Wine & Guitars

I have never been much of a fan of people photography. Yet early this year, I was asked to document a wine-tasting event in Pasadena, and I agreed. It was so informal for me--no demands,just a few requests to make sure certain booths were included--that I enjoyed it much more than expected. And I personally ended up finding a niche I like in shooting people: the unaware moment. So interesting to observe others who aren't observing you, and capturing that blank or lost in thought stare that flashes only for a moment. I found that throughout the night I would first try to take a photo in this style before my presence was felt, and I had to make the obligatory shot complete with a pose or unnatural smile.

I actually find the last shot here, with the mix of aware/unaware parties, hilarious.



On a more recent note, the guitar in the first set of pictures was about to be put up on Ebay. I wanted to shoot it before it was gone forever, for purely aesthetic purposes.











The last guitar just happened to be in the same studio, so we played around with that one for some variety.

Big Bear Lake,CA

A morning after Oktoberfest in Big Bear Lake.

Davenport, CA

Davenport, CA was the chosen getaway this year for Labor Day weekend. Stayed at a house right across from the beach, got chased off some 'private' property, and had my major Hike of the Week at Big Basin Redwood Park in Pescadero (about 20 minutes north of Davenport).

35mm: Thai New Year

35mm: Central Park

Holga Update, Part II: New York

Just a few Holgas that I liked from New York so far...Love the gritty look from the Rockefeller Center one, and how the mountain goat one from the Natural History Museum almost turned into a painting.
However,I can't wait to see how the roll of slides I shot came out. Stay tuned...

Holga Update, Part I

So I finally picked out 4 rolls at random that I'd shot with the Holga to finally get processed. I can't believe how OLD some of these rolls were! The bear statue in Los Osos is from last June, and if you look back a few posts, you can probably guess the coast and tree shots are from around the holiday season of '09.
It's fun at times,though,to not know what you'll get.Like the times you find a $20 bill in a jacket pocket you haven't worn in months.

Polaroid Update

It's long overdue...but I've finally scanned my backlogged Polaroids, so what you see here is a mishmash of New York from March, San Francisco, and a random.

Wining Around Santa Barbara

Should have done these sooner since this trip was already about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately small digital pics are all that came from this trip. I decided to experience the wine and forego artistic expression for straight documentation.


First stop was at Summerland Winery in the small town of,well, Summerland. Had a good white wine I can't recall the name of, and an excellent petite Syrah.





Next was Bridlewood Winery in Santa Ynez. Best by far was a 2007 Viognier, and the scent...now I'm no wino, but I want to market that Viognier in a perfume bottle. And I'd probably be smelling my own wrists all day.



Loved their very friendly horses, too.











We'd wasted so much time getting ready to go, there was no way to make another winery before 5. So we putted around downtown Solvang, and even took the gimmicky horse drawn carriage tour.




We actually ended the evening back in Summerland taking our chances on a shady-looking saloon for dinner, and ended up having some exceptional calamari. And I don't even like calamari! Sorry, but the name of the place...is reserved for my most trusted confidantes.

Poppy Fields in the Antelope Valley

Yet another trip (just about a week after getting back from NYC) that turned gray and cold. But the good thing about poppies are...their color is all over. Even folded up, you can see that bright orange miles away. So naturally, this wasn't stopping me;I hadn't gone on my first trip to the poppy fields nearly an hour away just to turn back. Again,these are from the digital compact camera, as I still need to get to my film developing and scanning.

Oh! A bonus...came across joshua trees on the way back.