A little bit of Summer

Often, after a long day, I stand and look out into our tiny, postage stamp sized yard. Here in the City, a yard is a premium item. Surrounded by other yards, it is a quiet oasis in our busy little metropolis. I can quietly view the space, listen to the birds in the trees, and reflect upon the trials and rewards of the day.

Shi Shi, a friend's pup-pup.

Summer Party in S.F. Ca, 2010

Growing Up

My Eldest. :) So proud!

My eldest and our 'Asian Daughter'

8th Grade Graduation, Summer 2010

Summertime...

Sometimes... everything is just a matter of perspective.

My Little DJ

Earlier this year, my son was invited to participate in a radio program featuring children involved in the Omega Boys Project. It was a really unique opportunity and we had a blast getting to hang out in a real, live radio station for a few hours. I was allowed to spend some time in the engineers booth and got to take some shots of his sound board. Very cool stuff.

M in the studio with the other Omega Boys and the gentleman running the show. It was very educational. Eventually, they asked us parents to come into the sound booth too...

M hanging out in the control booth. DJ M!

Pastoral

I have lost count of the days... live has been what life will be... but I have not given up on my photography. I actually take more photos than I realized. Just catching up on a small number of edits has been a major challenge...

...but tonight... I bring you a few...

Just a bit of landscape somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the I-5 as we headed to Vegas.

I was particularly captivated by the intricate folds in the landscape.

Day Twenty-six - Impressionism

As much as I love our bedroom... I find the lighting in this one particular room of our house to be absolutely horrid. You can't take a picture in there for anything. But here I was tonight, trying to take pictures in a bloody dim room... with no flash, because, y'know... I hate using a flash.

End result... camera iso jacked up to 1600 and I get dark grainy photos...

DUH!

but...I did like the look of a few of them... they had a soft fuzziness that rather put me in mind of impressionist painters. Why can't one be an impressionist photographer if one so chooses, deliberately manipulating the camera for textures and edges that are not sharp and clear?

it bears pondering...

Day Twenty-five - ThaiDeco

Over the past summer, by boyfriend and his son constructed a wonderful 'dining temple' for our living room. Our current decorating theme has taken a world travelor flair and our living room theme was inevitably Thai after finding a beautiful antique, hand carved, Thai table in the window of a little shop down the street. Adorning the front of our magnificent loft, is a set of panels which, when assembled, form a giant curving arch of swirling and spiraling leafy shapes.

It's really something else... especially when backlit... as it was when I started taking pictures of it. :D

Day 24 - Time Enough

Just enough time for one photo... old, antique pocket watch taken with sepia filter.

Day Twenty-three - Girl's Day Out

I actually managed quite a few shots today. While spending time with my mom and my eldest daughter on a girl's day out, we went to our favorite salon and spent time playing with th resident pup-pups, Doobers and Jasper. Such handsome boys... so willing and happy to pose and sit pretty for the camera.

...the secret to pet photography?

....snacks.

Then, it was time to go and find some Dim Sum. Dim Sum we did find... and along the way, I discovered some curious buildings. This apartment building just caught my eye because of it's very round shape. I loved the little cloverleaf petal balcony's that poked off the various apartments.

...now, to construct a bit of delicious nom for late night snackin'.

g'night moon!

Day Twenty-Two - Rain Kissed

One of the charms to our micro-melrose are all the plants. We've a neighbor or two who just adore plants. You'll find them all throughout the front courtyard, along the sides of the stairs of the victorian, on the patios of the cottages, in tiny clever tins tacked to the stair-rails to the rear of the victorian, EVERYWHERE in our yard and home... truly everyone who lives here loves plants.

Recently, we have had much rain (very much needed and not at ALL begrudged!). There is nothing like a fresh, heavy rain to leave a coating of liquid gemstones adorning all the foliage in our yard. When I got home from work, there was a brief break in the rain and I was able to run outside, camera in hand, and get a few shots of some of the flowers in our yard just before the sun went down.

...for my pop. xox

Day Twenty-One - Step Outside...

...my door.

You see immediately the entrance to our nearest neighbor's cottage, and through a path of lovely, wild growing plants... the exit out onto the street. It's a true urban treasure, this little 'micro melrose' that we dwell in.

Day Twenty - my Bean

14 years ago today...the first of my children came into this world. In fact... it was right around this time at night on what had been a very stormy, rainy day. I had asked the nurses to open the windows to the room I was in so that I could smell the rain in the air and cool off the room a bit.

Fourteen years... it seems like it was just yesterday that she was a tiny baby.

Day Nineteen - Obsession

Anyone who knows Mike and I, knows of our love of all things chocolate...especially dark chocolate. Upon moving to San Francisco, we discovered a small chocolate shop in our local mall, wherein the chocolates are on display like jewels in glass cases. As my eldest and I were out doing a little birthday shopping, we decided to stop on in and she was allowed to select her own custom box of chocolates.

...well... of course I had to get a few for us adults. I DID need a subject for the evening after all.

Day Eighteen - Ginger

A year ago, on my daughter's birthday... we adopted Ginger. We only know that she was found in Richmond, CA... that she had recently had a litter of puppies, and that she had subsequently been abandoned. A dogwalker found her, filthy and starving and took her in. Her landlady... a good woman of my acquaintance showed me pictures of the little girl and once I showed them to our family... well... we were hooked. How could we NOT give the poor little thing a home. she was just a pup-pup after all... what evil could she have done that would have resulted in her not having a home?

It's been a long year of hard work and retraining to convince our little gal that no one is going to abandon her again, or visit any sort of harm upon her. She has finally learned that our neighbors are friends and has learned that the potty... is outside. ;) She's a great little dog and we're all so glad that she's become a part of our family.

so here's me going to lounge in the big ol' pile of pillows with my ds and my dog. g'night world.

Day Seventeen - Limon

A little bit more urban green. Earlier this year, we suddenly came into the 'dream' unit in our tiny little urban community. The complex we live in consists of a beautiful Victorian divided into three flats, and separate cottages. The rear cottage boasts the treasure of the property... an actual yard. My sweetheart loves to garden and has been gradually collecting roses and geraniums and other lovely plants. One wonderful little find was our meyer lemon tree. It's still small, but it's already got a full crop of delicious little lemons all over it! I couldn't resist snapping a few of the sweet fruits with my macro lens...

Day Sixteen - Visitation

Our family's good friend N stopped by for a visit, and as she happened to be sitting about and has a lovely smile... she became my photo for the night. I just love how she has such fashion flair and can wear such bold colors! She's always just gorgeous!

Day Fifteen - Urban Green

I love things that are green. Green is my favorite color. It represents, to me at least, all things that live and grow. I grew up living in a rural environment full of living green things (a vineyard) and often imagined that a city must be choked of all things green.

I find myself now living in a city, in a tiny little cottage... with a yard full of thriving green plants. From our yard we can see the yards of several houses on our block, and all are just packed with trees and plants. So out into our yard I have ventured to capture some of what I am calling 'urban green'.

Day Fourteen - Generation

My subject tonight is my great-grandmother's wedding ring. I knew my Great-Grandmother, Anna. For many years, we would go to Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa's house for Sunday Dinner, a very big deal to my large, traditional Portuguese family. When I graduated from college, the ring became mine, as my Great-Grandmother had long since passed from this world, as had my Grandmother.

Tonight's challenge was to capture the diamond. Jewlery, as I have found before, can be tricky to take pictures of. Those stones are transparent and full of prismed edges that throw light around in a most uncooperative manner. A flashlight (a small mag) held in such way as to illuminate the diamond from behind allowed me to bring the little blighter into focus, then we just shifted in such a way as to illuminate the ring from the foreground.

Now... I'm off to get a snack!

Day Thirteen - Introspection

More experiments with light...

Day Twelve - Salvation (Composition)

I try to take my camera with me everywhere and am often inspired to take photos of natural elements that strike my fancy. But after three years of intensive product photography, I have found myself a bit less inspired in a creative way with my 'ax'.

When I started this project, I started with a few random shots that seemed to fit in with the season, but already, I feel myself really wanting to know what I'm going to shoot before I start shooting.

Tonight, I knew I wanted a composition. But what? I rummaged about trying to find inspiration. Feeling an innate maternal drive to prepare dinner and see to the welfare of the little ones, I had to give up my search and hustle upstairs to prepare dinner. Between heating oil and breading chicken... I continued in my search for some subject and finally settled upon my subject of the evening.

There are those in this life who strive to do good. In every aspect of their lives, they truly strive to bring goodness and justice to those around them. I am fortunate enough to know such a person.

There is a famous sculpture of the praying hands by Albrecht Durer. Stories say that he used his brother's hands as the model for this picture, in return for his brothers long labors to help pay for his education as an artist. It's a beautiful work. I wanted to create something similar, and was able to use the hands of that honorable man who has done so much for so many others in his life.

They are the hands of a healer.