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Back from Big Sur
It took me two full days to drive home along the coast of California. Well, it was more than driving. I got to visit God’s art gallery for the last 48 hours. Free admission, all you can see! It was sort of fun sleeping in Keith’s truck along the way. It was a very good idea to bring my sleeping back with me. I was seriously tempted to sleep on the beach under the moon and twinkling stars, but, didn’t want to get Sandy worried too much. The worst part of the trip was not having Sandy and the girls with me. And, the best part of the trip was being alone. Doesn’t make sense, huh? I got to spend a lot of time singing, praying, and listening to other pastors’ sermons [all in Korean].
I also got to talk to a lot of strangers along the trip. I stumbled into a couple of Canadian brothers [not quite, they are in their late sixties] on one of the beaches and got to spend a couple of hours talking about photography and Canadian politics, which I ashamedly had no clue of. I just had to pretend that I was interested and responded with phony “wows” and “a-huh”.
Now the highlight of the trip?
I always wanted to photograph these beautiful beaches along Big Sur. On Tuesday morning I got up at 4:30AM and started driving along HWY 1 in search of a picture-perfect place to catch the dawn. An important lesson learned. "Sun rises from the east!" So photographically, sunrise is not a forte for California coast. Instead of looking at the sky, I looked down on seashore to find some interesting objects. Here’s one I managed to snap in San Simeon.
My next stop was Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. There was a beautiful 80-foot waterfall that drops from granite cliffs into the ocean. Again, the hour was too early and the lighting wasn’t optimal.
Coming out from the overlook, I saw the stream of water emptying into the cliffs, so I backtracked for a bit, and ended up spending the next couple hours hiking along this stream. Here’s my artistic version of the creek.
One place I’ve been wanting to visit was Pfeiffer Beach. The only problem was that I knew neither the name nor its whereabouts. The only thing I remembered about this place was a famous picture by a famous landscape photographer named, Robert Knight. So I went into a local sandwich shop, got my breakfast and asked the young man who was serving me. "Could you tell me where I could find this gigantic rock formation that has a hole in the middle into which waves crash?" He said, "There are many, which one do you want?” So I said, "the biggest one!" He finally said, "that’ll be Pfeiffer Beach, just down the street." If you are not familiar with which rock formation I’m talking about here’s a picture of it.
By the time I got down to the beach, the sun was way too high for any any photographic opportunity. So I scouted out the land, and decided to come back for sunset. I drove to Carmel, took a nap, washed up, shaved, and drove back to the beach around 4:00PM. There, I prayed for a beautiful sunset. And I got my sunset! I stayed right till it was pitch dark, clicking my shutter.
I think I pushed my luck too far this time. When I was taking my last shot, the tide was almost full, and the waves rose above my height, getting me completely wet. I wasn’t too worried about my clothes, though. My camera on a tripod was drenched by the deadly salt water. That was it for me. I came back to the car, disassembled the camera gear and thoroughly cleaned them. Fortunately, the damage was not as severe as I thought it would be.
Initially, I was planning to stay till the following day. But, I had brought only one piece of clothing that got completely drenched. Luckily, I had an extra undershirt and a pair of boxers. Enough to keep me dry, but not enough to survive another night in a car. That was the end of my trip. By the time I left the beach, I couldn’t even stop for dinner ‘cause I was driving in underwear. All for the hope of making that one keeper image that you always dreamed of. What an adventure!
Feel free to visit “Earth, Water & Sky” gallery for more pictures if you are interested.
March 16, 2005 | Comments (3)
Move over Ebay, here comes Trashbank!
My younger brother, Danny is a programmer in e-commerce division of Christie Auction House. I remember from many years ago when ebay was just a new kid on the “ecommerce” block, Danny proposed this brilliant business idea of creating an online buying and selling community. Well, years after its humble conception, here comes TRASHBANK. Trashbank is really a marriage between eBay and Craig’s List. No bidding, no false marketing, just post an ad for your trash and trade it for something that you will use.
I have a feeling that this will get quite big. Besides, I’ve been telling Danny that if this thing ever takes off, he has to support many orphans and missionaries around the world through his profit. I am tempted to tell him to put that as a statement of vision on his site, but not sure if he’s quite ready for that, yet. 
- A totally unbiased endorsement from a brother of the site owner. 
March 14, 2005
Greetings from LA!
After an intense yet heart-stirring weekend at Deeper Life Conference, the Kangs drove down to LA to visit Keith who is now recovering at home. Seeing Keith standing tall smiling at us was a reminder of God’s amazing grace. Although Keith faces a long battle ahead of him, his strength and faith in the Lord is truly inspiring.
While Sandy and the girls will stay behind for another week or so, I will be driving back to San Jose in a couple of hours. Then, I will be wifeless/kidless again for a week. I am not so eager to go back to an empty home, and decided to take some time driving along the coastline of California, living out of a car for a few days. I can hardly remember the last time I did something like that. In fact, it will be good for my soul. No cell phone, no email for a couple of days, even no fishing this time. I can hear the ocean calling me…
March 14, 2005
Santana Row
Last night, I got to go out with a few of my photography students for an on-location project. Destination? Santana Row. It was a gorgeous evening, and the park was packed with people who came out to enjoy the fresh spring air. Many kids were playing chess at the park and I came across this beautiful girl playing some serious chess. After a few snaps, I showed her mother a few pictures, which led to a wonderful conversation. Here’s my favorite from the night. I have also updated our family album with a few latest photos. Enjoy.
March 07, 2005
Yet, another long overdue update!
The Kang family has been quite busy. Isabel got to meet her grandma for the first time. Abigail has become a chatterbox. We also had a wonderful “Winter Advance” at Camp Alta. Lots of snow, lots of love… lots and lots of sweet memories. It was also very special to catch up with an old friend, Darrell, who flew all the way from Taiwan to speak to our young people at the advance. My friends at SJCAC threw me a wonderful birthday party this weekend and got me a gift that will inspire me to work out more consistently. But, the best birthday gift for me this year was seeing five young people giving their lives to Jesus. Bill, David, Isaac, Chinoy and Lillian, you guys have blessed me the most.
Another great news is that our brother, Keith will be finally coming home next week after five long months of battle against SJS. Sandy and I will be driving down to LA next week to aid him get back to his life. We want to thank all of you for praying so faithfully.
March 06, 2005
