Triathlete

Triathlete
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

A triathlon racer runs to the bike transition area after completing a 1-mile swim around the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf during the 25th annual Sentinel Triathlon.

Making me feel better

Family with dog at Twin Lakes Beach
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

So, tomorrow is the annual Night Lights for Peace here in Santa Cruz where an artist has decided to light up the coast with spotlights from the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse to the Walton Lighthouse. Last year I shot some pretty cool photos and I've been looking forward to shooting it again this year for a few months now. However, since we've had layoffs at the newspaper, we are so short staffed that there is no such thing as a regular schedule anymore. I found out today that tomorrow I'm supposed to work a night shift.

Ugh.

So after work today, I grabbed my camera and headed out to Twin Lakes Beach on the East side of the harbor to shoot the two lighthouses that will be lit tomorrow. Most of the shots were pretty flat as the sun was darting in and out of clouds, but I managed to grab a few that were at least salvageable.

This shot was exposed the best I could while shooting into the sun. My overall contrast was down and I had very little information in the midtone area. A lot of that had to do with the amount of moisture in the air (it's supposed to rain tomorrow night so at least I won't get wet).

I'm feeling a little better now, but I'm still going to miss shooting the Night Lights (sorry Kirby, I really wanted to be out there). Maybe I'll drag my equipment to the roof of the building and see what I get from there. Next month we'll be leaving our cushy downtown building anyway, so this may be my last chance to shoot from up there.

Do me a favor and get off the net and go buy a newspaper, I've got a wedding to pay for.

Sky Glider

Sky Glider
Originally uploaded by Anthony L. Solis.

The Sky Glider at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. This is a photo from June, 2006 that I found while organizing my photos in Adobe Lightroom. I know I haven't posted many pictures lately, but I'm doing a little house cleaning in my photo library, so some more older photos may pop up.

Also, I talked to the editor of Santa Cruz Magazine and she would rather I not post my photos of Peter Mel until after they are published, which is in November.

Another pro-athlete photoshoot

Last week, I was lucky enough to do another photoshoot for Santa Cruz Magazine. This one was for their Fascinating People issue. The editor selected 7 or 8 people and paired them all up with a different photographer. Originally, I was supposed to shoot a teen opera singer, which we had decided to put in a fancy gown and photograph in the redwoods. The only problem ... she was in New York. So instead, I got to shoot professional big-wave surfer Peter Mel, which I think was better.
I shot 3 different lighting setups for a total of 81 frames and it was the first time during a shoot that I completely trusted my hand-held light meter instead of the LCD screen on my camera. The results are fantastic. One shot may even be the cover, though I'm competing with a professional fashion photographer so I'm not holding my breath.
I'll post some of the photos either after they are published in November or after I get permission to do so.