catalina island

22 miles off the coast of los angeles, catalina island was our favorite cruise ship port of call on this cruise. we visited the small town of avalon, where resides about 85% of catalina island's 4000 residents. avalon reminded us of a thawed-out version of colorado's crested butte with a shared zest for a simple life, plenty outdoors pursuits awaiting out the front door, colorful characters, and brightly painted homes.

this trip we took a few rolls with the holga (a medium format film camera which costs under $30!), our nikon d-80, a few lenses, and no tripod.

given we are photographers, it is surprising to see how little we actually photograph each other (other than cheesy test shots to check if equipment is working properly). however, vacationing is a grand time to experiment with different techniques and photograph for the love of the art. and the best part is we can enjoy the keeper shots and frame for our home :)

this is almost a week's worth of scruff from not shaving... nicole says she spotted gray hair in my facial hair ( i can not call it a beard). yet another sign of approaching 30.
rj kernnicole kern
r. j. kern

another classic kern-photo self-portrait made with our favorite super wide-angle nikon 12-24 f/4 lens.
r. j. and nicole kern

there are few gas stations on the island since bikes and golf carts serve as a popular mode transportation.
catalina island

we liked this prayer:
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this random tree in struck our interest. we whipped out our 10.5mm fish-eye lens looked up just before taking this snap:
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i fired this shot of nicole to see if a little sb-800 could overpower the sun... mission accomplished using f/13 at 1/200 sec, iso 100 (one sb-800 flash provided the light on nicole, which was set at manual full-power and triggered wirelessly with our nikon d-80 pop-up flash as a commander, such a cool little trick :)
sb-800 could overpower the sun

looking up to a pleasant surprise of palm trees is a simple delight :)
pleasant surprise of palm trees

3 pints of locally-grown strawberries for a whopping $6... gone in less than 10 minutes :)
locally-grown strawberries for a whopping $6

looks like little baby toes :)
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as a special treat, we indulged in a nice bottle of savignon blanc with a super dark flour-less chocolate cake (spot r. j.'s self-portrait in the reflection, too :)
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and some of the finer details in life:
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