Jerry O'Connor

Cooking Video - The Best Tacos

2010-10-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been taking a Final Cut Studio video editing class. With all the new technology built into today's camera it is a natural extension to move from photography into some amount of video capture. Just like using Photoshop in photography, post processing video can improve the quality of final product.

I've had some video clips that I took with my Flip HD camera a few months back while my friend Angelica and I made her recipe for tacos. I think these are the best tacos I've tasted so, using my newly learned skills I cobbled together the video below. This certainly is very rough with some choppy moments and some miscues but I'm happy with the progress that I am making and I learned a lot by forcing myself to try and make this a completed video. By the way, the music is from www.friendlymusic.com which is a site that provides a one time license for a song for two bucks, so I don't have to feel guilty about stealing someone's musical work.

Puerto Vallarta Recap

2010-09-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Not sure that I will get back to Puerto Vallarta for some time, but wanted to note a few places that I found fun while I was there.

Cafe Roma is a fun, casual pizza resturant off the main strip. The place has cheap Corona's and very good pizza. After you have been in Mexico for a few days, a change of pace is welcome. The prices were also a relief as the tourist places were surprisingly expensive even in this weak economy.
Archie's Wok is another nice find, serving fine Asian cuisine at reasonable prices. Food was very good and service was very friendly. Again not a Mexican food place but a nice change of pace if you are in PV for several days.
Porto Bello was an excellent. It was very surprising to be in Mexico and discover such a good Italian restaurant. I highly recommend this place but be warned that it is not cheap.

That wraps up my notes from PV, not sure when I will be back but it a nice beach location with non-stop service from Phoenix. I can also use my frequent flyer miles which makes this a destination one that I will consider again in the future.

The Tillman Bridge

2010-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

On my way to Photoshop World this year in Las Vegas I drove up US 93 through Kingman and then on to the Hoover Dam. Currently, the the Federal Highway Administration, the Arizona Department of Transportation, and Nevada Department of Transportation are coordinating the building of a bypass bridge over the Colorado River. The bridge is being built about a half mile downstream from the dam and is needed to reduce congestion, improve safety and keep the bridge secure from attack. I was happy to hear that the bridge will be named after Pat Tillman, well actually it will be named after two people, the former governer of Nevada Mike O'Callaghan and Pat Tillman. But to me it will just be the Tillman bridge. A new documentary about the tragedy of his death has come out, but I would rather focus on how he lived his life.

The photo above was taken about 18 months ago on a previous trip to Las Vegas. The bridge nearly complete, and is set to open in November of this year.

Photoshop World Las Vegas

2010-09-06T18:26:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Photoshop World in Las Vegas that ended on Friday. I'm an enthusiastic amateur photographer and there is no place better to get the latest training and trends in the photographic industry then to attend a PSW. The National Association of Photoshop Professionals puts on two of these events a year, one on the East Coast (usually in Orlando) and one out West (usually in Las Vegas). I haven't been to the event since 2007 and below were the trends that stood out to that previous show.

Video with DSLRs. In early 2009, Canon came out with their 5D Mark II, which included the ability to record HD video. I'm told that this was almost an after thought by the Canon engineers thinking that there would be a very small audience that would be interested in the video capabilities, perhaps a handful of photojournalist or wedding photographers might use the feature. Well there has been an explosion of interest and excitement surrounding this capability and there were several classes at PSW that dealt with capturing, editing and creating video with DSLR cameras. Count me as one of the ones who is trying to learn this new skill set and expand my ability to tell stories with it.
HDR Photography. High Dynamic Range photography is a complete creation from the digital age, it isn't a process that the old analog darkroom could create. As such, it is fairly controversial in terms of its appeal. Basically the process involves taking several exposures of a scene (usually 3 to 5) and then using software blending these exposures together into one photo. By using the multiple exposures the photo can greatly increase the tonal range of the image. There were several classes on HDR at the show, and while I was there Apple announce that it would include HDR capabilities with the new iOS software.
3D Design. The 3D capabilities came in with a prior version of Photoshop but there seemed to be more interest in it this year. I sat in on one session that went over the capabilities and it was interesting. To me, this is just a starting marker for Photoshop and sometime in the next five years the capabilities of 3D will begin to expand rapidly. For example, loading multiple photos of a subject and then loading them into Photoshop to rotate around it would be very cool and something I think is not to far off, although I am completely speculating here.

Other observations: there were supposedly 3,000 people in attendance which seem strong in this economy, the accompanying trade show seemed much smaller than I remember with less vendor participation. The show itself seemed more diverse, with more women and African-Americans. In the past these shows seem to be a young to middle aged white guy fest. The diversity was a welcome sign.

Well that's all for my notes from PSW Las Vegas. I hope to make it back in a few years to see how things have changed.

Puerto Vallarta Post Card

2010-08-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

I was in Puerto Vallarta last week and what better place to test my Canon G11 camera along with the new intervalometer. This is my first attempt at time lapse and although rather crude I thought it was an interesting and fun result. The sunsets over the Pacific are very beautiful and this captures a little of the essence of that experience. This was taken from my fifth floor room at the Fiesta Americana in PV. The music is a little dramatic but just deal with it since I don't want to re-edit the video and it was an initial grab from a free music website.

(Editors note: For playback I would recommend setting the quality to 720p, there is a drop down menu on the bottom right side of the menu that let's you detemine this number and I suggest you set it to that for best play back; or simple go to my YouTube channel and watch it there.)

No editors in the digital age

2010-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've had this screen capture on my desktop for a while now and I meant to post it - there are no editors in the digital era. That is very clear from the Twitter post to the right and by reading this blog for a few minutes.

How to design your life

2010-08-03T01:23:00.000-07:00

I started to read this article in Wired magazine recently as a straight forward effort to learn a bit about the history and practice of design. The article profiles Fred Brooks who was a software engineer with IBM. Mr. Brooks went on to write a book that highlighted the diminishing return of adding programmers to an overdue software project. He has recently authored another book which is a collection of essays about design.

Two quotes struck me in the interview. The first is what he says about the process of design:

The critical thing about the design process is to identify your scarcest resource. Despite what you may think, that very often is not money. For example, in a NASA moon shot, money is abundant but lightness is scarce; every ounce of weight requires tons of material below.

It is an interesting way to approach general problems in one’s life. Not to always go to the most obvious answer of limited time and money but to identify the other scarce resources, that could be maximized to present solutions.

The second quote involved a question about what he had learned from the design of Apple’s products:

Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera, once said that his method of design was to start with a vision of what you want and then one by one, remove the technical obstacles until you have it. I think that’s what Steve Jobs does. he starts with a vision rather than a list of features.

It struck me that this quote could apply to life at a much more personal level. A person should start with the vision of who they want to be and then work on the technical and other obstacles until you have what you want.

By the way, the picture at the top really has nothing to do with the post, I just wanted some color and it looked kind of "designy".The shot is from the Japanese Friendship Garden near my house in Phoenix.

I'm Really Trying to be Back

2010-08-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so perhaps the last post was a little optimistic on my part. The first part of the year has blown by, I had a few distractions, some planned some not, but for now I’m working to keep the blog updated again. What got me motivated was this post from a blogger I follow in Mexico. I think she has a good point about blogging and social media in general. It takes a lot of work and after an initial timeframe the excitement of it wears off and one must decide to be dedicated to it or let it go. I think for most that will be to let it go, make an occasional mention on Facebook and be done with it. For me, a blog still makes some sense. Let’s see if I can keep it up this time.

I'm Back

2010-01-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

That’s right I am dusting off the blog once more and have vowed to make posts on a regular basis again going forward. It is the start of a new decade so there is lots to talk about.

I’m working through a couple of different self-paced college course on philosophy and the history of European art. I’m also taking a couple of courses at my local community college Phoenix College, so I’m sure I’ll have some things to say about those also.

In order to help with my blogging effort I have downloaded a program called MacJournal which is a software program that allows you to write post offline and assist with the overall management of journalling and blogging. I will give a fuller review after i have had a chance to use it .

My Initial Light Rail Experience

2009-01-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

I had my first chance to ride on the new Phoenix Light Rail tonight. I took it from my Central Phoenix Station (a picture taken with my iPhone of a sculpture at the station is close by) near my house downtown to Mill Avenue in Tempe. I grabbed some dinner and then a coffee before heading back home. I have spoken with a many people that don't see a difference between the LR and the typical city bus, so here are couple of observations, particularly how the LR differs from taking a city bus:

1. There are multiple doors to get on a light rail train which allows for much faster entry and exit for large number of people, on a city bus there is usually just the front and back door and the entire vehicle is much narrower making it harder to get on and off.

2, There are platforms on the LR that also assist in getting people on and off faster, also for people with disabilities there is no special time needed they can just roll on and roll off.

3. Because the train is on tracks that are specially build for it, the ride is extremely smooth as compared to a bus - in fact I am typing this entry while we are moving currently, something I would never attempt on a bus.

4. Powered by electric the train is very quiet, I would also assume that because it has unlimited power to the cars, the air conditioning in the summer is going to be very good.

5. Because it is a dedicated transportation route, I have been told that there will be a much greater commitment to development along the route because real estate investors can identify their property as close to a committed transportation infrastructure such as development is created along freeways.

So those are my initial observations. The total trip time between downtown Phoenix and downtown Tempe was about 25 minutes. There is also a shuttle that takes people to the airport so I might actually try that in the future.

For those people reading my blog from cities that already have public transportation, don't laugh at the novelty that we are all experiencing here in Phoenix.

Lightrail Begins

2008-12-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

Today the light rail system began in Phoenix. The rides were free and it being so highly anticipated the trains were packed all day. I wasn't able to get on today because I didn't want to wait in line and I know that I will have the chance to ride it many times over the next few years. The opportunity to document and explore the impact that this new system has on this city particularly the way the everyone will interact with it, the reaction to it and the art work that was create around it. I hope to explore it some of these ideas in the coming months thorough my photography.

Nearby I have posted photos of the train cars as they past the stop on Encanto and Central; along with a photo that I took of the new bridge that crosses the Salt River near Tempe that was built as part of the system.

Holiday Pictures

2008-12-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

My sister and brother-in-law invited me over to take some holiday photos of my little niece, Erin. She is a great little kid and very photogenic. We had fun running around the different locations near their house where we were able to take shots. We were not the only one out there today as many people were setting up family group photos. It was great to see my sister, brother-in-law and Erin and I got to watch a video of a recital that Erin was in this morning - very cute and very funny.

Not much done to the photo other than a slight warming filter effect in Photoshop to cut the white color cast of the flash. Click on it to see a larger version.

I have been taking pictures of a lot of models during the last year and sometimes I feel a bit self-conscious about it because I really don't think of myself as a fashion or glamour photographer. I do have fun with the models that I work with and consider many of them friends. But one thing that I realize during the past few months is that by working with models I am constantly learning and using new techniques. If you look at this photo and the one in the entry right below you'll see a very similar style and feel. I did use a more powerful light with Christina in the photo below, but the bigger difference is, that last Saturday, I was with Christina for several hours setting up and shooting. Today with my niece I had maybe 20 minutes. It was the time practicing beforehand that helped me feel more confident today and to be able to capture an acceptable image.

Rainy Day in Maricopa

2008-12-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

Spent part of Sunday down in the town of Maricopa. My friend Jim has a house there and I discovered that there are so many places to shoot. The town reminds me of a past time in Arizona when there was the old, mixed with the new, and things seemed less crowded.

Our friend Christina, had agreed to model for us and did a great job. I'm still trying to learn my relatively new light which is an Elinchrom Ranger. We lucked out when we had some stormy clouds move in which gave us a great backdrop to shoot against. One of the images from Sunday is near by, click on it to see a larger version.

A quick head shot set up

2008-12-06T22:54:00.000-08:00

I went to Scott Kelby's Lightroom 2 Live Tour this week in Los Angeles. As always Scott did a great job covering the material and bringing everyone up to date on how to use the software, but it was something he said about a lighting setup towards the end of the seminar that peeked my interest. As an example for an ad for a beauty product he brought up an image of a model that he had shot previously. It was a simple head shot against what I had originally thought was a white seamless paper roll. But instead he had shot the model in front of another light. I have done the same thing in the past, but instead of shooting with the light directly pointing at the back of the model and towards the camera, he pointed the back light upwards at a 45˚ angle. This had the pleasing effect of wrapping the light around the models cheeks, neck and shoulders. I really liked the look and was anxious to try it myself.

As luck would have it my friend Vicki had asked me to create some head shots of a friend of hers who had agreed to model for us both. Melanie was great and was very patience with me even though she had not model much before. I used the technique to create the near by image of her and I was pleased with the results. This setup is another tool in the bag that I can go to for a quick clean head shot of a model.

A Successful Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

How do you know when you have a successful Thanksgiving Day dinner? The picture nearby shows the evidence. I went to my brother John's house for dinner yesterday and had a terrific time and meal. It was a lot of fun to see the family and joke around.

I was even able to get in a few other shots of friends and family. We rarely have clouds here in the desert and with such a good storm coming through we were able to use the sky as a terrific backdrop.

The best laid plans...

2008-11-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

So my friend Crystal asked me if I could take a few photos of her son and their two dogs for a Christmas card this year. I was happy to do it and suggested that we scout out a location at Phoenix South Mountain Park as a great location to shoot.

The conversation went something like this:

"You do realize that I'm pregnant, my son is only a year and a half old and we own bit bulls, right? Oh, and my dogs pant when they are outside in the sun" Crystal said as I related my plans on how I envisioned the shoot going.

"What's panting? Never mind. It will be great, I have the ideal location, we will just hop out of our cars set up and take a few quick photos. We will be done in a half hour." I said confidently as if I knew what I was talking about.

"Ok...but wouldn't it be simpler in your backyard, we would have more control" said Crystal

"No, no this is going to be great, the best Christmas card you ever had!" I said as I hung up the phone.

Let's just say Crystal was right and I was wrong. Trying to control two bit bulls while balancing lighting equipment on the rocks in the middle of a dessert park ain't so easy. And although, Caden, her son, was a trooper, but he wasn't so keen on being left in a toy fire truck under a huge strobe while I confronted him with a menacing camera lens.

Nearby you'll see some out takes from the shoot. Click on them to see larger versions. Crystal's husband Joe, a real firefighter and the reason for the toy truck, tried his best to get things in order but to no avail. Oh, and you'll notice from one of the shots that Crystal's dogs pant when there outside in the sun.

Let's just say we rescheduled the shoot for later in their backyard.

Seriously

2008-11-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

My friend Nicole asked me to take some promotional photos of her boyfriend Daniel, who is an up and coming hip-hop star. Daniel goes by the stage name Serious. I'm not a huge fan of hip-hop but I have to say I'm really enjoying the CD that he gave me after the shoot. We shot at a warehouse downtown that has several areas where graffiti covers the wall, which we thought would make a nice backdrop for the photos and give it an edger, urban feel. I have been experimenting with a three light set up recently. This type of arrangement, with two lights at 45 degrees behind the subject and a beauty dish as the key light in front, is very popular right now. Not only does it provide nice lighting coverage and separation from the background, but it supports an edger, more contrast type of post processing in Photoshop. We had a lot of fun at the shoot, we had two other photograhers, Jim V and Megan, along with Lorri helping with make up. Serious also had his entourage which included Adrian, who helped by holding some lights during the shoot.

Antelope Canyon meet HDR

2008-11-11T22:57:00.001-08:00

I have never been a big fan of a digital process called HDR (high dynamic range) imagery because it sometimes renders photos that look fake. But I have been working with a software called Photomatrix which is working much better than I had expected. I used it on some bracketed exposures that I took at Antelope Canyon and was pleased with the results. The difference beteween the highlights and the shadow/dark areas was pretty extreme within the canyons, but the software was able to merge several of these exposures together to come up with a very balanced shot. I plan on experiementing with this HDR software some more and perhaps work it into some composite photos that I have been learning about.

Sedona

2008-11-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Coming back from Page and my visit to Antelope Canyon, my friend Mia and I drove through Sedona. I have an off roading book called Backcountry Adventures Arizona that I bought a few years ago. One of the trips in the book is the Schnebly Hill Road, which is a easy trail that runs from Arizona 179 right off the Oak Creek bridge and winds through the mountains east of Sedona. The trail ends at exit 320 on I-17.

The trip takes about an hour and is a little bumpy at first but the views are great and it is not crowed when compared to Arizona Route 89A, the paved alternative. We shot a few photos along the way including one of Mia standing on Schnebly Hill Vista, which I have posted nearby. You can click on the photos to see larger version.

Antelope Canyon

2008-11-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

I got the chance to visit Antelope Canyon on Thursday with my friend Mia. Mia lives in Seattle and for a long time has wanted to photograph these unique canyons in Northern Arizona. We booked a tour with Carol Bigthumb, a Navajo tour guide from the local area. Carol was a big help with transportation and she knew quite a bit about photography. Many times Carol got us in the right location for the best shot. We hired her for the entire day and went to a total of five of the canyons. She was called away for an emergency meeting with the tribal counsel so her son Lane took over during the afternoon. He was also an excellent guide and was an interesting person as well.

Because it is November the sun is much lower in the sky and therefore the "shaft of light" phenomenon does not occur as much as it does in the summer when the sun is higher and comes down through slots in the upper part of the canyon formation.

Taking these photos is much harder than I had thought. Because the way the light enters the area, there can be large differences in the light levels causing difficult blowout of either very bright areas of the photo or very dark areas. In the digital age this situation is called "clipping", I struggled with it all day.

Like many people, I tend to get compliacent about the place I live and don't explore enough. I had heard about the "slot canyons" many times but never made the effort to go see them. I was very happy that my friend motivated me to go see them.

My new website in development

2008-11-03T22:31:00.000-08:00

Nearby is a mock up of the "About" page for a website that my friend Alex is putting together for me. I'm very excited to have a stand alone website that I can use as a central location to direct people to find me on the web. This blog will continue and will be part of several other locations on the web where I can be found that will be linked on the website, including Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I hope to have an expanded portfolio on the website along with video of many of the projects that I have been working on. The website should be up and running in the next few weeks once Alex and I have had time to sit down and sort out the final pieces to have it go live. I will, obviously, make an announcement here once it is up and running.

Uraguay

2008-08-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Tim let me know about an article that was in the Real Estate section of The New York Times this week on Uruguay.

My fascination with this country started about ten years ago when, as I was working for a company that financed older aircraft, and I attended a few conferences that were put on by Bob Booth. Bob was born in Brazil, but raised in Uruguay and he was and is an endless promoter of Latin America, but particularly Uruguay. He would talk so enthusiastically of the beaches and great food, that I always wanted to visit. Last year while I was visiting Argentina, I went for a day trip to Colonia, which is directly across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. Colonia is far from the beaches off the east coast of Urugauy so no beachtown and surf for me, but I was impressed by how friendly the people were and how developed the country seemed to be. Both Argentina and Uruguay are known for their beef, so the food was very good and relatively inexpensive (at least at that time last year). The country also has a stable democratic government and demostrates a progresive streak by requiring all its citizens to vote under pentaty of a tax and by the outlawing of bull fighting early in the 20th century. (Nearby there is a photo of an abandoned bullring that I took during my daytrip.)

I think a trip to the east coast of Uruguay in on the agenda for 2009. With the dollar weak, Latin America is a much more reasonable place to travel these days. Perhaps I'll even find a new home there, well, you can always dream.

KiZake Shoot

2008-08-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to go to a great little restaurant last weekend. My freind Chase invited me along to take some pictures of this new place. KiZake is located at 98 West Boston Street in the heart of a revitilizing downtown Chandler. The restaurant has a great vibe to it, which is supported by the terrific and really fresh sushi put together by the chef, Hiro Taniguchi. I highly recommend the spicy tacos, which is spicy tuna on a tortilla chip, served over a green salad. The owners, Ron and Maki are the type of independent business owners that do everything with quality and originality. It feels good to support these types of businesses in a city that is dominated by corporate franchises and strip malls. Ron and Maki also own 98 South and 56 East, two Eclectic American retaurants also located in Chandler. Now if they would only open somthing in Downtown Phoenix, I would be really excited.

Visual Storytelling Workshop

2008-08-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, in early July, I went to the Santa Fe Workshops and attended a week long session with Bob Sacha on visual storytelling. Bob is an ex-National Geographic photographer who has moved on to a multmedia company called MediaStorm. He is also a terrific teacher. During the class we produced three multimedia stories using a slideshow software and an audio software. We had to learn to record and edit audio interviews, ambient sounds and action sounds to combine them with still photography to produce a coherent story.

For my final story of the three for the week, I interview a Santa Fe firefighter, Engineer R. Leroy Lopez , who told me the story of a baby that was born just a few minutes too soon, at least for him. I can't thank him and the Fire Department enough for the time he gave me as part of this project. I also want to thank Captain Greg Clayburn, of station #4 for allowing me to interact with his firefighters. The picture posted near by is one of the photos that I took during my time together and it is shown at the end of the slide show.

The slide show was called Elevator Baby and you can watch it by clicking on the link.

Using audio with my photographs is something that I have been interested in for quite a while. The audio brings a second sense to the experience and draws in more emotionally to the stories being told. As Bob mentioned in the class, we remember 30% of what we see, 50% of what we hear and 100% of what we feel.

More baby pics

2008-08-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Denise recently had her first baby and I asked her to bring the little guy by so that we could get some photos of him. We got some quality pictures of the baby and it felt good to do something with my photography that will mean something for someone.

Give me a BLT

2008-07-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

The FDA lifted the restriction on tomatoes this week so what better way to celebrate than to have a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Well actually I did not have any bread so I used a bagel instead, it was still very good though. I will share the recipe with you some other time, it's a family secret.

Back from Santa Fe

2008-07-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

I am back from a week long workshop in Santa Fe and have much to catch up on for the next week. In the meantime, I'll post this photo that I took while traveling on Interstate-40 between Gallup, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona. It is such a quiet stretch of pavement, but what a display of the natural world that is presented. Open sky, and a horizon that runs to infinity, a canvas large enough for even God to work on.

Dusting Off the Blog

2008-06-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I have posted anything on the blog so I'm dusting off the blog and will start posting again. I've still been shooting and so have a bit of a back log to go through. Nearby is a photo that I shot with a lens called a tilt shift lens. It allows one to move the point of focus around the frame. I rented it recently to test it out, for me all it became was a wide angle lens. Anyway, a new post to keep my blog running.

A Birthday Celebration

2008-05-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of birthdays to acknowledge today. First, today is my younger brother Peter's birthday. He is 42 today. So Happy Birthday Pete!

The second birthday is for my blog. One year old today. The Seinfeld of blogs, the blog about nothing, makes it to one year. How did I find so much uninteresting stuff to write about? It takes real talent. So for the ten of you out there that reads this thing, have a beer on me.

Marliese in Santa Fe

2008-05-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

I'm planning on writing a more complete post on my trip to Santa Fe later in the week, but for the moment, I thought I would post one of the pictures from the weekend. This is Marliese who is a relatively new model, only 9 months in the business, and a mere 19 years old. As my dad use to say, "I think I have ties older than that." (Do people still wear ties?) Anyway, not only is she a natural beauty, but smart and creative to boot. I put one of the other shots from this set up on my Flickr page, so as not to bore people over there with redundant shots I thought I would post this one here. More on this trip later this week.

Friend of the bride and the groom

2008-05-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to take pictures of my friends Joe and Alaina a week or so ago. They will be getting married later this month and I thought it would be fun to capture some engagement photos before the big day. I was really happy that they agreed to allow me to take some images of them. The shots that we took were against a simple white seamless backdrop (next time I will be more organized and we will do an outdoor shoot). Joe and Alaina were great models and they had a lot of great ideas about poses and composition. Perhaps because the love between them is so real the photos have a authenticity about them that was unique for me to capture. All in all a fun shoot.

The Mojo Farmers

2008-05-08T23:48:00.001-07:00

One of my friends at work is managing a local band on the side. They have a new CD coming out in a few weeks and so I asked her if I could photograph them and would be happy to let them use the photos on promotional material or their website. The band is called the Mojo Farmers and they have a really good sound. I got a chance to shoot with them last Sunday.

One of the things that I am learning about photography is that it is not just the technical aspects (lighting, exposure, post-processing)that you need to learn but also the ability to bring creative ideas to your subjects so that there is a collaborative effort in producing the final image. So as I started out to photograph the band I was thinking more about an edger, ultra-modern look like Dave Hill or Joey Lawerence. I wasn't able to take the time to really learn what type of image or feel these guys were going for. They are more of a laid back group, in the same genre as the Grateful Dead. As you can see by the near by photos I'm pretty sure I did not get the image that they were looking for. I pushed the limits even further with the individual head shots that I took. I was going to line all five of the shots up side by side with all five band members. I took these extreme close ups and then post processed them with an edger effect. The feedback that I got back from my friend from the band was not the greatest: they thought I made them look like meth addicts. Nearby is Darin's before and after picture, and no he doesn't work in a coal mine and is not a meth addict. Sorry Darin!

Overall these guys were really good people, friendly and great to work with. I just wish I could have connected better with them and gotten them photos that they would have liked, well, there is always next time.

My friend the band manager gave me permission to blog about the shoot and post the photos; as she said: "any publicity is good publicity'.

Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker

2008-05-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Matt Foley was introduced when this skit was broadcast on Saturday Night Live on May 8, 1993.

A couple of things I find interesting about this video. First, Matt Foley is the antithesis of a motivational speaker, out of shape, horrible dresser, and he ridicules people instead of encouraging them. But in an ironic way he is able to motivate his audience in the right direction precisely because they no longer want him around.

Another thing about this video is a the great physical comedy, and I'm not talking about the "Jackass" movie type physical comedy. This performance is staged and written; and then has to be executed by a great performer.

And finally, sometimes the best way to honor someone is to take a moment to remember them. Chris Farley was a comic genius because he never was afraid to have people laugh at him. Enjoy.

Rocky Point

2008-05-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to go to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico this past week for a lighting workshop. I have taken workshops from Don Giannatti before but I think I am finally starting to comprehend some of the principles that allow me to use the technical skills that I am learning in order to produce the shot that I have visualized in my head. In essence, I'm gaining some confidence in the control of the shot and light.

Accompanying this post is a little video that I put together of a few of the shots that I took while in Mexico. Flickr has just recently started to host video and limits them to 90 seconds so I followed that rule in order to have it hosted on the site. I should have some additional post later in the week on the Mexico trip, but I thought that I would get this little video posted for now.

Through the Viewfinder

2008-04-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

I stopped by one of my photography websites the other day and found some inspiration and an interesting technique that I just had to try. The website Photojojo is all about inspiring and making photography fun. Anyway, this entry was about taking shots through the viewfinder of old cameras. They use the example of an old Kodak Duaflex or a Kodak Brownie, but I didn't have either of those cameras available. I did have a Chinese build Seagull that I purchased a few years ago to take medium format shots. I used it a few times but the lens was so bad I decided to retire it to the closet. I used it on this project but the focus ring in the view finder is clearly visable so I might have to find one of the other models at a garage sale or thrift store if I am going to continue with these types of shots. There are people on Flickr who have made an art out of this style shooting. Below is my attempt using some flowers that were in my dining room window.

My First Video Blog

2008-03-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back my friend Shane and I decided to buy a kayak off Craigs List. We have been anxious to go out and try it ever since. Today we took it up to Canyon Lake to test our abilities on the water. I decided that I would try to record some of the adventure with video. I have posted videos to the blog in the past, but this is my first effort to make one coherent video to document an event. As you can see in the video we had a wonderful day with great weather. What you won't see in the video is how Shane and I capsized the kayak twice. Near by I have posted a screen shot for the specifications for our kayak, the Dagger Bayou II. According to these specs the weight rating is 450lbs - let's just say that Shane and I tip the scales a wee bit higher than that. That might explain the double dunk in the lake today.

My Baby Portfolio Grows

2008-03-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe I should clarify the title, my portfolio of baby pictures grows. Being divorced twelve years now, I need to keep things straight. I will admit to a certain sheepishnesses to answering the door on Father's Day though.

In any event, I had the honor of photographing the babies of two friends during the last few weeks. As I have noted in past post (here and here), babies are wonderful models because they have perfect everything: skin, eyes, honest disposition. There is not nearly the effort after the shoot in editing the photos that one has with adults. It makes the "right out of the camera" experience a lot of fun.

I still have a lot to learn about posing and coming up with creative shots while in the moment, but these little people were so beautiful it is not hard to get a great photo. I want to thank Dana and Shane for sharing their supermodels for the shoot.

My Brush with Intellectual Property Law

2008-03-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

Last July I posted some short videos that I had taken while delayed at the Phoenix Airport. The videos were of the Southwest Airlines gate agent singing on his ukulele. The videos were fun and short and I thought perfect to demonstrate a quirky event in my life. In other words perfect for a blog. I posted three videos on YouTube and then linked to the only video that had a full length song in it for my blog post. The first one started too late and the last video was interrupted when the aircraft finally arrived and our gate agent had to get back to work.

There is a small but intense army of ukulele players out in the world and a few of them stopped by to watch the videos and enjoy them. I had about 50 hits on the video after a few weeks and was quite happy with myself, as I felt as I had moved into the twenty first century of technology. Just trying to keep up with the kids, you know.

Anywho, I'm minding my own business when I decide to check in with the videos a few weeks later and was floored when over 6,000 hits had occurred for the full length video I had featured in my blog. For a while I couldn't believe it and then I couldn't figure out why it had become so popular. A very helpful feature of YouTube though, will tell you where your videos have been linked. My video had been linked to an apparently very popular site related to customer service called the consumerist.com. I was quite pleased with my new, albeit limited fame as a a film-maker and watched the hits grow to over 10,000.

Then in January of this year I received an email from YouTube. There was a compliant regarding my video, saying I had violated the copyright of the songwriter. The song that was in the video was "Brown-eyed Girl" by the Irish singer songwriter Van Morrison. I'm a big fan and I guess I just assumed that if he wasn't singing it, the song itself wasn't protected. My bad. I suppose the one conciliation I can offer is that he might of gotten a few more sales of the original once people were reminded of it after watching my shaky production. I've attached a printout of the email and it clearly indicates that Van Morrison is one of the complaining parties, along with his record label.

So Van, if you are reading this, I apologize, I never intended to infringe on your rights from the great music that you have written. And now I am off to study up on intellectual property law, this twenty first century technology stuff is going to raise a lot of questions. For example, if I take a picture of my kitchen with the refrigerator in it, is Amana going to send me an email?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

Today is St. Patrick's Day, an occasion celebrated around the world by the Irish. Unfortunately, like Cinco de Mayo, the beer companies have pushed the commercialization of this day, minimizing the original religious and cultural significance. I have even seen how Guinness, the Irish brewer, is attempting to make St. Patrick's Day, a national holida y. I think everyone would be better off, if they simply picked up a copy of Dubliners by James Joyce and read it.

I will do a few things today. First, I will wish my brother Patrick, a happy feast day, since this is the day of the saint that he is named after. To be named Patrick in an Irish family is a pretty big responsibility and he has lived up to that honor.

Second, I thought that I would post some photos that I took when I was in Ireland in August 2006. From top to bottom, they are a photo of a statue of St. Patrick from a church in Central Dublin, some farmland in Western Ireland and a night shot of the Bank of Ireland located in Dublin. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Clouds

2008-03-06T22:58:00.000-08:00

So coming back from the San Diego trip that I discussed in my previous post, I passed through some weather. It gave me a great opportunity to shoot some interesting clouds. As I learn about photography, I learn more about the differences between the way our eyes and brain interpret the world and the way a camera captures the world. Let's just say our eyes and brain kick ass. Cameras can only "see" a portion of the tonal range that our eyes can see within a particular scene. Ansel Adams developed an approach called the "zone system" to explain the 5 or 6 tonal ranges or zones that a camera can capture depending on the settings. Our eyes and brains can see 10 to 12 tonal ranges.

Clouds can sometimes create great challenges to the photographer, for what the eyes sees can sometimes never be captured by a digital sensor. I was pleased that I caught some of the essence of the weather that I passed through on that ride back. It was really fun to see.

San Diego Weekend

2008-02-25T18:20:00.001-08:00

I spent the last weekend of February in San Diego floating around taking one of the Mentor workshops. I've taken a couple of these workshops before and I have enjoyed them a great deal. Not only can you learn from the professional photographers/mentors but the quality of photographers in the workshop provides for another body of collective knowledge to draw from. We had rain on the Friday and Sunday, but had a sunny day Saturday. We had five shoots in all, Balboa Park, sunset shoot from Catalina Island, a wildlife park on Saturday morning, surfers Saturday afternoon and the USS Midway on Sunday morning. I got some decent shots but had a minor personal snafu, when I deleted all the photos off my hard drive after I had returned home. A hard lesson but certainly one that will make me more careful about my workflow. I did have a couple that I had saved on Flickr which I have link to here.

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam

2008-02-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

I was at the grocery store the other night and picked up a copy of Arizona Highways magazine. This month the entire edition is dedicated to Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam. I have enjoyed this magazine for most of the 30 years that I have lived in Arizona, and have subscribed to it from time to time. The photography is remarkable almost too good from issue to issue. I also enjoy the "hike of the month" and "back road adventure" each month. My biggest compliant about Arizona Highways is the consistently poor writing in the magazine. The articles always seem so mundane and pedestrian. This month, however, there is an excellent article written by Larry Cheek a Seattle based journalist. who writes a very balanced article from the environmentalist point of view regarding Lake Powell. I would have linked to it but there is no online access to the article that I can find.

In any event, this month's issue reminded me of a trip that I had taken with my friends Tim and Joey during the New Year's of 2001. We hung out in Flagstaff for the celebrations and took a side trip to the Lake Powell area. I found some pictures from back then, not very good but fun to look at because they are starting to get to that age when photos become valuable even if the exposure wasn't just right. There is a picture of Tim standing on an overlook to Glen Canyon dam. There is also a photo of the Hamblin Moutain range which is on U.S. Route 89 just south of the Lake Powell area.

A Useful Website

2008-02-04T19:52:00.001-08:00

This is just a quick acknowledgment to a website that I discovered a few months back that has been pretty helpful to me. I found the Yelp! website by running a Google search of course, but ever since I have found it I have been using it occasionally to find restaurants, bars and other interesting places to go in and around central Phoenix. Of course Yelp is not the first or biggest social networking site that allows users to review local attractions but it certainly has helped me find some nice places downtown. Of course it may depend on the reviewers that are taking part, so some locations may vary, but for my neighborhood it seems to point out the interesting independent and trendy spots. It seems to do a much better job than Citysearch, the local Newtimes, or local newspaper and is much more locally focused as compared to Trip Advisor, which is obviously geared towards travelers from out of town.

The latest place that I have found through Yelp was a restaurant/bar called Switch. The place is in an old bagel shop next to the legendary Durant's steak house on Central Avenue. I walked over there tonight to try it out after having lunch there the other day. After eating at Switch twice I would give it a solid 7 out of 10. I'll go a few more times and we'll see if it can be consistent. There is a bit of pretense about the place but they seem to keep it in check. For example, they serve classic comfort food such as chicken pot pie, but serve it in a pastry not at all like what I was expecting. The accompanying picture shows the exact presentation. It was good thought so I will quit complaining.

Why is it that so many of my blog post are about food? Anyway, if you haven't used Yelp you might give it a try to see if it will make good suggestions in your neighborhood.

Photoshoot with Devon

2008-02-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

Devon, a model that I have worked with before was traveling through Phoenix and we had the opportunity to go out one afternoon and work on a photo shoot right before sunset. We went to the Rio Salado Habitat area that I mentioned in the previous post and I was happy at the decent variety of backdrop and locations that I was able to get. If you go to my flickr account you can see why I was frustrated with the "cloud" picture of her shown to the right, so I won't repeat it here. But, all in all, it was a fun time to be out shooting in the nice weather and with interesting backdrops.

A Tale of Two Cities

2008-01-31T22:25:00.000-08:00

One of the sad realities of living in a southwestern desert is the necessary compromises that must be made to sustain life here. One such compromise is the destruction of the natural flowing rivers that flow through out most of the west. Over the past century several dams were built in the mountains north of the desert of Phoenix creating man-made reservoir or "lakes" as we call them here. These reservoir provide the Valley with most of its water but it has left the former rivers that were fed with the mountain run off dry. These rivers flow occasionally when there is unusually high rainfall and water needs to be released from the reservoirs. But for most of the time the river bottom are left dry and over the course of several decades they became eyesores as landfills, junkyards and cement quarries where built on the vacated land that was adjacent to there banks.

In the 1980s a major effort was put forward to raise public money to develop the entire span of dry river bed that ran through several Valley cities. It failed miserably and left the individual cities to determine ways to develop the river bottoms on there own.

The city of Tempe decided to covert their portion of the river bottom into a man-made lake by putting rubber bladders that can collapse when the water flows. They were able to do this because Tempe is a fairly compact city and the river bottom to be develop was a small portion that runs to the north of the city. Once the "Tempe Town Lake" was created the city was able to attract developers to build commercial office buildings and condos. I went down to the lake the other night to photograph it and I was impressed with what they have been able to create with the lake.

The city of Phoenix had a more difficult job because the portion of the dry river that runs through the city is much larger. Phoenix decided to take a much more low key approach by converting a portion of the river bottom into a park and wetland similar to the way the banks of the river would have been when the river flowed on a regular basis. The Rio Sa lado Habitat Restoration Area stretches along five miles of the Salt River just south of downtown Phoenix. Once a dump site, the area is now a lush riparian corridor with five miles of paved and dirt trails dotted with unique design and features. When I visited there recently I noticed a good variety of birds and interesting vegetation that has been planted. I was even able to photograph a blue heron which was cool to see up close. I wouldn't say that this is the most beautiful park in Phoenix, but it is a attempt to turn a wasted area into something that can be enjoyed again.

I actually like the Phoenix approach better because it is lower cost and a more natural approach; although some elements of the Tempe approach could help develop the surrounding banks faster.

A Tribute to Independent Businesses

2008-01-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

I realized the other day, that most of the places where I shop are corporate owned. From the Safeway, where I get my groceries to the Starbuck's where I buy my morning coffee, to the Staples where I get my office supplies, all these stores are owned by large corporations. I'm not completely to blame for this situation since I was born in the second half of the twentieth century, which put me smack in the middle of the greatest franchising and corporate take over of main street in history.

In fact, the only places that I can think of that are not corporate owned would be, Vicki, the girl that cuts my hair, the occasional downtown restaurant that I might venture into (like Cibo), Tempe Camera, where I buy some photographic equipment and the dry cleaners that I bring my clothes each week. Well, the dry cleaners can now be scratched off the list. They have lost their lease and will close at the end of the month. The landlord turned down their offer to pay five years of rent...in advance! He is from California and plans on turning the entire building into a restaurant. If he goes as an independent restaurant I suppose it could be cool to have a new place nearby, although, don't try to explain the logic behind turning down five years of rent in cash from an long established business in turn for the risk involved in leasing to an unproven restaurant. God helps us if he ends up leasing to Friday's or Applebee's.

I will admit that I will miss the family that ran the cleaners. A terrific family from India. I spoke with the mother on a regular basis as I would pick up my clothes each week. Maybe because she came from another culture but she had interesting perspective on things; and overall she stayed out of controversy and was a hard worker, she seemed to be always there. She had three beautiful daughters (two of them engineers) who would help out on the weekends sometimes. Like I said, it was interesting to know the owners of the businesses that you frequent. Now I'm off to find a new cleaners.

How long is Forever?

2008-01-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

Quick - how much is the cost of a first class stamp? $0.38, $0.41, $0.43 or $0.47. To be honest, I didn't know the answer and had to go on the USPS website to find out. It has been a long time since I've mailed a first class letter. I guess that tells you a lot about how I live, electronic banking for the bills, email for my correspondences; and the occasional text message for people I communicate with under 30. I was sending in a registration for a photoworkshop tonight and needed to mail a check (that's right a check, I had to go find those also). Anyway, in the bottom of my office supply bin thing that I use I found these stamps labeled "Forever". I vaguely remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal talking about how the Post Office was considering a permanent stamp, but I hadn't realized that they had issued them, and further more I hadn't realized that I had bought them. So from what I understand these stamps are good "Forever" or until we are ruled by our Chinese overlords. Anyway, I may have to test this theory, I'm putting the remaining 15 stamps back in the bottom of my office supply bin thing. Based on my calculations, with an average need of one first class letter per year these may be the last stamps I ever buy. I don't know how I feel about these forever commitments, I mean look how well it worked with my first wife, but baby steps right? First stamps, then perhaps a dog and then we'll work on a woman.

An Omen

2008-01-05T23:15:00.000-08:00

I think of myself as a realist. I've never been much for horror movies and don't have too many superstitions. For most of my life, good decisions and hard work have rewarded me with "good luck" and bad decisions and laziness have resulted in "bad luck". So I don't usually buy into signals from the great beyond.

I may have to modify this attitude somewhat after a recent encounter. I was in my kitchen yesterday, when I looked out the back window and immediately noticed an owl. For many people, seeing an owl may not be that big of a deal, but for someone in central Phoenix it is an unusual sight. I immediately grabbed my camera and got a few shots before he took off. By the way, this was no small bird, I estimated he had about a four foot wingspan. We have a surprising variety of birds that migrate through my neighborhood during the year, but this was fun to see.

I guess I am not such a realist as I thought, because I immediately came in and Googled "owl omen" and read up on the various susperstitions surrounding an encounter with an owl. The whole incident made me laugh because there is some sort of built in psychology regarding meetings with the unusual. In any event, I am going to take it as a positive sign and look forward to my good fortune in 2008.

2008 Predictions

2007-12-31T19:47:00.000-08:00

I had some friends over the afternoon to watch the final weekend of pro football so while they were at my house I decided to have them to make some predictions for 2008. I've attached the three forms for posterity and for fun. Given that we all live in Phoenix, it was no surprise that the D-backs and Suns where predicted to win the respective Championships. My friend Tim, went for the laughs with his picks. Toughest picks were the political ones, I think we are in for an interesting year.

Book Review: 7-Point System

2007-12-14T00:40:00.000-08:00

I have really lived in a incredible time of technological change. Among one of the most interesting has been the digitalization of media. From the late 80s when analog vinyl albums were replaced by digital CD, to motion picture film into digital DVDs in the mid-90s, and still photography into digitized images in the early years of this century.

What really reignited my interest in photography again was that I no longer needed a separate room to develop film, nor the cost that went along with that. I could now have a "digital darkroom" and have the same or much more power than in the analog world.

This digital darkroom has been anchored by the mother of all digital editing software, Adobe Photoshop, which is now in its 10th version. Photoshop is a remarkable tool but it is an open-ended tool that doesn't guide the user through a logical process. One can simply jump into the program and process in any order without concern for what process might make the best image. As digital cameras have replaced film cameras new processes have emerged. In the last few years the "digital workflow" has been the new buzzword in photography.

Back when film photography was becoming popular to greater numbers of people, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ansel Adams wrote a legendary triad of books about photographic technique that has become the most influential series on photography ever written. The books (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) guided photographers through the process of film photography, from exposure through the final print.

I have recently been working my way through a new book, Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop. The book is the first attempt that I can find that will guide photographers through a critical portion of the digital editing process. It would be extremely unfair to Scott Kelby to compare him with the genius of Adams, so I won't, but the book generally covers portions of the digital equivalent to Adams' "The Negative" and "The Print".

What I really like about the book is that it is broken up into 21 lessons (about a months worth if done every few days) that consistently goes over the same 7 general approaches to editing digital photos. By doing one every few days, the book encourages the reader/editor to open up the software, think about a common approach for editing and organize that approach in a proper order. It has certainly solidified my approach to the editing process. The two pictures in this post are examples of "before" and "after" photos using the concepts taught in the book. The photo is a sunset scene from Maui that I took this summer. The final photo isn't exactly an award winning shot, but certainly an improvement over what I would consider a throw away shot that I began with.

Some Suggested Music

2007-12-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, my friend Joey and I were having a beer at the Alcatraz Brewing Company. It was a microbrewery that was at the The Mills mall in Tempe. We got talking about music and I ask Joey to list out some CDs (this was before the iPod) he thought that I should have in my music collection. He grabbed a coaster from the bar and started listing the albums he thought important enough to have in a music library. I recently came across that coaster and thought that I would post his recommendations, just for fun. I only have two of the listed albums, the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan but I plan on referring to the list from time to time as I look for new music to download for my iPod.

Clearly this was a quick list off the top of his head (for example he doesn't list any Beattles album) and it was really geared towards 60s and 70s rock and roll (so therefore doesn't have any jazz, folk or blues), but I thought it was an interesting enough list to share.

By the way, the complete list is:

The Doors
Eric Clapton - From the Cradle
Van Morrison - Moondance
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
The Who - Who's Next
Genesis - Three Sides Live
Bob Marley - Legend
Led Zepplin - 1
Bad Company
Beach Boys - Endless Summer
Roxy Music - Avalon

Japanese Friendship Garden

2007-11-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

My friend Chase, and I, went over to the Japanese Friendship Garden here in central Phoenix today. It is a surprisingly well laid out and maintained space that is part of the city park system. It is an oasis in the midst of all the development going on downtown, in fact you can see the central library building poking over the trees showing how close the garden is to central avenue. Anyway, I first visited a few years back when I went to a commitment ceremony there. Everyday after work I pass it on my way home, although it isn't open during the week this part of the year. Starting in January they plan on opening from 10-3pm.

I took a couple of photos of some of the various sculpture that they have in the garden, one in particular had some very interesting Japanese writing on it, and I got some photos with my 50MM prime lens. Earlier in the weekend I was checking out some information that I had download from a photographer name Joey Lawrence. I probably will have another post on him at a later date since his stuff is interesting, but in any event, I used some techniques of his on one of the sculpture photos just for fun. Basically it is the combination of two photos into one using Photoshop. I'm not sure I am satisfied with the result but since I spent time on it I thought that I would post it anyway.

Caden Revisited

2007-11-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

My friend Crystal wanted a "butt" shot of her baby, I'm not sure why, perhaps as fodder for his therapy sessions as an adult or perhaps just to embarrass the hell out of him at some future office holiday party. Anyway, she came over and we shot these under a soft box while balancing him on a table covered in black cloth. Full disclosure, I usually don't make it a practice to put picture of friends and family on my blog, but given the low readership of this blog (frankly just me); and the fact that Crystal already posted these on her Flickr site, I thought it would be ok. The photos make me jealous of baby photographers, how can you miss when you have such a great subject? Caden is particularly cute - I think because he is so content and has a pretty happy disposition.

Go ahead and click on the photo to get blasted by some huge eyes.

The Nature of Money

2007-11-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some photos that I took from Argentina and notice this one of a peso. Every time I travel I inspect the currency to see if there is anything that I can learn from the country that I am visiting. There is usually some stately picture of a historic figure (usually in profile); and if you ask the locals about the person the response is usually a blank stare. People are too busy with their daily lives to be experts on areas that don't affect them. We Americans aren't any better, in fact, if you told Americans that they could get a tax break if we allowed the McDonald's Golden Arches on the back of a dollar bill, I'm sure a large percentage would give their approval. The nature and progress of technology has also increased the separation of money from its place of governmental authority, visibility and pride. For most of my transactions, even when traveling in a foreign country I use my debit card which certainly makes the transactions feel much more commercial than about national institutions or identity. It can also impact us on a more psychological level as it divorces the physical nature of money from our lives and creates a system where a plastic card and a receipt govern our reality of the worth of a product or service. Perhaps historians will look back someday and point to this transitional period from currency to technology as the reason for our higher consumption and lower savings. Anyway, I have to go now and fill up my gas tank, pick up some dry cleaning and buy some groceries and of course I won't forget my debit card.

Phoenix Mountain Hike

2007-11-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

I went for a hike with my friend Greg today, although he didn't want to be mentioned in my blog so I will just refer to him as "Ice-G". Anyway, Ice told me that the best form of exercise was a moderate hike that included slight elevation changes with periods of flat terrain for heart rate recovery. Apparently, walking only helps circulation and digestion (even though I think anything that gets me off the couch has to be good for me), jogging is horrible on the joints (ankle, knees, hips) and strenuous hiking of the uphill variety isn't much better than jogging. So we went for a moderate hike of three miles and I have to admit it felt pretty good.

The photo above was taken while on the hike and shows that the weather this time of year is perfect. It is a panoramic of several shots stitched together. Click on it to see the larger size.

Veteran's Day 2007

2007-11-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day to all my friends and family that are and have served our country providing the freedom and protection that we all enjoy. I would send out a special recognition to my old boss from FINOVA, who was in the Coast Guard, but I realized the other day that the Coast Guard is no longer under the Defense Department (now under Homeland Security). I will thank him anyway given the tough and dangerous nature of border protection and, search and rescue operations.

Photograph is from a flag that hung over the Phoenix Art Museum that I took earlier this year. Actually in the dead of summer, temperature of 114 degrees with a steady hot wind.

Not a Starbucks in sight

2007-10-19T10:08:00.001-07:00

A large percentage, something like 60%, of Argentineans are descendants of Italian immigrants. From what I understand, as the United States began to slowly close its doors to new immigrants in the early and middle twentieth century, the continuous flow instead headed south, many landing in Argentina. Whether that fact is true or not, there is a very Italian feel to Buenos Aires. The people are friendly, tolerant and easy going about life. They also know how to cook. But best of all they know how to make coffee. I start each day by going to one of the local sidewalk cafe's and getting a cortado, which as its name implies is a quarter steamed milk with expresso, served in a very small cup. It is fantastic. Being an American, when I first saw it served I thought that I was going to need ten of them to replace my typical morning grande. Surprisingly, one does the trick and you are off and running.

The Obelisk

2007-10-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

So you are thinking: What is the Washington Monument doing in the middle of Buenos Aires? Those thoughts are so "Estados Unidos céntricos". But to be honest even the Argentineans are a bit mystified as to why there is an obelisk in the middle of their city. Perhaps it has something to do with the Freemasons that may have had a part in planning the city design. This monument is theoretically located where the first flag was planted in Argentinean soil, when the city was founded some 400 years ago. Today this location is BA's version of Times Square in New York. All the major celebrations are held in or around this area. Although the photo doesn't show it the obelisk is in the middle of 9th de Julio Avenida which has something like 15 lanes across, let's just say it is very wide.

Fanatico

2007-10-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

To be a sports fan in Phoenix, where I live, means to go watch your team occasionally and jump on the bandwagon when they start to make a playoff run.

But in other parts of the world it takes on it's original meaning, as to be a fanatic, to be seemingly possessed with the spirit of the team, or to have single-minded excessive zeal. That is what it means to be a football fan in Latin America.

Prior to arriving in Buenos Aires, I had arranged a day tour with a guide that I had seen on the Travel Channel. (I hope to have a separate post about that experience at a later time). During the tour today, the guide received a call from a friend who had tickets for this evening's Argentina versus Chile football match. This was the first of the 18 matches that are part of the qualifications for the 2010 World Cup.

I have never thought of myself as a big football (soccer) fan, but going to the game live certainly changed my interest level. The stadium is in the northern end of town and is called El Monumental, it is one of two major stadiums in town the other being the more blue collar area of town called La Boca. (Perhaps more on that in a later post). The stadium holds 70,000 and these are not your-sushi-eating, Perrier-sipping, fifth-inning-arriving Dodger fans (sorry Kevin), these people come early and they come loud. An hour and half before the start of the match, the stadium was full with people chanting and singing. At various points they reach a frenzy and begin to jump up and down. It was quite an experience. I'm sure the entire southern cone of South America was watching as these two neighbors battled it out on the football field.

I had my small Canon point and shoot camera that takes video and so I captured a few of the moments from the evening.

The first video is from the moments right after the Argentinean national anthem has ended and immediately before the game begins. It gives you a sense of the atmosphere of the match and enthusiasm of the crowd.

The next video is actually from a French TV broadcast of the game. (I couldn't find the Spanish language version on YouTube.) I post it here so that the next video will make sense. The shot was brilliant as the Argentinean player "bends it like Beckham" and curves the ball into the goal.

Below is the video I shot of the first Argentina goal. It will give you a perspective of my seats in the stadium and the pandemonium that breaks out after the goal. I'm not sure that you can actually see the ball go into the goal, on this grainy video, so that is why I posted the first video.

So that is my first Latin America football experience. Argentina won 2-0. I may begin to follow the World Cup qualifying a little closer now that I have been introduced to a few of the teams.

Presidente Chica

2007-10-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

They're as far as the eye can see.

Walk or drive along the major thoroughfares and the posters are plastered to any available public space. I thought that political advertising was bad in the United States, but in Argentina it is literally an urban street art form. Plaster a poster with the same face 300 times on a public space, expose it to weather, pollution and graffiti and you have quite a work of art.

As it specifically relates to the election, there is an interesting situation that is occurring in Argentina that echoes U.S. politics - the sitting first lady of Argentina is running to replace her husband as president. Apparently she is very intelligent, a current senator in the Argentinean Congress and a heavy favorite to succeed her husband a few weeks from now in the election. The Argentineans call her "Queen Cristina" and she certainly has shrewd political instincts. If she wins she will follow a trend that includes female presidents in the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Germany, Liberia and Chile.

Travel Day - Destination: Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007-10-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

"The unexamined life is not worth living..." - Socrates

In recent years I notice that when I take these trips it is not just a physical journey but a mental excursions as well. The long distance and time away from the day-to-day distractions allows me to reflect on my life. Typically there are moments during the trip where I begin to question the various aspects of my life, the questions start simple and build to a crescendo: Why am I traveling alone? Where are my friends? What am I doing in a foreign country far from my family? Why aren't I married? How come I don't have any kids? Do I want kids? What am I doing with my life? Why did I plan a trip during the baseball playoffs? These questions and many more as I bounce around a foreign land. With age and travel experience the answers have become more refined and I have become more accepting of my life and situation. Socrates may have thought it valuable, but sometimes while I am on vacation, I just find my mental process annoying. It is amazing that I have these thoughts at all, in so many ways I am living a life that incredible by any standard. I have my health, family that loves me, friends that support me, a job that I am fulfilled by; I live in the richest country in the world, I have college education that has help me to build a very acceptable level of comfort and freedom. Perhaps it is because of this level of comfort I have the luxury to worry about such mundane things, where as the rest of the world seeks a simple level of survival and security. I learned the other day that the Latin root for word decide means "to cut off from" and so I therefore every decision that I have made in my life has cut me off from other opportunities that would have put me in a different direction. Not necessarily a better direction just different - I just need to learn to accept and enjoy the direction I am headed.

Fall Forward

2007-10-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Normally, I don't put up cheesing pictures of flowers on my blog but every once in a while you see something that represents something else. For the Southwestern United States moving from summer into fall means our release from the air condition enclaves that we retreat to in the late spring. Suddenly I new world opens up, and we are free to plan outdoor activities and our houses are larger because we can have backyard barbecues. There is a rebirth of vegetation as temperatures cool sufficiently for them; therefore I am posting the blooming of the bird of paradise in my courtyard to celebrate the approaching autumn and all that it means - cooler temperatures, bigger houses and more time with friends.

Dugout Seats

2007-10-01T21:58:00.001-07:00

I know that I am long overdue to put a post up on my blog, but sometimes you run out of things to say. I finally did something a little more exciting then surfing the net. A week ago Saturday, I went to the Diamondbacks and sat in the most amazing seats. A friend had planned a birthday party for her husband and bought the "dugout suite" which is really just an extension of the home and visitors dugouts at Chase Field. We sat on the Dodgers side and were able to experience the game like I have never done before. We even got to see (and hear) a tirade by David Wells the Dodger starting pitcher after he had a tough inning. He ended up breaking a chair. The D-backs won, and really started their final drive to the playoffs with that series. Hopefully more exciting times lie a head for them. Thanks to Chase (my friend not the bank) for being so generous with the ticket.

Red Rock National Conservatory Nevada

2007-09-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

I'm in Las Vegas for a Photoshop convention and had an opportunity to go out on a pre-conference field trip to Red Rock Nation al Conservatory which is about twenty minutes outside of Las Vegas. The area strongly reminded me of Sedona with the red clay rock surrounded by blue skies.

As part of the trip, three of the professional photographers for the convention acted as guides Moose Peterson, Joe McNally and Vincent Versace. I always find it interesting to watch how differently the personalities and styles are amongst the professional photographers that I meet. They all seem to take a different route to work every morning but somehow arrive at the same place; and that place is always understanding light and using it in the way that you want to produce the image you want to convey. These three couldn't have bee more different, Moose is the hard core outdoor photographer who likes to photograph "critters", while Vincent seems to take a very abstract approach to his work. Joe is the blue collar photograph who is very capable of taking quality pictures, which reflects his year shooting for Life, Sports Illustrated and National Geographic.

Anyway, the light was very harsh yesterday afternoon, so the photographer's suggested that we look for pattern, texture, shape and form. Not sure I quite understood what they wanted us to do but I am posting a few of the pictures because I wanted to be able to record my trip to this cool (near urban) park. It would certainly be a place to go and explore again if I had some extra time in Nevada in the future.

Saturday Workshop

2007-09-04T23:17:00.001-07:00

I attended another one of Don Giannatti's workshops this past weekend. I enjoy taking classes with Don because he is an experience photographer who is well versed in the traditional background of photography but with a great understanding of the new digital tools that are available. He also has really helped me understand the different types and ways to use light - which is really all photography is about. And the most important thing is he keeps the workshops fun.

For this workshop we traveled up through Superior, Miami and then finally to Globe, Arizona. The shots shown here were taken in Globe and we used off camera Speedlite strobes to create the effect of late day lighting even though it was early afternoon. Don goes through a complete review of the day at his site (I even star in a few of the short instructional videos that he shot). I won't try to repeat it the review here, just suffice to say that no matter what you have as a hobby going to a workshop now and again can really help the learning curve and accelerate your enjoyment of the activity. I'll try to post a few more of the photos over at my Flickr account sometime later.

Blogged Down

2007-09-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I looked at the side panel and discovered that my blog production has been suffering these last two months. I started with a bang in June when I had 15 post, but I have lost momentum since then. My goal is to post at least once every other day, so that it gives me a reason to pick up my camera and go explore the world.

The self portrait above emulates a photo that I saw on the Strobist website. His photo, which is much cooler is used as his signature photo on Flickr.

Hockey Night

2007-08-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

My buddy Dan plays in an adult hockey league in Scottsdale. Last Monday night, I went over and practiced my sports photography and took pictures of his team as they played in a playoff game. I found that sports photography, like most things in life, is harder than it looks. I got off a few shots but the lighting and angle for the action is more of a challenge than I thought. It was a lot of fun though and I plan on going to another one of his games to practice some more. Besides one other advantage of covering a hockey game is that it is really nice a cool in near the ice which is a welcome change from a long hot desert summer.

Flickr Slideshow

2007-08-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

I just learned about this new way to be able to post some of my Flickr photos here on my blog and they are in a slideshow format. I thought that I would try it out with some existing photos that I have on Flickr. These were shots that I took while I was in San Francisco earlier this year. Click on the thumbnails below the larger photo to see that image. Click on "Photo Link" below the image to see the larger image in Flickr.

The Holy Trinity

2007-08-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

The Diamondbacks were playing in Atlanta today so the game started and ended fairly early, so having the afternoon free, I walked over to the Phoenix Art Museum. That's right I walked the half mile or so in 106º heat, up hill, both ways. No one has ever accused me of being the smartest guy in the room.

Anyway the museum is hosting a collection of Mexican print making from the early part of the last century. The first thing that struck me is how people have been using available technology for economic benefit (in this case to create faster copies of their art to sell) or to spread political or social messages long before the age of the electronic technologies of radio, television or the internet.

This exhibit focuses on the period immediately after the Mexican revolution (approximately 1920) through the 1950's; and includes 150 lithographs, etchings and woodcuts (if you don't know the difference between those types of printmaking techniques, don't feel bad, neither did I) and 40 artist among them Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and the artist fast becoming a personal favorite of mine, Jose Clemente Orozco. I heard a Mexician tour guide once refer to Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco as "The Holy Trinity", in essence, the three greatest Mexican muralist. Having seen some of their murals, I don't doubt that divine intervention played a role in their work.

Orozco was born near Guadalajara and had painted murals in several of the government buildings there. When I traveled there earlier this year I photographed several of his murals, the pictures don't do him justice, the murals are very moving when viewed in person.

I discovered another really interesting artist by the name of Howard Cook, while I was at the Museum today. Cook was an American but traveled to Mexico in the early 1930s on a grant from the Smithsonian. Today, I saw several interesting lithographs that he made while staying in Taxco, Mexico. Cook eventual settled in Taos, NM for a while and then moved to Roswell, NM. Since my work sometimes takes me to this part of the world I might do some further research on him.

Saturday Night Special

2007-08-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

I had my brother Peter and a couple of his friends, Dominic and Paula, over for dinner tonight. Peter's friends were terrific people and I had a great time getting to know them. Dominic is a contractor so he was interested in looking around my house and gave me some good suggestions on some projects that I could undertake even giving me estimates on what the projects will cost. Dominic and Paula are also both from Ireland, own a home there and visit the country on a fairly frequent basis. As they have done with Peter, they invited me to meet up with them on one of their trips back to Ireland and provide a more personal guide to the country. I hope that I would be able to take them up on the offer sometime soon.

Overall the evening was very enjoyable and interesting as we talked about travel, the economy, and politics or perhaps more precisely foreign policy. Several bottles of wine were consumed. At one point I believe that we had solved most of the worlds major problems, unfortunately I didn't write down the answers and couldn't remember them this morning when I woke up.

Dominic and Paula own a house in a town just outside of Dublin called Ardan. The town name reminded me of a town that I had visited while in Ireland last September, which was called Adare. I've posted a picture of the Adare Manor Hotel, which is a beautifully restored hotel with a golf course. I have since read that President Clinton stayed there on his trip to Ireland in 1998. In any event it was nice to think back on my trip to Ireland and I found myself going through some of the pictures from that trip, I may post some more at a future time.

8/12/07: Stranger of the Week

2007-08-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

OK, this stranger of the week segment hasn't quite worked out the way that I thought it would. Actually the segment is more about me than about strangers, because it was suppose to motivate me to introduce myself to new people, find out their story and post a little insight into the everyday world that I encounter. Unfortunately it hasn't worked out that way, but I will try to be better going forward. My hope was and is, that a theme continually explored becomes more interesting as different dimensions are found and more introspective of the photographer taking the pictures.

In any event, the newest stranger of the week was working the counter at Coffee Plantation on Mill Avenue on Saturday night. I asked him to take his picture and he was happy to do so. His father is a professional photographer and had a similar camera to mine. I liked the piercings he had and thought that they would be interesting to photograph.

If you want to see the other "Stranger of the Week" post, hit the tag on the right hand column.

Saturday night on Mill Avenue

2007-08-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend at a photography workshop in Tempe. The workshop was presented by SnapFactory which is the husband and wife team of Mark and Diane Wallace. This workshop was their "Digital Photography 101" and it is a great technical overview of photography explaining the functions of the camera through the elements of proper composition. We had some interesting hands on assignments, including walking around Mill Avenue on Saturday night.

Using a technique that I had practiced in an earlier assignment, I was panning everything that I could see, from the cars cruising on the Mill to people walking down the street. I also found an interesting spot where I could capture some shots of the pedestrians below. The lighting worked out to create some elongated shadows which added a particular mood to the photos.

I like attending workshop like these because not only do I learn some things, but it motivates me to go out and explore the world, particularly places close to my house. I will certainly wander down to Mill Avenue with my camera again soon to see if I can find some new subjects and explore the ideas in these shots a little further.

The Best Hamburger in Phoenix

2007-08-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

I had a great burger tonight and it got me thinking about who has the best burger in town. Actually for me this is an easy choice, because I don't think anyone else comes close. Well, there were a few other places that I did consider. There is the Roaring Fork in Scottdale, but I haven't eaten there in years and they won't let you order take out off the bar menu. It is also located in the old FINOVA building, which I affectionately refer to as the "house that my 401(k) built" - tough memories so don't ask. Of course the sentimental favorite, The Chuckbox, is a consideration because they make a decent burger and it has been in business since before I moved here in 1978. I have fond memories of the place from high school, college (before big games) and after I graduated. But honestly, the Chuckbox doesn't use the best beef and they don't cook to temperature. This is the key, as you will note how I feel from a previous blog entry. The temperature issue also eliminates any of the fast food chains from contention, because they don't want to take, shall we say, the e-coli risk. Keegan's was a consideration but I like the tenderloin sliders the best, and I didn't think if fair to include those in a burger catagory.

So my chioce for best burger in Phoenix goes to Delux Burger on 32nd & Camelback. They ain't cheap at 9 bucks a burger, but the occasional splurge is worth it.

Everyday Photography

2007-08-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

You know that your life is a bit ~~boring~~ quiet when you find yourself photographing kitchen utensils. Actually these shots were inspired by an assignment on a photography blog. The assignment was to use off-camera strobe units to light ordinary items found in the kitchen, but the shots should include some element of a specular highlight. What is a specular highlight you ask?

"The specular highlight is nothing more than the reflection of the light source in the object you are lighting. This reflection is an often overlooked control in lighting design. In it's most basic form, it is simple to grasp and to predict. Explored more fully, it allows you to completely manipulate the tonal structure of your subject."

Ok, I had a little time on my hands this weekend.

But looking at these photos now, I'm not actually sure that I got any specular highlights in any of my shots, there are definitely edges that show a glow of the lighting but nothing that shows a the true reflection of the light. Perhaps a knife wasn't the best subject to pick for this assignment. Probably a better example of specular highlights are in the the pictures below of that cute kid Caden. There is definitely a true reflection of the light source in his eyes - perhaps too much. When a specular hightlight shows up in a persons eye like that it is sometimes referred to as a catch light. In any event, the pics got me off the couch for a while trying to learn something and causing some blood to run through the gray matter between my ears. My one confession about these shots is that I kind of cheated a little. The photo blog that I got the assignment from is for learning how to use the small hand held flash units off camera (the type of flash that can attach to a camera body). The lighting that I used was a bit more powerful and that might not have been the best choice either.

Sometimes when one is looking for inspiration the easiest and best place to look is just around your kitchen. Earlier this year I took some picture of wine corks that I had sitting on a window sill. I posted that picture on my Flickr account, but I don't think these will make the cut (the pun was intended.)

Oh Baby!

2007-07-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Crystal had her baby in early July and I had the chance to go by and see her new son this past week. Her husband Joe and her seem to really have taken their new responsibilities in stride. Their son is a very content baby and very beautiful. He slept a good portion of the time that I was there and when he was awake he was looking around taking everything in.

Of course I brought my camera and took some pictures of him. What I discovered is that babies are sort of like super models, you can't seem to get a bad picture of them. I took over 100 pictures of him and it was difficult to throw any out. They are of course some that have him blinking or sleeping, but overall a very cool experience.

Now I need to go back and continue editing these pics as the parents await. I just had to post a few here first.

Phone it in...

2007-07-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

There are obviously very strong deterrents to cameras on mobile phones. Limited mega pixels, small sensor size that introduces digital noise, no shutter speed or aperture control and no built in flash. However since most people carry their phones the majority of the time, having a camera at a moments notice is better than not having one at all. In addition, the camera on mobile phones has a fixed focal length and is really a throw back to earlier cameras, such as the the Kodak Brownie and even Polaroids.

For practice I sometimes try to take photos with mobile phones just to see if I can capture a sense of place; and convey structure or pattern. I haven't been too successful so far but it will remain an ongoing project for me, as I think that using the simplest tools to create interesting images is part of the fun and can make one a better photographer.

Glamour Exposed

2007-07-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

I tend to segment my life; so it is no surprise that I have kept some of my photography away from the more conservative posts that I have been showing in this blog. I've decided to go ahead and include some of this "other" photography.

I sometimes shoot glamour photography. There I said it. I've had a stigma about admitting this to people partly because my day job is working for a bank; and partly because I am in my early 40s and most of the glamour models I shot are in their early 20s. I didn't want to be labeled "that guy" you know the creepy guy with the camera, the one that goes around taking pictures of young girls. Anyway, after going through some of my images from some recent shoots I decided to post some on the blog and also post a link to my portfolio in the side bar. In this age where posting too much personal information can lead to all sorts of trouble, I hope that I don't live to regret this.

But to be honest, I like my shots. Far from being dirty or pornographic, I really try to photograph these women to bring out the intimate nature of their individual beauty. In addition, and I know that this might sound silly, but glamour photography has also taught me so much about the nature of light and its impact on illuminating the subject of the photograph. I know that these women are very beautiful, but the lighting surrounding these shots is much more difficult and technical then it appears. Believe me, it is very difficult work.

Ukulele unplugged live at gate C7

2007-07-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

While waiting for a delayed flight on Friday afternoon, the Southwest Airlines gate agent began playing his ukulele and singing a few songs to keep us entertained. As I was sitting there watching him, I thought that the experience highlighted something about our culture in general. It seems that we have become so passive about our lives, (and I don't exclude myself in this) as we watch television, surf the internet and listen to our iPods, that we really don't know how to interact with each other any longer. This gate agent had to work pretty hard to get people to sing along with him, eventually he got people singing but it took some effort. I thought it was a unique experience and now he is famous through YouTube.

Please Stand By - Technical Difficulties

2007-07-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

I've been having some technical issues the last few weeks so I wasn't able to post during that time. All seems resolved now, and I hope to be back to posting on a more frequent and consistent basis going forward.

In the mean time, does anyone want to purchase a slightly used MacBook? I decided between my photography and blogging I needed to upgrade my laptop to a MacBook Pro. So far so good, more power, more speed and more blogging.

The View from Seat 5A

2007-06-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Until recently I was a dedicated aisle seat person when I traveled. After flying for a number of years, I found that aisle seats gave me more room and access to stand up if I felt like stretching. I didn't have to ask anyone's permission to move around or to retrieve an item from the overhead bin. But a few months ago, I came across a book about photography from the window seat of a plane, which inspired me to reconsider my old seating regime.

Since that time I have started to request a window seat and with my camera started to photograph out the window. At first I was skeptical that I would get any images that would be interesting, and some of the shots like a lot of my photography are rejects. The biggest challenge is the high contrast (the difference between light and dark in an image) and strong haze that is created on bright sunny days. But with all else digital, Photoshop comes to the rescue. With a little color balance and some sharping, the photos are a bit more presentable. Because I don't want to draw attention to myself during the take offs and landings I use my little point and shoot camera, which means the resolution on these photos is not the best.

So far, because I live in Phoenix, I have had the most luck photographing landmarks in and around the Valley. The shot of Camelback Mountain includes my favorite public golf course, Papago, which is located on the boundry between Phoenix and Scottsdale. In the same shot if you look to the north of the McDowell Buttes you'll notice another golf course, Arizona Country Club, a course that I worked at during high school.

I even tried to photograph some afternoon clouds as they hover over the desert. The heat during the summer raises off the desert floor and creates dramatic cloud formations. These thermals are very popular with hang gliders and bald eagles because they provide the energy to soar for hours; they're a little tougher on the fixed wings of a commercial jet. So they are much more fun to photograph than to fly through.

Camp Luke

2007-06-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I went camping this past Friday and Saturday night with a group of friends from my work. We went north near Flagstaff, to a place I affectionately call Camp Luke. The name is derived from a couple of the participants at this year's camp. This is a new site from the place we stayed at a couple of years ago which we called Camp Shane. I use the term "camp" rather loosely, because if you look at the map of the site you'll see that we weren't far from Flagstaff which made the entire trip very comfortable. If we needed anything we could just run into town and pick it up. In a way, we were just escaping the heat of the desert by going up into the mountains. We ate like kings - we had steak on Friday night, and BBQ pulled pork on Saturday night. Some of the guys went fishing in upper Lake Mary but didn't catch anything. Lower Lake Mary is dry and looks like a marsh. I went for a hike on Saturday. Overall the forest is extremely dry and there were very restrictive fire conditions including no campfires.

The roads around the campsite were very dry and dusty. The main road was some distance from our camp, but one morning I was able to get a picture of the sun rays as they reflected off the airborne dust in the air. Both mornings and evenings were terrific, as the transition from a warm day into a cool evening took place; or as a very cool night would turn into a warm early morning.

My friend Shane organized the entire trip; he is a very experienced outdoorsman which makes camping with him ideal because he has all the necessary stuff and knowledge. He also has a good attitude about life. He appreciates the simple things, good food, an open campsite and decent fishing. Sometimes it is the simplest things in life that can bring us the most happiness, we just have to slow down enough to appreciate them.

A Favorite Old Picture

2007-06-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

My parents were married on this day in 1950. Half-way around the world at 4AM on June 25, 1950, the Korean War started. Since Korea is past the international dateline, people in the United States learned of the invasion on June 24th. My parents heard the news at their wedding reception. So I thought a bit of remembrance today was appropriate...for my parents, not the war.

My favorite picture of my parents is one of them just finishing a meal together. There is no notation on the picture so I don't know when it was taken, but there are clues in the picture that reveal some information about when and where it was taken. First, neither of them are wearing wedding bands, and my mom doesn't have on an engagement ring. This clearly means the picture was taken before 1950. I don't know how long or on what date they were engaged but I'm guessing the picture was taken sometime in 1948 or 1949. Second, if you take a close look at the larger version of the picture, the letter "P" surrounded by olive branches is visible on the water glasses and the ash tray. This is the symbol for a hotel in downtown Chicago called the Palmer House. When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I had other family members staying there (it is still around and is very nice) and I took a picture of the hotel's famous "P" symbol. It matches the photo.

In any event, it is cool to think of my folks having a good meal, laughing together and then maybe going for a drink or dancing. Chicago was and is a great city, so it was fun to visit there and experience the energy of a large city like my parents.

6/20/2007: Stranger of the Week

2007-06-20T21:50:00.001-07:00

First off, I must admit, that I stole the "Stranger of the Week" idea from another blog. Actually the photographer on that blog was posting a "Stranger a Day", which seemed far to ambitious for me. But I found the idea compelling. I particularly like the concept because I tend to be shy and it is difficult for me to meet new people sometimes, but by having a "project" that I was working on, I had a purpose to approach people and ask them for a photograph. So far I have only really done it once in Chicago, and actually it was a guy looking for some spare change, so I guess technically he approached me. See post below. But I digress. Since I really didn't have a photo to share this week, I thought that I would put one up that came from my recent workshop to Guadalajara. I was walking through the town of Jocotepec, when I met this guy. He was friendly, spoke decent English and wanted me to take his picture. He had family in Southern California and was interested in telling me all about them. I eventually had to duck in a store to get away from him. I thought he had an interesting face with good character. The lighting wasn't the greatest because it was around noon on a very bright day. His nose is almost blown out. Next time I will use a reflector or some other way to bring some light to the other side of his face.

Not such a small world after all

2007-06-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

create your own visited countries map

I found this site tonight that lets you map out the countries of the world that you have been to. According to this site I have been to 19 countries which represents only 8% of the total countries in the world. I think of myself as fairly well traveled, at least as far as Americans go, but put this way, I feel as thought I have lived almost an isolated life to the rest of the world. I hope to add a few more countries on to the list before the end of the year.

Photos with audio

2007-06-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would try out this new website called yodio which allows you to add audio to pictures that you upload. This is a picture that I took in Guadalajara earlier this year that I have uploaded to my flickr account. Simply click on the picture and it will take you there. You can now also click on the "yo" icon above to hear me talk about the picture through the yodio website. Just something new to try and I might expand the use of yodio website at a later time.

"It's a principle of physics"

2007-06-16T17:53:00.001-07:00

A few thoughts about my dad today. When I was growing up, I like most kids, I suppose, thought my dad was the smartest guy in the world. I was able to ask him the most complex questions about science, math, any subject really and he had the most straightforward answers. Many times when I would ask him about some phenomenon that I had seen in the world he would say "it's a principle of physics". He then would go on to explain the answer using Newton's third law of motion or the Kelvin scale of thermodynamic temperature. It wouldn't be until many years later that I even understood what physics was, but his explanations always seemed to satisfy me and it gave me a great interest in science and ultimately philosophy.

My dad had a healthy philosophy towards life, a devout catholic, he was also a man of rational thought, this allowed him to blend the spiritual with the pragmatism of the modern world. He loved gadgets, technology and especially photography. I remember that he brought back a 35MM Konica camera from a trip to Tokyo in 1972. Later, after he had died, that camera was the one I started learning on. So photography is something that I inherited from him, and therefore I curse him every time I go to buy a new lens or have to get the latest update immediately to Photoshop. I also miss him the most at those times because I know that he would have been fascinated by the way photography, especially digital photography has progressed and it would have been something we could shared and enjoyed together. But it is not bad to miss someone, it makes you value the time now, with the people you love.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads today.

Bloomsday

2007-06-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

"My mouth is full of decayed teeth and my soul of decayed ambitions." - James Joyce

Today is Bloomsdays which is celebration of the Irish author James Joyce. The day gets its name from the main character, Leopold Bloom, in Joyce's epic novel Ulysses. Since the beer companies have hijacked St. Patrick's Day, this day is a good substitute in which to celebrate the Irish and what is good about our culture. Tonight some friends and I went over to the Irish Culture Center (yes, there is one in Phoenix) to participate in the party that they put on. Overall a fun and unique event. As part of the celebration, there was a beer tasting where different breweries had their products there for all to try. There certainly were some exotic brews like the Speckled Hen. It might have been a mistake to have the literary readings in the same room as the beer tasting. The audience was certainly there to drink beer and most of the time there was loud talking through the readings. I will say that the book is much easier to follow when it is spoken a loud rather than read. It is a tough book read so any help is appreciated.

Final thoughts on Chicago

2007-06-11T22:02:00.001-07:00

I really lucked out with the weather this weekend in Chicago. Because I grew up near there, I guess I always anticipate that it will either be very cold or hot and humid. Couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Weather like that expands the accessibility of the city and allows you to explore so much more. I walked everywhere and ran into a few things I hadn’t expected like a book fair, the old popcorn stand that my dad use to buy from and the gentlemen that I mentioned in the post below. The downside to all this good weather is that it doesn’t quite set the mood I was looking for in my photographs. They all look like cheap knockoffs of postcard shots. Would it have killed them to ship in a little mist and fog for me?

One final note on Chicago in general and this is something that my brother John mentioned to me; and it relates to the video I have linked below. (I’m still messing around with the video feature of my little point and shoot camera). The shoreline along Lake Michigan is all city owned, which makes it exclusively public space and not subject to private development. If you watch the grainy, shaky video below you’ll be able to see the vast park space that borders the lakeshore. I can’t think of to many other cities where the public waterfront is so well preserved and protected for its citizens. In most of the world only “the man” gets the waterfront property.

Stranger ot the Week

2007-06-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

As I walked through Grant Park on Saturday I was confronted by this gentlemen. The self-proclaimed "King of the Bums". He spoke with a British accent that seemed authentic and claimed to have five children and a pregnant wife. His house was under the bridge I was crossing. I gave him two bucks to take his picture (I've paid more for model releases) and snapped his photo.

In general the homeless population in Chicago seemed to be under control. I'm not sure if they are shipping them out of the central city or if the city services are having a positive effect. I know that when I have visited San Francisco recently there seemed to be many more people struggling and on the street. It is really hard as a tourist to make a determination on those types of issues since you may be seeing cosmetics rather than reality.

My Second City

2007-06-11T20:27:00.001-07:00

I visited Chicago this weekend to attend my nephew’s wedding. Chicago is a terrific city. Great cities are self aware of their own significance and it seems that there is this collective consciousness of its leaders and citizens that drives them to initiate projects that are unique in scope and design. To visit Chicago is to be able to participate in the great public benefits that the city has to offer whether it be in the public transportation system, the arts, the many parks and public spaces. That doesn't even consider the legendary sports teams, great institutions of higher learning or it's museums. I walked around the city most of Saturday taking pictures of some of the public art that the city has to offer. The Picasso I remember from my childhood because it gathered so much attention during my youth; you can read more about the “Chicago Picasso” at this link:

Picasso

The city recently completed a new portion of their lakefront park system, which is called Millennium Park. The park has a giant stainless steel jellybean type structure (the name is actually Cloud Gate) as one of the highlights. No matter how you approach it or walk around it, the artwork reflects back a portion of the skyline or the lakeshore thus reminding you of the great city that surrounds you. You can read more about the scupture here:

Cloud Gate

The final pictures is of Marc Chigal’s mural “Four Seasons”. You can find out more about this sculpture at:

Chigal's

I’ll write more later, but wanted to get an initial post up.

D-Backs Win

2007-06-06T00:42:00.000-07:00

I went to the Diamondback game tonight with my friend Tim, actually I have two friends named Tim, so we call him Joey. It is a long story, so I will just leave it at that. Fun night. Expected to see Barry Bonds, but he didn't play because Randy Johnson was pitching and the left hand pitcher has always been a problem for left hand batters not only Bonds. We did see some unexpected things though. Johnson's eighth and final strikeout of the night in the fifth was the 4,605th of his career, moving him into second place on the all-time strikeout list ahead of Roger Clemens. Nolan Ryan, at 5,714, is the all-time leader. Since Clemens is scheduled to come back this season and pitch for the Yankees, he and Johnson might flip-flop during the season for the second position all-time. No matter what, it was a very cool thing to see in person. Johnson is arguably the best left hand pitcher ever to play baseball.The game ended on a Chris Young home run in the bottom of the 10th, this is called a walk off because the players literally walk off the field after the player touches home plate. The picture is from Chris Young approaching home with all his teammates around while the umpire watches for the touch. All in all a fun night.

Maui Wind

2007-06-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Past the beach through the resorts and onto the sugarcane fields, the wind in Maui was constant. I first noticed it while I was on the beach one night photographing the early evening light. I spoke to a lot of people who had visited Hawaii prior to my visit and I don’t remember many of them talking about the wind. Perhaps they mentioned it and I didn’t take note or maybe I was foolish not to expect it on an isolated island chain in the middle of the Pacific. Strong enough to knock you over at times, I’m sure that I will miss it on warm nights in the Arizona desert.

The Accidental Tourist

2007-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve come to realize that tourist get a bad rap. There have been times when I have traveled and seen the big, air-conditioned motor coach and thought to myself “those people aren’t having an authentic experience…” But then there I was, in Hawaii, on a big air-conditioned motor coach in my swim shorts, flip-flops and a one-inch layer of 48 spf sunscreen, headed out for some grand adventure called the “Rain forest hike” or the “Sea kayak adventure”. Granted that these experiences where closer to something you would see on the Disney channel rather than the Discovery channel but they do provide some insight. By figuratively and literally being able to stick your toe in the water you are introduced (or re-introduced) to an activity that you didn’t have the time or resources to normally experience. I haven’t ridden a bike in a number of years, but riding down Haleakala reminded me how much fun bike riding can be. I’m not the greatest swimmer but snorkeling gave me a greater appreciation for why people enjoy diving so much. These are certainly guarded and well choreographed excursions, but they can provide a limited taste to a much greater experience. So here are some pictures from my grand sea kayak and snorkeling adventure; and full disclosure, I didn’t see any jelly fish on my snorkeling trip this shot is from the Maui Ocean Center which is an aquarium located in the central part of the island. I didn’t have any other place to post it and it makes my adventure look so much more dramatic.

The Road to Hana

2007-06-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

Being from the desert, waterfalls are usually only a seasonal phenomenon during the spring runoff. In Hawaii, waterfalls run all year, fed by the constant accumulation of moisture from the rainforest in the upper mountains. I went on two hikes earlier in my trip, the best being one that led to Waimoku Falls in Kipahulu (this trip was on Monday). The falls are on the eastern most end of the island about 9 miles past Hana, which is a small town surrounded by dense rainforests. The Highway to Hana is a tourist attraction in its own right, as it winds for hours through green valleys, past waterfalls, and over one-lane bridges. To get to the falls you take an easy 2.5-mile hike up through a bamboo forest. The pictures doesn't do a good job of illustrating that this water fall is over 470 feet high.

The biggest fraud

2007-05-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Tim likes to say that selling burgers 'well done' is the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American public. I tend to agree. When I got to Maui on Thursday night I met up with some friends who had already been on the island for a few days. Anyway these girls told me that I should try out the “Cheeseburger in Paradise” restaurant in Lahaina, which is over on the western side of Maui. The next day I drove over and after exploring around Lahaina for a while, I tried the burger place out for an early dinner. The burger was very good, unfortunately it was cooked well done. I had forgot to order it medium rare. But not a big deal since I had a window seat and the day was perfect. I thought that I would test out the video feature of my digital camera so the attached is the scene as I sat there that afternoon. Kinda boring but it gives you a flavor of the spot. Not a bad place to have a burger even if it is well done.

Random report from Maui...

2007-05-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

Spent the early part of the week doing several activities, one of which was a sunrise mountain bike ride down Haleakala volcano. The tour company that leads you down the mountain picks you up at your hotel at 2AM so that you can get up the mountain before the sunrise. There is a national park at the summit and the staging for the ride down is done in the parking lot there. Not exactly the most intimate setting because you are up there with 300 other bikers from the various tour companies. Before the ride you can watch the sunrise over the volcano’s crater. It is a unique site, but because you are over 9500 feet, it is extremely cold and windy. I snapped off a few pictures before I headed back to the van to warm up. The ride down is a blast. You basically coast down the mountain never having to peddle. It is like the fastest hike you have ever experienced. Great views all the way down to the ocean. Pictures are of sunrise and the mid-point stop.

Leaving for Hawaii

2007-05-24T06:48:00.001-07:00

I'm off to Hawaii this morning all packed and ready to go. I even found a use for the two lonely Hawaiian shirts that I have had hanging in my closet all these years. I still hope that they are in style. Do Hawaiian shirts go out of style? Anyway I'm excited for the trip because I have never been to Hawaii. I've been to Costa Rica which is probably the closet thing in terms of the tropical climate, volcanos and beaches. Hope to have some initial pictures posted later today once I arrive.

My first post

2007-05-22T22:22:00.001-07:00

My first post on my blog...hmm..what to say? Already I'm feeling the pressure. Actually this is really a place marker. Somewhere to begin a journey and record my life. Now I just need to find something to say each day. I thought that I would post an image from my recent trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. I shot this at a rodeo that was being held between two clubs in Guadalajara. There was a number of events that took place, and this was the last one. The caballeros were much rougher on the animals than we are use to expecting in the States. The event that relates to this picture involves forcing the horse to run at high speed around the arena enclosure and then lassoing it so that it will fall. I hate to admit it but when your there to take pictures you get lost in the moment and don't really think about what is happening to the animal. I tried to time this picture just as the horse was falling. Fortunately he was able to get up from this fall, but I thought the slow shutter speed with the resulting blurring effect showed how dramatic the event was on the horse. The lighting also create shadows that made this shot take on an image from a prehistoric petroglyph.