I know of many photographers that will never see a project again after they have completed it. I am different. Several times throughout the year I will revisit all the images that I have taken since I started photography. I like to see how far I have come since I started photography as well as see how my style and decision makings have changed over time. When I started photography, I had no idea which images I should keep for further processing and which I should completely disregard, so I would only keep whatever image was easier to process due to my lack of processing skills. Today things are different, so I revisit past projects and I am always finding another image to process or reprocess using the new techniques that I have learned over time. Today was one of those days and I have some new images to share with you.
I took one of my most selling images and gave it an entirely new feel and meaning, and from the feedback it’s a sure winner.
(See Original Image: http://blog.charlesshowalter.com/2010/11/29/morro-bay-california-2/)
The next set of images are newly processed, never before seen images from me. These images were taken back in May, 2010 at Nikki Evans Mock Wedding Workshop. (Details: http://blog.charlesshowalter.com/2010/05/23/mock-wedding/)
Well not exactly, but I will be early Saturday morning. I have blogged about Morro Bay before in previous posts, but I really never explained to much about it. As you can guess Morro Bay is a bay, no kidding right?! Morro Bay is located on the 1-Fwy which is a known freeway for its spectacular views of oceans, rocks and mountains. Morro Bay is located in between San Luis Obispo and Hearst Castle. Morro Bay offers plenty of things to do for the entire family. In Morro Bay itself you can find pretty much everything to do on Embarcadero. On Embarcadero you will find fishing, kayaking, canoeing, whale watching tours, harbor tours, otter sightings, golfing, beaches, shopping, playgrounds, museums, art exhibits, and hiking if you are feeling adventurous.
There are other activities that are within an hour driving distance that from the heart of Morro Bay. Museum of Natural History is only a couples minutes off of Embarcadero located through the golf course. You will also find that the Estuary isn’t far from the golf course as well as Montana De Oro State Park. Montana De Oro State Park has a beach, picnic tables, hiking, site seeing and tide pools were you can pick up starfish (Please educate everyone in your party about proper handling). Heading North back on the 1-Fwy you will find a small town called “Cambria.” I highly recommend everyone to stop there and eat at the Main Street Grill if you love smoked food; but make sure to bring cash because its all they except. Then continuing up north you will run into Hearst Castle which offers some amazing tours and make you wish you had an indoor pool like they do. Still continuing north you will run into an elephant seal reserve and during breeding season you can see thousands and thousands of them (I do have an image in an earlier post). Last, but not least on the north 1-Fwy you will run into Ragged Point Inn. Ragged Point Inn has some spectacular views, walking path and does have hiking. The hiking at Ragged Point Inn is at your own risk and I would rate the trail as high.
As you can see, it offers plenty of things to choose from. If you are like me, the fresh, clean oceanic air and views will make you a visitor for life, especially if you are into photography and wildlife.
Morro Rock & Harbor
My dad came home from work today (Tuesday) and told me he isn’t visiting my blog because I haven’t posted in a while; and he is right, I haven’t been posting. It has been almost two weeks since my last blog post, so what have I been doing this whole. The week before last I was extremely busy working on a class assignment. I was spending a lot of time working on my résumé, cover letter and follow up thank you letter which were three of four major point projects.
This past week I started extensive programming again. I told myself about two year ago to never take on a project that would require more than one day of programming per month and it held true up until now. I started building a personal online printing service web site, which requires me to write thousands of lines of code. So I have been spending more then 12-hours a day doing nothing but straight coding, debugging, testing security, and designing. My intentions for this site is to allow family and select friends the ability to register, upload photos, and have them printed with professional results.
I do enjoy programming because I had a very positive start with lots of support from friends. They were always pushing me to become better, complimented me on my effort, as well as provide input on new features or designs. On the other hand, I do love photography and passionately want to improve in it, but it has been a rocky start for me with shattered hopes, let downs, and a bad experience. Despite all of this, programming isn’t the cream of the crop for me either. In fact I probably shouldn’t be programming, since it starts to mess with me emotionally. I literally become a zombie. I don’t want anyone to disturb me, I don’t want anyone to ask me do anything, and I turn down just about everything. I don’t not realize that I am in a zombie state until someone mentions it. Like today I was asked “How come you don’t want to do anything?”, followed by “Because you have been at that again.”, referring to programming. I am a completely different person when programming.
Fortunately, I am going to take some time away from programming and take care of things that I need to do. I have the next three days to wrap up any last discussions, take my course final and leave a note for future students. During this time I also have to get my gear packed, clothes packed, print reservations, update gps, and get my next college course supplies ready; because it starts the third day of my vacation. Hooray, for online classes.
To Zenfolio Users: Today I also did a complete rewrite from the ground up on my client login script. (See Zenfolio Forums)
I don’t want this post to go imageless, so I am providing some screenshots of the site I am developing:
