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Night on Palomar Mountain

Hello,

Had the opportunity to spend the night on Palomar Mountain a couple weeks ago. We stayed with my Sister-in-Law and her family in a home that sat right on the side of the mountain a few miles form the observatory.

The view over the valley was amazing and one of the best places so far that I have had the opportunity to fly my drone. Everything was completely open.

At night the start came out and I was able to capture some amazing photos. I am still learning how to do long exposure shots but some of them came out really well.

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2021 Family Vacation to Kings Canyon National Park

We just returned from a very nice family trip to Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. The weather was amazing. It was cold but sunny the first day but then warmed up a little. It made for some really nice hikes and some amazing photo opportunities.

The hike to Boole Tree was especially amazing.

  • DCIMPANORAMA100_0320DJI
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On our hike through Zumult Meadows I was able to take some really neat shots of the river. I have been experimenting with long exposure using a ND1000 filter that lets me really slow down the shutter and get great shots of the moving water.

I am really happy how they turned out.

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Just Flying Around

Just posting a video i finally got around to finishing. Nothing really special, just some video from around my home and of the kids playing. There is a new library being built a little ways away and Alex and his cousin come out and flew their RC planes.

This was also my first video using Adobe Rush. In the past I had been using Davinci Resolve, which is great, but does not run that well on my Surface. I wanted something more portable for our trip to Kauai later this summer. Adobe Rush is very simple and I like that a lot, but it does not give you as many options as Resolve. The fact that I can edit on my Surface though makes a big difference.

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Drone video from Big Bear 2021

I finally got around to editing my drone footage from our weekend in Big Bear in January. I actually have a few more videos that I need to start but, there had been a lot going on so I just have not had time to do the editing.

We spent a very nice weekend at a cabin that backed up to a large wooden area and near the ski slopes of Bear Mountain Resort. There wasn’t as much snow as we were hoping for but they was plenty for sledding and playing around in.

I hope you enjoy the video!

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12th Wedding Anniversary in La Quinta

Its been awhile… This weekend my wife and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary in La Quinta CA. It is not far from home but makes a wonderful place to get away. The weather was amazing and we went on a hike to see a seasonal waterfall. It was a beautiful day. Here are some photos.

https://adobe.ly/3rwe1pK

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Father’s Day present – DJI Mavic Air 2 drone

I have the most wonderful family I can imagine. They put up patiently with my photography hobby. Every trip we go on, even day trips, I drag around a bunch of cameras and lenses. They wait patiently while I set up a tri-pod and snap a few photos of the landscape.

I am by no means any good, but I enjoy it and they know it. This year they bought me the new DJI Mavic Air 2. This is something I have wanted for a long time, but I could never come up with a good reason why I needed one. I just wanted to be able to take those awesome videos of sweeping landscapes, and get view points you just cant get on the ground. It has been a lot of fun the last couple weeks and it has gotten me outside to explore places I did not even know were around.

Thank you to the best wife and kids around.

Here is a link to my latest one.

It was shot at Bee Canyon Truck Trail outside Hemet, CA just inside the San Bernardino National Forrest.

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Diamond Valley Cheer – Knott’s Berry Farm

This year my daughter started on a competition cheer team.  It has been a lot of fun so far.  At first I was a little worried this was the first competitive level sport that she has been in, but she really loves it.  The team is really awesome.  The girls are great and really treat everyone with kindness and want to work together as a team.  That can be rare and I am so happy that she found this.  The coaches are big part of what has made is fun for her and I am just really thankful that she is on this team.

Last weekend they had a big competition at Knott’s Berry Farm and performed really well.  They took home 1st in their division and a trophy for Most Enthusiastic.  I couldn’t be more proud of the hard work they have done.

It has also been a lot of fun for me and my hobby of photography.  It has been years since I got a chance to shoot some action sports.  so for me it has really brought back some fond memories.  I posted some pictures below.  Thank you to my friend Alicia for loaning me a terrific piece of glass that without I would not have been able to get such great shots.  Hope you enjoy.

Diamond Valley Cheer – Knott’s Berry Farm

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First family trip of the summer to Las Vegas

We just got home from our first family trip this summer.  Unlike last year we have several little trips planned this year instead of one big one.  Our first one took us to Las Vegas.

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This was the second time that Alex had been.  The first was many years ago and he never ventured outside of the hotel, and the first time for Julianne.  We were only there 2 nights but had a great time.

We went rode a gondola at the Venetian, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, visited M&M world and the Coke-a-Cola store, where we got to try different soda’s from around the world.  We spent some time at the Aria pool and finally saw the Blue Man Group show at the Luxor.  That was probably the high point.  Both kids were pretty tired by that point, but the show was so great they completely forgot about it.  Especially Julianne, she had never seen anything like that before.

Here are some photos from the trip.  I will be putting a little video together too.  enjoy!

Las Vegas 2018

Oh our next trip will be a weekend in Lake Arrowhead, and at the end of the summer we will be visiting my brother in San Francisco.

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2018 Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

Yesterday Jenn and I went to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival for the 2nd year. We mainly go to see the bands playing on Saturday. This year we saw Hoobastank, Fuel, Lifehouse and , The Wallflowers, althought we did not really stay for The Wallflowers. I am sure it was a good show, but we wanted to see the glowing balloons and beat the crowd.

Fuel was pretty good but Lifehouse was great.