Here’s to posting again in 2009.

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Tags: night, fireworks

Alright, I lied. One more photo before I leave for Thailand. I couldn’t stand the idea of that ridiculous-looking deer being the front page of Optic Distraction for the next month. So I chose something far less ridiculous… a 50-foot tall STATUE OF JESUS!

Unbelievable. This is just outside Puerto Nuevo, Baja Norte. This shot was actually taken from the highway as we sped as rapidly as possible to get south of Ensenada. I wasn’t really prepared for this thing, but how does one prepare for something like this? On the bright side, the lighting made for one dramatic photograph of this enormous… thing.

In case you were worried, a Bishop from Tijuana did actually bless our beautiful 50-foot tall Jesus.

See you all in six weeks!

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Tags: mexico, statue

I suppose this one necessitates an explanation.

The story, as I see it, involves a young, teenage male. Unfortunately for this young male, he startles easily and is prone to panic. One fine Catalina evening, he sauntered across the volleyball court, enjoying the cool ocean breeze. Suddenly, a monster leapt from the darkness, snagging the top of his head. In just a few moments, the monster had wrapped his head up and the handsome youngster panicked. In so doing he just thrashed himself deeper into the grasp of the monster.

Of course, the young male is a mule deer and the monster… the volleyball net. This buck somehow wrapped his antler in the volleyball net, ripped the volleyball net support out of the ground, and ran back and forth across the court, dragging the 10-foot long 4×4 around as he ran. We found him in the morning, still attached to the net, and thus also the light post that the net was attached too, and not surprisingly, thoroughly exhausted.

He was freed by two lassos, a sleeping bag, and a pair of bolt cutters to cut the cable from his antler. Sad, I suppose, but somewhat hilarious. Especially when I imagined some sort of ”When Animals Attack” scenario. He is still running around Toyon with a bunch of volleyball net wrapped around his antler. Ridiculous. Both the deer and this crazy place I call home.

On another note, this will be my last image until Christmas time, as I leave for a month long journey through Thailand in a week. I hope the next 6 weeks treats you well - lots of exotic Thai images in just a couple months…

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Tags: b&w, catalina, wildlife

Baja has a lot of space. A lot. I wanted to capture some of that feeling - it’s pretty much dirt, sky, and ocean (if you’re near the ocean, that is). A lot like Catalina, but without the mountains. Quite beautiful… once you get the grit out of your teeth, that is.

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Tags: blue, mexico, sky

After a couple of shots of the location, I might as well show you one of the surf. This is the leader of our little journey, Mark, getting down with the Mexican swell. It wasn’t big, but it was definitely fun. And it sure beats Shark Harbor on Catalina.

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Tags: mexico, ocean, surfing

This is the same wrecked freighter as yesterday’s image. The lighting was amazing that evening, as evidenced by the colors and even lighting in the photo.

I posted a color version on behalf of my father as today is his birthday… Happy birthday, Dad! He always prefers the color version of my photos to the black and whites, so there’s a small gift for him.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.

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Tags: blue, boat, mexico, rust, sky

I just got back from a ”surfing” trip to Baja. We stopped by a break known as ”Freighters”, a not-so-subtle reference to this shipwreck marooned just off the beach. The ship is the ”Maria De Carmen” (or so a few sources say), and is now just a rusty home to birds. I took a number of photos of this thing in some outstanding lighting conditions, so I will probably post a few different images… let me know which one you like best.

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Tags: b&w, boat, mexico

Felt like posting again. This is some copper vents and such that were just put in place on a new building around the corner. The blue plastic protective covering is starting to peel back.

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Tags: circles, copper, blue

It’s been awhile, and I just felt like posting something. That’s me on the lower left in the window reflection.

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Tags: blue

I processed this one in the hopes of making it appear like a painting. Let me know if you think I succeeded. This is actually an old photo from last winter that I never did anything with. I like it now though!

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Tags: colorado, sunset, trees

This girl was one of an oddly large number of people that were facing away from the music during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Of course, her weirdness did made it possible to get a nice portrait.

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Tags: b&w, colorado, people, portrait

Even the best need to do it sometimes…

This is Béla Fleck performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Friday. He was playing with Abigail Washburn, and while I’m not a huge bluegrass fan, it was pretty amazing to watch him play. He certainly turns the banjo into a much more versatile instrument than most other bluegrass artists do.

I’m traveling back to Catalina today, so I’ll return to regular song of the day posting on Wednesday.

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Tags: b&w, colorado, portrait

I’m currently at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, enjoying the scalding sun at 10,000 feet as well as some live music. There are all sorts of little shops around the outskirts of the festival, including this one - a shop that sells nothing but tie-dyed t-shirts. Big surprise there. But it does capture the essence of the show… freakin’ hippies everywhere.

Anyway, more bluegrass stuff to come.

Song of the Day: Ryan Adams - If I Am a Stranger
Ryan Adams played the final set on Thursday night, though he didn’t play this song, one of my favorites of his. Not exactly ”bluegrass”, but oh well.

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Tags: color, colorado

This building is known as the ”Bay Window House” at the Colorado ghost town of Animas Forks. Animas Forks is hidden high in the mountains at about 11,200 feet of elevation, and lies between the towns of Silverton, Lake City, and Ouray. It’s an old mining town, and is pretty awesome looking - check back in the coming week for more images. Odd fact: my father slept in that house over 30 years ago on an Outward Bound trip…

Song of the Day: Sigur Rós - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
Surprisingly upbeat for a Sigur Rós song, this track is off the upcoming album Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, or ”With a Buzzing in our Ears, We Play Endlessly”. Most people know of this band, but I swear they seem as though they would have to try really hard to write a bad song. Highly recommended!

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Tags: b&w, building, colorado

Well, it’s been exactly 3 months since I last posted. So, I figured it was time to get back on the horse, so to speak. Not the most scintillating image to launch my comeback with, but as always, I like the grid like composition.

Also, I’m not sure if anyone has been trying to comment, but the comment form has been on the fritz. It’s fixed now, so uh, comment away…

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Tags: graffiti

Katie and I circumnavigated the island on kayaks to finish off the season this year - just about the perfect way to top it all off and appreciate our little paradise. We discovered some awesome caves - this one is on the Lava Wall, and the entrance is tiny. Once you’re inside, though, the cave opens up to a huge, dome-shaped room. This image was shot super wide angle looking at the west wall of the room with Katie right by the entrance.

Song of the Day: Mount Eerie - In Moonlight
This is an odd song. At first, I though it was a slow, spooky track about lost love… but at 1:22, it becomes a fuzz-heavy rocker that somehow still allows the beautifully layered vocals to shine through. And the haunting line, ”I will find you…”, repeated many times sticks with you long after the song ends. Interesting, different, and recommended!

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Tags: catalina, Negative Space

So I went hiking the other day on Iron Springs mesa when my peaceful walk was interrupted by shotgun blasts. I thought to myself, ”How weird… it’s not hunting season yet.” I continued on only to find this small pond with the maniac pictured above ”fishing” with a shotgun. I watched for a couple of minutes, and failed to see him ”catch” a fish, but the scene did leave a lasting impression on me: ringing ears. Sarcasm aside, the splashes from the buckshot were pretty awesome. Like all great ideas brought to fruition by the idiot public at large, he claimed to have seen it in a movie. Ridiculous!

Song of the Day: Mates of State - My Only Offer
Gotta love male/female shared vocals.

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Tags: colorado, toning, water

I’m back in Colorado, and Telluride is looking green, feeling warm, and smelling like summer. That’s means it’s almost time for bluegrass…

This is Colorado Avenue - Telluride’s main strip - at sunset during last weekend’s Jazz Festival. The jazz was great, but unfortunately high winds cancelled the hot air balloon show.

Song of the Day: She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
I know ”Him”, but I don’t know ”She”. ”Him” is M. Ward, who I’ve featured here before, and ”She” is Zooey Deschanel, an actress who I should probably recognize, but don’t. It’s a likeable song, if a bit ordinary, but if you listen to the songs I typically post and think, ”This is weird”… you might really like this track.

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Tags: building, colorado, sunset

This is Mark stealing the island’s road grader. He’s such a troublemaker.

Song of the Day: Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Yeah, it may be in Animal Collective style, but I think it actually improves on it. Sigur Ros is so unbelievably good… new album out June 23rd!

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Tags: catalina, people

I am headed to this beach today for a little camping excursion… too bad the forecast is thunderstorms!!!!

Song of the Day: Wolf Parade - Call It a Ritual

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Tags: catalina, flowers

I said I’d do it sometime in the future, so here it is. This is four images of the same spot in Swain’s Canyon - the magnificent backdrop for our campus. The first picture is just a portion of a snapshot I took one week after the fire ravaged the canyon. At that time, I hadn’t yet been asked to take on the project of documenting the stages of succession. The next three, however, are all from the same exact spot looking northwest, as specified by our program director. So they don’t exactly match up, but if you look, you can see the same broad slope just left of bottom center.

Pretty amazing, eh? It’s been quite magical to see the hills transform back to green… but now it’s May, the rain’s been absent for months, and the canyon is turning back to brown. Who says southern California doesn’t have seasons?

That fire will remain one of the most memorable experiences of my life for a long time. The song I mentioned on Monday captures the unrelenting shock and bewilderment that comes with watching a fire take away your job, your home, your life. That whole spectrum of emotions comes to me when I think of watching the flames and smoke from a few miles down the coast… and we didn’t end up losing anything important. Nothing. Not a single important item. That’s quite a testament to the incredible power of fire, and to the complete helplessness of watching 30 foot flames encroach on your home. Then imagine all the people that have lost everything to fire…

Song of the Day: Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires

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Tags: catalina, fire, landscape, photojournalism

Alyssa thinks flowers are boring. She wants to see a bison.

We didn’t see a bison. But we did see lots of pretty flowers.

As you have noticed, Optic Distraction has been low on the priority list lately. I don’t really expect that to change for me for a while, but I’ll try to do a better job of sporadic posting. It’s getting near the end of the season for me, and new stuff is on the horizon, so I have a lot on the old plate at the moment. But enjoy this nugget from our marvelous wildflower season!

Song of the Day (or Month, I guess):
Death Cab for Cutie - Cath…
I’m sure many people will dismiss this album right off the bat, and that’s fine with me. I am definitely not too cool to recognize a good song when I hear one, and this is a good one. So is ”Grapevine Fires”, which will certainly be featured here sometime in the future with a throwback image to our fire. Try it out - even if you’re too cool for a major label band, you’ll dig this track.

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Tags: catalina, green, kids, people, wildflowers

Not much to say about this one.

Song of the Day: Annuals - Sore

Another beautiful track from Annuals. This is off of their Wet Zoo EP, and mixes their unusual style with beautiful melodies and arrangements.

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Tags: clouds, sky

Since I got such a nice response from the last black and white wildflower shot I posted, I thought I’d do another one. This is a wild hyacinth, also known as a ”blue dick”. Have fun with that one.

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Tags: b&w, catalina, flowers

The floods and rains have given us some awesome wildflowers. These are California poppies, the California State Flower - illegal to pick, but oh so tempting.

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Tags: catalina, flowers