It has come to my attention that all Californians simply LOVE the outdoors. I can scarcely find a resident who doesn’t camp or backpack, own a pair of quick-drying, moisture-wicking pants or covet their lifetime membership to REI.

Well, I’ve decided to honor my newly-minted San Francisco resident status with an homage to The Golden State’s sylvan fetish and take up… hiking.

For my first excursion, I went on a short 3.5 mile loop along the Steep Ravine Trail at Mt. Tamalpais State Park.  

Sunlight hitting the trees.

Moss hanging off a low branch.

An HDR of the Pacific Ocean where it meets the San Francisco Bay. (You can even make out Sutro  Tower!)

Start this year off right and re-design your photo website in such a way that every editor who looks at it doesn’t scream. You may think I’m being hyperbolic but there you would be wrong. Day after day I am sent to different websites submitted by photographers looking for more work. And day after day I find myself pouring another glass of water (because I can’t have anything stronger at work) as I hold my head wondering: what were they thinking?

Now don’t get me wrong, I judge each and every submission based on their technical skill and creative eye but sometimes a badly designed website can get in the way of that. Which leads me to number one:

• Design Your Site to Allow the Viewing of Photos – This should be obvious and yet I continually find myself trying to view photos that are rolling around the screen. Gallery plugins like Postcard Viewer and TiltViewer have no place in the mesosphere of professional photography.

• Play ‘Em Big – One of the greatest freedoms photographers inherited from the internet was liberty from the chains of a printing budget. You have practically unlimited space to show off your work! Now that your photos are holding still, let me really look at them. Be proud of that tack sharp focus. Let me see the detail in your blacks!  That being said, there is one caveat:

• Use a Proper File Size - Don’t use the same file on the Internet as you would to print an 8×10. Screen resolution is limited so a larger file won’t improve the quality of your image online. “Okay but I’m lazy and I don’t want to set up an action to reduce the size of my files” > Large files sizes won’t help, but they will hinder. Large file sizes will increase your site’s load time > annoying an editor and turning off potential clients.

• “Gotta have a Gimmick” is good advice for a striptease, not a website – Whether it’s snow falling across the page or text streaming out of my cursor announcing your Valentine’s Day sale, gimmicks are distracting and unprofessional. Music too is a contrived artifice that distracts from your work. If for some reason you believe the technical merit of your photos is somehow amplified by the playing of “Marry Me” by Train, at least include a way to TURN IT OFF in case your visitors disagree with you.

•User Interface should be intuitive – Pull your website up on your computer and let a friend play with it. Even better: give them a task, ask them to find something, and see how well they do. Can they  find your navigation bar? Can they scroll through the images? Do your collection headers make sense? or are they too… creative? If they can’t find your portraits, off are neither can a potential employer or new client.

•Social media sites aren’t portfolios- Facebook, Google+, and Flickr are all great ways of showing off your work and getting more business. They are not, however, a replacement for a professional portfolio. Even if you have no budget and can’t write code, there are viable options to display your work in a legitimate format.

•Use a social media site to supplement your portfolio – If there is a place to submit a second URL for your work, adding a link to a social media site can give you the chance to show off your most recent work. Caveats:

1. I should not have to be your friend to view the material on your site
2. There should be photos
3. These photos should not be exactly the same as the photos on your professional site
4. This should be a business page, not your personal timeline

•Use a legible font – This, I think, should be self-explanatory but for those of you who require more information, I’ll elaborate:

1. Each character should be discernible from the others
2. Each character should be discernible as a character from the language in which you are writing
3. The color of your font should contrast the color of your page background
4. Use of Comic Sans is the most egregious of sins

•Edit – Just because there is practically an unlimited amount of space on your website to host photos doesn’t mean you should display every photo you’ve ever taken. You’re portfolio should be the best of the best. This is your opportunity to weed out all of the “almosts” – the photos where you focused on her nose instead of her eyes and the one where the exposure or lighting wasn’t quite right. You wouldn’t print a photo where the subject closed his eyes so don’t put it in your portfolio either. Next, bake your friendly neighborhood photo editor some cookies and ask them to go over what you have. They’ll be able to spot the frames you’ve included in the collection because of an emotional attachment. Time to let go, look at the images objectively, and only include those with real technical merit.

•Give them what they ask for – If an account applies for a job and they ask for a PDF of the applicant’s resume – the applicant should give the potential employer just that: a PDF of their resume. If an editor ask for a URL or link to your portfolio, they are asking for a domain name. Note: it usually starts with a “www” and ends with a “.com” or “.net”.

•Spell Check – You think I’m referring to the copy on your page but, in fact, you are only partly correct. Reading the copy on your site would imply I found it at all. The first rule when sending out your portfolio for review should always be that you spell the URL correctly.

One of the first things I did upon moving to San Francisco was buy a bed.

…

The second thing, though, was figure out how I was going to hang all of my photos! We have these gorgeous open walls in our living/dining room, which were the perfect spot. There was even molding already there creating this perfect frame for my assortment of photos. So that is:

Step 1: choose where you will hang your photos

Step 2: Collect all of the photos you want to hang.

Step 3: Lay your framed photos out on paper. This can be packing paper, old wrapping paper, or (like I used) disassembled paper grocery bags — hey! it says “recyclable, reusable” right on the bag for a reason ;) Outline and cut.

Step 4: Label your paper photo frames with their proper orientation (horizontal or vertival).

Step 5: Arrange your paper frames as you wish on the wall with tape (simple scoth will do or, if you’re worried about your new paint, blue painter’s tape)

Step 6: Once you have your final arrangement, hang the photos on the wall. For lightweight frames a plain old framing nail will do the job although heavier weight frames may require sturdier stuff. Your local hardware store should have a box with an assortment of the needed hanging materials.

Although Irene and Ryan both hailed from Colorado, they met while stationed in Japan with the US Navy. They decided to wed November 26 (Thanksgiving Weekend 2011) on an Odyssey cruise down the Potomac River in Washington D.C. Their theme: “1,000 paper cranes.”

I love the idea of two naval officers getting married on boat! but pokey halls and narrow doors made getting around (and taking pictures) difficult. The girls of the bridal party did most of their prepping at the nearby Holiday Inn Capitol hotel before heading to the dock and group shots were limited by the width and depth of the gangways lining the ship.

But thanks to gorgeous weather, the ever changing scenery of DC monuments, and the idyllic romance of the bride and groom: this day was one to remember.

Now that you’ve realized the Internet is the bane of your existence, it’s time to make you love it again. Learning your new home can be incredibly efficient and fun thanks to the Internet and, more specifically, if you have Internet on your phone. Certain apps can help you find places to eat, watch a movie, or walk your dog.

Yelp – don’t have any dishes? have dishes but you’re so incredibly beat from unpacking boxes that you simply don’t have the energy to boil water? Type in your new zip code and search for a tasty spot nearby. You can filter by type of cuisine, distance from your house, and. most importantly, rating. Note: this also works near your new place of business.

Living Social / Groupon – Daily Deal cites over fun and often cheap ways to get out and try new things in your area. IT even encourages you to make new friends :)

Fandango - allow the application to use your current location and it will tell you all of the theaters nearby, what they’re showing, and at what times.

iTunes – search for local podcasts in your area to tell you what’s up

iHeartRadio - listening to local radio stations isn’t just for car rides anymore. Walk? Take a bus on your daily commute? This app allows you to listen to any radio station nationwide. Search for one in your new city or listen to your old station for a little nostalgic music to your ears.

Twitter - searching for local tweets and tweeters can keep you up to date on news and other events going on in the city.

Google Maps – Now that you have learned about all these awesome laces to go, you’re next question is: how do I get there? Search for a store name or just the type of store you’re looking for and you can get the location. You can then get directions via foot, car, or public transportation.

Search for other apps that are specific to your area. San Francisco has this nice one called Next Muni that (supposedly) tells you when the next bus at your station will arrive. When all else fails: talking to people is always a relevant backup plan.

I apologize for not being more active on this blog of late. After I moved to San Francisco, I found myself incredibly preoccupied figuring out my new life: where is the nearest grocery store? how do I get there? once I bring home to groceries, what am I going to cook them with? much less, serve them on? or eat them with?

I was so busy learning that I felt I had no time to teach. But we have chairs now! I can get from point A to point B on public transit and I’ve feel like I finally have a grasp (albeit loose) on this whole West Coast thing. This entry is about one of the the first things I learned here:

In today’s information age, moving cross country, or indeed moving just about anywhere, requires a lot more than just packing a suitcase (or 3). There is paperwork to be done, people to be informed, and… a lot of digital data to change. In addition to moving your physical self, here are some other things that may need updating:

The usual suspects:

• The Bank (quite possibly several times). If your bank isn’t national or doesn’t have a branch in your area, look into any sister banks, what the fees are for using an out-of-network ATM, and whether it would be cost effective to switch over your accounts.

•Credit Card Companies

•Your IRA/401K/investment management company

•Your Alma Maters: your high school, college, etc will want to keep in touch with news about the school, how to keep in touch for the alumni network, and any reunions that might be coming up. While your chatting they can also put you in touch with the alumni group in your area.

•Professional groups: don’t want your PDN magazine going to the wrong address.

•Subscriptions: some people still like to get their newspapers and magazines in print, right?

•Your insurance companies: this includes car, home, and professional. NOTE: you will probably need proof of car insurance to get your new driver’s license.

•The DMV: get a new license, register your car, apply to vote! Check on their website to see what kinds of hoops you need to jump through before showing up (like getting an emissions test) and get a list of all the documents you need to bring with you to prove your identity and residency. You should also check with your former DMV to find out what the process is for returning your plates; there could be some cash in your future.

•USPS: The United States Postal Service will forward any mail from people/companies you forgot to update or didn’t catch in time to your new address.

The unusual:

•Timezones: Outlook/iCal should update your appointments automatically when you start up your computer in your new location but it is not 100% reliable; double check all of your important appointments just in case. Change other profiles that are timezone specific—like Buffer—as well.

•Social media profiles: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter  all have a “location” field. Updating it, though, is just the beginning. Many groups you belong to also have city specific sub-groups that should be updated as well.

•DailyDeal sites (like Groupon or LivingSocial): stop getting emails about all the cool stuff going on in your old town and switch over to your new one! It’s a great way to get to know what’s hot in your new city :)

•Advertising materials: not only will all of your printed materials (flyers, business cards) need to reflect your new address but your digital marketing strategies as well such as google places, your website’s description and SEO, and any third party listings like Craig’s List or The Knot.

My list is far from comprehensive and ever-growing. Where else are you registered???

On Friday, September 30 I set out from my Silver Spring, MD home to move across the country.

As many may remember, I was laid-off from The Gazette  in June and have been looking for a new path ever since. I found my new full-time calling in the wedding photography agency and took a position as a content editor at a wedding photography agency in San Francisco, CA.

Thus my family and I loaded all of the possessions I could fit into the trunk of my Hyundai Elantra and I hit the road, accompanied by my boyfriend and (now) fellow Bay Area resident, Joey Baker.

The following photos are a sampling of those taken with my iPhone 4 out the window of a moving vehicle.

Sunset our firt night on the road over Chicago, Illinois.

Sunrise Day 2 in Iowa

Day 2 – Sunset in Wyoming

Day 3 – Nevada

Our new neighborhood – San Francisco, CA

A couple weeks back my friend Katie found an awesome coupon to tour 5 wineries in Northern Virginia through The Capitol Deal. It was a great offer and we totally loved the idea of de-stressing the last two weekends before my great cross-country move from DC to San Francisco hanging out and drinking a few glasses of wine.

Our first weekend started off a bit wet and drear, but by the time we reached our third and final winery of the day, the sun had just started peaking out from behind the clouds and started casting a gorgeous light on just about everything. Hume Vineyards was definitely my favorite winery of the day and I think the photos reflect that.

This first photo is an HDR composed of 7 frames each one third stop apart.

I know this is probably sacrilegious but that frame really reminds me of one I took in Napa earlier this year. Here are a few more singles from the winery.

A couple of days ago my friend and former neighbor, Tchad ,called asking for a favor: he was judging a contest and needed a headshot. Although a fellow photographer, he felt better having another #tog behind the camera.

Tchad wanted something unconventional but still professional – he thought the other headshots featured on the site looked too stiff -nothing too off the wall but still modern and approachable. He sent me a few examples of what he liked and we decided on a Karsh-esque lighting scheme with the overexposed highlight on the far side.

In deciding outfit we took a card from Richard Avedon’s collection and chose a light blue shirt with some texture instead of a silk button down. I also really wanted to bring out the rich undertones of Tchad’s skin tone, so I picked a light wood for the background instead of the standard grey, which I thought would wash him out.

My main light source was an overcast setting sun while the kicker was a Nikon Speedlight attached to a obliging tree via bungee cord. I set my ISO to 200 and used an f/2.8 to ensure his whole face was in focus while blurring out the background. My lens was a Nikon 50mm prime.