Ansel Adams, Eat Your Heart Out - Wednesday 2/18/2009

They say Ansel Adams sat for hours in remote places to get his amazing photographs.



I'm really not saying that I'm anywhere near as good as he was, but I am lucky to have great subject matter right outside my house.

Restoration Photograph Part Two - Saturday 1/14/2009

Most of the daylight hours today were spent scanning and fixing photos. Well, we did run errands, and I did have my hair cut and styled, and we did go to a hoot and sing some songs with our friends in the evening....really great evening!

Anyway, this is me with my first posse. Pops and the Sibs. Great back-up group. Lots of harmonies.

Trikegirl...Coming through!



Riding solo at eleven. What a great summer. The only downside was that Ginger had to run alongside rather than ride uptop with me.

Starboy was a real stinker, and threw me off again and again. But I rode him around bareback as much as possible. Only had him one summer, but oh what a great time that was.



Sometimes groups wear me out. I put this photo up on Facebook. I've stayed in contact with one of these girls continuously ever since (Diver, in the lower left corner) and have reconnect with two others on Facebook recently.

It's nice to have roots.


Fooling around with the timer on a Polaroid camera in 1981. (Do you love the measuring tape shoe laces?) Texaco was already living in California.

My family makes me laugh.

Everyone says I look like my Mom and I take it as a compliment, you bet. I wish I looked as good at all our ages as she does!

Restoration Photograph - Thursday 2/12/2009

Started playing around with my scanner and software this evening. This shows just the preliminary difference between the original faded photo and the partially restored one.



I can clean up that border, for instance. This is my brother The Brain, his new car, and our dog Ginger.

Ginger. She was seriously one of my best friends growing up. When we swam out into the lake, she'd eventually get upset about us being so far away and swim out to us.

I used to ride around on my Huffy dirt bike with her on my lap. She listened to everything I had to say. She slept with me at night (sorry, Mom.)

I still get choked up seeing her picture. She was a great friend.



Just had to throw in this idyllic shot of chubby baby me. Cue "Blue Skies!"

Benny & the Jets - Wednesday 1/28/2009

Things were a little off this morning. I woke up coughing (from the cold that just keeps giving) at about 2:30 and moved out to the recliner in the living room even though Hydra strenuously offered to go.

I never did get back to sleep. But I did read quite a few pages of Inside Inside by James Lipton, with which I am offsetting my current fascination with graphic novels.

Anyway, Dierdre the hip waitress was at the end of her shift when I came in. I like her. She's friendly, and refills my coffee, and doesn't game me like I think one of the older all-nighters does. (Sigh, I know restaurants too well, having waited tables for ten years myself.)

She was very tired. I was very tired, and a little woozy from the sinus medicine I took as soon as I arrived at my table.

Even the head waitress was off kilter. She came with her usual armload of fresh donuts and warbled, "Oh, is it Wednesday? I was supposed to be here an hour ago."

The whipped cream on this just slightly weird morning was the drunk at the counter.

Now, I kind of understand the 2:30 drunk who has just been ejected from the bar.

But drunk at 5:15 a.m.?

Honey, you are working over time.

While I tried to concentrate on my writing, he ordered and waited, humming along with random snippets of the oldies playing on KRTH 101.

Deirdre brought him his food. He tucked into it. But when Benny & the Jets came on, he started singing in a medium-loud voice, "Deirdre! Deirdre! Deidre and these e-e-e-eggs!" He gesticulated over the plate like he was orchestrating the music from the heart of the over-easies resting there.

Okay. Um. That's it. The whole story.

It seemed really funny at the time. Maybe it was the Tylenol Extreme Sinus Headache tabs.



Okay, enough of that.

See what I did this evening with the Photoshop Elements 7 software Hydra gave me for my birthday? Can you tell the difference?

It's not big and artsy. I just took the shine off the table.

Hee!

I Am Already a Winner! - Tuesday 12/2/2008

First off, so you don't miss it: You could be a winner (soon), too. Just get yourself over to Los Angelista's Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness and see what she says about winning your own Wii Console and WiiFit!

And then read more of her blog. It's really, really worth it.

So as I was saying, Los Angelista gave away an HP photo printer on her blog today and (drumroll please!).... I won!

Not on my merits, but by the luck of the draw. Anyway it comes, it's wonderful.

I am humming Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I Feel Lucky" right now. Yes, I am.

I have been pining for my own photo printer, so I can make reproductions without having to run over to the drug store. And I'll be able to control the color balance, etc.

Oh frabjous day!

She made my Chinese food fortune come true : "You will receive an unexpected gift from an acquaintance."

Yes! Now we can work on the others that I have taped to my monitor at work:

1) Fortune will smile upon you.

2) You deserve respect and will get it.

3) You can expect a change for the better in job or status in the future.

4) You will soon get something special because of your charm.
Hmmm...that last one's a little scary in a The Monkey's Paw kind of way.

Now get over to Los Angelista's blog and be entertained and engaged.

Dots!

See, there's this photo contest group over at Facebook, and this week's theme is circles. So I whipped out my camera in the middle of the lingerie department at Mervyn's and took this shot. It's amazing how you can take pictures just about anywhere and no one will protest.

These are possibly the softest most cushy pajamas in the history of civilization. But they are also probably a little too warm for the likes of me. Flannel's about as heavy as I'm able to sleep in.

Sadly, all the Mervyn's stores are shutting down. This department store probably falls between Sears and Penney's, quality wise. A good place to buy trendy stuff and basic jeans.

This economic crisis thing is getting scary.

Blame it on d'Beans - Wednesday 8/13/2008

He's a great photographer. Recently, he confessed to being a "composition snob." Knowing that he's actually no kind of snob, I love that phrase.

So when I came out of Kaiser Permanente in Valencia the other day, I had to stop and take a couple of shots.



Thanks, d'Beans!

Bloomin' Burbank - 7/10/2008

Some kind of flowering tree on the street outside my office.

There's a guy on 43things who includes things like power lines in his work, and I thought it was interesting. I tend to edit out a lot of things about modern life that I don't particularly find attractive.


Like in this shot, taken just a few feet away.

Juice Abstract - Monday 4/14/2008

Just seeing what I could do with a strawberry-juice stained saucer and a little image manipulation.

Not much.

It May Be Spring - Sunday 4/13/2008

Yum! Strawberries and blackberries from Costco. I've never had blackberries as sweet and flavorful as the ones they've had at Costco this year.



Desert primrose in our yard. These bloom several times during the year, never have to be deadheaded, and are drought tolerant. I want a few more of them for the slope.


The neighbor girl seemed to wonder why I was kneeling before our palm tree. Hey, I don't question the mess she made of her hair.



Up close and personal with the inedible fruit of the fan palm.

One of those weekends that make me glad to be alive and aware of my surroundings.

"I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself."
Edward Steichen (1879-1973) - A photographer whose work and philosophy I'm a little infatuated with right now--in spite of his orneriness--because I'm reading about him and seeing his work.

What's Wrong With This Picture? - Thursday 2/28/2008

I started taking New York magazine because I had unused frequent flier miles sitting in an account and the program said I could spend them on free subscriptions. Now pounds of glossy paper arrive in my mailbox each week.

I'm trying to figure out why this cover and the inside photo spread that recreates Marilyn Monroe's last photo shoot upset me so much. Lindsay Lohan is beautiful and her body is at its prime, why shouldn't we all have a look since she's willing to share?

It just feels dangerous to me to dress the famously troubled Lohan up like Marilyn Monroe in this context. What exactly is this reenactment promoting?

If (I just edited out the word "when") Lohan kills herself in a few years, how proud will Bert Stern and New York magazine feel that they put her up to this? You can bet it'll be touted as prescient.

I'm not promoting censorship, I'm just questioning the wisdom of the publisher and photographer. It just gives me a stomach ache and I'm honestly questioning why.

I'm conflicted about whether to link to the photographs online or not. I've edited and re-edited this post several times. To link or not to link?

If I do, more people may go click on the images and give the magazine the idea that they support its decision based merely on interest in the material.

If I don't, I'm not giving you all the information you need to understand what I'm talking about.

In the spirit of free speech and debate, here's the link to the Lohan/Stern photos.

I hope you'll take a minute to tell me if you think I'm overreacting or on the ball, or somewhere in between.

What Goes Around - Friday 2/1/2008

I wrote first thing this morning, of course.

But one of my other projects today was to make postcards from some of my photographs. The photo of the cards didn't come out as well as the cards themselves.

I'm sending these to a big-time writer who has been kind enough to carry on a correspondence with me for a couple of years. I'm sure she does this for a lot of writers. She uses postcards, so I thought I'd make her some and put postage on them so she can continue her good work.



I would like to say in my defense that this peach/blueberry pie is only the third pie I've ever made. And that I don't think the thermostat on my oven is right, because I had to leave it in there for about 20 minutes longer than the recipe called for to get it browned at all.

But for Pete's sake, will some one help me with this whole sealing the crust issue? I made cute little scallops around the edge of the pie plate, but you can't tell it now. It sort of got pulled taut during baking. Any clues for me? Just leave a lot more when I trim the dough in the first place??

From sampling the filling that oozed out onto the aluminum foil (I have learned a thing or two around the kitchen after all), it's gonna be delish. The peaches are from our crop last summer, frozen lo these many months.

Cool Thing: My essay, "It Ain't Las Vegas" is now available online (without most of the photos, sadly) at Weber: The Contemporary West. Check out the other writers, too. It's a good journal!

Still Life with Broken Camera - Thursday 1/17/2008

When the photo of the day doesn't turn out very well, the photographer is apt to resort to cheap tricks. Like applying the Poster Edges filter in Photoshop.




Or using Photoshop's Graphic Pen filter. (During which she considers passing herself off as an accomplished sketch artist, but stops herself at the last moment, upon consideration of the twisted path such deceit might lead her down.)

Or she might just play upon the viewer's sympathy with emotional subject matter like the formerly trusty Kodak reduced to vegetable status.

You Say It's Your Birthday? - Wednesday 1/16/2008

Well, it's my birthday too, yeah!

Hydra had the day off, and suggested that we go to the UCR/California Photography Museum in Riverside. I've been wanting to do this for about 3 years, but every time I check it out, they seem to be changing exhibits. Same was true today, but I figured with a name like that, it had to have a pretty decent permanent collection on display.

I was wrong! The permanent collection is a few cases of cameras and four walls of photographs. Nice discussion and display of earliest types of photos, with a description of each.

They advertised a special stereographic photography exhibit. I expected we'd be treated to 20 or 30 stereographs. Not so. The display was set up in this weird little area at the entry to the bathrooms on the bottom floor. The only stereographic photos actually on display were the four--count 'em!--four in the permanent collection. Sigh.

I was particularly interested because I just finished reading All Will Be Revealed by Robert Anthony Siegel.

This is a photo of the Riverside Art Museum, next door. Which was completely closed due to a change in exhibits.



We had a delicious lunch at the Bella Trattoria (shared an antipasto plate and added bowls of flavorful minestrone soup) in the famous Mission Inn. Dick and Pat Nixon were married in one of the presidential suites. We'd never heard of it before, but it's said to be the heart of Riverside.

We enjoyed the small but informative Mission Inn Museum but declined to take the tour, which cost $12.00 per person.

Darling, that's more than the Louvre or the Musee D'Orsay!

Keeps riff raff like us out, though.





The Chief has seen better days. (In an antiques store on Market Street.)


It's just a good thing I don't have a) a bigger house or b) too much money. Otherwise, both of these things would have gone home with us.

That guy with the clock in his belly is seriously weird. What was the original intent!?



Back at the homestead. Little Gus on the left doesn't fly. We had his wings trimmed when we first got him, so we could get him used to us handling him. We've done this with all our birds. Seems like he should have all his flight feathers by now, but still no lift-off.

He climbed up the chair in the bedroom to get as close to his cage as possible at bedtime. Hydra called me in to see him and Rocky (center) on the pillow. As soon as he saw the camera, however, Nick flew a curly-cue and got into the shot. Jr. Ham.


And! The birthday dessert! Double Rainbow vanilla ice cream with Saunder's hot fudge and hot caramel toppings, carried home from Michigan by Hydra. Yum!

Hope this didn't sound complain-ish. It was a wonderful day.

No Animals Were Hurt During the Destruction of this Bowl - Monday 1/14/2008

No humans, either.

Dang it! I use this bowl almost every day to heat up our pampered birds' dinner.



I blame Barnes & Noble Cafe and their fine, fine handling of Starbuck's coffees, which led me to imagine that the bittersweet cup from which I drank was merely a taste treat and not an invitation to Lost Weekendesque jitters.

This is what the B&N Cafe looks like, by the way, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday in January. Quiet. Except for the distant sound of scratching brought on by the dry winter air.


Is this Espresso Number 1, Espresso Number 2, or Espresso Number 3?

I defy even the lovely Carol Merrill to tell the difference after three of these babies.

The Photo Idea Index resting on the table here turned out to be a really cool browse. When the strike's over maybe I'll come back and purchase it.

Cool Thing
Thanks to Braveheart for forwarding this link to a funny, funny blog entry over at List of the Day.

I Am What I Am, and I Always Have Been - Tuesday 1/1/2008

I have been an animal lover since at least Christmas Day, 1962. This is me and Kitty Fritz. I turned two a few weeks later.

We were going through things yesterday looking for pictures of Hydra's family, and I found a packet of photographs my mom sent me years ago and which I thought I had accidentally thrown away. I mean, I tore apart every box in our garage and in my studio closet over the course of a couple of days a while back and couldn't find them.

Where were they? In a box in the pantry marked "Photos."

It always takes me by surprise when my sporadic attempts to become organized actually work.

Anyway, in looking through these photos, it struck me that there are all sorts of hints of the person I was to become...


I have enjoyed camping since I was 2 1/2. This is Daddy and me at Clifty Falls State Park in Madison, Indiana in 1963. That's our converted school bus/camper, "The Ramblin' Wreck" in the background. That was so cool!


Although I don't have any photos of myself writing or reading, the arts have always been a big part of my life. My sister Pegerty and I try out my new paint book on my 3rd birthday. She's almost 12.

I think this is one of those books that you just brush water over and the color pops up. I'm not saying I was a prodigy.


I have been a tree-hugger all my life. (This is when I was barely three years old. There's an even earlier photo expressing my affinity for the tree.)



I have always had a flare for the dramatic.

According to the notes on the back of this snapshot, I am showing off my missing teeth. But it looks like I am launching into the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet.

"June 1967, 6 years, 5 months."



I've always had an appreciation for nature. Mom took some really fun shots when we went walking in the woods on a day in May. I had forgotten about my "pet worm" but I remember this day so well. Just me and Mom, and her telling me things and answering my questions.




I like to travel. I get a kick out of big cities. I like to hang out with stylish people.

This was taken in front of our hotel on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I think our camper had broken down and so we went to the city for a few days. May 10th or 11th, 1969. Me (8), Mom, Brains (16) and Pegerty (17.)

I love Pegerty's sporty stance in this shot!! She subscribed to Ingenue magazine, don't you know!



I understand the value of friendship. Diver and I had been friends for almost 2 1/2 years by the time this photo was taken at my house in December of 1968. We met in kindergarten and we are still in touch today, even though we started going to different schools in 4th grade, and we live on opposite coasts now.

It was terrific to have a best friend from another school all through middle school and high school, especially. Kept us from feeling like our individual schools were the whole universe. And we had some life-building experiences together.


I have always liked spending time alone. Well, but animals are always welcome. (I'm ten in this one.)

There are lots of photos of me with my dog Ginger. If you know what it's like to grow up with a dog as a best friend, you'll know how much I still miss her.


I have always liked rocks. I carried this one home from the gravel pit at least a half a mile away just because I liked it. It was pinkish. I used it as a doorstop. I think it might still be somewhere in my mom's house. (She still lives where I grew up.)

Mom said that I could keep it if I brought it home myself but that she wouldn't help me carry it. I think there was a good lesson nestled in that afternoon, about working for something that you really desire. I am almost 11 in this shot.



I have always had impeccable fashion sense.

Hey. Kaftan's were very cool in 1972. (My 11th birthday.)

Is it my imagination, or does Ginger look embarrassed for me?


I have had a distorted body image since high school, probably since I heard Bob Mackie say on some talk show that Cher had perfect armpits.

I thought I was fat in this photo taken when I was 20, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.


(My body-type role model. Yeah, the one on the left.)

[Photo by Ulvis Alberts.]




I love my family. This is us in 1971 and 1981. In the first one, Joe had just come back from Vietnam. I was completely happy and completely oblivious.

Oh, and as you can see from these shots, I'm willing to make a fool of myself.

But you probably already knew that from reading this blog.

This is, coincidentally, my 1,000th blog post, and a satisfying way to spend New Year's Day (for me, anyway.)

Thanks Mom, for sending me the photos in the first place and for your wonderful captions on the back of them!