What a nice ending to a day...

Today I was in search for a beach that I could illustrate erosion on the coast for a class project, when my buddy Troy and I stumbled upon a picturesque beach. Two men were riding, or I should say swimming, their horses in the ocean against the setting sun. It was such a beautiful image. They swam around with their horses for about thirty minutes, then left.

The two men ended up being professional polo players who play in Santa Barbara; Sebastian Tkacik and Mariano Uranga. They said “the horses enjoy coming down to the beach and swimming, it is good exercise for them.”

In California, it is common for a professional polo player to earn $3,500 per goal.

Santa Monica

I spent a couple days shooting in Santa Monica after it had rained. The beaches were disgusting Trash, dead animals, and other pollution that washed down washed down storm drains littered the beaches, while high bacteria levels plagued the ocean. It was really weird to see kids having fun amid all this pollution. Other than the beaches being filthy, it was another normal weekend in Santa Monica.

Health officials recommend avoiding contact with the ocean for 72 hours after it rains.

Sardine Fishing

The other night I had the opportunity to go out on a commercial fishing boat, The Eldorado, to take photos. They were fishing for sardine; I found the process very interesting. It included sonar, a good crew, two boats (the main vessel and a skiff), a large net, a small waterproof explosive device, and a giant vacuum, to literally suck the life out of the sea. It was fascinating to see how the seals used this operation to their advantage, leaping in and out of the nets to feast on the trapped sardine.

The Eldorado catches up to 30 tons of sardine in a night.

Light Painting

The Ventura peir, first built in 1872, is California's second oldest peir, after Port Hueneme's. In 1887, the world's first oil tanker burnt and sank at the end of the Ventura pier.

Around Town

These are some images shot around town the last couple of days.

A Whale of a Tale!

A 70-foot blue whale washed ashore Thursday evining, Sept. 13, 2007, about 10 miles north of Ventura, Calif. Residents from all over Ventura and Santa Barbara counties flocked to the beach and braved the appalling stench of decay, to get an up close view of the giant mammal. Scientists estimated the whale’s weight at 100,000 lbs.

Blue whales are listed as an endangered species; it is estimated that only 12,000 are left in the world. The largest population of blue whales, consisting of approximately 3,000 whales, is found in the North Pacific Ocean. They migrate to the warm waters of Mexico and Central America in the winter to mate and give birth, and to the cool waters of California to Alaska to feed on the main staple of their diet, krill, in the summer.

A blue whale can eat up to 8,000 lbs. of krill each day.

The blue whales’ only natural predator is the Orca.

Fishing with a Fisheye

With every assignment I shoot, I learn new, interesting, and sometimes seemingly pointless facts. None the less I will share them.

Fishing for Surf Perch usually picks up in the late summer and peaks in the early winter.