Santa Barbara Inflections II

schmoo

In a mad rush to clear off my figurative desk, speed-processing of SB workshop photos was at the top of the list. :lol3 The 4-frame shots are from my point-and-shoot lomo camera, a little plastic thingy that takes 4 sequential shots on a single 35mm frame. So much fun! (Although shooting digital really spoils you with the delayed gratification thing)

I can't really get across the message of how lovely this part of the state really is, or how great Marc is as a teacher and a mentor. He makes shooting perfectly lit landscapes with mind-blowing dynamic range look so easy, so it's hard not to feel the inspiration in the atmosphere.



My deep-dark secret is that I really suck at landscapes, but I do love photojournalism and candids. And abstracts. Like jell-o, there's always room for abstracts.

The water fountain near the rose gardens at Santa Barbara Mission


My workshop-mates took some fantastic photos of the roses, so I leave that part to them.

SB Mission itself. Shooting any lower would include the throngs of tourists!


Make a wish!


Beautiful light, speckling even the most mundane surfaces


The gorgeous, gorgeous Courthouse




Shadows and lines in the architecture




And the tower. The view was nice but the patterns were even better:


We had an early dinner at the Sojourner Cafe. I think we were all pretty happy.


That evening we headed up the mountains to savor the distant ocean view and shoot the sunset.







(A set of decent split grad ND filters is on my list :rolleyes )

The following morning was wheels up again by 5:15 AM. But as usual, I'll get up at any time for shooting with a good group.







Early fisherman


A Muench Star on a Muench head:


By this time we were famished. Marc mentioned these awesome round Danish pancakes, so we were off to Solvang to find a few:



Here's the kind proprietor squeezing out batter to make our batch:


Afterwards we confer on how to get to the poppy fields. With a few stops along the way to shoot things as we see them, of course!







The poppy (heheh I always write that as "poopy") fields were beautiful, although hot in the sun. They were scattered with purple lupine, smelling thick and sweet in the mountain air.







More scouting, all the way down the mountain. Apparently this is hang glider territory.



The group went on to shoot the beautiful sunset that evening but I had to head back to San Francisco so I was only able to catch it through my bug-spattered windshield. I'm really looking forward to seeing their spoils soon, and thank you again MW for putting on such a great show.

Sorry for all the pics, but when your muse finally calls to tell you she's gonna be spending a weekend with you you don't turn her down! :lol3

Awais Yaqub

Schmoo ! these are amazing
thanks for sharing them clap

ivar

YAAAAY! more schmictures!

schmoo wrote:

My deep-dark secret is that I really suck at landscapes,

:twitch

My eyes keep going back to this one, I reallllly like it

schmoo wrote:

I also really like your Lomo shots; The more I read the Lomographic camera rules, the more I want to lomo myself A little delayed gratification never hurt anyone

Lovely story and photos yet again, but that doesn't surprise me.

dlplumer

Great set Schmoo. Love Muench on Muench and the Poppys

Dan

redleash

Superb set of pics, Schmoo! I really like the ones with all the fun folks in 'em. It looks like a good time indeed.

schmoo

Thanks muchly, guys! And Ivar somehow that photo did scream THELMA! at me. But I dunno why as you are certainly more than 4 inches tall

Let's rock the lomo this fall!

Marc Muench

ivar wrote:

YAAAAY! more schmictures!

:twitch

My eyes keep going back to this one, I reallllly like it

Lovely story and photos yet again, but that doesn't surprise me.

I really like this too, the soft effect works well with the angle and clouds and and

funny thing is one shot of me is bad enough but four

You work fast, never noticed you taking all these pics

philiphutson

schmoo wrote:

Nice work !!
I realy like the stairs looking up.

By the way the pancakes are called aebleskiver, different people pronounce it different ways. I pronounce it "more please" with the accent on more:D.
The place that is famous for them (Arnies) stops serving them before I make it through there on my drive home from work :cry.

-Philip

schmoo

philiphutson wrote:

Nice work !!
I realy like the stairs looking up.

By the way the pancakes are called aebleskiver, different people pronounce it different ways. I pronounce it "more please" with the accent on more:D.
The place that is famous for them (Arnies) stops serving them before I make it through there on my drive home from work :cry.

-Philip

Hey Phil I'm sorry we didn't see you! The flowers were pretty abundant on the mountain, although I have no idea if this is a good year or a bad one. Looks like our group brought in a bit of a heat wave, too.

The aebleskiver were totally naughty for *cough* some of us who don't normally eat sugar or dairy but wow they were good. I'm not sure I'll be in Solvang again as it seems to have a bit of a kitsch factor that falls just a bit short of the Madonna Inn but I may give in to the pancakes if they cross my path.

Thanks a ton Marc, for the nice words as well as the critique! I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone else's work soon. It's great to see the same sights through different lenses.

shniks

Great shots missy. I have to echo others about the flowers. Those shots are REALLY good. I love 'em. The H2O shots are also great....


Cheers,

cj99si

Those 4 shot sequences are awesome! I also like this one a lot.

coscorrosa

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun out there... and way too much sun!

My favorites are the lilies, spiral staircase, panoramic crop sunset (this one is really sweet!), and the B&W beach.

I really like all the abstracts and candid shots too though. Great set! If these are "sucky" landscapes, that doesn't bode well for the rest of us...

I've heard you comment on your need for split ND filters for awhile now, apparently the "wave your hand in front of the lens" method isn't very effective?

Tee Why

wow,
lots of fun flare shots.

ian408

Hubida hubida--those are some might fine shots! I like 'em all.

schmoo

ian408 wrote:

Hubida hubida--those are some might fine shots! I like 'em all.

Thanks Ian! Yours weren't bad either yanno. Will we get to see more?

Ron... no comment!

ian408

schmoo wrote:

Will we get to see more?

Maybe

Pindy

Oh my god—I'm looking at your SB Mission and Courthouse shots with my jaw in my lap. I had the opposite experience. You saw so much. Wow—Totally brilliant.

Doug Solis

Really nice series Schmoo, I feel like I was part of the experience.

thanks for sharing.

Pindy

This closely resembles my memory of he light that morning and location. Those white, smooth rocks would have been perfect to get my Art Wolfe on. So little time, when the sun's on it's way up. So little brain at that hour.

schmoo

Hey Pindy don't be so modest! Some of your shots had me gawking as well. I love that most about a workshop, because all of us approach the same situations in very different ways.

Traditional landscape conditions usually have me standing there dumbfounded and scratching my head. What am I supposed to do first when I only have 20 minutes to capture this scene perfectly? One of you was bound to get The Shot of the Morning, so it was more fun for me to shoot the rest of you shooting.

Tango

schmoo wrote:

My deep-dark secret is that I really suck at landscapes,

Tango

schmoo wrote:

And the tower. The view was nice but the patterns were even better:

love the patterns, and i got a real kick out that second one (great catch!)...whos idea was that?

schmoo

AaronNelson wrote:

love the patterns, and i got a real kick out that second one (great catch!)...who's idea was that?

Hi Aaron, tell us what you really think! Heheh no seriously, thanks for your support. It's interesting to see how sometimes we view our own work vs others!

Marc posted the actual shot here, which is a spin-off of... well, so far a lot of people on Dgrin get run over by cars.

Tango

schmoo wrote:

It's interesting to see how sometimes we view our own work vs others!

i like how you have changed your avatar facing toward your work now, ...hahaha though facing the otherway was a bit amusingly funny


im just like you when it comes to viewing my work to others.... sometimes i just dont get how you people do it so much so often and do it with such great outcomes to boot! (yes i mean you too:D )

but then i pull myself out of that thought process by remembering the reason i do photography...and the fret is gone

btw, im going to get my roadkill asap!!! wish i knew about that little trend earlier... but thats what i get going solo all the time....