Big Day at Swamis

We've had some very large surf over the last few days, with the peak appearing later Wednesday afternoon and through most of Thursday. So, on Thursday I took some time off out of the water to take pictures of those lucky enough to be in the water and enjoying the magical rights at Swamis. Here are my pictures:

This woman was absolutely killing it out there:

One kneelo was in the lineup that I saw:

The set waves had nice open faces on them at first:

And as the wave made its way inside, this is what happened:

The area to the North was a bit more fickle, but a few nice rides showed their faces:

Nice bottom turn, followed by a sweet carve off the top of the wave:

It was definitely a good day for waves:

However, from the following picture you can tell than just about everyone and their mother were out there:

Four Billion Pixel Images

The Gigapixl Project is a fascinating look at high end photography, and what can be accomplished with old and new technologies when combined. While the camera which takes these gorgeous pictures is not digital (it uses negatives which measure 9 inches by 18 inches), the negatives are scanned immediately after the film has been developed. Once scanned, the film is archived in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, with all further work done using the digital scan.

To give you an idea of how large a four gigapixel image is, each uncompressed digital image requires approximately twenty-four (24) gigabytes of storage. If your computer monitor is set to a 1280 by 1024 display resolution, then you would need a grid of monitors seventy wide and 44 tall. Yowza! Take a look at the images up for display, and be amazed at the details!

Merry Christmas!

Two nights ago, in a late nigh pre-Christmas panic, I realized we didn't have any pictures to include in our Christmas cards this year. So I sat down at the computer and went through the digital pictures I took during the year, and settled on one featuring our three rugrats while we were on vacation in San Francisco during the summer.

Using Inkscape, I imported the image and added a bit of text to it. Here is the final picture (reduced in size by 25%):

Costco now prints out digital prints in around an hour, so I dropped off the image on my lunch and picked up 40+ prints of it after work. I was very pleased with the quality of the Costco printing, so I'll probably be doing a bit more of this in the future.

Have a merry Christmas, as well as a safe and prosperous New Year!

Pictures of Last Big Swell 12/15/2004

Last Wednesday, the largest swell of the winter so far showed up. With a shredded finger, I decided to take pictures of the surf instead of bleed in the line up. It was probably a damn good decision, as the waves were big and closed out at our local beach break. Unfortunately, on our lunch we don't have much choice in our surf spots due to time constraints, so Bob decided to go for it. As the pictures will show, it was quite an impressive display of nature's power.

When I arrived at the beach and saw the waves coming in, I thought to myself: “The sea is angry my friend...”

Bob paddled out to meet his maker, and maybe get a wave or two.

He quickly found one to his liking.

The offshore winds were a-blowing.

There was only one other person out in the lineup while I was there. Here he is on a nice sized wave.

It was a truly beautiful winter day here in Encinitas, with temperatures dropping into the low 70s. Hehehe!

Bob's final wave of the day produced a nice little cover up on the inside section. And with that, we called it a day.

Oceanside Pictures

Last Saturday, on the way to pick up balloons and a cake for my son's 6th birthday party, I stopped by Oceanside Harbor to get a few pictures of the beautiful day which was just starting out. Here are a few of the better pictures:

Lunch Surf Pictures from Monday

As promised, here are some of the best pictures I took on Monday, the day the swell came to North County. The tide had dropped quite a bit since my early AM look, and the inside was dredging up some pretty fun waves. The lifegaurd-on-a-ski was out, having some fun in the waves:

Tucking in for a brief cover up:

The inside seemed to have a head on it as thick as Guiness at times:

Sand grinding barrel sequence (think he made it? ):

Beauty, eh?:

So, how big was it out there? Big enough to do this:

And just before I left, a huge cleanup set rolled through. Yowza!:

Monday AM Surf Pictures

As promised earlier, here are a few pictures I took this morning of the swell as it rolled into North San Diego County early this morning. It was early enough that there were'nt a huge number of people out there, and the size certainly helped deter folks uncertain of their ability. Light offshore breezes were blowing, making for some truly beautiful looking waves.

Seaside Reef Pictures

The following pictures were taken last week on November 29th, during my lunch. It had been a while since I had taken any pictures, so on my lunch I stopped by the beach and snapped a few pictures. Enjoy!

Halloween Pictures

Just a quick couple of pictures taken before our three kids went out trick-or-treating. All of them had a great time this year, and raked in way too much candy for them to eat. Thus, as a responsible parent, I will be forced to help them with their loot!

Dolphin Interaction Program

On Monday, I took the day of and went to Sea World with my family so that our daughter could participate in the Dolphin Interaction Program. Instead of getting a bunch of toys for her birthday, this year she asked if she could swim with the dolphins. As you can see from the pictures, she got up close and personal with a dolphin, and had a great time. Click here to see the album.

Early Morning Surf Shots

I haven't taken any surf pictures lately, so this morning I woke up a bit early and scooted out of the door, hoping that the predicted swell would show up and hoping that the early morning wind would not show. I got out of the truck at Moonlight Beach, and snapped these pictures before heading off to work.

Becoming one with the wave:

Redemption:

Nice looking line...

A quick little sequence I stitched together:

Vacation Photo Albums Are Up!

We got back from our mini-vacation a couple of days ago, and today I finished uploading all of the photos to the web server. They have been organized into four different albums, corresponding to different locations where the pictures were taken during the trip: Monterey, Highway 1, San Mateo and San Francisco. Enjoy!

Pool Party Pictures

Last weekend, we had family down to just get together and enjoy the weather, and the water. Lots of fun and sun combined with good food and great company results in an awesome day! The Pool Party Photo Album is up and ready for viewing.

Del Mar Fair Pictures

I know that it is now called the San Diego County Fair, but old habbits die hard. I have just added a new album to the website, containing pictures from our family outing to the Del Mar Fair. Many a fried food was consumed, and the kids had a great time riding the rides and seeing / petting the various animals on display. It was a gorgeous day out, and a great way to spend one day of the holiday weekend!

Preschool Graduation Pictures

I've added a new album to the website, containing pictures from my son's preschool graduation festivities. We are all very proud of his achievements during this last year, and I think he is completely ready for kindergarten... after summer vacation, of course!

J Street Surf Pictures

After surfing at least once every day this week (and twice the last two days), I was pretty spent. This morning I decided to simply observe, and maybe snap off a few pictures if the conditions were anywhere near as good as they were yesterday. It appears as if the swell may have peaked yesterday in the AM, however there were still some decent waves to be found in the right spots. Here are a few pictures from this morning. Unforunately, the lighting could have been better, but we work with what we are given, eh?

There were waves breaking to the South:

And waves breaking to the North:

And right out in front of me, I saw a friend enjoying the waves:

Moonlight Beach, Early in the AM

The commute to work was unusually light, so I stopped by Moonlight Beach to see if the storm that passed through last night left some residual swell in it's wake. As you can see from the photos below, it looked real fun out there. Too bad about the high bacteria levels due to the run-off.

There was a slight off shore breeze holding the waves up just the right amount:

*Brrrrrrrr!*

This one guy seemed to be catching most of the waves:

South Carlsbad Photo Stop

Last Friday, the wind was blowing pretty hard, and since I had to pick up a new battery for my 300ZX, I decided to skip the lunch break surf and run a few errands. After buying a new battery, I drove back down to work along the coast and stopped to take a few quick pictures of the Carlsbad coastline.

While the sun was shining brightly, the wind was making a mess out of the waves:

While the water was not cooperating for surfers, the wind was providing a great opportunity for those who can surf the air itself:

And I was not the only one out enjoying the weather - some of the locals came out for a bite to eat as well:

First Pictures with New Lens

We have finally had some rainy weather here in San Diego, which is great because this has been one of the dryest winters in recent memory. Of course with the rain comes the nasty stuff that gets washed into the ocean, so I've taken a few days off from surfing and plan to hit the waves today before the next storm system moves in.

However, yesterday I made my way down to the beach with my new Canon 70-200 F/4 L series lens, and took a few inaugural shots with it to see how it compared to the old Vivitar lens I was using from my wife's older Rebel SLR. The lens performed great, with super-quick auto focus, and just about every picture turned out crisp and clear. I am stoked! Here are a few shots from yesterday.

Rat, escaping work to enjoy a few a few quick waves.

A nice looking left:

Two other guys out there:

More D Street Pictures

I've made it half way through my dry-dock period, and it appears as if a decent swell is arriving in SoCal for the weekend. So, on my lunch I headed down to our local break and took a few pictures of some friends and complete strangers. The set waves were probably shoulder to head high, and looked pretty fun at the low tide.

A beautiful left opening up with all kinds of possibilities:

Bammo! Kaboom! Lip smack!:

Pig dogging it all the way under:

Bob enjoying the waves:

A nice smack:

And the ever popular money shot:

Brian was out in the water as well, tearing it up as usual:

The locals were vibing me pretty hard the entire time I was shooting pictures. The probably think I'm some kind of tourist kook, eh?:

Le' ouch. Sometimes, with larger waves comes greater pain:

Yep, just another gorgeous day in frigid winter southern California! :>