Paul Gardner

On Sunday morning I managed to wake up in time to catch a great sunrise. After our 11 mile hike the day before I was pretty worn out and was not expecting to be able to wake up before the sun rose. I set my alarm for 5:30am for a 6:28am sunrise and when it went off I promptly hit the off button. Luckily I woke up again maybe 45 minutes later to some colors peaking through the tent window. There were nice clouds everywhere with the ones in the east starting to show some really deep reds and oranges. I quickly jumped out of my sleeping bag, woke my friend Andrew Riha up and said "GET IN THE CAR WE ARE LEAVING NOW".  A two mile drive and a couple hundred yards of hiking had us at Alabama Arch thirty minutes before the sun came up only to find a large group of photographers had beat us there. At first I was bummed out, but after meeting the instructor my mood changed. The instructor was Keith Skelton; another Pasadena Photographer. Keith was a really nice guy and was running an excellent workshop. I fed off the energy from his group and loosened up. Having a lot of other photographers shooting the same scene was actually a bit of a blessing in disguise as I was forced to find new views of an old subject.

This weekend I had the opportunity to head back up to the Lone Pine area with my friends Andy Riha and Jimmy Gallenbach to just hang out, take photos and relax in the Sierras. We originally intended to just have a mellow weekend, there were no real intentions to do any crazy or overly adventurous. We arrived at Tuttle Creek Campground in the evening, setup camp, ate dinner and went to bed. Upon waking and eating breakfast the next morning, we headed to the Mt. Whitney Ranger Station to find out what conditions were like on various roads and trail in the area. After listing a number of trails and destinations that didn't sound terribly exciting, the lady at the ranger desk said "oh you could also try Kearsarge Pass". My eyes lit up, I don't know how I could have forgotten about a trail that I had had my eye on for months. I quickly said "thanks" to the ranger, said to the guys "that's the one", ran back to the car and drove the 15 miles north to Independence. We turned left at the red, white and blue postal office as instructed and continued up the steep road to the Onion Valley Trail Head. Andy, Jimmy and I hit the trail at 10:00am on the money. The hike was a little over 10 miles round trip with about half the hike through a decent amount of snow. At the top of the 11,716 foot pass we were treated to an incredible, breathtaking view of Kings Canyon National Park. We departed the pass at around 3:30pm and were back down at the car around 6:00pm.



The only camera gear that I brought with me was my Nikon D3 and a 24-70mm f/2.8. No tripod or any other accessories. Most of my photos were just snapshots of the guys and a few panoramas. I made a rookie mistke and screwed up a few of the panoramas by forgetting to turn off my auto-ISO feature in my camera. Even in full manual mode the exposures varied slightly between shots in the panoramas due to the ISO fluctuating. PTAssembler did a pretty good job of blending the exposures and I was able to put together something nice to remember the vistas by.

After several months of sorting through photos and picking image sets and layouts I have finally finished my book. It is for sale now at www.blurb.com.



I am offering two size options for the book:

8x10 inch softcover and hardcover

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/879591

11x13 inch hardcover

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/879628

This past weekend my parents were in town and Lindsay and I decided to take them on a little trip up the Pacific Coast Highway to  Big Sur. The entire drive from Pasadena to the Big Sur Lodge took almost twelve hours with many many stops along the way.

Here are a few more shots from my September trip to Yosemite. Most of the shots are run of the mill Yoesmite National Park roadside scenic views with the exception of Vernal and Nevada Falls which are your run of the mill waterfalls on the side of a trail.

This weekend Lindsay and I took a trip up to Yosemite to kick off my Fall photo season series of trips. Our first sunset there was a complete bust. The colors looked like they wanted to come out but in the end it was just gray and dreary. On our second night we were up at Glacier Point and were treated to one of the better sunsets that I have seen in Yosemite. The colors and lighting were very dynamic; we kept getting bursts of color between clouds moving by the sun.

The Station Fire north of Pasadena is still burning out of control. I have been able to see flames from my office window almost every day since the fire started. Everyone and their brother has been taking photos of this fire so here are some more of mine.

Two weekends ago Lindsay and I headed up to Sequoia National Park for a quick weekend trip. We did very little research on the park and really had no idea what to expect. All we really knew was that there were some big trees in the park. The trees did not disappoint us. All the campsites in the central part of the park were full so we headed up to Grant's Grove and found a site in Sunset Campground. The site was beautiful; situated among the tall pines, sequoias and redwood trees. Taking photos of 30 story trees from the ground. They are so big that fitting them in a single shot is difficult and giving a sense of scale is even harder. While sitting around our campfire I was staring up at the stars through the trees and decided to take some cool shots of the stars trailing through the trees as well as the obligatory tent at night shot that I take everywhere that we camp. On Saturday we went for a great hike through Redwood Canyon. Walking through a forest of giants is breathtaking. The park has the second and third largest trees in the world but I am convinced it also has the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh.......largest trees. Every single tree seemed bigger than the last.

The past couple days in Southern California have been scorching hot. Temperatures today were pushing over 100 degrees. When my car sits out in the sun on a hot day at work the thermometer usually reads something around 110-115. Today after a full day of work the car said 132 degrees. Needless to say, a few fires have broken out in the San Gabriel Mountains directly north of where I am sitting writing this. The fire burning right now is called the station fire and is three to four miles north of where I work at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It was pretty crazy to see the flames move up the mountain and crest over the top. Here are a few shots of the fire from various places in Pasadena.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Downtown Los Angeles for Jury Duty and had to park at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert hall is an amazing piece of architecture. On my second day of jury duty I brought my camera to take a couple of photos at the end of the day. The shapes and lines remind me a lot of the slot canyons found in Arizona and Utah.

Next stop on the Gorge tour was Arlington. After several days of mediocre conditions the forecast was calling for 40 knots out East in the high desert town of Arlington. We hit the road for the 70 mile drive and when we arrived we were not disappointed; big waves and big wind were waiting for us. Once again I suited up and swam out in the river in some pretty rough conditions to get some water shots. Lindsay stayed up on the beach and took some long lens shots.

After a quick coastal trip we headed back to Hood River in hopes that the weather had cooled down and the wind had picked back up. We got a little of both but not enough. I still managed to get out in the water and convince the guys to go sail so I could shoot and try out some new gear like the remote backpack camera and 14-24mm lens port.

Over the July 4th Weekend Lindsay and I took a trip up to Oregon to shoot some windsurfing photos with all of our windsurfing friends. We were hoping to generate a bunch of new material to offer to magazines, sponsors and other industry people. The weather in Hood River was not cooperating when we arrived so we decided to make a trip to the coast in search of wind and waves. Our first day was spent at Oceanside, where I managed to get some good shots from the water. The second day was at Lincoln city shooting from the beach. Lincoln City had some great cliffs that were really dramatic when shot with a super telephoto.

This past Saturday, July 25th, Southern California was hit by a huge south swell that lit up the coast with larger than usual waves. Anytime I hear news of a large south swell heading towards the coast my ears perk up and I immediately start watching for the Newport Wedge to kick into high gear. When the Wedge starts firing, the Balboa Peninsula in Newport turns into a circus. Hundreds to people descend on the end of the peninsula to watch the freak show that is the Wedge. Wave after wave rolls in crashing on the beach, shaking the ground. Certifiably crazy body surfers, boogie boarders and surfers attempt to make a fast steep drop into a death pit that breaks in just a couple feet of water. Countless people break arms, legs and backs at the Wedge every year. Sometimes even a life is lost as was the case the day before I went down.

After driving around for an hour for a parking spot we finally found a spot and walked out to the beach. From the road we could see water flying up in the air before even seeing the beach; a sure sign we were in for a spectacle. Once we cleared the boardwalk we got our first view of the Wedge running at full tilt. Sets were breaking in the 15-18 foot range with maybe every other set being a standout set in the 25-30 foot range.

My idea was to shoot from the spots where everyone else wasn't. That concept was quickly thrown away as we approached the beach and saw that pretty much every single person watching had a camera. It seems that whenever big waves come in everyone becomes a professional surfing photographer. All the big glass and fancy cameras come out of the woodwork. The best part about the wedge is that the action is right in front of you, literally a hundred yards off the beach. Close enough to feel the energy and feel a part of the action. Watching the wedge at its best is an experience not to be missed. This weekend happened to be the largest anyone has seen the wedge in a decade. I count myself lucky to have witnessed a freak of nature and some brave watermen go up against such a beast. These waves were easily the biggest waves I have ever seen.



For more photos click HERE