Raymond Chang Photography & Design

We decided Thursday to take a trip to Savannah for July 4th weekend. I’d never been to Savannah and someone else was driving, I’M IN! We arrived at midnight Friday and wandered the streets drinking smoothies from Wet Willie’s. They convinced me to take a night off and leave the camera. It was a cool vibe! At 2am the streets were still crowded with families and street musicians!

Saturday the photography began, so did the drinking. Our first stop was The Tea Room where we started our day with a pot of Flaming Dragon Oolong. The waitress spooned brandy onto a sugar cube and lit it on fire!

After that was going through gallery after gallery of local painters and checking out the art scene. I’d like to give mention to David Patterson, the phenomenal sketch artist and Thomas Kinkade, “painter of light”.

We had a great Seafood and Alcoholic Lemonade lunch, I ordered a Crab Bisque and Crab Cakes. The food was so good I actually forgot to take pictures of my entree! After lunch we drank at the pool for a while…finally ending the night with some Savannah Light Painting! Not so much drawing, but playing with filters and such.

Savannah was a cool place, but we didn’t really get to explore too much since we were only there for 2 days and partying most of the time. Next time, I want to check out the Historic District near SCAD campus. Light Painting!

SCAD Theater at night. SOOC – Straight out of Camera.

Savannah Park

Flaming Dragon Oolong from The Tea Room

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Savannah

Crab Bisque that made me forget to take pictures!

Smoke Break

Self Portrait in the Pool

Ray Underwater.

Sean Underwater.

Savannah Bay Bridge taken from our hotel roof.

Savannah Church SOOC – Straight out of Camera.

Abandoned Pool SOOC – Straight out of Camera.

Savannah Bay Bridge SOOC – Straight out of Camera.

Our friend Chris invited us to come out to Lake Lanier to hang out on the Pontoon Boat. It was supposed to rain, but we went anyways. We ended up being just outside of the storm for most of the day, it was great! 5 dogs, water, guitars, booze, and grilling steaks on the boat!

Chris and Lindsay

Sean and Akin docking the boat.

Sean cheers on Akin’s dive.

Colby’s on a boat!

Lindsay and Akin!

Colby wants in on the shot

Sean attempts a front flip.

Sleepy Little

Ray and his Guitar

Chris and his Guitar

Sittin on the back of a boat.

Lindsay and Akin

Buddy the Bulldog

Buddy the Bulldog

Delicious Boat Steaks!!

Dude, you’ve got your own steak!

Sunset Jam

Sunset on the lake

Sometimes, my Sony just won’t do the trick. My iPhone came into GREAT use during my trip. Not only did it help me navigate between cities I’ve never been to, it also helped me capture panoramic shots on the fly! I’d had my iPhone for 2 weeks at this point, I must say, “This thing is pretty kickass.”

Panoramic shot of National Park.

Panoramic shot along Highway 1.

Friday we caught our boat and off we went to the Channel Islands! We took a one-hour boat ride to Santa Barbara Island. Unfortunately there was a big storm earlier in the week and it pretty much ruined all visibility along the West Coast for the whole week.

I was also an idiot and forgot to bring my contact lenses. I was so pissed at myself, but I figured out how to work around it with my glasses. We still had a blast and are planning for a camping/kayaking trip on a bigger island next time!

Ray, a wetsuit, and The Channel Islands.

Channel Islands beach.

Me and Brandon snorkeling @ The Channel Islands

This Red Fox kept following us throughout the day. He eventually ended up falling asleep next to Brandon.

Kelp forest, Cliffs, and the Kayaker.

So we missed our boat to go snorkeling, we found out snorkeling in San Diego has been cancelled due to high currents, fuck it. Let’s go hang on the beach in L.A.

So that’s what we did. Bought a 12 pack of Tecate and drank it on the cold beach. Then we drunkenly stumbled around the boardwalk for a while and ended up at a corporate party for the night. Good times!

Pier at Huntington Beach.

Pier at Huntington Beach.

Chillin on Huntington Beach.We were determined to hang out at a beach despite the cold weather. You could tell who the tourists were, we were all in shorts.

Dirty seagull takes flight.

Leaving Los Angeles

Wednesday we set out on our road trip from San Fran. We headed towards Santa Cruz again and hopped on Highway 1 from there. We stopped anywhere that looked like it had a nice view and whatever parks we came across.

Beaches! Stopped along Highway 1, just south of Santa Cruz.

Pointe Lobos ReserveHiking at the State Reserve.

Sealion’s Dock Boat dock near Santa Cruz.

Sunset exiting Highway 1. This little squirrel kept following me. He’d stop when I stopped and would start foraging. When I walked forward, he followed.

Sunset exiting Highway 1.

My first day in San Fran, my buddy took me around town to see some of the sites. It was more walking and checking out shops than photography. I did get a couple of shots.

Hiked a mile on the beach to get this landscape photo from a rock cliff on the “other side” of the bridge.

The Exploratorium in San Francisco

“Rolling Through the Bay” is a sculpture made entirely of toothpicks that took 35 years to build!

Closeup of “Rolling Through the Bay” Exhibit