In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
Stacy arrives for our 7:30am walk around MHCC, before the rain.
While waiting for Connie, Stacy and I chatted with a neighbor. At first I thought, What great spikey hair this man has.
Stacy, Take a photo of me wearing the spikey hair.
Making the most of the Westin fairway hills to get some burn.
A brief glimpse of snow covered San Jacinto on our rain free walk.
Out the door for a 7:30am walk with Connie.
View in MHCC around 8am on walk.
Shot at stopsign from my car.
Leaving home to pick up Sherali at 5:30pm.
Shame on me for using my point and shoot on-camera flash, after having just finished the Speedliter’s Off-Camera Flash workshop where I learned just how horrible on camera flash is.
Busy working their phones one minute before start of meeting.
Two stoplights from home.
Yesterday I attended a one day long intensive off camera lighting intensive with Syl Arena. I’ve followed Syl’s blog called Pixsylated for about a year. I jumped at the chance to drive so close by and attend this workshop as I REALLY want to learn more about light and lighting.
I’ve been secretly drooling over, but way too scared to take one of, Joe McNally’s lighting workshops which would require lot’s of $$ and more time away from home. When I saw Syl’s Speedliter’s Intensive – Canon Flash Seminar in Phoenix listed on his blog, I didn’t hesitate. I signed right up.
I arrived at the seminar/workshop a little early and noticed Syl parked outside beginning to empty his car getting ready for his 12 registered attendees. I’d parked at the far end of the parking lot. I watched him unpacking. I was a little nervous and didn’t want him to see me there so early. You know, I didn’t want to give away how excited I was. Silly, I know. But that old idea that I don’t want you to know how I’m really feeling dies hard. ‘Cause if you know what I’m thinking, what I’m really feeling, I don’t have the upper hand or you can hurt me or something like that.
I did what I was not comfortable doing, walked over to Syl and introduced myself. I knew from the first words out of his mouth, he was the real deal, meaning, he is humble, confident, engaging and easy to be around. Entering the amazing converted photography studio called Legend City made me feel the adrenaline rush I live for when I’m first learning something new. I had arrived. A photography studio that I was actually going to learn/do some photography work in rather than visit. Wow.
I had a great day. I highly recommend attending one of Sly’s 14 remaining 2010 Speedlighter’s Intensive Lighting Workshops. Learned enough that I now feel comfortable to jump in and experiment with lighting equipment and practice, practice, practice.
Hopefully some of the many photos I took throughout the day shooting Sly and the other attendees will tell the tale of just how special the day was. I never know why I shoot people “doing” things, but I do. Shooting while the workshop was going on was no different. I do know one thing, I rarely get photos of me taken so maybe I project that other photographers rarely get photos of them taken. I also knew Legend City has a special meaning to Syl from childhood days, AND, this was Syl’s 1st of 15 Speedlite Intensives.
What I liked most about Syl and this seminar was how relaxed and available he was throughout the day. Being the least knowledgeable of the group, Syl’s ways helped me relax enough to hear and understand what he was teaching. He has a very fun and interesting, clear, and organized way of communicating. If a teacher is all over the place I tend to get lost.
I realized yesterday, that I am very comfortable shooting people; I actually like shooting people and, I also feel comfortable being shot. Maybe I’m onto something here. When I’m going through change, I never know where I’m headed until I’m more on the other side of the change. I wonder if this is one of those times.
Here is Syl.
Awww. Thanks so much Syl.
Everyone was interested, ALL day long.
Inside one area of the Legend City photography studio.
I’d forgotten the time change in Phoenix. I did arrive before it was dark though. Checked out where I’m supposed to meet for the photography lighting seminar tomorrow at 8am. I’d not made a reservation before I arrived tonight so I spent quite a bit of time checking out a 5 square mile area for a room and a dinner place. The Fairview Marriott is home for the night, and I ate at a restaurant named Twitch within walking distance. I’m settled in now and will go back to my room to fall asleep reading photography books.
I sponsor Sandi, Sandi sponsors Joan, Stephanie and Diane. It was Joan’s 2 year birthday and Joan took us all to dinner at Kobe’s tonight. Dinner was incredibly good. Kobe’s is located near Frank Sinatra and Hwy 111. We stayed out later than I’d anticipated as we all were laughing and scratching. A wonderful night with some very special ladies.
Tomorrow I drive to Phoenix to attend an all day photography lighting seminar on Saturday conducted by Syl Arena. I can’t wait. I spent a couple of hours today watching another lighting tutorial, a 3 DVD set called OneLight Workshop by Zach Arias I’d bought about 9 months ago. I remember watching one of the DVD’s when I first received the set but had trouble understanding what I was trying to learn. Today I pulled the OneLight set out to watch hoping I’d get a jump start to help me better understand the intensive lighting seminar on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to find I understood so much more since the last time I watched the DVD set. What a thrill. I don’t know what it is with my fascination with lighting but I’ve had the bug to learn it for a while now. I’m glad I signed up for the seminar.
Here are some “on camera flash” shots from this evening at Kobe’s with the girls.
L-R Diana, Sandi, Stephanie and Joan.
Sandi and her gals.
Three generations of family.
Yummy dinner at Kobe's.
There was a sign outside the restaurant saying, "Feed me, they are too cheap."
Below is a window into my morning, viewable through this morning’s writing.
I am seated in the comfy chair/ottoman combo writing morning pages. From this chair I easily see inside the bathroom. Ray’s in the shower. I wonder if seeing him in the bathroom will be a distraction.
I begin to write morning pages. Within two sentences, I begin writing about what Ray is doing now that he is out of the shower.
What catches my attention is how much faster and easier he is dealing with the morning ritual of getting ready for the day.
Here’s where my morning writing then went:
“Ray is showering and this probably isn’t a good time for me to be writing morning pages. Focusing will be difficult, if not impossible, but I want to continue my discipline of 20 minute daily writing. I know if I say that I’ll do these pages later, later won’t be the right time to do pages either. They won’t get done.
I have an appointment at 11am to watch how a Real Estate photographer shoots houses. He’s shooting one of Sandi’s new listings nearby and she called to ask him if I could watch how he does his work.
My mind now goes to Ray……
Ray is out of the shower. As usual, he has dried most of his body before opening the shower door, except for his lower legs. He bends over, lifts the right leg up, rests it a top the bathtub, mindful of bending from the waist, while draping the towel over his lower leg to start a regular routine of drying from his toes up to his knee.
Long writing details short, the rest of my morning pages (rest=not the full 20 minutes) was spent describing in full detail, the remainder of Ray’s morning routine as I continued watching him this morning. Happily, with a very different energy, he got ready to join his golfing buddies for nine or more holes of golf. This will be the first time Ray plays with “the guys” since his hip replacement surgery 3 months ago, October 13th.
Once finished getting ready, Ray walked by me as I was writing, saying, “Oh, you’re writing morning pages. You haven’t been writing them like you used to.” I then started reading what I had written about his morning routine and he just smiled as he left to go play golf. I didn’t get the, “You aren’t going to put that on your blog are you?”
Hmmmmmmm. I thought to myself, you could blog about Ray’s first day back to golf.
Next thought, hurry, go get your camera and follow him out the door to get some photos of Ray getting into his golf cart, in case you do decide to use this as today’s blog.
So there you have it. A day, or morning, in the life of Linda and Ray.
Never have seen Ray happier.
Off to work!
When I showed Ray this photo he said, "See I transferred my weight."
Ray and I decided to walk later in the day today around 4pm. I brought both cameras with me, the small Canon Powershot A650 and the Canon 40D fitted with a zoom 18-250. I really intended to stay with Ray on the walk. But I was looking for shots for this new 3 month Photomotivation Class that’s just started. It’s not really a class. Here’s what my teacher, Carol, says about this class: ” Every Monday for three months you’ll receive a different idea, with tips and suggestions and recommendations for shooting, as well as a bunch of photos to further explain the concept. It’s a mini-photo lesson, encouraging you to max out your seeing skills, with techniques and ideas that will stay with you the rest of your photographic life.”
Once I start looking for photos I lose track of everything, even where Ray is. I noticed Ray way up ahead on the street and almost caught up to him but just had to take another photo. In total I shot a little over a hundred today. Not far from home, while talking on the phone, my neighbor walked by in the opposite direction I was walking. I made a U turn, ended my call and joined her for a mile plus as I hadn’t really gotten any exercise in on my walk.
Ray called me while walking with my neighbor, (another Carol), and said he was worried about what had happened to me. When I got home he wasn’t happy and asked that when we say let’s go on a walk, we go on a walk…….together. Ooops.
I posted these and a few other photos from today’s walk on our Photomotivation class online yahoo group and thought I’d share a few with you here. Why don’t you think about signing up for this class? It’s only $39 for 3 months. Then we can compare what we shot.
This week’s subject to shoot is called the Pooch-Cam. We shoot photos from a dog’s eye perspective, holding or placing the camera near the ground while shooting.
Left Dennis Olgas Salon today and walked back in to take this photo.
Leaving the Salon this car caught my eye and I got down low for a Pooch-Cam shot.
Leaving our house for a walk, I tried to take this Pooch-Cam photo while Ray walked by.
On our walk tonight, before I got distracted taking photos and lagged behind Ray.
4:45ish and the sun is just about to drop below the mountains.
Shot taken with a flash, just before I met my neighbor Carol who was out walking. I joined her for another 1+miles.
Initially I was going into LA to spend the night with Taye in the hospital. But I received a call just before she was admitted this morning saying she’d be in ICU following her surgery today and no one is allowed to stay the night there.
So I got to attend Margaret’s artwork showing at the museum after all. She’s good isn’t she?
I felt uncomfortable using my larger Canon in the museum and chose to shoot these photos (very quickly and obviously without much thought) with the Canon Powershot A650.
Margaret's artwork displayed at the Palm Springs Museum.
More of Margaret's neck pieces in display.
I am more than unsettled tonight as I realized my wallet containing many credit cards and D/L is not in my fanny pack. I sure hope the nail salon has it.
I did get out today with my big girl camera, but I was lazy and only walked outside my door to shoot in the last 45 minutes of sun. Because I’m bored with the lack of variety here in this sterile community, I changed to the 50mm lens and extension tube hoping I’d see something fun when I got in close.
At first I tried shooting some close ups of cactus but getting as low as I needed to get was killing my back. I lengthened the tripod to eye level, hence the following shots.
Shooting Bougainvillea is always problematic. The white flowers are usually blown out. Because I shoot these flowers up real close, the depth of field plays havoc with not enough of the flower being in focus. This afternoon I only shot subjects that were flat, where all points were about the same distance from my lens. I found out what appears flat isn’t always flat.
Here’s what the settings were for the Bougainvillea shot: 1/320 sec at f5.0, -1 EV, ISO 200.
The difficult to photograph flower, the Bougainvillea
I shot the Eucalyptus leaf at 1/500 sec at f 5.0, -1 EV at ISO 200. (I think I forgot to change the -1 adjusted exposure compensation back after shooting the Bougainvillea.)
Eucalyptus leaf illuminated by the last minute of sun.
Another attempt at getting the right exposure on the white flower.
Photo from two days ago:
Our sunsets have been beautiful for the last couple of weeks.
Quincy arrived yesterday and spent Friday night and tonight too. Last night Quincy spoke at the Cornfield meeting. They loved her.
Linda and Quincy ready for the meeting last night.
Today started out with Quincy reading some inventory, followed up with giving Quincy a short lesson on how her Canon G7 works, a quick lunch of food Ray had picked up yesterday from our favorite lunch place, a walk around the block with our cameras, a movie followed by a visit to Borders in the River complex, Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks and a quick visit inside the Verizon store.
Hanging out a Borders after having seen the movie, The Young Victoria.
Can't believe this was Ray's idea. Ray and Quincy after having eaten a sugar free ice cream instead of dinner.