Still Winter

Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

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Christmas Forgotten

I forgot and left these bulbs outside. 

Sometimes the mistake we make is the inspiration we need.

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Christmas Past: Spain 1978

I remember seeing these hanging across the streets of Pasadena when I was growing up. I don't see them much any more.

I was visiting Spain during the 78-79 winter and found this one. I think it was in Granada.

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Christmas is Coming

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The Santa Clause

With all the Santas around, how are you supposed to know which one is real?

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The Mrs. Clause

Years ago I made this photo for a printing company in Los Angeles. I thought is would be fitting to put it here this season. 

Enjoy!

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Airstream Travel Trailer Part 2

This is my Airstream Travel Trailer. It is a 25 foot Safari built in 1999 or 2000. It is parked in one of my favorite camping spot in the Alabama Hills on the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.

I've camped in this exact spot many times. The afternoon sun sets early behind the Sierras to the West but still shines with Alpenglow on the White Mountains across the valley. Sunrise starts on Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. If you get up early enough you can watch the golden light as it slides down from the tip-top. With foothills in between this spot and Whitney there is a truly beautiful moment when the mountains are completely aglow and the nearby hills are still in a cool shadow. That alone is worth the trip.

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Airstream Travel Trailer

I own an Airstream travel trailer. It is a 25 foot Safari built in 2000, or 1999. I bought it used originally to use during my Master's of Fine Arts Thesis project. You can see even more of that work on this blog. This image here is not my trailer but someone else's. I found it at a vintage trailer gathering in Buellton California last September. 

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Lone PIne 2

Back in Lone Pine I found this guy. 

Yep, that's a fanny pack worn in front and a bluetooth earpiece.

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Lone Pine, California

Yep, in Lone Pine there is a museum dedicated to film. The Hollywood type of films. I was watching Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr. last night and I was reminded, it too was filmed in the 

Alabama Hills.

The Alabama Hills are the foothills just outside of Lone Pine. Mt. Whitney lies just beyond them to the west. Every year Lone Pine has a film festival. Usually in the first week of October. I've been to three of them to make photographs. Twice during my MFA thesis project and once just this year (2011) for another art project.

I captured this gent right there in front of the museum during my thesis visits. This particular image did not make the final cut as I was limited to only 20 photos, but I always liked this guy's expression and stance.

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In Training

Plum Lake, Sayner, WI

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Ignacio

I met Ignacio one afternoon while he was waiting for the bus. I had my camera and lights in the car, so I stopped and asked him if I could make his picture. He agreed and this is what I made. Ignacio has a knowing, weathered face with kindness written all over it. 

If we don't take the time to stop and make the photo then it has been pre-edited... out. I believe it is better to edit after the exposure has been made, not before.

Take the picture.

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THE VIEW FROM HERE

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Pasadena Changes

My home town, Pasadena California, has gone through some changes since I last lived there. This is a railroad crossing for pedestrians. Odd, I thought.

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Planes

Widow

I found this beauty inside the propane tank cover of my Airstream the other day. 

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Old Vines

Pulling Back The Curtain

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99 Cents

Never buy a house in neighborhoods with shopping carts on the sidewalks.

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TOOLS OF LABOR

Years of dust have covered these neglected tools. I guess not much work is getting done.

Suzy Chaffee

I met and photographed Suzy Chaffee during my MFA Thesis project. 

She was skiing with this outfit on at Mammoth Mountain.

Former Student

Donnally

A former student volunteered to model for me. I love the intensity of her gaze in this frame. 

Nice Shoes, Hipstamatic style

76 Union Station, Highway 101 in Carpinteria, CA

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More Hipstamatic

Even lunch seems better with a photo to document it. This one was very good, at Tre Luna in Santa Barbara.

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iPhone camera, not Hipstamatic

I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or LACMA as we call it, a while back and took this with the iPhone camera. You have to choose the right tool for the job. This time, the square format of the Hipstamatic wasn't going to do it for me.

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Hip HIpstamatic

Still loving the fact that this camera is in my pocket.

Not a thing like my old 4x5 days, even the Speedgraphic I still have.

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It's not the camera...

More Hipstamatic

These digital cameras just keep getting better and better. I can remember the days of Kodachrome and thinking it can't get any better than this. Thank you Paul Simon.

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Hipstamatic

Ok, I'm in. I love this Hipstamatic camera I can now carry in my pocket. Not only does it do a cool job with the captures but I always have it with me, like here at the carwash.

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Visions of Christo

Every time I see a group of umbrellas I always think of Christo’s installation of The Umbrellas. His art was in two places at the same time, Japan and California. I visited the portion in California. It was an easy drive up Interstate 5 to see the yellow dotting the landscape. 

I saw these in Idaho. We stopped for lunch on the lake in McCall Idaho.

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Rugby and the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

In 1989 a friend introduced me to a litter of puppies, Golden Retriever puppies. I chose one of the males to become my dog and  named him Rugby. I remember the day I picked him up. He and I drove down to San Clemente where we spent the night at a friend’s house. I got my first lesson in beach etiquette the very next day when Rugby decided to “do his business” on the sand. Some girls said, “Are you going to clean that up?” This was just the beginning of a 15 ½ year adventure I would take with Rugby.

Rugs, as I sometimes called him, went everywhere with me. I trained him with help from Mathew Margolis Dog Trainer. During the training I was using hand signals along with the commands. Rugs learned quickly. Late in his life he could not hear a thing so those hand signals came in pretty handy. We traveled all over California and beyond together.

This photo of Rugby is one of my personal favorites. Rugs was even featured in a few advertisements I shot for clients. A photographer who shared my studio made photos of rock bands in the early 90’s. Rugby would somehow get into some of the photographs and eventually HitParader magazine did a feature article on Rugby and how he got to hang out with all these “Rockers”. During my time in the Groundling’s school I wrote a sketch called Rugby. I played the dog, Rugby. My interpretation was a bit more unruly than the namesake. But that was for the laughs.

Rugby’s greatest gift to me was his ability to be my ambassador. I met a woman in 1993, who had 2 teenage girls. When I walked into her house on one of our first dates with Rugby I think I won the hearts of her daughters. When we married I joined a family with 2 other dogs and a cat.

For the past few years I have been working with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. I happily photograph portraits of the dogs and handlers so NDSDF can use them in their fundraising efforts. A while back, NDSDF asked if I would like to submit a name for a potential Search dog. I suggested Rugby, and now there is a new search dog named Rugby who will be helping in the search for survivors of disasters. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is a wonderful organization and they do great work. I encourage all to do whatever you can for this effort.

Rugby; 3/21/89 -10/15/04

His ambassadorship continues.

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Toyland, Santa Clause Lane

This toy-store was open for as long as I can remember. It was located, curiously enough on Santa Clause Lane in Carpinteria, CA. I'm not sure why it was called Santa Clause Lane, but for years there was a Santa Clause head, face and cap, being used for a roof of one of the buildings. My memory says there was a Reindeer Room Restaurant and a candy store that could have been named the Candy Cane. The Santa Clause head has been preserved and moved into Oxnard, a town about 30 miles south of here. You can see it from the freeway.

Toyland closed one day and I decided to record the event. Here is my photo in memory of Santa Clause Lane's Toy Store.