English 101

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (June 20, 2016) - For Jessica's English final, she opted to create a video to play for the class. It was basically a talking head video where she was relating literature to aspects of her life. To break up the monotony, I suggested we shoot some stills to use as cutaways in the video. So we headed down to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands around dusk.

As we are walking down the trail I see a pretty scene in front of me, but I had to get my camera out of the backpack. Because we are on a dirt trail, I didn't want to set the backpack in the dirt. Thinking swiftly, I see a soft little plant to set the backpack on. I whipped out the camera and quickly threw the backpack over my shoulder to continue on. As soon as I get it on may back, a sharp pain shoots up my spine. I carefully drop the shoulder straps and ask Jessica what's in my back? The backpack had picked up the piece of cactus below. A couple of the long spines were in there pretty deep. As she carefully pulled it out, I could feel the spines hanging on to my skin...ouch! Anyway, I ended up capturing the image below (not sure if it was worth it, lol).

The following images are some from the group that were used in the video. All shot with the 5D Mark III, EF 28-70mm f/2.8L or the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L.