Yellowstone Trees

Even burned out, trees fascinate me with their textures and shapes. It also amazes me how some trees survive fires, lightning strikes and other devastating acts of nature. The trees in this particular area did not survive the fire that swept through here, but they are still standing and have a kind of chilling beauty.

Taxi Driver

In a previous life I was a costumer at a robotics company called Landmark Roboshop. Those were fun days. One of the shows we built there was the Ghostbuster's Live Action show for Universal Studios Florida when it first opened. This taxi driver was one of the ghosts. I'm 5'6" and if I were standing next to him (why didn't I think to get a photo of that?) the top of my head would come up to about his ear. I made his shirt, shorts, shoes and socks. The shoes were the most fun.

There were some amazingly talented people who worked in this shop and I was constantly impressed and delighted by all the different things that were created there.

L. A. Buildings

This was from one of my downtown L.A. photo safaris. I was just walking down the street looking for the next photo when I looked up at the building I was next to and saw this reflection. I took several shots from different angles, this one turned out best.

River

I like taking photos out in nature best. From long shots to details, there are just so many interesting things out there.

Fountain

This is a fountain at Mission San Miguel (I think). I was caught by the colors of the moss or lichen growing on it. They made such a pretty mosaic of colors.

Chair

I like this photo because of the shadow play. I think the combination of the old wood, shadow and ground is a nice textural composition. This was taken at Mission La Purisima, near Lompoc. It's a wonderful place to take photos.

Ana Paint

I love this photo for the expression on her face. This is priceless. You can't pose a look like that. I think that look says "Why are you looking at me like that? I didn't start this!" The funny story behind this photo is that she was sitting there having fun finger painting and her mother sat down next to her and started dabbing her face with paint. Then Ana responded by painting her mother's face. They were both covered in paint by the time they were done. It was very funny to watch.

Huts

This was taken at the L.A. Arboretum may years ago. This was a set left over from the original Fantasy Island, which used to film there. Oddly enough, this photo works better in black and white than in color. The lake was very green at the time I shot this (algae), which detracted from the idyllic lagoon setting. I took other shots where I was standing inside the treeline, but I like this one the best because it almost looks like the viewer is hiding behind the trees and spying on the huts. The trees give it an added dimension.

Sun God

I liked the combination of colors in this photo; the sun god medallion reflected in the colors of the flowers. I also like the shadow on the wall which almost suggests a body and hands. When you stop and take time to look at details you find some very interesting things.

Yellowstone Lower Falls

I'm pretty sure this is standing above the "Lower Falls" in Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. As pretty as it is, this picture just can't convey the beauty and depth of this scene, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Like the commercial says "some things you just can't download". This is definitely one of them!

Stairway

I love the play of light in this photo. I took this at the Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. I think this was in the morning. Great place for taking pictures! Lots of visual texture.

San Simeon Pool

You don't always have to wait for a sunny day to take good photos. This was taken at Hurst Castle on a VERY foggy day and I think it just makes it look sort of ethereal.

Light Is Everything!

What is the difference between a boring photo and a dramatic one? Lighting! It matters where you point the camera. These two photos were taken at the same location only 3 minutes apart. The one on the left is looking south (nothing very special about that photo), the other is looking west into the sunset (very dramatic).

This was a beautiful walk on the beach last night. The colors of the water were amazing; blues, greens, pinks, purples. Watching the light on the sand as the waves receded and the water sank back down into the sand was mesmerizing. The light show seemed to go on forever. I haven't been for a walk on the beach in a while. I should do that more often.

07-18 Yellowstone Trees

I went to Yellowstone National Park a few years ago. What an amazing place! It was so beautiful, so open, so BIG! So many different ecosystems there - from bubbling mud pots in beautiful colors to forests to waterfalls. I could go back again and again. We're very lucky to have these wilderness areas set aside and protected. These are some great trees I saw. They're so big and twisted and have so much texture and character.

I love this photo because the tulips almost look like they're glowing, as if they are lit from within. I like to walk around a subject to see where the light falls best to make the most interesting image. This was taken at Disneyland, one of my favorite places to take photos because of the beautiful landscaping, the architecture, and the interesting attention to details.

Sentinals At The Library

I love walking around in the L.A. Central Library. The architecture is great. I thought this area, where all the escalators are was quite photogenic. I was able to capture some of the massive depth of the place. Actually, there's a lot of wonderful architecture and interesting things downtown. I like to go there for photo safaris - it's a visual banquet!.

Cactus

The world becomes a little more interesting when you stop to look at the details. You can find beauty and wonder in the most unexpected places.

Umbrellas

Sometimes we're so busy with our nose to the grindstone we forget that there's interesting things to see and do if we just look up.

Weeds At Sunset

Every sunrise is a promise. Every sunset is a gift.

Spirit of the Wood

I love trees! You will probably be seeing a lot of trees here over time. This image started out life as a shot of dead tree branches overlooking a lake. Then I started playing with it. Crop out a portion of the image, duplicate it and rotate it, playing around until I get an image I like. I had been playing with this one for a couple of hours that way and decided to take a break from it because I wasn't seeing anything that caught my interest. When I came back to it the images just started jumping out at me.

It's interesting how you can see things differently if you just walk away for a while then come back to it later. I think that works for almost all situations in life.

Mr. Burns

Meet Mr. Burns. In the interest of full disclosure - I didn't take these photos. I did however, have a hand in shaping his future (and helping out a friend in distress).

Before he became Mr. Burns I called him "drain kitty", because that's where I found him - hiding in a drain outside my office window. I had gone for an afternoon walk (not something I do very often) to talk with a co-worker about another co-worker's upcoming birthday. Coming back to my office I hear the meowing of a very small kitten coming from the concrete under my feet (a bit spooky hearing sounds coming from beneath the sidewalk).

I won't go into all the details about crawling around on my hands and knees in the parking lot and in the street (in a skirt no less!) trying to find the source of the sound so to make a long story short, with some help we got drain kitty to come out. He was VERY dirty and covered in fleas. My friend, Allison took him home and gave him a bath and some kitten food.

Not such an unusual story, you say? True. Except for how and when it all happened. First, I don't rescue cats. The neighborhood I live in is crawling with feral cats. The woman down the street feeds them all. I've heard that she catches as many as she can and has them fixed so I guess that's ok. They seem to be able to look out for themselves. I just don't believe that they would necessarily be better off in a cage in a shelter than running around free. I DO like cats, but I'm allergic to them. This one just sounded SO SMALL I couldn't resist trying to do something for it. Also, the kittens around my home have other cats to look after them. This one appeared to be all alone. Turns out he's about 8 weeks old. The other remarkable thing about the timing of this event is that it happened on the very day that Allison had to put her cat of 11 years to sleep because he was very sick.

She wasn't sure she was going to keep this new kitty. She wasn't sure she was ready to deal with something small and needy while she was grieving for her cat. The "no kill" shelter she called to see if they would take him was filled up (are you sensing a pattern here?). So, after about a week, she decided to keep him and gave him his new name. She said that having him around helps her not be so sad over her loss. Mr. Burns is now part of her family.

So, that's the story of Mr. Burns. I like to believe he has a better life now than he would have had if I had just kept walking, and Allison is happy he is in her life. Wait till he chews up her computer cables, she might change her mind (just kidding!)

A Day At The Beach...Sort Of.

A while back I got this idea for a shoot I wanted to do at the beach. However, on that particular day it wasn't all that sunny and I didn't really feel like driving out to the beach, so I made a beach in my back yard. I set up a folding table, covered it with plastic then poured on a bag of sandbox sand. I took several photos that day and I liked this one especially because of the colors in the wood grain. It was a fun experiment.

Spiders and Web

I did this illustration for a Phobia assignment. It's done on scratch board.
I have a fascination with webs. They are so beautiful and amazing! I also believe that we are all connected, like a spider web. If you pull on one strand you effect all the others. If you damage one strand it weakens the whole web. If you damage enough strands the whole thing falls apart and becomes useless.
Next time you see a spider web, stop and admire it for all it's intricate beauty!

July 8, 2009 - The Soap Bubble
My first picture for my first Blog. This is my nephew, several years ago and was the first photo I ever took with a 35mm camera. I was just playing around, learning the camera and I had thought the bubble popped before the shutter snapped.

I was surprised when this amazing photo came out. 1,000's of photos later and I still think this one is awesome! My mom thinks it would be better if he was facing the camera so she can see his face, but that is exactly the reason I like it so much- it makes the image universal. It's not a photo of a specific little boy playing with soap bubbles, it's a picture of every child playing with soap bubbles!
I plan to put up a different photo every day. I hope you enjoy them.