A Piece of My Mind

Blah.

Blah, blah, blah. Blahbeddy-blahbeddy. Biddle iddle oops, et cetera.

But mainly just blah.

I've thought about it, and I mean it.

Patterns

I have created another of those weeks with too much to do and too little time in which to do it. It's not like I didn't see it coming.

The previous weeks have been just as full so my prep time gets crammed into little places, usually referred to as "last minutes."

To change this would mean saying "no" much more often. I could, but I'm not sure I want to. I may be freaked out, but I am rarely bored.

Happy Kwanzaa

On Christmas day, John and I took a long walk with the camera. I love walking with the camera, but I especially love walking with John. His eye opens mine. His suggestions inspire me.

We found a lot of sights to enjoy including these cement pavers embedded in the median alongside El Molino just north of Washington. Someone had decorated them with positive thoughts.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. The (non-religious) holiday continues until January 1st. I enjoyed reading about it on several sites. Did you know the African spelling is "Kwanza" and the additional "a" at the end reflects the African American celebration? Now you do.

Kwanzaa celebrates seven principles. One of them is depicted here. The others are just good ideas for regular days.

Happy Kwanzaa!

iDo iMpressions

Every evening when the sun strikes at a certain angle, the mountains turn pink. I never tried to show you with my Olympus SP350, but I have a plan in mind to capture it with the Canon 20D when I'm good and ready.

But today the pink moment happened with clouds and I didn't have either camera with me.

If you live in Illinois or Alabama or Europe you may not think clouds are a big deal, but we don't get them very often in southern California, and excuse me, but do you get a pink moment with your clouds?

I took this photo with my iPhone. It doesn't do justice to the pink moment, but if you enlarge it you'll see it has a...well, an impressionistic quality. Yeah. That's it.

I added a little more pink.

Then I added a lot more pink. I'm not crazy about it.

So I tried blue. Yep. I got yer Monet right here.

Are we talkin' Hudson River School or what?

I like the gold, too. Very western. Chuck Monet, if you will. Hell, even if you won't.


For an excellent iGallery, visit Vanda at toadberry.

Free Time in the Bank

I don't think I'm giving away any trade secrets if I tell you I write my post the night before it goes up, then program Blogger to post it at 12:01 a.m. Usually I'm all organized and prepared. But sometimes the day has worn me out and I don't have a single pithy thing to say. Such is life, daily blog or no.

(What I mean is, I got nothin'.)

These are the times when it would be great to have several posts "in the bank," so to speak. You know, something pre-written and ready to go in case I'm out of ideas. I really need to get around to banking those. One of these days, when I get some free time.

Maybe this is a good time to say thanks to everyone who checks in, and to those who follow Pasadena Daily Photo.

(Yeah, yeah, that'll work. Try that.)

I love taking the photos, posting them and writing about them, and you all make it worth it. Thank you.

(Okay, well, it sort of worked. I should still bank some, though.)

Things the Light Does

I like this--the light in its variations, the way it slants this way and that, almost blinds you in one spot yet you'd almost miss it in another spot if you weren't looking.

I went to two parties yesterday. One was a memorial for the mother of a friend. I didn't know my friend's mother. I just wanted to be there and it was good to see some folks I knew and to meet some folks I didn't, and to just be part of the support. My friend held up pretty well most of the day. I think a couple of visitors surprised her. A card or two, with handwritten notes, blindsided her.

The other party was a festive, front yard birthday celebration for our neighbor. His wife made cupcakes and homemade ice cream. The kids performed a "Happy Birthday" parade, playing the music on tambourine and drum. They had to do it twice because the birthday man missed it the first time, taking a phone call from his brother overseas. The birthday man and his family are moving away soon. I'll miss them terribly.

Another of our neighbors is leaving as well. I already feel the empty spaces their departures will create.

Vivid Gloom

(2nd photo is a revision: per TallTchr's suggestion. I think it works. See comments.)

One thing I can say for June Gloom: it makes colors vivid. The only adjustment I made to this photo was to crop out some driveway.

I spent almost all day yesterday trying to learn how to sort photos in iPhoto. I made no progress. Wheeee! I don't know where my photos are, or where to put new ones. I'm sure I have a say in the matter, but I haven't figured out how to get iPhoto to listen to me. I got yer vivid gloom right here.

The bright side: there's not a single virus on this little Mac. And there's no spam in my inbox. Ha!

Plus I have a genius for a husband. He helped me figure out how to sort my photos without iPhoto, so there.

Most days I learn something. Yesterday I learned what I already knew.

Crane Shot

There's some construction going on down at the corner of Lake and San Pasqual. Anybody out there know what it's going to be? Right now it's all colorful cranes, hot sun and noise. (Though it's probably quiet today.) Near shopping and CalTech, it could end up being part of either one, or neither. You can awfully get close-up to it if you want to.

Sidewalk Stamp

As I promised yesterday, here's a Pasadena sidewalk stamp. This one's from contractor J.E. Haddock in 1928. A closer view is below.

You find these around town, from different contractors. They're not everywhere, just the older neighborhoods. Further study would tell us when these were most commonly used. If you know, I'd love to get your comments. My guess would be this began after 1900 and stopped before World War II.

Photography Lesson

Have you been to Izmir? You must go.

Izmir Daily Photo is one of my favorite photo blogs. Monoblog posts a work of art every day. I've given him so many compliments that he's seen fit to stop by here from time to time. When he saw my February 12th post, he sent this very kind email:

"I really like the photo of palm trees in your latest blog. But I can't help myself to give you a piece of advice. Sometimes cropping a photo is the simplest way to improve the composition of your photograph. So, the viewer will focus on the main image. I've cropped your image and I think cropped image has a different feel and focus. All the best...Monoblog."

"Well, of all the nerve," you might think, if you'd never seen Monoblog's photos. But my first thought was, "He likes my photo!"

Monoblog's crop shows a subtle difference, but a clear one. By cropping the excess sky and clouds and some unnecessary pieces of building, he allows the palm trees to take center stage. They are, after all, the subject of the photo.

In a further example of Monoblog's teaching, see how his simple crop brings the subject of my February 13th post more directly to your attention.


















Now, if you haven't done so already, go look at Izmir Daily Photo. One look and you'll know why I'm so pleased to accept all the tips I can get from such a fine photographer as Monoblog.