What I Did On My Christmas Vacation - Episode One

It was a bright and sunny day and we needed to decide what to do for Christmas. Ok, it wasn't that dramatic, but we really did need to decide what to do. Kymberli and I wanted to do something different and fun. We thought about it and she came up with a great idea - to go to San Francisco!

So we had it all planned out and set our course. We'd hit S.F. for two days, Napa Valley for 2 days and then Oregon to visit her sister for 2 days. What an adventure! It was a great deal of traveling, but worth it.

When we got to San Francisco we were so different than most vacations. Instead of unpacking a little, relaxing for a few and deciding what to do we tossed our bags on the bed, grabbed our cameras and shouted 'Yee-haw' and scooted out the door. Ok, maybe I went too far on the "Yee-Haw" part, but we WERE excited.

We had a tour of Alcatraz set and needed transportation to the ferry, so we did what every person needs to do when they go to San Francisco - you need to take the trolley. It might be a bit longer and more expensive, but come on, it's a historic landmark.



We enjoyed the ride and the walk along Fisherman's Wharf. We only had to wait for 20 minutes or so and we boarded the ferry to the island. It was a bit chilly, but I think that made our tour that much more memorable. Alcatraz is desolate and very deceiving. It is only 1.25 miles from the mainland, but with the current and frigid waters escape would have been nearly impossible. I won't get into details about the island as you can look it up or go on a tour yourself. Here are some of the photos I took while on our tour. Enjoy them. Episode Two will follow shortly... I still have to go through the images. The best part of Day 2 was sharing a romantic sunset dinner at Pier 39 with my lovely wife. To be continued...



The irony with this photo is the bright, warm sunlight reaching through this window... directly outside of solitary confinement. It was almost teasing when you think about it.

webbed foot photography website is up!

We finally went live with our website today!! Yeay for us!

Go to http://www.webbedfootphotography.com and check out our new site. We have already started booking sessions for 2008! So far all in Orange County, but we might I know we'll be shooting out of state, too. Book a session now!

Second Teaser Of The Week

I know you have been waiting patiently to see more of this session and I thank you. Here are a few morsels for you to savor.

More From Our Session The Other Day

I finally finished going through the images this morning and what a great looking family. It was a great experience and thank you guys for allowing us to photograph you.

Here are a few more photos for your enjoyment. The new year is going to be great so book a session with us today!

Family Portraits In Under An Hour

Another beautiful SoCal morning for a family photo session. We shot in Long Beach with a beautiful family and a very energetic dog. We are off to another shoot, but here's a glimpse into what fun we had this morning. I'll have more up later on. It's going to be a busy day!

Sometimes You Can Surprise Yourself

We had a second photoshoot today in Long Beach with my wife's co-worker. I wasn't sure what to expect because the weather has been uncooperative this week (Thank you, God for the wonderful rain!), the wind was whipping at the beach and I had never met "H"'s boyfriend or her dog. Well, i was pleasantly surprised. "B" was a great guy and we had more than one quality chat about photography and life. We all joked a lot and just enjoyed the afternoon. The ocean breeze consistently got cooler and the dogs all around got friskier, too.

I have plenty of photos to share, but this is one of the very photogenic couple. I am always trying new set ups with my camera and today I tried adjusting to exaggerate the highlights and then did the opposite and did it for the shadows. Yeah, um... it worked! Anyway, I knew it would, but I wanted to see what kind of detail I could preserve. You be the judge and let me know what you see or don't see or if you would adjust something.

Enjoy the photos.

Can They Be Any Cuter?

We got to head out to Huntington Beach today for a shoot with a wonderful family. Not only were they open to anything, but they made us feel at ease and the kids were adorable. Mom and Dad were great to talk to and I even got a bit of a history lesson on the area. I love learning new things and I was amzed and what I didn't know about the place I was in. It was fantastic to hear all about the park. Thanks guys!

Here are a couple of shots to show you what I mean. Adorable with a capital 'A'.

Time Warner Extreme Road Runner vs. Verizon FiOS

For the past 9 months, the better half and I have been in constant contact with Time Warner Cable. No, we don't call them because we miss them or because we are friendly with them. The truth is they are lazy and that's why I was always on the phone with them. I had them out to our house 9 times in 6 months to figure out why our Road Runner internet service ran like a 56K modem. They switched the router the first time... and then after the 3rd new router they said it was my computer. They then retracted that and came out and replaced the cable, twice, and then the connections. They then hooked up their laptops and realized there was a HUGE problem. From what I hear, they do not want to upgrade an existing location that services the area. That is heresay, but we still had a problem. I took more than 24 hours off of work to have them tell me it was fixed and only to watch it drag along.

So, finally, I got extremely irritated. No, I was furious, and twice I was hung up on when I called. That was it. I called up Verizon and asked if they provided service to our area. Sure enough, they did. They screwed up the first 2 service appointments with not getting stuff installed, but tonight they came to get the box installed and set up the service. The guys were great and it took them less time than they said. Thanks guys!

Holy Schnikes, we have the fastest internet I have ever seen on any of my computers now. It is AWESOME! Kymberli and I are always trying to upload mass amounts of photos and sometimes we had to wait 1-2 hours to get photos online. Wait no longer, babydoll! I was so psyched when I downloaded a 30mb file in less than 40 seconds tonight. You have to understand why I was elated. I had downloaded the file to my other computer today and it took 2.5 HOURS. Unreal, right? Nope. Very, VERY real.

Needless to say, we are both happy and relieved that I don't have to deal with that anymore. We just might have to switch our TV service, too. If you aren't happy with TW Cable, go with FiOS.

Ok, I am now off my soapbox. Have a great night.

Belmont Shore Christmas Parade

Last night, Kymberli and I drove to Belmont Shore to watch the Christmas Parade. It was a first for both of us. Of course, we lugged our gear down to take some photos, too. It was a great parade. Both of us had a great time, although the chill in the air came on pretty fast.

Shooting events such as this can be hard when you are stuck in one location. We thought we had grabbed up the perfect spot to shoot, too. That was until we saw the giant spotlights off to our right... and it was right where everyone stopped to wave. Even the cheerleaders stopped there to do their flips and such. I had a few shots of them, but security was in the way. Bummer. I mentioned to K that we should have asked the security guards to sit just inside the fence so we could get a bit closer as the floats came by. Any suggestions from you pros out there?

Night shots are certainly not my favorite when they are hand held and shot with a flash. Oh, and remember this kiddies - take off your diffuser before using the flash at night. Whoops!

I'll be the first to admit, these are NOT the best photos. Not even close. I am pretty unhappy with them, to be honest, but I wanted to post these so you can see that everyone makes mistakes.

Here are a couple from the parade.