Sometimes we are so blessed! Today is a special day!
The desk in my home office faces a second story balcony with sliding glass doors. As I work on editing images, creating albums and planning strategies for advertising and marketing, I am able to look out the window or stop long enough for a bit a fresh air.
Today was different than most days in Southern California – there were clouds in the sky – all day long. And they changed constantly throughout the day. When I first noticed them it was about 8:00-ish in the morning and I decided to take a few shots. However, as the day went on, I got less work done as I found myself just wanting to stay on the balcony a watch the sky as the cloud formations changed.
 8:00 am  8:15am  9:00 am  10:00 am  10:00 am  12:00 noon  1:00 pm  1:00 pm - a plane flies through it  2:00 pm - isn't this interesting ? I thought it was very cool . . .  2:00 pm  2:30 pm  2:30 pm  3:00 pm  3:30 pm  4:00 pm  4:30 pm As you can see from the times these were taken, I didn’t get a lot of editing done today – cause every half hour to hour, I was on the patio watching the clouds go by. How is that for a dreamy lifestyle ?
But you have to admit there was so much variety in the patterns and wisps and air currents throughout the day, I would have been remiss NOT to photograph the clouds!
The only thing I could have done better would have been to do a time lapse sequence and put them together in a Quicktime video – now that would have been awesome! There is that ‘ole hindsight thing again! But then I would not have gotten any editing done at all!
Ahh . . . h . . . h, C’est la Vie! It is what it is!
A simple post today. And a single image. These were a bouquet of flowers on the table of a home I went to visit during the day.
We were actually testing my new camera, the Canon 5D Mark II. This image was shot at ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/15th sec. As you can see, even with my elbows propped on the table, I could not hold the camera steady – there is a slight blur to the image, but because I didn’t go out to shot more during the day, this is it – this is the photo of the day. I has been converted to infrared with a ‘touch of chocolate’ tinting.
 flowers on the kitchen table Don’t know what the large flower is, but the smaller ones are bright red gerber daisies. When converted to infrared they become much softer and the effect of natural light also takes on the softer appearance.
This is not always the case though with infrared conversions. Sometimes there is a huge addition of grain into the image, especially in harsh lighting conditions and extremely shallow depth of fields.
I have been toying with the idea of converting my older Canon 10D to infrared so that the images come straight out of the camera as infrared captures. But have decided against it since finding two tools that do it in post: one is a Lightroom preset from Kevin Kubota and the second is the preset found in Photoshop CS3 & CS4 under the Black and White conversion tool. Both are excellent and leave the original capture intact.
Besides, had I converted the Canon 10D to infrared capture only, as once this change is made to your camera you can’t undo it, when my Canon 5D went in for repair, I would have had no backup camera to shoot with. Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it ? ? ? ! ! !
August 1st, 2009 | Category: Weddings It’s been a long, long day! But it was great fun! I am so fortunate to be able to photograph weddings, especially when the Bride and Groom are so wonderful and fun! This wedding was shot in association with Wedding 64 and Art Suwansang.
Elsie and Ben are just such a couple! The ceremony was held at at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles – a huge church! And the reception followed at the Malibu West Beach Club in Malibu. This little venue is right on the beach in Malibu – a beautiful setting and an intimate banquet room – just right for the number of guests attending.
Both the Bride and the Groom had quite a few family members from out of town to share their special day and a full entourage of Bridesmaids and Groomsmen to keep them on track.
 The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 
 the Groomsmen !  the ring pillow  the ringbearer  Elsie being walked down the isle by her father and mother  at the altar  on the walk to placing the bouquet at the feet of the Virgin Mary  USC pep band that played after the ceremony - it was a rockin good time!  the bridal party  I think he's a happy man!  on the beach  practicing their surfing prowess - Elsi and Ben are headed to Hawaii for their honeymoon! 
 the Bridesmaids  haven't seen this before, but Ben was having a lot of fun - so were the guys!  lifeguards on duty  just the guys  the cake - on display as guests walked through the front door instead of being hidden in a corner somewhere - thought this was a great idea  the bouquet and rings
Another month is done. Today I will add all of the images from July into one gallery and add it to the ‘Photo of the Day’ tab at the top of this blog.
Another month is done and I am still working on this project! That’s a WOO HOO for sure!
Sometimes I don’t travel too far from home, though . . . as today’s images are again from Cota Street and the Cota Street Condos – I wonder if these have a real name?
My son keeps telling me “Google is your friend . . .” I should listen to him more often – but don’t tell him I said this, it might go to his head! And since he doesn’t read my blog, I don’t ever have to worry about him knowing I listen to him or take his advice! Well, Google delivered – I found the name of these condominiums and I found the name of the architect! Cota Street Studios with Jeff Shelton as the architect. Jeff is known for his whimsical buildings designs and truly, this condo complex is nothing short of whimsical. I know I said this in a post back in June, but the Cota Street Studios remind me of something straight out of the Flintstones – remember that cartoon? With Fred and Barney, Wilma and Betty, Bam-Bam and Pebbles?
Am I dating myself? Well, it’s ‘yabba- dabba-doo’ time – here are the images – you be the judge, aren’t they Bedrock-ish?
Today’s journey finds me at a little strip shopping plaza off of Hollister Avenue, called Magnolia Plaza. I guess Ralph’s is the largest venue in the Plaza and there are a handful of smaller shops such as Supercuts there as well. What made me pull into the plaza is anyone’s guess, maybe because I had driven by it a thousand times and have never gone in. Today, on the way to Goleta, I decide to take a drive around the parking lot – what could 5 minutes hurt?
And just when I thought I had driven through the parking lot unscathed, a little outdoor cafe with three bistro tables and red umbrellas caught my eye. Had to park, get out of the car (camera in hand, of course) and see what I could see.
 outside cafe As I write this though, I have no idea what the name of the eatery is – sad isn’t it? But it sure looks inviting! And I almost sat for a while – until I remembered the errand I was on!
There is a bar and grill in this strip mall as well. And it was adjacent to their patio that I found the next few treasures . . .
 an old plough  what is this?  another what is this? though it looks like it could be an axle to something Who would have thought one would find these types of old farm utensil remnants in an urban setting? I don’t think the normal patron to this Bar & Grill even know these things are here! As it was, I went searching – searching for things to photograph as I walked along the storefronts: something I have begun doing as a result of this ‘photo of the day’ project. These were hidden in a garden under an old oak tree surrounded by ferns. And the worn, aged wood takes on the appearance of the bark of the tree, making them seemingly undiscerning to the casual patron.
But for me? They were treasures! Treasures to be photographed. Treasures just waiting to be discovered!
I wonder what their story is, where they came from, what relevance they have for the owner of this Bar & Grill?
Can you believe this month is almost over? And what’s more, more than half of 2009 is behind us.
Today’s image is one I just printed and wrote to my mother (then forgot to add photos of my eldest son after I told her I was adding them!)
 a beautiful rose for my beautiful mother Mom got transferred into another room in the nursing home yesterday, mainly because they needed the bed in the room she was in. Since her staff infection, she has been in isolation and her roommate was removed from the room so she wouldn’t contract the same, meaning one bed was setting idle. They moved her into a room with another patient that also had the same type staff infection. All was good – until she found out that her new roommate babbled constantly without having anything meaningful to say, so it wasn’t necessarily conversation as much as it was noise. Understanding that this is no fault of her new roommate is easy for an outsider to cope and deal with, but when you are with it constantly and came from an almost silent environment, this is very difficult to adapt to. Today my mother was in tears and got only about one hour of sleep last night.
It is a gut wrenching thing to hear or see your mother in tears. How do you comfort her?
Perhaps a rose, a word of encouragement, a photograph to take her mind off things . . . oh, how all of us wish we could take her home.
I have noticed a trend emerging in my posts for this month with respect to this ‘photo of the day’ project – many of them contain more than one photo! Most contain multiple images. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I am not sure it is either; however, the whole idea of the project was to shoot and publish one photo a day. So my goal will be to get back to that discipline.
Why? Because it is just that – a discipline. It is a limiting of the trigger happy finger (and therefore post-production time).
For today, my story is about this flower – a lone daisy in a sea of color. And yes, this is another one for my mother . . . . .
 a lone daisy in a sea of color Here’s to you Mom – stand straight and tall in a sea of seeming adversity, and stretch out your arms to welcome the sunshine.
For most of the morning I have been editing wedding images from Bridgett & Ricky’s wedding in West Covina. It was 90˚ in the shade when I arrived there at 3:00 in the afternoon ! Hotter than I have seen it in Santa Barbara in at least 4 months – the Jesusita Fires caused a couple of afternoons to reach into the 3-digits, does that really count?
So I had to get out and away from my computer at least for a few minutes. I grabbed my baby (YES, my Canon 5D is back in my arms!!) and walked down the street in the little condo complex I call home. It’s an amazing thing the things you can find and the variety of shapes and colors are astounding. Just to give you an exercise in not just looking at bright vivid colors, I thought I would convert all of these to a version of Black & White – I call it “a touch of chocolate” because I have added a split toning to the tint base that adds just a hint of brown to the image.
 prickly pear cactus  same cactus different arm  don't have a clue what this is - I just liked the star shaped pattern of the bloom  pink hydrangea flower  sugar gum maple?  morning glory flower  twisted dance  new blooms Pretty nice walk for 5-10 minutes away from my computer – I am feeling refreshed already !
Today I had the occasion to go to the Goleta Beach State Park. It was all of a 20 minute visit, if that, and it was sandwiched in between two appointments in Goleta. Not that Goleta is so far away (maybe 10 miles max), I just don’t travel north out of Santa Barbara very often.
I was wonderfully surprised when I drove into the parking lot for two reasons: an artist had set up her portable outdoor studio on the fringe of the parking area, and the beach was comfortably barren – meaning there weren’t throngs and throngs of people taking up temporary residence, and it wasn’t totally desolate.
Sometimes we think of things after the fact, like I wish I had talked to this artist and gotten her name, but I didn’t . . . and I took a lot more images than these three – she may have enjoyed having a copy of them, or maybe not.
In that short 20 minute visit I had the opportunity to witness, be a apart of, observe – the most wonderful array of goings-on: from the artist creating her painting, to the flock of pelicans flying overhead – while seemingly picking up a seagull during part of its travel – or maybe the seagull just thought it was a pelican for a brief while!
 seagull who thinks he is a pelican  pelican overhead to the butterfly or moth that lit on this flower for the briefest of moments and had a bug on its wing (which I never saw until I got this image home and downloaded onto my computer)!
 bug on a bug to the divers prepping for a morning underwater experience . . .
 divers to the father-daughter bonding time with fun-in-the-sun kayaking . . . . . . .
 father daughter outing all with the knowing and assurance that there was a lifeguard on duty as evidenced by his rescue board – this has got to be such a hard life!
 lifeguard on duty And then there was this family of 5 young boys obviously setup for a day at the beach – what fun!
 family outing I remember when I was a young child – growing up in the heart of Pennsylvania (Hershey to be exact), the thought of a beach was more like a foreign country; but then we moved to a small town outside of Boston, Massachussetts (Hull) where water and the Atlantic Ocean were an everyday part of life – my Dad even took the ferry across the Hingham and Quincy Bays into Boston every day to go to work! Today, I don’t think I could live very far from the ocean for too long – the smell of the salt air and lull of the waves crashing along the shoreline have an indelible mark on my soul and call to my inner being – it is a place of solace, even during a storm or high surf, the ocean beckons.
And don’t you remember building sandcastle on the sand? This family was totally there for the day, with lots of activities to keep 5 young boys entertained – and worn out at the end of it!
 building sandcastles in the sand And just before I left the park, a new arrival – a father and son. They placed this visor on the dashboard of their truck to protect it from the UV rays – it was a photo-op waiting to be!
 light show from a sun protector They too noticed the artist in the midst of her creation and paused for a moment to take in the simplicity of the scene and the adeptness of her work. Then just as I had done, they went on their way . . . . and so the cycle begins anew: the cycle of being a part of ‘a day in the life of Goleta Beach State Park’.
Today I get my Canon 5d back from Mack Camera and Video Repair in New Jersey – WOO HOO! I don’t think you can imagine how ecstatic that is making me! It’s like getting your baby back safely in your arms!
Meanwhile, today’s journey takes me to get my haircut in Ventura – that’s a long drive for a haircut, but this little cottage style salon, Salon Montage, has 2 of the best stylists I have found in a long time. And it’s not necessarily because of their experience and the fabulous job they do (oh, but this is a huge part of it!!!), it’s because of the customer service, the friendly relaxed atmosphere, the welcoming garden area, the ‘I am here for you’ attitude, and the camaraderie – I think this is called OUTRAGEOUS CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Why go anywhere else? And don’t think you don’t have to make an appointment! Tracy, my stylist, shared with me that she has worked around the clock for the past 3 days and as late as 10:30pm the night before doing a hair-coloring! Craziness!
I called Tracy on Tuesday of this week and she was able to squeeze me in today (second WOO HOO of the day!), but asked me to show up early so I would be ready for the time slotted squeeze – which I was more than happy to do! 15 minutes before time I was there with bells on, but she wasn’t quite ready for me. So I asked her if I could take pictures of the garden area. She and Sandi (who does most of the gardening) were overjoyed with the idea. 15 minutes . . . here is what I came up with:
Hope you enjoyed the variety of images! Until Sunday . . . tomorrow I am shooting Bridgett & Ricky’s wedding in West Covina with the infamous Tim Meyer and his beautiful wife Dea, both of Meyer Photography.
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