Have you driving here?  Driven the highway on the edge of the Pacific, high above the surf the road winds with little between driver and sky, sky and rocks and rocks and water.  It’s a beautiful place and a great experience.  It was also the first place if visited on my first trip to California many years ago.

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I arrived in Colorado on Saturday for several shoots and while driving south towards Colorado Springs there was a brief storm.  Here a shot, taken with the iPhone, of the roaring storm and the mountains in the distance.

New Orleans, with a huge oil mess just off the coast, was much the same this weekend smelling of sweet sugar and coffee near Cafe Dumond, and as I walked the streets in the French Quarter smells of the lively bar scene, not always pleasant, flowed from the open cafes and bars. Weather was perfect, streets comfortably full of happy visitors.
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Music of the street musicians mixed as I walked and artist, like in the photo below, continued to create and entertain. No smell of the oil and no signs of oil on the water – so far so good with the oil reaching land.
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Winter is going well here in Napa Valley, beautiful rain creating wonderful color in the vineyards. This photo, taken late yesterday, was from Artesa Winery in Carneros. Colorful lines of vines, mustard and cover crop.
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Well it was a great trip, perfect weather, nice people and some excellent food and drinks while visiting Hawaii.  Day after day lots of great memories built and each evening a fine sunset over the pacific.  Here one of the final sunsets and an aloha from Oahu.

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One more photo to share, a larger view of the power of the waves.  And, I’m wishing for more time at Pipeline.

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Aloha from Hawaii!  If I lived here I’m sure I would be a surfing shooter junkie – it’s amazing to shoot and watch the big waves and the surfers in the Pipeline.  Equally amazing was watching the people who were watching the waves, most didn’t even speak, just stood and watched the power of the sets and sets of waves.

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Here one shot of a surfer in the Pipeline.

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Yes the waves are big and in series of multiple waves like in this sunset photo.  What I found when I drove up the coast to a hot surfing location with even bigger waves was that surfers would paddle out to the farthest waves, wait for the right wave and surf all the way in to shore. Very cool with such long rides.
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Greetings from Hawaii! If I’m not answering email as quickly as usual it’s because I’m on the beach or in the ocean. Waves are big, real big and too much shore break for body surfing, but in the lagoons near the hotel the snorkeling is excellent. Yesterday lots of fish and two sea turtles – very cool to swim with them!
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