365 Photo Project - Day Five

Taken: January 5, 2010, 4:35 p.m.
Location: Davis, Ca

My first trip out of town for the New Year.  Had to take my pug Louie to UC Davis Vet Hospital for another trip to see why he's still coughing almost a month after his most recent surgery. We're still working it out, but I drove back home hopeful we've finally got this thing under control.

I got this shot at UC Davis -- believe it or not through my sunroof. The campus has a lot of open space and some great vistas but I was fighting the weather, which was gloomy -- and the sun, which was fading.  I've always loved the way bare, skinny branches look against a late-afternoon winter sky. And all those years living in L.A. can make a person forget there's really four seasons, not two. These felt like an old classic poem and I liked the way the last shades of blue sky shine through them. Shot this one with the trusty K100, 18-55 lens). Minimal editing using Aperture 2, which I'm taking for a test drive.

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.

Is TV Dead?

I'm not done with my sabbatical but since I write for TV, I thought it was important to share this article on whether network TV is going the way of the 8-track. It's from today's NY Times website, on their Room for Debate blog. 

When I have a break in my writing, I'll come back to comment more about this.