VINO ROSSO

We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.
~ Benjamin Franklin

WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD

Emily and Erin today at the Abbey Road Studios in London. I took this picture off my computer screen from the studio's live 24/7 web cam which is focused on the famous crossing outside the studio where the album cover for the Beatles ABBEY ROAD was taken. You can see Emily and Erin in the lower right hand corner. Emily has a cell phone in her ear talking to me. I attached the original album photo along with the web cam shot I did of them and also one other strange shot...it's almost as if you can see the Fab Four crossing in the background. How very strange huh?

You can click on the images for a larger view...that last one is just so weird...

TAXI DRIVER

Quote from the film TAXI DRIVER - 1976
Travis - Robert DeNiro
Sport - Harvey Keitel

Travis Bickle: [Walks up to Sport] Hey Sport. How ya doin'?
Sport: Okay, okay my man, how... Where do I know you from, man?
Travis Bickle: I don't know. How's everything in the pimp business, huh?
Sport: Do I know you?
Travis Bickle: No. Do I know you?
Sport: Get outta here. Come on, get lost, huh.
Travis Bickle: Do I know you? How's Iris? You know Iris.
Sport: No, I don't know nobody name Iris. Iris? Come on, get outta here, man.
Travis Bickle: You don't know anybody by the name of Iris?
Sport: I don't know nobody name Iris!
Travis Bickle: No?
Sport: Hey, go back to your fuckin' tribe before you get hurt, huh man. Do me a favor, I don't want no trouble, huh. Okay?
Travis Bickle: You got a gun?
Sport: Get the fuck outta here, man.
[Flicks his cigarette at him]
Sport: Get outta here
[Kicks him]
Sport: .
Travis Bickle: Suck on this.
[Travis shoots him with a revolver in the stomach and walks away]

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

The term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue that is obvious, but which is ignored by a group of people, generally out of embarrassment or taboo. The idiom can imply a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.

TUESDAY MORNING BLUES

I haven't done anything new in the past two days so once again, it's back into the archives for this image I shot last December on Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard.

Best.

MORE FROM THE POOL

Happy Monday,

In keeping with the swimming theme, I dug into the archives for these two images. Both have had a lot of Photoshop work done. The guy with the American flag behind him took me about 5 hours using a digital painting technique. Takes time but the result really looks cool. I attached the original with the painted version. The first one I did in my garage studio and applied a filter called Flood for this effect.

Click on the images for a larger view.

Enjoy Monday!

CHANGE UP

O.K. Lets get away from the booze and get out for some fun in the sun! I shot this yesterday at the Thousand Oaks High School swim meet. As I was trying to get an interesting angle on one of the starts, I noticed the guy on the platform was the son some friends of ours who have sent me a lot of work over the past few years. I used a super wide angle lens and pre-focused on him, got down on my knees ( which I often do but thats another story ) and held the camera about four inches off the water and pointed up toward him. At this point I wasn't looking through the camera but with the super wide lens I knew I'd get a shot, I just didn't know if it would be composed correctly. I pulled the trigger about a second before the gun sounded then yanked the camera away from the water so it wouldn't get wet.

I came away with a pretty decent image and did a bit of Photoshop magic with it. I actually like the original just fine but had to mess with it a bit as to make it look super cool! I posted the original here with the photoshop version.

Stay thirsty my friends...