photography by wasim.

Tag: pch

A Spontaneous Excursion Up Pacific Coast Highway – Part 1: Morro Bay

It began as a work trip. Well, sort of. I’m finding more and more and more these days I’ll fish for any excuse to leave Los Angeles…just the thought alone gets me excited. So when Stephen Chiang, a photographer friend that I occasionally assist mentioned he needed an assistant for a gig in San Francisco, I jumped at it. When he mentioned it would begin with a night of camping in Morro Bay State Park, and end with 4 nights of camping in Big Sur, that wasn’t just the icing on the cake, that WAS the cake.

We hit the road on the Sunday before Labor Day, caravanning with his family (his wife, who happens to be my cousin, their kids, and my aunt), got to Morro Bay, took a walk along the shore for the first sunset of the trip, and then headed down to the village for a seafood dinner at The Galley. Afterwards, we headed back to camp, lit the campfire, shared some scotch and stories, and crashed.

The next day was an adventurous and activity filled one. It also ended up being the first time I’ve ever entered and operated a kayak. My cousin and one of her kids hopped on a paddle board, her husband and the other kid hopped on another paddle board, and my aunt and I jumped into the kayak – both rookies mind you, and it was immediately apparent. It took a few twists, turns, and devising a system to coordinate our left from our right, but eventually, we got the hang of the bugger…for now.

We made it across the bay to peninsula on the western side of the bay that ran along the Pacific coast towards the icon of the town, Morro Rock. The sandbar was about a half mile wide and covered with sand dunes that we traverse to get to the beach side. We spent a couple hours in the sun, had a packed lunch, and then made our way back over the sand dunes to our ‘transportation.’

The return trip was not NEARLY as easy as we had anticipated. No matter what we did, all we could manage was to spin around in circles while the undercurrent pulled us further and further away from the direction we were trying to go in. Apparently the tide has dropped and we were trying to kayak through 12” deep water. Well, needless to say…that didn’t work out too well. We ended up spinning around in place while the current was pulling us in the wrong direction almost snapping the paddles as we dug them into the sand to try to stay put. No bueno. I’m partly embarrassed to admit we ended up holding onto the back of my cousin’s paddle-board as she towed us in…

And since I feel compelled to find a way to make you forget about that last sentence and focus on something else, here are a few images from that first day in Morro Bay, all of which were taken with a Samsung NX3000 mirrorless camera…

If you’re ready for Part 2: Big Sur, click here.

Finally, for more of my madness:
Instagram: @wasimofnazareth
Google+: www.Google.com/+WasimMuklashy
Ello: www.Ello.co/WasimOfNazareth

September 2, 2014
Back To The Future Does Pacific Coast Highway – And The DeLorean Is An Airstream

So I don’t have too much to say about this one, really just wanted to share. This was one of the properties I was assigned to shoot yesterday for Airbnb.com. It was a chunk of land on a bluff off Pacific Coast Highway that housed an old vintage Airstream trailer that rested on a ledge in what seemed to be the most idyllic, picture-perfect mini-canyon on the California coast.

Anyhow, the lead picture to the left here was processed to look the way I felt when I was wandering around in there…simple…relaxed…peaceful…grateful…unapologetically lazy…perhaps what the glory days of Southern California felt like, a feeling of romantic nostalgia who’s remnants only seems to exist in isolated, hidden, carefully-guarded pockets these days.

This place was definitely one of those pockets.

Click on “Continue Reading” and then click on the pics.

View them large.

Enjoy…

February 13, 2014
Bad Days Are The New Good Days! Thanks For The Reminder Photofocus!

So I know you’ve probably already seen enough of this set of images, but, well, too bad! Ha! An image from this series keeps getting around one way or another – this time absolutely humbling me by showing up on the homepage for Photofocus.com as this week’s ‘Featured Image.’ This is Scott Bourne, Richard Harrington, Melissa Niu and company! It’s madness! Check it out:

CLICK ME!

The crazy thing is, I thought I was having a bad day that day when I just needed to get out and away so jumped in my car for that ride up the coast where I ran into these buggers on that hill. If it wasn’t for that ‘bad day,’ I would have never been able to make these images, rendering that day not a bad day after all – it actually turned out to be one of the best days of the year. Just another one of life’s funny reminders that you never ever ever ever ever know what’s going to happen and why things happen the way they do. Whether a frown or a smile, just roll with it…after all, neither lasts, but one of them is always sure to return…

Can’t wait for my next bad day!!

January 28, 2014
Photography Lesson Learned – Don’t Fight It, Just Succumb To It (It’s More Rewarding)!

When you feel something, your mind and body are trying to tell you something. Listen. Don’t ignore. Today was just another reminder of that basic instinct that we so often and easily seem to lose touch with in our hyper-‘connected’ day and age. There were a few things going on that were weighing heavy a bit on my mind, and something just kept tugging at me saying, forget everything you’re doing right now and just go. Doesn’t matter where or what, just go. Get out of here.

Go!

But I had work to do, and I was on the clock, and so I kept pushing back…”No, no, you can’t just go. What are you thinking?” (more…)

December 13, 2013
The Power Of Serendipity – A Lesson Learned

simply stunning. Wasim Muklashy Photography

It might be a little bizarre that I was booked to shoot three professional NFL football players from the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, yet my two favorite shots of the job had absolutely nothing to do with the job itself.

So as I’ve already written about in a previous post, I was hired by WhoHasItApp to shoot celebrities and the clothing in their closets for a new e-commerce app (it’s actually a pretty brilliant idea, click WhoHasItApp.com and check it yourself). Anyhow, on that trip, I was scheduled to shoot Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers, and Rod Streater and Terrelle Pryor of the Oakland Raiders, and those went extremely well. But something happened that was completely impromptu and unexpected. We were all set up and waiting for our subject to show up so we can get the portrait shots, but it just so happened that it was getting to be that time of day where the light was absolutely perfect – golden hour as the sun was setting over the bay while we overlooked it from the east side of Oakland Harbor. It was killing me that our subject wasn’t there while this light was getting insanely flawless.

I was literally pacing.

Once we realized he wasn’t going to be there in time, I just had to get someone, anyone, it didn’t matter, in front of that lens and smothered with that soft pastel light, so I jumped inside, asked if anyone at all can just come stand in the light, and after a bit of persuasion, was able to convince one of the women that was there, to come out and be my model for just a few minutes.

As soon as she stepped onto the deck, I knew immediately this was going to work. Her beautiful smooth skin was bathed in gorgeous golden hour sunlight that was partially diffused by a low lying haze – when people call it the ‘magic hour,’ this is exactly why. These ended up being two of my favorite shots from the entire weekend, and these weren’t even part of the gig.

The lesson learned in this one? Follow my intuition and not be bashful if a certain situation presents itself – especially if the gut is tugging at you to make a move. Those are the times you know you’ll regret not doing so. I had no idea her name, and I’m sure she didn’t mine either, but for those 5 minutes, it just didn’t matter. Best of all, I walked away with two portrait shots of a stunning woman that i couldn’t be happier with.

simply beautiful. Wasim Muklashy Photography.

November 8, 2013
The Undeniable Importance of ‘Me Time.’

So yesterday I posted about my whirlwind experiences shooting a few well-known personalities and their closets. Today I’m posting about me.

Through the whole experience shooting Kyle Williams and Rod Streater in San Francisco, I also knew it was going to be an exercise in something I’ve been focusing on making a priority over the past few years…whether it’s for a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days – meditation, a hike, stopping for a few deep breaths, whatever – making it a point to always find time for myself. I’ve so often times in the past lost vision of why I was doing what I was doing…the passion…and it’s been nothing sort of soul-murder, leading to derailment of my original vision and purpose and intended paths, some that have lasted for years. For this reason, it’s become a priority to always make sure to do something to try to keep that vision at the forefront. (more…)

October 16, 2013
What Do Gretchen Rossi, Stacey Dash, Rod Streater, Terrelle Pryor, & Kyle Williams Have in Common? Me snooping around in their closets. Huh? Uh Yeah…

Ok, here’s another short break from the National Park series…it’s been a bizarre unexpected whirlwind of a past couple of weeks so just have to get it out of my system. It started with a referral and a test shoot, and all of a sudden, I find myself in the homes of Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers, Rod Streater and Terrelle Pryor of the Oakland Raiders, Stacey Dash, and Gretchen Rossi shooting portraits of them and everything in their closets. Huh? Uh…yeah…so it’s the pretty brilliant brainchild of one Jennifer Colli. She came up with the idea and put it into motion and, well, hot damn took off with it. (more…)

October 15, 2013
Just Flow – Pursuing A Life Of Being

In a strange sense, I feel like I’m preparing for something. I spend a lot of time alone, very little social interaction – isolated from the constant deluge of stimulation and media saturation. I’m left alone in my thoughts, in my being.

And I do it to myself.

And there’s an almost constant sense in me of, I’m not supposed to be here. I’m not supposed to be down there either, but I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be somewhere. Elsewhere. Yet, only recently have I begun to accept and embrace the possibility that I truly am supposed to be here. For if I wasn’t, then I wouldn’t be.

But I am.

The distractions, the noise, the static, the relationships from the past, most of which were based on toxic and flawed foundations, would have continued. I would not have been able to see them for what they were. The true essence of man that surrounded me would have continued to be masked by a show or a band or a story or the news or an event or a relationship or a girl or a guy or a lie or the tv or a film or some form of numbing deceit…adding layer upon layer on top of the only thing that truly exists. Layers that you’d eventually have to dig through. One after another after another.

And hence, the cycle would just propagate itself.

Is it easy? Of course not. But it’s not supposed to be. Is it valuable? Absolutely. For understanding what you are capable of and what you are not, is necessary if you pursue a life of being.

So it was necessary, necessary to step away from it all, and be away from it all, and be. Just marinate in being. Feel everything. Allow yourself to feel everything. Allow it to take hold of you. And then allow it to release you. However many times it needs to.

It was necessary in order to understand that the way it was and the way it seemed, is not necessarily the way it will be. It was necessary to begin to understand yourself at your core in order to understand how that core fits into greater moment.

Limitations are a gift. Limitations realized are a blessing. Knowing that those limitations are preparation for limitless expansion is the ultimate prize.

For without those gifts and blessings, you would never know where you stand. Where you should be.

So yes, I’m preparing for something. The only question is…

…what?

July 2, 2013
When you can’t get away from it all…get away from it all.

So it was one of those days, the thought process just goes into overdrive and begins to cloud any reasoning and logic. The past comes up, the future comes up, all of the baggage surrounding both start to rear their nosy and intrusive little lizard heads. Sometimes this would last for hours, then days, then weeks, but more and more you begin to see that there’s a way out…well, at least temporarily.

You recognize it.

You realize it.

You consciously stop it and remind yourself that none of it is part of your current existence, except the parts you allow to be.

And then just as you think you’re starting to get the hang of it all, you slip right back down. And that’s when you realize you need to step away.

Or maybe it’s just me.

In any case, I figured it’s been a long while since I’ve visited one of my little sanctuaries and what better time than now. So I jumped in the car, headed down to the gardens at Lake Shrine Self-Realization Center, and just sat.

Literally.

Just picked one of the benches and sat.

Watched. Listened. Felt.

And a few other people just came to the surrounding benches and sat.

Just sat.

Watching, listening, feeling…being.

And just like that, you remember what you’re supposed to be doing. And everything else melts away.

Thanks again for setting me straight Lake Shrine.

Until the next time…

June 28, 2013
Late Night Fun With Photo Filters…and Scotch.

So had a house I had to shoot this week for Airbnb. It was actually the second of two units on a property I shot before, but I hadn’t seen the second unit as it was occupied that first time. Anyway, not important…so after I was done shooting the interior, I figured, no one was here, I was going to take advantage of the moment and just kind of chill for a minute. When you’re standing on a deck with nothing in front of you but a gorgeous canyon that opens up to the Pacific Ocean (see image at bottom of this post), it’s hard not to force yourself to take a break and soak it in. So as I sat down and took a few gulps of my warm ice tea that had been sitting the car since I showed up, I saw this ridiculously quaint and charming little candle holder with a pile of little rocks alongside it, being draped PERFECTLY by a grapevine. And when I mean, perfectly, it’s as if it was staged. For some reason, my imagination took me to the Mediterranean coast, perhaps Spain, maybe Italy, I don’t know, but my wanderlust got the best of me and I started snapping a few shots of it as if I was actually on that coast. (more…)

June 14, 2013