California

War of the Worlds

Man, oh man! Â The last few days have been jam packed with activity. Â First day of the road trip had included San Francisco and Berkeley; next day was Yosemite National Park and Mono Lake; third day was all Â Death Valley, all day, and it was glorious! Â Today, the fourth day, had us heading out of Pahrump, Nevada to Las Vegas, then to Hoover Dam and then into Arizona. Â As I write this, I am back on Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona, home of the famous Angel Delgadillo, whom I met on my epic three week Route 66 explore back in late 2011. Â This time, I’ll get to introduce him to my wife and kids, which I had promised him I would do back then. Â He’s about one of the nicest old gentleman you could ever meet on Route 66. Â Anyway, here is the shot for today, not of anything on Route 66, but rather a piece I created using a photo I shot the other day on Death Valley. Â At the time I shot it, I was specifically looking for terrain that would lend itself to an other worldly creation, which is a fairly easy thing to do in Death Valley. Â My kids asked several times whether this movie or that were filmed there, and we would not have been surprised if some cool sci-fi films were actually shot there (or at least somewhere that looks quite similar). Â That said, doubt they shot much in Death Valley because the weather Â is… well… dang HOT!!!

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

One of the scariest movies I recall seeing as a kid was “The Boy Who Cried Werewolf”. Long story short, dad and son are off in the woods on a night hike; werewolf attacks dad; next full moon, much like the one in this shot from Yosemite, Bob’s your uncle… and dad’s a werewolf. I shot this one at Yosemite the other day with my iPhone and processed it today with a few of my favorite iPhone apps. Some might be surprised to learn I shot this during the brightest part of the day; and yes, I added the moon and stars after the fact with an iPhone app. If folks are interested in finding out how I post-process my shots with the iPhone, I might try to pull together a small step-by-step at some point.

Fire Engine Red

As I sit here in my hotel room, at the end of the first day of our road trip across these United States, I reflect upon the cool places we hit today, including Yosemite National Park and Mono Lake. As this is a family trip, I’m rolling light in terms of camera gear, sporting only my recently acquired iPhone 5 and my trusty Fuji X100. Here’s a shot I grabbed at Yosemite earlier today with the iPhone (post-processed with the iPhone as well), and it’s not a landscape shot, though I’ll have one or two of those I’ll post at some point as well.

Lone Cypress…

Two days of posts in a row. Can you believe it? I sure can’t. Well, it’s true, and below is the proof. I shot and processed this one, again with the iPhone 4S, while exploring the scenic 17-Mile Drive through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove, on the Monterey Peninsula, in Northern California. There is such stunning beauty to behold there that I processed this in a way that would hopefully communicate the “feeling” I had while there, that is often hard to convey verbally. If ever you find yourself in that area, do go check this place out. By the way, I’ve heard (not sure of true), that this tree is owned my one of my favorite movie stars/directors, Clint Eastwood, as part of some partnership, and that the tree is either trademarked or copyrighted. If that’s true, I’d say that’s pretty lame. Anyway, behold… The Lone Cypress! By the way, the Grandfather of HDR photography himself, good old Trey Ratcliff, over at Stuck In Customs, posted a shot of the same tree over on his fab site as well, on 6 April. Check it out HERE!

Dreaming Out Loud

Dang! It’s been almost a year since I last posted anything here. Better late than never, they say, right? So why, after all this time, am I posting now. Well, it turns out a friend of mine, known affectionately as the ‘Crusher of Dreams’, asked me about my website, so… here we are. It would not be right for her to check out the site and see an almost year old post, now would it? So, today’s post — aptly named, I think — is dedicated to the Crusher of Dreams. By the way, for those wondering, I shot and processed this with my iPhone 4S while down in Monterey, California, a wonderful place I and my family fell in love with. Â I posted this shot over on Instagram as well, where you can find me @jacquesgude.

Soul Surfer