Words To Live By

We went into a store in Los Angeles that sells all these signs - billions of them, it seems. Words to live by. Words like: "Changing the toilet paper will not cause brain damage." Such words of wisdom seem so valuable as we say goodbye to 2012 and welcome the new year. Believe it or not, I was able to resist buying any of these, but you can peruse the signs in the window and see if there are any that apply to you. Happy New Year!

Sunlight & Shadows at the Getty

One of the photographic exhibits at the Getty Center was a collection of black & white photographs that made use of strong light and shadows. It's funny about getting immersed in a large photographic exhibit - I find that when I leave, I end up seeing the world in a new way as a result of the photographs that I saw. That was the case here, and I found myself looking for shadows as the subject of a photograph. So while looking at the late afternoon sun shining through this tree on the plaza, I became aware of the shadows of people going up and down the stairs. So I sat there and kept taking photographs as the people moved up and down the stairs, and then chose this one as the most interesting.

A Sunny California Morning

I got up a bit early one morning at Liz and Sara's home, and walked into the kitchen, and saw this scene, ablaze with early morning sunlight. There was something wonderful about the feeling of all this sunlight. My friend Jim who lives in California is always ribbing me about "Sunny California." Usually right after a blizzard here in New York!

Seis Cuerdas

Back to the Promanade in Santa Monica. There are changing performers every day, and we were lucky enough to come by when these two flamenco guitarists were playing! Wow! We stood rooted to the ground as they played for a while. I took some different views, and this is my favorite. I did stop to talk to them a bit between songs. So I googled "Seis Cuerdas" and found a couple of YouTube videos of them performing. Here's the thing - when you listen to them play, my photograph seems insignificant compared to their artistry. Here is the link: < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfhmVTmcRWs > Enjoy the show!

Moonrise, from the Getty Center

I managed to get to the Getty Center this afternoon for a few hours. I wanted to see two photographic exhibits, and an exhibit of paintings and illuminated manuscripts, called "The Dawn of the Renaissance, from 1300 to 1350" It is always exhillarating to spend time there. It is as if it is a castle on a hill - the grouping of buildings sit on a hilltop that overlooks the western part of Los Angeles, and the Pacific Ocean. It is always hard to decide whether to spend time in the galleries, or outside looking at the landscape and the architecture. I was about to leave late this afternoon, and just happened to catch a glimpse of this scene, the Moon rising over the hills east of the Getty Center. You can see part of Los Angeles in the distance to the right. Please click on this image to see it in more detail.

The Silver Man

There are all kinds of interesting performers on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, only a few minutes away from Venice. The promenade is lined with stores, but the street is blocked off and reserved only for pedestrians. I want to show you some guitarists I photographed the other day, but this silver man who showed up today just seemed astounding to me. Imagine how tedious it has to be to cover all of the skin on your face with this silver makeup. I have no idea what his deal was - he was just setting up when I shot this, and I didn't stay around to see. I was just taken by the effort he needs to expend just to show up for work each day.

Christmas Girls, Christmas Gifts

I love this photo! From left, Sarah, Liz, The Monkey, and Amy. "My" four girls. "Four"you say? Well, yes. They are all wearing some of their Christmas presents. And Kathy is the one underneath the monkey hat and scarf! It was a gift from Amy's husband Gus, and we had so much fun laughing about how silly it looked.