Who knows why I selected today to begin this blog, I suspect it had something to do with staring at my Facebook clutter, and deciding it was time to chronicle my outdoor adventures on a palette less littered with insipid status updates like: "im so wasted" and my favorite: "gtl"... It is my sincere hope that eventually people can use this blog to help them select hikes or check out adventures on which they have gone with me.
My History vs. Nature
I started my outdoor adventures a while back with my buddies Del, Sota, and Phil... These guys dragged my ass kicking and screaming to Joshua Tree National Park for what would be the first of my exposures to the wilderness. I had a lousy trip because I went in with a horrible mindset and there was nothing anyone was going to say to me to make me get over it. Ironically, I look back and think about how much fun I really had and would in reality, not allow myself to admit it haha. Needless to say, I was ill prepared for that trip, my Hurley sweatshirt and USC hat did little to protect me from the immense temperature drops out in the high desert (one thing that I did learn is that no matter how nice the day was, the night is cold). I have pictures from this trip, however they are in the old film format. I will be thus required to locate them and scan them... to be done at a later date for sure. This brings me to the second aspect of this blog, and why I am starting it.
My artistic nature and an outlet for it:
I have always (since I can remember) LOVED photography, dating all the way back to my first camera. It was given to me by my grandfather and at the time was the newest thing, Polaroid, which gave you the picture right away - no waiting. I was hooked and before I knew it I was tearing through those film cartridges in no time (too bad there was only 10 exposures per cartridge). Anyhow, like the Lakers (which my Grandfather instilled in me early on as well), photography has always be a passion of mine to this day. We will not discuss the dark days of my Vivitar and my mom's Minolta because that got expensive and taught me NOTHING, suffice to say the passion never ever left.
Enter digital photography and thus the passion becomes addiction...
I got my first digital camera in trade for an extra cell phone I had laying around, the rest as they say is history. I am on my third Canon digital Elph (I will only ever own Canons) and currently have something like 19,000 pictures on my computer (taking up most of the available space), and I have done most of that damage with my (latest) trusty little point-and-shoot (Digital Elph 790 IS). Picture taking took a steep spike towards excessive when my son Daniel Alexander Huapaya was born: May 17, 2006. Needless to say, it is a good thing I have had a decent camera for the bulk of his life, because he will NEVER lack pictures of his childhood (not that I do either - thanks Mari, good looking out). His energy has led to some of my best pictures, while reminding me that he is only going to get more active and so I took a turn for a more healthy lifestyle and started to lose weight, one such way I discovered was hiking.
The Digital SLR transition is upon us and well... I am a little scared of how many pictures I am going to have within the year, we will have to wait and see.
The Marriage:
No not mine... I am speaking of the marriage between the outdoor (and active) lifestyle I have taken on and the love of photography. The union has taken many of victims along the way and I have yet decided if I will pull up old images and hikes I have done with people or just start fresh and run with it. Daniel will become a pretty common subject of the photography and if you get tired of seeing him, well just think of how tired he is of posing for daddy. Recent hikes have included other friends from as far back as middle school to as recent as Seasons 52. Hopefully at one point or another I will be able to incorporate all the loved ones in my life into my little ramble rant I call this blog.
For now, Thank you: Del, Phil and Sots for showing me there is more to the world than televisions and video games. Mari for doing an amazing job of photographing my youth and giving me someone to mimic for Daniel. And Papa, who will never read this, but for that first camera that touched a part of me that I have grown with for thirty years.
For now, Thank you: Del, Phil and Sots for showing me there is more to the world than televisions and video games. Mari for doing an amazing job of photographing my youth and giving me someone to mimic for Daniel. And Papa, who will never read this, but for that first camera that touched a part of me that I have grown with for thirty years.
Daniel took this on my birthday hike this year.
Hey Surge, thanks for connecting! Looks like we share some of the same passions, including a love for photography. Just hit 10,000 images on my Canon PowerShot SD780-IS which I bought last March (my second Canon digital).
ReplyDeleteI'm eager to read what you blog. Happy hiking!