Saturday, January 03, 2015

The Good Luck Of Bad Luck

"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."

~Cormac McCarthy
No Country For Old Men

I believe that quote. Actually, I live that quote! I have learned, in my old age, to not only appreciate the plan B scenario, but to thank GOD for it! So many times, while out with the camera, something will pop up, or get in the way, or just plain cause me to change course away from the picture I was wanting to get. But happily, most of the time I will see something unexpected, something completely off topic that leaves me feeling satisfied as a photographer.

 A sunset with particularly vibrant colors, a roadside memorial, a stray animal, something maybe as simple as a pair of shoes, placed outside a house on Christmas Eve, for Papa Noel. If you haven't heard of Papa Noel, or Pere Noel, go read about it, it's a fascinating variation on leaving out milk and cookies for Santa Claus. Anyway, I really appreciate feeling like someone, somewhere is looking out for me. Keeping me safe, and bringing me new insights I would have missed otherwise. Sometimes you can't plan, sometimes you just have to go with the luck, and hope for the best!

Hey, look at that, I see the word LUCKY. Let's see what it says!
Hmmm... I like that thought. That's how I met my first celebrity, Joe Montana. Alan and I were on our honeymoon, and we got in the car one day and said, "Let's just go with it" and boom, there he was, with  his family, picking out pumpkins at Pastorino's Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay. October 23rd, 1990. It's like it was yesterday. Alan and I still count that among our favorite memories from our honeymoon! I wish I had owned a better camera back then though! LOL.

And now for the lucky numbers on the back of the fortune...

32, 29, 50, 44, 18, 10

Good Luck!

:)

Mood: Happy
~Me :)

Lucky Fortune (Set)
Photographed January 2nd, 2015
10:33 PM
HTC Vivid

Friday, January 02, 2015

Fra-Gee-Lay

"For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture."

~Diane Arbus

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and now New Year's is over. It's January 2nd, which means, I will be taking down the decorations and putting away the sparkle. No matter how much I might not be in a festive mood, I always feel a bit sad putting away the little elves and shiny ornaments. We had a scaled down Christmas and it was a giant relief, as opposed to past Christmases when Alan and I over did the decorating. We found a cute artificial tree at IKEA and some adorable mini decorations of bows and stars in gold and silver, and of course we had our traditional Santa Claus hat at the top of the tree. It was mostly a Christmas of new decorations, but Alan and I did keep one tradition, we still purchased each other, and for each cat, one new ornament from the Tilden Park Holiday Carousel. It was a blue teddy bear wagon for the Alan, and he bought me a sparkly cupcake ornament. For the cats, we bought each of them a red and green mint candy ornament. They were captivated by the sparkle, and to our astonishment, only patted them gently to see them sway and shimmer in the light.

We have very well behaved little boy kitties!

Alan's

For Hendrix, Dylan and Joey...
And Mine...

As for the ornament at top of the post, well you probably recognize it from the movie A Christmas Story. I bought Alan and extra ornament, because we had a date to go to the Orinda Theater, on December 11th, to see the movie, but unfortunately we weren't able to due to an extreme rain storm that hit the Bay Area on that very day! We were both terribly disappointed. It was a free showing, which included a visit from two of the stars of the film, and it was a great opportunity, however the rain was absolutely epic, so date night was cancelled. When I saw the Christmas Story leg ornament, online, I couldn't resist! I also purchased a cute cookie cutter of the same design!

It wasn't quite the same, but it made Alan smile, so it all worked out well!

That's what it's all about for me... seeing Alan relax a little... and smile.

He has the best smile!

Mr. Parker: You filty sicken hook-aid! Oh, smelly wok buster! Grout shell fratten house sticklr fifer! You bladder puss nut grafter! Dorton hoper...

Ralphie as Adult: What happened next was a family controversy for years.

Mr. Parker: You wart mundane noodle! You shotten shifter paskabah! You snort tonguer! Lame monger snaffa shell cocker!
(The sound of the lamp breaking is heard next)

Now in the movie, Mrs Parker claims that she accidentally broke Mr. Parker's major award, so we will assume it was a happy accident for her, a terrible one for him, But all kidding aside, I would never break any major award of Alan's, particularly one as nifty as this one! Hell, I would probably demand we buy another one exactly like it... you know... for living room symmetry!

;)

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Fra-Gee-Lay
Ornaments (Photo Group Posted)
Photographed 1/1/2015
10:28 PM
HTC Vivid

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Winter Subjects

"In the New Year, you carry all the experiences of the past years and that is the greatest power of every New Year! This year again, you are less student and more master."

~Mehmet Murat ildan

This is the first posted photo of 2015, but obviously I took this picture in 2014. December 30th is close enough to 2015... right? Oh well, I had a great time taking the photo, and while I did so, I began to consider where I want to go with my photography this year. I know there will be the usual subjects of Public Art, Flowers, and the occasional candid city scenes, but I think I want to be better about my online organization of the photos I do. I have decided to create online albums on Flickr, rather than just post new photos to Ellipsis, Pinterest and Instagram. I finally put all of the autumn leave photos into an album, and it is ready for viewing. It was a great project that taught me a lot about color, light and of course, backgrounds. I did a little photo editing wizardry, and a lot of framing, and I was happy with the results. But when I began to look at the photos I took this past autumn, I saw some tendencies toward certain color schemes, and realizing that forced me to choose a bigger variety within the subject. The whole process has me thinking about where I want to go with my photography, and a clearer path of how to achieve it. With fingers crossed, and time on my side, I hopefully will see some amazing results.

We'll See!

Stay Tuned!

Flickr (My Photostream)
Flickr: Autumn Leaves 2014 (Complete Album)


Mood: Inspired

~Me :)

Winter Subjects
Robin
Photographed 12/30/2014
3:55 PM
Nikon CoolPix S3500

Happy New Year 2015!

"Tomorrow is the first page of a 365 page book. 
Write a good one."

~Brad Paisley

Day One: It was a very good day!

I am determined to get off on the right foot with the new year.

That's my resolution this year.

It's going to be a very good year!


"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice
And to make an end is to make a beginning."

T.S. Eliot

Little Gidding

Mood: Positive

~Me :)

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Goodbye 2014... And Don't Let The Confetti Hit You In The Ass

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come
Whispering... 'it will be happier... "

~Alfred Tennyson

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to say goodbye to 2014!

Oh well, I am not going to rehash why I hated this year, you may share most of them with me!

Let's not give it anymore attention!

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW!

2014 In Pictures On Ellipsis

January

 February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

December



"We'll Miss You Robin"

The Punch Line Comedy Club
San Francisco, California
November 2nd, 2014


Mood: Quiet

~Me