January 2024

Pelicans of La Jolla Seabird

Some of my Favorite Cluttered Pelican Images

The first two weeks of 2024 have been great as far as photographing wildlife in La Jolla is concerned. Many mornings the weather has been typically "winter perfect" (shorts and hoodie) and we have consistently had large swells rolling in which leads to a lot of flight activity in all…

Phil CollaJanuary 16, 2024

La Jolla Sea Lion

California Sea Lions Bodysurfing at La Jolla Cove

I've been waiting and watching for weeks for the California sea lions at La Jolla Cove to begin bodysurfing. It's usually a winter behavior. I've seen small bouts of surfing from them recently but nothing worth photographing, until a few days ago. I guess they were waiting for last June's…

Phil CollaJanuary 15, 2024

Beautiful Views of San Diego Panoramas

New Sunrise Photographs of San Diego’s City Skyline

Each year I make several outings to shoot San Diego's beautiful skyline over San Diego Bay, from several of my favorite vantage points. I often license these images for real estate and convention use and want to keep them up-to-date as the skyline changes with new buildings and waterfront facilities.…

Phil CollaJanuary 8, 2024

Beautiful Views of San Diego La Jolla Surf

Silky Waves Break Over Point La Jolla

We had huge waves recently, which I have photographed in La Jolla a number of times. I wanted to shoot something different this time, not just a big wave lurching over Point La Jolla. So I shot at twilight, and placed some sea lions off to the side for scale.…

Phil CollaJanuary 5, 2024

Pelicans of La Jolla Seabird

La Jolla Seabirds in Late December

Our long run of perfect weather mornings changed, and my string of uninterrupted days photographing in La Jolla came to an end, in mid-December around Christmas. Still, I enjoyed several nice mornings including a few with good flight behavior. Most interesting were two days in which a large bait ball…

Phil CollaJanuary 3, 2024

Aerial Photography Beautiful Views of San Diego

Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach with Holiday Christmas Lights at Night

The Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, a bit north of San Diego proper, is a beautiful old wooden pier. Originally built in 1927 and once called "Pickering's Pleasure Pier", the Crystal Pier is home to the Crystal Pier Hotel and is an icon of the San Diego coastline. Each December,…

Phil CollaJanuary 2, 2024

Pelicans of La Jolla Seabird Wisdom

Photographing California Brown Pelicans in La Jolla

Here are my thoughts and recommendations for photographing California brown pelicans in La Jolla. If you like these photos, you can also see lots more blog posts from past sessions photographing California brown pelicans in La Jolla. Or, I've got a gallery of some keepers on my website, but most…

Phil CollaJanuary 1, 2024