Pinnacles National Monument
A couple of weeks ago, I revisited Pinnacles National Monument – a site that I briefly stopped at in June of 2008. This time, I took the entire day and hiked starting at the Old Pinnacles trail head to the entrance of the Balconies Caves, then back out and around via the Balconies Cliffs, past the Chaparral Ranger Station up to the High Peaks via the Juniper Canyon Trail to the Tunnel Trail. Then, passing through the tunnel carved into a rock formation, I hike on to the High Peaks trail which returned me to the Old Pinnacles trail. This loop was approximately 8.4 miles and took me about 4 hours with lots of stops to take photographs. By far, the best scenery / images were up to the High Peaks. The switchback trail climbs upward from the Chaparral Ranger Station with each turn providing great views of the rock formations and the terrain below. By going in January, the weather was enjoyable in the 50’s and 60’s — on my previous trip, temperatures were well into the 90’s in the morning.
Here’s a rough sequence of the route that I took with coordinates and mapping provided by my SPOT personal GPS locating device and Google Maps:
View my gallery of photos from Pinnacles National Monument
Pinnacles National Monument – Images by Jason O. Watson
NFL: Washington Redskins at Oakland Raiders
December 13, 2009; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Justin Fargas (25) leaps over Washington Redskins defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin (96) for a touchdown during the second quarter at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Washington defeated Oakland 34-13.
The first half of the Redskins/Raiders game was pretty enjoyable — the teams were evenly matched and the score was close. Then Oakland’s quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was knocked out the game for the entire second half with injuries to both knees. The Raiders brought in JaMarcus Russell who, despite throwing 10 for 16 for 80 some yards, was intercepted once, fumbled, and was sacked SIX TIMES in the second half. As such, the Redskins rolled.
This game was particularly fun because of the on and off rain showers that kept falling before and during the game. It would rain, and then the sun would come out (and I’d take some of the rain gear off) and then it would rain again, put the rain gear back on. So far, rain out here, compared to back in Virginia, is light and misty, which makes shooting tolerable. Regardless, the weather was MUCH BETTER than the 20 degrees and negative wind chill the last time I shot the Redskins last December at FedEx field.
20091213 – Washington Redskins at Oakland Raiders (NFL Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
San Jose Sharks NHL Home Opener vs the Columbus Blue Jackets
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on October 8th. This was my first NHL game shooting, and the first since I watched the NY Islanders play the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum over a decade ago. I was impressed with the crowd – it was the home opener for the Sharks and the 17,000+ fans were certainly very much into the game. This game pretty much had a little bit of everything – lots of goals (the Sharks won 6-3), a hat trick by Dany Heatly, a couple of good fights in the second period, and a penalty shot (where Heatley netted his third).
I shot the entire game from above in one of the video booths, almost entirely with my 400mm f/2.8L. The Sharks are reconfiguring their ice level photo sports, and There were only three holes to shoot from and they were quickly taken by other shooters. All in all, very fast paced and a lot of fun to shoot.
More images from the Blue Jackets at Sharks game
20091008 – Columbus Blue Jackets at San Jose Sharks (NHL Hockey) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Boise State at Fresno State – NCAA Football
The #10 ranked Boise State Broncos came to Fresno State for a Friday night NCAA football game under the lights. This was my first game since moving west, and I drove the three hours from the Bay Area for this game. Really glad I wore shorts because it was over 100 degrees at kick off (6pm). Fresno State really loves their Bulldogs and it was a lot of fun to shoot this one as there was absolutely no defense on either side of the ball (Boise St. won 51-34). There were multiple 60+ yard touchdown runs on both sides and lots of pyrotechnics whenever Fresno St. scored. Cool stuff.
Gallery of images from this game
20090918 – Boise State at Fresno State (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
A day at the races – Infineon Raceway – Sonoma, CA
A co-worker of mine generously gave me her ticket to today’s Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. This was my first Indy Car race and I had an absolute blast! This unique 12 turn track is a photographer’s paradise… all of my images were taken from general access areas and I did not have credentials (which would’ve gotten me further down along the wall and a few other places around the complex). Got to the track early enough to watch the various pre-race races. In the development race before the Grand Prix, there was a massive crash in turn 2 (7 cars, 4 of which had to be towed). There was a radio broadcast deck over looking the uphill part of the turn and I parked it here for the beginning of the race. Lucky enough, there was a crash in the first lap. This actually helped pole sitter and eventual race winner Dario Franchitti hold the lead for the entire race.
The races and great weather (clear skies with upper 70s) combined to make an excellent day. Definitely need to head back to Sonoma next time NASCAR and IRL come to town.
Gallery of Photos from Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma
20090823 – Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway Sonoma California – Images by Jason O. Watson
Alcatraz Island
Saturday I went to Alcatraz Island (and later Angel Island) with Shannon and hundreds of other tourists on board the ferry from Pier 33 in San Francisco. It was an early morning but an unusually clear and moderately warm day in the Bay Area. I’ve always enjoyed visiting and photographing National Parks and this trip was no exception — the NPS does an exceptional job of presenting the story of the origins of the island as a Civil War military installation, military prison, federal prison, Indian occupied island, and park. 82 year old former Alcatraz guard Frank Heaney was on the dock and gave a brief talk on his experiences working on the island. For me, it was pretty cool to be able to experience and listen to a bit of living history. The self guided walking tour up to the prison was very interesting – as was the audio tour that described the various areas and history of the facility. A great introduction to San Francisco – I learned a lot!
Gallery of Photos from Alcatraz
USA: California: Alcatraz Island – Images by Jason O. Watson
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Shannon took me to Monterey over the weekend and we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Really cool place – seemed larger than Baltimore – the big difference between the two, IMHO was that Baltimore seems more focused on the diversity of their exhibits where Monterey’s mission is clearly education based. Both are amazing places that are among my favorites places to go… Cannery Row, etc was also fun… was surprised at the quasi-manufactured tourist look/feel of the surrounding shops, etc. Regardless, it’s very nice to be shooting again after a hiatus from moving to California. Used a polarizer on a 16-35mm f/2.8L to cut through the serious glare on the glass… noise ninja helped some with the high iso needed in the dark rooms. Also learned that nearby Castroville is the artichoke center of the world… the entire town smells like artichokes and even the garbage cans have artichoke logos on them. Random trivia.
More images from Monterey Bay Aquarium
USA: California: Monterey Bay Aquarium – Images by Jason O. Watson
Sherlock arrives on the West Coast
After two trips (one by air, one by land) across the country, Sherlock and I finally made it out to California. I took him to Poplar Beach / Bluff Top Coastal Park, near Half Moon Bay, yesterday for a couple of hours. Sherlock met his first California Sea Lion — I guess it was a little different than the white tailed deer he’s used to chasing through the woods behind Redfields in Charlottesville, but the over effect was the same — Mr. Sea Lion was pissed, made a lot of noise and went back into the ocean. The fishermen in the background thought it was good entertainment. This was Sherlock’s first trip to the ocean since a trip to OBX several years ago, and his first sight of the Pacific. More photos previous trips are in the slideshow below…
In other news, I’m settling into the new job and am very much enjoying the change of scenery. Missing Charlottesville, but it helps that I’m in an amazing place working with and surrounded by top-notch folks. It may take a little while to re-establish regular photoblog updates, but I plan on doing so as soon as possible.
Sherlock and the Beach – Images by Jason O. Watson
