praying mantis

When I returned home after a week on the road a few weeks back, I found this female praying mantis laying her eggs in the tread groove of one of my truck's tires. I was very excited as I had never seen a praying mantis before. After studying her for a bit, I decided I would take a few shots. I was surprised how close I could get, and if it weren't for the long lens I was using, I could have gotten closer than the three feet my focus would allow me. The next day, when I had some time to peruse the images, I wished I had used the shorter macro lens when I discovered some soft images due to the low light and the long lens. But I think this is an acceptable shot after a little photoshop work. I was amazed to find out how many different species of praying mantis there are. Check it out here. I learned that most species are not harmful to humans, but they are very defensive when it comes to leaving their eggs in your tire tread and you want to leave so you can go home and pass out after a long week of shooting!

(Not) My Neighbor's Holiday Lights

I found this video while surfing tonight. The house is supposedly in Minneapolis at 32nd St E and 41st Ave S

flour mill stacks

Here's another shot from Minneapolis, near the new Guthrie Theater. These silos have been restored to preserve the past integrity of Minneapolis' past claim as the flour milling capital of the world. You can find out lots more about that at the Mill City Museum.

Where's that damn bus?!

This shot was taken in June while I was in Cincinnati on a location shoot. I just happened to be out wandering around downtown one day and this woman attracted my attention as I sensed a certain impatience about her.

Fire, fire...

When I first moved back to L.A.in July, I found a place in Van Nuys with two other roomies. The place was cool, for the most part, but the neighborhood wasn’t that great. It was fine, so long as you didn’t look at someone the wrong way or flipped someone off in a fit of road rage. I did come out one morning and found a pair of sneakers dangling from the power lines over the front yard, but didn’t think too much of it. Probably just some of the local kids messing around.

Then, one day, I came home from work to find my next door neighbor’s front yard torched. There was a high hedge, about chest -high, that encompassed the house. I suppose a spark from a car or some kid playing with fireworks or matches could have started it, but it seemed too much a coincindence in relation to the strung-up sneakers from a couple weeks previous. The weird thing is, they were hanging in my yard, and I doubt my roomies or I had done anything to cause any sort of a retaliation. And our neighbor, who was about 60 years-old and lived alone and pretty much kept to himself was even less likely to have done anything to instigate such an act.

The photos shows the damage to the neighbors front yard. My place was just to the left of this house and was very similar in appearance, since they were a part of the same complex. You can see how the palm tree was scorched by the flames from the hedge, but never really caught fire. The palm leaves were just partly singed. Thankfully, there was no damage to the house and no one was hurt.

Uptown Theater marquee

Another marquee... I dig the lines here.

Suburban World marquee

Another shot from Uptown Minneapolis April, 2006
I have been back in California now for four months now, and in Palm Springs for about six weeks. I know it sounds surprising, but I am really homesick, especially since I have found some blogs from people back home and seeing all their pics and videos about all the familiar places to me. It will be good to get home for Christmas!

phone sax

Street musician in Uptown, Minneapolis April, 2006

old in, new out

This is a shot from a couple years ago from someplace in Minneapolis. The image appeared to me while on an aimless photojournalistic wandering... the kind that I have frequently. Can you guess where it is?

Stealth fighter

After a few passes from the three prop-engine fighters, the crowd at the Palm Springs Veterans Day parade witnessed another flyover from what I believe was an F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. Another link to the F117A.

USAF Flyover

I am not in any way an advocate of the military, war, or weapons of mass destruction. But I do resonate with many of the principles on which our country was founded. I am just trying to understand what the hell is happening to this country nowadays, like so many other people. At any rate, I found myself hanging out at the Coffee Bean in downtown Palm Springs on Sunday afternoon, just prior to the start of the Veterans Day parade. I had not completely decided if I was going to even watch the parade, as I am torn inside about all the pomp and circumstance that emanates from such attention to this sort of public celebration of military and war. And, at the same time, I feel a great deal of gratitude and loyalty to those who gave their lives so that I may live in a free country (even it is a false sense of freedom). Well, I got the camera out (just in case, as a good photographer will do) and had it standing by as I worked on some photoshop files while I sat outside on the sidewalk. All of a sudden, these WWII fighter planes came zipping out of nowhere. Luckily, they made a few more passes and I was able to click off a few frames. I remember always being fascinated with planes as a kid, and I guess I still am today. I am in awe of their raw power and sleek lines. I just don't like what these planes represent and stand for in today's world. But then, it's still a cool picture. So much contradiction in my life!

meep meep

I usually only see this guy in the mornings when I am leaving for work. He's usually just poking around here and there, scavenging for bugs and lizards and whatever he can dig outta the dumpster. And, I wanna tell you, the roadrunner cartoon was not an exaggeration... these guys can fly! I even heard this guy make that sort of plugging raspberry sound that the cartoon roadrunner would make just as he is about to speed off, as he stuck out his tongue mocking poor 'ol Wile E. Coyote. I think they make the sound by flapping their wings quickly as they start to run off. See more about roadrunners.

Still unsettled...

I have been trying to get more settled in my new surroundings here in Palm Springs. It’s been an adjustment, in so many ways, since uprooting again from home in Minneapolis, then to Los Angeles, and two months later again to the desert. For the most part, it’s been interesting and cool. But now that I’ve been here for a month, I am starting to feel the restlessness once again.

My new job as a studio manager, photographer, and assistant keeps me very busy. Maybe too busy, as I still have much unpacking to do at home. But maybe I have been a bit lazy about that, also. My new boss and coworkers are all pretty cool. There have been only a few of those awkward, stick-my-foot-in-my-mouth moments. Some days I work from 8 AM until 8 PM, but then I can usually sleep in the next day if there aren’t any shoots scheduled in the morning. My boss gives me a lot of room to work in my own way and puts a lot of trust in my abilities and work ethic. But, at the same time, I can get a bit overwhelmed with all the responsibility, and begin getting burned out even when there are a lot of exciting things going on around me. All in all, the new job is pretty cool. It’s just that I have been so busy working that I have little energy left over to use on the home and social fronts.

There are many hiking trails here, but I have only been out on two occasions. I have found some internet resources and picked up a book on the local trails, so I am hoping that I will eventually be able to get out there. I guess I have been a bit reluctant also because I am so out of shape. But I am tired of making so many excuses. I really just need to get out there!

Today's pic is the view facing my backyard. I stepped out onto the street to avoid the obstruction of the lovely pink cinder-block walls encircling the camp. What you are looking at is Mt. San Jacinto, the second highest peak in California at 10,834 feet above sea level (my apartment is at about 350 feet above sea level). I took the tram up to the top and spent the day hiking around a couple weeks ago. It was quite impressive, to say the least.