Sunset, As Seen From La Mesa, CA

        All three photos in this post were taken at the same time, in the same place. I was just walking around my neighborhood at sunset, and the photos in this post is what I came up with. La Mesa is 12 miles from the coast, but the scenery is right in front of you.

Silhouetted Flowers Against The Setting Sun

        There are an infinite number of ways to photograph a single event, including an ordinary sunset. Above we see a typical sunset silhouette with the foreground being a clutch of flowers. Nothing special, 1/1000th, f/5.6, ISO 200. The shot below is different, but the same.

Sunset With Foreground Lighting

        The shot above is the same as the middle photo above except that there is more light on the foreground. The difference between the two photos is massive, even though they were taken at the same place at the same time. Pressing the shutter release button is just the first step for creating a great photograph. Photoshop is your friend after the fact. Admit it.

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

Pitching A Movie

        There are some very big, inherent flaws in the movie making industry. Not needing talent in order to be successful is the biggest flaw. Paris Hilton, Keanu Reeves and anyone that has directed either of these “movie stars” in a motion picture know what I mean. Just like the ratio of rich people that serve prison time (*cough* OJ Simpson, Vince Neil) to poor/middle class people serving prison time, we can see that if you have money, power, influence, parents with money or are in a successful rock band you can do whatever you want including kill some one, even if you have no talent.
        The rest of you have to earn it. Those of us that ONLY have talent are the ones that have to do legwork, prove what we can do and do it for little or no pay. Or… Am I wrong? No, I’m not wrong because If I was then 75,000 people would be filling a stadium every week to watch cancer research, live on TV instead of watching a bunch bitchy millionaires doing a victory dance for catching a ball or watching silver screen “stars” protesting a war.

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Stephen G. Hurlbut Jr.

        This weekend, my parents were in San Diego and my dad was able to grab some photos of a local event I was not able to attend. The event was the raising of a plane that crashed into Otay Lake in 1945. The plane is Curtiss SB2C-4 Helldiver Dive Bomber.

Photo by Stephen G. Hurlbut Jr.

        On May 28, 1945, Navy pilot E.D. Frazar, and Army gunner, Joseph Metz were on a training mission in the air above Otay Reservoir in their Helldiver SB2C-4 when the engine cut out, as the Helldiver planes were prone to do, for reasons that have never been explained. Frazar, made the immediate decision to ditch the plane in Lower Otay Reservoir. Both Frazar and his completely-by-chance gunner, Metz had plenty of time to get out of the plane once it was in the lake. They swam to shore and hitchhiked back to their base. Ah, the 1940′s.

Photo By Stephen G. Hurlbut Jr.

Photo By Stephen G. Hurlbut Jr.

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

La Mesa Police Station

        There is one very weird thing about photography that is exactly the same as a pot of boiling water. A watched pot never boils. Have you ever popped a couple of pop tarts in the toaster and stared at the toaster waiting for the pop tarts to pop up? I have, and one of those weird quirks of fate is that things don’t happen unless you are not looking. Wherever your camera is pointed is where there will be no action. Those Pulitzer Prize winning moments happened on days just like today, except that someone happened to take a picture.

A Regular Thing Or A Record Of The Future

        Even though there is a rash of instances, right here in the United States Of America of photographers being arrested and detained for taking pictures from a public vantage point, it is not something that can be captured at will. It is an elusive beast that can hide behind the law, and people paid to uphold the law.

Just A Regular Photograph

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

All That Remains Of La Mesa’s Old Post Office

        Once the new post office opened up in La Mesa last year, the old building was slowly phased out and has now been torn down. No word of what will be constructed in it’s place or what is to become of the soon to be abandoned La Mesa police department building across the street. In the background is the city hall building for La Mesa.

Demolishing La Mesa’s Old Post Office

        There is a lot of construction going on in la Mesa right now, and most of the downtown area streets will be receiving face lifts over the next year or so. It will be nice to have another opportunity to document, photographically, the process of raising a building.

Along University Ave & La Mesa Blvd

        Just down the street and around the corner from the La Mesa post office, University Ave, has been dug into regularly over the last month or so. It seems that most of the work is cable/phone line related, with most of the in charge looking people having the AT&T logo on their hardhats.

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

Hidden Hummingbird Sanctuary In Balboa Park

        This trip to Balboa Park actually had a purpose, and that was to find a supposed hidden hummingbird sanctuary on Old Globe Way. I found it, right where it was supposed to be, around the back (north side) of the The San Diego Museum Of Art building. Up in the trees are a bunch of hummingbird feeders with brightly colored nectar. Unfortunately, there were no hummingbirds at the feeder, so after I do a little research to find out when hummingbirds are the most active, a return trip by me will have to made.

Hummingbird Feeders Sans Hummingbirds

        Without any hummingbirds at the feeders, I felt like I found a buried treasure chest that did not contain any treasure. That’s OK because I was in Balboa Park, and there is always a lot to see and photograph. This clutch of hummingbird feeders is very close to the Botanical Garden building, so I headed there next.

Water Lilies In Front Of The Botanical Garden Building

        The water lilies and lotus flowers are in full bloom right now and there are a lot of them. Hundreds of people, tourists and natives alike pose for photos in front of the reflecting pool, in front of the botanical garden building.

Lotus Flowers In Balboa Park

        If flowers and flower gardens are your thing, then you need to plan a trip to Balboa Park. There are 13 flower gardens, and most of them are very grand.

People Enjoying Balboa Park

        There are fish in the pools in front of the botanical building, and that is what the children above were looking at. Beyond them is another group of girls enjoying Balboa Park. There really is something for everyone, and there are restaurants for when you get hungry.

Playing Around The Fountain

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

Construction Can Be Chaotic

        The La Mesa Downtown Village Streetscape Improvement Project will widen sidewalks, install new lamp posts with unique night-lighting, plant new trees, flowers and shrubs and many other things in the downtown area of La Mesa, CA.

Allison Avenue Being Improved

        This is an ambitious project, with one of the goals being to solidify the downtown area’s identity as La Mesa’s city center. As we can see on this map, most of the streets and sidewalks that go through and around downtown La Mesa will be receiving a face-lift.

Intersection Of Palm Ave. And Allison Ave.

        The entire project is called the “La Mesa Downtown Village Streetscape Improvement Project,” but there was a sign in the area these photos were taken that read, “Allison Avenue Streetscape Project,” so I’m guessing that each leg of the project will have it’s own designation like this one. That makes sense to me and will avoid confusion, no doubt.

Guarding The Open Trench

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Jack In The Box & A Woman In Red

        This post will contain photos taken throughout the four days of Comic-Con 2010 I attended. These are pics that didn’t make it into my blog for the daily postings I was doing while Comic-Con was going on, but that I ultimately thought people might like to see. I attended the preview night, which was on Wednesday, as well as Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I did not go to The Con on Sunday, the 25th of July.

        The reason I referenced “the cutting room floor” for the title of this post is because for one reason or another, I feel there is something technically or photographically wrong with the pics used in this post. Composition, messy background, bad exposure or not being tack sharp are the main culprits, so when I was making my decisions about what would make it in to my daily posts for Comic-Con, these pics didn’t make the cut.

        I have never liked it when tabloids print embarrassing or bad photos of celebs making a funny face. That being said, after attending Comic-Con this year and taking a bunch of celebrity photos, I think I understand why they do it… Sometimes a bad photo is the best photo you were able to take. With Comic-Con being a mad-house of 160,000 people, sometimes you are luck just to see the celebs with your eyes, let alone through the viewfinder of your camera. Above we see Mark Valley and Chi McBride during an autograph signing.

        Of course, it is next to impossible to take a bad photo of Kari Byron. The photo of Katey Sagal was taken when a security guard actually allowed me within about three feet of her. She was looking at me, but listening to the person that was in front of her, so whatever he told her caused her to make that face, not my camera. She was with Ron Perlman promoting Sons Of Anarchy.

Elvira Announces Her Return To Television

        Comic-Con is an imperfect place, and I think the photo above may help to illustrate this. Elvira held a press conference inside a room that is supposed to be for press only. Notice that in the photo above, taken just as Elvira’s press conference was wrapping up, there are nothing but people holding up camera phones, not journalists and reporters absorbing a story.

        A couple of flashbacks from the 1980′s were present at Comic-Con. To the left we see the metal skeleton from the Terminator movies, one of my favorite movie trilogies. Above is the actor Dirk Benedict, who played “Face” on the awesome, totally radical 1980′s TV show, The A-Team. I will not be watching the theatrical version of The A-Team because I think some things should just be left alone, and George Peppard as Hannibal Smith is the ONLY way I want to see Hannibal Smith.

        Star Wars is another story altogether. I’ll eat up just about anything that has to do with that set of movies, except for that asinine character Jar Jar Binks, of course. Comic-Con really is a natural habitat for Star Wars fans, especially those that want to arrive in costume. The R2D2 you see on the right was brought in by a fan and was operated by remote control. He slyly stayed a good distance away while operating his robot, so most people walking by actually thought there was some one INSIDE, working the controls, just like in the original movie. Someday, I’ll build my own lightsaber and tie-fighter, not necessarily in that order, but someday I’ll build them both.

        It is important to remember that Comic-Con is a place to have fun, meet people, look at costumes, dress in costumes, eat bad food, take pictures and collect S.W.A.G. If you have well thought out plans or an agenda, you will probably end up being disappointed because Comic-Con is a very fluid place, and plans will generally fly out the window once you arrive and hit the crowds.

Just Dance At Comic-Con!

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

The Second Day (Friday) At Comic-Con 2010

        Friday was the most crowded day yet at Comic-Con, and I don’t just mean the number of fans. There were more celebrities, security, police and handlers then I have ever seen ANYWHERE before, and to top it all off, there is a new “no sitting” rule on the convention floor. The 160,000 fans are now only allowed to sit in chairs and NOT on the floor… We’re gonna need a bigger boat!

        There were a couple ensemble casts signing autographs today, as well as several individuals doing signings as well. The cast of “The Big Bang Theory” seemed to be the big hit of the day, even though they were surrounded by lots of security, I managed to get a couple shots. It would seem to me that the best way to get a clean shot of any celebrity at Comic-Con is to take a shot while having them sign an autograph for you. The problem with that is that the lines for the signings are long, move slow, take a long time, and even if you are in line, the celebs might bail before you get up there. Above, on the left, Kunal Nayyer glances around during the cast signing, and on the right, Kaley Cuoco reacts to finally being done signing hundreds of autographs.

Jessica Hamby Is Interviewed

        Directly above the cast signing of The Big Bang Theory, the cast of the HBO show True Blood conducted interviews and milled around with those that were worthy enough to gain access to that upper level.

        Comic-Con is not only for the new kids on the block, there are some faces that have been familiar to us for many years as well. Stan Lee, the godfather of comic books was on hand signing posters for a throng of fans. He was very cheerful and even stuck around longer than he was supposed to so that everyone in line could get an autograph. What a classy dude! Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark was also present, sans make-up doing a signing as well. I’m covering a press conference with her tomorrow and we have been told that we must address her as Elvira (not Cassandra Peterson) during the conference, so I think I’ll have some very different photos of her to share on my next post.

        I am a very big fan of candid, unposed photography. People smiling into the camera while they saying “cheese” is one way to take portraits and there’s nothing wrong with it, but I love it when I can get a shot of someone in a more natural looking way. Above, on the left we have Lafayette Reynolds from True Blood reading a magazine, and on the right is Cindy Morgan, looking at a line of fans in front of her.
        Cindy is known best known for her role as Lacey Underall in the cult movie classic, Caddyshack. Caddyshack was the first R rated movie I ever saw, and to this day, watching that movie is a right of passage for anyone that would aspire to be a movie buff. Just about every line in that movie is memorable, and even today, 30 years later, if you want to distract or mess some one up from what they are doing you just have to shout, “NOONAN!”

        Morena Baccarin, on the left, even without her long, dark, curly hair is elegant, classy and beautiful. I know her best as Inerra Serra from the sci-fi show, “Firefly” but she is now starring in a remake of “V.” Alison Haislip, above is a member of the ensemble show, “Attack Of The Show.” Morena was not the only Firefly cast member I saw at Comic-Con today. Ron Glass, who plays the shepherd was also there, but I don’t have a photo of him. Want to know why? Because during his signing, he had people around him that held sheets of paper in front of my camera, preventing me from getting a shot. They told me that Ron requested that no candid photography of him be permitted. Can you believe that?!? An actor in the middle of Comic-Con that had people physically preventing photography! Whatever, dude. Morena is way more photogenic then you anyway.

Olivia Munn Is In There Somewhere

        The last two photos I’ll be presenting in this post are to demonstrate just how difficult and time consuming it can be to get a good shot in a room with 160,000 other people. You can’t always get the shot you want right off the bat. You have to be patient and methodical, and even then, you still might not get the shot. So, the shot above, which is the best shot I was able to get of Olivia Munn, was taken as she arrived at her signing table. I was not in the autograph line, so I found a spot off to the side that was about a hundred feet away that I thought might work. It almost worked. Almost.

Kaley Cuoco Surrounded By Security

        The shot above of Kaley Cuoco was taken as she was being escorted away from her autograph signing table. Once again, my careful planning did not really pay off. I actually happen to like to photo above, but it is not the shot I wanted. From watching previous celebrities being whisked away from this particular table, I knew the route that the entourage would take when they left the convention center floor. So, I positioned myself in a strategic place along that route, where there were no other fans and patiently waited for them to come by. Unfortunately, she and her other Big Bang Theory actors had about 20 security guards with them, instead of the 3-4 guards that most of the other celebs had which made my carefully picked spot a moot point. Oh well, tomorrow is another day at Comic-Con and there will be many more costumes, celebrities and merchandise to photograph, so until then, cheers!

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.

Captain’s Log: Stardate 07222010, Comic-Con Convention

        The first official day of Comic-Con 2010 kicked off in San Diego today, and I was there with a press pass and my trusty Nikon D5000. As I mentioned in my last post, there would be a lot more costumes, celebrities and events to see, and here they are.

        Comic-Con means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For me it is a photo-op, for others it’s an excuse to call in sick to work, for die-hard fans it’s a chance to see childhood heroes, and for corporations, it’s chance to make money. This is the second Comic-Con I have attended, my first being way back in 1996, and it has changed a lot. I was interviewed by Alan Maloney of BBC News about the changes that have taken place, as was my cousin another, fellow journalist.
        We each had different, valid things to say about the direction Comic-Con has taken. From my eyes, Comic-Con has changed from a venue that brings comic book fans together with their comic book heroes to a platform for corporations to hock their multi-million dollar actors and movies, which I think is… Not what Comic-Con should be about. My cousin’s view was that in order to bring more money into the our city, it is necessary for the big corporations to take part, because that is what draws the crowds that ultimately spend the money. Both points are valid, both points are accurate, so… Where does that leave us? It really is a can of worms that has no right or wrong answer. Is Comic-Con about an annual event that brings fans a little closer to something they love or is it about pumping money into San Diego? Tough to say. Do the Padres play at PETCO park so fans can watch them play or is it because the city makes money by hosting baseball games? It’s seems like it’s six of one thing and half a dozen of the other to me.

I Am Spartacus!

        Today was a very busy day, photographically speaking, so I’ll try to minimize my text for this post and maximize the photographic content. I got a lot of costume shots, as well as a half dozen or so celebrities, so it really was a very exciting day. Comic-Con really is an awesome event, and there are still three days to go.

        The costumes at Comic-Con are the best part of the show as far as I am concerned. People go to a lot of trouble to build and don their costumes, so they are very willing to have their pictures taken. Comic-Con is so NOT like the real world! People that come to The Con in costume very graciously pose for photos if asked, so be sure to mind your P’s & Q’s while doing so. “May I please take your picture?” should be immediately followed by, “Thank you very much” after you have taken your shot. If you have a business card, offer it to them so they can see themselves on your blog once the photo is posted online.

Star Wars Is A Mainstay At Comic-Con

        Buddy Jesus, with an elegant halo of bright neon blue made his entrance to the Comic-Con, looked me right in the eye and said nothing. That’s OK. After his holiness walked away, a statue of a green female statue caught my eye. Straight up creepy is what this thing was. There’s just something about an undead woman with lizard-green skin that makes me want to not be with her.

        I think a beautiful princess and Captain America himself epitomize Comic-Con. Comic book super heroes and mythical royalty are comic book regulars, and there is no shortage of either one at The Con. I mentioned earlier that I saw some celebrities today, didn’t I? Yes I did, and here they are.

Richard Hatch – Captain Apollo In TV’s Original Battlestar Galactica Series

Gil Gerard From TV’s Buck Rogers In The 25th Century

Erin Gray From TV’s Buck Rogers And Silver Spoons

Mindy Sterling – Best Known As Frau Farbissina In The Austin Powers Movies

Johnny Galecki – Currently On TV’s The Big Bang Theory

Corey Feldman And Jason Newlander From The Lost Boys

Morgan Fairchild Is Best Known For Being A Very Beautiful Woman

        Photographing celebrities is just like photographing anyone else, except that their bodyguards and handlers keep you farther away from them. I had a zoom lens, so this was not a problem for me. My random tip for Comic-Con newbies is to wander around the Sail Pavilion, because that is the autograph signing area, which means there will be celebrities up there. Remember to always be polite and say “please” and “thank you”.

        After I wrapped up for the day, I left the convention center and headed toward the trolley. It was in between these two places that I ran into this motley crew of superheros. It is very neat to see entire groups of friends put on costumes and head to Comic-Con. After the last couple days, I can honestly say that life is good.

©2010 The World Is Raw. All Rights Reserved.