The holiday weekend ended, but my flight back to Colorado from San Diego was not scheduled to arrive close to 1am.  With this in mind I tried to maximize my sleep on the flight and decided if the conditions were good enough head east of the airport for the final photograph of Thirty Days 2009 on the way home.

With a near full moon I made way out and used some roads I was familiar with to grab some images at around 2am.  The quiet night with a slight chill in the air and mostly calm wind helped, but after about 30 minutes the chill and late hour steered me home. I was able to captured some images using around a 20 second exposure showing the quiet night.

Full Moon on the Plains

With the end of the Thanksgiving weekend today, my five year old niece took the opportunity to play in my parents backyard this morning before heading home with my sister and brother-in-law.  She was being crafty in the backyard and spent some time drawing with the chalk in addition to performing one more song for all of us.  As she was drawing I noticed her shadow being cast and took the opportunity to take the following image of Hannah leaving some chalk on the pavement as her earlier creations of the weekend had been washed away by the prior day’s rain.

My niece Hannah draws with chalk in California

The weather turned a little over night and the morning was filled with some rain and more so wind along the San Diego coast.  After photographing in La Jolla I headed down to Mission Beach and found a street light along the boardwalk which was still on even though the sun had been up for about an hour.  With the overcast conditions, it was a different type of photography today and took advantage of this to capture the following image.

Morning in Mission Beach - San Diego

A trip to nearby Lake Murray was in order on the morning after Thanksgiving to feed the ducks.  The weather up until now was quite warm, but a front was suppose to move through the San Diego area later in the day bringing cooler weather.  While at Lake Murray, a line of cirrus clouds were visible as a precursor to the cold front.  After feeding the ducks at the lake, we headed as a group along the trail towards the dam (Lake Murray is the last holding location for San Diego drinking water).  In the distance was Cowles Mountain and with the clouds for that front moving in a wide angle shot was used to emphasize the sky over the lake.  Now the question comes, what will the weather be the rest of the weekend.

Lake Murray and Cowles Mountain, San Diego

I found myself always heading to Coronado on Thanksgiving morning since going out to photograph while in San Diego, and this year was not different at all.  In the past I have photographed at the Ferry Landing and the Hotel Del Coronado, so this year I tried something a little different.  Using the beach location near the San Diego-Coronado bridge I found some morning light in the direction of the bridge, but also a different view of the San Diego skyline for the Day 26 image of Thirty Days.  Now time for plenty of food.

San Diego Skyline from Coronado

For the 25th day of Thirty Days 2009, I walked around downtown San Diego in the early morning.  One thing I am doing while walking is always looking for images, whether it is at eye level, below eye level or above. Near the Little Italy light rail station I found an interesting building, not only with the facade but also the lights hanging from the building. Working to get a good angle, and avoid the morning flow of light rail I found a perspective I liked for the image which was then converted to black and white.

Light on a San Diego Building

While walking along San Diego Bay, I came across the National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military at sunset.  As bits of Bob’s comedy was being played, I looked for a good way to photograph the tribute.  Working with a long exposure to minimize the impact of people enjoying the location I found a position behind Bob and took advantage of the after sunset evening light hanging around the bay to add an interesting background to the image.

Bob Hope Memorial at San Diego Bay

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, it is time to head out of town.  Being in a different part of town, I took advantage of this to photograph out near the airport.  Trying something different this year, I positioned myself in a place which would give me the sun and the aircraft on approach to the airport.  Even though the temperature was not too bad, the wind was howling.  Waiting for some larger aircraft, I photographed a Frontier Airlines Airbus aircraft getting ready to land.

Aircraft on Approach

The clouds were looking promising as sunset approached on Day 22 of Thirty Days.  Trying to find a good place to photograph the sunset was a little of a challenge as the Broncos had a home game, making some of the areas close to the stadium not easily accessible.  Heading downtown, I grabbed a spot on 16th Street next to another photographer and hoped something will materialize.  As with sunsets, you never know what to expect but the result was not what I had hoped.  As the light rail moved into one of the frames, I grabbed the following image for the image on Day 22.

16th Street Mall in Downtown Denver

I have photographed in Washington Park, Chessman Park and a few others in Denver but today I decided to stop by Sloans Lake and see what I could find to photograph.  As soon as I got out of the car, I found a tree which brought some interest to me.  With some snow on the ground to use as a foreground looked for a nice patch to use and captured the image for Day 21 of Thirty Days.

Tree at Sloans Lake