Protector

My Valiant protector lights up the night warding off evil spirits.

My friends.

I am sick and so this is a picture taken of one of my stuffed animal paraphernalia shelves. They always make me happy to look at and rearrange and such.

Slats

Something a little artsy. I like how the slats in the chair and the snow covered slats in the deck are at different angles. It gives a little sense of depth

I'm finding it harder and harder to be motivated to take photos. Especially since my new camera is now out getting fixed they said it could take 6-8 weeks.

Tread on snow.

Some tire tracks in the lightly accumulated snow. I like the textures in this photo.

Twiggy tree

Photo for Jan 27, 2010
Some random bush that struck my fancy.

Soaring over Arizona

Daily photo for Jan 26, 2010
I flew home to Ohio today. It was an uneventful trip mostly cloudy with a few nice views of landscape. It was a long trip and I got really bored. So bored in fact I started practicing my shadow puppets

Snow through the Grapevine

Photo for Jan 25, 2010

Driving through the Grapevine in California. A few days ago this pass was closed due to snow. I just can't get away from the snow for very long.

Crazy Eyes

Photo for Jan 24, 2010
Someone had these painted eyes they were passing around. By far they made everyone look a bit crazy.

San Jose Seal

Photo for Jan 23, 2010
San Jose Seal...

I've been having some issues uploading photos so I have a back log of days.

San Jose hotel View

Due to internet issues I wasn't able to upload this earlier.... However this is the view from my hotel room. It is nice to see snow on the mountains :)

Rainbow somewhere near Salinas, CA. My nice cruise up the coast was filled with tornado warnings and torrential rain mixed in with the occasional sunny moment.

Rainy Los Angeles

Did not do much today. Ran about in the rain trying to stay dry :). Saw The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Good film if you like Terry Gilliam's movies. This picture illustrates just the amount of rain we were getting. We walked about 20 feet in this and were pretty well soaked, Fun stuff!

Coffee Cow

Upstairs at the Cow's End coffee house by the ocean.

In and out at the bar.

Sitting out front of the bar drinking a beer and watching the cars pass under the green glow of lights. It was raining so there wasn't a lot of people out and about and the patio was empty.



Leaving out the back the old men's room door rests discarded. I like the soft lighting it really contrasts the green in front.

Iraq War Memorial

A very touching memorial..
Every Sunday from sunup to sundown Arlington West sets up a series of crosses. Each white cross represents one military personnel killed in Iraq, The red ones are 10 and the flag covered 'coffins' represent the number killed this week. This week there were 9.
For more information -
http://www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org/

Sunset at the beach

Storm is coming. The sky tonight was amazing! However they say the rain will be intense calling for about 8 inches.. we shall see.

In other news...
I started today (about one am) enjoying a drink with my brother and some friends.


Then after a good sleep I went over to visit my friends Tim and Kristine in Torrance. They just had a baby (Little Emily is 5 weeks old today). Elizabeth is about 2 1/2.


Then a late Lunch with my brother and his friends at the shack in Playa Del Rey. I forgot my memory card so I didn't get any photos :(.

Now to relax and catch up :)

Beach day

First full day in Los Angeles I really can't choose just one photo to illustrate today so here is the series:


Seashells strewn across the sand.


Left behind skateboards. I guess the owners are taking a break to surf. There is a skateboarding area at Venice Beach. It was packed!


Surfers Enjoying the last hours of sun. The Pacific ocean is COLD!


Feet in the Pacific Ocean. It was COLD!! (but not as cols as snow)


Legal Graffiti wall on Venice Beach. There are several walls you can get permits to paint.


Sad Store. There was only a few racks of clothing in the shop I'm clueless if it was even open.

Reflections of an Airport

Departing Dayton, OH Airport for LAX. Excited reflection



Layover at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. Snoopy look like he is having a good time eh?

Warm and bright

Another day another sunrise :).

Remnants in the snow

As I was shoveling snow I think I disturbed a compost pile. Old forgotten leaves decaying by the hot tub now stirred up in the snow.


And you have a little Snowlady 5 days old. She has gone blind due to the brilliant glare off all that snow. (or maybe her eyes blew away).

Sunrise

Oh happy day the sun came out to say hello. Okay so it was brief but I still got photographic evidence!

Frosty trees

I have never been happier to have to wake up early and go into work on a weekend. I guess last night it got VERY cold and a Hoar frost occurred. It was so glittery and beautiful when I woke up I couldn't help but to take a few photos (even at the risk of running late). Then at lunch I took some more! Sadly the effect didn't last long and by the time I got home it was mostly melted. I was also shocked at how clear the roads were.. with all that ice I thought it would have been a bit more hairy.

Machinary

Today was a relaxing day for me but as I was out I passed this lovely piece of heavy machinery and thought 'why that looks quite photogenic'. I think it would make some really interesting decorations in the snow eh?

Photo taken somewhere in Kettering, OH .

Sushi before and after...

After a long week of work I invited a couple of friends out for Sushi.
Even my plate was smiling afterward! Really I didn't plan the plate to look like that.

Moving from left to right: you have yellow tail with scallions, spicy tuna hand roll, eel with avocado cucumber and eel sauce, and lastly spicy tuna roll. Nom nom nom!

Snowflakes Reflected

Again with two pictures... one night shot: a mini galaxy of snowflakes. The other: distorted trees reflected in the mirror.

When I was in high school I had this photographer instructor who assigned us a project with mirrors. Basically the project was to take a picture that uses the reflection of mirror(s) in some creative way. I recalled this project today while I watched snowflakes cling to my car window, thus inspired I decided to do some experimenting. I am mildly disappointed that most of the flakes are blurry but I really liked the distorted trees.

Another good photo - Me - a self portrait

The weather report says we shall be getting about 6 inches of snow by tomorrow. and a high of 20F BRRR!

Steamy snow and ice covered trees

I intentionally left these big to show off more icy detail, I hope no one minds.





I know I know I'm cheating by posting two pictures today. However in my defense I wanted to illustrate the beauty of steam and cold weather in a variety of trees. These were taken behind my work building. We have the generator (or some sort of machinery) that puts off a lot of steam/smoke into the air. Upon looking out the window I noticed that all the trees were flocked in this white ice. I will probably return to take better photos when the sun is out.

Snowy Park

Taken at the Washington Township Recreation Center. The foreground is a big lake which is now a big snowy ice field. They were still set up for their Christmas light display and it was neat to walk through it and see all the remnants of the display. Including the Hanging Santa Claus. Of course I doubt I'll see many children on this slide today!

I love the snow it makes everything look so fresh.

Snowy night

I'm going to predict right now that the next few days of pictures will be cold or other wise snow themed. What can I say it is all around me! Despite working, going to the gym, and the COLD snowy weather I still accomplished my daily photography!

I'm very impressed (and happy) with the quality of photos my camera is taking. My old camera could never take a nonblurry night picture without the flash.

Same picture taken with Flash

Icy hike in Yellow Springs, OH

Today in the spirit of adventure I drove out to Yellow Springs and went for a small snowy hike at Glen Helen. I was mildly apprehensive to be hiking over snow and ice but it was so beautiful that I just ignored my fear and trudged onward. That was until I got to the stream and the dam(?). I could see and hear a half frozen waterfall and I so wanted to go exploring but as I started to cross the stream I noticed the bridge went halfway then stopped, the next section being was ice covered rocks and water. My fear (and sense of survival) got the best of me and I turned away. The photo featured today is of the cave/waterfall across the river may it be a reminder of 'so close yet so far away'. Of course on the other path I got to see amazing icicles.

I had some amazing photos from today and it was very difficult to choose just one. So, I will cheat just a little and link you to a few others I really liked:

Icicles

Zoomed out view of the cave/waterfall off to the right you can see the bridge where I stopped.

Icy walkway

Ornaments

Today I deflowered my Christmas Tree while watching Batman. Typically it is adorned with a mixture of birthday stuff, squirrels, and shiny ornaments! The little baby on the box on the left is the gift chosen by my mother from the hospital tree when I was born. The squirrel globe on the top is my newest ornament being a gift this year from my sweetie. Lastly, the Squirrel and Snow Leopard on the bottom right are hand sculpted and painted per my and my sweetie's request.

The tree looks so desolate.

Giraffe's at the Greene

As I was walking about the Greene Mall in Dayton, OH I was astonished to find these lovely giraffe's admiring the christmas tree and lights. I feel lucky to have been able to capture these wild beasts and on such a cold evening!

Daily photos...

Welcome to my new blog...
For my recent Birthday I was given a camera and the inspiration to photograph my surroundings. I have hence decided to post one picture a day for the 2010 year. Each picture will be taken by me on the day specified.

The camera used will be my Canon Powershot S9 10.0 megapixels 3.8x zoom
it looks like this
(picture from Dec 31, 2009)