tranquility

I've taken these photos a while ago, maybe its the mood I've been in recently but they called out to me so I started to sell them on Etsy (photo 158 and 159).  They are calm and quiet... meditative in their own way. 
The photo of the wooden platform creates a place for thought.  If a photo made noise this one would be silent.

This photo titled "mountains" is the first photo that I'm selling that has a human figure in it.  I took it because of the apparent solitude of both Mt. Rainier and the man.  This photo has a lot more contrast in it than my usual style.

 

 

 

 

 

Two more sales!

Someone up there is looking out for me.  I was really feeling bad about my photos, even to the point of re-strategizing and looking elsewhere than Etsy to market my photos.  Staying on Etsy to sell my watercolors... one day I'll post them... when I feel comfortable with them. 
Anyways... thank you Wendy for the purchases!  I am again re-inspired to continuw with my photography knowing that there are people like you that appreciate my photographs!  
The two that were bought are two that I really like.  They were taken on the same day when I had time alone in NYC to walk around at my own pace for the whole day. 

Brooklyn Bridge - there are alot of photos oof the bridge but I tried to give it some soul:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other is called "cartesian" found books stuffed in a grid of shelves (photo#157):

yay!!! I made a sale today on Etsy!

For most people selling their wares on Etsy a sale might not be a big deal but this is my third sale on Etsy and I am estatic!!! Woohooo! doing the snoopy dance!  It makes me want to keep taking photos!

I was seriously feeling pretty down about my sales, which affects how I take photos.

"passage" is the first photo I took with my Canon D60 camera, and it's still one of my favorite photos!  It's also my first blog entry here.

Thank you SO much for purchasing my print Sherry! You've reinspired me to go out and work on more photographs.  "passage" will be on its way to you very soon! XO

shoe hanging... shoe trees

As a kid, I used to see sneakers on telephone lines in my neighborhood, they were a common sight, just part of my everyday urban environment.  However, I thought they were long gone, but I was totally wrong.  I came by one in the Lower Eastside of Manhattan just a few weeks ago and it brought back memories, soon after I returned to Washington from New York, I was on a rural road near Yakima and saw a tree adorned with sneakers.  Now this was new to me, I've never seen that.  I looked it up and there are apparently rules to shoehanging.   I suppose the shoe tree is the rural equavalent to the hanging shoes on telephone lines.

Here are the rules to shoe hanging/tossing/flipping according to Roadside America.

Aaaand here are photos 155 and 156:

"the hood"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"shoe tree"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swede Dreams: Dreamy Photography

Angie made a beautiful treasury including one of my photos.  I'm so flattered to be included among these beautiful photos.

Swede Dreams: Dreamy Photography: Admiring a few talented photographers on Etsy this morning. Dreamy rustic images...my favorite. May be a nice idea for Mother's Day gift...

tulips for mother's day

Rather than sending a bouquet of flowers to my mother this year, I think I will take a bit of the Pacific Northwest with me andsend her one of my photos (I think the first one).  There are a few tulip farms in Skagit valley near La Conner, WA.  They have a tulip festival every year during the month of April.  Pretty cool stuff as you can ride on your motorcycle or drive there and just hang out amongst the tulips.  Most places charge a small (really small) fee to get in and see their beautiful tulips.  I think it would be a great place to take the kids or visiting relatives.  Any visitors to the region who are here around April, go have a look at these farms!    Here's a link to their information:
http://www.tulipfestival.org/

Happy mother's day mom!

Photos # 150 - 154

red tulips in the wind

 

 

 

 

 

 

red tulips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

forgotten signs

I found these great handwritten advertising for sideshow acts in Coney Island.  Unfortunately, I don;t think they will last very long.  They are in the enterance way to a door that seems like it isn't used much and if so, isn't used with much care.  I didn't get a picture of the entire doorway but I did take photos of the the advertisments. I feel like I am in some way preserving the past with these pictures.  Hopefully whoever owns the property will save these little treasures:

Here are photos #'s 148 and 149:

"She Speaks 7 Different Languages"
https://www.etsy.com/listing/129728623/vintage-sign-photography-coney-island

"Your Handwriting Reveals Your Character"
https://www.etsy.com/listing/129728495/vintage-sign-photography-coney-island

Icons of New York City

I was back in NYC for a couple of weeks and had a fun time revisiting New York with a fresh set of eyes and photographing it.  I'll probably be posting a bunch of photos from NY over the next few posts. I have to thank time and distance away from the city to be able to do it... have I become a tourist? 

I'm going to try something new and make links to the photos on my Etsy site to see if it works as a way to view the images.  It's aparently good for my Etsy site to get links from ouside sources.  I'm clearly trying to get some exposure here.  So.. .here are photos 145, 146 and 147:

Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower: the Parachute Jump of Coney Island

The Brooklyn Bridge



The Flatiron Building



Please do me a favor and let me know how this works for you.

Thanks a bunch!

hanging on to the past - vintage cars

Kudos to all those who can restore cars.  It must take a lot of work, knowlege, ingenuity and patience.  I wish I had the know-how.  At best I can change the tire and fluids on my motorcycle and car but that's about it. I would get into trouble if I ventured any further.  Here are two trucks that could be contenders for a restoration project, but they are quite beautiful as they are.  (Photos# 143, 144)

fragile memories, vintage train signage

A couple of years ago, I came upon a train museum and took pictures of the trains and some signage on the cars, not thinking about how long these will last.  Here's the link to the post:

http://image1001.blogspot.com/2011/01/train-museum-snoqualmie-wa.html

I went back the other day and I was shocked to find that they had painted over the signage I had taken photos of.  It looked like they spray painted the whole car a bright yellow without much thought.

I made it a point to take as many photos as I can of the signage remaining on the other trains.  They may not paint over them so soon but nature is taking over these as there is little attempt to preserve the trains.  That being said there is definitely a beauty about the rusting sides of the trains.  What attracts me to them is the once man-made elements being taken over by nature.  The beauty of the traces of weathering and decay which cannot be made by hand...

Anyways, here are a couple of photos I took: photos # 141, 142

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

figural gestures at the corner of the viewfinder and Dr. Who

I've been shooting a lot with my tilt/shift lens.  At first it was to get used to using the lens and then I started to really like using the lens and it felt wierd using a standard lens afterwards.  The kool thing is that I started noticing that figures in the edges of the viewfinder were so distorted that they became figural gestures, some graceful and others somewhat looking like zombies.  If anyone reads this, I'd love to get some feedback about whether it is worth it to pursue more images like this???

According to Dr. Who: "look exactly where you don't want to look, where you never want to look.  The corner of your eye..."

These photos using a tilt/shift lens have not been digitally enhanced other than cropping and adding a border no photoshop filters involved.  Photos # 139 and 140

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

working out the kinks

Okaaay, so I opened up shop today on Etsy selling my photos. I figure on listing a few photos a day.  Please do have a look and let me know what you think.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/takOdesignstudio

Walla Walla, Washington

There is a place in Southeastern Washington known for its sweet onions,  more recently known for its wineries.  I know Walla Walla for its super-friendly people, and boy, there sure is a lot of farmland around.   Photos # 137 and 138.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

old school macro and leftovers from valentine's day

I was playing with my camera lens the other night by flipping my father's old Nikon 50mm lens over and manually holding it against my Canon D60 body.  I played with a bouquet of flowers that were around.  Photos # 132-136

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the edge of the world

A good friend and I went on a road trip to the Olympic Penninsula this weekend and ended up at La Push, Washington.  For those who were into "Twilight", it's right near Forks, WA. It's also home to the Quileute Tribe.

(Photo 131) The beach, called first beach, is essentially untouched and has piles of driftwood and "killer logs".  I felt a strong connection to this place, it is magical, healing, meditative, contemplative... this suited us well as the reason why we went on this trip was because my friend's wife just told him she wanted a divorce and his world just caved in.  The road trip was to be a distraction from his current situation and would give us hours to talk in the car.

Seven straight days of Bikram yoga...

For most yoga peeps, that's not much but I've never done more than three days of yoga in a row.  I usually stop after one or two days, wait a week and maybe I'll go for another day, if not, it'll be a month before I get back into it. 
There are so many great things about Bikram yoga, I won't even get into it.  Moving meditation, all good things for the body and mind... anyways, after coming up from camel pose, my vision usually gets blurry probably from being THAT close to passing out and the sweat mixing in with the tears in my eyes...
It's become an inspiration for me.  Here's photo number 130.  (it might seem like I skipped but I added three photos to the post "the motorcycle... the medium")

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

round and round we go - trying to get that brass ring

A while ago we went to Spokane, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains in Eastern Washington  We came upon a carousel which I later found out was built in 1909 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It apparently has 54 horses, 1 Giraffe, 1 tiger and 2 chinese dragons.   It's here that I found out that many carousels have a brass ring that you try to catch as you go by...  this ring thing is so existentially loaded!  I didn't even try to get the ring... perhaps next time...

So it was a dark room, a slow lens, and these things were moving pretty fast.  I thought these blurry photos came out to be the most interesting.  Photos 120 to 126:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all the possibilities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A new month... my client just informed me that my workload with them will become less at the end of the month.  So I have a month to find more architectural work or give in and work at an architectural firm.  Other options are to find a different source of income.  All the possibilities... frightening and exciting at the same time. (photo # 119)

Thanks Joe for getting back to me! I'm glad to know he got the photo and as he's a host for the major league baseball club here, he's offered me a tour of their all inclusive clubroom.  Nice!

calibrating myself

I never got a message back from Joe.  Expectations can lead to dissapointment.  I thought at least he'd e-mail back saying "thanks" or something.  Oh well... better keep an eye on those expectations.

So today I got back prints from my printer guys to calibrate my monitor.  They printed four 8x10's that I sent them to make sure I will get on paper exactly what I see on my monitor.  They were spot on! I'm so glad because I have no idea how to adjust my monitor settings on this laptop.  The printer's packaging was also beautiful, I'll definitely use them from now on.  See, I already refer to them as "my printer guys".

Here's another photo from yesterday's walk on the lakeside.  (photo #118)

Quinoa and Joe

Recently started cooking with Quinoa.  I used to crave going to Whole Foods and getting a Quinoa salad - now that we're making it ourselves I can't get enough of it.  Quinoa with everything!

Went for a walk in town (Kirkland) to take some pictures.  As I was walking back, a man I had taken a picture of earlier stopped me and asked whether I had taken a picture of him, and if I had, would I send him a picture.  I told him I did and I would absolutely love to send him a picture.

Here's to you Joe; hope you like it.  (photo #118)