Back to the Desert

This is the last one from the trip to Palm Springs. The loneliness and neglect of these palms more evidence that they just don't belong there.

Not Really My Thing

Not a still life guy, really, and I've already strayed a bit from the narrow L.A. focus I've carved for myself, but I liked this one, so...

I was opening the drapes at the end of the day a few days ago, figuring the unrelenting sun had gone behind the trees enough to let some less harsh light in. One strong beam managed to sneak through and land on this lone yellow rose in a vase by the window.

Back to the Phone

I've been a bit lax about yanking out the phone to shoot anything - and that was, after all, what got this whole process started. One reason might be that having the SLR nearby makes the choice not to use the Treo's camera pretty easy.

I was stopped at a light the other day and saw this, on Santa Monica heading east toward Sunset in East Hollywood. The Nikon would have rendered the detail far better and given me a bit more control over the composition. A few things drew me to the image: there was the light and shadow, which draws me to just about all my photos, and the framing of the guns drawn billboard between the sign tacked up on the telephone pole (which can't be read with the Treo's resolution) extolling the virtues of Jesus and the cross off to the right.

And Another Thing...

Here's another palm from Palm Springs, and don't get me wrong, I like the distortion here. But I can't for the life of me guess what's going to come out of the Holga. The top image in the previous post was pretty sharp - no jiggle there - while this clearly suffers form a longer exposure. There were other shots take later last month (not in the L.A./SoCal region, so off topic for the blog) that were crystal clear. Go figure...

Where We Don't Belong

I was treated last month to an adult birthday weekend in Palm Springs, and pulled out the old Holga and some of the Ilford Pan F I'd been wanting to throw into the Mamiya. I've been thinking that I'd like to put together a compilation of photos of palm trees, which I think the Holga render pretty well. There's something about both the camera and the tree that just isn't quite right. The most striking thing about the trip to the desert in August was that nothing there really belongs there. This is an arid, dusty, scrubby place. Manicured lawns - and palm trees - are alien, and they feel that way.