Chicago Dreaming

The city of Chicago has one of the best skylines in the world... and there is no better place to enjoy it than from the park in front of the Planetarium. When I was young, my parents used to take me and my brother for picnics here and we would watch planes fly overhead. The park is still there (as is the beautiful view of the city), but Meigs Field has been gone for a long time.

This photo is a self portrait of me enjoying the view (it was a bit chilly that night). 

Central Coast Beauty

Another random/beautiful beach in Central California. There was supposed to be a good surf spot somewhere around here... however, the swell was a bit too small and I don't think it was breaking (or I couldn't find it). 

The Resort at Musket Cove

Looking down at Musket Cove Resort

If I was asked to describe Musket Cove Resort in one statement, it would be "laid back luxury". If you wanted to hang out in the spa, hire a private sailboat, or arrange for a private picnic on the beach, there was someone at the resort that would do that for you (at a cost)... or if you wanted to borrow a kayak for the day and find your own private beach, you could do that as well (for free). I've stayed in many luxury resorts that would charge you for every little extra thing, but Musket Cove wasn't like that at all. In fact, they even encouraged guests to go to a local market for food and hand crafted souvenirs. You definitely got what you paid for... and they made you feel like part of a community.

Welcoming beach party

The watersports area.. free snorkel gear, kayaks, and wind surfing equipment for all (I had some struggles with the wind surfing stuff) 

A true "house boat"

Looking at my beach front villa accomodations

Wedding... "Fiji Style"

As I was paddling around the lagoon between two islands in Fiji, I noticed boats carrying supplies back and forth from a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. After watching them for a little bit, I realized that they were setting up for a wedding. Imagine having or going to a wedding in the middle of the ocean... I think it would be pretty incredible. I thought about sticking around to watch the ceremony, but I had already gotten a lot of sun and decided to cruise back to the shade of some palm trees. However, before I bailed, I decided to take a few photos.

My Fijian Adventure - Exploring the Ocean

About a mile out to sea (from Malolo Lailai Island in Fiji), a sandbar forms between two reefs at low tide. I decided to take a kayak, my camera, some snorkel gear, water, and A LOT of sunscreen with me to this amazing spot. I started my journey around medium tide... so the sandbar had not shown yet. However, I scouted out the spot the day prior (when I was passing by on a boat to go surfing) and had a pretty good idea where it would form. A mile paddle on a kayak is relatively easy in calm seas... but I had a lingering fear that my camera would fall out and get destroyed. Therefore, I went a bit slower than I otherwise would have (and wrapped my camera up in several plastic bags, a camera case, and a backpack).

When I floated up to the spot, a sliver of sand had started to show (as seen in the top image). It was incredible to be in the middle of the ocean with no one else around me... and no sounds other than the ocean and an occasional boat. As the tide continued to drop, the sandbar continued to grow... at its biggest, it's about a half mile in length. However, like anything in the ocean, it's constantly changing... and by the day I left, it had shifted a couple hundred meters to the south.

Surrounding the sandbar are coral reefs... and just outside the reefs, the ocean depth drops rather significantly. This made for some incredible snorkeling! (which is why I brought the snorkel gear) I did some free dives down to the ocean floor and was surrounded by hundreds of colorful fish. It was a pretty rad experience.

In the second image (with sailboat), you can see how shallow the ocean is in this area. During low tide, boats coming to/from the island had to take a much longer route to avoid the reefs. If I had wanted to, I could have walked all the way to where that sailboat was.

Junk Boat Skyline

Walking along the Avenue of the Stars (on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong), you have an incredible view of the Hong Kong Island skyline. On this particular night, there was a "junk boat" wedged along the shoreline. I wasn't sure if it had gotten stuck or if it broken down? Nonetheless, it made for an interesting silhouette as I posed it with the Hong Kong skyline. On this particular night, there was a misty rain and fog was covering the building tops (was quite chilly and I didn't come prepared with a heavy jacket). The fog made the lights in the background glow a lot more than usual. 

Sunrise Descent to ORD

Look closely at the shoreline and you can see smoke coming out of a nuclear power plant. This is the Indiana/Michigan side of the lake.

On an American flight from BOS to ORD. The series of photos here document the sunrise descent to ORD... first, flying over lake Michigan and then going past the city of Chicago. One of the reasons I like taking the 6AM flight to Chicago (other than the fact that it's the least likely to be delayed), is that you can see dramatic sunrises like this (just need to sit on the left hand side of the plane). 

Right now I'm about halfway over Lake Michigan. The center of the lake was covered in fog.

First glimpse of the Chicago skyline as we come out from the fog.

The city had a bit of a haze over it on this particular morning... and since the sun was still at such a low angle, it was casting shadows in the haze (behind the buildings). I thought it was a cool effect.

Retro Black & White

The Atlantic recently did a 20 part retrospective called World War II in Photos. If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend taking the time to view it. They have some incredibly powerful photos. Anyways, I wanted to try and re-create the look of some of those images... and these are a few of my attempts. I think the black and white effect along with a high contrast makes for more dramatic images.

Sunset Silhouette Over the Charles

I was riding my bike along the Charles River and saw an incredible sunset. I stopped for a moment to take some pictures. The trees along the river provided a very nice frame.

Falling Back to Boston

Had a lovely trip to Northern California... but now it's time to be back in New England and enjoy the fall season. Leaves in the process of changing along the Charles River Esplanade.

The Esplanade Colors

Relaxing along the Charles River Esplanade... a preview of the fall colors yet to come.

Autumn at the Boston Public Gardens

Relaxing under a tree in the Boston Public Gardens. As you can see, some of the trees are starting to change color.

I actually had to wait in a bit of a line to take this picture. There were a group of people lined up under this tree shooting away... I'm sure if you do a google image search right now, you'll find a bunch of images that look similar. Nonetheless, I like it!

A Simple Tree Along the River

I took this shot right as the sun was about to go down... did a relatively long exposure. There was a big light shining up at the tree which gave it an illuminated effect. This allowed you to see some of the details on the branches even though the sun was below the horizon. I really liked the combination of colors that were created.