March 19, 2021, Sonoma Coast On the day I shot this, the waves were in 12 seconds sets. Five per minute. This was a typical inside wave. The real action was several hundred yards further out. This one was not the biggest wave ever. Probably only about four feet. But it was exquisite in its sculptural delicacy. A fleeting example of Mother Ocean’s ephemeral art. June 8 is World Oceans Day. Do something nice for […]
April 20, 2021, Silicon Valley As of yesterday, our home for 24 years is now in the hands of its new owners. We spent the previous afternoon sitting on the back deck one last time, eating falafels and reminiscing. Emotions were felt. Many. I brought a camera in hopes of getting one last shot at a hummingbird feasting on echium. It’s in full bloom, so it’s prime time. And sure enough. But before that, the […]
October 13, 2020 — San Francisco Bay, California The smoke had finally cleared and what was obscuring the view was not smoke but fog, which is the way it’s supposed to be. Boaters were once again out on the bay. Boats passing in the mist. During the worst of the weeks of smoke from the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma counties, we were seeing AQI numbers over 300 for days in a row. AQI […]
July 25, 2020 — San Mateo County Coast, California; September 20, 2020 — My Office Revisiting the same shot that was featured in the September 12 post. Same shot; different crop. Looking at this while absorbing the current scene led me to make the following observation: On either side of the line can be an infinity of nuance. But the line itself? Sharp. No ambiguity. That’s one reason why these views of the horizon bring […]
June 26, 2020 —Side of Mt.Tamalpais, Above Stinson Beach, Marin County, California ICM impression of an incoming fog bank. Years ago, someone — who was so much younger then — wondered what it was like to be inside a cloud. Years before that, another person — who was sooo much younger then — wondered what it was like to be inside the rings of Saturn. In both cases, wondering was more fun. A reminder that […]
July 14, 2011, San Jose Blues Festival, San Jose, California. Here’s a secret: I really enjoy doing performance photography. But it’s not a concentration: I’ve only posted performance photography twice before. The first was in my fourth blog post ever, on November 30, 2018. Today, for reasons that might already be obvious, I’ve decided to post another. This is Ruthie Foster. She grew up with music in her genes and in her early teens she […]
August 13, 2006, Big Sur Coast, California / June 27, 2017, Silicon Valley, California Gray day. The streak on horizon was the appeal. It was all there was. Shoot. Crap shoot, really. This was long before I was shooting RAW, so no direction home in editing. Gray on gray on gray. Blah. Nothing. Ain’t it hard when I discovered that it really wasn’t where it’s at… It sat in archives for almost nine years. One […]
April 7, 1949 — The Majestic Theatre, New York Lt. Cable: “It’s not born in you. It happens after you’re born. You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear You’ve got to be taught from year to year It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear You’ve got to be carefully taught You’ve got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin is […]
May 28, 2016. Silicon Valley, California (Photo May 30, 2015, Sonoma County Coast.) While thinking about what to say in a notice to family and friends, I recalled something that I’d read or heard that the number of nicknames one has for someone is a mark of the degree of affection that one has for them. That got me and the Muse to thinking… Here’s what we recalled, in no particular order: Chewy, Chew, Chewbacca, […]
Northern California Chewy’s last year was testament to the way life works and to the fact that it eventually comes full circle. No one is exempt. He had various maladies and he had great vets. One thing that really cramped his style was arthritis. Someone told us about a holistic vet in Los Gatos who did acupuncture treatments. Our attitude was, “it can’t hoit” so on January 16, 2016, we took him. As it happened, […]
All over the world Every year, our friends and family waited with bated breath for our Christmas card. Every year we presented a photo of far-flung locales with the Muse and I and the boy. Sometimes the scenes happened almost as shown. We began the tradition in 2007 on the Sonoma County Coast. I told a business associate that we had to rent a helicopter to get the tree onto the rock. She believed it. […]
May 14, 2020 — The Back Yard, Silicon Valley, California Every April/May I engage in the Hummingbird Ritual. It’s a simple ritual, mostly involving standing around with a heavy camera/lens combo waiting for hummingbirds to feed on echium blooms. This requires four ingredients: Me, Heavy camera/lens, Purple echium blooms, and a Hummingbird. Thing is, despite shelter-in-place, my schedule has been less than accommodating, which has effectively removed the “me” ingredient for several weeks. When I […]
May 12, 2020 — San Mateo County Coast, California Driving has always been allowed in California. There is simply nowhere worthwhile to park. All state beach (meaning “beach”) parking has been blocked. But there had been rain (finally) and the sky promised to be interesting, I drove to the coast to try my luck. I was expecting reasonably good surf for wave photos. Six to nine feet was the forecast. I was pumped. The very […]
September 19, 2006 — The Kitchen OK. I conned him into posing: camera in right hand, treat in the left. He did get the treat. (To be continued after a break for different subjects…) (Canon 20D; Canon EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM. Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
Various Dates — Various Beaches in San Mateo and Sonoma Counties, California Labs and poodles are both water dogs, so you would imagine that a labradoodle like Chewy would love the water. Kind of. He loved the beach. That’s for sure. We didn’t let him swim in the ocean because much of our coast has a murderous undertow. You go out. You don’t come back in. But he loved to run on the beach and […]
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