They Way I See It

My friend Dave, an amazing mastering engineer, always questions the angles of my drive-by shots. He wonders why I can't seem to shoot straight. Why my images are never level. His question has made me wonder and I've thought about it a lot and I've realized something--I don't view the world straight on--I'm always looking at an angle.




Whether walking or driving, I'm always looking up. Watch out if I have a sun roof! And granted, this may be a little dangerous while walking. (I have tripped and run into stationary objects while glancing up.) It's probably more dangerous while driving, but have you ever looked at that keen angle? That one that takes you straight up the edge of the building, up a zillion floors ? It goes forever and ever. The cast of the shadows, the colors of the buildings, the reflections on the windows in the afternoon light--you can't get that straight on.

Time Flies

I'm not really sure how it's suddenly February, 2011 and the last time I posted anything was almost a year ago. How to wrap up a year in a few, concise words? Hmm... Well, as some of you know my drive-by shooting has been slightly hampered for about 11 months. I am no longer free to stick my camera out the window while driving down Wilshire Boulevard or along the streets of San Francisco. I have replaced my Nikon D200 with a tiny, lightweight Canon PowerShoot. The roads are now safe as I travel because I almost always only whip out my camera while stuck in traffic, at a stop sign or stop light. Well usually, unless it's something spectacular! Very rarely on the freeway. (That fact should make most of you feel much better about your safety. I must admit though--I love Bob Ludwig! Unlike most of you chickens, he thinks it would be fun to drive with me while I'm out shooting!)



My last year has seen a lot of time in Los Angeles (it's been suggested that maybe I should rent a room somewhere in the Southland). Golf, poker, golf, golf, awards shows, Anaheim, Carlsbad, Nashville, Chicago, Los Angeles, Venice, Malibu. And shooting, shooting, shooting! Drive-by, fly-by and walk-by. I can't get enough of it! When I look at my hundreds of images from each trip I always stumble upon something I never noticed before. Whether it's the angle of the shot (yes Dave, I always shoot at an angle) or the lighting--something makes that shot, that moment totally unique.

2011 holds the promise to be even busier and more exciting. I've started things off with a bang by entering a photo competition called Urban Landscape. Now, I don't hold out much hope of being selected. After all, how much talent does it take to stick your arm out the window and shoot? But I figured why not. These five photos are the ones I entered. We'll see what happens...




I am totally optimistic about this year. I am ready for more and more travel. I need more places to drive-by and shoot. So far, so good. I travel down to LA next week. I'll be shooting my usual SWA wing shots while flying (you can stop laughing now Luke) and then record my wanderings in Burbank, LA and Venice. Should be fun...

Clouds of Wonder

I'm a Summer kind of person. I thrive on Daylight Savings Time. I crave those extra hours of sun. January 2 should be the first day of Spring as far as I'm concerned. But the weather stays cold, the skies stay gray and it keeps raining.

Now I know that we need rain. That we're facing a drought. And early mornings when the household is sleeping, I love to hear the sound of rain on the roof. But come on!! I need some blue sky and sun!!

I have found an upside to the rain though. It's when the rain stops and the sun makes it's way through the clouds. Suddenly we're looking at crystal clear beautiful blue skies and puffy clouds, and I'm off. I've become a "Cloud Chaser." Sunday morning I told the trash out just as the sky was showing the beginnings of blue and the clouds were amazing! So I grabbed my camera (thankful that my children had been to lazy to take out the garbage the night before), and started driving and shooting. It was beautiful.

But driver beware! It's one thing to drive and shoot through your windshield, but it's another thing entirely to shoot the sky. You're constantly looking up. I do almost all my driving and shooting at stop lights or along the side of the road. There is so much beauty, so much wonderment, it's almost impossible to drive and shoot. But even stopped and shooting, the sky is an amazing thing. I'm always happy to drive-by.

Fly-By...Drive-By...I'm Just Shooting

I was in LA last week. I went down to attend the Grammy party at the Village and to meet with people and to drum up some business. But, if truth be told, I went to shoot...

I was not happy Tuesday morning as I sat at the Oakland airport. It was raining and I was flying. Bad combination. But, two weeks earlier in Anaheim it had been raining, and once we got through the initial shaking, the sky was beautiful, and hardly any turbulence. So what could go wrong this trip? Ha! Don't tempt faith!!


After sitting through 3 hours of plane-shaking, panic-inducing turbulence and thoughts of imminent death on my 55-minute flight, somehow we landed safely and I was off!! First to Avis. NO, I do NOT want the brand new Camaro. Have you looked through the windshield? Barely enough room to hold a camera lens pressed against it. I want my Ford Focus with sun roof!

Now five days of driving bliss. I was afraid that having a GPS would cramp my style. Because, afterall, I've gotten some of my best shots while lost. But I still got lost. And when I wasn't lost, I was relaxed, knowing that my friendly GPS would get me to where I was going--eventually.


And the sun came out. I drove along the Miracle Mile. I drove to North Hollywood. I drove to Beverly Hills. Santa Monica. Pasadena. Venice. Malibu. I drove and drove and drove. Camera in hand, in between meetings. Shot after shot. It was a perfect trip. Perfect weather. Five days and 1,680 images. I filled up my 4 GB card in the air on the way back to Oakland.

I've missed my traveling and shooting. But it's a new year, new events, more traveling. Some places will be the same, but the shots are always different. And some places will be new. It's always an adventure and always fun. (Well mostly...except for the flying...)

Fly-By Shooting

When I first started my event production company, one of the first things I started doing was bringing my camera with me on all my trips to Los Angeles to fight the boredom of sitting in so much traffic. Hours upon hours of crawling along freeways and surface streets, usually lost, always able to document my travels and so started my Drive-By Shooting series.

I'm sure that most of you know how afraid I am of flying, which is totally ironic because I am flying all the time . So now I enter the plane with my iPod blaring and camera in hand. As the plane takes off, if I'm lucky, the flight attendants have not asked me to turn off my iPod.

And as the plane starts to taxi down the runway and my hands start to shake and my heart tries to pound it's way out of my chest, when I know that I can get no more messages of reassurance from any friend, no more calm voice on the phone telling me to breath and that I'll be fine, as the wheels start to come off the ground, that's when I pull out my camera and start shooting.

I was in Anaheim last week for NAMM. It was raining in Northern California all week before I left, but thankfully it stopped raining long enough to get down to sunny Southern California. But no such luck on my return trip. It was dark. It was cold. It was rainy. And no one to tell me that lightning was NOT going to strike my plane or that flying through big, angry, dark clouds and the turbulence associated with it, was going to be fine. So iPod blaring again, I sit at the window, right on top of the wing, watching the rain fly at the window. The plane takes off and it's shaking!

But what kind of pictures can you take when everything is dark gray. You can't. Or at least I can't. So I pretend to read and all my senses are being numbed anyway because my music is so loud in my ears. And the plane is shaking and I feel like throwing up. But then suddenly I see blue skies and sunshine and white puffy clouds and everything is alright with the world. I pull out my camera and start shooting. And it's beautiful. The light, the colors, the clouds. It's okay. Sure, we hit more turbulence, but I'm shooting and distracted, and when we start to descend into Oakland and it's dark and gray again, I'm fine. I know we're landing in just a couple of minutes (and hopefully not in the Bay), and now I just want to get home and see what images I was able to get. Not that when I board my plane next week that I won't be scared to death again. I just need to remember--I need to look for the beauty.

Doing What I Love

I've been home and working since November. I've gone into San Francisco more times than I can count--driving and on BART. I've taken picture after picture after picture of the Bay Bridge, downtown San Francisco, Oakland, the Caldecott Tunnel. I need a change of venue. I can't wait for NAMM! How funny is that? I can't wait to be in the airplane so I can start shooting!!

Granted, Anaheim may not be the most exciting place to shoot, and I won't be driving, but you never know. And with NAMM will start my new year of travel. I'm not sure where I'll be--LA for sure. Nashville, Vegas, New York? Wherever work calls me. But one thing I know for certain--I'll never be without my camera, doing half of what I love--shooting, while in pursuit or doing what I love equally--putting on events!!

Remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Here's to a fun, exciting prosperous 2010!!

Is It Art?

I have this ongoing debate with some friends about whether or not my photographs are art. I don't consider it art and I don't consider myself artistic. What I do is all luck. It's totally fun. It's extremely relaxing. I have definitely learned certain ways to point the camera, how to try to get a certain angle. But it's the luck of timing and the odds 0f numbers.

I'm never sure what I'll find when I upload my images. Years and years ago I watched a special on TV about the making of the swimsuit issue for Sports Illustrated. The one thing that stayed in my mind the most was the number of images the photographers took. Thousands and thousands of shots in pursuit of that one perfect image.

I tried to do that with film, but it was very expensive. Digital images though--I can shoot hundreds and hundreds--no problem!! So, it's all about the odds, right? If I shoot 900 images, I'm bound to get at least one that I like. And it's usually one that I had no idea that I had...an angle, a building, a section of freeway that I don't even remember shooting.

But whether or not you consider it art, whether or not I think I'm artistic, in the end it doesn't matter. It's the process that matters the most to me. It's seeing things in a different way when I'm driving or taking BART or a cab or walking. It's actually SEEING what I'm passing and how the most ordinary objects can be so fascinating.