One Camera. One Lens. One Photo a Day.

I call this “Dad’s Tree” because it always reminds me of my Dad.

I’ve photographed this tree probably twenty times over the past few weeks.  Ever since I saw the first bud emerge in mid January. Every time I see it whether in the early morning light, or dripping with rain, or late in the afternoon (just before sunset, like here), the tree looks different. The weather, which has been simply amazing the past few days is scheduled to change and get colder, so at 5:22 I rushed over to the store to see the flowering magnolia tree before the sun sets.

Today is the day it will make the blog.

And the reason it always reminds me of my Dad is because when he was visiting us, in February 2006 soon after Kate was born, he was fascinated by this tree and the early blossoms and was somehow drawn to it.  He seemed to again connect with the world by seeing this tree.

Or perhaps it just struck him as odd because he was a midwestern boy and you just didn’t see such beauty  back there until April or May, but certainly not February.

To give you a bit of backstory, Dad had suffered a stroke in 1999 so he was in need of constant care by my Mom. He was feeble then (and would pass away just a few months later, in July) yet something in the deep recesses of that mind continued to fascinate him about trees, plants and botanicals just like it always had since he was a kid and through his college years when he got a bachelor’s degree in horticulture.  Even suffering brain damage from the stroke, his love of all things plants still came through. (If you go to the June entries in my old blog, and the July entry (near the end of the section) you can read a bit more about my Dad)

So every January and February when this flowering shrub next to the Albertson’s blossoms, I instantly think of Dad. It stops me and I reflect on this beautiful plant that is blossoming in what is surely the deadest of winter. And I continue to miss him.

This poor kid, he seems like he’s always in stripes.

Either he’s wearing  striped pajamas, a striped sleepsack, or is photographed in the stripes caused by morning light through the blinds.

And then Nicki informs me that she got some new pajamas for the upcoming trip — and of course they’re in, what else?  Stripes!

Winter retreated here today…making it feel almost like summer.

I posted a quick little status update on Facebook and it was the source of frustration for our east coast friends.  After living in the west for almost 20 years, I’ve become almost immune to winter.  It’s barely a memory.  But if pressed I can remember those days.  It does take work though.

Kate and Sparky had a full day.  Nicki was out and about with them at the park most of the morning, back home with them for a quick lunch and then back out for a pool aftern0on.  Of course we paid the price.  Both kids have full nuclear meltdowns this afternoon around dinner time.  They just simply crashed.  It probably wasn’t due totally to their activities today — they’ve had two late nights in a row and I think it just hit them.  Nicki too, I think she might already be asleep.

The photo from today is of Kate and her best buddy Marlee (who turned four today!) as they got some exercise at a playground near the pool.

This evening we went to the beach again.

Tonight’s trip was to South Laguna Beach, the beach near the Montage.  I hadn’t been there to photograph since right before Christmas and could not believe how much the beach had changed since then.

The recent storms  has washed away some of the sand at the beach…there was a fall off of several feet and new rock exposed at the end of the ramp — you almost had to be a  mountain goat to get down to the waves.  Climb over the rail, climb down the steps and then the last step is about 4 feet down to the rocks.  It used to be sand.  I suspect that by the spring and summer the sand will be replaced and the beach will be back to normal.

The surf was incredible as well.  Much more than last night.  This beach had the best waves I think I have seen in a long time at the beach.  Some were 6-8 feet I’d guess, and they held their shape nicely.  The surfers who were out there had some amazing rides.

Tonight we were at the beach for a bittersweet session.  Our friends Robert and Mandy are leaving Ladera soon for their new home in Colorado, outside of Denver.

Mandy is South African and she and Nicki have gotten to know each other over the past few years.  For an expat it’s always nice to have folks who know about life back home.  Even though she’s married to a Yank, like Nicki is, it’s always great having local friends who have been there.  I wanted to give them a gift of a family session and they chose this beach because it is special to them.

It was a fun session made even more special because they had never had any type of portrait session done of the family.  And this was one of my favorites from the day — here Robert playfully “tosses” his son Jason during the last light of the day.

For photographers:  this image was made with the Zeiss ZE 50mm f1.4 — a relatively newly designed series of lenses by the legendary optical maker that works in the “old school” style of  manual focus (no auto focus, though it does have focus confirmation) on Canon cameras.  Exposure was 1/400th at f1.8 (on a Canon 5d) and the look is quite different than the look I get from the Canon 50 1.2L.  Why use it?  It’s small, light, and the feeling of actually focusing, but for me it’s primarily because of the look it creates.  The lenses are the closest thing that I have ever seen to the Zeiss 80mm f2.0 lens for the Contax 645.

Last night Nicki and I decided that we would head to the beach late this afternoon as a family.  I suppose you could say it was kind of an early Valentine’s Day event, though actually it was more about taking a little bit of time out, and taking advantage of this place.

It was wonderful.

Traffic was pretty jammed on Coast Hwy going north — everyone else seemed to have the same idea as us.  Get to the beach on probably the nicest day (warmest too) we’ve had in about a month.  Plus, with the forcast of no rain in site, everyone was in a festive mood.

Odd, you wouldn’t think people in California would get “spring fever”, but I distinctly felt like I was in the presence of just that this afternoon.  Of course we haven’t battled the weather that has crippled the midwest and the east coast, but we have had our own cross to bear.  It’s little but we had it.

Now I have no idea if we’re through the winter here and pushing forward to spring…we very well might get another cold snap, or dousing of el nino rains…but no matter.  Today was just a day to take it all in and be grateful.

Kate watching the day end from Laguna Beach, Catalina Island in the distance…

Tulip in the last light of the day…

It was a hectic day in the office and yet a quiet one.  I had a client presentation and then met with a portrait client and got a TON done today.

The quiet part was because Nicki had taken the kids down to Legoland which was great for them and great for me.

But just after 5 I realized, I better get going and make a photograph.

Heading into the dining room I spotted the tulips that Nicki got a couple of days ago.  Yesterday I actually photographed them as well, though a little bit earlier and the side light was stronger.  The flowers were definitely in better form yesterday.  So here I sit looking at the tulips that were starting to sag a bit.  Oh gees. Is there a photo here?  Cleaning up the composition I notice the light coming through the front window and decided to place the flower in front of it, exposing the image with enough light to get enough light in the foreground.

Later Nicki and the kids arrived home and I thought they would be fast asleep but they were wide awake.  So I had plenty of opportunities to photograph the kids before dinner and then before bed and while I made several that I love, but the old tulip was the one for today.

Heading Off to School…

This morning Kate was all excited.  Today was the big Valentine’s Day exchange at school and she had a bag full of candies for her classmates.

Watching her line up with her classmates before heading into the classroom, she just beamed as she saw her little friend Charlie and they were comparing notes about what they would give to their classmates.

It was sweet to see that the thing that seemed to bring her the most joy was the fact that she had gifts for her students and not what she would get from them.

And she received a special “sprinkle-spronkle” (code name for glitter) tattoo from Charlie and of course that had to survive the evening bath.

The image below is Kate as she was literally spinning with excitement holding her bag full of Pez candies to share with the class.

High In the Sky…

Kate leaps as she has for about as long as we can remember on the guest bed, with her younger cousin Taylor taking part.

We probably need to stop allowing this pretty soon as Kate is now over 40 pounds, but it brings such joy for her to jump “high in the sky” or “high/sky” as she used to say when she was just learning to talk.

She’s always been doing gymnastics whether it is the guest bed, or the couchs, or doing the balance beam, that is from the couch, across the two leather chairs, to the other couch in the lounge.

And it made the decision to sign her up for gymnastics at Cal Elite an easy and natural choice.  And even going to class and open gym there during the week, she still is full of energy.

It will be fun to see where this takes her because it’s sure been fun to watch.

The rain was pounding so hard this morning, that at 4 a.m. it woke me  from a deep sleep.

I think it might have woken up the baby too, as he was fussy at 5.  But he soon went back to sleep and thus we could too.

It was one of those wet winter days here in CA that the Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want you to see, let alone remember.

With the exception of the folks dealing with the mud slides, the moisture is welcome — if it only can be held in the ground.

Kate had school and when we went there, there was a break in that rain.  Then for a brief moment, some sun, and then back to deep clouds.

I loved the look of the rain drops on the leaves of the agapanthus plants on the hillside near the house.  In May and June these will bloom into my favorite summer plant, but for now they’re just in waiting.

The Journey Back Home….

After an all-too-brief trip from Wisconsin to the OC via every Northwest/Delta hub known to man (practically), my Mom heads to the car with Kate as an escort this morning. Traveling light, she only had carry on luggage.

This was a tough little morning for Kate as Uncle Don was taken to the airport just after 5 a.m. to be on the first flight out of Orange County, and when I came back, the first words out of her mouth were:  “Where’s Uncle Don?”  She was so forlorn when I told her that he had to go back home to his little girl (Bethany, who is my god daughter).

And then Mom headed for the airport later in the morning, before Kate’s gymnastics class.  (As I write this she’s still in transit, somewhere in the midwest).

After Mom left them at the airport, Nicki tells me that Kate was quietly sobbing in the back of the car, tears streaming down her face as they drove to gymnastics.  She was just so sad that Grandmom was here for just two days.  Somehow it didn’t seem fair.  Usually she stays for 2 weeks, or 3 weeks or the last time in was a month, but two days??

This afternoon when she got home, she quietly said to me “I miss Grandmom”.

I do too, sweetie.