I was up flying yesterday to shoot the Rose Bowl Game. Oregon beat Wisconsin in a high scoring game. The B-2 Stealth Bomber did the flyby at the start of the game. It was a beautiful and warm day. Not a bad way to start the New Year!! Here is a picture of the B2 flying over the Rose Bowl Stadium

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I decided to fly on Christmas Day to photograph how people celebrate. I got some great aerial photos around LA, including going to Universal Studios, the Santa Monica Pier, Venice beach and Disneyland, just to name a few. It was an beautiful day for a flight and a wonderful experience to see all the activities people are able to do on Christmas in Southern California.

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As I fly around I'm always looking for unusual and interesting views. Here in the back bay of the Port of Los Angeles I came across some huge buoys and other equipment used to secure ships. Colors and patterns make this a fun photograph.

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"Caltrans we have a problem!" Over a hundred feet of Paseo del Mar, the main coastal road from San Pedro to Palos Verdes fell into the ocean. With so much earth gone, this has become a non-repairable road and will be a major headache for a lot of people. There is no containment as the earth is still moving.

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I had some aerial photo work in Reno, Nevada and decided to fly up the Owens Valley which is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was a beautiful fall day with some snow on Mammoth Mountain and the Aspen trees were turning yellow. We flew over a lot of lakes: Crowley Lake, Mono Lake and Lake Tahoe. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful scenery.
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I was up working in the Bay area and flew over the City of San Francisco. On a clear day, you can see downtown San Francisco, the wharf, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge all at the same time. I don't think you can take a bad picture of SF on one of these clear days. Here is a picture of downtown San Francisco and a close up of Alcatraz prison.
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Also, here is an aerial video of downtown San Francisco that was shot on the same trip.

Big surf hit the Southern California beaches last week. Over 15' waves were seen from the Wedge in Orange County to Malibu. Here are some pictures of the surfers in Malibu. The second group of pictures shows the high tide and huge surf hitting beachfront homes.

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This year I shot the OC Fair at night. It looks so different at night when it is all lit up. The Orange County Fairgrounds are located in Costa Mesa, just north of Newport Beach, and get some pretty amazing sunsets. This year the fair also included car soccer.

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The US Open of Surfing championship was held in Huntington Beach last week. Besides surfing there were also skate and BMX competitions. I have never seen so many people on a beach before!!! I kept circling around because it was such an amazing view from the air!

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One of the best weekends to be at beach is during the International Surf Festival. That is when the Los Angeles County Lifeguard have their Championship plus surfing competition and the Charlie Saikley six man beach volleyball tournament all take place. This year it was held next to the pier in Manhattan Beach. Over 60,000 people showed up to watch these events. It was a beautiful weekend with good surf and great weather. Click on the image twice to see the gallery.