Super Blood Moon

Sorry for the inactivity! School has been killer and I haven't had time to edit the 300+ photos I have from various car shows that have happened over the past month. However, last night was the Super Blood Moon, a lunar eclipse coinciding with a supermoon, which won't happen again until 2033. So, since this is a once-in-a-generation (roughly) event, I figured this was a good excuse to duck out of homework and responsibility to take pictures, edit them, and upload them. 

I used my kit 55-200mm zoom lens to take these photos. I don't have anything witha higher zoom, unfortunately, but here is what I got. The first three were taken on top of a parking garage, while the other three were taken in the courtyard of a dorm. If only I had access to a place with lower light pollution.... oh well. I used long exposures to capture the photos, so that way I wouldn't use too high of an ISO and get too much noise in the photos. It's interesting though how you can't use too long of an exposure, otherwise the movement of the earth and the moon cause a blur.

San Diego/Coronado Island Long Exposures

Since I don't sleep until late, and I managed to fit my tripod into my luggage, I was able to play around with long exposures. The Silver Strand Bike Path on Coronado Island gives amazing views of the San Diego skyline, with the bay glimmering below. Since Phoenix, located in a desert, lacks such bodies of water, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take long exposure photographs of a city that actually can be identified as long exposure due to the water becoming glossy. So naturally, the first pictures I took were of the city. The first photo was taken in the late evening, so the blue of day still faintly remained. The other three were taken in the dead of night.

The locations I took the photos at of the skyline were around a mile away from the hotel I was staying at. Thus, it was a bit of a walk to get back and forth, so I wanted to get my money's worth when it came to subjects and photos. So, I turned my attention to the bay and the ferry landing. The USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) was still in port the first night I was there, with her registry number on her bridge glowing bright. I wished I could've gotten a picture of the Carl Vinson and Reagan's registry numbers as well, but their positions meant they were facing the San Diego side of the bay. Also, facing Coronado was the USS Midway museum, with her registry number, as well as decorative lights, glowing. I thought the pictures of their registry numbers glowing in the night would look fantastic, so after trial and error I managed to snap pics of them. Since I had to be on the ferry landing to get these pictures, I also decided to photograph the pier and local beach area, once filled with people, now completely deserted, save for the fishermen... more on that later. It's interesting what happens at night; while taking photos, I ran into a group from Turkey and talked with them a bit- turns out one of the men in the group studied engineering at the University of San Diego some 20 odd years ago. Night time is always interesting; a whole new group of people are out when the sun sets.

Back to the fishermen, the pier that is usually filled with tourists or people simply seeking a relaxing, fun time on the island was now filled with fishermen. Fishing poles and people lined the sides, with some quiet music thumping and muffled chatter filling the air. This being the first time I've ever been out late in Coronado Island, this was a completely new side to the place that I never knew existed. Despite it being so late, they had an energy with them, that I decided to try to capture with long exposures that would show their movement and activity. I call these photos "The Fishermen of the Night". 

Of course, how can I forget the Coronado Bay Bridge and the shipyards beneath it? To be honest, from the Coronado Island side the bridge isn't really in an attractive position; it just looks like a thin line stretching across the sky. But, the bay below it stretched far out in all directions, and the lights from the bridge and the shipyards certainly made things interesting, especially in the water reflections. 

The walkways emptied out by around 10:30pm or so. Cleverly, the LED lamps that illuminate the walkways stay at half power unless someone walks under them. I always thought the walkways were paved in a fun way, like a race course, and with the lights over them and city skyline in the background, I thought they would make for a perfect picture. Of course, when I first tried taking photos, the half-illumination status of the lights didn't create the bright, dramatic effect I wanted, so I had to run underneath each of them to trigger them before taking the picture. I find a beauty in empty roads and paths; perhaps its the philosophical and metaphorical parts of my brain romanticizing the images. Maybe the stillness invokes ideas of tranquility and quietness. But to see only portions lit makes the effect even more dramatic. 

However, these are the images I am the most proud of. Why is the sky so wispy, and why is the water smooth as glass? Well, each of these pictures were 8 minute exposures. I first noticed on one of my bridge pictures that lasted for a minute that the long exposure caused the clouds the clouds to be drawn out and the water to be even more smoothed over than my previous 15, 20, and 30 second exposures (naturally). So, I decided I would use my ND filters to try to create an ultra-long exposure, and after messing around a bit, I got these two photos. Since they took 8 minutes each to take, it was pretty time consuming so I didn't have a chance to take many. But, I am extremely happy with these.

I also decided to take a blurry picture of the pier and edit it, for l'art:

Scenery Around Coronado Island

While I love the desert landscape, with our mountains and sunsets, a change of scenery every once in a while is nice. Coronado Island/ San Diego Bay provided a perfect change for me. While I still think desert sunsets are amazing, there's something just as amazing as a sunset looking towards the ocean from a bay, as well as being able to see the evening light reflect off of the city skyline with glimmering water in front of it. The flowers that were around were also nice to look at, better than the usual creosote or weed flowers around here. And the ambiance from the island walkways filled with families and friends having fun just created a wonderful atmosphere that was peaceful and serene.

Now that I knew what I had to work with, on the second evening of our stay I took some more pictures. While for the first evening I tried capturing the nature/landscape and skyline of the city in the evening, on the second evening I tried to capture the mood of the place by photographing the people and areas around the ferry landing and bike trails- the carefree, happy, joyous atmosphere basking in the glowing evening rays of the sunset. 

The following day, the day before we had to leave, I decided I wanted to bike around the island. So, I rented a bike and followed the bike trails, as well as the roads to the beaches, to capture some of the daily-life scenes in the afternoon. It was great not having triple digit temperatures and a broiling sun constantly bombarding me like I would have encountered in Arizona if I did the same thing.

On the plane ride home, I intended to sleep the entire way since even though I was on vacation I was still not sleeping until close to 1am while waking up at 7:30-8am. However, just like on the ride to San Diego, I was woken up around 30 minutes before landing. I've always loved flying and being able to see the landscapes below and the clouds above. This time, I was sitting slightly forwards of the wing and the engine, giving me a partially-unobstructed view out the window (although I actually like sitting by the wings to watch the ailerons and flaps move, as well as watching the contrails form on the wings, so I was actually kind of bummed with where I was sitting). But, when I looked at the view below, I forgot about that disappointment and took some photos. It's amazing seeing the clouds at eye-level or below you. And, I could see the familiar desert landscape waiting for me below. 

Three years has been too long. I forgot why Coronado Island is such a nice place to visit. The weather, the atmosphere, the sights, it's a great place. But, my last sentence contains a key word: visit. After all, all the places I went to were really just tourist areas, places where people like me go to relax and escape. As much as I love Coronado Island, I wouldn't live there. While the heat wasn't so welcoming, it was still nice returning to my desert home.

Artsy, processed pics:

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Northern Arizona

Arizona. What do you think of when you hear the name of this state? For most people that I know/have asked, it's usually one or a combination of these words: desert, hot, cactus, Grand Canyon, illegal immigration, Republicans, guns, and/or Sheriff Joe Arpaio. But the thing is, almost all of those words only deal with the Phoenix-Metro area in Arizona, which houses over 2/3rds of Arizona's 6.7 million people. So while it may apply for the majority of Arizonans, the Phoenix-Metro area is only around 23,500 square kilometers in area, compared to the 295,234 square kilometers in area that the whole state occupies. Thus, there is a LOT of Arizona that lies outside of this sphere that many people don't think about. 

Arizona is a beautiful state, politics aside. It's amazing how driving only an hour or so north already begins putting you in part of the other 272,000 square kilometers of the state that isn't a desert burning at God-forsaken temperatures like 115 degrees Fahrenheit (for the rest of the world, that's around 46 degrees Celsius, but you have to admit, the triple digit number makes it seem even more threatening and Hell-ish). But alas, as you move north, the shrubs and cacti of the desert make way for thicker, denser bushes, and then eventually, real trees that are dozens of feet tall, laying in areas surrounded by grass and greenery. All within an hour or two's worth of driving. Fun fact of the day: The Orre region in Pokemon was inspired by Phoenix and the rest of the state due to the diversity of biomes (dry, flat deserts, high-altitude mountain ranges, deep forests, etc). 

As stated in the preview post, I went on a trip with friends up north in Flagstaff. We were there for 5 days, hiking and going to various places up north to enjoy the beautiful views and weather. Up north, there are real rivers, like Oak Creek, that we visited. We also visited the Lava River Cave, which was wonderfully dark and mysterious, as well as cold (around freezing temperature in certian parts). However, I did not have a chance to take photos in either of these locations. But, I did snag some photos at this mountain, whose name I cannot find anywhere. Absolutely beautiful.

We also hiked on Fatman's Loop, a popular hiking trail located within Flagstaff. The difference in scenery was beautiful; it was wonderful seeing a trail littered with greenery and tall trees, as well as clear, blue skies and forest all around. Sometimes I had to remind myself I was still in the same state. It's just so different from home.

Northern Arizona is beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I think the desert is beautiful and amazing as well, but each area has its own aesthetic that makes it beautiful. Although, the lower temperatures, pleasant breeze, and fewer people are also very nice. Sometimes, a change in scenery is wonderful.

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