Uploads from BobbyGibbons, with geodata

17-Hours Does Yosemite!

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:40:17 -0700

Yes, another short trip up north to Yosemite Valley. It was another last minute decision to take the 5 hours drive into Yosemite Valley to catch some Milky-Way awesomeness. Of course this trip did not contain an once of sleep between the two of us, just hunkering down on top of Glacier Point for the whole night.

The moonless night made for some pretty dark skies and even colder temperatures. The only light we had that night was a distant lightening storm that was attacking some mountains in the surrounding valleys.

This image was one of my last of the night (sunrise). I was about done from the long and cold night, but as soon as the morning light began to fill the valley, I had a second wind.

As for all these panoramas, they are always a choir to process. It began as 154 exposures of 22 campaigns of 7. While doing this, I had to move quickly since the light was changing during my pan. After all of that, I just let a poor Drobo moan as I began to merge.

Glacier Point is now open, so you all should head on up there one morning.

Spontaneous View

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:55:36 -0700

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

It has been a couple of weeks since +Khris Griffis and I pulled a turn around trip to Yosemite Valley. We made it from a bar filled with women wearing plaid kilts in Valencia to Tunnel View just in time for the moon to begin shinning through the valley floor.The moon never broke above the valley walls, it provided just enough light through the valley to give it a quaint feel. This is also about the time where Khris realized that he only brought a single CF card.

Yosemite Falls

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:21:27 -0700

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Yosemite Valley, California

Boy was Yosemite Falls flowing this past weekend. A welcome sight to see after visting a pretty dry dripping cliff this past labor day.

This was taken from Swinging Bridge around 3am along side a sleepy +Khris Griffis.

I'm still pretty exhausted from that up and back!

Protect Your King

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:30:27 -0700

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Yosemite Valley, California

This past weekend +Khris Griffis and I made an unexpected trip to Yosemite. The decision was made over some Sprite at a bar in Valencia and by the time we got back in the car, there was no going back! The next 24 hours involved over 600 miles of driving in my heatless Explorer on a trip that we were not clothed or geared for.

This capture of Half Dome was taken the following morning within the Valley Floor. At this point the sun was just rising over the valley walls and providing some golden goodness across the whole valley. It allowed this giant granite dome some amazing golden glow back-lighting to its profile.

Clouder Pano

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:21:52 -0700

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Malibu Mountains, California

It is starting to be the season of Clouderfall out in Malibu Canyon! So when we heard there was a chance of some fog rolling into the coast of Malibu, we hit our favorite spot to catch the views of clouderfall.

I was able to capture the 105 exposures to make up this panno right after sunset. This was just before things were getting dark and clouderfall started to roll on back to the coast.

It was also cool to see how green things were up there! Normally it's really dry and brown, this should be a fun filled summer of Malibu FOG!!!

Grand Avenue

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:58:18 -0700

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Looking down Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles nested high within the Walt Disney Concert Hall... Probably standing next to an unhappy security guard as well..

Living Above the Clouds

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 08:53:36 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Mt. Wilson, San Gabriel Mountains, California

While the rest of Southern California was doomed with overcast skies, some of us went above them to see something a bit dreamy. There is something super cool being on top of a bed of clouds. Enough that I dropped everything and made a beeline to the top of Mt. Wilson.

El Matador State Beach

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:29:06 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

El Matador is probably my favorite beach in Malibu. It home to some really neat sea-caves, tide pools, giant rocks, and cliffs. Though those cliffs makes for a bit of a climb to get from the car down to the beach. But from the looks of things last Saturday, that didn't stop anyone! The beach was packed. Even into the night when normally it is just a couple of photographers, it is normally completely empty.
This was one of my last shots before +Khris Griffis and I headed back up to the car. I was waiting for the stars to come out, also for all the jerks to stop shinning flash lights down at me and this really cool rock...Though we later found out those jerks were the sheriffs.

This rock is the first of many large rocks that you run into at El Matador. I've always kinda liked it, it looks like an anteater eating ants out of the sea. Though maybe it's just a crab-eater eating crabs... Khris was pinched by a couple of crabs while taking this.

Hollywood

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:51:09 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Last Saturday +Khris Griffis and I took a stroll up to the Hollywood sign to catch some light before sunrise. Unfortunately we did not make it up before sunrise, but we still got some excellent light.

The city has added a crap load of cameras and signs warning you about approaching the sign. They seem to have even repaired the fence and added even more cameras, so this is about as close as I got. While I was on the other side of the fence, I stayed back a bit. This is more then what another family of seven did when we were about to leave.

I’m not interested in the $103 fine and the trespassing arrest!

Surprised Glow

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 11:05:59 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, California

I thought the sunset was going to be an overcast dud. It was super overcasty all the way down to the horizon. There was no way of catching any sun with this deep layer of yuck.

Well, I was wrong, that think marine layer really lit up. I quickly ran into to the ocean, hopped up on a rock and started pounding out some shots. The glowing from the sky really lasted for sometime. The sea urchins that I was standing on, well… they are a bit shorter now!

Hills of Griffith

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:54:36 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

While we have many parks in Los Angeles, Griffith Park rules them all. The massive 4,310 acre piece of land is located in the center of the Los Angeles separating the different districts of this huge city. The park brings endless activities from the Los Angeles Zoo to a historical full sized railroad museum; you could even go jam to live music at the amazing Greek Theatre. While the possibilities are endless, the trails are not!

Last night Khris Griffis and I took another hike up behind the famous Griffith Observatory to catch some really cool light. While this little trek has almost become a bit of a bore, we decided to twist it up a bit and try out new trail. As you can see, it seemed to work out great!

Creatures Were Stirring

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 19:41:12 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

The 2012 Christmas shopping season has pretty much come to a close for us over here on the west coast. With major retailers now starting to close up their doors, I hope all of you gathered your gifts. If not, I hear 7-Eleven is open and has some gift ideas!
Last night, Khris Griffis and I stopped by The Grove to get some dinner at the Farmers Market and to catch some sights of shoppers scurrying around for some last minute gifts. For those not familiar with The Grove, it’s a massive retail and entertainment complex that is built right next to the legendary Farmers Market in the west side of Los Angeles, pretty much a tourist trap. They also are known for their massive holiday decorations and just over-the-top-ness, in the passed they have even made it snow.

For this shot we had to use our bags as tripods and battle the pesky tourist to squeeze to the front the fountain. We didn’t even attempt to bring in tripods just on the mere fact of The Grove’s crazy security presence. So to get this, it was just me on my knees, pounding out a campaign of exposures, and getting the sink-eye from a nearby tourist.

Happy Holidays!

Les Arbres Jumeaux

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:29:40 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Malibu, California

Griffith Observatory

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:56:28 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

If you have ever visited or lived in Los Angeles, you probably know the Griffith Observatory. This full functioning observatory is an extremely popular destination for tourist, locals, and photographers. In fact, you would be hard pressed not to find several dozen photographers not capturing its Art Deco architecture or the views of downtown from the south facing slope of Mount Hollywood. Hell..you even have a great view of the Hollywood sign.
I've been up to this observatory more times then I have appendages and at all different times of day. So I can clearly say, early morning is the best time to vist. Gates open at 5am, so recommend waking up super early and getting to the base of the hill before gates open then head on up. You'll get to enjoy this L.A. landmark almost to yourself.

This capture was the morning after we had a couple days of rain in the southland. That evening held some pretty heavy fog but I took the gamble that morning and the conditions turned out great. There is nothing like a morning after a heavy rain to clear up that air and make everything so contrasty!

El Capitan Meadow

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:49:12 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

This past September a bunch of us took a trip out to a vacant Yosemite Valley. The streams and falls were pretty much gone but the Hantavirus was just starting to be discovered. It lead to a great opportunity photograph the national park with little distraction of tourist!

This was taken in El Capitan's Meadow directly behind Northside Drive in the big open vegetated field. We were luckly enough to have a pretty bright moon that night to light up the face of El Capitan.

Next time I might just bring a lawn chair out with me!

Clouder Canyon

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:05:36 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

For the past couple of months +Khris Griffis and I have been shamelessly stalking this shot. Earlier this summer we spontaneously discovered this spot in Malibu where the fog blows in from the Malibu coast line and into the canyons. When this happens, we coined it "Clouder Fall."

I have captured some great moments of the fog rolling over the canyon ridge in the past during sunset, but have been dreaming of getting the fog pooled in the canyon under a blank set of stars. So after a ridiculously amount of failed trips and countless checking on weather sites, we finally got our day.

Perched on a Hill

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:43:15 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Starting to become a bit disenchanted of shooting the Los Angeles Skyline...in fact, I'm becoming even more nauseated of the whole Southern California surroundings.

This is a new view of the L.A. skyline taken from a top of a hill near Everett Park one really early morning. I don't think it's a great place to be alone, I had a Khris Griffis and a Dan Cardinal...

Peek-a-Boo

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:58:55 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Here's Jasper the Koala! He was just one of the many animals that we saw during our trip to the San Diego Zoo.

Le Coucher du Soleil

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:36:34 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

It's that time of year where we are beginning to see storms rolling through Southern California. When this happens, it always brings some amazing cloud work to occupy our skies.

This was our early October storm that moved through the southland, rather the tail-end of the storm. I went up to one of my go-to spots in the hills above Malibu to grab the last of the sun that day. Coincidentally I was sans a +Khris Griffis that day...it ended up being quite relaxing not having a nikon mucking up the works. ;)

Clouder Morning

nobody@flickr.com (BobbyGibbons) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:27:15 -0800

BobbyGibbons posted a photo:

Malibu has been one of my main go to places lately. It's full of all types of landscapes, architecture and otherwise neat little treasures. One of the first places that I always check is a turn out on top of the Malibu Mountains that I like to call "Pumba."

Pumba is high enough above Malibu that you are able to get above most systems that roll in from the coast. In past I have always been up there from sunset to late in the evening, but this time +Khris Griffis and I camped it out for 12 hours. It allowed him ample time to timelapes the rolling clouds falling into the canyons then to be sucked back to sea.

I captured this early the following morning.

It was cold, I had to pee, and after sleeping in the car all night...I was a bit loopy.

"Stay out of Malibu, deadbeat!"