MAIN BEACH - Completed July 2008 - Laguna Beach is rich in beach life, and that is accurately represented in this aerial panoramic photo that covers 180 degrees of beach life. There is a lot of life in this picture as the beach is full of people enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon. You can spend hours looking at all of the characters and landmarks within this aerial view of Laguna Beach.

EMERALD BAY (Laguna Beach) Completed January 2008 - Almost all of the houses that make up the community are visible in this photo of Emerald Bay mostly because of the way the houses are arranged on the hillsides. This photograph has the most field of view than any other of my photos. With a view of about 180 degrees the picture actually curves outward slightly when viewed as a whole because what you are viewing is a 3D space placed on a flat surface. Nevertheless, this is an amazingly accurate representation of the area that shows all the community in incredible detail. Emerald Bay is recognized as one of the premier, independent, private communities in Orange County, and is not even visible from the highway. It is rare to see this community let alone see it from this angle.

Cress Street & South Coast highway Houses - This is slightly south of Main Beach but since I am not familiar with the town, I can't pick out any landmarks. I'm sure I will be very familiar with this area of southern California once I am done piecing it all together. What I like about this particular aerial perspective is how much more exaggerated the bend of the beach is. this is due to being closer to the beach and my foregrounds are always exaggerated the closer I get. I try to get as close as possible when possible. Sometimes certain restrictions prevent me from hovering directly over certain areas. The Main Beach picture is a good example of that. To compensate, I try to shoot as much of the water directly below me to help accentuate depth.

Bowling Club (Heissler Park) - When I saw this land formation from Google Earth, I Knew I had to make a picture from this angle. To make this composite photograph successful I had to get very close and hover directly over these rocks. There is a sharp corner in the land formation here and that helps to provide depth and exaggerate the 3d effect. The low altitude of the buildings in this angle gives us a much clearer view of the streets helping to delineate the vanishing point and therefore give the photograph more depth. I think that compositionally this will be my most successful photo of Laguna Beach.

Goff Cove Beach/Victoria Beach/Montage Resort- This beautiful point is home to some very beautiful public beaches. Here you can also see a clear view in the foreground of the Montage Resort. This is my favorite shot of that day. I love it because I show here a very defined foreground and that is usually what I go for. It's important compositionally for my pictures to show land in the foreground.