To Be a Child Again

For years I took advantage of being able to stay with Ingrid and Michael on 14th Street and visited New York City once or twice a year. I took these photos 20 April 2006 when Central Park burgeoned with spring flowers and kids and their parents escaping from their apartments to enjoy a glorious spring day.

Monon Trail in Autumn

I took these photos late afternoon 8 November 2008 on the Monon Trail north of 86th Street. I was trying out my 50mm lens with the Canon D20. I missed being able to zoom and crop the picture that way but got used to moving me and my camera instead of the lens zoom. The lens aside from the glass is plastic so is very light. Otherwise I did not see much of a difference in the photos themselves. I should try the lens out with the Canon D5 and see if it takes better-resolution photos with the large 1.8 aperture.

In the studio, I got used again to moving the camera instead of zooming the lens when using the 50 mm. I was glad to see I didn't have to be far away from the subject to use the lens which in a digital camera has the equivalent length of 80 mm. It might find its best use when I shoot models indoors. Then I can be more creative with the lighting because the lens is reputed to shoot without added lights in dark environments. In fact I tried using it today to shoot a plate presentation not using any lights. Unfortunately I hand-held the D20 and my hand was not steady enough. The resulting photos were too blurred to be of much use.

Lenny Revisited

I met Lenny at the gym this evening. He said he couldn't open the photos in the password-protected site I launched for him. I told him to try it again and if he was having problems to let me know.
I processed a dozen or so images from the shoot with Lenny after I learned about color correction with Photoshop. I did a handful of his other photos and then went on to other projects.

When I got home tonight, I decided to look at the images from the shoot with Lenny. I have learned considerably more about processing images on Photoshoot since I last worked with this photo shoot. I am amazed at how far I have gone. Images that appeared terrible back then now are easily brought up to publishable condition.

Pomegranate Dreaming

The last few days have been kitchen days. The weather has been unseasonably warm with plenty of sunshine lighting up trees that just now are turning to reds and yellows. It's the good life.

Last Sunday, ostensibly to show Audrey how to make pie crust, we gathered after meditation for lunch, an afternoon movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth on Blu-Ray), and an evening snack of fresh peach pie. Yummy!
For Sunday, I modified a recipe for eggplant Parmesan by introducing a lower layer of lasagna-style ricotta cheese. For lunch today with Tony, I made quiche for the first time in some fifteen years. I wanted another vegetarian meal so instead of making the traditional Quiche Lorraine that I used to make, I substituted giant white asparagus with sautéed white onions and scallions with thyme. It was a meal from paradise.

We have not had a killing frost yet so I still had upland cress on the deck outside the living room. I brought in two pots of Italian parsley and a pot of Vietnamese (purple) basil. So far they are surviving in the south-facing window seat in the bedroom.

So salad today was red-leaf lettuce, cress, English cucumber with a very light dressing of aged balsamic vinegar. For dessert we had organic apple slices, whipped cream and raisins braised in coffee liqueur, Kahlúa.

Unplanned Visit to Venice 2008

My visit to Venice was not in my plans for the trip to Italy last May. It was a result of happenstance but the weather was much better than it was in 2007 when it was rainy and cloudy. Photo opportunities often present themselves unplanned and totally delightful!

I was traveling with Francisco for whom this was his first trip outside of Mexico and the U.S. Our itinerary was all messed up when we checked in at the Indianapolis Airport. We had nine hours wait time at the Marco Polo Airport. From visiting Venice just last fall I knew the airport was half an hour by water taxi but also knew buses could take us Venice by the land route. We decided that instead of waiting at the airport we would be adventurous and go the city as most tourists don't go: by ACTV bus.

These first photos were shot along the way from the airport in Tessera to Piazalle Roma, the terminus for land vehicles headed for Venice. At this huge terminal, all the passengers including Francisco and me disembarked to take water taxis into the city. This was the first time Francisco displayed the Italian he learned in school. For words and phrases he didn't know, Spanish apparently worked almost as well!

Personal Images

I had friends over yesterday for the feast of Todos Los Santos. Ostensibly we gathered so Audrey could learn to make pie crust. She had talked before about wanting to make peach cobbler and a pie was a step-up.

I was so focused on making things flow that I didn't think about taking pictures until late afternoon in a break in the frantic activities. I set the Blu-Ray player to show Journey to the Center of the Earth while I washed the pots and pans, finished the pie, and put the kitchen back into manageable disarray. I could have used the Canon 20D and checked out the pop-up flash since I got it back from repairs but instead used my cheap, generic flash with the Canon 5D. The picture of Audrey was the best of the lot.
There is an opportunity to prepare photo images for an actor who had paid me to shoot head shots. He has signed up for a local agency that wants him to submit a CD of 30 to 40 images the agency will use to print various comp cards. I am still deliberating whether to take the job.

I point myself in the direction I want my life to go but I am much more open to what actually happens. I continue to enjoy taking photographs.  I believe enjoying the work activity is the most crucial part of work. I also believe work will create its own design. My sole responsibility is to take responsibility for each day.

Broad Ripple Color

Friday was an energy-high day, and warm - 69° by four in the afternoon. I took time off from office work to pick up mail at my Broad Ripple office and then shoot pictures along the White River and waterworks canal in the area. 

The sun was already low in the sky when I started shooting presenting some interesting shoot dilemmas. Where it still shone, the light was yellow, the last rays of the "magic hour."