Jim Nix 8/14/19 Jim Nix 8/14/19

Inside the Ferry Building

One of my favorite spots in one of my favorite cities…

Every time I visit San Francisco, I make a point to get over to the Ferry Building. It’s just a lovely structure and something about it just draws me in, every time. I have shot here before sunset and after sunset, and at all times in between. Regardless of the time of day or the associated crowds, it’s just a lovely place to see and photograph. Highly recommend if you are visiting this beautiful city!

Jim Nix 7/31/19 Jim Nix 7/31/19

Chasing fame and fortune

A couple of shots of that most famous of signs out West…

Whenever I see a picture of the Hollywood sign, I think of all the stories of all the people who ran out there chasing fame and fortune. Most of them are forgotten, and have moved on, but I am sure it still draws quite a few every year. Not me though, I would never want to live in LA. But when I was there, I definitely wanted to go see the sign!

Jim Nix 6/9/19 Jim Nix 6/9/19

Morning in San Francisco

Blue hour at the Ferry Building in San Francisco…

I love to get up and wander in the early morning hours when I travel. It’s generally always peaceful and quiet, and I can enjoy the beauty of a city without all the crowds getting in my shots. :-) This was taken before sunrise in San Francisco one morning. This is the Ferry Building, which is one of my favorite spots in the city, which is full of great spots by the way. I just love the look of this place, inside and out.

Jim Nix 12/5/18 Jim Nix 12/5/18

In the Ferry Building

Inside the Ferry Building in lovely San Francisco…

My favorite building in San Francisco is the Ferry Building, which is just lovely. I adore the place. This was taken on the 2nd floor a few years back. I just wandered up there and fired away. Easy!

Jim Nix 6/27/18 Jim Nix 6/27/18

An amazing sunset in Carmel

An incredible sunset on the beach in Carmel, CA - I was quite happy that evening!

Sometimes it just all comes together!

I love to shoot sunset as much as the next person, maybe more. So when I am traveling to a lovely destination such as Carmel, CA and I happen to also get some amazing light, well that just makes my day. I've had plenty of trips where I go somewhere awesome and the light is crappy, but sadly there's not much to do about that. Just take your shots and move on. But now and then the forces align and you get a stunning sunset on the beach. It does happen!

Jim Nix 6/6/18 Jim Nix 6/6/18

Some random shots from LA...

Here is a handful of images from a trip I took to LA last year…just some random snaps from random spots…

I made a short visit to Los Angeles last year, just for fun. My daughter really wanted to go see LA (ok, Hollywood mostly), and though I had been nearby the city many times, I had never really been IN the city. So we went. It was mostly for her entertainment (that is, NOT for my photography) so I only brought a single prime lens for some random snaps here and there.

Sometimes a trip like that is exactly what I need. I can release myself from any expectations of "getting the shot" because the trip isn't about that, and instead I can just enjoy being somewhere without any artistic pressure that I often put on myself. I can relax into the adventure of it all and take a few documentary-style photos along the way. I actually think I ought to do that more often...it's refreshing.

So here are a few images from various spots around Hollywood, taken while wandering aimlessly and looking for movie stars. Never saw any. :-)

Jim Nix 5/23/18 Jim Nix 5/23/18

Catching sunset in Carmel

A stunning sunset in Carmel, CA - an incredibly quaint and beautiful spot in northern CA!

I do love to visit Carmel, CA! Such a great spot for a sunset!

Have you been to Carmel before? It's a lovely little village - yes, I would call it a village - down by the sea a bit south of San Jose, CA. It's super expensive but so quaint, beautiful and quite fun to visit. I have been several times and really never tire of it.

On our crazy-long road trip last summer, we passed through there for a couple of nights, which means of course that I was on the beach firing away at the sunset on one of those nights. Luckily, I picked the right one (our first night there) because it was gorgeous, while the second night the sunset was not that great. Hey, sometimes you guess right and get lucky!

So I strolled downhill to the beach and basically hung out for a while, firing away and chatting with others that were there. Of course some folks asked me to take their picture - I obliged, naturally - and otherwise I stood around enjoying nature's bounty with a lot of strangers. Good times, really!

Jim Nix 8/22/17 Jim Nix 8/22/17

Last light in La Jolla

A lovely sunset along the coast in La Jolla, CA...

I sure love photographing the Pacific!

When I was in San Diego recently, I wanted to get out and shoot at least one sunset along the coastline. So I connected with my friend Scott Davenport and we met up and headed out. Scott is a local photographer and workshop leader and knows this area really well. He choose this spot and it was a real winner!

La Jolla is a little town just north of San Diego and the coastline there is just incredible. There are all sorts of interesting rock formations and some tide pools as well. It was excellent!

This is a single 25 second exposure, which accounts for the smooth water. Edits were made in Luminar by Macphun, which you really need to try out if you haven't yet!

Jim Nix 5/18/17 Jim Nix 5/18/17

Somewhere along Melrose Avenue

Some cool graffiti I found along Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles...

Just some cool graffiti I came across while wandering along Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles...

Jim Nix 4/10/17 Jim Nix 4/10/17

Sunset at the Griffith Observatory

Sunset at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles...

I've always wanted to see this spot and finally got a chance!

The Griffith Observatory is one of those well-known Los Angeles spots, and I have wanted to visit it for a very long time. On my recent trip to LA, my daughter and I headed up there for sunset one evening. It was VERY busy but that was ok. Luckily we had some nice light and I was able to get some shots like this one, as well as enjoy the incredible view over downtown LA from the back side of the building.

Since it was a fun trip for my daughter and I, I opted to leave most of the gear at home and travel light. This meant one camera and one prime lens attached to it (and no tripod). Luckily, I had just gotten the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 prime lens for my Sony camera, and decided to bring that one to test it out. I loved it! As I get more shots with it, I will share more details about the lens. But suffice it to say that it worked really well for me!

Jim Nix 3/26/17 Jim Nix 3/26/17

iPhone fun in LA with my daughter

I spent most of the last week in LA on a fun trip with my daughter. We laughed, toured, ate and photographed quite a bit of the City of Angels. It was fabulous. Here are some iPhone shots to prove it. ;-)

I'm just back from a fun week in LA with my daughter.

My 14 year old daughter and I just spent the last week in Los Angeles, CA and had a blast. We walked a TON, shot a bunch, and just enjoyed the city. It was great.

We have been talking about doing a Dad-Daughter trip for a long time, but for various reasons we just now got it done. It was awesome. We walked and Uber-ed all over LA and had a great time. We went to museums, shot graffiti, went up to the Griffith Observatory and over to Malibu and the Santa Monica Pier.

Since this was a trip for my daughter (and thus, not for me to shoot a lot), I opted to just bring a single prime lens and no tripod. I wanted to be able to travel light and shoot fast, even at night. So everything was quick handheld shots with the lovely combo of my Sony A7ii and my new lens, the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 prime lens. It worked great. As soon as I have more time with this lens, I will likely write up a review of my experience with it.

I certainly feel like I took some great shots, but readily admit that I haven't even looked at them yet (other than chimping after a shot), since I am writing this from the airport prior to departing LA and heading home. So today's post is all iPhone images, edited in Luminar by Macphun. It's a killer combo. Now that I use Luminar on everything, I have also started editing my iPhone shots in it, too. It works so well.

So this is a quick tour of some of the fun we had and these are in no particular order whatsoever. We got rained on a bit the first day, but otherwise the weather was just cool enough (high 60's) and I had some nice clouds, too. As soon as I am able, I will get some LA shots up here from my Sony camera, too. Enjoy!

Jim Nix 2/9/16 Jim Nix 2/9/16

San Francisco graffiti

I love graffiti - it's often interesting, beautiful and well-crafted! In today's post, I share some of the wonderful urban art I found in San Francisco - check it out!

There is some seriously awesome graffiti in the City by the Bay!

If you have been here to the blog before, then you know I have an affinity for graffiti. I love it. In my opinion, it's just another form of art, and some of these pieces are just amazing. Seriously, these artists are simply incredible. On one of my trips out to SFO, I made it a point to get out and grab some shots of the fabulous graffiti there - and there's quite a bit. Although I found some of it in Chinatown, most of this was captured in the Mission District in a place known as Clarion Alley.

As the name implies, it's simply an alley, but it's completely full of graffiti from one end to the other. It's great. I wandered up and down the alley a couple of times that afternoon, as I was enjoying the art as well as photographing it!

If you have some free time one day in San Francisco, be sure and head over here and check out this amazing graffiti - it's both interesting and really fun! Enjoy this selection of carefully curated graffiti! :-)

Jim Nix 12/7/15 Jim Nix 12/7/15

Sunset at the Palace of Fine Arts

I return again to San Francisco in today's post - a gorgeous sunset at a gorgeous location, the Palace of Fine Arts. Oh, and I walked nearly 18 miles that day. Whew! Read on and enjoy the pics my friends!

Such a beautiful spot in San Francisco!

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently spent some time in San Francisco and got out to shoot a decent amount, considering it was a fairly brief stay in the City by the Bay. One destination I had in mind was the Palace of Fine Arts, which is the subject of today's post.

I had been there and photographed it way back in 2010 on my first photo outing in San Francisco, but I had arrived at midday and the light was very bright and pretty unforgiving. I never really liked the shots all that much, and always told myself that if given the chance, I would return under better circumstances and reshoot the whole thing.

I finally got the chance.

On this day I had begun in Haight Ashbury and after a reasonably quick photo tour in that area, I set off on foot for the Marina District, which is where you will find the Palace of Fine Arts, nestled in front of a beautiful lagoon and just a short walk from the San Francisco Marina. Heck, you're actually not far from the Golden Gate Bridge either. So much awesomeness there!

It was late afternoon when I left The Haight and I knew I had enough time to get to The Palace of Fine Arts on foot, assuming I didn't waste any time getting distracted - which is a pretty hard thing to do in San Francisco, actually. There are a LOT of things to distract a photographer - and I'm easily distracted anyways!

So I hustled along and made good progress, until I got to The Presidio. While I didn't spend much time chasing photos there, I did end up cutting through a field and clambering down a steep hill (marked with signs that warned me against walking there) and then over a stone wall. It was not a graceful exit. Let's call it a shortcut, and I had to take it because I could see the light was getting nice, and I still had a little bit of a walk to go. You make rash decisions in times of need, right? And I apologize if I trampled anyones plants! :-)

After that, it was a straight shot to my destination.

I arrived a few minutes later and was able to wander a little while I thought about the shots I wanted to take. I had only taken my Sony 28mm f/2 prime lens on this trip, so it required some thought and planning to capture what I wanted to capture. I wanted a few shots of the whole scene as well as some of the smaller details. When you have a prime lens, you zoom in and out with your feet, so I did a lot of that. It was fun.

I wandered in and around the structure for a bit, shooting this and that, and by the time the light got just right I was across the lagoon staring at the structure while the sun set behind it. Timing was excellent - way better than my previous visit in 2010 - and I am rather proud of a couple of these shots.

The only "issue" per se is that thanks to all the birds that make this lagoon their home, there were about 300 million feathers and other things floating in the water. While I could sit there in Lightroom and spend hour upon hour working to remove everything, I opted not to do so. I took out the most distracting ones, but didn't have it in me to do any more. Call me lazy if you will, but I generally refuse to spend more than 30 minutes on a photo, and even that is pushing it.

Every once in a while, I see a great photo online in which the photographer talks about spending 2-3 hours working on it, with more layers than the movie Inception. I can completely understand and respect that someone wants to do that, but I can't help feeling like it's a waste of time for me. I would much rather move on and process 10 other images in that amount of time. I guess that's a personal thing. Anyways, I digress.

a view that distracted me for a couple of minutes - can you blame me?  this was right after I scrambled out of the presidio area! — a view that distracted me for a couple of minutes - can you blame me? this was right after I scrambled out of the presidio area!

After getting all the shots I wanted here, I walked over to the Marina and got a few sunset shots as I continued my lengthy walk. I skirted the edge of the water all the way to Fisherman's Wharf, which is where I found myself at blue hour. I have shot blue hour there many times and absolutely love it, with all the great neon signs and lights on. I just had to visit again. Once darkness arrived, I decided I had better eat, so I popped into Boudin Bakery for a clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and a couple of well-earned beers! Damn, they were good. :-)

I will return another time with photos from Fisherman's Wharf, as well as the rest of that evening, because I kept walking and shooting, eventually making it all the way back to my hotel on the other side of town. And yes, this was the longest walk of my life, I think. I have been using a Step Counter app on my phone (sort of like FitBit) to keep track of my activity level. Here's a screenshot of the ground I covered that day. Pretty impressive, right?

And yes, the next morning my legs did not want to move!

That's almost 18 miles people! Someone get me a beer!

So all in all, it was a very successful trip to San Francisco, photographically speaking. I came away with about 1500 images, which is not a goal in and of itself (the quantity, that is). While it's a loose sort of yardstick for letting me know if I did get out and shoot much, I am not hung up on quantity to the extent that I was earlier this year.

Am I going to keep firing away? You bet! I'm just no longer measuring the success of a photo outing on quantity. I still take a lot of photos, but have slowed down somewhat in hopes of getting a better focus (no pun intended) on capturing the images that I think will serve the viewer the best.

That's it - thanks for stopping by today!

Jim Nix 12/3/15 Jim Nix 12/3/15

A walk through Haight Ashbury

Ah, San Francisco - full of beauty and interestingness and some weirdness, too. Yep, the City by the Bay has a few spots that are a little different, and today I transport you to one of them. This is Haight Ashbury, which was at the center of the hippie counter-culture revolution way back in the 1960's. A lot has changed since then, but you can still feel the vibe in this most interesting district in San Francisco. Enjoy!

Hippies and graffiti and weirdness, oh my!

I've been to San Francisco many times, and absolutely love to go there. It's probably my favorite US city, though there are plenty I still haven't been to. Well I've been to a lot, and nearly all of the big ones, but you know, there's a ton of stuff to see. It's a big country out there! I better get busy, I guess.

And it seems like there's always some place I want to go see. That's the challenge with having wanderlust - you can never really quench that thirst. It just lingers.

A couple of weeks ago, I had two nights in the lovely City by the Bay, and though I had limited time to shoot the city, I made the most of it. Like every trip I take, I had a long list of stuff to shoot while there. I have my favorite haunts in San Fran of course, many of which are on this list, and I love to shoot them, returning again and again (can anyone say The Ferry Building?? I just love that place.). In fact, I returned to several of those spots while I was there, but I also got out to shoot some new stuff.

Because of my work schedule that week, I had to squeeze in my photography in the morning before work and of course in the late afternoons and evenings too, but luckily those are my favorite times to shoot, so it all worked out. Well, except for the super early wake-ups. I always have that problem when I travel West. It's great to get up and go shoot, but I sure get tired after a few days of it. It's just hard to sleep much past 5:30am when I get to California, since my body is still thinking it's 7:30am or something. Anyways, that's why I brew up a big cup of English Breakfast tea. It's a good way to start the morning, in my opinion. Caffeine is my friend, especially at 5:30am!

One particular place I had always wanted to see was the Haight Ashbury district, which is the subject of today's post. It's the center of the hippie counter-culture sort of thing from way back in the Summer of Love in the 1960's. I had heard much about it, and had seen photos online, but being who I am I just had to set my own eyes upon it. There's nothing quite like being somewhere yourself and getting a feel for a place. Haight Ashbury is one of those famous areas in a town that is full of them, and so I set out one afternoon after work to explore it.

Considering I started in the Financial District side of town (which is a LONG way away from The Haight), I took a cab to the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets, which is sort of like the center of the area that bears its name. Immediately I knew I would like the place. It's funky and weird and full of all sorts of stuff that some would consider strange. There are people playing music on the corners and looking for tips. There are some homeless-looking folks just hanging around and checking things out, with a sign in front of them asking for donations. There are a lot of people sitting in coffee shops or cafes. In many ways, it's like any American city these days, actually.

Coming from Austin, which is proudly "weird", I enjoyed the area a lot. I will admit that it's not a huge destination for photographic purposes, but considering I love to shoot a lot of randomness in my travels (signs, graffiti, etc), this area clearly fit in that category. It was fun and what I would consider an interesting diversion from chasing the "big stuff".

Yes, there are many other spots that you "HAVE TO SHOOT" when in San Francisco - the city is full of them, really (Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, Ferry Building - to name a few). But if you have some spare time and are interested in spots that are a little different, Haight Ashbury fits the bill perfectly. It seemed like the perfect place to wander with a camera, and I can imagine some would enjoy the shopping there too. Or just fueling up in a cafe and people-watching.

I spent about an hour wandering around here and shooting, and then took off on foot to the Palace of Fine Arts, which was a hell of a walk, honestly. Man, that town is bigger than it looks on Google Maps! Well at least I got in some exercise. I arrived there at about sunset, and have some lovely shots from there coming up next week. See you then!

And as a side note, I shot everything in San Francisco this time with the 28mm f/2 prime lens attached to my lovely Sony A7II. That 28mm prime is really a wonderful lens, capturing great detail and being just wide enough without being too wide. I used it exclusively on both this trip and my recent trip to New York, and am really impressed. It's perfect as a walking-around lens for general purpose use. Small, light and capable - perfect for travel!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Jim Nix 8/3/15 Jim Nix 8/3/15

Driving Highway 1

I recently drove up a large part of Highway 1 in California, making stops in some of the iconic, wonderful, and always photogenic spots along the way. I started in San Simeon and made it through Big Sur and Carmel, ending in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino area. Here are 25 photos that illustrate the beauty I witnessed!

What's more iconic than a drive up Highway 1 in California?

As you know I am on a Griswold-style road trip in the Western US with the family, and we have seen a lot of things. So much that it's hard to keep track (though thankfully I take some pictures). We started at our home in Austin, TX and are currently in Oregon, before we head up to Washington State for a bit. Then it's time to go home.

One thing we were really looking forward to was the drive along Highway 1 in California.

It has a reputation as a famously beautiful drive, and it's earned it. It is beautiful. Since we were coming from Texas, we came in at about San Simeon, California where we spent the night and toured the Hearst Castle the next day (I still need to work on the pics from Hearst). From there, we meandered along the coast up to Carmel with several stops in the Big Sur area. That place is gorgeous - what an incredible stretch of coastline.

After that it was the 101 through San Francisco and up into northern California, eventually getting back on Highway 1 in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino area, where we spent a couple of days (and when we left, we took the highway hugging the coast all the way into Oregon). It was our first visit to this area, and we loved it. It seems like Mendocino gets more press than Fort Bragg, but we really liked Fort Bragg. Whereas Mendocino feels a little more "fancy", it seemed like Fort Bragg was more of the "salty dog", and I do love the salty dog places.

While there, we did a fair bit of meandering around the coastline in the area, despite having just spent the better part of a long week driving across the country. Isn't it interesting that you can be so tired of driving, but if there is something beautiful or interesting to go see that you forget you are sick of being in the car? Such is human nature. A little excitement can overcome a lot.

So today's photos are those that I collected after leaving San Simeon, driving up Highway 1 through Big Sur, and in and around Mendocino and Fort Bragg. If you had asked me a month ago if I preferred mountains or beaches, I would have said mountains for sure. And though I probably still do, finding beaches like these (and the ones I have explored in Oregon) are pretty dang hard to beat. I just love a rocky beach with sea stacks and other things to explore. I find them beautiful and endlessly interesting.