Favorite shots from the last roll...

"Haze over LA"

It wasn't haze actually, it was more like an afternoon fog/mist

but I love the hazy dream like effect that it gave the city skyline.

"Sunrise before the Train"

6 a.m. 60 degrees. Enough said...

"Avocado"

I placed a curtain over my lamp and noticed that my light guava colored walls had a very interesting color to it so I snapped a shot.

But looking back at it now, it reminds me so much of an avocado.

"Bathroom window"

Jumped into the shower and saw this silhouette with a very vibrant colors of the early morning.

"Black and Gold"

"Grace and Form"

Portrait

Random Picture

Sometimes, you get lucky and manage to find a shot that turns out better than you expected.
This is my current wallpaper at work and I think this was from an impromptu photo walk I did in and around the neighborhood.

A doe, a deer

This is an old picture from Malibu Creek State Park.
I just love the warm tones and the little haze that the picture has from the direct sunlight over head.
I also love the contrasting texture and it reminds me so much of the hike that my friends and I took on that day as we walked through the trees, hills and meadows.

Song of the day:

Jacob

"Jacob's Walking Stick"
Malibu Creek State Park

I can't really tell you why I love this picture so much but that does not change the fact that it is one of my favorite pictures of all time.

Once upon a time...

"Snow..."
Mt. Baldy

I can't tell you how much I love snow and how excited I get at the prospect of it.
I think this year, I am going to wrap my nikon in saran wrap and take it deep into the snow storm, that is if we are fortunate enough to have another one.

Because she is adorable...

"80's Chic for Babies"

This is my Cheer me up picture.

Photo walk: LA #2

Bonsai

Inner City Boundaries

Photo walk: LA - Parallels

Blue

Red

Roll #1: B&W

Lines: Clothing & Power

Pumpkin Patch sans Pumpkins

Koi

Needless to say, I had a blast going through this roll of film.

And really excited to shoot another one.

The combination of having a yellow tinted moldy/cloudy lens plus the fact that they processed the b&w film on paper reserved for color prints had some very interesting consequences.

The most noticeable consequence is the greenish tint that these photos exhibit due to the film/paper discrepancy. In addition, there is a also a haze like filter that really softens up the movement of the fish and the direct sunlight in the pumpkin patch.

So overall, I was very happy with this first batch.

Onto roll #2.

Photographs that take the ground from underneath you...

(Pulitzer Prize Winning Photograph by Kevin Carter)
Within this picture is a story that grips at the very core of you.
I have heard this photograph referred to as "the photo that made the world cry".
I highly recommend reading the time article on Kevin Carter as well because he became a story in his own right after he took this photo.

Initially when I saw it, I just felt a great sense of Despair.
Pain. Anguish. Isolation.
In my head, I heard my conscious say:
Is he alone?
Where is his/her mother? father? brother? sister?
Anyone?
My brain was incapable of processing the sheer amount of tragedy that was being processed.
But I couldn't turn away.
To turn away from the image felt that I would be turning away from the child.
And then I though about the Kevin Carter.
Did you save him/her Kevin?
Did you scare the vulture away?
Did you put him/her in your car and drive him/her to the nearest aid station?

How does someone move on after taking a photograph like that?

The current reality is that Sudan is actively closing down and blocking aid.
I can't even imagine the type of horrors that they are facing now...

But there are other children and people out there that need help and a couple of ways that we can do that is through personal sponsorships and/or micro loans.

I beseech you go to the following websites and to do whatever you can because one child dying of starvation is one child too many.

World Vision
Kiva

My First HDR

Taken on my brother's wedding day
This was my first serious attempt at creating an HDR image.
Here is the original.

A little morning abstract

Blurry Morning
Title: A1
I woke up this morning with a little more eye crumb than usual.
After accidentally rubbing it into my eyes,
I got to enjoy the morning light in somewhat of an opaque haze
and then I saw something interesting so I just quickly snapped a picture of it.
ISO was still very high and automatic focus was off so what I got was very much what I had seen.


California Condor at Montana de Oro
I had snapped this shot a long time ago with a telephoto lens but lost track of it since there are over 600 pictures in my Montana De Oro folder but last night, I came across it while I was experimenting with some HDR photos. I didn't have much luck with my early runs with HDR photography (clouds were moving just a little too quickly that day), I was able to take a little about what I learned about highlights and shadows to brighten this one up a little more.
I especially enjoy how the texture of the wood became more pronounced in this picture as well the the detailed colorings on the condors wings.

Handheld Love

I knew from the moment that I saw it that it was something special.

And when it felt its heft in my hands, I knew that there was no going back.

I am going to have you.

4 hours later, it had been disassembled, cleaned, and finally functioning and I was already working my way through a roll of black and white film.

Instant gratification tries my patience

But for you, I'll wait the hour...

When I wake up every morning...

I am tempted to both read and to leave -

to lose myself in pages of a book or among the potential pages in a forest.

But somehow, the heat always manages to convince me otherwise...

If I was young...

Elephant Gun by Beirut

They have such a great sound.

I think I have discovered the first track for my Autumn playlist.

Bikes

1970 Schwinn Varsity Sport, 1980 Univega Gran Turismo, 2002 GMC

I got my first bike when I was 7.
My dad got it at Kmart and man was that thing a treat.
I remember taking the training wheels off by myself
and waking up the next day to find that my dad had put them back on.
"I don't want you to get hurt"
Come to think of it, I think that was the first time I ever used a tool.
I guess I was fated to become a grease monkey...

I don't know what happened to that bike,
but years passed before I got to ride another bike.
Now I have...5.
Pretty soon, I'm sure they are all going to be either single speed or fixie.
Not too many things in this world I find more beautiful than the simple mechanics and aesthetics of a single speed bike.
That could just be my obsessive affective self speaking.

Music for tonight is Die Bessere Halfte by Herbstrock
(yes, there is definitely a bicycle theme tonight)



Enjoy.

Beirut - Nantes

Great song.

Can you imagine walking down the street and coming across something like this?

Early Morning

Today, I am finally going to start a project that I have had on my to do list for the past year or so and that is to photograph Ontario.

On my list of what I want to photograph is:

1. De Anza Park

2. Landmarks and Restaurants (*yelp)

3. Euclid Ave

Other projects include:

1. Converting another road bike into a fixie or single speed

2. Photographing Julia

There is certainly a palatable excitement in the air

as Summer is ending (has ended) and work will soon commence.