Calgary / Banff / Alaska

This trip was part two of a three part series of Fall photography excursions. Logistically, this trip was a pain to plan and stick with because certain changing variables such as the weather forced me to cut certain parts of the trip and extend others. I have ultimately learned that Mother Nature sucks and it sucks that I have to be dependent on good weather to ensure a successful photography trip.

I started this trip in Calgary. Truthfully, if I could go back in time and replan this trip, I would have started in Alaska first and did Calgary second. After two flights, I got into Calgary in the afternoon. The Resident Inn Marriott was one of the better hotels I have stayed at in Canada. It was almost too nice to be a hotel room. Once settled, I walked over to Scotiabank Saddledome to see a Calgary Flames hockey game. That had to be one of the most passionate sports games I have ever attended. Calgary fans love their hockey. Once the game was done, I went right into photography mode and went after the skyline.

I took a tour to Banff on my last day in Calgary. If I ever make a trip back, I plan to spend more time in Banff. That little town was amazing! I got my first taste of winter in Canada and I was reminded of why Slip and Slides were my least favorite activities as a kid. The winter scenes were beautiful, but I definitely want to come back the next May I have available.

Banff was definitely the highlight of the trip. I summarize Calgary was Canada’s version of Dallas if that is a fair comparison from a geographic standpoint. It is a major metropolitan area surrounded by a rural environment. I will say this about Calgary. It is definitely one of the quieter cities that I have seen and they are well organized over there. Haven’t been able to say that about a lot of metropolitan areas that I have been to.

My trip to Calgary was brief and I ended up spending the second half of my trip heading to Alaska. My main objective with Alaska was to finally capture the aurora borealis. Needless to say, the excursion was a catastrophic failure due to mother nature giving me overcast weather and cloud cover the entire time I was there. However, the trip wasn’t a complete twist. I did have the opportunity to visit Mount Denali (I am not calling it McKinley) National Park. Flew around the national park in a plane for about 90 minutes. It was truly incredible to witness the highest mountain in North America.

While I was in Anchorage, I had a chance to catch up with an old high school friend of mine. I did promise him that if I ever made it out to Alaska that we would catch up. It’s nice to have friends all over the place. Overall, I am glad I was able to get Alaska crossed off my list. The winter scenery there is beautiful and lives up to the hype.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia was the first in a three part photography excursion that I had planned for the Fall. Philadelphia was another one of those cities that I knew I needed to come back to. My first trip to this city was 16 years ago when we did a week long excursion traveling around the East Coast. I was only in Philadelphia for a day and I knew that wasn’t going to be enough time.

This was one trip that I actually accomplished the majority of what I wanted to do here. The trip to Philly was a two flighter having stopped in St. Louis for a 4 hour layover. Factoring in the time change, I didn’t actually get into Philly until around 11 at night. The hotel I stayed at was the Loews in downtown Philadelphia. It has by far one of my favorite views of the city. I spent so much time getting this view from different times of the day.

I spent Sunday mostly recovering from the travel. Once I was able to muster up the energy to get up and move, I had a chance to stroll through Philadelphia. Started the day checking out Reading Terminal Market, which is basically a cheat code if you are looking for a one stop place for food choices while you are in Philly. There were so many options to choose from. After having breakfast there, I checked out the Gayborhood near my hotel while I was stocking up on travel supplies for the week. In the afternoon, I revisited some places that I went to on my last trip. Had to do the Rocky steps while Bill Conti was playing as the soundtrack.

The next day I was there, I did some more exploring around the city. Checked out West Philadelphia and did a couple of time lapses. Photographing over Interstate 76 was interesting, but at least I learned how the Philadelphia 76ers got their team name.

Like every trip, aerial photography definitely happened. I used Sky River Helicopters this time. My pilot Skylar was awesome and a lot of fun to fly with. Managed to get some incredible shots of the city. Definitely worth the hour flight alone to nail those shots.

The next day, I decided to head south towards Camden, New Jersey and crossed over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. I spent a lot of time there because I wanted to take some time to enjoy the moment and enjoy the scenery. I kept hearing that Philadelphia was sketchy. I am just going to keep it 100 with everyone that I found Camden, New Jersey to be way more sketchy that Philly was.

I wrapped up the trip by seeing a show at Union Transfer. I saw Front 242 and The Crystal Method. Front 242 was on their last tour as a group. Hard to believe they have been together for 40+ years. It is hard to see industrial greats finally end their careers, but it was one of those “glad I saw them when I did” shows.

Overall, I managed to get 95% of what I wanted in Philadelphia, so I can live with the results. Definitely enjoyed my time there.

Vancouver

After taking on Toronto back in October, I knew Vancouver was going to be next on my list of Canada destinations that I planned on visiting. Truth to be told, I mapped out the entire itinerary of this trip the Saturday before I was supposed to leave for the trip. I was deliberating between two cities and the weather made it difficult for me to make plans in advance. Vancouver ended up edging out the other city that I had in mind because the weather ended up being much better.

Coming back into Canada with the experience I gained from Toronto made coming back into this country much more pleasant. Vancouver was truly a beautiful city. The weather was in the mid-50’s most of the trip and there were many clear days. When I arrived in Vancouver, I had a difficult time getting to my hotel because the Vancouver Marathon was happening the same day I arrived and the run was being held on the street where my hotel was at, which made it that much more difficult to get there. I don’t know what it is about my timing for these things, but this happened in Toronto as well where they had a marathon on the street where my hotel was.

I started off the trip after checking in over at North Vancouver to check out the Capistrano Suspension Bridge. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the bridge held up. Not for the people that have acrophobia. There were plenty of beautiful scenes there and a great spot to connect with nature.

The first night I was there, I walked down to Rogers Arena to see Pearl Jam play. Needless to say I walked into that show blind as I wasn’t too familiar with their discography. I walked out of that show pleasantly surprised with how tight they were live.

For this trip, I did two aerial photography flights. The first flight I flow with SKY Helicopters and did a back country type of flight. If you haven’t done of these, I would highly encourage you to do so. You will have a much greater appreciation of the natural world after this experience. I wasn’t planning to do two photography flights, but I wasn’t happy about the city shots that I felt another flight was needed. This time, I took a seaplane tour with Harbour Air and that ended up being the solution that I needed that was far more cost effective than another helicopter flight.

Had to check out Lions Gate Bridge while I was there and worked on a quick day to night time lapse of the bridge itself. I finished up the Vancouver experience checking out Queen Elizabeth Park and the Bloedel Conservatory. Finally had the opportunity to photograph some macaws, which made my childhood self very happy. Overall, I would have to say Vancouver is easily in my Top 5 cities that I have visited to date. If I could move there, I would.

Dallas

It was long overdue, but I finally made a Texas trip to do some more cityscape photography. Going into this trip, I knew this was going to be a very short trip since I knew I wasn’t going to have much that I needed to cover in Dallas. I decided to conduct an experiment on this trip and see if I can get this trip knocked out within a 2 - 3 day period. I am probably going to end up doing this in the future for a couple of cities that I don’t need to spend as much time in.

The first night that I arrived in Dallas, there was a massive thunderstorm so there wasn’t much that I could do that night. I ended up waking up at 1:00 AM in the morning at the hotel that I stayed at because someone accidentally pulled the alarm and woke up everyone in the hotel.

The next day, I decided to explore the city and get a feel for things. I ended up heading to the Reunion Tower since I had to get the observation deck photos. I spent a good amount of time up there getting sunset, dusk, and night shots of the city. Once that was wrapped up, I went after the city skyline shots from one of the many bridges in Dallas. The thing I enjoyed about Dallas bridges was how pedestrian friendly they were. Made it a lot easier to get some great skyline shots.

The last day in Dallas I explored the Deep Ellum district and tried some Texas barbecue. My standards for barbecue is now ruined. Texas barbecue is undefeated and some of the best I have had in some time. For my last evening in Dallas, I ventured down to an overpass off the 30 freeway to photograph a time-lapse and work on some light trails shots. After I completed that I spot, I spent the rest of the night over by the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge to get some night photographs.

Overall, I am satisfied with what I was able to get from this trip. For a brief trip, everything turned out really well.

Toronto

I have been looking to do an international trip of some kind this year. I wanted to start somewhere close to get my feet wet and aim to expand the following year. Canada has been on my radar for quite some time and I knew I wanted to get back to Ontario after my last trip in 2008. I was only there for a day to check out Niagara Falls. Definitely wanted to check out Toronto and do some cityscape photography there.

With this being my first international trip, I fully expected and embraced the challenges that were going to ensue from this experience. The first order of business on this trip was going straight to the Toronto Islands to get the skyline shot. I chose to do the first for two reasons. First is because I wanted the red lighting on the CN Tower to be in the shot and the color changes every night. Arriving on Ward’s Island, I underestimated how long it was going to take to walk to Centre Island. Expect a 30 - 45 minute walk at least. Once I got to Centre Island, it was worth it getting to see the skyline lit up.

I spent the next couple of nights doing the touristy items attending both Toronto Raptors and Toronto Maple Leafs games. The Maple Leafs game was the more competitive one out of the two. Definitely got a first hand experience of how much Canada loves their hockey. Also helps that the visiting team was the Chicago Blackhawks who have their own devote following.

I made a return trip to Ward’s Islands on the only clear day that I had this trip do so the time-lapse of the Toronto skyline. Spent 4 - 5 hours there just admiring the scenery. I was still in disbelief that I was actually in Canada. It was one of those times where you just take a step back and take some gratitude in being able to have the opportunity to do this.

The CN Tower was definitely great to visit as a first time visit. I covered both day and night because I loved seeing the city from above. I somehow found a way to do aerial photography in Toronto despite my options being limited for flights. Didn’t do a helicopter this time and went for an airplane instead.

To cap off the trip, I did get to see TesseracT live at the Danforth Music Hall.

Definitely an action packed trip. Canada was once again awesome! I would definitely come back to Toronto, but I would want to come back in the summer if I had to pick a time of the year.

Boston

At the beginning of 2023, I had deliberated on cities that I wanted to tackle next after the Chicago trip last October. I had my list narrowed down to Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston, and Toronto. I ended up choosing Boston because I had already been previously and I wanted to spend some more time in this city. The last time I was in Boston was in 2008. I was only there for a day, but I enjoyed that small window of time I was there. I figured that a Memorial Day week would be a good time to go.

After arriving in Boston, the first order of business was photographing the Leonard P Zakim Bridge at night, which is something that I have been wanting to do since my last trip. After I finished up shooting there, TD Garden erupted with a mob of people celebrating the Boston Celtics winning Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to force a Game 7 against the Miami Heat at TD Garden. They were down 0-3 in the series and came back to tie the series up 3-3, which was pretty remarkable on its own. Talk about right place right time.

The next day, I spent some time checking out north Boston. The area reminded me a lot of Italy were there were historical buildings, narrow streets, and cobblestone roads with a lot of Italian restaurants. Definitely enjoyed being down there. After I wrapped up there, I went down to Chelsea to shoot the Boston skyline from Soldiers Home (shown above). To get this shot, you are going to need a long telephoto lens because framing this was incredibly difficult with all the obstructions in the way of the shot paired with the fact that it was hard scouting for this exact shot.

On Memorial Day, I spent the day checking out the Freedom Trail and Boston Common. I couldn’t go anywhere in the city without the citizens of Boston talking about Game 7. Against my better judgment, I shelled out for tickets to see Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. This was the only time that I was going to be able to see a game at TD Garden and I was correct. The Celtics were eliminated that game and the Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals.

One of my favorite areas to check out in Boston was the Seaport District. Not only was the weather cooler down there, but there were quite a few good spots to eat down there. It was a great place to relax and reflect. The other area to note that had a great view of the Boston Skyline was Lo Presti Park.

The aerial photography did happen, but I wasn’t able to secure a night flight due to the Boston Red Sox shutting down the entire airspace of the city at night during my time there, which really put a dent on things. I wasn’t going to leave empty handed so I settled on a morning flight, which turned out be a decent band aid solution.

I wrapped up the trip seeing Thrice at the House of Blues Boston to see the 20th anniversary album show of “The Artist in the Ambulance” played front to back live. Bostonians now how to mosh, I will definitely give credit where it is due.

Overall, this was a pleasant trip and I am glad I got to spend some time in this wonderful city. Definitely recommend coming in the Spring or Fall.

Chicago

Chicago was the next city that I had planned to photograph after my New York City trip in 2019. I had started developing the plans around the beginning of 2020. However, once the pandemic delayed everything for a couple of years, I had to postpone this to October 2022. Having the down time during the pandemic gave me more time gather inspiration to make this trip count.

The trip started out rough because I was still recovering from a Metric concert that I went to two nights before at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. I didn’t get home from that show until close to 2 AM. I had very little sleep that night which led to me feeling lethargic that Friday during work. After getting through that day, I spent the night packing for what was going to be a 7:00 AM flight Saturday morning. I had to pray for no flight delays as I had to stop in Denver briefly before changing planes to Chicago. I was very fortunate that it all worked out. Once I arrived in Chicago, I had to rush to the hotel to check in and immediately start the trip with a concert that same night seeing KMFDM , an industrial band at the Metro, which is an iconic Chicago venue. The put on a great show that night. Very fortunate I was able to rope that show into the trip. The Metro was one of the smallest venues I have ever been in, but definitely much more intimate.

Finally had some time to rest. I ended up sleeping in the next morning to recover before starting the day. First order of business was checking out the John Hancock building and capturing the iconic Chicago skyline. The observation floor is easily one of the best places to view the city from. Later that evening, I made a side expedition to head down to Lansing, IL to do the aerial photography. The reason why I had to head down to Lansing, IL to do it was because Breeze Helicopters, who is the primary Chicago helicopter tour company after Chicago Helicopters got shut down during the pandemic cornered the market, and wanted to charge a lot of money for a short flight. It wasn’t worth it. I ended up going with Summer Skyz and they proved to be far more cost effective.

As for the aerial experience, being up there for an hour photographing Chicago at night was definitely my second favorite aerial flight behind the NYC night flight. Chicago was so well illuminated and it showed through the photos.

While in Chicago, I also got to see Joe Satriani play at the legendary Chicago Theater. I could have caught him in LA, but he was playing the day before I was supposed to travel up north and it made far more sense to see him in Chicago. I also got to see a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. It was a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, but I can at least say that I saw a game there, which was awesome! The weather that week was around 40 degrees and some strong winds, but sunny as well. Definitely layer up if you plan to go in October.

Overall, this was a fun week. I would love to come back if the opportunity happens again. Definitely one of my favorite cities I have photographed to date.

Northern California

It has been about three years since I last took a significant amount of time away to just decompress. If there was ever a time, it was now, especially after dealing with the aftermath of pandemic burnout. It was taking its toll on me mentally.

With that all of the setbacks that I had to deal with over the last year now buried in the past, I was able to finally able to break away for a week and finally devote my time and attention towards photography. This was the beginning of my three week long chaotic stretch between a travel trip, a week of work, then another week of travel. I didn’t have much planned to tackle on this trip because I covered a lot of SF on my past three trips. This was more or less a perfect balance between actually relaxing and doing some photography in between. I took my time and didn’t rush anything. Seeing SF, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Davenport, Pescadero, and Pacifica were incredible places to visit! I don’t miss the gas prices up here or having to pay for parking everywhere I stop. It was good to spend some time with family while I was up here. This is probably the first vacation where I had a healthy balance of family time, relaxing, and photography. Usually it’s all photography and I am always on the run.

My primary objective and motivation for going back to do another Northern California trip was to do more astrophotography. It was starting to get to the tail end of Milky Way season and I wanted to shoot somewhere other than Malibu and Santa Barbara. The one area I was hell bent on making sure got executed was Pigeon Point Lighthouse. This was definitely the biggest challenge of my trip. I got incredibly lucky that I was able to get one clear night to shoot this because it was tough to do it the rest of the week I was there due to marine weather clouding up the sky. I am happy to walk away with one of my all time favorite images from this trip.

I still can’t get over how well executed this image was. This is definitely the best image that I have shot all year period. I’ll strive to do better, but there’s just too much going for this. I don’t any desire to do another trip back up here for years. I felt like I accomplished enough up here as is after 3 - 4 trips.

Aerial Photography - The Experience

I get a lot of questions regarding my aerial photography, so I felt an entry would be a good place to write about it, talk about my experiences, and provide some gear / shooting tips if you decide to venture into this genre of photography.

To provide some background on my aerial photography experience, I have been shooting aerial photography for over a decade now. I have been on 12 open door helicopter flights (It will be 14 or 15 by the end of the year). I don’t fly very often because of how expensive flights get in general.

My first flight was in Kaua’i, Hawaii back in 2011. I will never forget that experience. That flight is what ultimately sparked me to want to fly in open door helicopters anywhere I traveled. Seeing Waimea Canyon State Park from the air was truly a surreal experience.

Ever since that flight, I have flown in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, and New York City. Seeing metropolitan areas from a completely different angle is something that changes your perspective on how you see the area.

I have heard the concerns about safety while in the air because of the random outlier freak accidents that happen that end up on the news. To the acrophobics, I can assure you that every flight I have been has been 100% safe. These companies value and pride themselves on safety above anything else. You are practically strapped in from head to toe.

One of the most difficult challenges I have had in aerial photography has been night time aerial photography. The challenge of night time aerial photography is you have three obstacles that you have to balance. The first is low lighting because you are shooting at night. The second obstacle you will have is shooting while in a moving helicopter. You will need a fast shutter speed, but you also want to have enough light on your subject so it doesn’t come out too dark. The third obstacle you are going to experience photographing night time aerial photography is risk of noise from increasing your ISO. Finding a balance between these three obstacles is definitely tricky, but not impossible to overcome. Since the conditions are ever changing, it becomes a game of trail and error.

In terms of things to bring, I would recommend bringing something warm to wear on the flight. Not only are you flying at a higher altitude, but you will also be dealing with high speed wind while flying. If you are just going to bring your phone to photograph while flying, I would recommend getting a gimbal of some kind to stabilize your phone, especially if you are shooting video.

My recommendation for shooting would be to have your aperture be a fixed setting leaving it wide open to allow as much light in as possible if you are shooting at night. That will allow you to just focus on finding a balance between shutter speed and ISO. If you are shooting during the day, you can adjust this a little bit. For shutter speed, I wouldn’t go any lower than 1/250th of a second (1/125tth of a second would be pushing it) because of how fast you are moving in a helicopter. You will risk motion blur in your shots if you have anything slower. On ISO, that will vary depending on time of day and should be adjusted to the situation accordingly. Having too high of an ISO can risk having noise (grainy) in your photos.

Regarding gear, I am not going to pick camera body recommendations because I feel that most DSLR bodies will work. However, I am going to provide some lens recommendations. If you are going to get a lens for aerial photography, get one that has an aperture of f/2.8 or better. A 24 - 70mm f/2.8 should be sufficient enough to bring with you as your go to lens. That lens alone will cover about 90% of what you are trying to achieve with aerial photography. If you have the ability to get a telephoto lens, I would recommend that for the shots you are trying to get close ups on.

In closing, if you are even considering doing something like this, I would highly recommend that you do it at least once in your lifetime just for the experience.

New Website

Welcome to my new website! This will be my permanent home moving forward. I took a less is more approach this time around when I was deciding on how I wanted to revamp the website. I will be adding more photos and blog entries in the coming months.