Archive for January, 2010

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January 31:
Convention – Left

31 days of posts. When I started this project I thought I’d be lucky to last a week. I shot the hell out of my camera that first week, building up a well of RAW images to process and post when I got too busy for daily walks and rides. The well has never run dry, and in fact now has more images in it than it did at the beginning of the month.

I have found parts of my creativity that I didn’t know I had. I walk the streets seeing more, constantly on the prowl for the unusual, the different, or the differently interesting.

February looks to have more interestingness, and maybe a little less convention. I’m settled enough into my place to take the bike out for some rides this week. I wonder what I’ll see.. .

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January 30: Arteries

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of looking up. Freeways are the lifeblood of Southern California. They carry us around the massive sprawl of the megalopolis. Wide swaths of cement and steel sometimes flowing fast and sometimes slow, they whisk us away from the rougher edges of town high above the hustle and grime of the surface streets below.  But the hustle and grime is where the interesting is, and  life is better when you get off.

January 29: Sunbeams and Overpass – Glendale California
I just liked the light and the textures on this. Not much to say today, I am getting settled into the new place, the gas got turned on yesterday and I will have my internet back next Wednesday. I’m hoping that I’ll have time to do a little exploring this weekend. We’ll see how it goes. Now I’ve gotta get back and do more unpacking.

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January 28: Tree and Sky
I am still internetless for who knows how much longer. Fortunately Starbucks is close so I can at least get on to check my mail and put these up. The gas man turned on my heat and hot water and stove today, and Quinn will be coming over tomorrow so life is improving by the minute.

January 27: Living Room

Everything I need is right here in this frame.

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January 26: Transitions
I’m moving. I’m living between two house, my computer is in three boxes and my cameras in two more. My internet will not be turned on until the 11th of February, but dammit I will post my picture of the day.

Location: Starbucks – Long beach, California.
Camera: HP Netbook built in webcam.
Attitude: “If there was a problem yo I’ll solve it.”

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p.s. Happy Birthday, Wendy! You’re the best sister ever.

January 25: Get on Board

There’s a lot going on right now. Turmoil and opportunity, lost sleep and sweet dreams. No matter when you find yourself, it seems there is always a lot going on right now. Sometimes when the train arrives and you are cold and blue and wet, all you can do is get on board and trust that it’s taking you to a better place.

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One of my readers has a great craft/trinket/jewelry/cool stuff blog and thought one of my shots was interesting enough to share with her readers. You should go check it out here. BlueBird Delux is a blog about “…finding sweet inspiration and plenty of handmade happiness” and its a nice place to find cool things for yourself or for a friend.you should definitely go check it out.

Thanks Eileen!

January 24: The Donut Mystery

Somewhere at a Buddhist retreat in Southern California, the students enjoyed a simple breakfast of donuts and milk. Upon finishing their treat, the teacher asked the students, “Which is better, eternal bliss or a donut and an ice cold carton of milk?”

One student who had come to the retreat specifically to find eternal bliss was quick to answer his teacher “Bliss, master, for while I was stoked to partake in the puffy goodness of the donut and am grateful to the cow for her gift of milk, they do not compare to the bliss one will experience in the hereafter.”

The rotund teacher smiled. He had traveled many miles to teach this retreat and had experienced both the idea of life’s bliss as well as the reality of its donuts. “You have much to learn young one, watch me eat this donut while I explain.” he said reaching into the box for a big coconut dusted ring. “You see, sometimes life is a simple matter of reasoning. You would agree that nothing beats eternal bliss right?”

“Yes, master, nothing beats eternal bliss.” The student answered, leaning forward to smell the flakey pastry as the teacher picked off bits of coconut eating them one by one.

“And you would have to admit, that while they do not hold much in the way of nutrition a donut is surely better than nothing.”

Again the student agreed drooling at the site of a previously hidden old-fashioned in the bottom of the box. “Yes master, a donut is much better than nothing.”

“Well then,” said the teacher, “If nothing beats bliss, and a donut is better than nothing, then we can say with certainty that a donut is better than eternal bliss.” and with that he popped the last of his donut in his mouth, snapped the lid shut on the box and stood up. “Be sure to clean up the crumbs, brah. I’m going to go see if that cute front office girl wants a maple bar.”

January 23: The Lobby of the Pacific Electric Building

On of the first things that attracted to me this building was the the lobby. with Zebra Patterned rugs, art deco elevators, and red frosted lights shining down, it was a flower of funky in a field of corporate look alike “soft-lofts” Once I saw the dog run up on the roof I knew I had found a home. Eventually they took out the red panels in the lights, found some nicer carpets, spruced the place up, etc. But I always like these lights so during one of our many storms this week I went downstairs and played around with my SLR and a lensbaby.

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January 22: Blue Line

The Los Angeles River is a 50 mile long concrete banked waterway that runs through the City of L.A. from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach. The river is usually a slow moving stream snaking its way through the city. Sometimes though, after a big series of storms like we’ve had this week, it really turns into a river.

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This shot was taken on the Metro Blue Line train to Long beach between storms. Nearly everyone on the train got up to look out the windows at our mighty roiling river.

For more information about LA River restoration, visit the Friends of LA River.

January 21: Man With Shopping Cart

January 20: Gatekeepers
David is a gatekeeper. He lets  people into the building, and keeps people out of it. He makes sure that people get their pizzas delivered, and their subpoenas denied. Security is not locks and alarms; it is good, smart, thinking gatekeepers like David who have been around long enough to know who belongs to a place and who doesn’t.   Thanks David.

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January 19: Walt Disney Concert Hall in the Rain

Everybody shoots this building. Flowing shapes and textures make it almost as easy as that flower. I’ve always wanted to get a shot of it in the rain though, and so in the middle of yesterday’s storm, I tucked my good camera inside my rain coat and walked up the hill. Flat exposures like this are easy for the camera’s internal meter and I already knew the look I wanted so I set the Canon to aperture priority, pushed it two stops over, and with the rain pouring down around me, grabbed a few frames before tucking the camera back under my jacket and hurrying to a sandwich shop to see what I had caught. What a beautiful rainy L.A. day.

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January 18: Broadway and 7th Street – Los Angeles

There is constant talk about “revitalizing” this part of downtown, and yet on any given day you will find the street crowded with shoppers and merchandise spilling out onto the street. But the shoppers are mostly brown and the stores are small mom-n-pop operations and boosters don’t always pay attention to brown people.

Many of the revitalization hopes are built around the idea of fixing up the old historic theaters, adding more parking, putting in a street-car system like the original red-line that ran out of the Pacific Electric Building, and bringing more shopping and nightlife to the area. All of those seem like great ideas, but I always wonder how do we encourage those things, but still keep the community that is already here?

Its the age old conundrum of gentrification: property values go up, crime drops, and more people move into the area; but at the same time, a bit of the soul of the place dies. We don’t need downtown to be another Robertson, another Grove, another Americana. Can we bring in nightlife, entertainment and dining, but still keep the daytime vibe of the neighborhood?

In other news: when I started my ‘picture of the day’ posts I didn’t plan to do street photography, but I’m really having a great time getting out and about snapping away at the world around me. I feel like I’m waking up again, seeing the possibility in pictures – their power, their feelings, their memory. We’re only 18 days in and I can already feel the project affecting me. I’m excited for where the journey has brought me so far and looking forward to the rest of the year. I hope you are too.

Street shots are traditionally black and white and yet I like the color in my shots. Today I’ve included both the color version, and a duo-tone. which one do you like better?