HDR Friday: It's a Pismo Beach type of weekend

May 11, 2012 in HDR, Travel

Took this shot during one of our weekend excursion into the central California. We originally planned to visit the wine county but due to time restraints we decided to drop by Pismo beach and tried out one of the best Clam Chowders at Splash Cafe. Aside from a having an amazing beach to relax at, Pismo Beach is probably best known for its sand dunes and ATV riding, so hopefully we'll get to enjoy that one of these days.

For bonus photo, here's Splash Cafe:

HDR Friday: Oldie but Goodie

April 20, 2012 in HDR, Travel

This was an old photo that I took a while back during my Australia trip, I got couple requests this past week to use the photos I posted on flickr and it dawn on me that I should dig some up for the blog. I take A LOT of photo every trip, especially back in the days where I travel frequently and many of them just seems to get forgotten and stored away in archive. For this one in particular I don't quite remember the propose of this particular "room" but doesn't it remind you of a command center? I do remember that I only spent a good 20 minutes at Sydney Opera House so hopefully I'll get to go back one of these days.

If you're interested in purchasing this print, head over here: Prints.RonLimPhotography.com

A Day in Miami - Conclusion of 2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza

April 12, 2012 in Lifestyle, Scenic, Travel

Who knew spending one single day and night in Miami would leave me with this many photos. Though we would love to spend a little more time than a day to explore Miami, I think we made the best of it!

Our first spot to check out would be the beautiful South Beach while we walk down the infamous Ocean Drive:

At the tail end of Ocean Drive, we turned around to hit up our lunch spot.. and of course with a camera in my hand, like a true tourist/photog, I got to have some street photography fun:

The commuters in South Beach seems just a little different from Southern California...

I gotta say the personalities in South Beach was much more interesting compares to Venice Beach in LA... but then again I'm bias towards new experiences. Hope you all enjoyed viewing our trip to the Caribbean and Miami as much as we did. Here are the links in case you missed it:

HDR Friday : Egress & Ingress

April 06, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

Throughout the 7 day trip, Grand Turk was the only port-of-call that allowed us to stay beyond sunset and I believe during the time of this photo, we are about 15 minutes to docking our cruise ship. So I stood around here for a moment and thought, how would I frame this sunset to be more unique? Empty beach chairs + people leaving the excursion ship + people boarding the cruise liner.. hmm + sunset... SNAP, SNAP, SNAP!

Happy Friday folks!!! If you're interested in obtaining a print of this photo, you can do so here: Prints.RonLimPhotography.com

2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza – Part 3 – St. Thomas & Grand Turk

April 04, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

For a good part of the day we docked on the US soil of St. Thomas, US Virgins Islands. Now why is that relevant you ask?? Well, we finally got data and cell signals on our phones! Days deprived of internet access got us a little antsy, so we pretty much checked-in (4Sq) everywhere, checked our emails, voicemails and facebook ;) I know some people may frown upon it since we're on vacation but after all we are living in a digital age so don't judge! :)

So anyhow, let's check out the views of St. Thomas:

The tourist populated Mountain Top & the World Famous Banana Daiquiri:

Couple hours after sailing off, we saw Puerto Rico in a distance:

Hello Grand Turk!! We spent a good amount of time walking along the beach, and snorkeled a bit.. and witnessed one of the best sunsets yet.

Stay tune for the conclusion of our trip.. a day in Miami! If you missed the previous posts, you can check them out here:

2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza – Part 1

2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza – Part 2

Prints will be available soon if you're interested. Visit

http://prints.ronlimphotography.com/

HDR Friday : Waiting

March 30, 2012 in HDR, Travel

So, during the "down time" of our St. Thomas tour I ran off from my wife for couple minutes... and no it's not what you think.. I ran off to get a shot of this photo above! The color and the texture of the building sticks out like a sore thumb so I knew it would make a great HDR photo.

Consider this as a teaser for the next series on the blog (Caribbean Cruise Part 3 - St. Thomas), so stay tune for next week's post :)

Happy Friday everyone!

2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza – Part 2 - Sint Maarten

March 28, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

For part 2 of our Caribbean trip.. I'll just give you the tour of the beautiful Sint Maarten. Mainly because I haven't had any chance to finish editing rest of the photos but I digress... so here we go, the multicultural, and island divided between the French & Dutch... Sint Maarten:

We decided to utilize their local taxi tour guide instead of cruise line's excursion package to save us some cash.. after all it still takes us to all the places we wanted to see. So starting off in the French part of the island:

We stopped by the tail end of a nudist colony/beach.. the Orient Beach:

Might I add.. this is our first time ever at a nude beach, and no we did not participate :p

Here are some interesting scenery and lifestyle from the French side:

After exploring through the French side, we arrived into the Dutch territory and on to Maho Beach.. my "must-visit" spot for the whole Caribbean trip. For those who don't know, Maho Beach is located adjacent to the Princess Juliana International Airport! Where all the incoming planes must fly over to land on the run way! Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to wait for a 747 to fly by.. but hey at least now I can say I've experienced it :p

Last stop.. Philipsburg, the main town and capital of Sint Maarten:

Stay tune for part 3... back on the US soil, Saint Thomas of US Virgin Islands! Of course for those of you who missed part 1, you can always check it out HERE.

HDR Friday : Queensland Living

March 23, 2012 in HDR, Travel

Now jumping back to the Pacific side of the world, I figure I'll take a break from posting all the Caribbean travel photos and show you a photo from the down under... the beautiful city of Brisbane, Australia.

I've always love cities by the water, regardless if it's by a river, ocean, lake, etc. when urban architecture and water scenery is combined, you'll typically get amazing atmosphere, awesome people and great photo opportunities :)

2012 Caribbean Cruise Extravaganza - Part 1

March 21, 2012 in Scenic, Travel

Finally... a full blog post! It's been a week since our trip to the Caribbean/South Florida and I'm still barely catching up on work and life. But I'm not complaining, it was a well needed break away from everything! As usual, I'll always have my camera with me to document.. so here are some photos edited in HDR and/or vintage film-ish fashion.

We started our vacation leaving Hollywood, CA to Hollywood, Florida (well.. technically we stay in Fort Lauderdale but tomatos, tomAtos :p)

After lounging around the port for several hours we finally embarked on to our cruise ship (Ruby Princess)... and just check out these views of Florida sunset as we set sail:

Doesn't this coast guard (see below) remind you of the show CSI Miami??? No? Ok... maybe it just me :/

Our lil' stateroom in case you guys are wondering what it looks like within:

and I got a lil' trigger happy with some random interior shots..

Nightly movies under the stars on their big screen..

One of the best designed part of the ship.. the Atrium:

I'm not a avid reader (don't really read books in general) but dude.. check out this library:

During our formal nights.. we got a bit dolled up and spiffied up with our travel companions:

and of course... there's abundant of food throughout the trip:

Our first port of call.. Princess Cruises' own little part of the bahamas, "Princess Cays":

A little gloomy and windy for our first port of call but it doesn't stop any one from snorkeling in the warm Atlantic Ocean:

After a day out on the beach.. it's time to set sail to our next location.. St. Maarten (more photos on part 2 of the Caribbean Extravaganza)!!!

Oh yea.. you can't be on the cruise without attempting to win some money at bingo.. as you can see below it's not just for the older folks ;)

This is just the beginning of the trip.. stay tune for St. Maarten, St. Thomas and some street photography in Miami :)

HDR Friday : Princess Sunset

March 16, 2012 in HDR, Scenic, Travel

It's been about 10 years since the last time I was on a cruise, I almost forgot how gigantic these things were... equipped with almost anything you would need for a vacation getaway, it was our tour guide on this Caribbean excursion! This photo below was taken at Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos Islands), just an hour before sun completely sets and our port departure. Earlier the day, the wifey and I decided to just roam around without my camera and enjoy the island, though I was still scouting for photo spots, I enjoyed every minute of it. Sometime it's better to just soak in the experience and not through a view finder. Considering that it's our first time here in the Caribbean, I knew I would be able to see some amazing sunsets.

Stay tune for the full blog post of our Caribbean excursion and even some street photography from the infamous South Beach Miami =)

For bonus photo.. check out how amazing the atrium looks within the Rudy Princess Cruise Ship: