Here’s some photos of a recent trip to Yosemite she hosted:

Group Photo

This is the majority of the group posing for a photo on the foot bridge below Vernal Falls.

Vernal Falls

Speaking of Vernal Falls.  Look at how FULL that is!

Mike on the last bit of the Mist Trail

Discussing the size of caught fish...

Halo around the sun

Top of Nevada Falls

Top of Nevada Falls (other side)

Front of the House

Yea, that shrub there was growing up into the attic.  Also, some birds figured out it had punched a whole in the attic vent, so I had to deal with those.

As you can see, the yard was somewhat neglected.  The place was vacant when we bought it.

The Backyard

Here’s a shot of the backyard, taken from the vantage point of the side-yard.  That shed is still there, but not for long.  It’s filled with debris from fixing the place up.  Also, those boxwood bushes are all gone.  yay! There’s some snazzy patio furniture, a fireplace, and candle light all over the place now.

Back of the house

This is what the back of the house looked like.  Nowadays, there’s a new attic fan (solar, of course) on the roof back there.  It’ll get painted probably today, to blend in a little better. Not much has changed from this angle, except for reseeding the lawn, and cleaning out the fins of the AC compressor.

Inside: Family Room

Here’s where you’ll notice the most changes.  This is the family as viewed from the entry way.  As you can see, the color of the walls is puked-up-avocado green.  Gross, huh?  And that ceiling fan hangs dangerously close to ones head when passing by.  Also, that far corner is quite dark, no?

All that has been changed.

Inside Family Room

This photo was taken 90 degrees left from the previous one. See the thermostat on the far wall?  It wasn’t hooked to anything – REMOVED! Also, there’s a nice, large TV mounted to the wall now (burying the wires is coming soon). And of course, we painted everything.

Front Bedroom

This is the front bedroom.  What we have deemed to be the office/guest room. Dark, blank, gross crayon writing all over the walls (this kid had no discipline at all).  All cleaned up as you’ll see in coming photos.

Master Bedroom

And our coup-de-grace: the master bedroom.  We really turned this room around.  From the baby-poop wall color, to the hideous window treatments and ceiling fan – all has been dealt with!  I even re-built the closet! It used to be that cheap-o white-wire crap.  Now it’s all custom hardwood.

Bathroom

Here’s the one-and-only bathroom.  Kinda nasty huh?  It’s now a nice, deep purple, has a nice, curved shower curtain bar, and that gross soap dish? Gone! New shower-head, removed that ugly, mismatched cabinet. Check!

The hall closet

This used to make me chuckle everytime I walked by: they installed a new furnace (presumably replacing the wall-heater).  But, they didn’t bother to repair the wood they had to cut out to get the furnace in place, nor did they do a half-decent job of patching the dry-wall holes.

Tisk tisk! This has all been fixed.

Kitchen

Okay, you thought the master bedroom was bad?  Who did this paint job? What lunatic picked these colors?

We painstakingly took down all the cabinets, sanded them clean, repainted them a nice, bright white, replaced broken tiles, recaulked the sink (somebody decided that grouting the sink to the tiles was the smart way to go..), and repaired a giant hole in the dry wall. Also, that door to the garage has been replaced with an insulated steel door.

The Garage conversion.

And last, but not least, we removed this garage conversion.  They converted the garage (presumably unpermitted) to an office/room.  Yea, that’s not gunna work for us.  We dispatched this hack in about an hour.

It goes without saying that this took both of us working countless hours together, along with some invaluable help from friends and family to accomplish all of this.  Also, it’s been about 6 months of solid work.

More to come, stay tuned!

The Presidio

Click for full size

Fizz Ball Jousting

Click the photos for higher res versions, where you can see that this rider is wielding a hatchet to slash a beer can in half.

FizzBall Jousting

In this photo, the rider used a machete to slash the beer can in half … at about 15 mph.

View of JuPlaya from afar

A few photos from my trip out to JuPlaya.

More information on my photography services is available at Ryan Du Bois Photography.

Here’s a few sneak peeks:

Athena Before the show

Friends of Betsey

Athena and the DJ

Modeling is fun!

Blowing a Kiss

The show was a very fun, intimate gathering. What a blast to shoot! Also, did I mention they had a DJ spinning tunes, and free beverages provided by Nuvo.

See the rest of the Fillmore Betsey Johnson Fashion Show Photos.

Befriend the Fillmore Betsey Johnson on Facebook.

Mt. Conness and Young Lakes Trip Photos

Click the above image for the photos gallery.

Downtown San Francisco

1/2500 f/5.6 ISO 100

Shenzhen

Includes some photos from Hong Kong.