beautiful

Ritz Carlton Reserve Photo Walk

Photography, Thoughts

After being sick and out of commission for over a week with the mosquito virus, Chikungunya, I decided to grab my camera and go for a walk around the Dorado Beach, Ritz Carlton Reserve property. The fresh air was much needed! I have to admit, I work on one of the most beautiful properties in the world. From the gorgeous beaches to the sub-tropical rainforest, there is beauty everywhere you look. Hopefully I was able to capture some of that beauty in my photographs. 

ALSO – Please visit my NEW ADDITION to the blog – the VIDEO section 😀

Natural Wonder

Photography, Science, Thoughts

dragonfly

If you stop and observe your surroundings once in a while, you’ll notice that you are indeed surrounded my hundreds of living organisms. You might be swapping one, stepping on one, smelling one, or feeling one brush against your body as you are walking down the street.

The environment utterly fascinates/boggles/excites my brain. Whether it be geology, hydrology, ecology, biology, physics, or chemistry, you can consistently learn new things every day by watching the world around you. .

I came across this video last week and my mouth literally dropped open in amazement. Sit back and expand this video to fill your screen..trust me..it will be worth it!

Stop by my Facebook Page : Photography + Science = Chanel

 Shoot me a Tweet : PSChanel
Check out my Pinterest : PhotoScience

Electrifying Art.

Science, Thoughts

The image above was taken by Matt Hoffman, who is a fantastic photographer, surfer, and great friend of mine. He snapped this epic lightening bolt in Montana – one of the most beautiful states in America (and least populated). Good thing he didn’t get hit, since you know that guys are 5x more likely to get struck by lightning than women (who knows why).

I love how science can be ‘electrifyingly‘ beautiful. I wanted to share with you all a great video which demonstrates how 15,000 volts (aka similar to a bolt of lightning) can turn a piece of wood, into a beautiful masterpiece.

The video was made by a 23- year-old sculpture major in New York City’s Pratt Institute. She spent 10 hours getting the footage of electrifying wood in an old metal shop in Brooklyn. Melanie Hoff is the student who created this video as her senior thesis project – how cool is that?!

The pattern you see burned into the wood is called “Lichtenberg figure” – which is the branching of electric discharges on the surface/interior of a material.

Facebook : Photography + Science = Chanel
Twitter : PSChanel
Pinterest : PhotoScience

Pasadena Chalk Festival + Make Music Pasadena

Photography, Thoughts

Tiger.

This past weekend I ventured just a couple of miles away from my house to find the hustle and bustle of 1,000’s of people who took over Pasadena on Saturday June 16th, 2012!

Firstly- there was the 20th Annual Chalk Festival held at the Paseo Colorado Mall. Approximately over 600 artists gathered from Southern California to Pasadena for the 2 day festival of artistic chalk magic! I’d link you to the website, but it crashed since Sunday with an overwhelmingly large numbers of viewers. It’s estimated that over 100,000 people came to see these temporary art exhibits on the ground of the Paseo. My favorite was an Albert Einstein Time Magazine cover- which actually won an award!

Secondly- there was the 5th Annual Make Music Pasadena event on Saturday as well. I really don’t know why I had never attended this fantastic festival before..it was too awesome to ever pass up again! There were over 150 free concerts all around walking distance in downtown Pasadena ranging across 6 main stages and over 30 impromptu stages. The only band I had really heard of before was GROUPLOVE which has a hit on the radio that I LOVE  at the moment 🙂 I’ll attach the video under the photo slideshow for your listening enjoyment. Multiple busy roads were closed down for this all day music event, and people came out from all over Southern California to see their favorite bands play for FREE! I had a blast and was happy to see all these new faces flock to Pasadena, my little bubble of a town.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

EARTH: In the highest-resolution EVER

Photography, Science, Thoughts

Earth- in the highest definition than ever before! It’s beautiful and amazing.

Also, today my boss showed me this little saying and said it’d be perfect for my blog- and he’s correct. André is a photographer himself, and so here it is:

PERFECTLY SAID! I think we all really should truly focus on who and what makes us happy in life and stick with it. The negatives do happen, and that’s how we learn and grow in this life of ours. With ups, there must be downs.

Happy Friday everyone 🙂 Have a fabulous weekend and enjoy yourself!

Santa Barbara Kind of Weekend.

Thoughts

So, I oddly have never spent more than a couple hours in Santa Barbara during my life in California. I stopped by SB late one night to eat at FreeBirds (for a famoud burrito of course)- and another time during a soccer tournament (I think?)- and once to interview with the Marine Science Graduate Program at UCSB. It’s only 2 hours away from LA…I’m surprised I haven’t visited more often!

Well I got the opportunity to go with some friends up to Santa Barbara for the weekend- so of course I said YES PLEASE! We ended up leaving around midnight on Friday- and got there around 2am so we could just wake up to the ocean in our backyard 🙂

Luckily my friend Marisa is family friends with a person I’m pretty sure everyone knows from an old popular tv show (sorry can’t say who!)- and basically this house was drop dead gorgeous, huge, and cozy! We were in a gated community with homes all along a little strip of rocky ocean shore. Life was great- I felt lucky to be able to enjoy this opportunity with great people 😀

Nelson- who was the one who was going to Santa Barbara in the first place for a wedding and invited us along- actually went to college at Westmont (which is in SB). He played baseball for them- so we headed to Westmont on Saturday to watch his old baseball team in the playoffs.

We had a great evening downtown – Santa Barbara sure had some interesting people and crazy bars! I had lots of fun meeting new friends, and shooting some pool 😉

Throughout the weekend went antiquing (I got a new lamp!), strolled along the beaches, and just enjoyed not having to do ANYTHING. Nelson also decided to take a couple amateur model photos of me..waiting on him to edit them so I can show you guys! A mini-vacation was just the thing I think we all need once in a while.

Here are some photos from this fun weekend. Let me know what you think 🙂

The View
Let’s Go For A Walk
Beaching.
Senior Day at Westmont.
Swing Batter!
A Real Warrior!
Coolest Antique Shop!
Bang Bang!
Antiquing.
Let’s Travel!
Old School SkateBoards
Umbrella..ella..ella
Love Those Hanging Stones!
I Could Get Used To This View..
Pondering..
Nelson and the Waves
Go Towards The Light!
The Porch
Marisa And The Shore
BIRD!
Marisa Stopping To Smell The Flowers
Walking With Marisa
Knot
Homes
Nautical Director
Harbor Seals!
Hot Sand

There’s Nothing Like the Yosemite Night Sky.

Photography, Science, Thoughts

Yosemite holds a special place in my heart after spending a week backpacking there with my high school companions for our senior trip (SPHS 2006 baby!). Even though that was years ago, I still come back to it often.

Funny story about my trip to Yosemite- might be a little TMI but it’s ok- when our group stopped and decided to set camp next to a creek- “nature called” and I went behind a tree for some privacy. When I looked up- there was a huge group of deer hanging out about 25 feet away from me. I was staring at them (not going to lie, a little scared), and they were just staring right back… It was a bit awkward, but overall it was quite a funny experience that I crack up every time I think about it!

Hetch Hetchy : Yosemite circa 2006

This spark of Yosemite love that inspired this blog post came from this amazing video of Yosemite I stumbled upon today. It’s a time-lapse of different locations in the beautiful California National State Park of Yosemite. I fell in love with the sky in Yosemite- star-gazing and counting satellites and shooting stars is one of my favorite things. There’s something just amazing, mysterious, and beautiful about watching the night sky. We are just a small part of this universe- it’s insane to try to wrap one’s head around it. It’s one of my Bucket List items to hike Half Dome…one day one day. I can’t wait!

Enjoy this video- make it full screen on your computer and turn it up and relax for 5 minutes.

Newport Beach in Black and White

Photography, Thoughts

I went to Newport Beach recently- and woke up at 7:00am and decided to fill my meter where I was parked overnight. I was going to go back to bed after filling the meter, but the moment I stepped outside to an amazing sunrise, calm crystal clear water, and an empty beach.. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy it all!

So I changed clothes- grabbed my camera and wallet- and walked up the bike path. My new friends live right ON the beach, and I totally fell in love with the place. It’s definitely my dream to live on the beach one day. I’d soak it up for all it’s worth.

I found a little cafe that just opened- got a chai tea latte and a blueberry bagel. Went next to the Balboa Pier and posted myself up on the Lifeguard Tower. PERFECTION. I watched the seagulls take over the sky, dolphins leaping, and pelicans diving while the sun warmed up my skin.

I decided to get some mostly black and white photos- just felt like it’d be a fun change of pace to see things in a different “light” so to speak. Hope you enjoy the slideshow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.