Memento Mori

"All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's (or things's) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt."

~Susan Sontag

Memento Mori

(Remember You Must Die)

It's time to close 2018. It's so strange how every year has the same amount of days, with the exception of leap years, and yet each year can seem to defy reason and science, by appearing to go by faster or slower than what the calendar says. That's always been a true phenomenon, but never like the last few years. There is time and then there is Trump Time. Trump Time... where days seem like months, and months seem like years.

Trump time is exhausting, and kinda scary. I feel myself aging at a much different rate, but then again, maybe I am just feeling my age more as I grow older. I am not sure how I will feel when this mess is finally over with, and I am not even sure it will ever be over with, so all I can do, is the best I can do, to hold onto my sanity, and thank God that my camera helps me do just that! It helps me process what needs to be felt and done to move forward with life.

In looking through my photos for 2018, I found I had a lot more good days with the camera, than bad. This year was eye opening, in many ways, but nothing was more eye opening than having a Stockton Police officer, knock on your door, LOUDLY, at 7:30 AM, as they chased two carjacking suspects through your backyard and into your pool house! SHIT! At first, I thought it might be the Secret Service, pounding on my door, because of some mistaken remark I made online, led to an investigation of me for threatening the president! Had I gone and done it this time? Had I finally been too damn mouthy on Twitter? Was that third time calling the president a SHITGIBBON going too far? Was this, finally, my arrest?

It, of course, wasn't, but I can imagine the day that it could be that happening. Not that I go around threatening Trump, but what's in my head doesn't matter, it's how he chooses to interpret things, that matters, right? That's another scary, surreal thought, that anything that one says online, could be used against them in such a frightening way. I had to be dead, because everything was just surreal! It made for a bad day, but that day was a necessary evil, because that scary day finally got it through to me that I wasn't dead, and that everything happening in the world was, indeed, real. Including a carjacking suspect, hiding out in my pool house!

You see, that had been my assumption, since before Donald Trump became president, but especially after he took the oath of office! Every single day of his presidency has rolled from one surreal day, to the next, each filled with one FRESH HELL, after another. So one day, in a fit of exasperation, I said out loud to myself... "When did I die?" I felt in that moment that life had become so surreal, that I couldn't possibly be alive! And I went forth with that delusion until that fateful day, the carjackers went through my backyard!

Great! I'm alive. All This Is Real!

Well, autumn and vacation came around, about four and six weeks later, respectively, and it was time to pick up the camera again, for both my sanity, but for the love of all things autumn, which traditionally includes the annual cascade of leaves, our anniversary and our vacation. I couldn't have an autumn where I didn't search out leaves for my project,  and I felt like if I did skip a year, that it seemed like I would be giving up. I am not quite at that point yet, but I get tired, often, and just want to walk away and never look back! Stick my head into a book, and not come out. 

Never watch another news/political analysis show again. Never go back to Twitter. Never engage in the real world again, but I know I couldn't do that. Sometimes I feel stuck in reality, a place where being aware of life is a good thing, but in this case, is the last place I would ever want to be thinking straight. Fantasy, for too long a time isn't healthy. Reality, especially now, definitely isn't healthy for too long a period of time, unfortunately, that doesn't leave much time.

I guess photography is my best vehicle for surfing fantasy and reality. I did some photos this year that I really care about. Most of them done during autumn, but certainly not exclusively. I am going to try to do some kind of photography, at least once a week this year. It can be difficult to find the right subjects, so I am going to attempt some artsy photos of average, if not mundane, subjects around the house. If Andy Warhol can make art out of a soup can, why can't I?

 What I Saw In 2018...

In No Particular Order

Military Submarine Outlook Station 

Circa WWII

HWY 1 South of San Francisco

October 24th, 2018

The "Bijou"

Our home theater, finally finished.

July 15th, 2018

Rare Mammatus Cloud Formation

And A UFO?

December 24th, 2018

Stockton, California

There's No Mail, Like Snow Mail

Camino, California

March 2nd, 2018

My Favorite Autumn Leaf Portrait

November 17th 2018

Stockton, California

Beware Of Snakes In A Cemetery

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

 October 24th, 2018

My Favorite Book Of 2018

"Fear" By Bob Woodward

Dippin Dots

Cannery Row

Monterey California 

October 17th 2018

My Favorite Autumn Sunset

October 24th, 2018

Ione, California

My Favorite Black And White Photo

June 10th, 2018

Stockton, California

My Favorite Leaf Of The Day

"Fleur-Di-Lis"

December 9th, 2018

Stockton, California

My Favorite Public Art Piece

"Peace" By Stephen Kaltenberg

 October 21st, 2018

Sacramento, California

My Favorite Church Photograph

Ione Catholic Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th 2018

My Favorite Cemetery Photograph

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th, 2018

 
Angel Monument

Ione Public Cemetery

Ione, California

October 25th 2018

The Old Frosty

Ione, California

August 25th, 2018

Blue Bunting

September 2nd 2018

Davenport, California

 Early Winter Sunset

December 24th 2018

Stockton, California

"Incoming"

Pacific Grove, California

October 17th, 2018

Art Deco Glass Panel

The Orinda Theater

October 11th, 2018

Orinda, California

Smoke From The Camp Fire (Paradise, California)

 Turned The Moon An Eerie Shade Of Red

A Bright Red Glow OF The Sun, Filtered With Smoke From The Camp Fire, Reflecting OFF The Bricks Of Preston Castle

November 11th, 2018

Ione, California

Happy Independence Day 

July 4th, 2018

Stockton, California

Open Window

October 24th 2018

Lockeford, California

And there you have it! The year 2018 in photographs. On to yet another year, but hopefully, the new year will bring a lot more good news, than bad, and maybe even some clarity and hope. You just never know what will be waiting for you. Maybe I will take my best photograph ever! Or perhaps I will be in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time to capture an image that will be something truly unique or historic! Or maybe I will just continue to photograph things I love, and just try to make it through another year of my life. It's all good. But, I am reminded daily of, Memento Mori.

It's Life.

Happy New Year

2019

~Mood: Quiet

~Me :)

Bad Photographs Of Great Art

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

~George Bernard Shaw 

I take a lot of photos. And because I take a lot of photos, I take a lot of bad photos. Sometimes I take a lot of bad photos of really great art! I absolutely love Public Art, and have been featuring in on this blog, since roughly 2005, in my series, Art About Town. Sacramento has a lot of Public Art. A LOT. Most of it leans toward the political, but there is some whimsy along the way as well, and there isn't a single piece of it that I don't love! My point is, that while searching for one particular sculpture, or another, I spot opportunities to come back and do more searching. On one of my leaf peeping jaunts last October, I spotted these sculptures, and took some bad, place holder photos, so I could come back on a different day, perhaps in winter, and photograph them properly. Hopefully before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, I will be able to do just that. Yikes, that is only a couple days away... shrug... I better hurry!

I'll be right back!

~Mood: Happy

~Me  :)

Off To The Movies #2. Play Misty For Me

"The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all by yourself from the clues."

~Terry Pratchett

Moving Pictures

I love movies! Who doesn't want a few minutes away from the muck of every day life, by escaping into a world completely different than the ones we live in? A world with it's own problems perhaps, and while imperfect, hey, at least it's a world completely devoid of Trump! A world that doesn't contain cell phones, but does contain phone booths. A world that still has interesting, local easy listening music, rather than 24 hour cable news cycles! Yep, the early 1970's America was a lot different than today's America, but what hasn't changed is, the crazy!

Clint Eastwood really should have gotten more credit for this film than he did! Everyone acted like Fatal Attraction was some big deal, because it dealt with OCD behavior that ended up in the stalking of a married man. Well, sorry, as well done as that movie was, Clint Eastwood did it first in, Play Misty For Me. But okay, for the sake of argument, there were some differences. We won't split hairs, or boil bunnies, lets just leave it at, Clint Eastwood made his directorial debut with, Play Misty For Me, and the subject of his film was quite progressive for the time.

And, to his credit, he didn't try to give the main character, Dave Garver any breaks. Dave wasn't interested in any long term relationships, and while he made that clear to his stalker, Evelyn Draper, he kept jumping back in bed with her, every time she showed up. I was also impressed with the fact that Eastwood did not make Garver out to be some unwitting victim, he knew the score, and even directed some genuine compassion toward Evelyn and her obvious need of psychological help. It was never intimated that Evelyn should have just been thrown away, or mocked because of her illness. 

Alan and I have had many a debate about this film, and it remains one of our favorite movies to discuss on long road trips, especially if we are heading down the Monterey Peninsula. I always think about it when we are in the area, because another thing I have to give Clint Eastwood credit for, is that he knew how to make the natural beauty of where he is filming, become a featured character of his movies. He did right by Monterey, Carmel, and my lovely, Bixby Creek Bridge. He used each of those places, to counter the crazy tense moments of the film, by just immersing you in the quiet, beautiful escape, that is the Monterey Peninsula. And it's definitely one of my favorite characters in the movie.

One of the reasons we chose Monterey and Carmel to visit on our vacation last October, was to see how much the town and landmarks in the film had changed since 1971. I love doing the visual comparisons, between then and now, and it adds to the excitement of actually stepping sideways into a moment of great movie making. It's as close as I will probably ever get, to stepping into an alternate universe! I used to visit movie locations all the time, when we lived in the East Bay, San Francisco is full of them, but now it is a bit more difficult... but... it's not impossible! So, look for more posts like this one, because of all the subjects I enjoy posting about, and photographing, movie magic is among my favorites!

Play Misty For Me

1971

Directed By Clint Eastwood

The Sardine Factory played a major role in the film...

*The address rock is still there!   :)

As did The Cannery and Prescott Avenue

1971

2018

I had a lot of fun with Alan, that day. We made some awesome memories! He enjoys exploring movie magic and TV magic as much as I do! He gets into the area, by checking out little coffee shops, while I work the camera. He makes me so happy! I was so lucky to have found him in this big world! It's his turn to choose which movie or TV show to step into next. Maybe it will be a movie filmed or set in San Francisco, like the Maltese Falcon, or perhaps it will be a TV show, filmed in and near Stockton, like Sons Of Anarchy. We'll see what comes next!

Note: At the end of Play Misty For Me, when Evelyn is lying in the water, that isn't a stunt person that's floating, that actually is Jessica Walter! How excellent is that?

~Mood: Happy

~Me   :)

The Result Of The Trumpy Lumpy Winter Day Doldrums

"From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens: the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye."

~Katherine S. White

Last February, I decided to fight off the screaming Trumps, by venturing out with the camera. The world, after all, wouldn't end in the short amount of time it would take to drive around, and look for something, anything, that wasn't all about Trump! Or would it? Who knew, but I did know I needed a little while away from the crazy! As I sat behind the wheel of my car, I tried to think of one thing... just one thing... that he hadn't become completely, and irritatingly associated with! It has felt like he has insinuated himself into all aspects of day to day life, perverting most of them, but there had to be at least one thing that he hadn't managed to ruin! It took a moment, but then it occurred to me... flowers, yes, flowers... were the one thing he hadn't ruined for me!

But it was February! Where was I supposed to find flowers in February? I had a few roses by the garden fence, but they had a bit of winter chill burn on them. There were some silk flowers in my craft cabinet, but fake flowers, was a little too much like FAKE NEWS, to inspire any flight of fancy away from the topic I most wanted to ignore! What to do, what to do! Then I saw it, my neighbor's Magnolia tree was beginning to bloom, and the flowers were lovely! Eureka... there is my subject!

Did I mention while I sat in my car, contemplating which direction to go in, the sky opened up, and began to pour rain! The sky cried! Great, big, wet, tears of rain! Bigly! But not to fear, I simply picked up my Nikon, rolled the window down, and snapped away! I was photographing the Magnolias from a good distance, as it rained, and it was a bit foggy too, so the pictures didn't come out as nicely as I would have hoped for. The day I took them, I deemed them not worthy for posting, but upon a second look, I decided to work a little Photoshop magic, and enjoy them, and the memory of my day out of the Trumpy Lumpy winter day doldrums.

Thinking that my photos aren't good enough to post happens a lot. I put a ton of pressure on myself to get a preconceived end result with my photography, and when it isn't fully achieved, I let it sit in the file, until the end of the year when I have one last look with newly opened eyes. I like doing the occasional photo-shopped masterpiece, from photos gone astray. This year, I created a pretty nice Thanksgiving card, from a photograph that was less than perfect, and I got a couple complements on the artsy end result! And I also took a very blurry rural autumn country road scene, and turned it into an Impressionist painting! Again, with a few compliments.

The Magnolia in this post will probably be the last of the artistic disaster masters, for 2018. Well, at least I think it will be the last one, but who knows? There is always time for me to take my camera and veer off the rails again, but with a little luck, we will close out the "Oops Folder" with that pretty pink splash of late winter color! Imagine, beautiful shades of pink, against a deep blue cloudy sky! The only thing missing in the moment was New Age music, an aromatherapy machine, and a few well placed Omms.

Omm. Omm. OMM.

2018 Photo Editing Album

~Mood: Happy

~Me

Christmas Eve Cliffhangers

"Heartwork"

Each day is born with a sunrise

and ends in a sunset, the same way we

open our eyes to see the light

and close them to hear the dark.

You have no control over

how your story begins or ends.

But by now, you should know that

all things have an ending.

Every spark returns to darkness.

Every sound returns to silence.

And every flower returns to sleep

with the earth.

The journey of the sun

and moon is predictable

But yours,is your ultimate ART.

~Suzy Kassem

I haven't been feeling tip-top the last couple weeks. I am not sure what I have been fighting, but whatever it has been, it has been punching me down hard, and exacerbating my usual Fibromyalgia symptoms. So, when it came to Christmas shopping, I put a lot of it off, until the very last minute! Take for instance, Alan's Christmas sock, I waited until late in the day on Christmas eve. It had been raining on and off, most of the day, but after lunch, rain or no rain, I had to hit World Market for the last few items I needed!

After I finished at World Market, it was on to one more small stop and then I was homeward bound. Just as I was exiting the parking lot at the grocery store, I noticed an absolutely amazing sunset, in the western sky! Autumn has the leaves, but winter carries all that color in it's sunsets! Some of my favorite sunsets have been in winter, when the air is fresh and clear, and this sunset came after some rare wild weather, that left the air not just crisp and clear, but also carried the remnants of some rare Mammatus cloud formations that were very photogenic! I was only a couple moments from home, so as soon as I turned into the driveway, I grabbed my camera, and started snapping away!

It was thrilling to be able to not just photograph an amazing sunset, but a truly rare cloud formation, and if that isn't enough, I think I might have caught something in the clouds, besides clouds, how about a UFO... or possibly Santa Claus? Yep, that's right, there was something just a wee bit more special in that Christmas Eve sky... an object that I didn't see in the sky while I was photographing the clouds, but rather not until I uploaded the photos for editing! I had NO IDEA what the object was, so I sent the photo along to the meteorologist at KCRA TV. He didn't know what it was either, but guessed it might be a drone.

While a little less interesting, it's a lot more logical that it could be someone's holiday toy! Although, I don't remember seeing anyone outside when I was photographing the clouds, and it had been less than 10 minutes after the last, brief, yet torrential downpour, so I am not sure how many folks would have wanted to expose their drone to that much rain water, but you never know, perhaps it was a water resistant drone, I know very little about their features and characteristics! So, if we are approaching this from as logical a point as we can, drone seems to be the best explanation!

But it was, of course, Christmas Eve, so perhaps it was simply, Santa Claus! It could have been, I suppose, that jolly old guy, flying through the sky, off to deliver a doll, or a chewy dog toy, or maybe a drone to some lucky boy or girl! HAHAHA. Wouldn't that be ironic? Capturing a photograph of Santa Claus, delievering a drone, on Christmas Eve, after a rare storm? Wow, that's a lot of different storylines converging together, to make for one magical ending to the movie I am living in. Unless it's a TV show I'm in, and not a movie at all, in which case it isn't the end of show, it's merely a cliffhanger, until they get back to me from Mufon.

Oh yes, did I tell you I am submitting my photo to Mufon?

How cool is that?

Stay Tuned!

Anyone want to take a guess about what that object is?

~Mood: Happy

~Me    :)