Wonder Wednesday

West Oakland Wonder.

Air Conditioned Electric Invite

Hi everyone, Here's the official Invite to my Hotel Biron reception.
I hope to see you there!

Showtime, San Francisco!

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I've been a very busy girl, and am excited to announce that I'll be exhibiting photographs in two San Francisco establishments this week!

Thursday, October 1, I'm premiering a solo exhibition at Hotel Biron, Wine Bar & Gallery. I hung the show yesterday, and I'm beyond excited about the way the photographs turned out!

This exhibition, titled "Air Conditioned Electric Heat," features 28 roadside photographs, including a new batch from my Las Vegas, New Mexico roadtrip this summer.

For this show, I had the inkling to depart from the traditional white-matte-black-frame approach, and opted instead for no-matte-white-frames. I searched high and low for the perfect white frame and could not find a single contender. Lucky me, my ever so gracious woodworking husband agreed to make me 40 white frames on short notice. The frames are absolutely beautiful, and I think they are a perfect choice for this Collection.

If you're in the Bay Area, I hope you can join the fun on Thursday evening.

Friday, October 2 (My Birthday!) I'll be exhibiting at Artist X-Change, a retail gallery space in San Francisco. I am one of many Bay Area Artists to be included in the October showing, and I'm thrilled to participate.

Here's a sneak peek at the Hotel Biron show...enjoy!

In waking life my exhibition is bursting with color --
I just don't want to spoil the fun of seeing the show in person. Makes sense, right?

"B" marks the spot. Front entrance to Hotel Biron.

More details and quite possibly another sneak-peek coming soon...

Autumn Moon over Berkeley

Remembering a goodnight on this goodmorning.

happy weekend everyone...

The Shirt King of Oakland

Oakland love.

Welcome to Your First Day

of Autumn.

young children and astronauts

dictionary says:

teth·er (tr)
n.
1.
a. A rope, chain, or similar restraint for holding an animal in place, allowing a short radius in which it can move about.
b. A similar ropelike restraint used as a safety measure, especially for young children and astronauts.

Playing with Honey

On a certain yesterday I found myself at a lovely beach in San Diego with a camper named Honey.

When I'm working on a photograph, there are times when I can visualize how I'd like the final photograph to look. Other times, as is the case of Honey, I play and play until the final look reveals itself. I usually keep the rough drafts all to myself, but this time I thought I'd share.
As you can see, I traveled all across the spectrum with this one.

I started out wanting this photograph to look somewhat natural, just a happy little camper soaking up sunlight on the beach -- then I darkened the sand to a chocolate brown, and all of a sudden it started to look like this little Honey was parked on the moon. I start to get excited.

I decide if Honey can be parked on the moon, maybe I should see what it looks like on Mars.
I opted for an ultra-playful pink, thinking that maybe I'd strike a balance between masculine and feminine. The results make me smile, but I don't find myself "there" yet...

And then I found myself here, a very happy Honey.

I also want to say Hello & Welcome!
to all of you new Readers (and the old ones too, I still love you.)
Thank you so much for your comments, I'm so happy you're here.
I hope you'll kick off your shoes and stay a while.

Along the Golden State

Yesterday was a mix of dark and light, sunlight and rain,
with a thousand shades of golden between.

Feeling Frenchy

I awoke this morning, wishing I was in a quiet French village.
I remembered a day when I was, and thought I'd share pictures with you...

What do you think? Shall we whisk ourselves away and meet for coffee?

Love at first sight.

This past weekend Josh and I celebrated ten years of knowing each other.
(nine years of friendship + one year as husband and wife = ten years already?)
Labor Day Weekend is not our wedding anniversary, it's just our own special marker of when the story began...

Sunday was just as the name implies, glorious and sunny. We ventured out to the Alameda Flea Market, an amazing source for everything vintage. The Market is located on the waterfront, so while you stroll through 800 tables of vintage treasures, you can also gaze starry-eyed at the San Francisco skyline.

I found many things that I loved, loved, loved, but when I saw this, I knew we were simply meant to be...

Thrills, fun, and the truest of views...
each an element to a happy little story that is still being written.

Turn, Turn, Turn...

I hadn't noticed, until I peered through the viewfinder,
that leaves have begun to turn

yellow.

I've admired this sign for many years, and felt so happy I'd waited
until this very day to ask it to stand tall and smile.

I returned home imagining Fall
dressed in pink,

blue,

brown and yellow.

American Industry

My little Ode to Labor Day...

I love photographing industrial sites, railroad yards, and gigantic pieces of machinery. I'm drawn to their bold colors and patterns of rust, and ponder what it might be like inside a mind that can dream up the workings of these mechanical creatures. Their larger-than-life scale reminds me that there are many things in this world I do not understand.
I like that feeling, it inspires me to ask questions.

Sometimes I get so involved in appreciating objects for their beauty, I forget that they actually have a functional purpose. For example, did you know that some machines can actually transport things from here, to way over there?! Amazing, I know. The larger point that I'm reminded of is that people like you and me, or maybe the guy sitting next to your or me, create, operate, and fabricate these machines -- People are the real wonder behind the mechanical curtain. Individual labor, collective labor, we all play a part.

Today you can give yourself a pat on that sunburned back, and feel proud of what you've worked so hard to accomplish. Raise those cocktail glasses high everyone... clink, clink, cheers!

Weekend Treats

It's a long weekend and sweetness abounds...
Enjoy!

(Psst.... FREE SHIPPING in my Etsy shop through Monday, Sept. 7 at midnight.)

Today at Shutter Sisters!

Yeah! I'm over at Shutter Sisters today... please stop by and say hello.

Lyrical Happy Dancers

...One afternoon I just gazed at the topmost branches of those immensely tall trees
I began to notice that the uppermost twigs and leaves were lyrical happy dancers
glad that they had been apportioned to the top,

with all that rumbling experience of the whole tree swaying beneath them
making their dance, their every jiggle,
a huge and communal and mysterious necessity dance,
and so just floating up there in the void dancing the meaning of a tree.


I noticed how the leaves almost looked human
the way they bowed and then leaped up
and then swayed lyrically side to side.

It was a crazy vision in my mind but beautiful...

-Jack Kerouac
The Dharma Bums, Chapter 25.

Lightness in Darkness