Berkeley by night

This is the view from my window,

J a good friend pointed out the beautiful light falling on the buildings,

And the whole composition and the colors caught me off guard

As the night fell I threw on my walking shoes,

knocked a couple back and went to see what I could see

the starburst filter is probably a bit much,

but it was an experiment

Love the colors here,

the city always looks so different at night

There were several times while I was walking,

when I just stopped, took a deep breath and took

in my surroundings... the culture, the smell, the air

the city art :)

the humble homeless, seemingly content

These fellows wanted to be in a picture

they posed for a few, but as you can see I finally caught them

being real.... always my goal

what does this door lead to, and where will it take me,

these were the questions I asked myself stumbling across it

the happy and colorful bum,

we conversed for a bit, T said he was happy,

content and just down on his luck

but doesnt this young man look like he

should be somewhere else

for future reference it is my goal to find a clock such as this in every city,

it is my belief that the clock in the city, says so much

about the city, here is this city's clock

hope you enjoy,

i learned and found soooooo much on this trip, ill be writing about it soon,

Day pictures soon to follow as well....

the difference is quite literally NIGHT and DAY

lesson #2

okay, so this time pictures are sure to follow for BERKLEY CA. but before that, I just must state that lesson number 2 is an important one. STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF. always, and anytime you are faced with a decision, always stay true to yourself, be kind to those around you and follow your heart, though I would like to believe that the last one is the best piece of advice, it is unfortunately the hardest one to follow because your heart often misleads you, but at least your intentions are true. If you stay true to yourself than you will have NO REGRETS. pictures soon to follow of this recent journey. Though most of them will be night photos :)

Just a thought or two

No pictures to post just yet, but I am off tomorrow and am certain I will come back with quite a bit to look at... just a thought today. When you assume something, you often make an ass of yourself. Sitting here, deep in thought about this and that there is one thought that is lingering around in there and bouncing off the walls of my brain. As we go through life, our experiences mold us into the people that we often become and it seems we are always changing, evolving and learning. HOPEFULLY. But along the way we also pick up baggage, pain and trauma that sometimes stays with us and affects us in ways we dont even recognize. The way we react to a situation or a person, our point of view and even our willingness to open our hearts are all affected. I dont know about you but I want to be the kind of person that still believes in humanity and finds the best in people. The kind of person who sees the cup as half full and the world with eyes wide open, full of optimism and faith in mankind. I always want to be the person who has spare change, for whomever is asking and to never turn the other cheek. I think in all the hustle and bustle we lose ourselves, and get in a rut. The same thing day in and day out, stress and headaches, worries and plans. I challenge you to live in the moment, LOVE, LIVE and LAUGH. Leave the rest behind. This will be my focus.

The bird bird bird, the bird is the word

I love crazy people

I am a crazy person and crazy people are NOT often boring

unless they are being "normal" instead of crazy.

I like their crazy thoughts,

crazy words, crazy habits,

crazy stories , crazy minds

and I like the often crazy things that happen in

their crazy worlds.

To be so full of life

And not care who is watching

Is admirable to me.

She was walking along the street, when I asked to take her picture,

she replied " well sure today is his birthday and this is all he wanted "

just looking at this picture makes me smile

Sunset on the way from Seal beach

I was recently in California, on Seal beach, it is my mom's favorite beach in California, while we were there, I had this crazy idea that I wanted to go to Huntington beach to catch the sunset,

I having not made that drive before, asked one of the locals who said it was about 15 minutes up the highway 1, which is a highway that runs right along the coast for quite a while, mind you sunset is about 20 minutes away, so we get in the car and book it, down the one, we pass several beaches, and it has definitely been more that 15 minutes, I see a few nice places, but I really want to make it to this little spot right on Huntington beach so I keep going hoping to run into it, I , being the smart person I am, realize that the sun is clearly setting and if I dont pull over and make due with what I have then I'll be on the plane in the morning with no pictures of any sunset and no pictures of any beach, and I wanted at least one good one, anyway... long story less long, I end up turning around before I reach Huntington beach and pulling into a beach called Bolsa Chica Beach. I made it just in time, and ended up having to run about a quarter mile with all my gear down to the beach, afraid to miss the sun setting. I think I will just stop at the first nice place I see next time, and leave myself some time to enjoy my surroundings, you live and you learn. Here are the photos in the order that they were taken

I still cant believe this picture was next, It feels

and looks like it should be close to last,

but it was just so much darker on the other side of the sky

I'm not sure why, but I really like the piece of driftwood

in this picture

The sun is almost all the way gone, I thought the sun

would set on the water... right on the water line...

it didnt

This wasn't taken until after sunset,

when I was walking back

BIG MISTAKE

This was the very last shot of the night,

I still haven't figured out what that is

out there in the water

If you know please educate me

Which one do you like best???

Ive always loved the beach, the sound of the waves crashing, the sand, the breeze and dew on my skin, the violence of the waves, and knowing that there is so much more than what meets the eye just below the surface. Sitting by the ocean silently always helped me find peace, and clarity, the rain has the same effect on me, very calming.

Retro

I love photographing people. I love taking pictures of someone and capturing what I see in them but they may not see in themselves.

Men, Women, Children, I do not do "traditional" photos, but the kind of photos that capture the mood, or your personality and freeze that memory in time that you can treasure for a lifetime.

Black and whites are by far my favorites, I'm not sure what it is about them.

I found this photo, in a folder

of old photos

I took before I got my new camera

Its cool to be able to see

your growth

Last minute trip to San Jose

I was completely unprepared for this trip... went last minute and while I was there I really wanted to capture that old time feel in downtown San Jose. When I look at some of those buildings, I picture a time before my time, when the ladies looked so glamorous and the men opened their doors, I pictured dark lips and finger waves. I pictured old cars, and dim lights, and clubs filled with smoke. It turned out while I was there I only ended up with about 3 hours to myself, where I could take pictures, those three hours happened to be from 9am to noon, so I got what I could on a brisk short walk through the city. I cant wait to go back and get more... the last one of course is from my hotel window :)

Comment below and tell me which one is your favorite.. and why?

needless to say, I did not get the pictures I was hoping for, but there will always be a next time, and next time I WILL get them