Santa Cruz

Spent the weekend in Santa Cruz and took my camera with me.  The whole time there I was thinking of Scott Kelby's Shoot Like a Pro tour and thinking of travel photography.  What things are iconic.  What are interesting.  What tells the story.  I don't know how successful I was as a whole, but I think a few moments I was pretty close.  I think I'll take a stab and putting these in a mini photo book.

Here are a few of my better shots.

from our bed and breakfast; tucked away behind a garden and really cute grounds.

a pseudo pano of a church from far away.

I thought this wall was cool with the texture.

Also from the bed and breakfast.  The waterfall was very small.  I got to use slow shutter speed.  Not bad for my first attempt.

from the B&B - the water wheel in the river

RR Tracks to nowhere

I was amused

Saw some OK surfing going on.

It was hazy, so I couldn't get a good shot of the boardwalk.  And when I found a good location, I was done shooting for the day.

Sea lions under the pier on the wharf.  they let you get really close to them (and safely behind a fence)

My seafood tacos for lunch

Scott Kelby Photowalk

Last Saturday, Scott Kelby hosted his annual Worldwide Photowalk.  My friend and I attended in Crockett, CA, which is underneath the Carquinez Bridge and home of the C&H Sugar Factory.  It's a very old town, run-down in places, not yuppified.

I was feeling totally uninspired.  I took what I think are technically decent photos, but really struggled with any sort of creativity and something that would make me go "WOW!"  (I really should go out and do photowalks more often so I'm not struck so blank when I go.)

At any rate, here are some of the best of what I took.

This was one of the more charming spots of the town.  I'm a sucker for long staircases with plants and bushes.

I kept seeing these little (no ... big) guys all over town.  On businesses, houses, fences.  It was definitely a unique part of the town.

A piece of the old and still charming (vs. the old and rundown)

The Carquinez Bridge(s)  I believe the truss bridge is the old and the suspension bridge is the new one.  Fun Fact ... when I moved here, only the truss was open.  I've lived in California long enough to see the new replacement bridge be finished.

These railroad tracks were the beginnings of what allowed the C&H Factory to be built here.  They go right by the front door of the factory.

Portfolio

I've created a portfolio.  After watching Scott Kelby and Matt Klakowski on The Grid  I decided to go ahead and really put some time and effort into my portfolio.  To really narrow down what is in it and such.  Even though I'm not really trying to be a professional (although I wouldn't mind some money on the side), a portfolio is a great way to really gauge your skills and improvement.  By putting only my best 25 images or so in there and updating it when I get better shots, I'm able to say, "Hey!  I've updated most of my images recently."  or "Oooh ... I haven't shot anythign better than these and these are 5 years old."

A portfolio is different than my flickr page.  Flickr is for photo sharing.  Where all my acceptable shots get placed for other people to see what we're doing, etc.  To hold all the photos from a given event.  But a portfolio is only my BEST shots.

So ... without further ad ...

Christine Roosa Photography