We took the scenic route from Taos to Santa Fe, which is only a short drive of 75 miles that took us a little under two hours. Starting from Taos and heading south on Hwy76, we turned left onto the High Road to Taos and followed the 98 and 518 to Santa Fe. The first […]
Durango to Taos
Yesterday’s drive was epic but rather long, so traveling from Durango to Taos seemed like a 200-mile walk in the park. Before bidding farewell to Durango, we strolled along the currently wild Animas River. Originating in the majestic San Juan mountains and flowing through the picturesque town of Silverton, it stretches for 126 miles, passes […]
Page to Durango
Traveling from Page to Durango via Kayenta and Mexican Hat is a 290-mile drive that takes a minimum of 5 hours. After having breakfast in Page, we drove for approximately 90 minutes and reached Kayenta, the gateway to Monument Valley. Kayenta is a township within the Navajo Nation with a population of 5,189. Memories from […]
Sedona to Page
The drive from Sedona to Page covers a distance of 160 miles and takes approximately four hours. Driving the 89A up North through the Oak Creek Canyon is already pretty spectacular, and after just 30 minutes of driving, we were already at 7000 feet above sea level. We quickly passed through Flagstaff and followed the […]
Road Trip
Join us on a five-day road trip spanning 1,150 miles. Our adventure begins in Sedona and moves onward to Page, where we’ll see the breathtaking Horseshoe Bend, the Glen Canyon Dam, and a nearby hanging garden. From there, we’ll journey to Durango, passing through Kayenta, Monument Valley, Mexican Hat, and Ute Mountain Reservation. On the […]
On-board the DJI Air 2S
Way back in 2015, we had built a huge hexa-copter (dubbed Dragonfly), its purpose was to carry a miniaturized DSLR camera, like the small but still kind of heavy Fuji X-M1. Including the camera’s battery and the 27mm F/2.8 lens, the payload for the drone was 407 grams. The camera featured an APS-C-sized 16-megapixel image […]
Extending VLOS with Strobe Lights
I don’t know of too many beneficial accessories you can mount on a DJI mini-series drone, but a really bright light could be one. When considering the Operating Requirements for commercial drone pilots, stretching the VLOS (visual line of sight) with drone strobe lights seems to be a really good idea. Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulations (Part 107) […]
At long last .. Seaview – West Seattle
At long last meeting Mel and visiting Tom in his new home in Seaview – West Seattle. The trip started with the two-hour drive (120 miles) from Sedona to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport. Fortunately, Southwest offers direct flights to Seattle and, gate to gate, the flight duration for the roughly 1,100 miles is a little […]
Rising from Ashes
When last we left our heroes … Flying a drone was always about photography. Years ago, I built the huge hexa-copter, we had dubbed Dragonfly, its purpose was to carry the miniaturized but still kind of heavy Fuji X-M1 camera. Including the battery and the 27mm F/2.8 lens, the payload for the drone was 407 grams. […]
Oak Creek Spire
When you’re driving down south from Flagstaff on I-17, the north-south Interstate Highway located entirely within Arizona and also known as the Arizona Veterans Highway, as you start down the long hill between the Rocky Park Road and Stoneman Lake Road exits, you cannot not notice a very prominent sandstone tower on your right-hand side. At 350 […]
How I shoot aerial panoramas
The tiny and lightweight DJI Mini 2 quadcopter has three panoramic shooting modes: Panorama Mode: 180˚ (7 images) Panorama Mode: Wide-Angle (9 images) Panorama Mode: Sphere (26 images) and here is how I use them. Usually, when I shoot videos with the Mini 2, I put an ND filter on the camera and if I […]
Elephant Rock
I think how you consciously entered Sedona for the 1st time will determine your favorite Sedona Rock Formation. In case you enter from the North, driving down Arizona State Route 89A from Flagstaff, Wilson Mountain might become your favorite. If you arrive from the West, driving on 89A, the beautiful sight of Capitol Butte or […]
How I print in Adobe Lightroom Classic
ICC Profiles An ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium. Before opening Lightroom, I decide on the paper I want to use and if it’s a new payer type, install the appropriate ICC profile. […]
Flashpoint R2 Transmitter / Firmware update using Mac OS
The Flashpoint R2pro TTL Transmitter is a reasonably priced device that when put into a camera’s hot-shoe, can trigger speed-lights over a long distance. It works well on my Canon DSLR (there are versions for all major camera brands), supports HSS (high-speed-sync up to 1/8000), 32 channels and 16 groups. The large graphic display shows 5 […]
My Gear
Cameras Canon EOS R6 Mirrorless Digital Camera Body Firmware: 1.8.2 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Body Firmware: 1.4.0 Canon EOS 6D DSLR Body Firmware: 1.1.9 Lenses Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC Super Wide Angle, Manual Focus Lens Sigma 20mm f/1.4 DG HSM ART Lens A015 Firmware: 2.01 [2] Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 […]
The Road to Sedona
Northern Arizona .. I don’t even remember anymore what had inspired it. Maybe it was one of the short stays at the Briar’s Patch Inn, or the family vacation when we stayed at the Orchards Inn, hiked Bell Rock Loop and visited the Grand Canyon, or way back in 1992 when we were driving down […]
You write your own history
Twenty-one years ago, my grandfather died at the age of 92 in the same house he grew up in. Next to the old pendulum clock in his living room, above his favorite chair, hung his wedding photo, a sepia colored image in a thick dark brown frame. Besides that wedding photo, there was only one […]
Brins Mesa
There certainly is something that makes this place very unique, making you want to return. Eventually, you will appreciate this spiritual and sacred place, it had been for Indians for thousands of years. “Energy Vortexes” or not, the sandstone contains iron, granite, and traces of copper, sliver, and gold; and I do consider them as […]
Any of you boys seen an aircraft carrier around here?
.. at the very end of Oceanside Pier, looking toward the setting sun .. “She’s lost that loving feeling..” In the 1986 movie Top Gun, this is the house the female love interest [Kelly McGillis as “Charlie”] lived in and was visited by Tom Cruise via motorcycle after playing volleyball. The house has a […]
American Graffiti, again.
Two years ago on a Thursday night, just after I had learned about the “Ramona American Graffiti Cruise Night”, I got the chance to take a couple of pictures. The pictures together with my thoughts can still be found here. Cruise Night is still going strong and there is still “no talking trash about anyone’s […]
The long road to Seattle
I don’t know where or when it started – maybe it was way back in middle school, when his ultrasonic distance meter won the science fair, or in 2012, the year when he spoke on “Digital Signal Processing with Android and Arduino” at four distinct Code Camps at CSUF, UCSD, USC, and the most beautiful Pecos Campus in […]
Victor at Sage Hill Drive
Only a few weeks after having considered shooting at San Diego Country Estates’ Sage Hill Drive, Victor contacted me. Victor is a Financial Consultant and founder of Orgallic. Orgallic mission is to enrich humanity through the global, ethical, and accountable pursuit of modern finance by means of a venturesome, pragmatic, and virtuous proprietary Structured Business Creativity. If you […]
Tis the Season
About 1,400 ft above sea level and 40 miles east of San Diego, Ramona is located within the beautiful Santa Maria Valley. With a population of about 31,000, the still unincorporated community includes both Ramona and the adjacent San Diego Country Estates; its notable residents included Archie Moore, light-heavyweight world champion 1952-62, and Casey Tibbs, a […]
Bellamia Salon, Spa & Boutique
Linda Hall, who grew up in L.A., worked as a hair stylist at Bellamia Salon and Spa, a restored 1910 house at 745 Main St. in Ramona California. The year was 2011 and she had worked there for only a short time, when Leanna Necochea, the owner of the store, told her of her plans […]
Kassel, a city in northern Hesse, Germany
documenta is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955. Kassel happens to be my hometown – so I might not be totally unbiased writing about this event. documenta is Germany’s biggest art fair and documenta 14 […]
Small Business Showcase – Beth Prinz
Last weekend, I had the pleasure to photograph Beth Prinz in her sewing room, located in the back of the 1st floor of her Ramona home. The room has a big east facing window (high-up, close to ceiling), which nicely frames the lush east hillside and rocks behind the house, and a smaller south facing window. The sewing room just […]
Crusin’ Main Street
Tribute to “American Graffiti” Written by George Lucas and Gloria Katz, Universal Pictures and Lucasfilm released American Graffiti in August 1973, a film featuring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, but also Harrison Ford and Mackenzie Phillips. A couple of high school grads spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies, before they go off to college. It’s the […]
Shooting Graceland
It’s a good thing that the ticket office a.k.a. Graceland Plaza and Graceland are separated by the wide Elvis Presley Boulevard. Visitors are shuttled from the ticket office to the front of the house, but will not find a single moment of solitude, while at Graceland, a place much smaller than I had imagined. Inside Graceland, it’s […]
Last Times
JULIAN PIONEER CEMETERY the final resting place of many of Julian’s early residents. Gravesites date back to the mid 1800s. “This historical cemetery began in the 1870’s amid the clamor for gold in the hills surrounding the newly established Julian. For many pioneers, the toil of hard life ended on the hill above Julian.” … […]
Cookstove Trail
The trailhead of Cookstove Trail is inside Oak Creek Canyon and just about in the middle, between Flagstaff and Sedona. Or more precisely, it is 15 miles south of Flagstaff or 12,7 miles north of Sedona on Arizona Highway 89A, near milepost 387, across a roadside water stop. The trail was originally built to provide forest firefighters access to Oak […]
Traditions
In a world of constant change, following or maybe even establishing a tradition seems unfashionable. Doing so still, may make you look antiquated, behind the times, even more so, if you are going out of your way, creating something non digital, something not sharable on Facebook. Regardless, since I am getting increasing enjoyment from the results of a […]
Gorgeous Lake Sutherland
The construction of the Sutherland Dam began in 1927 and it was not completed until 1954. Lake Sutherland is located about 10 miles northeast of Ramona, but belongs to the city of San Diego, which relentless thirst does not stop at Lake Morena (near Campo) and is very visible up here as well, approximately 45 miles […]
Tlaquepaque
Tlaquepaque (pronounced Tla-keh-pah-keh), Sedona Arizona’s Arts & Crafts Village, which some call the art and soul of Sedona, is nestled beneath the shade of beautiful sycamores on the banks of Oak Creek, but not quite as old as it looks. The conceptual history of Tlaquepaque is the story of Abe Miller, a successful Nevada businessman. […]
Jerome Arizona
In the 1920s, Jerome was home to more than 10,000 people, working in the rich (mostly copper) mines. As of the 2010 census, Jerome’s population was 444. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, it is more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level, located on State Route […]
Lunar Tetrad
The first Blood Moon eclipse in a series of four (lunar tetrad) happened during the night of April 14-15, 2014. Lunar Tetrad Total lunar eclipses are rare, only about one in three lunar eclipses are total, and about four or five total eclipses can be seen at any place on Earth in a decade. Every once […]
Oak Creek Canyon
Even after Labor Day, it can get pretty hot in Sedona, Az. Fortunately, Oak Creek Canyon, a scenic beautiful 12 miles long river gorge located along the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona between the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona provides shade and temperatures are lower than in town. The canyon’s width is ranging from 0.8 […]
Close Call
June 28 – my birthday – since my family is currently traveling abroad, I had the day to myself and one of my favorite things to do, is hiking the Laguna Mountains. While at 6,000 feet elevation, it’s only a 30 minute drive from my home, but with temperatures above 90 degrees and uncommonly high […]
Santa Ysabel Preserves
Especially in spring, when the grass still looks rich and green, this is a most beautiful place for a hike. The Santa Ysabel Preserve has two parts, separated by Highway 79 (the road from Santa Ysabel to Warner Springs). Santa Ysabel Preserve – West: is located north of Highway 78 and west of Highway 79. […]
Church of St. Mary the Virgin (Manhattan)
I had arrived in New York City late on Saturday night. A taxi dropped me off at one of the huge and expensive hotels (49 floors and 1,892 rooms) in spitting distance to Times Square. I was attending a technology conference and the first session was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, leaving me with just enough time to […]
Santa Ysabel Indian Mission
Santa Ysabel Indian Mission was founded on September 20, 1818 in the mountains east of San Diego (near the village of Elcuanan), as a sub-mission to Mission San Diego de Alcalá, to serve as a rest stop for those traveling between San Diego and Sonora (located in Northwest Mexico). According to the mission’s administration, the […]
The elusive Black Phoenix
In Greek mythology, a Phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically reborn. This beautiful bird is said to live 500 years, and then, at the time of its death it creates a nest and while still in it, sets it on fire. Out of the fiery hot ashes of its own demise springs a […]
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Between 1769 and 1833, Catholic priests of the Franciscan order established 21 Spanish missions in California. Mission San Diego de Alcalá was the first, founded in 1769. The Mission featured in this post, San Juan Capistrano, was seventh, founded in 1776. Looking down a typical exterior corridor Mission Architecture The typical mission architecture still influences […]
Flyboy
Welcome to San Vicente Resort and the “Valley of The Sun”. Nestled in the rolling hills of Ramona, California, San Vicente Golf Course is truly a great getaway from the stresses of city life. But this is not only a challenging 18 holes with a Par 72, it’s also known as the Valley of The Sun Tricoptor Airfield The Tricopter: […]