Year: 2025

UCSD Photography Interest Group > Blog > 2025

15 Oct 2025 Themes Fall, Scary/Halloween, & Moonrise: Jim

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Jim shared a sequence of photos of the moonrise Oct 6th over the San Diego skyline from Shelter Island. It’s difficult to get any further west because North Island hangers obstruct the skyline. PhotoPills suggested the moon would rise over One America Plaza if we setup at the fishing pier. But it came up a few buildings north and did not align with One America Plaza tip till it was higher in the sky. We’ll keep trying – the weather also was hazy so the first image of the moonrise were subtle. Plus, we hoped to get the building lights but they did not come on till after 7pm. When the moon was pretty high in the sky.
For scary, Jim shared photos from the Oct 12th Oaxaca Festival in Oceanside. It was the first time being held locally. The last festival dance was the Oaxaca festival “Dance of the Devils” where particpants wear elaborate costumes with horned masks. Perfect for the scary theme.
Finding a new Fall-themed image was hard but Jim shared a bee-on-marigold shot taken during a recent pumpkin patch visit. His other image of fall colors were from a drive to the Grand Canyon North Rim a few years ago.

15 Oct 2025 Themes Fall, Scary/Halloween, & Moonrise: Gary

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Gary returned from a recent trip to Page Arizona and shared some wonderful images taken in Antelope Canyon. Cathy is planning a trip there so the discussion included tips from Gary on how to be successful photographing the sandstone slot canyon.
Photos from last year’s Dios de los Muertos meetup were also shared for the “scary” theme. We are planning another meetup again this year so stayed tuned for some more festival photos.
He also shared a fall image of fallen maple leaves from a trip to Canada.

15 Oct 2025 Themes: Fall, Scary/Halloween, & Moonrise/Moonshadow

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With Halloween approaching this month’s themes included Scary/Halloween. Many participants found this to be the easiest category to fulfill, me included. We also had an informal Oct 6th moonrise meetup at Shelter Island to photograph the moon rising over One America Plaza, a unique skyline building in San Diego. Weather conditions were hazy but we manage to get some images of moonrise although a few building north of PhotoPills predicted arc. Moonshadow was also a subject but there were no moonlit landscape images shared this session.
Gary returned from a recent trip to Page Arizona and shared some wonderful images taken in Antelope Canyon. Cathy is planning a trip there so the discussion included tips from Gary on how to be successful photographing the sandstone slot canyon. Cathy share two images from this month’s and last month’s moonrise meetup, plus a fun experimental macro shot of soap+glycerin bubbles, and a “made scary-by-AI” Bodie church black& white image.
Mikky shared a portfolio of beautiful African bird images from his recent safari trip to Africa. With the wealth of images he’s shared so far, you can tell a trip like his is a photographer’s dream.
Jim shared some moonrise images from Oct 6th of the San Diego skyline. Plus he attended the first Oaxaca Festival in Oceanside Oct 12th. Luckily, the traditional “Dance of the Devils” was performed and fit the “scary” theme. He added a bee on marigold macro shot for Fall.
Sharon found some scary images while browsing the local store loaded with Halloween & Dios de los Muertos decor.
Heather joined the meeting from Idaho where she’s capture some amazing Fall colors & weather. Being further north or at elevation helps find fall colors this early.
Lastly, John shared an image of the moonrise over San Diego in tribute to our founding group leader Jerry Vaughn. He gave us the sad news that Jerry passed away Oct 10th. Jerry founded the photography interest group in 2015 & found us space on upper campus to meet before Covid moved us to Zoom. He was our mentor and inspired us to excel at our photography passion. He offered great technical advice and had insightful feedback on our images. He will be missed.

John

Image taken standing next to Jerry

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Mikky

Sharon

Jim

17 Sep 2025 Themes: Still Life, Flash, Storytelling

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The themes this month are classic photography ideas – Still Life can be the classic tabletop subjects such as flowers, fruits, and objects or it can be a play on the theme ‘still life’. All participants went classical and shared images that would fit an Edward Weston or Imogen Cunningham workshop. There was a successful use of Reflect photography software to add a reflective effect to a still life whisk.
Sept 7th we had a Harvest Moonrise meetup in San Diego by the Coronado Bridge. Some others in the group preferred the San Diego skyline from Shelter Island.
Gary requested a revisit of the Flash Photography theme and he shared an image taken on film years ago. The rest of us did not have anything in this category although it’s one of my favorites in recent months.
Storytelling is the general idea of using three or more shots of a location to tell a story photographically. Usually starting with a wide ‘establishing’ shot, then a medium shot, and finally a detailed closeup. There were a few sets, one from from Heather – a graffitied levee, and Jim’s Oceanside Museum of Art current “Fabulous Fiber’ exhibition. Jim’s ‘still lifes’ were closeup images of artworks.
Norm, whose been absent from the meetings for awhile, submitted some wonderful still life images. (Thanks, Norm and join us anytime)
Thyrra missed the meeting but submitted some Sept 7th Harvest Full Moon Rising images.
“Still Life” images were my favorites of September. Here’s the images shared:

Barb Donovan

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Norm

Jim

Sharon

Thyrra

17 Sep 2025 Themes Still Life, Flash, Storytelling: Gary

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Gary recently returned from a Highway 395 solo excursion with his kayak and shared some wonderful images from his trip. Although he photographed the Sept 7th moonrise under the Coronado Bridge, he preferred his great images of moonset over the Eastern Sierras from Lone Pine. Photographing the moon setting at sunrise is a recent alternative of shooting the moon that we are exploring. A balanced exposure is less challenging when photographing the moon setting at sunrise. Plus it’s westward so it opens up a whole new set of foreground elements, like Mt Whitney. Other images from his trip are always historical, educational and fascinating. He also shared a flash photo taken on film where he had some help illuminating a ship with a flash during a long exposure aka ‘flash painting’.

17 Sep 2025 Themes Moonrise & Still Life/Storytelling: Jim

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Jim spent most of his time post-processing the Sept 7th Harvest Moon rising under/over the Coronado Bridge. When the moon first rose above the horizon, the ambient blue hour light and moonlight were pretty well balanced. Later, as the moon rose, the brightness of the moon required compositing a darker moon photo with a bridge image. He briefly demonstated a new (to him) Photoshop layer blending technique that helped feather the moon’s edge with the brighter moonrays.
For storytelling and still life images, he shared images from the Oceanside Museum of Art Fabulous Fabric exhibition. Combining several ‘storytelling’ images of the locale, plus detailed images of some art displayed.

17 Sep 2025 Themes Still Life & Storytelling: Heather

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Heather share a variety of still life ‘formats’ – classical and storytelling. Her garden images tells of a abundant seasonal harvest. Her ‘classic-style’ tabletop still life images are excellent and humorous. She also had a beautiful abstract pattern image that was hard to decipher – mold.
The cherry tomato and peppers still life was one of the best images shared. Her explanation of cooling down the Japanese beetle in the refrigerator so they would ‘pose’ for a short time was entertaining and educational. Her bug & book still lifes were also favorites of the meeting.