July 31, 2010 at El Dorado Park in Long Beach, California, at a Civil War reenactment This baby girl was with a Confederate outfit from Louisiana.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Prayer Warrior
July 31, 2010 outside of Planned Parenthood in Orange, California. A traveling image of Our Lady of Guadalupe made a stop for people to gather and pray to end abortion.
Image available for sale as a download here.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Friends Coming to Visit
This oddly dressed woman was skateboarding about when she abruptly stopped and went to this grassy knoll to sit. As if waiting for her, two seagulls immediately approached her and waited. After a few moments, she started feeding them pieces of bread.
Sarah Palin
October 2, 2008 in Carson, California.
For some reason, I was thinking about this photograph earlier today and just felt I wanted to put it up. Maybe it mjeans I am going to find myself at some more campaign rallies this year.
Either party, if I can get in, I'll be taking pictures. Problem now is I have some better - but longer - lens and, as I discovered at Angels Stadium, big lenses are problematic without a press pass.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Lord of the Dance
This is an example of tritone processing (plus a smidgen of Topaz photo pop, plus a dab of poster edges filter, plus a pinch of black-and-white with levels adjustment, plus . . .)
If you Photoshop, you'll get it.
Mickey Has Pac Man Eyes
July 28, 2010 at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California.
My son looked at the ferris wheel from our vantage point while waiting for the "World of Color" show to begin and noted that the eyes of Mickey Mouse look like Pac Mans.
iPhone using Hipstamatic.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Safety in Numbers
Why the title? During the Worldwide Photo Walk, I was in the company of three other gentlemen (and I use that term specifically) for a good part of the time. I raised the issue that I had an advantage over them - I am a 49-year-old woman. That makes me "safe." I can shoot pictures of children and other females with less of a chance of someone thinking I was doing so for prurient reasons. In fact, for any subject, I am likely to appear non-threatening and people relax in front of my lens.
Photography is not a crime. But let's consider the shot above. As I walked to the cafe where we would meet after the photo walk, I saw this little girl toddling along with her father. I immediately got down to her eye level and grabbed a few shots, stood up, smiled, and asked, "She's adorable! How old is she?" Proud papa gave me her stats and I made some remark about how I miss those days when mine were that young and we parted company. He NEVER thought to ask me, "Why are you taking my daughter's picture?" If the roles were reversed, I would not assume the photographer had malice on his or her mind, but I would at least ASK.
Now, what if a lone male took the picture, just as I did, no questions first, just start shooting. Do you think the father would be as comfortable? Change the scenario and say there were three males with expensive-looking glass around their necks and now I think the danger of being suspected of sordid motive is less - "Oh, it's a group thing! Oh, maybe they're with a magazine!"
I am sorry that there is such a double standard. Our post-9/11, Nancy Grace-fueled society has created an atmosphere where a male - especially one with a dark complexion - "armed" with a camera, may well be seen as a threat.
And I get a pass.
Go figure.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Engagement Ring
Confession - I added the starburst in Photoshop. Aw, but you already knew that, right?
On the Road to Emmaus
July 24, 2010 at Venice Beach, California.
"He asked them, 'What are you discussing as you walk along?' They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, 'Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?'"
Luke 24: 17, 18.
She Figured It Out
This was the moment the young lady figured out what was written on the banner trailing behind the prop plane above.
See more pictures of this happy couple below.
Ain't love grand?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Mickey Wheel at Sunset
July 25, 2010 at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California.
Last night I went with two of Rome's finest - Fr. John Moneypenny and Fr. Ed Becker - to see the new World of Color show at the park.
Good tip: rather than try to get a spot in the viewing area, head about 7:00 pm to the bar on Paradise Pier, and be ready to wait for the 9:00 pm showing. They have a $10 cover, but have a couple of drinks and some hot wings and good conversation with good people, and it makes for a great evening.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Would You Go With Me?
See the story here.
"If I gave you my hand would you take it
And make me the happiest man in the world?
If I told you my heart couldn't beat one more minute without you, girl . . .
Would you accompany me to the edge of the sea?
Let me know if you're really a dream
I love you so, so would you go with me?" -- Josh Turner
A Bite Before Surf
A young Australian from Melbourne at Venice Beach, California. He said he had not gone into the surf yet (the bottom half of him was still in its wetsuit), but just needed a bit to eat before taking on the waves.
Vintage Canal
While participating in the 3rd annual Worldwide Photo Walk, I thought the light in the eraly morning was very diffused with the famous Southern California overcast hanging atop our heads. At the same time, there was that early morning stillness that made everything feel diffused - color, sound, time, etc.
To try to capture that feeling, I purposely processed this picture with a level of desaturation and flatness, in a way of trying to achieve a vintage post card feel. One problem is finding the shot that has no real estate signs in the backyards of the homes bordering the canal and no modern boats, but just simple wooden skiffs.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Samson and Paul
July 24, 2010 in Venice Beach, California.
Today, I participated in Scott kelby's 3rd annual Worldwide Photo Walk, which brought me to Venice Beach.
I also contribute photos to a group started by Thomas Hawk, the $2 Portraits Project. The idea is that when you are asked for money by many of the homeless we see on our cities' streets, offer that in exchange for $2, you can take their picture and hear their story. There is a dignity afforded a person by mutually participating in a transaction with them that mere charity cannot bestow.
The fellow here is Paul. Paul grew up in Venice Beach and has remained there all of his life. He says that all of it will be gone some day - "burned down" - in order to make room for apartments.
Samson is Paul's little puppy. Paul told me how much he loved the dog, and he got him in order to ease the pain of losing his pet rooster, who kept him company on the streets of Venice. "They stole him from me! He's probably wound up in somebody's taco!"
She Said Yes
July 24, 2010 in Venice Beach, California.
Always expect the unexpected.
While on today's Worldwide Photo Walk, one of our members was walking ahead and started talking to this lovely couple. Out of earshot of the young lady, the young man confessed something to our group: in a few minutes, a plane would come flying by, trailing a banner with a marriage proposal written on it.
Four of us decided to stay for the occasion, keeping a distance, the young couple kissed and watched the waves . . . well, he watched the horizon, as the plane was late.
Finally, the moment came. A plane came droning by and on its tail was a banner: "Te amo! Voce quer se casar comigo, Paulinha?" Translated from the Portuguese - "I love you! Will you marry me, Paulina?"
He dropped to his knees and presented the ring. She cried and said yes, as we took pictures of their joy, adding to the excitement of the moment.
I wished them much happiness, health, prosperity, and love. In the picture above, I think the young lady is still overwhelmed by what had just happened.
Jackie in Venice
July 24, 2010 in Venice Beach, California.
Jackie was sitting in her yard at her house on the Grand Canal in Venice Beach. She cleans houses for a living and just likes to sit in the sun on her day off. She agrees with her grown daughter that children should not come home to live.
A Corner on the Canal
I had the most fun participating today in Scott Kelby's 3rd annual Worldwide Photo Walk. I joined up with a group and we photowalked in Venice Beach, California, shooting its canals, pier, and boardwalk. Nice people, trading camera and photography tips, etc.
This is an HDR (high dynamic range) shot of a corner on the Grand Canal.
Yom Kippur Blessing
October 9, 2008 at High Point, New Jersey.
This rabbi, his wife, and two sons came out to the highest spot in New Jersey, High Point, on Yom Kippur, specifically to recite prayers and blow the ram's horn - the shofar - at the four corners of the monument that is located there, as a blessing upon the earth. God bless and keep them.
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Boys at Knott's Berry Farm
Taken September 22, 2007 at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.
The boy on the left is my son. The boy on the right is his best friend, Simon. They are in line for a ride at Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park in Southern California. Although the picture was taken in 2007, they are still friends today.
I love boys. Really, I love my daughter with all my heart, but I also love being with my son and his friends. Boys, between toddler and teen, are these wonderfully feral creatures for whom everything is an adventure and their play reminds me of the gamboling of puppies or tigers, depending on the intensity!
Gondole
Venice, Italy. June 2001.
If only I had the camera equipment and the know how back in 2001 as I do now. But, I didn't, and I was in Italy as part of my law school training. Today, that 3-week excursion would have me slogging more optical equipment than I care to admit.
Tomorrow, I am particpating in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk. July 24th, 2010, and in spots all around the world people will be meeting up and shooting in various spots, then uploading their images. This is the 3rd annual one, but my first time participating in it. Why the picture? I'll be part of the group in Venice . . . California.
Unbearable Grief at Her Hero's Death
Looking at some old photos and thinking how they can be handled differently.
This young woman had a tattoo on her arm that read: "The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." She was watching the memorial for Michael Jackson outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on July 7, 2009 on her phone and weeping.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Still Waiting for the Bus Home After 40 Years
A friend, Victor Sansone, had his guitar and posed by the signpost to Yasgur's Farm in Bethel Woods, New York. With the fake rainbow and the loneliness of the area, I thought he looked like the guy who woke up too late at Woodstock to catch the bus home . . . and is still waiting.
Angry Turkey
Bethel Woods, New York. May 2010.
I found out that if you make the right noise, evidently a tom thinks you are challenging him, and starts puffing . . .
Yasgur's Farm
The year was 1969 and a local farmer named Max Yasgur agreed to loan a large field that was part of his dairy farm for a musical festival that they were calling "Woodstock."
If you go to Bethel Woods, NY, you can visit the Woodstock museum. Locals, however, will take you to also see Yasgur's farm, as I did here on a beautiful spring day in May 2010.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Bill and Cheyenne
Corona, California. Outside an Arco gas station at the Green River Road exit of the 91 Freeway.
Bill and his dog, Cheyenne, built themselves a home in the nearby river bed of the Santa Ana River, just beneath the Prado dam. I asked Bill if anyone bothers him. "They had me tear down my first one, but then they told me that they don't have the jurisdiction there, so no one bothers us."
Bill said he was Jersey. "Trenton, the Shore . . . but I was born in Chester, in Pennsylvania." He came out to California as a child, when his parents brought him here.
"People back there are nicer. Here, they give me a buck at most and you can't get anything to eat with that. Back in Jersey, they feed you, they make sure you have a meal. But they're tough, too!"
"I got three wives and five kids." I asked why he was here. "To get away from them!" (laughs)
He said he was happy. "I got what I need, I got my Cheyenne. She's loyal and the best company. We watch out for each other. I made sure she's got all her shots."
This is a contribution to the $2 Portrait Project started by Thomas Hawk, a street photographer. Shooting urban areas, he would often be approached by homeless looking for some spare cash, so he came up with the idea of offering $2 in exchange for a portrait and their story. Learn more here.
I gave Bill more because there are two souls here. I pass Bill almost everyday and promised I would bring some treats for Cheyenne. He asked me if I would print out one of my pictures, so he could always have a picture of her. Sure thing, Bill - and thank you, sir.
The More I Know Men . . .
Actually, that's unfair. I know many a man who loves his pets more so than his women, and I know the women who drive him to that . . .
Jumping Corgi
It's Monday morning and to relieve the stress of a work week, something pleasant is in order.
This is my tri-color Pembroke Welsh Corgi bitch, Josie, taking a hurdle at a corgi meetup held June 19, 2010 in Yorba Linda, California.
Corgis are fun to watch ramble and play simply because their body dimensions belie the aptitude for activity. Picking up one is not unlike picking up a mattress - it's not that they are heavy, but they are awkward. They are fur-bearing speed bumps. Wrap a piece of old shag carpet around one of those Electrolux canister vacuum cleaners and you have a close approximation.
They are bred as cattle herding dogs. They are stubborn. They shed like demons and I have drifts of corgi fur throughout my house.
I love them.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Amish on Vacation
Even the simplest of people need some time away from the daily routine.
Amish at Rock City, Georgia in August 2006.
Gay Street Bridge
Gay Street bridge in Knoxville, Tennessee. February 2007.
I am in a Tennessee state of mind.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Group Jump
The best times are the ones shared.
Pool party today at the home of my law school classmate, Jim Busse, in Long Beach, California.
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