Friday, November 2, 2012
Santa Barbara Courthouse Clocktower

One of the best places in Santa Barbara to sepnd the day is the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. One of the most amazing architectural experiences around, and it costs absolutely nothing to enjoy the beauty and the view from the top. (Unless of course you have a photo shoot there and you have to pay for a permit, but this day was purely for the enjoyment.)

Sunday, October 28, 2012
Heavens Above

This view of the Milky Way Galaxy over the Santa Barbara Greek Orthodox Church is a long exposure taken in almost total darkness. The light inside the greek orthodox church is the smallest flicker of light from a very small bulb. The lighting of the thin clouds and shadows on the wall were cast by the glow from the horizon of the just past full Moon, which had not risen yet. Although long by normal photo standards, at 30 seconds the stars are still points of light rather than trails. This much detail in the stars would have been nearly impossible just a few years ago without a motorized tripod head to track the movement of the stars which, of course would make the objects on the ground blur.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
La Arcada Palms

Just off State Street, at La Arcada Plaza. This is one of those beautiful little spots that you might go right past if you're not paying attention. La Arcada is a nice shpping center on a little walking path back from state street that has some cute little shops and great restaurants. Definitely a great place to spend the afternoon on a beautiful Santa Barbara day.

Sunday, October 7, 2012
Santa Barbara

The classic view from the courthouse clocktower. I have been thinking about visiting the courthouse for a few months now. Yesterday the clouds were so beautiful I had to drop everything and go!

Thursday, October 4, 2012
Towering over Santa Barbara

A little bit different angle on the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Clocktower.

Thursday, August 9, 2012
Ye Cold Spring Tavern

This is Ye Cold Spring Tavern just over the mountain pass from Santa Barbara. It is nothing short of a local landmark. And they make a great pulled-pork sandwhich. The day we were there we bumpped into the owner as we were leaving, it was a lot of fun talking to him and learning about the history. To say nothing of the great experience of having lunch in a place that has been there for almost 130 years.

The "Cold Spring" referrs to a natural artisian spring that comes out of the ground at the top of a rugged hill, the base of which is just to the left of the photo. The interesting thing that we learned from the owner is that water must come from a higher spot than that hill, which is near the top of our mountains here. So odds are the water flowing naturally from the top of our mountain traveled under the valley from the moutains on the other side.

From the plaque in the stone...

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
El Paseo Fountain

The courtyard behind the El Paseo restaurant in Santa Barbara is one of thoes little jewels just off the beaten path in Santa Barbara that most people walk within 50 feet of without ever knowing it's there. This is actually an older shot that was originally published as a still image because the fountain itself was so beautiful. But sometimes it's fun to go back and play with the images a little and make something new.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church 360 degree Panorama

Santa Barbara is the city of red tile rooves. But there are a few creative variations. This beautiful BLUE tiled roof building is the Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in the hills above Santa Barbara.

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Thursday, June 14, 2012
Santa Barbara County Courthouse Mural Room 360 degree Panorama

There are few more perfect places to take a 360° Panoramic Photo than the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Mural room. The walls of the room depict major events in the history of California. The entire room is a spectacular work of art. Don't forget to look up at the amazing detail on the ceiling.

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Sunday, March 11, 2012
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church Sanctuary

This is an iconic little church out in Montecito, California. It's image has popped up everywhere from album covers to advertising according to the nice people in the office. It is a wonderful example of south-western architecture. It seems like it would not be out of place in the middle of the desert, or southern Mexico somewhere.

Saturday, March 10, 2012
Spirit of the Ocean

A sunset view of the "Spirit of the Ocean" fountain at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The fountain recently underwent a major restoration. The original sculpture (seen in this photo) now resides in the Courthouse basement. A new sculpture was lovingly carved from massive blocks of stone to match the weather worn original.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Bridge of Sighs

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse is one of the most beautiful buildings in California. This wing, unlike the others, is much more beautiful on the outside. The tower and the rest of the wing on the right of this photo were the former county jail. The bridge connecting the main part of the courthouse to the Jail wing is called the "Bridge of Sighs" after a bridge (Ponte dei Sospiri) in Venice, Italy. It was the bridge that was said to be the last view prisoners would have of beautiful Venice before they were led to their cells, and so they would sigh as they saw the last glimpse of the beautiful city. The Santa Barbara County Courthouse is a California Historical Landmark NO. 1037.

Monday, November 15, 2010
El Paseo Restaurant Courtyard, Virtual Reality

This spot is a slecluded little courtyard behind the El Paseo restaurant. It's an amazing spot all around but I really love the wonderful Mandeviiia vine. It's got to be at least fourty years old.

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Sunday, September 26, 2010
Santa Barbara Courthouse Figueroa Entrance, Virtual Reality

About a year ago I was working on a shoot of the Courthouse. At the end of the day I wandered around the Figueroa Street side, the side opposite the sunken gardens. Because of the spectacular views from the gardens, and the Anacapa side where the clocktower is, this area does not get as much attention from photographers. At the time of my original shot, the light was really low and I was not really sure what I would get. The resulting image was one of my favorites from that day. Recently I found myself in the area again at about the right time, so I thought I would get a more complete view of the same spot.

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Saturday, February 6, 2010
Trinity Episcopal Church Bell Tower

There is no shortage of beautiful architecture in Santa Barbara. The Trinity Episcopal Church (giant stone) church on State Street is something particularly interesting. Unlike the mission with its wide open spaces and rose garden, the Episcopal church right in the middle of things takes a little creativity to get a good angle for a shot. This particular shot was the result of driving by at the right time of day and realizing that the beautiful clouds in the evening sky would make a great background for an up shot close to the church. I only stopped for a couple of minutes, but I was very happy with the timing.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Courtyard

This is a beautiful little church out in Montecito. It's one of my favorite places to wander in the evenings with my camera. The architecture is really something special and the people are really nice too! This was actually taken the same night as a previous photo of the day which is now part of my Santa Barbara Calendar.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Figueroa Arch

This was one of the last few shots I took at the end of a very long day of shooting at the Courthouse. It was almost completely dark on the Figureoa side, so this was an extremely long exposure. Actually it was three long exposures combined to pick up the bright archway, the wall lit by the passing car headlights, and the near darkness of the sky. Today was a great day of shooting!

Monday, January 5, 2009
Mission Arches

I've been spending a lot of time at the mission lately. This evening it was to try to catch the animals in the Nativity Scene before they went away. I was too late! But it was such a nice evening I stuck around anyway and I'm glad I did. It turned out to be a beautiful sunset. As I was trying to get some new angles on a building that has been photographed thousands of times (many of them by me). I was thinking it may be time to get all my mission shots together in one place.

I received some really nice feedback recently which always makes me want to revisit a great subject. I appreciate all of the kind words! That is one of the things that makes my photography so enjoyable.

Monday, December 15, 2008
State Street Spiral Stairway 360° VR

Well it's been a busy holiday season. The photo of the day has been the photo of the month lately. That's not to say I have not been working on the site at all. There has been a lot of behind the scenes work one of the results of which is the new "browse" link at the upper right. And, at least I have been pretty happy with the few images that I have been working on. Most of them have been massive 100+ image panoramas like this one. It takes my computer more than a day to stitch them together after I do my work. But no more excuses!

This is a shot that I got one night when I was taking a break from the Joe's Cafe shoot. My wife and I were wandering on State Street a few blocks up from Joe's when we passed this cool entryway.

Monday, December 17, 2007
Mission Christmas Trees

Merry Christmas!

Some of the Christmas decorations at the Mission Santa Barbara. They don't usually do a lot in a flashy way, but I like the Christmas trees. They put them up really early too so you have lots of time to enjoy them!

Sunday, October 21, 2007
Courthouse Glow

Sometimes its nice to take a closer look at something beautiful. This is a gateway into the Santa Barbara Courthouse. The building as a whole is amazing, but as I am so fond of pointing out I really like the details. There is some incredible craftsmanship there that I don't think you would find very easily today. Perhaps the only thing that will make me stop sounding like my grandfather now (WHYYYY, IN MY DAY... !) is to point out that it was probably pretty rare to EVER find this kind of creativity!

(Unless of course, it was actually one of my perfectionist German grandfathers doing it! :-D At least I come by it honestly!)

Sunday, August 26, 2007
Courthouse Light

We are getting some unseasonable moisture from the hurricane that went through the Gulf of Mexico last week. The days have been really humid, but the clouds have been a nice change. Seemed like a good time for some evening shots of the courthouse.

This is actually a combination of about ten exposures in a technique called a High Dynamic Range Image. Takes a little work, but a normal long exposure would have blown out the image around the lantern and you would still not have been able to see the clouds and stars.

Monday, January 16, 2006
Courthouse Clock Tower

I'm always trying to find a different angle on my subjects. Especially ones as photographed as the Santa Barbara Courthouse. This is the courthouse clock tower... from the inside, straight up!

Cool architecture in there, but I rarely have the right film on hand to get shots of the inside. This was from my recent experiments with a rental Canon 20D digital camera.

Thursday, October 13, 2005
Dolphins at the Wharf

I really like the water in this image. The long exposure hid the fact that the water was moving pretty well in the fountain. If you look closely you can see where the drops of water leave the edge of the fountain and hit the pool below. But they disappear in between. The surface of the water was covered with ripples which caused the blurred surface as opposed to a smooth reflective surface of a less agitated pool at night.