for an interesting subject.

I meant to focus the majority of my time and this series on the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum, but many of the exhibits are behind glass or are lit in a way (harshly, unevenly, etc.) that couldn't be corrected for by moving my position.  Luckily, the boyfriend and I were both feeling spontaneous and wanted to get the most out of our trip, especially after navigating through LA traffic.  Given that fact, we ended up wandering around LACMA and ended our night with seeing Frozen at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.

Dire Wolf Skulls at the Page Museum in Los Angeles

Methane bubbling up through tar at the La Brea Tar Pits

The crescent moon over the Urban Light installation at LACMA, which is right next to the La Brea Tar Pits.  

202 restored lamps in total and many used to light up streets in Southern California.

The bright marquee of the El Capitan Theatre.

More LA

Active Shooting Hours: 2
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 102

On the Verge of a Milestone

There is something exhilarating about being on the bubble.

As I approach the 100th hour of this project, though I am comically far from my goal of 10,000 hours (status bar: 99% incomplete), I still feel a sense of proud accomplishment and renewed zest to keep on keeping on.

Perhaps it is the fact that I took this last set on New Year's Day and that has me reflecting, but I really have come a long way from six months ago.  When I began this endeavor, if you had asked me what I expected to gain from this experience, I would have referred you to this blog's tag line:  "Looking at the world through a viewfinder, going on adventures, establishing a work-life balance, and reclaiming my personal life."  Yes, I have learned some technical aspects of photography, and yes, I have exercised my creative right brain in developing an artistic eye... but as with most of life's experiences in which you pour your mind, body, and soul, it's been so much more.

Focusing on this personal project has really been a process of self-discovery: gaining a firmer understanding of what I want out of life, what I value, and what I want to spend my time doing.  From the time I was a small child, I was always taught the importance of delaying gratification - to work hard and save to reach a goal... but nobody ever taught me how to enjoy the ride along the way.  It's an unpredictable world out there; knowing how to find happiness is just as important as working hard and saving for a rainy day.  At least in honest conversation with my closest friends, I've found that my generation doesn't always know what makes us truly happy.  We like to think we know because of what society or our parents tell us, but all too often once we actually attain whatever that is, be it material object or professional accomplishment, we end up feeling like we were sold a false bag of goods.  At the end of the day, there are 7+ billion people in this world and I have no doubt that we find happiness all a little differently - it truly comes down to identifying what drives your happiness, be it person, place, thing, or experience.

And after that rather long-winded attempt at profound rumination... actual photos:

Chance juxtaposition in the line for The Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, colors punched up in post-editing

Long Beach, through the periscope of the Scorpion attack submarine

Rivets along the hull of the RMS Queen Mary, holgaish filter applied in post

Up to the crow's nest

Active Shooting Hours: 2
Review Hours: 1
Hours to Date: 99

Fireworks and "Snow"

The beauty of having an annual pass to Disneyland is being able to go for a few hours, just for the fireworks on a random Sunday night.  There are so many interesting things to photograph and it's constantly evolving.  I love being able to head there whenever with a DSLR in tow... though I may try a series with just an iPhone or normal point & shoot just to test my photographic eye.

Lights during the candle lighting ceremony

Shooting stars... do you believe?

Soap snow!!!

Sleeping Beauty castle... iced out.

Active Shooting Hours: 2
Review Hours: 2
Total Hours to Date: 96 - almost to the first 100 hours!!!

Christmas, Christmas Everywhere!!

I really enjoy attractions that decorate for various holidays, particularly Halloween and Christmas.  The Long Beach Aquarium had Christmasy decor in the various exhibits and even a diver dressed as Santa - although I would argue he was much too skinny to be Santa and more like the Elf on a Shelf terror.

The lorikeets also had several Christmas trees at their disposal for hiding and pecking at.  Those little buggers bite quite readily - I didn't chance trying to buy food and taking pictures of them at the same time.  I can't wait to go back to feed them though!!

The challenge du jour was really learning to work in completely manual mode.  Since most of the exhibits are in the dark and behind shiny acrylic, I couldn't use flash and had to focus with the manual ring since there's an absurdly bright focus light that the autofocus employs.  As a result, a lot of the pictures came out pretty horrifically blurry.  In some cases, it was pretty frustrating since I know the shots would have been great had they been in focus.

In such cases, the law of large numbers to the rescue and I got some pretty awesome pictures anyway.

A nautilus, floating about its exhibit

Seahorse

And a lorikeet in a Christmas tree - long lost mysterious 13th day of Christmas gift?

Giant Pacific Octopus

Active Shooting Hours: 3
Review Hours: 3
Total Hours to Date: 92

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

I love Christmas... there's something about the cold bite in the air juxtaposed with the spicy scents of nutmeg and cinnamon.  Not to mention all of the shiny things - ornaments, lights, gift wrap...

To make this season extra special, I got myself an annual pass to Disneyland - not only the happiest place on earth, but also the singular place that turns me into a fantastically giddy five year-old princess.  This also gives me a new venue to take photos, so I'm looking forward to the new inspiration!!

I traipsed around the park all day with only my 35mm lens in tow with a polarizing filter since I knew I would be distracted by jumping on my favorite rides.  I still managed to capture some decent shots, despite the throngs of people.  The lighting was also a hindrance for most of the day - it was incredibly cloudy over half the park and the other side was sunny blue skies.  Looking back through the shots, I could have used a neutral density filter to adjust for some of the blown out skies.  Hilariously, a Christmas gift arrived in the mail when I got home with a ND filter in it!!

I'll be headed back soon, hopefully on a day with fewer people stepping into my shots, although that's doubtful given the holiday season.

The man and the mouse

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

Sleeping Beauty Castle, all decked out!

Even more impressive by night.

Active Shooting Hours: 6
Review Hours: 3
Total Hours to Date: 86

Fourth Quarter Fumble

Fourth quarter has been busy.  Like really busy.  Like crazy busy.  I've been all over the place either preparing for meetings or actually in meetings.  I'm really glad I got some shooting time in this past weekend at the San Diego Zoo.  

As it turns out, the animals are way more active in the morning and I got several great shots of animals actually up and about.  And in many ways, I found a lot of humanity in their expressions and mannerisms.  Hopefully, I'll have some more time to clock some hours in the coming weekends even amidst big meetings.

An indignant owl

Koala!!

A glorified kong toy for a panda... cinnamon biscuits are inside!!

Gorilla daydreams

Water drops on a green mamba snake - probably my favorite shot of the day

Active Shooting Hours: 4

Review Hours: 3
Total Hours to Date: 77