Went up to Sedona yesterday just for the day, and drove up Schnebly Hill Road near sunset — most of it’s unpaved, making for a bit of a roller coaster experience. The road is shut down after a few miles during the winter, but there are still some pretty amazing views. Grabbed this right at the end of the road as the sun was going down.

I usually don’t like photos that are too over-processed looking (or at the least prefer knowing when they are). The contrast between sun and rocks was so high though that grabbing a well-exposed photo was virtually impossible, so I thought I’d try HDR — figured it was worth learning a bit about it. Basically, you take a series of photos of different exposures and then use software to combine them in a smart way. I just used Photoshop along with some googling research to figure out how to do it. I think it came out ok — not bad for my first attempt — but it probably still looks a bit too “fake” for my liking.

Tough to take a bad picture here. I didn’t have a long enough lens with me to capture them, but some sea lions were just off to the left basking in the sun and enjoying the weather as much as we were.

Been raining quite a bit in Phoenix lately (although still 65 degrees in December), and along with it often comes some nice sunsets. It was getting pretty close to dark, but I knew a long exposure might bring out some of the crazy purple we were having a few evenings ago. I walked partway up some stairs a bit to get a better angle, and after a few attempts (and waiting for the wind to die down a bit), I was able to hold the tripod still enough for this 20-second exposure. Now, if only the pool were heated…

Visited Mr. Baker’s seventh grade science class a bit back. Ahh, seventh graders. Never a dull moment.

Went and visited my cousin Sarah’s exhibit recently in Portland at the Froelick Gallery. Her artwork is always quite amazing, and looks particularly fantastic hanging in this gorgeous gallery. I like the symmetry of this photo (especially the three people looking at the three white stands in front of them). Only wish that I had stood about 3 feet to the left to make the image even up a bit more.

Walking on the beach in Cancun, Mexico.