Michael D. Ferguson Photography

Joshua Tree National Park

2010-05-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

Comin' back at ya with a killer adventure to Joshua Tree National Park with dad and Andrew.

We got on the road bright and early due to the fact that Joshua Tree is located about 100 miles due east in the high deserts of California. With a slight "scenic detour" through the San Fernando Valley, we arrived in the city of Yucca Valley after a 3 hour trek through the expansive sprawl of the Los Angeles Empire.

Yucca Valley had a little surprise waiting for us in the form of a Memorial Day weekend parade which featured all of the town's law enforcement and several antique and contemporary John Deere tractors. Now, that'd be all well and good if it hadn't shut down the major thoroughfare and re-routed all of the Memorial Day traffic through residential areas (with hardly any detour signs). After some traffic merry-go-round and following a very unreliable RV, we finally arrived at Joshua Tree.

Enough of this. Let's get on with the pictures.

(See this big here. To see it HUGE, contact me. I think it's worth it.)

The valley is gorgeous. One would think that a desert peppered with shadeless Joshua Trees would be lackluster but there is nothing pedestrian about this land. Mammoth rocky outcroppings complete the picture as the boulders, sprinkled with Pinyon pine and California juniper, form granite skyscrapers just waiting to be conquered. And we did just that.

(See this huge here.)

We parked at the Hidden Valley (34.014, -116.171), which has a very interesting history.

The Hidden Valley was a fertile ecosystem, separate from the surrounding desert ecosystem, which featured grass ideal for supporting cattle. The valley is encircled by a large rocky wall on all sides - a natural corral. In the late 1800s, cattle rustlers hid cattle stolen from ranges all across the southwest here so they could be re-branded. Months before Joshua Tree was to become a National Monument in 1936, Bill Keyes blasted through the wall in order to accommodate visitors. This hole introduced the desert vegetation previously absent from the valley into the ecosystem. The new vegetation won the battle and there is no remaining grass from the time it was used as a corral.

Dad had an interesting story about how last year he climbed the rocky walls surrounding the Hidden Valley and barely made it out alive. He had to jump across deep crevices and chimney between rock faces. Of course that means Andrew and I had to take a crack at it.

No, it was not easy

but it was well worth the challenge.

(See this big here. To see it HUGE, contact me.)

We found this funny rock formation early on - it seemed concerned for our well-being.

Well, after some blood and sweat we finally made it as high as we could go. It was a big challenge - we, too, had to chimney down some rock faces and I remember one place where we had to leap from one rock to another across a crevice that dropped probably 50 feet straight down. It was intense but very rewarding.

A view of the Hidden Valley from our perch atop the granite boulders.

(See this huge here.)

It's difficult to tell depth from this picture but that is the Hidden Valley to the right of me.

Up there at the top we experienced some serious wind gusts that nearly took the hats off our heads. I'm glad we weren't teetering on the edge of a crevice when that wind hit...

One of the most surprising things about the Hidden Valley was the diversity and color of the plant life.

Bee + bonus fly!

The three of us hiked down in the valley after Andrew's and my adventure up in the surrounding rocks.

We wrapped up our adventure in Joshua Tree with a drive out the north entrance. Highlights include more Joshua Trees, great granite boulders, and even a copper-colored snake crossing the road (didn't bother to stop).

An ambitious challenge, perfect weather, and grand scenery. All told, a very successful trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Until the next adventure...

Zombie Typocalypse and More!

2010-02-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

Designing is fun! After the Finding Nemo movie poster, I decided to do an art trade with my friend, Cori. She painted me a classic Mickey/Minnie scene and I made her this Star Command poster:

(big)

I really wanted to take this poster back and capture the feel of the old recruitment posters from WWI and WWII. I think it turned out pretty well!
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Up next was a bit of typography with one of my favorite quotes delivered by the great visionary, Walt Disney.

There is so much truth condensed into that simple sentence.
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Here is a couple of quick designs I made for my brother's band, Priam. (Check out their Facebook page here)

And I threw the plain logo on top of the picture they had as their default for this one:

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And last, but certainly not least, is an illustration I'm particularly proud of: the Zombie Typocalypse. This is made entirely of ascii characters from various fonts.

(big)

And if you reeeally like it, you'll visit my Cafepress store and get it on a t-shirt!

Well, that's all for now. Check back for more updates!

Designing Nemo

2010-01-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

And now, for my next trick, a movie poster!

About a year ago I ran across this amazing graphic artist named Eric Tan. Eric works for Disney designing the retro-styled movie posters for Pixar movies you all love. Please view his work at his blog: http://erictanart.blogspot.com/ You won't regret it!

At any rate, I checked up on what he was doing recently and was inspired to create a poster my own. I challenged myself to design in the style that Mr. Tan uses in his art, and to attempt to design something to the caliber of his work.

I had no experience with vector art so I downloaded Inkscape, an open-source vector art program, and learned it on the fly. I sat down with some video tutorials and got to work! At the same time, I had to begin the design of the poster. I camped out in a park down the road and cranked out this concept sketch.

I wanted to do something Disney/Pixar and finally decided on Finding Nemo, mostly because it was the first movie I thought of when I sat down to design.

It was time to put digital ink to digital paper! Here is an interim export of the poster:

Notice those underwater mines? Originally, they looked like this:

The look didn't suit what I was going for so I re-shadowed the entire thing. These darn mines took the most time out of all of the elements included in this poster - totaling probably four hours of blood, sweat, and tears. To some more experienced artists, this may seem very steep but I am green in the graphic design world; it's an accomplishment that I even got it done!

Well, with some hard work and a solid vision, I turned out something I'm pleased with and proud to show:

If you'd like to see this even BIGGER, check this link

And if you dare to view the original size click here

*Since I'm not trying to start trouble: Characters and intellectual rights to the movie Finding Nemo, including all characters presented herein, are © Disney/Pixar.

NLCS Game 1

2009-10-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Gary and I had the opportunity to attend Game 1 of the NLCS between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, being a big Dodgers fan, I was excited to start the series the right way with a Dodger victory. Unfortunately, neither the game nor the series went our way but Game 1 was easily the most exciting game I've ever been to.

View me in my original size

We got to the stadium as the gates opened and fully enjoyed every minute of the playoff atmosphere.

Me too!

Our favorite 21-year-old starter Clayton Kershaw got the start on the bump.

This got the crowd fired up.

Manny Ramirez hit a 2-run homerun in the 5th inning to put us within one run. From the crowd's reaction, you'd have thought we won the World Series!

I high-fived about 12 people around me and as I was jumping around and yelling this shot fired off.

Oh, and Billy Ray Cyrus sang the National Anthem and God Bless America

Overall, it was the most fun I've ever had at a Dodger game.

Until next year, Dodgers.

Big Santa Anita Canyon + Scaling Mt. Wilson

2009-07-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Andrew got back this week from his trip to Kiwiland so you know what that means! You got it - a new hike. We picked out Sturtevant Falls, which is a part of the Big Santa Anita Canyon Loop, located in the San Gabriel Mountains above Sierra Madre, California. We didn't see any giant rattlesnakes like the Mt. Lowe hike, but I'll do ya one better.

We set out from basecamp at Chantry Flat at about 9:00 a.m. in anticipation of a full day of climbing mountains and such. The very first thing you do on the trail to Sturtevant Falls is descend a ton of feet over 0.6 miles on a paved road. This is significant because we realized that we would have to revisit this daunting path in the opposite direction [up] after having hiked nearly 20 miles, most of which included scaling one of the largest mountains in the San Gabriel Range.

Optimism prevailed and we headed onward. It really didn't take long to reach Sturtevant Falls from Chantry Flat. Along the way, we encountered some wonderful signage, the likes of which I had never seen on any hike before.

Because it's a bit difficult to see...

Well, we reached the falls after about 30 minutes of hiking. The water was just more than a trickle now in the late summer but I'm sure it's great when the snow-pack begins to melt in the late spring.

Very cool, secluded place. But the day was young! Mt. Wilson was next on the docket. We took the longer, roundabout way (which ended up being a much better choice than the straightforward way) because we would be hiking on the Rim Trail, which sounded cool. We had no idea.

Just before getting on the Rim Trail at Newcomb's Pass, Andrew and I heard something tumbling down the mountain in a flurry of snapping sticks and rustling leaves. Our first thought was that it was a boulder falling down, but it got too loud and didn't seem to have the characteristics of a falling rock. My next thought was that it was a Mountain Lion because it was moving very quickly and those cats are fleet of foot. All of the news stories about hikers getting attacked by Mountain Lions around the LA area flashed through my head and I was officially frightened.

The falling object was getting very close and then we saw it: a black bear cub, maybe 50 lbs., rolled out onto the trail about 15 or 20 feet ahead of us. My mind was racing at this point: baby bear wasn't a threat but baby bears don't typically travel alone. I was going to get the hell out of dodge before mom shows up to protect her kid. I did exactly what you're not supposed to do and bolted two steps back before stopping to look back. The cub looked confused; maybe it had wanted to walk on the trail we were on. It cocked its head then jumped off the trail and continued tumbling down the mountainside. Wow. Andrew and I didn't know what to do next. We didn't hear any larger animals coming down the mountain so after about a minute we started back on the trail. We dodged a massive bullet.

Needless to say, we took a breather at Newcomb's Pass - then on to the Rim Trail, which would lead us to Mt. Wilson. The word "trail" is used very loosely when describing the Rim Trail. Shoulder-width at its very widest, it is one of those trails where you hike one foot in front of the other and the ground is mostly loose sand with a steep, unforgiving fall of a few hundred feet. Intense! On top of that, it seemed an endless upward ascent. A couple of hours of relentless upward trekking. I guess that happens when there is a 3600' elevation gain from Sturtevant Falls.

We made it to Mt. Wilson...barely. I thought I was going to die. We spent about 45 minutes at the peak surveying the grounds and recovering from the ascent. The famous 100-inch telescope was a pretty awesome sight to see.

We took the Sturtevant Trail down from Mt. Wilson. Note: NEVER take Sturtevant Trail up to Mt. Wilson because it is nothing but very steep switchbacks up the mountain. I'm so glad we did the Rim Trail instead. Anyway, we labored back to that paved road up to Chantry Flat, which was a chore to get back up after all the hiking, and back to the car. This was the most intense hike we've done to date and I'm paying for it. I can hardly walk and I have a huge blister on my toe. But it was worth it!

A Night at the Beach

2009-07-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went down to the Manhattan Beach Pier to try my luck at getting one of my favorite types of photos. A couple of years ago I ran across this gentleman's story and online gallery and his work fascinated me. The way he captures the South Bay is as inspiring as it is breathtaking.

So I took a whack at that style:

In order to truly get the most out of this photo, you should view it large or original size. I absolutely love how ethereal and haunting these images look and I can't wait more of them.

Until next time, amigos.

Dodgers/Astros

2009-07-19T00:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my good friend Gary, I acquired two tickets to last night's Dodger game versus the visiting Houston Astros. Gary wasn't missing anything as he had tickets for better seats so I went with dad.

The game was great. We put up two runs in the first inning and hammered it home in the sixth with three more runs. The 'stros scored two in the eighth to make it interesting, but Big Jon Broxton successfully closed out the 5-2 victory.

Aside from the win, there was a very interesting sunset phenomenon that produced a sort of explosion of light rays emanating from the northwest.

I recommend viewing this photo larger. The original size is also fun to look at.

I highly recommend viewing this photo larger but it's even better at it's original size.

Great game. Great day. Think Blue. Cheers!

Sweet Home, Indiana

2009-07-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks! No hike this time - I went on an adventure of a different variety. Last week I headed back to Indiana for my former roommate's wedding (woo!). I was fortunate enough to be in the wedding as one of the groomsmen [read: carefully and meticulously selected from a deep reserve of the nation's finest groomsmen candidates {ok, maybe not, but I can walk down an aisle and stand up straight}]

Descending into Indianapolis I saw these magnificent clouds which I had to get a shot of. The image quality is awful (an artifact of me hastily rummaging through my carry-on to retrieve my camera and almost missing it entirely) but the image speaks for itself. I defy anyone to question the grandeur of Mother Nature.

Landed. Spent a night at home in Terre Haute. Headed to Shelbyville the next day for all of the festivities. The ceremony went off without a hitch (aside from the bride and groom who were certainly and most undeniably hitched) and my old roomie and his new wife officially set sail on their marriage.

*bonus semi-self-portrait

I had a great time seeing some very good friends and spending some quality time with my family but it seemed like almost as soon as I had arrived, it was time to leave. So back to Cali I flew (sans awesome cloud formations, unfortunately).

Until the next adventure,
Cheers

Bridge to Nowhere

2009-07-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Andrew and I traveled up into the San Gabriel Mountains north of Azusa to search for the Bridge to Nowhere (34.29242, -117.74317).

So here's the backstory (Wikipedia with the assist!): in the late 1930s the East Fork Road, meant to connect Azusa and Wrightwood, snaked its way above the East Fork of the San Gabriel river. Naturally, as these things tend to do, the road had to cross the river. A magnificent and beautifully powerful arch bridge was built in 1936 to span the river. The bridge was only two years old when a tremendous flood in March of 1938 washed out much of the road, forcing the cancellation of the project. The bridge was left and now has become an attraction for many hikers in Southern California.

The prospect of an abandoned bridge built in 1936 sold Andrew and I on this hike. The trail (some of which had itself been washed out) crossed the East Fork several times and led us through various terrain types. One moment we were tiptoeing across an almost shear face using not much more than footholds and the next moment we were trekking through a Yucca-infested river valley.

In fact, we ran into (sometimes literally) so much Yucca *shudder* that the very mention of its name sends shivers down my spine. I am certain that the purpose of these dastardly plants is nothing more than present a very prickly hazard to intrepid hikers - and I certainly had my share of pokes.

Ouch!

Well, we eventually made it to the bridge. Having no traffic other than day hikers and the occasional bungee jumper (the bridge is owned now by Bungee America, Inc.), it was in pristine condition and looked probably as good as it did in 1936. The construction was gorgeous - very reminiscent of the strong architecture found in the buildings of early Los Angeles.

We crossed the bridge and surveyed the other side. There were some natural pools in the river just before the bridge so we decided to climb down and investigate further. After taking a breather, we entered the river and headed over to one of the pools. The water was absolutely frigid but it was so very refreshing after miles of hiking in the harsh desert sun. As I was standing in the pool I had the unsettling pleasure of feeling small fish nibble at my ankles. Of course, I had no idea there were fish in the pool when I first got in so these little guys freaked me out.

Having satisfied our desire to swim in a natural river-fed pool, we decided it was time to hit the ol' dusty trail; only this time, we wouldn't take the ol' dusty trail. Not content to simply take the same way back, Andrew and I thought it would be much more adventurous to follow the river out. See, at this point the tranquil river valley had transformed into a carved gorge - complete with 5-foot waterfalls and small rapids. The trail had moved from following the riverside to coinciding with the road built in the 1930s perched safely high above the canyon below.

The passage was rough and I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures of this part of the trip because I was more concerned with keeping my gear dry. In fact, I had one test when the water had gotten too deep to wear my backpack conventionally. I was holding my stuff above my head when I slipped on an algae-covered rock and started tumbling toward the water. My only reaction was to shoot my arm into the air as high as I could to prevent my gear from entering the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. Luckily, the only thing left untouched by the water was my backpack and its precious contents.

We passed the hard part of the river and made it back to the valley. After that it was a series of river crossings and yucca dodging. The hike was great. I didn't find it as strenuous as the previous two but I do have a piece of advice: do not forget water shoes!

4th of July Festivities

2009-07-05T21:55:00.001-07:00

I hope your Fourth of July celebrations were great (and safe)! This weekend was especially memorable for me because I got my brand new Nikon D90 camera on Friday afternoon.

Naturally, I had to try it out.

I scribbled down the series of streets that would lead me to that secluded spot on the Palos Verdes peninsula (from a couple of posts back) on a piece of engineering paper and set out about 30 minutes 'til sunset. My plan was to get there with plenty of time to set up a great shot and break in the new camera with a spectacular sunset. As I headed up the hill I realized that the marine layer hadn't burned off and that the spot would be immersed in clouds - but there was a silver lining to this story. I set up the tripod anyway and stayed until dark to get the light trails I had been trying for last time.

*Note: the pic got cropped so click on it to see it in full. Same goes for every landscape picture posted thus far. I'll work on that.
--UPDATE-- The problem is fixed! Just had to modify the template CSS a bit :)

The next morning (the 4th of July, if you're keeping score at home) I picked up my friend Cori to meet our compadre Adrian and his amiga Jessica at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro. There was a ceremony for the ringing of the Korean Friendship Bell (which we missed because they did it early) and several vintage vehicles were on display.

This is the same place dad and I went for Father's Day but we missed something. Dad and I saw the Korean Friendship Bell and the southern part of the installation but we had not ventured up to the battery itself. It was amazing. We went into the Osgood and Farley Battery and explored the history. This place would have kicked some serious butt had the enemy been foolish enough to try to roll into the Los Angeles harbor. Long story short: we learned some awesome stuff and saw 18 feet of a 50-foot 14-inch-shell-firing battleship-destroying planet-exploding evil-grin-inducing hulk of a gun that was installed at Ft. MacArthur during its glory days.

Well, that would have been enough fun for one day but it's the Fourth of July! This only comes about once every year, I think. Dad and I headed over to one of his coworker's fiesta and had a good time. Andrew came over after a little bit and when it started to get dark he and I made the executive decision to go to a hill near LAX to see the area fireworks. From this spot we could see fireworks displays from the Coliseum, Marina del Rey, the Hollywood Bowl, El Segundo, and tons of other private ceremonies. Andrew was kind enough to lend me his tripod for the fireworks.

In other news: I <3 my new camera! Happy b-day, America. Live long and prosper.

Millard Canyon and Mount Lowe

2009-07-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday featured another day hike with Andrew. This time we went to Millard Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena, California (34.21487,-118.147847 if you're interested). When Andrew and I were planning the hikes most piqued our interest, this hike shot up to the top due to its dramatic forested canyon (complete with running mountain spring water) and an abandoned mine at the end.

We had remembered reading in the reviews for this hike that it was a bit difficult to navigate without a map. Well, we didn't have a map of the area but there was a rudimentary map posted at the outset with, as it would seem, more historical significance than navigational usefulness. Well, I took a picture of the map (just in case) and this image, viewed on the 2.5 inch LCD display on my camera, saved our bacon so many times it's almost scary. Scary that we were very close to just walking away from it with nothing more than a mental image.

At any rate, off we went. The first portion was a fire road, which eventually caught up with Millard Canyon. At that junction followed the creek upstream. There were definitely signs of man, such as lengths of iron pipe and what appeared to be an old dam.

After a bit of boulder hopping, we took a small offshoot to a place that looked like storybook mine territory. Sure enough, after some searching, we found it. The entrance was obscured by a large boulder that had fallen in front, but it wasn't difficult to get into. After about 50 feet, the shaft opened up into a cavern which featured a large, very deep hole which I would not have liked to have fallen into.

A bit deeper we reached standing water that would end up being knee-deep. We took off our shoes and socks and waded through the shaft until we reached the point where the gold miners said 'screw it.'

Instead of hiking back down the canyon we decided to check out the old Mt. Lowe Railway. After a strenuous hike out of the canyon, we reached a more friendly trail where the old cable cars used to ferry people up to the Ye Alpine Tavern. The tavern, once a luxurious resort at the turn of the century, is now in ruins. We took a short break here and on our way out of the area we saw a giant black rattlesnake. It started rattling and I was thinking about trying for a picture but since I'm not Austin Stevens, I decided to give our friend all of the distance he needed.

The trail from Ye Alpine Tavern to Inspiration Point had been graded for cable car use, but no tracks were laid due to insufficient funds. After a short jaunt, we reached Inspiration Point. This place was neat because it featured a "World Famous Telescope View" with many telescopes set up to point out specific locations in the Los Angeles basin as far away as Catalina Island. Of course, the haze made it nearly impossible to see past Pasadena.

We descended into Castle Canyon after taking a short break at Inspiration Point. The descent was very steep and taxing, but we eventually made it to another old cable car track. Before continuing, we checked out the Mount Echo, which served as the final stop of the Great Incline Funicular of the Mt. Lowe Railway. This place used to be grand, as seen in the following photo courtesy of Wikipedia, but it is now in ruins due to vandals and Mother Nature.

We followed the road to Sunset Ridge Trail which, coincidentally, we were on at sunset. The trail took us to the Millard campground and our circuit was complete. The hike was fantastic and it's really cool to know there is so much history and so many interesting things right in our backyard.

I'll leave you with an annotated map of our route, but in light of the details that cannot be seen, this would probably be a better place to check it out.

*UPDATE
A great source of information on the locations we visited in this hike can be found here.

Prints (will be) on Display

2009-06-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Good news, everyone!

So a few weeks ago my amiga Dorothy had a show at Coffee Cartel, a coffee shop located in South Redondo Beach. Both the atmosphere of this place and the show were amazing (as seen below)!

At any rate, I noticed that there was some art on the wall and I, being a young photographer, put two and two together and decided to see if could display some artwork there. So I packed up my stuff and headed over to Coffee Cartel today to try my luck.

To my surprise, it wasn't that difficult. I walked in, scoped the area out, and then started to talk to an employee. The employee took a look at my portfolio and then directed me to see the owner who was, very conveniently, around the area. I explained who I was and asked if I could display some of my photos on his walls and he agreed without even looking at my portfolio! I showed it to him anyway, just to prove that I'm not a fraud. And that was that. As soon as I get the photos printed and framed I will take them to adorn the walls of Coffee Cartel. If you're in the area, you should come check them out!

Cheers

Light Trails in Palos Verdes

2009-06-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Fiona took me to this place up in Palos Verdes last night which has one of the most incredible views in the South Bay. It was definitely tripod-worthy and I look forward to heading back.

The Grotto and Sandstone Peak

2009-06-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my friend Andrew and I went hiking up in the Santa Monica Mountains. I have to say that these were two of the best hikes I have ever been on. We had initially planned to go on two hikes in separate areas but once we reached our first hike we knew that we'd be spending the day there. Base camp was the Circle X Ranch, at the foot of Boney Mountain.

Our first hike took us from the Circle X Ranch down the Grotto trail. The trail was basically a descent into a ravine where we met up with a dry (in places) creek bed.

We were reminded early on that the area was rattlesnake territory and that we should proceed with caution.

As we continued down the canyon, water started showing up in the creek until there were pools of standing water. After reaching the creek we began to hit these very large house-sized boulders that had presumably fallen from the top of the hill. These boulders constituted the namesake for this hike, a magnificent grotto which featured a couple of small waterfalls and a crystal-clear pool. It seemed straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean or Tom Sawyer - I was expecting to see a treasure chest overflowing with golden coins, Pieces of Eight, and jewels!

After spending some time in the grotto, we decided to push further down the ravine to see if there were any more surprises - and we weren't let down. Not far down the creek and after another session of boulder-hopping we made it to a second grotto; not as breathtaking as the first but very cool nevertheless.

We explored a bit further but found nothing exciting, so we decided to head back up to the ranch. Instead of driving to our second spot, however, we elected to trek to the top of Sandstone Peak, which had been looming over us all afternoon. Sandstone Peak is the highest point in Santa Monica Mountains at 3111' [and not an easy hike].

The view was incredible from up there. It was so inspiring, in fact, that we decided to hike the entire loop around the mountains.

By the end of the hike both of my calf muscles and both quadriceps were cramping up pretty badly and I felt like I had been hit by a bus. I guess that is my body telling me that I'm out of shape. Despite the exhaustion, this day had produced two of the most rewarding hikes I have ever been on and I very much look forward to going back.

A Day at the Beach

2009-06-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

After a productive morning, Beth and I decided to spend the afternoon exploring the Palos Verdes peninsula and doing some seaside photography. We ended up at Royal Palms State Beach, just west of San Pedro. The facility was well-kept and it featured a fantastic view of the southern coastline (and perhaps Catalina Island on a clear day).

We headed down the cliff and walked along the beach until we hit a large rock outcrop, which we proceeded to use as a modeling prop.

She's a natural.

Father's Day

2009-06-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

A happy (somewhat belated) Father's Day to all of you proud dads!

I was fortunate enough to spend this Father's Day with my own father. Always up for adventure, we decided to trek down to San Pedro to check out the former U.S. Army Installation Fort MacArthur.

We had a great time despite the hike up a steep incline to reach the Korean Bell of Friendship and the strong southwesterly winds once atop the hill. The wind was so strong, in fact, that I almost got drilled by a model plane (not a small model plane - we're talking an 8 ft. wingspan) that was trying to land nearby.

It was fascinating to see the huge foundations for the gun battery and the tunnel that peeked out in what appears to be a concrete machine gun turret shelter. Another little juicy tidbit is that this is the filming location of one of the scenes in Bryan Singer's 1994 crime thriller "The Usual Suspects," a favorite of mine.

Cheers!

Opening

2009-06-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

"To all who come to this happy place: welcome." - Walt E. Disney

My plan for this blog is to share with you my photographic endeavors. I invite you not only to read and enjoy what you see here but to interact with me along the way. Photography is not taking pictures. Photography is storytelling. In that way, I would like to tell you my stories - but I would also like for you to tell me yours. That said, I hope you like what I have to say and I look forward to hearing from you!

-Mike