Happy Holidays!

I went to the Mission Inn in Riverside with a friend to view their Festival of Lights. It was the perfect way to spend the day after Christmas.

Here's wishing everyone a great new year!

Political Pilgrimage

I'm headed to Washington D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration in January. I have no idea whether I'll get a ticket or not; it goes without saying that demand for tickets is through the roof. But I'm excited to travel to another part of the country and take pictures!

I'm already planning which lenses I want to bring with me. While I would love to take my 70-200mm f/2.8 beast, I do not want to be lugging that around with me all day. As of now I'm going with my 10.5mm fisheye and my 50mm f/1.4, both of which are quite compact.

And I'm finally going to get Nikon's 18-200mm VR II lens. This lens was all the rage when it first came out. It was sold out for months. It's not a professional lens, so it isn't really suited for portrait or wedding work. But from what I hear it's a great walking-around lens.

I can't wait to walk around DC with it!

Photo on Parents.com

A big thank you to Kelly, who submitted this photo to Parents.com. The photo is from the maternity session I did with Kelly and Scott over the summer. It is now part of an article on how to take pregnant belly photos.

P.S. Kelly and Scott had a healthy baby girl in September.

LA Marathon, Here I Come!

I signed up to run the LA Marathon, which takes place March 1 of next year. This is tangentally related to photography because, when I began training this month, my first thought was to carry my camera with me.

Now, even a camera as light and fun as the Nikon D40 is not so easy to go jogging with. While I'm debating whether to go with a Canon or Sony little pocket camera, I'm making do with my camera phone.

And the junky little camera is all right - the digital equivalent of a plastic toy camera. A little toying around with Aperture yields passable results. The following two pictures were taken just walking around my neighborhood.



And the following two pictures were taken along the equestrian trails in Walnut, CA. This was the first time I have ever gone running on those trails, and they are a really wonderful place to walk or jog. The wide dirt path is much better than concrete, and there is a good amount of shade thanks to the very fragrant pine trees. Check out the trail map here.

Corn

I'm always intrigued with what people can turn into a book.

Like photos of corn.

A Year of Corn. Yeah, it sounds weird. But the images are really beautiful.

The Migrant Project

I listen to KCRW's Good Food weekly, and while the focus of the show is (obviously) food, they also run interesting stories on the way food intersects with different areas of our personal lives, culture, and society.

Last week the host, Evan Kleiman, interviewed photographer Rick Nahmias, who spent time traveling with migrant workers in California. His work, called The Migrant Project, has now been published in book form. The interview is really interesting, if you have time to take a listen. (Scroll down if you only want to hear the interview with Rick Nahmias.)

This episode also has a story on colonics, which - after making your stomach turn - will make you want to go eat a salad.

I Say Letter, You Say Parcel

I always thought that if something was in an envelope, it was a letter. If it was in a box, it was a parcel.

But no . . . apparently that's not the case.

I mail CD's of photographs to my clients. I place the CD in a cardboard sleeve, write a letter full of pleasantries, and place everything in a 6 x 9 envelope. And it usually costs about 60¢. But the other day when I went into the post office, the clerk charged me $1.35 - more than twice as much money!

I asked her why, and she explained that if the envelope is not bendable, then it's a parcel, even though it's an envelope. And how it has to do with the machinery used to process letters, and they've been enforcing this for a year, and it's so confusing for everyone, etc. etc.

Hmmm. So the next time I go into the same post office to mail CD's, a different clerk charges me . . . 60¢. Apparently it is confusing for their own employees.

So I found this little pop-up on the USPS website. Yes, envelopes that do not bend easily incur an extra charge, as do square envelopes or envelopes that contain pens (?). But I don't know why that clerk charged me the parcel price, instead of the extra 20¢.

Not that I usually get bent out of shape over 75¢, but who wants to pay more money when they don't have to?

Self-Published Photography Books

I've been hunting around the internet looking for companies that produce albums for photographers. So far I've looked at materials from AsukaBook, Zookbinders, and Renaissance. All look promising. I'm mostly interested in albums that are like books, rather than more traditional matted or mounted styles, where actual prints are in the album.

Which is why I was especially interested to read "Turn Those Bytes into Books" in the New York Times. The article focuses on Blurb.com, but lists several other related websites, such as companies that sell templates and illustrations, or those that offer design services.

Price-wise, Blurb.com is very affordable. They also offer an on-line bookstore where you can sell your creations at whatever price you wish. All very intriguing.

Of course, my first thought with all of this is self-publishing my Project Blended book - once I have enough portraits to fill a book. But I also want to have album options for clients. I'm sure that for weddings, people will spring more for AsukaBook or Zookbinders. For more casual occasions, however, such as birthday parties or family portraits in the park, a Blurb book may better suit the occasion.

The Power of Images

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts the other day - Slate's Political Gabfest - and they were talking about the lack of images coming out of Myanmar in the wake of the cyclone disaster, and how that contributes to the fact that the story really isn't on Americans' minds. Above is satellite imagery showing Myanmar before and after Cyclone Nargis.

It's really horrifying how high the death toll could be. The Los Angeles Times has an article stating that 1.5 million people are in danger of dying due to food and drinking water shortages and from disease, as bodies lay decomposing instead of being cremated.

But the government won't let aid in. Why? Because they don't want to be shown up by other countries. They want to save face no matter the cost. Which is why state-run media shows pictures of soldiers delivering aid, rather than of dead floating bodies. The Associated Press has an article on how difficult it is for media and aid workers in Myanmar.

Another reminder of how powerful images - and the lack of images - can be.

The African Presence in Mexico

I went to the California African American Museum on Sunday to view their exhibit, "The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present." Definitely worth checking out because a) it's free, and b) the topic is fascinating.

The exhibit is a mix of painting, photography, and sculpture; of course I was drawn to the photography, but there are some amazing paintings as well. Back in my college days, I took a course on interracial matters, and the professor discussed these parts of Mexico where clearly the people had African ancestry. But Mexicans don't want to acknowledge it because they have this view of la raza cosmica, that they are all just one race. So it's something that most people don't know about, inside and outside of Mexico. The exhibit also touches on how race has been dealt with differently in the United States versus Latin America. Very interesting stuff.

The exhibit will be up until June 1.

The Need for Speed

I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix today. I've never been to a racing event before and didn't know what to expect. I don't even watch it on TV because, frankly, I don't really get it. Cars driving fast? In a circle? That's it?

Well, now I can say that cars driving fast in a circle is actually kind of cool. They are incredibly loud - I had to buy earplugs after I got there. And they go really fast (duh). The above shot was taken at a shutter speed of 1/100. I still need to edit the pictures I took, but so far this one is my favorite.

Yeah, it's a blurry mess. But it's one of the few pictures that I didn't have to try to shoot through a fence. I could have bought a Super Photo Pass for $250 (!) and stood in special bleachers that were above the race track and fences, or bribed one of the press photographers to let me wear their silly blue vest for 20 minutes.

No, instead my brother and I wandered around the track, trying to get views of what we could. We ended up near the hairpin turn, which was the place to be when they had the drifting competition. I held my camera up above my head for this picture, meaning I only had to shoot through one fence instead of two.

The Moment It Clicks

I've seen this book recommended in various places, so I finally picked up a copy. It's definitely interesting; there are a lot of great images and, for most of them, McNally gives a brief rundown of how it was lit and shot.

But that's just what makes this book a little intimidating. Some techniques are good ideas that anyone can do. And others take a small army and a truck load of grip and lighting equipment to accomplish.

The most fascinating pages are the two shots that show all of the camera gear and lighting equipment that McNally uses. It's quite impressive. I don't even know what a lot of that stuff is, let alone what to do with it. Right now I'm just trying to conquer off-camera flash.

This is a fun book, great to flip through and fascinating to read. I'll have plenty of ideas to add to my to-try list.

Play With Your Toys

I'm the first to admit that I often suffer from gear lust - I have a a mile-long list of all the lenses, lights, camera bodies, studio gear, and miscellaneous gadgetry that I know will make my photography infinitely better.

And I'm the first to admit that it's a ridiculous theory.

People are quite capable of using the finest, most expensive camera equipment on the planet and producing nothing but garbage. And people can take a cardboard box with a hole punched in it and make amazing images.

So it's nice to take a cheap plastic camera, throw some film in there, and see what happens. No exposure meters, no LCD monitors. That excitement when you pick up your film from the lab and see what you ended up getting. It's definitely a change of pace.

I received a Diana camera as a gift, along with 10 rolls of film. I just developed the first roll; the above image was shot on Fuji Velvia 100. It was taken in San Pedro, overlooking the harbor. The unpredictable aspects - the lens flare, the vignetting - is what makes this kind of photography so much fun.

I Should Post More Than Once a Month

Yes, I realize that my blog is quite sad. One pitiful little post over a month ago. But I am resolved to post at least three to four times a week. Starting now.

The Los Angeles Times has had several articles about the wildflower season, now in full swing. The one they published last weekend just has me dying to go out there.

I went to Joshua Tree last month and saw quite a few blooms. I have more pictures here.

Art Show

I am participating in an art show at Greenleaf Yoga Studio in Whittier, CA. I plan on showing some landscape and macro photography. Artists working in a variety of media will be participating as well, so it should be a fun night!

The reception is Friday, March 7, from 7-10 pm. Please check Greenleaf Yoga's website for more information.