Category Archives: photography

The Oregon Beach Trail

Haystack Rock in Canon Beach
Patti and Debbie
Debbie and Georges Mapleton home
Home on the hill
Haystack and Cape Kiwanda
Nestucca River and Bay
Haystack Rock in Pacific City

Fast forward to 2021. I’ve had two major back surgeries, lost my clientele to Covid and made a major life change to Oregon to a small beach town with one of the famous Haystack Rocks offshore. With my change in lifestyle I will be blogging more to catch up on life in general. My approach will be helter skelter but at some point will make sense. The bottom line will be about the images and the art.

Equipment: Nikon Z6II, 14mm, 28-300 and an Apple iPhone 11

Going solar?

According to the UT San Diego is ranked #2 in the nation for solar. We put solar on our home a few years ago and our electric bill for last year was $176. Protecting the environment, saving our budget.

San Diego County ranks No. 2 in the nation for solar
trailing only Honolulu for installed solar power, per capita

Solar installations which add to job growth are a key part of the city of San Diego’s climate action plan that aims to achieve 100 percent renewable energy use citywide by 2035.

Details: Photos are from commissioned projects. Camera, Nikon D600 and D810 and a Phantom 4 drone.

The Last Cruise?

No simple way about it.  My wife and I love to travel.  We worked hard over the years, saved and looked for great deals to explore places we’d only dreamed of.  One of the best solutions was to cruise.  But the coronavirus has changed the industry.  Details are still to come but they’ll need a lot of solutions before they can sail again.  How are cruise lines going to convince 250 – 4,000 guests they will be safe.  And what about the buffets, the big draw… Stay tuned.

Details:  All images are from our cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale.  I used a Nikon mirrorless Z6 camera with both a 16-35 and 28-300 lens.

Where are You?

Everyone has a special place.  I think mine is Ketchikan, Alaska.  I change my mind quite often.  Sometimes it’s Kauai, other times New Orleans but for now it’s Ketchikan.  I was introduced to the area by my great friend Charley Starr.  Charley moved his family and photo business there 10 years ago.  It is a small seaside city, population over 13,000 and is dependent on the cruise ship industry to survive and thrive.   Charley has generously hosted me on four visits and on the fifth I finally brought Patti, my wife.  The geography is unlike anything here in San Diego.  We were able to see waterfalls, bears, eagles and the salmon were running.  I wish I was a better writer so I could describe the area and community.  Wherever we went Charley was greeted and the people were pleasantly friendly to us strangers.  I’ve started to remember names and now know places to go.  It’s truly a small town environment with a Walmart.  I can’t wait to go back.  Where is your special place?

More of my work can be seen at www.zwink.com

The People of Cuba

I’m not a real descriptive writer.  That’s why I’m a photographer, a visual artist.  I let my images tell the story.  Cubans were very friendly, interested and loved to interact.  Tour guides loved to tell the stories of the Revolution and the strength of the culture.  Owners of paladores  wanted to not only share their tasty cuisine but the stories of their families.  Street vendors along with the hustlers were happy to share their smiles.  Others just wanted to enjoy their siesta.

Havana on the Move

 

Havana, Cuba is not New York City yet, but it’s streets are busy during the days.  Predominately carefully maintained l1950s style cars, many with original motors and others that have been converted to Russian diesel motors with the telltale sounding diesel noise.  We rode to a jazz club in a 1956 Chevy Impala with the owner styled and groomed to match his cherry red Chevy.

Delivery trucks, freight trucks, buses and horse drawn carriages are interspersed by the rare modern Mercedes and Toyotas.  Road rage a rarity.  It will come.

Can You play with your Paper airplane anymore?

DJI_0077APersonally, I would not mind if there was a basic certification to regulate the industry. The fact is there has been an increased interest from photographers, hobbyists and business owners to integrate into their offering. With the advent of gps in the “drones” it has become easier to fly. But stuff happens, how many pilots will know how to safely react and land without injuring anyone or damaging property? And if you’re flying without FAA knowledge or permission will your insurance still cover you?
I just wish the FAA would do their job and let us get back to ours.

To Tour or not to Tour…


 That is the question……
This is the good and bad of being stuck on a tour bus.  Patti Zwink and I went to Cuba.  We decided we wanted to see Cuba before it was “Americanized” and for a first trip a tour would be the best way to see the country.  Over the next few day’s I’ll share what we saw, a mere glimpse.  This is from the first day of being in country.
Images shot with an iPhone 6+ and a Nikon D810 with a 24-70 lens.

Revisit and Revive the Old

_DSC9749

Need something to do but want to be productive?  Revisit your old files and take a fresh look at them.  Perhaps you missed an interesting image or, it just wasn’t edited right. Here are three images that I shot in 2012 back in Kansas, where I grew up.  _DSC9612 This one I particularly like.  I missed originally that it was sitting in a pocket of light shining through the trees.  Once I started working on the file I also saw the subtle pink and magenta tone sitting in the low laying clouds.  _DSC9604I was stoked.  I’ve shot thousands of images from Kansas over the years and many views get a repeated look.  Different times of the year, different times of the day.  You never know where that special light will occur, or if it’s already in your images.  Revisit….

 

My website:  www.zwink.com  Techy stuff:  post production in Adobe Lightroom 5.