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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Richard's LiveJournal:
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| Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 | | 11:11 am |
| | Monday, November 23rd, 2009 | | 9:15 am |
| | Friday, March 27th, 2009 | | 6:46 pm |
a somber day in the SF Bay Area
A memorial service was held today in Oakland, Calif.'s Oracle Arena, home of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, that filled the seats to capacity, flowing over into the neighboring Coleseum, home to the Oakland Raiders football team.
The gathering wasn't for some regional or state big-name politician or dignitary, but for members of the Oakland Pilice Department. Not one...not two...not three...four officers who were killed in the line of duty during what should have been a routine stop for a parole violation, and the aftermath. All four were shot and killed by the parolee, with a pistol and later an AK-47 assult rifle. The two killed during the shootout in the apartment the man went to hold-up in were members of the SWAT team.
It was the worst day in Oakland Police history.
The public memorial service was attended by over 22,000. Members of police agencies from around the state, across the country, and drawn from places further afield to to say farewell to four of their own. Volunteer police from surrounding jurisdictions came in to cover the city staffing, so every member of the 800+ police, and the entire administrative and dispatch staff of 400+ could attend the service...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oakland-memorial28-2009mar28,0,1156822.story
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11967257
<i>"It is with heartfelt sadness yet with a sense of hope that we honor the lives of our fallen brothers," said Father Jayson Landeza, Oakland Police Department chaplain. "As we honor the lives of these fallen, we cherish their legacy . . . and offer support to their loved ones."
Landeza read a letter from the White House in which President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama offered condolences. Obama said that the way in which the officers were killed was a reminder that "the work to which they dedicated their lives remains undone."</i>
Those gathered included the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's Attorney General, Jerry Brown, who is a past governor as well as Okaland Mayor, both U.S. Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
My drive home was only a few minutes ahead of the processional for one of the officers, Sergeant Mark Dunakin, 40, who lived in Tracy....
http://tracypress.com/content/view/17604/2268/
...motorcycle officers were waiting at every east-bound I-580 freeway on-ramp to halt traffic as the processional approached and passed. Freeway overpasses were adourned with American flags, with fire trucks and personnel, with police members, with just regular ol' folks. One overcrossing had a large flag, draped from two raised fire truck ladders. My drive passed under each of these showings of respect, of support for the slain officer and his two families - those he shared his duty with, those he shared his home and life with.
Once back in Tracy, I stopped at the first shopping center, and joined those streetside, in support. As the hearst passed, the trailing line of mourners' limosines and cars, with police cruisers and motorcycles, lights flashing, stretched as far westward down 11th Street as we could see, perhaps a 1 1/2 to 2 miles long.
It was a sobering homeward commute. | | Saturday, January 17th, 2009 | | 7:38 pm |
answering a simple question - What does it mean to be a pro?
 original DeviantArt journal entry: Sat May 17, 2008, 8:41 AM - Mood:
 Artistic - Listening to: the afternoon breeze throuth the windchimes outside the window
- Eating: french toast sticks w/huckleberry honey
(I wrote this as a reply to a question at a northern California photography-business oriented meetup group's forum. That simple question was: "What does it mean to be a pro?")
I had this forum's question in mind while I've been searching around the house for the three copies of my photography-related resume. Of them, I know two things: they're together, and they're ripped in half. The ripping came at a low point back in the 1990s when frustrations with many pieces of my life were running much higher than satisfaction levels. Among them was not thinking much of me as a "professional" photographer, let alone simply a "photographer." Interestingly, I never actually through those copies away! They were stuffed in a file drawer, and found the light of day maybe two months ago (thus the searching for something I KNOW is around here).
What I've come up with, from a personal background, is maybe a bit more "soul searching" than the simple answer of "skills and experience and outlook." (it may surprise a few of the "kids" - no offense intended at all - growing their interest in photography but, not all good "photography" discussions you'll find yourself in are exclusively concerned with f/stops, shutter speeds, equipment manufacturers, whether you "got the shot" or how cute the model may be.)
Based upon the many easily-qualified "professional photographer" individuals I've spent time with during my camera-wielding tenure, myself included, I would look towards a small handful of aspects and attributes that combined may provide an answer to that simple question.
Willingness to learn
Willingness to listen
Willingness to understand
Willingness to be honest with others around you
Willingness to be nice to others around you
Willingness to be a mentor to someone else
(there's also that wonderful old "Serenity Prayer" sense of awareness, even though I'm not religious)
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference."
(Willingness to know / see / understand that difference - to keep from digging yourself into a messy hole).
My itemized list up there very intentionally added "willingness to" for each of those basic points. I'm not confining these virtues to the "getting there" stage of growing a career in anything - all the time in school, studying to pass tests and write essays, learning the lessons from teachers - but even more strongly to your approach AFTER you've come to "know it all" about the chosen area.
If you can't find something worthwhile to gain and learn anew from each new day the sun shines itself for you, if you can't be JAZZED about your outlook to your field of interest, then I'd suggest simply giving up. Since this discussion is focused on photography...at that point, the quality/cost of your camera is meaningless to the lack of quality of your own outlook.
The same points, by the way, can be made towards ANY one in ANY field (they apply as easily to my time as a state-certified journey-level commercial electrician. How you see yourself; how you treat yourself...how you see customers, and how you treat them...all grow out of this continuing willingness. Much of my attitude towards troubleshooting and understanding a situation are interchangeable between my electrical and photography worlds: part of that "professional" skills base is seeking an strong understanding of what the customer has in their own mind...you being able to "see" what they are wanting or imagining, before you even bring the appropriate technical issues into play.
Bottomline...
it's an "attitude" (something I remember learning from a wonderful photographer/instructor some 20 years ago: Al Weber) that allows everything else to do its own part in your level of success or failure. That "willingness to" ...make the effort, see the situation, make it work, do whatever it takes to leave that customer with a smile for your being there to solve (or resolve) their problem.
That's where someone earning that title of "professional" gains their respect and trust.
(not bad for a Saturday morning before coffee, eh?) :) Richard Current Mood: artistic | | Monday, November 24th, 2008 | | 6:48 pm |
latest photoshoot pic
from Saturday, November 22, 2008 location: Oakdale, calif.
model: Hanuh Bella http://www.modelmayhem.com/819306 Current Mood: quiet | | Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 | | 8:24 pm |
a moment of reflection
(July 2008 - revisiting an 'artist statement' -- We evolve.. we're supposed to...some things rework themselves within our outlooks, old ideas we once had that we can't seem to complete shake free from, even decades after-the-fact, like good strong thread weaving through our life. My relationship with a camera is one of those for me. It grew upon me some 30 years ago. At times, it's been a key source of paying for a roof, for food, for paying taxes. At times, it's been a foundation for conveying instruction to others. At times, it's filled played the part as 'therapist' as an escape from work and other stresses. Still, the damn thing can't be stuffed away for any great length of time, without the wanting to go out, see the world, and find some manner of "interpreting" what I find visually interesting.)
(written as an addition to my OMP profile text, of all places - with The Hooters' "Ordinary Lives" in the headphones) Current Mood: quietCurrent Music: The Hooters - Ordinary Lives | | Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 | | 3:37 pm |
The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public
----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Illustrators Partnership <illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com> To: IPA-OW.2@nlpi004.prodigy.net Sent: Tuesday, June 3, 2008 8:11:56 AM Subject: The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public
Should the general public care about the Orphan Works Act? Yes, because the effects of this bill will expose any citizen's visual images to infringement, including infringement for commercial purposes or distasteful uses. Most people don't understand current copyright law. But under current law, they don't have to - the law itself protects them from not understanding it. Anything you create is considered your private property.
But under this amendment, all citizens would be required to understand that they must now take active steps - not to actually protect their work (because registries won't protect it) – but merely to preserve their right to sue an infringer in federal court (in case they ever find out they've been infringed in the first place).
Otherwise, ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a "reasonably diligent search" for a photo he found on a blog, photo sharing site, Facebook page, or other source.
Proposal for Copyright Warning and Public Awareness Campaign If this bill is passed, copyright will no longer be considered the exclusive right of the creator. Therefore, Congress should direct the Copyright Office to commence an awareness campaign to be conducted in all media, explaining to all copyright holders the new terms of copyright protection. Public warnings should state at least the following:
“Due to a change in US copyright law, citizens should now be aware that any creative expression they put into tangible form – from professional artwork to family photos - will be subject to infringement, including infringement for commercial uses, by anyone in the United States who is unable to locate them by what the infringer determines – and a court agrees - to be a reasonably diligent search.
“To preserve your right to sue infringers in federal court, you are advised to take active steps to assert authorship of every work you create.
“These steps will include inserting meta-data in each work, marking each work with a copyright symbol and contact information and registering each work in commercial databases where infringers can search for your work.
“Ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a “reasonably diligent search” according to guidelines established by Congress.”
This should be the minimum warning information and it should be issued to the public on an on-going basis to alert successive generations of the legal obligations they will have to observe as the price of creating art of any kind. We also ask Congress to direct the Copyright Office to establish and maintain local law clinics where creators and other citizens can seek clarification about their obligations under Orphan Works law.
Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work
You can urge Congress to oppose these bills by linking here to a special letter. Tell Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose the Orphan Works Act at:
Please forward this message to every artist you know.
If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: ipa@twcny.rr.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. ___________________________________________________________________________________ To have your name removed from this mailing list, send a reply email with “Remove Name” in the subject line. You will receive verification.
| | Friday, March 21st, 2008 | | 4:49 pm |
March 21st...something new to feel
Good Friday, this year.
My mother's birthday.
The first I can't simply reach for the phone and call for a conversation, and wish of Happy Birthday. I suppose it's fitting that Mother's Day this year, thanks to leap year skewing of the normal one-day calendar progression from one year to the next, will fall on the 1st anniversary of her passing.
I spent part of today wandering San Jose's Guadalupe Gardens - enjoying the springtime light, and wandering the heritage rose garden. I found quiet little scenes my mom would enjoy, even as she would hate being in the "heart" of such a BIG city.
 | | Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 | | 7:00 pm |
A friend, Ana Maria, sent me a note yesterday, about a song by a "Brandi Carlile" out of Seattle, WA: "The Story." In all honesty, I had NEVER heard of her! But, on this reference...I checked out the song, and her MySpace page...GOOD Stuff! Dang, she has a strengh and intensity with her voice, her words, her willingness to express a raw energy.
So, fast forward 24 hrs, and I'm playing her latest CD "The Story!" I've never found a new artist and bought their CD in 24 hours. (thanks, Target, for having it on sale for $7.98 this week!!!!) Dang, the whole 13-song CD is great, not just the four tunes up on her MySpace.
And, this might get even better...
Brandi Carlile is playing the open air "Music in the Park" in San Jose's downtown Plaza de Cezar Chavez...on Thursday (TOMORROW!) - as part of their popular FREE summer Thursday evening concert series.
The irony: my friend is spending time with her family back in New Mexico and can't possibly attend the live concert. This will make my first Music in the Park concert in a year...
(here, shots of Shawn Mullins in 2006...)
...and my first 48 hours from "who?!" to "LIVE!!" - I'll have new pics.
This should be the start of a good weekend...Live music in San Jose Thurs evening, live racecars in San Jose Friday, (hopefully) live music in Santa Cruz on Friday evening (KFOX's Greg Kihn and his Band), and live racecars on Saturday in San Jose. Our oldest son is flying up from San Diego on Friday evening (which may affect the music on the Santa Cruz beach-boardwalk) for the race.
Good stuff!
:) Richard Current Mood: artisticCurrent Music: Brandi Carlile "My Song" | | Saturday, July 14th, 2007 | | 12:46 pm |
new 35mm imagery!
Starting in late April, I revived an "old friend" of a photo tool, when I realized I could still easily see through my 35mm Pentax MX viewfinder...withOUT my reading glasses!
The two images here...
...are lower-res scans from the Fuji NPZ film negs. Both are b&w conversions from the color original frames.  | | Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 | | 7:41 pm |
another pic from Knights Ferry
My Sunday workshop euphoria didn't survive into Tuesday.
Considering how low, burned out, and seriously NOT wanting to be anywhere near my own company that I was feeling this morning. Just driving through the pre-3am darkness to be at work in Sunnyvale before 4am, it's a real wonder I brought any sense of creativity home with me. NONE sure existed within my bones while driving either direction on the commute. (In the dark morning, I noticed the crescent-moonlight on the hills, but had NO desire to have wished for a camera to pause to record it)
I spent a couple hours editing a journal entry in my DeviantArt profile - http://rbeebephoto.deviantart.com/journal/13686176/ - and added several new images into my gallery there -
http://rbeebephoto.deviantart.com/gallery/
http://rbeebephoto.deviantart.com/gallery/scraps
One, from Knights Ferry last month is:
Current Mood: quietCurrent Music: Eskimo Joe's "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" | | Monday, July 9th, 2007 | | 3:44 pm |
from Sunday morning, Old Sacramento
 I guess I'm going backwards with these pics...the first one up is the most recent. (a larger version can be viewed at DeviantArt)  Ana Maria 19 - Old Sac by * rbeebephoto on deviantART  She had never modeled for either a photo workshop, or worked a group photoshoot before Sunday.
She quickly figured out the eye-contact, working the photographers one by one, while being aware of the others.
She and the second model, Vanessa, worked together at times. 
All in all, I couldn't have had more fun picking up my 'photography instructor's hat' once again. I really enjoyed dealing with students interested in discovering what's possible, whether through their eyes "seeing the light" or with their cameras, working the compositional and technical issues into play.
My sincere appreciation to the photographers who participated, members of the Sacramento-based "The Elk Grove Digital Photography Meetup Group."
My thanks, as well, to the two women who willingly modeled for the workshop: Ana Maria and Vanessa.
This was my second photoshoot with Ana Maria - http://modelmayhem.com/member.php?id=214425 - just a month after the first., at Knights Ferry, with a quick added session in downtown Oakdale
Ana Maria 5 black-and-white by * rbeebephoto on deviantART   
This was my first back-to-back photoshoots with the same model in years. I guess I needed that.
My co-conspirator is a delight to collaborate with, too. I guess I needed her upbeat outlook and expressibility, too, to find my way back to a sense of creativity.
 Current Mood: creativeCurrent Music: Missy Higgins (from Melbourne, Australia) | | Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 | | 9:44 am |
Mothers Day, 2007
On Mothers Day, we introduced our youngest son (17 1/2) to a place his grandmother had very much enjoyed some 30 years ago: the quiet California Mother Lode / Gold Rush community of Jackson.
This had been 'home' for her from the mid-late 1970s into the early-mid '80s, after she'd retired as an RN at the VA hospital in Livermore, Calif. She was stretching her self-confidence, doing more traveling in her Ford truck and camper with her dog, Fella. Jackson was her new homebase, from which she explored the Sierr Nevada pass highways, the eastern Sierra valleys, and further afield into the American Southwest as well as Oregon's varied scenery, from lush green woods to drier landscapes east of the Cascades. When my wife and I would visis for weekends, we three would alos explore the varied little backroads around Jackson and the neighboring and equally quaint Gold Rush communities of Sutter Creek, Mokelumne Hill, Volcano, etc.
After lunch at a local '50s style burger place, introduced to our son first-hand were two local historic landmarks Debbie and were fond of:
The 1894 St Sava Serbian Orthodox Church...
and the 1920s 'tailing wheels' of the Kennedy Gold Mine...
The closing event of the day occurred in downtown Lodi, Calif. Our car was hit by another at a 4-way-stop intersection. We were OK; the car was smacked hard in the right rear quarter panel when I tried in vain to avoid the apparently unattentive SUV driver just rolling on forward, making NO attempt to slow down or brake. My alternatives were to slam on the brakes and have them hit our right front or me hitting them (both would have left our car undrivable), or done nothing ahd had them hit either the right front door (where my wife was sitting) or right real door (where my son was sitting).
The bad news was the other car choose to be a hit-and-run, fleeing the scene. While I was picking up the broken pieces of our right taillight in the intersection to prevent other cars from getting flat tires, my son picked-up and handed me a licenseplate and frame, found in the debris. It took about 20 seconds before I glanced at it and realizing it was NOT ours...which was still very attached in plain sight to our car! No other "artifacts" from the other car were left behind...and the one couldn't have been better for the local police officer, who was the first to get a good ironic laugh out of the find.
That was our Mothers Day, 2007. Current Music: Crowded House "Don't Dream It's Over" | | Friday, May 11th, 2007 | | 8:52 am |
a long week's time to think, remember, feel, and come to terms
#1 - "a loss in the family" (Mon, 5/7)
by midweek, my mother will have passed away. She turned 95 in March, and has suffered several strokes this past month.
This morning, she'll be on the wonder pain killer, morphine.
I'm also watching my youngest son deal with the loss of his grandmother - his first experience with the loss of a close relative - and it's hard.
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#2 - "Mothers Day...without my Mother" (Weds, 5/9)
My week has been a roller coaster, waiting for the phonecall that my mother has passed away. That we are but days from Mothers Day is something certainly not lost in this moment...or mood. I have no tolerance for ads on radio or TV, and usually can't shut them off fast enough. Feeling like a motherless child for Mothers Day. I've broken into tears at the oddest moments, from songs on the radio, to simply sitting and having the pain of loss simply come over me.
In the other moments, I've felt rather proud of the woman who brought me into this realm, and raised me.
Below is something I wrote yesterday:
"Jersey Girl" (Tues, 5/8)
My mother is in a morphine sleep...her pain is buried under the drug-induced quiet...and the world in her room is probably unknown to her.
As Bruce Springsteen has sung, she was a Jersey Girl, born in Phillipsburg, on the Delaware River. (if you know the song, I suppose I would have been in the roll of the "little brat" they drop off at her mom's when they go out on the date - when she started dating in the mid 1960s while she was in her 50s)
She is the last of the family she grew up into. I have only faint memories of her mother, and only know stories of her father; her older brother and sister, and their spouses, I remember VERY fondly...I can hear their voices ring clearly with stories and laughter in my mind.
My strongest and/or best memories of my time in her company and love?
* watching her grow her self-confidence and independence after her divorce..at age 52. (She was 42, my dad 45, when I was born, and I don't know too many women in their right mind who would accept or choose having a child at that age!)
* being in the position, as the last kid in the house, of being her soundingboard at that time, as she found her wings while in her 50s.
* my wife and I spending time with her learning to cross country ski and do stained glass...when she was in her 60s.
* my wife and I spending time with her when we were dealing with an older brother's nearly fatal car crash in 1980.
* being a strong part of her support as she, still strong at 80, dealt with the suicide death of her adult son - that same older brother - 12 years after that car crash.
* camping, being introduced to and seeing parts of several western states traveling with her as a teenager.
She's now down to a handful of days in a pain-killing-drug sleep. She is already surrounded by those who have passed before her, just as I watched her brother do five years ago, wandering the halls and rooms looking for his wife who he "knew" to be there in the convalescent home he was in.
How am I doing?
I'm grieving...for the loss of a parent and a friend.
The hardest aspect is simply waiting for that damned phonecall. There is nothing I can do other that be so very aware of that call coming, no matter what else I do to be busy, to be distracted, to be occupied.
...and running as much of Bruce Springsteen's song in my head (which isn't much, unfortunately).
My mom...the Jersey Girl.
I will look forward to your visit in the spirit realm, because I'll certainly miss you in the physical one...
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#3 - "to think, remember, feel, come to terms" (Thurs, 5/10)
Maybe it was the restless nights Debbie and I have had, or maybe the broken sleep, or the intensity of the somber air, or maybe the often radio-free/road-noise-only predawn commute drive into the South Bay Area that has allowed this roller coaster of moods and reflections of facing the loss of my mother on the eve of Mothers Day to shake itself into a more acceptable feeling of warm remembrance and of the acceptance that things are OK, afterall.
I figured out the position I was in back in the mid to late 1960s, a little while after she had divorced and was understanding how to rise from her past few painful years, to learn how to find her own wings to take flight on her terms. In her mid-50s no less. I was simply being the last of the kids in the house at the time, struggling through high school and going through the teenager place of trying to figure out just who the hell I was. I don't remember being much of a 'angel' of a son, at times, but we both got through the other's times.
Sometime ago, I realized this wasn't so bad a place to have been in. I was her soundingboard at times, frequently after midnight when she'd just be getting home from working swing shift as a VA RN, standing in the kitchen and simply talking. She was learning how to be independent. She was learning how to grow her self confidence, how to shed light on an outlook and future.
With the purchase of a Ford 150 truck and camper shell somewhere around then, she started exploring and seeing California places as well as further out afield into the western US...with me along for the ride. We wouldn't necessarily find the biggest campgrounds to stay in, but ones with a warm uniqueness of location or character. Being the teen kid, I wasn't always thrilled at being IN the slow vehicle that would pull over to let the "wanna-get-there-faster" folks soom past and be far out of sight...seeming like it was EVERYBODY else on the road. But, together, we found some of those interesting places, sometimes barely anything otherwise attention-getting than a name on the roadmap: Oregon's McKenzie River and Pass, delicate Proxie Falls; Arizona's Anasazi and Pueblo sites around Flagstaff and Prescott; California's quieter Sierra roadways and passes, Lava Beds NM and Tulelake Refuge; the Bay Area's Santa Cruz coastline, Sonoma County coastline. She was always willing to say 'hi' and strike up a conversation with anyone interesting.
My wife and I shared her company as she learned to take up stained glass and cross-country skiing, then discover the forests and backroads around Jackson in the Sierra Gold Country, when she bought a house there in the late 70s. When she was still in her 60s, now retired from nursing and camping with her constant canine companion, Fella.
In 1980, an older brother was in a nearly fatal car crash that took months to recover from. My wife and I became a support for her, and she'd drove down from the Sierras on weekends, and the three of us would make the long Livermore-Santa Rosa-San Francisco-Livermore loop drive, getting things for him at his apartment, spending time at the hospital, before returning home. Being the break-up-the-drive people we were, this is when we discovered some of the "other" things (and the area history) aroung the Golden Gate Strait aside from that famous bridge.
She eventually moved up to southern Oregon, joining another older brother.
Another close relationship time occurred in 1992, with a high personal pricetag. The same older brother we had helped back to health 12 years earlier chose to end his life, and my wife and I were in the painful position of supporting a mother dealing with the death of their adult child.
For her, time grew a close relationship with her son and his family in Oregon, one they are bring to a close as she has gone from am active older independent adult to the morphine-induced quiet.
What have I learned from my time with her?
* An appreciation of simply appreciating what can be found along a journey to has certainly found me. And there were enough times in my life when I certainly didn't possess this little gift.
* An enjoyment of traveling has been enjoyed, and of finding some of those settings the tourists probably won't think/know/care to look. It's nice to also know that what I gained from exploring highways and backroads with my mother has also filtered on my oldest son.
* Life doesn't curl up and fade away after fifty...she seemed to have "started" her life about the same age I am now, something I'm learning to appreciate more and more, looking back on things unfinished or unaccomplished with me.
* Listening is a virtue and blessing...something I have forgotten at various points in my life.
Add to this two little tidbits gained in my own aftermath to the loss of a close family member and friend (my brother) to suicide:
* The Serenity Prayer is never far from my heart in how I see situations...
"God grant me the serenity to accept that which I cannot change, the strength to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
* Learning to love someone unconditionally - without the added burdens or strings of 'if-then' conditions attached.
My mother gave me a nurturing heart-space to develop within, gave me the gift of friendship when we were both seeking a different understanding of who we were, to begin to find wings and learn to take flight and risks. She introduced me to special locations in the landscape and places of the heart. And, I remember them, I appreciate the gifts she shared.
She brought me into this world, this life, introduced me to wonders and joys and strongly-felt lessons, sometimes painful and hard-learned. My gift in return is to help with the love to see her on her way into the new realm for her to explore and find herself anew within.
Happy Mothers Day afterall.
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In sequence, they show the ride-for-dear-life the week has led my thought processes on. Like any good deep reflection/insight/soul-searching, I appreciate the gift I eventually found, understanding the journey to reach it, whether I liked the ride it had to take me on to find it or not.
There have been times I'd wish I could simply close my eyes, and fast-forward a few months where I could look BACK on it. I really don't like running head-on into what I know will be a painful impact.
But, it's not going away, and not going anywhere except stand there in my path for me to face...on its terms.
It's taken a week of grieving for someone close who isn't even "gone" yet to find that gift of understanding and peace with acceptance of something I cannot alter.
Thank you for your support.
If you have the gift of children, may they remember the special heart space you occupy in their lives, and find a means of expressing it.
:) Richard
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#4 - Don Henley: "I got the call today that I didn't want to hear, but I knew that it would come" (Fri, 5/11)
She passed away quietly, in her sleep early this morning.
Current Mood: variedCurrent Music: KFOX on-line | | Friday, May 4th, 2007 | | 8:25 pm |
| | Monday, April 23rd, 2007 | | 6:31 pm |
| | Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 | | 6:47 pm |
San Joaquin Valley - blossoming
I've been getting out more into the Central Valley countryside, wandering further on quiet backroads that criss cross the Valley, sometimes following rivers or canal waterways, sometimes following someone's predetermined straight line on the ground.
This time of year, there is an added visual attraction...orchards in blossom!
This past Sunday afternoon, I was out exploring for some of the orchard blossoming views, and I found a few.
Escalon's main street..."The City of Peaches"
a few miles south of Escalon, towards Riverbank...
a few miles southeast of Oakdale...
 
a number of miles east of Modesto...
(I like this winter vs spring) 
my wanderings almost took me into Turlock, another of the area's bigger cities. Instead, I would up back on hy 99 just south of Ceres, and took the old main roadway into Modesto.
more travels are coming. Enjoy. | | Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 | | 7:38 pm |
| | 7:17 pm |
San Joaquin Valley
I've been out exploring some of the surrounding countryside...again. The San Joaquin Valley is now a neat mix of "winter" and "spring" colored trees. Many of the big oaks, cottonwoods, and sycamores are still standing as stark, bare branches against the sky. The orchards are starting to blossom, and some are row after row of white or pinkish blooms, which the winds scatter like fallen leaves after an autumn storm...only the colors under the trees are far more "festive."
(two from 2006)
I'm also taking in places that have "been on my list" to discover, that I was reminded of from late December into early January when I was working at a jobsite in Gilroy, and drove home via Pacheco Pass and up I-5 to home. Little towns along the west side of the Valley - Gustine and Newman - that are now seeing an influx of Bay Area commuters.
Just to the east are the flatlands of the Great Valley Grassland Park and wildlife refuges along and near the San Joaquin River.
Other drives have brought me back to favored communities, with scenes that keep catching my visual attention: Oakdale, Riverbank, Modesto.
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Modesto
I had a 'meet 'n greet' photoshoot with a 31 yr old beginning model in Modesto back in mid-February. With her were her two feisty and rowdy 5 yr old twin sons. She'd never modeled before, but I discovered she'd spent time behind the camera, as an adult and growing up with her father's darkroom.
She had a model-friend of her I'd worked with a year and a half ago...
...watching her sons, and adjusting hair.
A sampling of the images, alone...
  
...and with her sons...
 
...the "family of three" shots weren't part of the intended photoshoot. They just happened to be the best of the images captured!
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