Posts Tagged ‘highway 76’

Brooktown photojournalism

August 11, 2010

One of my first photos published in the North County Times was of Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was visiting Valley Oaks after the devastating October 2007 wildfires. It was a front-page shot, taken with my old Nikon D80, and since then I’ve proudly seen dozens of my pictures appear in those pages. These days, I’m turning in around one assignment a week with photos, and due to space limitations, not all of the pictures I submit are used. So I thought I’d do some housekeeping and post the unused extras here, since otherwise they would never be seen. Accompanying each shot, or set of shots, will be a link where you can read the story or see the rest of the photos that the Times decided to use. Thanks for reading/viewing! (P.S. I love comments, but rarely get them. Seriously, if you leave me a comment, you will be my favorite person in the world for at least five minutes.) :) :) Enjoy!

First up are these three from Hot Summer Nites, the series of downtown events held in Fallbrook on six different Friday nights throughout each summer. I went to the event on July 9, and drooled all over the classic cars.

(Please note, the paper incorrectly slugged the story as “CARLSBAD,” which I assume was due to the fact that the couple in the photo they chose were from Carlsbad. Don’t be deceived, the picture was taken right here, in Fallbrook!)

CARLSBAD: Hot Summer Nites

An admirer looks in the window of a classic yellow car during Hot Summer Nites in downtown Fallbrook

An admirer looks in the window of a '57 Chevy during Hot Summer Nites in downtown Fallbrook

A visitor walks by a pair of classic cars during Hot Summer Nites in downtown Fallbrook.

BONSALL: Last flight out of Bonsall International Airport

One day this spring, I was driving home from Oceanside with Dori, and noticed that there were several people out flying model airplanes at the old Bonsall airstrip that was scheduled to be closed the next morning for road construction. The airport was in the path of the new and improved Highway 76, and I ended up hanging out with Glen Looft as he took the last flight ever taken there. It was a really interesting story, and here are a few photos that the Times passed over.

A hobbyist replaces the propellor on a model airplane.

A hobbyist prepares his model airplane for takeoff in Bonsall, California.

A man works on a model airplane.

MILITARY: New VA cemetery pleases vets

For this story, I drove down to Miramar to take some pictures of a deserted field that will, next year, be developed into the VA’s latest cemetery. San Marcos Pearl Harbor survivor Ted Roosvall was an early and persistent champion of the project.

The future site of Miramar National Cemeter as seen through a chain-link fence.

Pearl Harbor survivor Ted Roosvall holds a folder of paperwork.

FALLBROOK: Annual repainting of water tower signals new class of seniors

Another one of my recent favorites, I had been after this story for years. Anyone who’s been to Fallbrook knows about the water tower with the years painted on it. Last month, I went up and watched while the tower was repainted, and, of course, took some photos. Here’s one:

A Fallbrook Public Utility District employee paints over the zero in "10" while on a boom lift. Fallbrook photojournalism.

NORTH COUNTY: San Marcos, Fallbrook students celebrate the day

Lastly, I was there for all three high school graduations in Fallbrook in June. Here is one of the graduates singing the National Anthem:

Ivy High School graduate in green cap and gown sings the Star Spangled Banner while teachers look on. Fallbrook photojournalism.

Please let me know if this was an interesting post. If there is positive feedback, I will make a habit of doing this every couple of months.

Three Bonsall bridges

March 1, 2010
And now for something completely different…

After five years as a full-time local reporter for the North County Times, Tom now writes a weekly column for the Times called “Sincerely Fallbrook.” (An archive of all his stuff since last summer can be found here.) Recently, driving to and from Oceanside, we have noticed that Caltrans is getting ready to widen the road. Tom’s column this Sunday was about the third bridge that’s going to be built over the San Luis Rey River at Vista Way, and so, last week, we headed out to take some pictures at that intersection. The paper didn’t run any of them, so we decided to post them here, nice and big, along with the first part of the column. We hope you enjoy. :)

A tale of three bridges

By TOM PFINGSTEN – For the North County Times

First there was the simple arch bridge —- two stone-and-asphalt lanes built in 1925 to carry motorists over the San Luis Rey River west of Bonsall.

It had style in the same way black-and-white films did. Sophisticated, you might say, especially considering the farms and groves that overlook the antique span.

But then it was too narrow. Passing a big rig was delicate business on your way out to the beach in the 1980s and early ’90s.

So they built another bridge, this one twisting over the river in an elegant curve and wide enough for two trucks to pass each other comfortably.

It felt like a superhighway compared with the original.

But then two lanes were too few.

Sometimes, in the early evening or on a hot Saturday in July, cars would be idling by the dozens atop that big span, their drivers wishing for another lane in each direction.

So, early this year, construction workers cut a swath in the afternoon shadow of the newer bridge, from riverbank to riverbank, and began to prepare for a third bridge.

Read the rest of the story at nctimes.com.

Highway 76

Highway 76 (2 of 2)

Highway 76 (1 of 2)

Jeremiah + Shannon

September 26, 2009

Words don’t do justice to how much fun we had with Jeremiah and Shannon at their recent engagement session. It was my second time shooting down at the old Bonsall bridge, only this time we got to head underneath the historic span, which some of us still remember having to drive across as kids. If you passed a big rig, you held your breath. But now it’s gated off to motorists and only accessible on foot or bicycle. Such a great place to take pictures.

Starting off with my proudest moment…Jeremiah and Shannon-0541

Just to give you an idea of how amazing these two are together:

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Jeremiah and Shannon

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