365 Photo Project - Day 230

Taken: August 18, 2010

Location: Healdsburg, CA

Another image using my twins-reflex camera. This is of my friend and her baby girl who was born in May. I shot an image of her just a few days after she was born, here and here. I love the depth of focus in this image -- and again, the rich colors. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's just something about shooting on film over digital. Maybe it's the richness and the depth. I don't know. I just like it. I got a few more rolls of film. I'll see what shakes out and post them when they come back from film developing.

365 Photo Project - Day 108

Taken: April 18, 2010, 11:56 p.m.
Location: Healdsburg, CA

I'm calling this old school. And it's right under the wire too. I snapped this just before midnight. I first used a cameras like this when I started taking pictures as a kid.  My dad had one and he let me use it, believe it or not. I'm pretty sure I eventually broke it though.  I want another one of these -- I'm dying to try my hand again at the larger format cameras now that I'm taking pictures every day.  Maybe I'll find a working one before the end of this project.

These are part of a bunch of old cameras my husband and I have collected over the years. Between  us, we have quite a few and he puts them out around the house like art.  I love the look of these cameras. Like I said, old school baby, old school.

Like me. Well not old school, just old and exhausted.

365 Photo Project - Day 12

Taken: January 12, 2010, approx 2:30 p.m.

Location: Healdsburg, CA

I took a walk today.

Sometimes, I forget I live in paradise. Don’t get me wrong; every day I drive around my little town I see something new and wondrous, mostly as designed by Mother Nature. Bashing L.A., where I lived the 15 years prior to moving here, isn’t the point. The City of Angels has its own story to tell, it’s own kind of beauty and I don’t knock it. A person could easily get used to sunny and 70 degrees or as a friend used to say a total lack of weather.

But L.A. changes at the rate a super tanker turns, which is not very fast and the differences are almost indecipherable, especially if you're part of the scene. That’s how you end up waking up one day and realizing half your life is gone and you have no idea what you did with it. The price of chasing your dream in a city of dream chasers, I supposed. I’m not knocking it. Really, it works for some folks and I honestly thought it was working for me. Until I left, that is.

Life and by life I mean the natural life, changes here daily, even minute-to-minute. A heavy winter rainstorm supplanted by a partly sunny day, you know the kind where the sun’s rays poke out through half-dark clouds, reflecting off the pavement like the way they illustrate God in the movies? It’s important to pay attention around here and it’s also educational too. The turn in the seasons is hard evidence that you’re changing with it. It’s not just about getting old although that’s a large part of it. It’s a reminder that everything has it’s moment, that life itself has cycles and you’re part of the whole lot of it, as important as the smallest molecule, and as insignificant too.

I know that sounds depressing but there's other ways to read it. Maybe it's a reminder that you need to get busy doing, living, breathing, exploring .... doing your thing, no matter what it is. Find your passion, follow your bliss, get on your road and walk it, sail your boat or as the ad says 'just do it."  The problem with pursing your dream is sometimes the end becomes the means and you forget about the value of the journey itself. You forget the love. I find sometimes just taking a walk around here is all I need to remind me that passion is true and the pursuit is fully part of that.

Pretty heavy for a rainy Tuesday afternoon but like I said, taking a walk around here ain't like taking a walk down Wilshire. We rent a little house at the end of a road that’s surrounded by cattle pasture, bordered in the back by a small stream. My husband is always on me to take a walk up the hill in the back, a path that ends on a ridge that overlooks the valley below. There’s two large redwoods up there locals call Adam and Eve. I haven’t seen it in person yet but today I took the first few steps on the way. It was pouring rain and riding my bike was out so I decided to grab my camera and take a walk.

This shot was taken with my Pentax K100D with the 50-200mm lens. Edited minimally in Photoshop.

365 Photo Project - Day 10

Taken: January 10, 2010, approx. 2:10 p.m.
Location; Healdsburg, CA

Couple of new things today. First, I'm not spelling out the days anymore -- which means I'm in double figures. Which means I guess I'm truly committed now. Second, I'm putting up my first self-portrait. I'm probably like a lot of people in that I don't like photos of myself.  However, I think it's important as part of this process of documenting my life to document actual me along the way. So consider this the first of many self-portraits.

I've banished myself to my office today to write so that's where this was taken -- I hardly ever use the fluorescent lights in here, just a desk lamp and that's all the light I used for this photo.

This was my favorite of about 30 shots I took -- not ironically it shows less of me than any of them. (Make with that what you will -- you're probably right whatever you're thinking.) The shades were an add-on at the end partly because I haven't been sleeping well (last night I got four hours total) and my eyes look like they belong in the supermarket checkout line (will that be paper or plastic?). But also because I wear sunglasses all the time and think of them as part of my whole style, whatever that is. So they're practical and functional here. As you can see, I easily amuse myself.

Taken with my Pentax K100D using the built-in self-timer. I removed the color and did very minimal editing in Photoshop.

365 Photo Project - Day Four

Taken: January 4, 2010, approx. 4:20 p.m.
Location: Healdsburg, Ca
I have made a rare New Year's Resolution. Oh sure I make one every year but they're usually nebulously philosophical. Like, "this year I'm going to be a better person." Funny, how that one almost never works. Ah, but this year, I decided to make a real resolution: it's time to improve my general health and wellness. I'm a few pounds too heavy, a few years older and nothing quite works the way it used to. And anyway, I really want to go back to Mets Fantasy Camp  on my next important yet not-to-be-named birthday. I have a few years to get myself back into shape so what the hell - I'm diving right in.

My diet is slowly  being overhauled and I'll talk somewhat about that in the coming weeks. But getting in shape means getting back out on the work-out circuit. Since I live in such a beautiful place, I decided to get out on my bike and ride around a few days a week. See if it changes my perspective -- both internally and externally.

I realize too that it's an excellent way to view the world around me -- what could be better in a year when I'm taking a photo a day? So with "my maps and my faith in the distance," I got out on the road today -- a 40-minute circuit around town -- nothing too heavy -- stopping twice (air in my tire) and to catch up with my friend, Dawnelise, who was working on her garden, this being our first really nice day in weeks. Well she ended up as my victim for today's photo. Dawnelise is one of two dear friends having babies this year -- and I'm really looking forward to living the whole thing vicariously through them.

This was taken with my trusty Pentax D100 on a bright sunny day. I had only one chance to get this shot as my batteries were running dead (ugh) and so I set it on auto. There was great light all day today -- maybe a little harsh and I played with this a bit in Photoshop. I even tried a photo filter but in the end, I'm going with the original -- I like the spur-of-the-moment quality of it. One cool note: Dawnelise is wearing the overalls her mother wore when she was pregnant with her.  How cool is that?

365 Photo Project - Day Three

Taken: January 3, 2010, approx 3:00 p.m.
Location: Healdsburg, CA

This good-looking fellow is one of my two pug dogs. If you've followed me in the past, you know about Louie and his trials (described in part here) which we're still battling, unfortunately. This guy's name is Chamuco, which in Mexico is a slang for "Little Devil." He has earned his monicker for sure, but he's also a very sweet dog who loves people. He came to us by chance and through the good graces of a wonderful pug rescue in Sacramento called Pug Savers. Chamuco was 14 months old and even had his papers -- he's from a wonderful, highly respected pug breeder in Canada. Every day we wonder how any person could have given away such a handsome and loving pet. Our luck I guess.

As for this image, I've been home all day and I put off taking any photos in part because nothing seemed photo-worthy.  I saw Chamuco hanging out on the deck getting some sun. I was trying to get him to look at the camera and he did. But this was the best shot.

I take a lot of photos of my dogs but I'll try not to burden you with too many of them here (I have a usual outlet for that :-D ). They are a large part of my life so there's no doubt they'll get their mugs into more than one shot over the next, what is it?, 362 days though. I used my Pentax K100D again, minimal editing using iPhoto.

365 Photo Project - Day Two

Date taken; January 2, 2010, 1:46 p.m.

Location: Healdsburg, CA

On my way to my office every day, I drive across a simple, elegant old bridge that spans the Russian River. This is the railroad bridge that runs along side it. I stopped near this spot to take a photo of the other bridge when I saw this view. The man int he picture stopped just after I did and walked into my frame. Nice of him. Took this with my Pentax K100D with an 18-55m lens and edited in photoshop).

365 Photo Project - Day One

Date taken; January 1, 2010, approx. 12:30 p.m.

Location: Healdsburg, CA

This is the view off the front porch of the house I rent in Healdsburg, CA. I slept in on New Year's Day and this is the first thing I saw when I got up and stepped outside. It was taken with my iPhone 3G.

I'm ba-ack

Happy New Year to anyone who is still out there reading this thing. I've been to all sorts of places figuratively, literally and literature-atly since the last time I posted here. I can't say I'm any more focused then I was during this blog's previous incarnation but alas, I guess I'm just one of those people who is hard to pin down.

I’m not exactly sure how the next few weeks and hopefully months will look like here at S.O.L. but for starters, I'm launching something I've always wanted to do, which is a 365 Project. In this case, I'll be posting a photo a day for the entire year. My rules are simple: I have to take at least one new photo a day and it has to be something along the daily route of my life, wherever that takes me -- that is, nothing I have to go out of my way to capture. I don’t have a title yet, but I hope somewhere along the road one will come to me. Suggestions welcome.

I'm a professional writer, not a photographer and my equipment is what it is. So these photos will be mostly about documenting a year of my life and hopefully learning a little about photography along the way and well, maybe something about myself too. Said equipment at the moment: a beat-up Pentax K100D DSL, a Minolta DSL circa 2004 film camera and my iPhone 3G (soon to be 3GS). I’ve also got a box of old cameras in my storage locker and I hope to dig into them and see what I can create with them.

Some caveats: While I’ve promised myself that I’ll take one photo a day, I know I won't be able to post here every day. I promise to get the photos up as close as possible to the date taken. For anyone who cares, all the photos will be up on my flickr.com page where you can check the date and other information (see links to the right). I’m also not going to limit myself to just one photo a day – as some days may call for an extra or two.

The photos, of course, will be edited. My program of choice is Photoshop and what I know about it couldn’t fill a shot glass. Part of this process is to learn more about how to use digital editing programs. The results will be, I hope, interesting at least.

I will try to talk a little bit about each photo, my hope is it will reveal something about the way I see the world now, not only through the lens of my camera but also as a writer. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to blog about other things – this is my way to keep this blog alive and not take too much time away from my other writing – but I’ll try to talk about things that interest, fascinate and disgust me, make me laugh or sing or cry or piss me off. And, I’m sure I’ll have something to say about my sports obsessions from time to time. If you're really bored and can't stand not knowing what I'm thinking about the Mets or watching on the TV or listening to on my iPod, feel free to follow me on twitter (again links at right).

The first two days of photos will follow this post. Please comment if you like – I love to hear from you. But, my peeps, while critiques – positive and negative – are not only welcomed but encouraged, I can assure you that being nice about it is the best way to be heard here.

Here’s to a great 2010. As always, thank you for stopping by.

Get Lost 2008, We'll Hardly Miss Ya

In honor of the passing of another year, an epic, crazy, fucked up, gloriously inglorious year, redeemed for this soul by unlikely victories in sports and in life, here's photos of the last sunrise and sunset of 2008.

Both taken at LeVois Vineyards overlooking Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg, Ca.

Happy New Year everybody. May 2009 seriously and loudly rock. See ya next year!

Sunrise

Sunset:

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I'm a Giants fan. Been a Giants fan since I knew what a football was. My favorite players were named Ron Johnson and Spider Lockhart. I was a Giants fan when Joe P. at QB muffed a last-second play that the Eagles Herm Edwards ran back for a game-winning touchdown. Before Tuna and L.T. and Phil Simms. Before there was even an endzone at the Meadowlands to bury Jimmy Hoffa in.

You get it? I'm a BIG fan. And yet. And yet, the Super Bowl hype is boring me to fucking tears. So little of interest, it's killing me. Let's just play the damn game already.

I can't move up the game but I can provide some intermission from the boredom. Here then are a few recent photos from my hood.

I'll be back before Sunday to offer my Super Bowl predictions.

The first photo is out my back door, taken around 7 a.m. PST. Yep, that's a sun RISE folks. Pretty awesome, ain't it? The second one is the same view later in the date, taken during a lull from recent storms. And the third was taken Tuesday morning around 2:30 a.m., of the moon as it was disappearing behind some clouds.