Pink and Orange Sky?

I'll take it! I'll also take this 60-something degree weather we've been having.
Although fleeting, desert sunsets are the best.

Fashion Show

Las Vegas, NV

Meet Louie.

While visiting my great aunt in Jacksonville, Oregon, I met her neighbor Louie. With photography, especially portraits, words are generally not necessary--the photo reveals enough. (I do want to share a few interesting tidbits, though).

Louie is 95.

Louie is an easy laugher.

Louie was born inside my great aunt's house which was constructed in the early 1900s (photo below). The physician who delivered him was Dr. Pickle.

Why right-brainers will rule the future...

..that is the topic of Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind. He believes that we are transitioning from the Information Age (left brain era) into the Conceptual Age (right brain era). I think he is right. As cliche as it sounds, this book is a breath of fresh air for me. As a right-brainer, it helps me understand myself better. It is refreshing to read a book that not only validates right brain thinking, but also encourages it. I have always felt like our society has put more importance and value on left brain subjects and careers. For a time, despite my constant interest in the visual arts, I bought into this belief. However, it still didn't stop me from pursuing the arts. I knew that I had to stay true to myself and my capabilities. If I had chosen a different path, I wouldn't have been happy. And although I second-guessed myself at times, I always knew this was true.

It's hard to pick out the best parts of this book; you just have to read it. Get ready to be inspired...get ready for the future.

Spain on my walls

I finally got a few of my Spain photos printed to hang up on my living room wall...over 3 years later. The ones posted below are the ones I enlarged to 11x14". The final two photos show how they look on my wall. While I was in Spain, I only had a little Sony Cybershot (I think it was 5 megapixel). Anyway, I did very minimal editing to them, but really like the way they turned out. Let's hear it for regular point and shoots! Not that these are amazing or anything (they're more personal than anything), but it just goes to show that you can still take great photos without a professional camera.

P.S. I put them in clip frames that I found at Michael's. I love clip frames.

The Palazzo, Las Vegas

So whimsical...I wish my ceiling looked like this.

it gives me the chills

growing up, it was a tradition to pull out Christmas in America during the holidays. i loved looking through the photos even though i had seen them many times before. the idea behind the book was to have a ton of photojournalists cover every state (and even more cities) in the united states and document christmas during a 24 hour period. i loved, and still do love, the realness of the photos and how the photographers captured human nature, american traditions, and familiar scenes so effortlessly (or so it seems).

i stopped in a thrift store the other day and what was waiting for me? A Day in the Life of America. this book was compiled a couple years earlier in 1986, but is based on the same idea.

this is the intro--it gives me the chills:

The book you are holding in your hands is a visual time capsule, an impression of life in America taken on Friday, May 2, 1986, by 200 of the world's leading photographers. No picture here is more than twenty-four hours older or younger than any other, and no picture here has been shot for any purpose other than to document the harmonies and paradoxes of life in America as it was lived on this one ordinary day.

America is a complex country and a proud one. It is an idea, a beckoning, an opportunity. It has always been an improbable country, and to set out to capture it in a single day was an improbable, some would say, impossible, idea.

A Day in the Life of America does not claim to be the true record of even one day. A day cannot be collected as it passes by in a blaze of light between shadows. Yet on May 2nd America yielded some of its secrets to these world class photographers. There are several hundred photographs here, culled from more than 235,000. But even 235,000 images barely hint at the infinite moments that passed through the hills and homes and hearts of America on that day. On May 2nd America was frozen in time and, for decades to come, our children and our children's children will look at these pages with wonder at a day when 200 photographers made time stand still.

"extraordinary photographs of ordinary, everyday events." that's what i love about this book. i would adore being part of a similar project in the future.

q&a

a few interesting tidbits from marilyn's book:

Dear Marilyn,

Why does almost every human being feel peaceful when walking through the woods or seeing a lovely landscape?

Valerie

Dear Valerie,

I'd say it's because our instincts have prepared us to feel comfortable with nature, our native environment. We can and do learn to live with things like stereos, subways, and skyscrapers, but they are no more natural to us than an aquarium is to a goldfish.

***

Dear Marilyn,

What do you see as the most important function of the elementary school?

Pat

Dear Pat,

One of the most useful would be to instill motivation.

***

Dear Marilyn,

Are people who hate being alone lacking in understanding?

Gary

Dear Gary,

I'd say instead that they're lacking in self-respect.

***

Dear Marilyn,

What is the biggest room in the world?

Adrienne

Dear Adrienne,

The room for improvement.

***

Dear Marilyn,

To acquire knowledge, one must study. How does one acquire wisdom?

Donald

Dear Donald,

To acquire knowledge, one must study; to acquire wisdom, one must observe.

***

Dear Marilyn,

If there were a Pandora's box in our time, what do you think it would be?

Dorothy

Dear Dorothy,

One good candidate would be television. However, instead of unleashing all the evils on the world, the way Pandora did in Greek mythology, it gathers them together and entertains us with them on the daily news, like a conga line in a floor show.

***

Dear Marilyn,

I can see why painting was so popular before the development of photography. But aren't the master painters now eclipsed by the master photographers?

Joseph

Dear Joseph,

I don't think so. For one thing, an artist can combine the essence of a hundred photographs into one painting. And for another thing, no photographer can capture a unicorn.

p.s. many of her answers are much longer and detailed; i just included a few short ones i found interesting.

ask marilyn

i'm really enjoying marilyn vos savant's book, ask marilyn. it is a compilation of her readers' various questions--they ask, she answers.

in case you didn't know, she is the woman with the highest IQ in the world. i figured i could learn a thing or two from her.

a teacup of taiwan

food food food
when it comes to food, i'm game for trying anything--assuming there is no potential health risk, of course. for example, i've heard that the puffer fish is poisonous and must be prepared carefully and specifically by someone who knows what they're doing; otherwise, you'll end up dead. do you see what i'm getting at here? i'm not going to "be adventurous" and put my life in the hands of a *hopefully* well-trained chef. so besides unsafe foods, i'll try anything. i don't promise to love it, but i'll try it. while in taiwan, we tried various dishes; sometimes i asked what they were, other times i didn't. here are some visual examples of my taiwanese food experiences. enjoy!

1. have you ever wondered what poultry guts look like? yeah, me neither. well here they are in all their glory. these were on display at a typical morning market in taiwan.

2. mastering the art of chopstickery. in the states, i'm usually so hungry by the time my food arrives, i don't want to fiddle with learning how to use chopsticks. i ask for a fork and that's it. when in rome....or should i say, when in taiwan....do as the taiwanese do. i got to the point where it felt natural to be eating with chopsticks and i quite liked it. now that i'm back home, i'm back to using forks and knives. 

3. roadside restaurant before the lunch rush.

4. miss jasmine with a tasty treat. it's really hard to describe, but it was strawberry-flavored and squishy.

5. jasmine and i ate at an amazing seafood restaurant. this fish was SO good!

6. on the left is ostrich. on the right are squid balls. both were divine. the ostrich tasted like beef; the squid tasted like squid.

7. typical taiwanese beef dish.

8. more seafood. the food on the right were about the size of your fingernail and you had to suck out the insides. not bad, but kind of a hassle because they were so small.

9. i want one of these right now. shaved vanilla ice cream (awesome texture) loaded with all kinds of fruit. you can get it with any topping you like. very refreshing.

10. first restaurant we ate at. the chef on the right is also the owner. he made some good eats.

11. some of his work. i ate pig intestines here; they had a fatty texture which really wasn't my thing.

12. ice cream break.

13. night market food vendor. i felt bad for her because she was vigorously working alone. i wanted to pull up a chair and tell her to take a rest.

a teacup of taiwan

serendipity

i believe in plans. i believe in backup plans. this being said, i also believe in serendipity. anyone who has traveled, near or far, can attest to the reality of surprises and unexpected encounters. if you resist serendipity, you will be let down. let her be your guide and she will introduce you to experiences of every kind.

1. a typical crowded sidewalk during the day. all along the left side were food vendors. we tried mochi from one and it was powdery and squishy, just how i like it.

2. on a mad dash to find a bathroom, we stumbled upon this temple and i grabbed a quick photo.

3. aloe vera and other greenery spill out from an indoor market. if you look closely, you will see the seller hidden in the plants.

4. a close up of the seller.

5. the peace sign. see what i mean? 

6. as we came out of a temple, this caught my eye.  

7. colorful decoration right outside the doors of the longshan temple.

8. while ruby slept, her mom and i zipped up to the market to check things out. (in case you can't tell, her mom is a total sweetheart).

9. right as we stepped out the door, ruby's shoe broke and it was hilarious. you just had to be there. 

a teacup of taiwan

arrival and the weather

i could not get warm enough during my first couple days in taiwan. the sky pounded down bullets of rain and the cold air seemed to flow straight through to my bones. nevertheless, we (me and ruby) skipped about the streets of taipei, using our umbrellas as shields, but still getting wet. the rain eventually ceased and became extremely pleasant. we stripped off our puffy coats and gushed over how spring-like the weather had become. throughout the two weeks i was in taiwan, i think i experienced all four seasons: it started cold, warmed up, became really hot and sticky, then cooled down the day i left.

below are a few photos we took upon arrival

1. umbrellas abound at a downtown temple.

2. on our way to our first restaurant. (okay, okay, it was a buffet. but not like a vegas buffet...) ruby is holding up a peace sign--the first of many to come. she says it's an "asian thing." i learned she was right.

3. i can't remember where we were. all i know is that i look overly excited, my hair is in the initial frizzy stages and ruby is expressing concern about something (maybe my hair?)

4. the ubiquitous peace sign.

5. in front of the national palace museum (i'll post about this later)

6. at a local temple. not sure what i'm doing. this is precisely why i'm usually behind the camera. 

7. little girl looking outside at the temple crowd. i love those bunny ears!