Two weeks with Shane

I haven’t been on writing that much lately and It’s all my fault as usual.

Few of you may know that I’ve been staying with a friend here in Virginia Beach. I got the invite about a week back and decided to drive down a few days ago.

Shane and I have been friends since high school, back when I lived in VA Beach. We would play around a lot and were some serious trouble makers. I remember when Shane was staying over at our house and my mom was especially suspicious of him that night. Not sure why, but he ended up sneaking out to go party at the beach and took me with him.

Well, he’s all grown up now, has a wife and a daughter and the reason I’m staying here is because he wanted to catch up and needed a photographer to take pictures for his new company: http://www.asphaltpaversvirginiabeach.com. I’m no scrooge and have never been one, so I said “heck I’ll come visit” and now I’m here.

I’m gonna be honest…Life at the beach is amazing. Shane’s house isn’t directly on the beach, but the walk is only 10 minutes of so, no biggie for me. I’ve been taking shots left and right, and It amuses me how colorful this area is! I’ve found close to 20 graffiti spots so far, just by walking around the beach area. If I were to guess, that’s where all the hippies stay at.

Another cool thing here, that I’m not used to is the amount of military members, especially the navy. It’s hard to drive 10 minutes down the street without coming across a Naval Base. Literally… There’s a base every 15 miles! I’ve been hearing jet noise from dusk till dawn every day, even the weekend. These navy guys just don’t stop. I’ve captured a couple of very cool shots of an F-18 doing a fly-by at the beach.

All in all the people here are much like Cali. Very chill and friendly, with just a few bad apples. I had a guy cut me off last night, even though I had the right of way and they he flipped me the bird! There’s an abundance of rude people in most places I’ve been to, just have to deal with em and not take anything they do seriously. In the end, the only ones they’re hurting are themselves.

I have a little over a week left here and will do my best to get some cool shots of the street artists, more graffiti, the beach life and military planes. If i don’t get to post them, feel free to remind me. I owe the next 4 days to Shane and his company’s photo session, but the rest of the time I’m free. If any of you are in the area, hit me up and I’ll buy you a drink.

Just as a side note… If you ever decide to use a wide angle lens with your D600 or D610, please make sure to limit the amount the light that’s coming through and lessen the shutter speed. I’ve been taking shots without checking the quality right away and have definitely messed up a few good ones.

 

Thanks for reading and hopefully we can meet up.