Weird Scenes from the Garden, by Sam Matamua.

Well its weird, CHECK. And its from the Garden, CHECK. I made this a long time ago and don't now remember what was going through my head at the time. It appears to be a big bowl of red leaf soup! mmmmm good.

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Rain Drops in Dark Places, by Sam Matamua.

A drop of rain falls in a dark pond creating endless ripples. Red flowers and green plants, as well as part of the sky, are reflected in the water.

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Coronado Bridge Black and White, by Sam Matamua.

This is the world famous Coronado Bridge, part of the San Diego skyline, seen here at night and in black and white, from the Coronado side of the bay. I was standing south of the bridge itself (I actually snuck onto a golf course in the middle of the night to get this shot).

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Islands in the Sun, by Sam Matamua.

Portrait view of a small island chain somewhere out there in the Pacific. You can tell these islands aren't very big because the trees are almost as tall as the island tops.

Old Shade Tree, by Sam Matamua.

Just an old Shade Tree.

Dark Trees Reflecting Darkly, by Sam Matamua.

Dark trees reflecting quietly.

Atomic Sunset, by Sam Matamua.

A really really REALLY hot day in the jungle. Or WWIII just started.

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Valley of the Sun, by Sam Matamua.

Looks like its very hot here, so pack lots of water! And it probably gets pretty creepy at night, what with all those dead trees. This is another picture where I thought I had this interesting mountain shape in the background and then proceeded to build the rest of the scene around it. Look close and see all the black birds flying around and sitting in the trees.

Arguments in the Garden, by Sam Matamua.

...when I thought I lost her.

The Black Forest, by Sam Matamua.

I had this picture of some really tall and slender trees that were also kinda creepy looking. So I got the idea to make a haunted forest scene. I knew the format had to be a panorama in order to keep the trees looking tall. Making it black-and-white also was an obvious choice here. Nothing sets the mood like B&W. Then I added some scary looking fog and a mysterious lake of black water and PRESTO, instant haunted forest.

Actually, there was nothing instant about it; it took me a a few months to make this.

Twilight in the Park, by Sam Matamua.

This will look like just a generic treeline to most, however San Diegans may recognize this as the view from Embarcadero Park North. This is about 20 separate pictures stitched together in Photoshop.

The Last Time We Saw the Sun, by Sam Matamua.

Well, at first glance, this picture no doubt appears to be very romantic in tone. But I had two alternate possibilities in the back of my mind when I was working on this. One idea: these former lovers were actually saying goodbye on the beach and about to go their separate ways forever. Second idea: that there was something very wrong with the sun and it was dying out, which of course would be the end of the Earth (not to mention the last time we saw the sun).

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Flower Power, by Sam Matamua.

I made this image by placing a 500 watt spot light in the middle of my mom's flower garden at night. I took a bunch of pictures and played around with them in Photoshop. I was just experimenting, but that's how I ended up with this interesting picture. It appears these flowers can make their own sun light.

Sun Worship, by Sam Matamua.

The trees bow to the sun. Just a simple sunset picture.

Prints available in my ETSY store.

Forbidden, by Sam Matamua.

Here's a very strange and creepy looking scene, with a scary moon and dark foreboding trees. You'd never guess it, but when I made this I was actually trying to create a bright and sunny 'beach' scene, with plam trees and blue skies. But after awhile trying to set up my scene, things just kept getting darker and darker. Before I knew it I was looking at a full moon and blood red skies. Good thing too, this has actually become one of my favorites.

Elephants on the Edge II, by Sam Matamua.

Same idea, different look.

The Last Forest, by Sam Matamua.

This shot was taken from somewhere along Sunrise Highway, here in California. Sunrise Hwy is about an hour or so east of San Diego and runs through the Cleavland National Forest. As the name suggest, this is a killer area to take pictures of the sunrise ...although, in this particular shot what your looking at is the moon. This was after the big firestorm of 2003 devastated much of the area. I always imagine it is very quiet in the Last Forest