ANNIVERSARIES
Hmmmmm . . . today I would have been married 29 years!
What can I say that could compare, except that the love Mark and I shared was stronger the day he died than the day we were married! and that I am reminded of a saying that my son David found shortly after Marks death: 
I am not sure who wrote this, but it seems to sum things up well for me.
Below is an image I created during a class at Brooks Institute during my first year of study, LS or Lighting Studio, as I remember it. The items were placed on black glass and the lighting all done with various flash units ‘popped’ multiple times to get the proper exposure; it was shot with a large-format 4×5 camera on 4×5 color transparency film.
The rose, a dried one from his funeral; the rings, our wedding bands ~
 . . . until death And since I am taking a trip down memory lane . . .
Here is one other image, created in the second class I took at Brooks, PHO 102, Basic Photography Fundamentals, that I would like to share. It too was done on black glass when I had no clue what I was doing, but I saw all these upper class students doing it and I wanted to try it out . . . the final images were done on 4×5 transparency film and have not been scanned into my computer yet, so this was a digital capture, before we were allowed to shoot digital and long before I knew the difference between a jpeg and RAW capture.
 a tribute This post is dedicate to my loving husband ~ for his military service and the unconditional love he shared with me . . .
OPEN HOUSE at DANCE STUDIO NO. 1 in LOS ANGELES
I love to photograph dancers! There is a magic inside of them that speaks to my heart. Call it grace, call it balance, call it focus, call it what you may . . . to me it is a special characteristic that I can’t quite put my finger on, but I can feel it.
Today I was fortunate enough to accompany a good friend in photographing the Open House of a dance studio in Los Angeles.
These first few images are all about the food, good healthy food . . . and the establishing shots
And while I took hundreds of images today, most of what I am sharing here are feet! or the backsides of these young ballerinas! Why you ask? Because I don’t have permission from each individual parent to post these images and I would never want to harm any child with the publication of an image without permission. Here are some of my favorites . . .
And these last few are from the older group of ballerinas – they are truly amazing!
I am always on the lookout for flowers . . . flowers for the note cards that I send to my mother, especially new ones, ones that I haven’t photographed before.
Today I found these few stray flowers in a garden along my daily walking path – they have been there during all my walks, I just don’t have my camera with me. So today, I drove back after my walk to capture these images.
 soft and delicate  converted to infrared and tinted with a 'touch of chocolate'  the sun was hitting these just right !  these look like 'dancing lady' orchids, but I really have no idea what they are  unknown flower - please help me with it's identification  also unknown, but I like it and I know it's of the same variety  as is this one  a large patch of yellow flowers  close-up view And as always, if anyone knows the names to these flowers, please reply . . . I will always give you credit and will be forever grateful!
SAYING GOOD-BYE
Sometimes we have to say good-bye to friends. Not that we want to, not that we want them to move away, but to hold them back from moving on in their own life would be a travesty, a selfish thing to do on our part.
So we get together and celebrate the good times and wish them nothing but the best in their new surroundings.
Today a group of friends got together at The Hollister Brewing Company in Goleta to say good-bye to Mary Alice. Mary Alice is on her way to Charleston, South Carolina – 3000 miles away!
I have known Mary Alice since my first days at Brooks Institute, she is such a sweet young girl – do they even make sweetness like this any more? Many of her friends in these images are from El Capitan Ranch just north of Santa Barbara, all equestrian enthusiasts like Mary Alice, and some are from her days at Brooks, as I am.
Farewell Mary Alice ~ your company and sweetness will be missed in Santa Barbara!
August 19th, 2009 | Category: Everyday Life, Photo of the Day MY NEIGHBORS GARDEN
Opportunities ~ they exist everywhere, one must be but willing to acknowledge them . . . . . .
Today is no exception for me. Mail is delivered to my house at various times throughout the day, it depends on the carrier assigned by the postal service – true for any postal route, right? For my condo sub-division, there seem to be about 3 different carriers during any given week.
Today, mail came in a little after 3:00pm and I just happened to be near the mailbox at the time. I received two letters that belonged to my neighbors, one of which I have met and worked with in the past, the other I have never met. Easy, I simply redirect the letters to their rightful owners.
Upon delivering the letter to the neighbor I had never met, I discovered her wonderful garden and the many whimsical decorations that adorned it . . . and I fell in love with it! To the point where I was bold enough to ask her if I could photograph some of the things in her garden. She was very agreeable, and I went back a little later when the sun was not so contrasty. Here are some of the treasures I found . . .
 a bejeweled stained-glass butterfly  a wired dragonfly  a whirly-gig butterfly  same whirly-gig, just a different angle and rendition  a blue crystal ball  a close-up of the blue crystal ball - if you look close, you can see my reflection in it  a pair of rusted steel garden shoes  same pair of garden shoes - they just look very uncomfortable  another wired dragonfly, ready for take-off  yet another dragonfly, rusted in place and the paint long since disappeared . . . and just think, I would have missed all of this had the mailed been delivered correctly!
PURPLE SPINY CACTUS
One last post from the town of Ojai.
Walking down one of the side streets, I came across this patch of purple cactus. It was late in the afternoon and the lighting was just right – it actually caught my attention from across the street.
Some things just beg to be photographed, and I couldn’t resist.
Could you imagine falling into one of these cacti? I wanted to touch, I really did – but refrained, it looks way too painful. Odd how the spines seem to only grow from the top of the leaf – guess I don’t know a lot about cacti!
August 17th, 2009 | Category: Everyday Life, Photo of the Day LOTS of TREASURES FROM OJAI
I have so many wonderful images to share with you from my trip to Ojai! I could post one a day for the next two months and we still would not have gotten through them all! So I decided to load some of them into their own gallery versus inserting one image at a time.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.
OJAI’s FLORA
Yesterday it was about architecture and the Ojai Valley Museum, today it is about the landscaping.
There were so many different varieties of plants and flowers, grasses and trees along my travels that I decided to put them all together in one post. And, of course, I have no idea what the names of these are. So, when you are reading this and looking at the images and you come across a variety that you know the name of, please send a reply to this post and I will update the images.
I would love your help in identifying each of these species of plants . . .
 I know this is a rose !  and so is this !  and I can identify these as red berries ! these are from a tree versus a small bush 
 and this too is a rose: of the peach, salmon or orange variety . . . 
 juniper berries  these look like mini radishes growing on a bush, but I think they are some type of wild rose hips 
August 15th, 2009 | Category: Everyday Life, Photo of the Day EXPLORING OJAI
Can you believe that in the 5 years I have lived in Santa Barbara, I have never been to Ojai? Anyone who lives in the area knows this is but a short 40 minute drive from Santa Barbara! Sometimes it’s not about how far away something is, nor is it about driving the distance – it’s about making the time to visit, to explore.
And for me it is very comforting to explore with my camera. So over the next several days I will be sharing some of the treasures I found in this quaint little artsy town. All of the images in today’s post have been converted to infrared with my famous ‘touch of chocolate’ tint added to the final rendering of the image.
It all starts with the Ojai Valley Museum . . .
 getting a good perspective from across the street And then, before we proceed any further, we need the image of the plaque . . .
 what's a national landmark without a plaque? and from here, there will be no more captions, just different angles and perspectives ~
August 14th, 2009 | Category: Everyday Life, Photo of the Day Yesterday’s post was a bit on the somber side and I am not sure I have totally recovered, but that’s okay . . .
We pick ourselves up and move on – wherever that onward may take us.
Today it has lead to a gate. What is beyond the gate is the intrigue . . . . but for some reason it matters not what is behind or beyond, nor what a gate represents (and I know there is a great philosophical paradox in all of this somewhere), it is simply a stately piece of architectural detail, made of wood and wrought iron, worn by the elements, and rendered as a statement of passivity.
 the gate, or at least the upper part of it  a part of the whole  the handles  shadows from the overhanging bougainvilla  a lantern that adorns the entry
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