First stop was the Palace of Fine Arts, which of course is a classic…

All of the above photos are pretty much exactly as I took them….this one I played with a little bit…

Then we went to Lombard street, and took our life in our hands a few times, but got some cool shots. I think this was my favorite stop of the night. Again, these are straight out of the camera. Headlights….and tail lights…

and then the instructor said she would “light paint” for me, which I really had no idea what that meant, I just hit the shutter and waited…and waited…because that is what this whole night photography thing is all about…but sometimes it is worth it, because I got this….

This is my favorite shot of the night, and it wasn’t even one of the planned shots. At he top of the hill a few people were trying to get a cable car as it came up the hill. I accidentally jacked up my camera setting and wasn’t on the remote setting as it came towards me, and I didn’t get the shot. So I quickly turned the camera and pointed it uphill to try and get it going away from me. It slowed down just long enough and I hit the shutter…the long exposure and the street light created the coolest ghost effect. I brought the photo into Photoshop, but I ended up leaving it exactly as I shot it, because I couldn’t believe how cool it came out all on its own.

After some much needed Starbucks, we headed down to the water, where we shot 2:00 minute exposures…which let me tell you, is a long dang time….but the results are pretty stunning….these was shot at almost midnight…pretty dang cool.

Overall, this was really fun….and I can totally see myself fooling around with more long exposures and tri pod work here and there. But for the most part I’m going to stick to people that move and change and require me to think on my feet, and who don’t ask me to be so patient.

It turns out that this last minute adding of my camera to a Sunday tote bag was just the reminder I needed.

We were at AT& T for the Giants vs the Rockies June 5, 2011. I did not put that camera down for a single inning…I shot everything…I completely lost myself in the afternoon, the game and my camera. I didn’t realize just how much I needed to do that…and just how much fun I would have.

Here is my boy trying to take advantage of our amazing close to the dugout seats to get some autographs….

and some photos of that same boy (with a little help from dad)  getting a game ball…

And as much fun as I had shooting, it was when I looked at the photos after I got home that it hit me. The reminder of how much I truly love baseball and the simple joy that is cheering for your home team…and more than that, the magic that it is to capture that joy in a photo. This is what baseball is about for me…this is what life is about for me….this is my joy…right here… these two…this moment.

This is the best reminder of what my camera is for…yes it is my business…and yes it is a craft that requires honing, and all of that. But at the very heart of it, it is so much simpler than that.

Bottom line…it is a magical thing to be able to freeze a moment, a moment that can be looked at and remembered forever. I can look at these images and hear the cheering crowd, feel my boy jumping up and down…see him loving baseball like I do….see him loving sharing that with his dad (and me too).  This is the magic of why I started loving photography in the first place. These photos feel like a gift to me, a gift from a perfect Sunday.

This is my passion, right here…raw and simple and clear.

This is why I love shooting…and this is why I originally started a business to give this feeling to other people. So grateful to have been reminded of that today.

I took a ton of photos…the whole album is here on Flikr.

PS: Go Giants!!

I thought that I would start sharing a few more personal photos over here as well. So here are a few quick ones from Easter.

Easter is not a big holiday around here. We enjoy a little egg coloring, the bunny brings some goods. We talk a little bit about Jesus and Heaven and Gratitude and we hang out with the people we love most. I know it is probably blasphemy, but my favorite part is the coloring eggs. It is our one little family tradition…the three of us making a mess and randomly colored eggs. I these photos of stained fingers that are no longer pudgy and small…goofy smiles that have gaps from teeth falling out instead of coming in. I love that we have this time and hope that even though Easter is a pretty mellow holiday and my boy is more big than small, that we can keep this one little tradition for many years to come.

My nephew and sister in law…the spring in his step gives me goosebumps.

Even Pearl got into the act…

We found some other fun things too…

Including this old truck that I only found out later that my brother and his friends had a hand in the original demise of  many years ago.

Pearl got in the truck too….

And then of course, we had to play a little guitar…which I’m glad for because these are my favorite shots from the day!