beersandbeans.com » Photos

LIVE FROM THE X-GAMES!

beersandbeans — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:52:30 +0000

We are covering the X-Games this weekend and so far it has been really fun! We’ve managed to get travel advice from Bam Margera & Johnny Knoxville (more on this coming in another post) and I’ve been able to take some really cool photos! (More on this coming in another post.) I had a few minutes here before the next event and wanted to upload some quick pics from today. I’ll put more up later as well as some tips for photographing sporting events. More to come soon!

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

If you want more information or want to inquire about having your wedding photographed by Nariko’s Nest please contact me at Beth@NarikosNest.com. BeersandBeans readers get 20% and all destination weddings book at 50% off regular rates!! To see more photos please visit NarikosNest.com.

Somewhere In Time – La Fonda, Mexico

beersandbeans — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:15:16 +0000

Somewhere In Time is a weekly photo from around the world. Enjoy!

Only a 25 minute drive from the border, La Fonda is a popular surf break in Baja, Mexico. It’s a sleepy little area that has a fantastic restaurant overlooking the water. They serve up a great breakfast buffet and amazing Bloody Marys. If you’re driving through Baja, it’s worth a stop.

Check out the other Somewhere In Time Photos.

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

Rainy Day Vegas

beersandbeans — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:00:52 +0000

You’re lucky if you’re in Vegas in the middle of a rain storm.

There’s a lot of sinning in this town and with any luck, the rain just might wash yours away. Ok, not really but it’s not every day you get to see this amazing American desert city in the rain. We travel to Vegas a few times a year and this time we arrived in the middle of a downpour. Randy’s grandparents had never been there before and I had never been there in the rain. I was amazed – rain in the desert! Yah! I took the opportunity to take some real Beth style photos. Here’s some rainy day Vegas photos to get you thinking about this notorious city in a different way. They really are amazing viewed large but I can’t figure out how to host that type of photo gallery on this site. In any case, I love them and I hope you guys do too! My favorites?? Hmm well I love them all but the 1st, 3rd and the last one have truly captured my heart. Please tell me which ones you love or hate (I hope none!). If you have questions don’t hesitate to ask.

If you liked these photos please follow the link below for more of your Vegas viewing pleasure!

Vintage Vegas Photos

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

Pretty Places – Oaxaca, Mexico

beersandbeans — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:08:40 +0000

From the food to the people, the architecture to the wafting smells of chocolate & baking bread, Oaxaca is a beautiful city that is a feast for the senses. I absolutely loved Oaxaca and I would recommend it to anyone. The photos below are some that I took just walking around town. While some of them are not the most exciting, they give you a great taste of some of the beauty that the city holds. If you get a chance – go to Oaxaca. You won’t regret it.

If you’re curious to learn more about Oaxaca you can view some of my previous posts:

Street Photos – Oaxaca, Mexico

Inside Oaxaca’s Hidden Market

Oaxaca City Blues

The Wonderful, Beautiful Food of Oaxaca

Hostal Del Mercado, Oaxaca – A Hostel Review

Move over Margarita! Michelada has come to town.

Somewhere in Time Photo 1

Somewhere in Time Photo 2

Somewhere in Time Photo 3

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

Travel Photo Gear Hack!

beersandbeans — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:12:18 +0000

Ok, so if you’re like me and the other millions of photographers there is one thing that drives you crazy when shooting outdoors.

Yup, you guessed it – attempting to review your photos on the LCD screen in broad daylight.

(If you look closely, you can see the picture in the LCD but the sun glare makes it really hard to see.)

Forget about it! You simply can’t really see if you got the exact exposure or not. This is not a big deal when you’re tooling around a new city just shooting for yourself but it becomes a big deal when you have a big paid shoot (like a wedding or travel assignment) or you are under deadline and don’t have time to screw around trying to find a shady spot to check your frames.

(The same photo but viewed indoors where you can see it clearly on the LCD screen.)

Now if you are shooting a lot, you technically shouldn’t have to worry about double checking your photos because you should be dialed in with your camera enough to know you got it. When we all shot film we didn’t have the option of double checking exposures but in today’s digital world this is a luxury that no one wants to do without. It is REALLY nice to be able to double check your photo instantaneously and know you got it right.

Because this is an issue, there are a couple things on the market that you can buy that can help you with this problem. This issue is that they either suck or cost a lot of money.

I tried to go the cheap route once and bought this pop up shade which promised that it would shade my screen and I could see my photo. I couldn’t. Don’t buy anything like this – it will be a waste of $15. This thing sucks and further more I hit myself in the eye with it more than once when it was open on the back of my camera. I hate this thing.

This week I have a big wedding coming up and I have been trying to decide over the past 2 weeks if I want to buy a Hoodman. The Hoodman is pretty sweet and it works like a charm (I got to test one out yesterday) but coming in at $80 it is expensive! I also want something I can travel with and the Hoodman isn’t exactly small. It would be a disaster to keep hanging around in a travel bag and I really don’t want to spend $80 for something I will only use occasionally and could break on the road.

Well I got lucky because yesterday I decided to buy one. I went into the camera shop and the sales guy erroneously told me that they were sold out. I was bummed but I went upon my merry way looking at photo bags (for the 15th hundred time). After I was done I saw someone else checking out a Hoodman. They actually had one left in the back. Well I also checked it out for a bit and in all honesty I was pretty sold on it. I decided that piece of mind on a wedding day was probably worth $80. It just so happened that guy decided the same thing and he bought it. They double checked in the back but this time they were out of them, for real.

So I got in my car and started wondering if I could make my own. I decided to swing by Michaels and buy some foam core board for my construction of a black box I could put over the screen. However on the way through the store they had a dollar bin with some foam can coolers in it. It’s about the same length as the Hoodman and it has a hole on the bottom for condensation drainage (or my eye!) – perfect!

I bought one and ran home to try it out. I took some practice shots on the deck of the boat in FULL sunlight and it works like a charm! It may not have the magnifying loupe feature or be as fancy as the Hoodman but I saved $79! Plus it has the added bonus of keeping the canned drink of my choice chilled! Sweet.

I did decide to make the bottom (eye) hole a little bigger but that was the only adjustment I made. I love this thing! It’s lightweight, portable and has dual functions. A perfect piece of travel gear! The best part is that I don’t have to worry about it. I can squash it into my bag, lose it – who cares? It cost a buck and I can buy another one if I need to. It may not be the most professional tool on the market but I only need it for a few seconds each time I use it so it’s not really a big deal.

I wanted to share this little tidbit with our readers because this is a great travel tool and if you shoot a lot outdoors you will really appreciate a budget way to view your photos in full sun.

Stay tuned because I have some more photo “hacks” coming your way as well including how to find a great camera bag!

Also please let me know in the comments if you try this out and if it works for you.

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

Palm Canyon Hike in the Anza Borrego Desert

beersandbeans — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:05:57 +0000

A couple days ago I did a review on the campground at Anza Borrego Desert and how you can camp for free. To read that review, click here.

We also did an amazing hike when we were out there. I highly recommend doing this hike if you are in the area. I love the desert but I have never actually been on a desert hike where I came across a small river and a huge canyon of palm trees!

It was unbelievable to see all of this life flourishing under the hot desert sun. It was magical really. Around every corner there were different plants, animals and then finally the canyon filled with palm trees. It was really unique.

The hike was called the Palm Canyon Hike and was about 6.5 miles R/T. It is worth it but make sure you bring a ton of water with you! It can get very, very hot. Take extra precautions if you are headed out any time during the summer.

Here are some pics from the hike.

(Someone decided to start the trail off with a smiley face!)

(This picture may not seem like much but remember these plants are blooming under the hot, arid desert sun – it’s amazing!)

(Part of the hiking path.)

(A beautiful, blooming Octillo cactus.)

(Water in the desert! What??!!)(The really cool palm canyon. Looks like it should be on a scene in Lost.)

Subscribe to our feed & share the love!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

Desert Wildflowers – Happy Birthday Mom!

beersandbeans — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:03:52 +0000

Disclaimer: A couple people have written to me thinking that I am mad at my mother. This is meant to be a funny story. I am not mad at my mom in any way and she is the best mom anyone could ever ask for. I have already asked her what she thought of me posting this story (to add some history to the post) and she said that she didn’t mind. Tomorrow is her birthday and I wanted to send her some flower pictures. Please don’t think I am mad at my mother or that I dislike her in any way. She is awesome!

Many moons ago when I was a photo student I was thinking of transferring colleges. I had an interview at another school and was asked to bring my best photography portfolio. At the time my portfolio was REALLY dark. I don’t mean the colors but the theme was dark. I was struggling with change, growing up and all the emotions that go along with that ball of wax. I was inspired by the likes of Sally Mann, Cindy Sherman, Julia Margaret Cameron and Joel-Peter Witkin to name a few. My images weren’t happy ones but they were very real to me. I was really proud of my portfolio. My teachers and classmates liked it and I loved it. However my mother HATED it.

Anyway, she always used to bug me to take pictures of “something nice, like flowers” instead. This was something she asked me to do over and over again. So much so that now it is a joke between us. No way! I was an artist, I wasn’t about to spend my hard earned angst on freaking flowers! Gross.

Well she and my father drove me to my interview (at the new school) and I had all of my photos in a large envelope without matting, as requested by the school. I fell asleep in the back seat and my mother was holding the envelope, which I didn’t think twice about.

Until I got into the interview.

I went in and met with the Dean of the college prepared to show him my best work. After I described my portfolio I started taking out the accompanying photos. Imagine my complete surprise when I saw that, while I was sleeping, my mother had taken out ALL of the photos that I thought were the best. All of the ones with the darkest undertones. All of the ones she hated the most.

All that was left was random filler crap. I was speechless. It made me look like an idiot and it made me look like I didn’t prepare at all for the interview. Now at this point I didn’t realize this was my mother’s doing, I was thinking that maybe I actually forgot to bring the right pictures. I was totally dumbfounded and my interview was a total bomb because of it.

I walked out back into the car where my parents were waiting and surprise, surprise what was in there – my missing photos! My mom decided (although she has absolutely no background in art) that she was going to help me out by removing the photos she didn’t like. She assumed that a highly ranked photography only art school wouldn’t like them either. What?!!?? I was so pissed, as anyone would be. I mean can you even imagine! My blood, sweat & tears removed just like that. She really thought at the bottom of her heart though that she was doing the right thing and that she was helping me out.

Well long story short, because of my bombed interview and ridiculous photo presentation I didn’t get into that school. Which was probably a blessing in disguise. Instead I made the best friends a person could ask for at UMass Dartmouth and had an absolute blast in their art department. So it’s a long time coming but -

Thanks mom for bombing my interview! I made amazing friends who I still know today and you saved me thousands of dollars in student loan debt that I would’ve acquired at the private art school! In the end it was for the best – so thank you!!

Since tomorrow is your birthday and I’m not there in person I wanted to send you this little photo collection I made just for you. It took about 15 years for but here it is -

Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!

I still don’t like shooting them but I have come to peace with it since I love you so much! Plus the desert wildflowers are pretty nice aren’t they?

Wish I was there but I will see you in about a month. I Love You – Happy Birthday!!!!

Love,

Your flower-shooting daughter

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.
*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

Street Photos – Oaxaca, Mexico

beersandbeans — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:48:53 +0000

One of my favorite ways to shoot is from the hip. Oaxaca was a great place to walk around and do this all day. The city is full of great colors, amazing faces and beautiful buildings. I also have some more typical pictures from around the town that I will put in another post but for now I leave you with the street photos. These are some of my favorite from the trip. I didn’t notice this until I was editing the photos but apparently the lady below was not too happy with me, which I think is pretty funny.
<

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed OR get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

All The Unhappy Photos aka My Photography Organization Skills (or lack there of)

beersandbeans — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:31:32 +0000

Julia cooking in her restaurant.

I got some sort of weird flu two days ago so I have been laying low, sleeping and not doing much. Today I decided to go through some of my photos to look for a few for an upcoming guest post on AlmostFearless. What I found was a mess! I have done a good job of keeping my wedding photos organized but I have known for a long time that the travel photos have been suffering.

Well things only got worse a month or so ago because I had to transfer computers and transfer all my files. I back all my files up anyway so that wasn’t an issue but the issue was that one day I would use computer A and then the other day I would use computer B to do my work on. This horrible idea started happening because occasionally Randy would have to take a computer with him to work and would need to take the Mac because it doesn’t need to be plugged in. The PC battery is dead and if the plug gets knocked out of the computer I lose everything. It’s not like I can just start back up and everything is there like it would be if the computer was sleeping – nope everything would be completely gone unless it had been saved. I usually work on several things at once and have several lists going and you can imagine the frustration of losing this info time and time again.

Pablo's Powdered Hands

This issue is what caused me to switch full time to the Mac and Randy now uses the Ipod when he needs to take a computer to work. So I technically have 3 copies of everything (actually 4 because I use two external hard drives) which is great, the only problem is I would edit photos on one computer, not update the external hard drive, then use the other computer on another day. It actually took a while for me to figure out what a mess I had made. Now I have all the same photos at various stages of editing on different computers and hard drives. It is still a mess and I honestly don’t know if I can fix it since there are thousands of photos to go through. I still have Utah photos to edit, Joshua Tree photos (I took over 15oo on my road trip), Vegas photos to edit and various other photos. There are just too many to sit down at both computers and compare which is updated and which isn’t. Plus I have been looking for certain photos to go with certain posts and having a hard time finding them. On top of that wedding season is about to be in full swing, which will leave me little to no time for editing my own work. Ugh. I am so mad at myself for creating all of this extra work.

Sand Paintings for Day of the Dead.

Beyond this mess my organization was not great by any means and my trip to Oaxaca for Dia de los Muertes is my most obvious mess to date. I took over 1500 photos in 5 days and a lot of them are awesome and yet have never even seen the light of day. We met some amazing people and interviewed 2 people while we were down there regarding Day of the Dead activities. The problem is that 1500 photos is overwhelming when they aren’t organized well. Even though I generally shoot double that amount in one day for a wedding, it is a little easier to organize because everything in a time line – pre ceremony, ceremony, family shots, bridal shots, reception. It’s pretty clear cut and that makes it much easier. It’s so much harder when I travel because I am shooting a lot of different things – people, buildings, street photos, emotions. Trying to catalogue all of that is a nightmare. I have amazing photos from the cemetaries and the people we met that have never been shown. I have fantastic photos of Pablo, his powdered hands and his stories regarding the sand paintings in the middle of town. In fact there is an entire interview with him that has never been released. Then there’s Julia, her amazing family and the awesome food she made for us in her new restaurant (and refused to let us pay for), there’s the dancing, the candles, the graves, the trip to magical Mt. Ablan. All these photos are in hiding and quite frankly there are some sad little photos lurking around on my computer because of this lack of organization. They want to be seen and they deserve to be seen. I need a new photo gallery and a new organization method so I can make them happy again.

The magical Mt. Ablan.

Well up until this time I had organized my photos like this – “good” “better” “best”. Pathetic I know. I would start the editing process by wedding out the good shots, then I would go through those for the better ones, then I would edit those and put them in the “best” pile. There was no further organization. Day of the Dead was probably my largest travel photography undertaking and it suffered severely due to this organization method. Really I needed to sort it more like this – Cemeteries, Ceremonies, Markets, Food, Street Photos, Pretty Places, Mt. Ablan, emotions, Etc. Then I should’ve gone through and picked out the good, the bad and the best and edited them like that.

Oaxaca grave on Dia de Los Muertos with a woman holding rosary beads in the background.

I am definitely making a change after witnessing this mess that I have created. I am no longer going to use my old method of photo organization. I honestly never even edited all of the photos from Oaxaca because it was so overwhelming and other work projects kept getting in the way. If I break things down initially I know it’s going to be so much easier because instead of just sitting down to edit hundreds of photos on end I can just do one type of thing like Oaxaca Markets or Pablo and the Sand Paintings.

Oaxaca Grave Detail

I’m writing this post because editing is a HUGE part of any photographers job and honestly it’s more work than anything else. It is hard to keep on top of because it is a manual process and I never want to put out photos that I think are not as good as they could be. Just sorting through 1500 photos to determine which ones you are going to edit is tough enough. When you start actually editing it physically becomes draining. Lack of organization, as I have obviously learned, makes it SO much worse.

Wall of graves in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The other thing that bums me out is that my gallery page on this blog sucks. I have tried a million different galleries and I can’t get them to work. The current one is totally outdated with old stuff and because I could never get any other galleries to work on WordPress I had to make slide shows in Picasa and then embed them on the page. I don’t like doing that and I really hate the way it looks. If anyone has any tips or wants to help me make a real gallery please contact me. I have a couple that I have in mind that I like. I will be forever in your debt. I can’t be a travel photographer with a horrible gallery and bad photo organizational skills and right now I am both. Boo!

On a positive note, you can expect a lot of Oaxaca photos in the upcoming weeks. I am bound and determined that these will photos will have their day.

What do you do to organize your photos? Please feel free to leave a comment – I’m sure people out there have much better ideas about this than I do and I would LOVE to hear them.

Three Free – San Francisco

beersandbeans — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:27:33 +0000

Three Free – A weekly round up of three free & unique things to do in different cities around the world.

We’re starting a new thing here at Beers and Beans. Every week or so we will be highlighting three free things to do in different cities around the world. When we’re traveling we’ll be updating this category even more. It’s going to be a great resource for budget travelers all around the world and we’re aiming for some unique ideas that don’t typically pop up in online searches. This week we’re starting off with Randy’s favorite city and the place he misses living on an almost daily basis – San Francisco.

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights at Night

This is a must for any literary lovers, especially those interested in the beat literature. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to hang out with such greats as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg & Neal Cassady – City Lights is where you’ll want to hunker down for at least a few hours. This was their big hang out, a place they got inspiration from, gave readings, got published & bought books. On top of being an amazing bookstore it’s also home to a publishing company – City Lights Publishing. In fact, it was this underground publishing company that first published Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”. This independent bookstore has been around since the 1950′s and has a huge following. In fact it has played such a unique role in the history of San Francisco it is now an official landmark in the city. It’s a great stop for anyone who wants to relax for a few hours and escape the San Fran craziness.

Jack Kerouac Alley - City Lights to the right and Vesuvio's on the left.

Located in the heart of North Beach, you can’t miss it as you walk down Columbus Avenue. They have continual free readings and they even have their own podcast. If you happen to have a few bucks you can stop by the saloon next door, Vesuvio’s. It’s old, unique & awesome. Having a drink (or 3) there is a great way to continue your bask in beat literature. Being separated from City Lights by only a small

Vesuvio's

alley (aptly named Jack Kerouac Alley), this is the local bar they all frequented. These two spots go hand in hand and quite frequently the alley takes on at life of it’s own with impromptu readings and jam sessions. It’s really an awesome section of the city that shouldn’t be missed. You can learn more about City Lights by visiting their website: City Lights Books. You can learn more about Vesuvio’s by visiting their site: Vesuvio’s.

Dolores Park

Dolores Park, San Francisco

Dolores Park is located in the Castro and is an excellent way to take in the views of downtown San Francisco. Being in the heart of the Castro it’s a pretty exciting park and it’s a great place to people watch while relaxing and maybe munching down on a burrito from one of the awesome taco shops that surround the park. Groups of all kinds gather here on a consistent basis. The last time I was there I ran into a large hula hoop group. It was awesome! Literally dozens of people overtook the park with their hula hoops and boom boxes.

Full Hula Hoop Action

Armed with only my trusty burrito I was so bummed I couldn’t participate! This park has also been the site for many political rallies and festivals of all kinds. If you’re visiting San Francisco at the end of June for the annual Gay Pride Parade this would be an excellent place to hang out.

Interesting sights at Dolores Park.

It is also the starting point for the annual Dyke March and the Trans March. If you’re looking to chill outside at a beautiful park for a couple hours and don’t want to end up bored – this is the park you want to do it at. You will see cool things and meet awesome people.

People Watch at the Bay To Breakers Race

Nakedness abound at Bay to Breakers!

Bay to Breakers is a 12k run that spans the city. Why would it be fun to watch people run a race? Well because it isn’t just any old race, it’s a San Francisco race. What does that mean? Well in two words – it’s awesome! Of course some people take the race seriously and run it to win, however most people (read 98%) run/walk it just for fun. In fact I think half the people who run it aren’t actual paid participants. Especially the naked ones that have nothing to pin their numbers on!

An interesting group of people at Bay to Breakers. I think that's Lady Gaga in the back!

There are costumes galore, drinks are flowing continuously (which I’ve been told is still currently legal) and most fun of all - nakedness abounds everywhere! Mainly it comes in the form of unfit, middle aged men stark naked, except for running shoes and a visor. It’s hysterical, goofy and a lot of fun. You will see groups of all kinds running the race and with all the ridiculousness surrounding you, by just hanging out on the street you simply won’t be able avoid joining in on the fun in some way. I’m quite bummed because I thought Bay to Breakers was this weekend and planned my post accordingly however it looks like it was a couple weeks ago. In any case, unleash your inhibitions and make your plans now for next year because it is the 100th annual race and it is sure to be absolute mayhem!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed here and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.
*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!