Young Dancer

This was a very young dragon dancer at the 2010 Chinese New Year Parade in L.A.s Chinatown. I was trying to shoot the dragon but he charged up to me and was very enthusiastic in his dancing so I actually caught his face rather than the dragon he was dancing (it could have been a Lion, sometimes I'm not quite sure which it is).

Did You Know...?

Did you know that in the English language, the word orange is 1) a fruit, 2) a color and 3) a flavor. Nothing else is all 3. AND, as if that weren't enough, there is no word in the English language that rhymes with "orange".

You're trying, aren't you? You're trying to think of a word that rhymes with orange. And you're trying to disprove the other statement too. I know you, I know how you think. You're thinking "lemons taste like lemon". Yes, that's true, but what color is a lemon? It's YELLOW.  Yeah, yeah, I know you're saying "but it's LEMON yellow". Doesn't count. It's still yellow.

Still trying, aren't you? Now you're probably trying "blueberries". Yes, they taste like blueberries but they're not blueberry colored; they're not even blue - they're purple. (BTW, there's no blue fruit either - I learned that from George Carlin).

Made you think? Ok, then my job is done.

My Dream

I want this building! I have such great plans for this building. And it's only a block away from the Red Line/Orange Line. It's a perfect place for my education center - easy to get to. A beautiful building. Some day this building and the lot next to it will be mine.

Optical Illusion

I was taking pictures at work today and thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to take photos for myself while I was at it. At Galpin Auto Sports there is a 20' wall of wheels that's actually pretty cool. This is just a small section of it. When I was going through the photos in the office this one caught my eye. Are they facing to the left or to the right? And it seemed to be just these wheels. Must be something about the design. If you look at the picture for a while they appear to change direction. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool!

That's What Friends Are For

I've had a photo book project in my head for years. Now I've started gathering up the photos I want to use in the project. One of the thoughts in the book is "Sometimes the hardest part of any job is just getting started". The idea I had in mind for the photo was some wood and tools laid out ready to go, but not yet started.

Since I don't have a workshop, nor a place to set up such a shot I asked my friend, Keven, if he would be interested in shooting this for me. Not only is Kevin a great photographer, he also does beautiful wrought iron work and woodworking (and probably a bunch of other amazingly talented things I don't know about).

A few days after I asked he sent me 12 lovely color photos of just what I asked for...and he sent me this one. The sepia tone makes it look very old fashioned and I'm immediately drawn to some ineffable nostalgic quality in this photo. It's not the one I picked for my book, but I just had to share it somewhere.

When I ask, my friends are always there for me, whether it's a big request or small and I just thought I'd take this Valentine's day to say "thanks" to all of them!

More of Kevin's photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/1sailorkev/

Where Does The Road Go?

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
    The Lord of The Rings - JRR Tolkien

Sometimes it doesn't matter where the road goes, just that you follow it where it will take you.

Bar Shots

1 party, 1 bar, 2 photographers and cameras = two completely different looks. My co-worker, Rudy Flores took the shot on the left, I took the shot on the right. Same place, same event. Both are good shots.

Every Child's Fantasy

What kid (or most adults) wouldn't love to have a chocolate fountain? I'll bet this kid is thinking "I wish we had one of these at home".

Cars As Art

This looks like a piece of jewelry. It's actually a headlight from a Sypker C8 Aileron. Very pretty, hand made cars, high end cars. I work for a car dealership and we just had a grand opening party for our new Spyker showroom.

Cold As Ice

Ice sculpture as abstract art. I like how the light plays on the different surfaces. I shot this from the same side the lights are on and there are only two - one green one and one yellow one. My friend Kevin inspired me to do this with his beautiful shots of frozen chains (which I think were much cooler pictures - no pun intended).

Doesn't work so good

This is an example of a photo that doesn't work well. In person this decaying fabric attached to the fence glowed at the edges from the sunlight. IT was the focus, not the fence. It reminded me of icicles and it was really beautiful! It just doesn't translate in the photo.

Everybody's Going Somewhere

If you need a reference point for this photo, it was taken in the hills above the Los Angeles Zoo looking east as the 134 freeway heads into Glendale and points beyond. There's a good deal more snow than usual in those mountains. It's now early February and I think the Angeles Crest Highway is still closed.

This was taken a couple of weekends ago, after almost a week straight of rain, this sunny, cloudless weekend was a welcome blessing!  And walking in the hills above the zoo was the perfect way to spend the day.  If I stood still and closed my eyes, I could almost pretend that the sounds coming from the freeway were actually ocean waves. You should try that some time - listen to familiar sounds and see how much like other sounds they are. Next time it rains, listen to how the rain sounds. To me it sounds a lot like bacon frying in a pan (I learned that from an episode of MASH except I think Hawkeye said it sounded like a steak frying - who says you don't learn anything from TV?).

It was wonderful to feel the sun on my skin, to breathe in the clean smells of the earth. I've lived in this area all my life and have never walked the trails here. Now that I know what I've been missing, I will surely go back. To escape from the city for a while and not have to drive for hours to get there - such a deal!

Giant Nails?

 While walking around the outside of the zoo I walked past a fenced in utility yard. These long metal planks were stacked in large piles. I have no clue what these are. They just looked really interesting.