So lately I have been spending a lot of time at my parent's rental house. The renter's left the place quite a mess with trash, holes in walls, damaged valves, leaks, dead trees, grass, etc... The place needs a lot of work. Anyways, so I have been doing a lot of repairs, cleaning, landscaping, etc... I wish I would have taken some before photos, but oh well. The place is starting to finally look habitable again.

Last night after working all day at the house I got to hang out with my nieces Aspen and Aeralyn. It was pretty fun cuz they have such funny personalities. So I was hungry (as usual) and decided we would go out to eat. When I brought up Chinese food, aspen yelled, "YAY! Chinese food!." Aeralyn then screamed, "Chinese Toys!" HAHAHA They crack me up. After long deliberation we were decided to eat at McDonalds for the deciding factor that McDonalds had "My Little Pony," for toys with the kids meals.

Ok well I am off to edit some pictures, and then go work at the house some more or go for a bike ride...

This week I noticed that I received my first international visitors to my blog. It makes me wonder how they found my blog, but I am happy they stopped by and hope they were at least mildly entertained.

Here are the countries that swung by this week:

Hong Kong
Kazakhstan
Finland
Italy
Netherlands
U.K.

Check out ClustrMaps to get your own map for your blog...

Well this week has been busy. It doesn't seem like I should be as busy as I am but here I sit behind on things. Saturday I worked and then saw a late movie (11:50 p.m. start time) with a co-worker. We saw "Yes Man," with Jim Carrey which was pretty funny. After that we headed to Denny's for some late night chow and craziness.

Sunday I woke up around 930 and after only 4.5 hours of sleep, I drug myself to my parents rental house to some fix things that the previous renters had destroyed. Let's just say the scene was not pretty and there is a lot of work to be done before it will be ready to rent out again. However, I do have more free time now that I am not in school so hopefully by the second week of January it will be ready to be shown.

After I left there I hung out with my friend Diane for a little bit. We both share a deep passion for photography so we share a lot of stories, tips etc... We are also in business together for weddings so if you know of anyone getting married pass the info along! :) You can check out her work here.

After that I headed to the location where I was to meet up with the Cordova family for some family portraits. They recently adopted a beautiful little girl named Malia.

Here is one from the shoot:

More Pics & story about the photo to come later... and Yes that is a rock in mid air being thrown by Malia...

After that I met back up with Diane to shoot with her for a little bit. She was shooting a young girl named Gracie and her older brother Tyler. Here is a shot from that quick little shoot...


It looks like I will have a white Christmas this year. With a little snow from the rain today and it looks like more to come on Wednesday and Thursday. I am headed up to the mountains and will spend the next few days there. So I am not sure if I will get to my blog before the big Holiday, so if I don't talk to you before then...

Happy Holidays and have a Merry Christmas!

So as many of you know, I have a 3rd job as 2 jobs and going to school full time just left me with too much free time, haha

Anyway, so we have a big box in the front full of toys for the "Toys for Tots" drive. Well I guess the other night some guy thought he would help himself to the large (like 3') Winnie The Pooh. Apparently he walked out like it was no big deal and the toys were there for the taking.

A couple of minutes later he came back in and people sighed in relief thinking that he would be returning the giant stuffed animal. Maybe the guilty conscience had got to him?? But NO! He actually went and grabbed another toy of some sort and walked out the door again. Hearing about it just left me dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it. The nerve of people...

Ok my rant is over.... On the righter side of news, I aced my final in Geology. Before my lab score was even entered I already had sealed the A grade. So I got a 98% in the class. I am still waiting on my other grades... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It's a funny feeling being done with my Finals now. It feels like I should be studying, lol Kinda weird I know.

I am starting to toss around ideas of where i want to go camping/exploring this next year. I am open to any suggestions. However, I wont be bale to travel too far so keep them limited to the Western U.S.

Here are some images from some of the places I was thinking of going....

(Images below are not mine and belong their respective owners...)

So I took my art final this morning and completely bombed the test. What sucks is I studied hard for it and knew the information, but just not how to identify the "isms" and pieces of art which was instrumental in being able to answer the questions that would follow it. I hope my term paper is good enough to hold my grade up to a decent level.

On another note... my pinky finger is black and blue from jamming it last night. Ouch! :(

Sunday was quite the busy day for me. I had some work to do in the morning, so I was up early around 6a.m. Then later I had to head to downtown L.A. for an awards ceremony that the Midnight Mission was putting together to thank some of their donors and volunteers. Learn more about the Midnight Mission here. I am lucky enough to be invited to some of their dinners, awards ceremonies etc, and I always have a great time and there is always some celebrities in attendance. Although I am only one of maybe 2 or perhaps 3 photographers I sometimes feel like a pseudo paparazzi, lol.

Anyways, a regular celebrity is Dick Van Dyke. Who is always in incredibly great spirits, and will even sing and do a little dance too if the mood strikes him. Anthony Hopkins was also in attendance so it was a great time for everyone at the event. I am not the "star struck" type, but I have to admit meeting Anthony Hopkins was pretty cool. He is also a very down to earth individual and genuinely interested in giving back to the community.

Well I have an extremely busy day ahead of me so I have to run for now, but here are some photos...

Sunday I had some time and I figured it would be good to go for a mountain bike ride. Although you re not supposed to ride alone, I figured its not that bad of a ride so why not!?!?. Anyways, I went riding in Cleveland National Forest and man did I feel out of shape. The whole way up I kept telling myself "going down will be totally worth it!" Well after losing a lot of sweat and stopping to take views of the scenery and 2500' of elevation I made it to the top.

After taking a rest, it was time to head down. I couldnt have gone more than 40 yards and realized something was wrong. My bike felt weird and I knew something was up. Another basic rule I didn't follow bit me in the butt. I didnt bring a spare tube or pump and my rear tire was flat. Unable to fix it I had to walk all the way down back to my truck. *sigh*

Ahh well at least I got some decent exercise in...

So I recentlytook some family portraits of the Abila family. I had beautiful light to work with and equally beautiful people and personalities as well. They told me that they had not had any family portraits done since their oldest son was a baby so they were definitely due. They also found out recently that their youngest has cancer and is going through chemotherapy treatments. I felt honored they chose me to spend some time with them and take their portraits.

Anyway... on to some photos from the shoot.

Man this week has been going by pretty quick! Well Tuesday night, my soccer team payed our first playoff game, and we won! Anyway so now we advance to the quarter finals next week.

School is going ok, I suppose. I bombed my Geology Test last week and I think my score was a D. Which sucks cuz thats really gonna pull my grade down. Luckily, we got an extra credit test yesterday and I completely aced it, so I think it should being my bad test score to a B. It just made me realize that I need to study a bit harder even when I dont understand something. My small misunderstanding led me to bombing my test because the questions compounded. Meaning if you missed one you missed a series which led me to the bad grade...

Today I was coming home and I spotted a brand spankin new Nissan GT-R. Now for those who don't know, this car (Nissan Skyline) has been dreamed about by sport compact fans for many years as it was built in Japan, but never sold here on the U.S. shores. Importing or acquiring them was quite costly (upwards of $100K) plus it was extremely hard to legalize them for the streets, plus more $$$. After halting production of the cars in 2003, many requests flooded to Nissan asking for the return of the fabled Japanese supercar. Well for 2009 they have finally decided to bring them stateside with their new design as well.

Some basic specs...
480 HP
V6 Twin Turbo
All Wheel Drive
193MPH top speed.

Need I go on???

Anyways here are some shots and for more info on it go here and the official site here.

Well obviously Halloween was on Friday. Feeling a bit lazy and the feeling that I really should stay home and study looming over me I made a decision. On one hand I thought, "How often do I get a friday night off?" and maybe a night out would be good for me... On the other hand I thought, maybe I should relax, stay in and study a little bit.

I decided to throw something together and head out. I went with my friend Crystal (an awesome hairstylist) and we went to this little carnival thing, and then just went and had drinks after. Nothing big, but it was fun to get out and break the routine up which seemed to be the theme of my weekend... On to the pictures which I think speak for themselves.





And one of me and Crystal after I stole her wig...


Here is a shot of my brother and his costume. Can you guess who he is supposed to be???



If you guessed Travis Barker of Blink 182, your right!

Saturday I worked for a bit before heading to Madison's 2nd birthday party. Madison is the incredibly adorable daughter of my best friend Marko and his wife Alisha. You can see some photos and stuff at Alisha's blog.

Sunday morning, Marko Madison and I headed over to Huntington Beach to check out some hot rods, but as it turns out we showed up on the wrong day. Being up early (despite the time change) we had some breakfast over at the Sugar Shack before heading back home.

That was pretty much it. I got to do some studying before class so I am off.

So Monday while I was at school reading through my emails I got ma message from my friend Ian. He was my best friend when I was a kid. For years we hung out, played soccer, went to boy scouts, camped, went on double dates, etc...

Well after High School we didn't talk or hang out nearly as much. We kind of lost touch which ws mostly my fault as I am not good at keeping in touch with family or friends. Luckily for me he hasn't held it against me all these years.

So I got this email from him on Monday saying that he was in town and had some time Tuesday morning to get together and have some breakfast. I jumped at the opportunity and got to meet his wife and his two adorable kids. I wish I would have snapped a picture of them. Anyhow, it was really cool to see my friend all grown and transitioned into a family man, a provider. They are such a happy family and were all smiles all breakfast.

Thanks Ian! I really enjoyed seeing ya again and meeting your family! The picture below is from my trip to Japan taken last year.

Ok,

So it's more than a day later, but I guess that's how it goes. I can't believe it's already Thursday practically. So Ill sum the trip up from the start...

Friday morning, I got my Starbucks and headed for school to hop on our charter bus to take us to Owens Valley. Here is the bus...



The way up was fairly uneventful. Our first noteworthy stop was in some old small mining town. Later we stopped at one of the more memorable stops called fossil falls. You can google it for some images of the place, but nothing does it justice as being there climbing through the dried up canyon. It was definitely the funnest stop just climbing around and squeezing through crevices and holes.

Upon leaving Fossil Falls our bus was having some trouble making the tight corners and drops in the dirt road. Offroading + Charter bus do not mix well and the bus left with some damage to both sides.



Meet the beautiful Arielle:



Arielle is my lab partner and was my "buddy" on the trip. Somehow time after time, throughout the trip we were always the last on the bus, lol.

Friday night we ate in lone pine at The Pizza Factory. Arielle and I started talking to Matt and Katie who were our "tent neighbors." Turns out they live right around the corner from me and they are great fun so they are a great addition to my arsenal of incredible friends.

Here they are in the morning after graciously sharing some morning brew with me :)


Saturday was a long day with a lot of stops. We went through the Alabama Hills where there is some really cool looking granite rocks. I took some time to start climbing again, but did not get a chance to get too far before Arielle and I had to turn around and head back for the bus, once again we were last on the bus.

After that we headed in towards Whitney portal. I could have stayed here and shot pictures all day. With the stormy clouds coming over the mountains it wasn't too long before we started getting some winds and some sprinkles and we were back on the bus. Here are a few shots before we left



Here is a shot of the fellow campers. Can you find me?


Sometimes as a photographer you mess up (I do this quite frequently :oP ). Maybe you miss focus, overexpose/underexpose, or any other multitude of things that may go wrong. However sometimes those shots mysteriously turn out way cooler than they are supposed to. This is one of those shots, and I really like it...


Saturday night we were in Bishop and I finally (after years of wanting to go) got to step into the Mountain Light Gallery. The work on display is truly amazing and it just left me breathless walking through... After that Arielle, Pat (the Prof), Kierstin (the T.A.) and I headed into a Japanese Restaurant. Arielle and I had some sushi. Arielle hasn't perfected her technique of using chopsticks yet, so it was pretty entertaining to watch.

After that we headed to the Starbucks where believe it or not, I did not order coffee! I know, CRAZY! Anyways, the four of us all got hot chocolate. Starbucks has some new flavors so I ordered the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate (I reccomend it), and Arielle ordered the Hazelnut(also not a bad choice). After trying each others H.C., we decided we would drink them 1/2 way and then swap. In total I think I ended up drinking like 1/3 of both combined while Arielle finished the other 2/3, lol. Anyway, wouldn't ya know it we were once again on the bus last again... Not to fear though, we got our Starbucks!


Sunday, we had to get up early and pack up. I was awoke early by chatty neighbors once again in the opposite direction from Arielle's and Matt & Katie's tent. (I guess it was ok though since my alarm did not go off on either day). Anyone that knows me very well knows that I am not a morning person. I like it quiet in the morning, I don't like to talk and if I can sit, munch on some food and drink my coffee in peace and quiet all is good in my world. Anyways, we wound up back on the bus to begin our way back home. Our first stop was at an old lava flow


After that we stopped by an old mining town. Which was tiny. We walked into a gift shop and it reeked of cigarette smoke so bad that within a minute I was feeling ill. After that Arielle and I had burgers finished off by a blueberry shake that hit the spot.

On the way back the bus watched Fools Gold with Matt McConaughey and Kate Hudson (sigh*). I watched it while listening to my Ipod and getting some mini power naps in.


To end this entry, an image of Arielle busting a move on top of some lithofied lava. LOL Good times.....

Well I am back from my trip. I got back earlier this afternoon around 4:30. I was pretty tired, so it's nice to be back home, but I had a great time. I did not bring my SLR, but I did charge up my handy point and shoot and got some snapshots. I will post more and write more about everything probably tomorrow after I catch up with a few other things, so stay tuned...

Hope you bought tickets to the gun show, lol...



We had to wake up early this morning, but this was my reward as I woke up and looked out the door of my tent...



And this shot looking the other direction towards the sierra mountains


The final two for tonight, I cant decide which I like better, the B&W or color version. Opinions??





Hope everyone had a great weekend...

Someday I will look back at today and more specifically this blog and laugh. Well at least I hope so. Today has been rough, and I hate to mention negative things or be negative in general because I am typically a pretty happy/smiley person. But here has been my day so far as it played out.

7:30a.m. - Woke up looked at the clock and thought "Oh crap, you're gonna be late for class!"
7:50a.m. - Parked at Starbucks to run inside because the drive-thru line was too long.

7:51 a.m. - I jump out of my truck (which is lifted) and when I do the door began to shut back towards me and the corner of the door slammed into my thigh. At this point I realize I am still 1/2 asleep and woke up in one of those panics which is never a great start to a day. Grrr.... Well no time to fret, lets get my coffee and get back on the road to class.

7:53 a.m. - I realize while driving to class that my coffee keeps dripping/spilling on me and my truck. It seems I couldn't get the lid to seal completely and every bump I hit seemed to spill a little more coffee. Grrrr....

8:15 a.m. I arrive at class coffe stained and splattered. Luckily I had my jacket in my truck so I could fend off the cold wind, but it also doubled as a cover to hide my coffee stains...

9:15 a.m. I leave art appreciation (prereq) class realizing that my Geology test looming just a few hours away and I had better go over my notes, and get more coffee to wake up.

9:45 a.m. - Sitting in It's a Grind coffee house studying I realize that My phone is busted. I shattered the corner of the display screen and there were abstract black spots blocking some of the screen. After thinking for a sec I realize that it must have happened while I was jumping out of my truck to get coffee at Starbuck's before I got to class. The good stuff continues....

1:00 p.m. - I walk into my Geology class feeling moderately confident for the test...
1:45 p.m. (approximately) - I hand my test in knowing that the results ogf my test are not going to be a favorable one. I do not know why I did so poorly, I could have studied better and more yes, but I was confident that I know the material better than what was on the test. The hardest portion was last part where we had to match areas of the earth to the terms given. The problem I had with the areas of the earth was that the illustration was hand drawn by my professor and the lables were not marked clearly which left a lot of room in my mind for misunderstanding. I fear I got a "C+" on the test and that it is going to bring my grade in the class down from the "A" it is now.

3:52 p.m. - I walk out of class feeling frustrated and tired.

4:25 p.m. A letter regarding a person of my past of whom I wish to forget, came in the mail. Someday (I hope) that saga will end and never be heard of again.

That pretty much sums up my day. After writing this maybe it's not so bad. I suppose it will all pass.

On brighter note, this weekend (Early Friday morning through Sunday night)I will be camping in Owens Valley with my Geologic Field Studies class. It should be interesting and a good break from the monotony. I thought about bringing my camera as I am sure the sunsets and area will be awesome to photograph, but I also have to fear theft regarding the situation of other students. I will however bring my trusty Fuji point and shoot. I just bought a new charging cable for it because I couldnt find the old one. The battery life is so incredible with it that I have only charged the camera 3 times in the 1 year I have owned it, so I must have misplaced it the last time I moved.

Wow, that was a lengthy one...
Anyway, I'm going to snap some photos in hopes that it makes me feel better.

Friday started with my niece Aeralyn waking me up around 730 A.M. She is such a funny little girl, she makes me crack up. She is still young enough that she slurs a lot of words that come out of her mouth and she tries to tie words into sentences. It's fascinating to see her grow into her personality through her little body. She says her best friend is my dog Nitro, but she calls him "Wytro." Seeing them play together is hillarious. She used to be deathly afraid of him when she first met him, but now she cant seem to get enough of him. Here is a quick snapshot of the Hula girl playing with my lens cap, and her hairdo from today...





And one of the older brother & Sister (Kanyon & Aspen)




After some breakfast my brother asked if I wanted to go Mtn. Biking. (I have got him hooked on mtn. biking now too!) To be honest I really didn't feel like it as I was feeling pretty exhausted and also a little worried about my Mid Term project that is due this coming week. Nonetheless, we headed out. I wanted to see if we could discover some new trails nearby and we lucked out. We found one that was technical, challenging, and quick in some spots too. Add in some jumps and you have a good variety to keep a smile on your face. *Did I mention the weather was perfect?? 75 degrees, slight breeze and sunny. I can't wait to ride it again! You can tell it isn't ridden much, but that's fine by me. There are some great views as well, so next time I am going to ride with my camera in my camelback.

Well I better get back to my mid term project. As my niece would say, "See ya later awigado."

-Ellis

So last night I went and played (outdoor) Soccer. I have been playing fairly regularly for the last few months, but it has been indoor Soccer. Anyway, it was nice playing outdoor as the pace is much different than indoor. I also ran into a few people that I knew from high school many years ago. To top it off we took the win so that is always a plus too. I have an extremely busy few days coming up as I have mid-terms to study for, a mid-term project, as well as a very busy work schedule for the next 4 days.


Happy Birthday to my buddy Marko (His birthday was yesterday) you can read his wife's blog at http://ocmilo.blogspot.com/.

I learned about Dale Chihuly in school today. He is a famous artist for glass blowing. You can see his website at http://www.chihuly.com/. If you have been inside of the Bellagio in Vegas, then you may recognize this work of his . Here is some of his other awe inspiring work... He has many other chandeliers like this as well that he has done...

Ok gotta go study for my Geology test now...

-Ellis

So lately I feel like I have had a hard time keeping up with the days. School is pretty much at mid-terms already and is in full swing. It seems all I do is study. I am so happy to be back in school though, despite the age difference amongst most of the other students.

I am going camping in a couple of weeks for a class trip. It's for my Geology class which I am really enjoying. I suppose it is because it tells me how the things I love were formed and how they relate. I love camping, and the outdoors, and landscape photography so it has given me a greater perspective on the beauty of our Earth.

Going through some old shots yesterday so here is one I took while I was travelling in Salt Lake City a couple of years back...



One of the SLC Temple



And one from my hotel balcony overlooking downtown...

Unfortunately, I dont feel like it and I certainly dont consider myself gifted...

I've been a bit tired and not getting enough sleep lately. I can feel the difference in how I feel and also my lack of wanting to study. I am finding it hard to concentrate in my classes this week and it's all leading me to get frustrated.

Anyhow, I was doing something and i saw one of those free IQ tests, and I figured that I would test myself on how smart I really wasn't... Well here are the results:


Free-IQTest.net - Free IQ Test

Apparently, a score of 130 means that I am gifted. However that barely meets the minimum score for gifted so maybe that means that I am above average and somehow got lucky on a couple of questions. An average score is technically100, but ranges from 85-114 I suppose. Above average is like 115-129. I certainly don't feel gifted as much as I struggle in my math classes. (Just for reference, Apparently Einstein had an IQ of 160)

Click the link above and see what your scores are it doesnt take too long, so dont worry. I think it took me about 15 or 20 minutes...

Today, Im gonna get Starbucks, study and run errands before school later tonight.

Hey all...

Well this weekend I was in Beautiful San Diego. Its been a while since I've been down there and it reminded me of how much I like it. Its such great quick getaway that rewards you with good weather, great people and lots of things to do. Its a great atmosphere...

Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, but I will have good memories from Old town San Diego and the bomb Mexican food at the Old Town Mexican cafe, Saturday night at Gordon Biersch, and all of the great people I met and hung out with.

On another note, I got some images to post from my vacation in Idaho. Hope you enjoy them...

Found this dead tree while riding ATV's in the backcountry of the Sawtooth Mountains...



I also ran into this doe...


More images while camping in the Sawtooths...





The campfire...



A trip to the ghost town of Custer... *Side note* check out the clouds! Cloud formations seem to be different than they are in California. It leads to very dramatic skies as you will see in some of the following images...













Old Sears catalog from 1902!



And some images from my grandparents back deck overlooking their land/farm....







Lately, I have had an obsession with developing everything in B&W!!!



Well I hope you enjoyed the photos... Please feel free to comment, it's good to know people are stopping in.

Until Next time...