Trip to Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji - Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Zen-Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, Japan One of the 1600 Buddhist temples in Kyoto (in addition to 400 Shinto Shrines). The history of this temple dates to the 1300's, though the building pictured was burned by a crazy monk in the 1950's, so has since been rebuilt. The gold helps purify negative thoughts (although apparently not that particular monk's). The little islands in the water represent land masses, the largest  signifying Japan.  Visually striking, to say the least!

fractured

self portrait

Blog, I have not forgotten you. I've been traveling a lot. Hopefully this means I'll be updating you retroactively. Here is a self portrait at a Tokyo press conference. I know it's cluttered and I'm obscured, and it's hard to know where to settle the eye, but that invokes the feeling of what these press conferences are like for me. Manic, innumerable people, trying hard not to have my vision completely obscured by the 100's of photographers more determined and ruthless to get a shot than I've ever been. Of course, you're not really seeing the other photogs and reporters in this picture, mostly just the extra people. I don't really know what all of these extra people do. I'm sure they're important, as the majority have clipboards and iphones, and stay busy seeming.  There are always a ton of extra people at every such event in Tokyo. It certainly makes said events crowded and chaotic...but what fun would it be any other way?

Hide and go seek

Though technically not something I shot within the past week, I did just process this picture recently. It's from October 6th. I was home for my grandfather's funeral and stayed with my sister for part of that time. We ran around with my nephew and the neighborhood kids a bit. Watching kids play is a great salve for such a sadness. Especially watching them hide in bushes that are completely open, and still get nervous and excited as you come to 'find' them. Kids are so innocent and naturally joyful, it's beautiful and healing to watch.

Paris

Derek and I had a little over an hour of freedom to walk around Paris by ourselves, and I took my trusty camera with the specific intention of getting a picture for this blog. After the time was over, I had one of those depressing 'I suck as a photographer and in life' moments because I wasn't happy with ANY of my pictures, despite being in the 'city of love'. Then Derek rolled his eyes at me and I got over it. Below is the best of a somewhat boring lot (there were actual people in some of the photos, but none worth showing). Probably the best thing I did was let the exposure go enough to give the water a bit of movement. I wanted the blaring sun but then decided it was too blaring. I wish I'd experimented with HDR a bit, to see what that would have done in this situation, but hindsight as they say... Anyway, at least the blog keeps me shooting in my off hours. Maybe it will help keep the romance alive. So there you have it below: the non-work part of my trip to Paris.

Andrea & Jay's wedding - Part 2

So here are my five favorites from the wedding itself.

I had 3 pics left on my CF card, and the official photog kindly let me snap them of Ange andJay before he went off and did his own crazy photoshoot involving trees and roofs. I include this not because it's any great pic of mine, but because they look so beautiful together. Subject matter, in this one, is everything!

Capturing a nice, natural moment with my nephew is near impossible these days, since he motors along at 10,000rpms. I was happy to catch this one of him and my lovely little sis, before he squirmed out of her arms to go running in circles again (but not before giving her a couple of kisses - I'll save those for facebook).

First dance...I like how most people are watching them, or at least smiling to each other about the dance (except the dude at the far left, who is glaring at me.)

Cake kiss!

Party time! The fact that I got a semi-sharp picture, in that low light, after so many swigs of vodka, is some kind of miracle. As you can see, I wasn't the only one having a good time! This photo is a fun 'where's waldo'. Can you pick yourself out?!

Andrea & Jay's wedding - part 1

So here it is: my little sister's wedding! I'm dividing this into two posts - today's - which is the hair, makeup and busride; and tomorrow (or soon thereafter), which will be the actual wedding. The getting ready is the most fun to shoot anyway, and I wasn't as drunk on chocolate vodka, so these are probably my best pics of the beautiful bride. Please click on the pics to make them bigger if you need to, blogger shows them so small...

The chaos of getting ready. This is one of my favorites, since everyone is so perfectly placed. I cheated just a little because Ange was facing away from me. I saw it all coming together and called out to her so she would turn. It worked beautifully and I don't regret it one little bit (sorry purists). It's my sister's wedding, not a photojournalism project. Plus, I was part of the wedding party, so I figured by her looking at me I'm 'in' the picture. That's my logic and I'm sticking to it.

Ahhh the mirror pic. Such a cheap trick, but a great one. Never gets old!

What we (and the environment) must suffer for beauty...

Beautiful bride-to-be on the bus. This was one of my few opportunities for a quick portrait session without stepping on the real photographer's toes (or time), since he wasn't with us as he'd hopped over to the boys. She's so beautiful isn't she?!

Ange's lovely ladies. Coolest busload of women ever!

Three for three.

Mexico city was a blur of buildings, people, crickets on guacamole, and color. But the most memorable day (out of many) was when we took a brightly painted gondola for a two hour canal trip to the island of the dolls. That's right, my sister's version of hell, Derek's and my version of photo heaven, an island populated by the spirit of a dead girl and hundreds of rotting, decaying humanoid toys. It's a place that can only exist in a country as spiritual and superstitious as Mexico, and a journey worth going on for anyone visiting Mexico City (the boat ride alone is its own adventure). For those of you who haven't seen Destination Truth, Julián Santana Barrera was a farmer who found a dead girl in the canal near the island where he farmed and lived. To placate her spirit, he collected discarded dolls and hung them everywhere. This worked for about 15 years, until he died (his nephew, Anastasio, claims in the very same place her body was found). We only ended up having a manic five minutes on the island, so it was hard to wrap my head around all the potential photo opportunities, but I knew I had to get a portrait of Anastasio, because anyone who runs an island full of haunted dolls is photo worthy.

A man takes a nap, his sleep undisturbed by the creepy dolls hanging all around him.

Some of the dolls (or various body parts) are strung on wires, others nailed to fences, and a few were just put up as heads on sticks. The variety of dolls, their various stages of decay, and the clever way in which they are strewn everywhere induced a spine tingling chill and feeling of awe despite the relatively small size of the island. I have so many more pictures of Mexico City that are blog worthy, but in an effort not to bore, I'll leave it at this, for now.

drumroll please...

...I've made it to my SECOND entry! I'm already ahead of my last attempt at blogging in 2010. These images are from September 26, and show another benefit of my job. One whole day off in LA to spend at the beach with my dear friends, the Roths. Their beautiful daughter Jalia is pictured here (she was the flower girl at my wedding, who excelled at her job, sprinkling flowers with gusto and awwwww-inducing cuteness). She loves the beach, and music, and many other activities not pictured here. These pictures are hardly amazing composition, but I think they're both nice moments, and let's face it, Jalia's adorableness is probably worth a blog all on its own.

let's try...again. and again.

A few people have been bugging me to have some sort of online presence other than facebook. They hint that the reason I don't is laziness. I say it's busyness, but they may have a point. Sooo...as a compromise, since a website at the moment seems a herculean task, I'm resurrecting from the rubble of disuse one of my old blogs. Probably the fourth or fifth blog I've begun and abandoned. For my first new entry, I've chosen this picture, not because it's great, but because I feel so wishful about it. This photo shows 'bat' bridge in Austin Texas (formally known as the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, but clearly 'bat' bridge is easier, more fun, and surprisingly descriptive). Bats live under the bridge, and each night during the summer fly out en masse, like a mysterious dark cloud spiraling into the sky, in the millions. This photo doesn't have any actual bats in it because work demanded I be somewhere else both nights around the time bats would have appeared; I think I missed them by about 15 minutes. But such is life and photos when paying jobs demand you be elsewhere during ideal moments of unique beauty. At least I saw bits of Austin, if at typical, frenetic pace. So this picture, like my blog, is wishful. The former, that it had a swarm of night dwelling creatures scattered in the light spaces. The latter, that this new start will stick - and will push me to be better. I just can't let work get in the way...or so I'm telling myself at the moment.