I'm so glad you found me! I'm a San Francisco photographer, and this blog charts my journey in the ever-evolving world of photography. One of the things I love about photography is that it's a journey, not a destination. I'm constantly learning and meeting wonderful people. Please peruse the blog to your heart's content, then check out my website and feel free to contact me! (I love hearing from you.)

“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow." – Imogen Cunningham

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.” – Edward Steichen

Day 147 (August 6) - Footwear



You may not think that the subject of this photo is footwear. You would be excused for thinking that the subject is, indeed, Evan, striding toward me, or perhaps the boys monkeying around next to him, or maybe (if you are philosophically inclined) you might think the subject was something larger, something grander. Education, maybe. Or the meeting point of two cultures.

On an average day, you'd be right. But this photo is about footwear. Check out what the boys are wearing on their feet. They wear socks and sandals (often tennis shoes with the backs folded down for easier in and outing as well). Why? Because every time they go into a classroom, they take their shoes off. Their footwear is practical.

In contrast, look at Evan's shoes. Laces, tied tight, no easy in and outing here. He wears these to school every day. And takes them off at least six times a day, to go into classrooms and teach (no shoes in the classroom).

Have I spoken to him about the wisdom of other, easier, more flexible shoes? A thousand times, yes. Does he listen? No.

PS I know the photo above looks grainy and weird, and I don't know why. If you click on it, the larger version looks better, but I tried uploading a version the same size as the container, and it still didn't help. I promise, it looked much nicer before I uploaded it. And the file on my computer still looks nice.

Day 147 (August 5) - Self Portrait


Self portraits are tough. And I've been avoiding doing one for ages now, so I decided that today I was going to bite the bullet. But my vanity didn't really want a face shot.

So I decided to photograph my feet again. But this just reminded me that I should really cut my toenails. And then . . . I decided that I wanted a picture of my hair. Just the way it was, sort of disheveled, falling out of its braid at the end of the workday. After all, today one of my smartest students in the highest level class I teach, told me 'teacher, beautiful hair. color . . . beautiful.'

I know she can make a sentence in English. She just . . . doesn't, unless I make her.

Anyway, back to the picture.

Simple, right?

Well, actually, no. I held the camera behind my head. Too close! said the autofocus. I tried holding it further away. Not enough contrast! said my lens, and searched wildly for something to focus on. After about five minutes of fruitlessly holding the camera up and behind my head, my arms were complaining loudly, and I still had no pictures. Not even any bad pictures, just no pictures.

So I went into the bathroom to use the mirror to get my shot (word to the wise, if you want to take a self portrait, don't choose the back of your head). It still was ridiculously hard, but I did get a few I liked by resting the camera on top of my head and angling it down to the mirror. A bit of a crapshoot, but I guess I learned something:

If you want a picture of your hair, ask someone else. And, self portraits may be for other photographers. I think I may have reached my self portrait peak in 8th grade.

As a thank you for reading all of my mumblings, here are some kitten pictures.


Don't you wish you could fall asleep like that?

Day 146 (August 4) - Mothers



Mothers everywhere are the same: concerned for the safety of their children.

This is a shot of the mother cat glaring balefully at us after we (once again! the nerve) snuck a peek at her kittens.

The bottom image is straight out of camera (well, raw converted to jpeg, don't think I can upload raw files to blogger). The top image I did my basic edits: color, contrast, sharpness, then I wasn't really happy with the position of the cat, so I took the image into Photoshop and stretched the background a little. I also darkened the background to put the focus on the cat. Too much? What do you think? Is that red in the background distracting? I kind of like it, but it does pull the eye away.

Day 145 (August 3) - Through the Window


So, day 1 of 30 days of Blank. I wasn't feeling particularly inspired today, and because today was a non teaching day I neglected to get a shot at school. I'm running out of things to shoot around the house; there are just only so many times that I can post a picture of the cat.

So today I decided to shoot the windows, again, but this time from the inside out, and let the wall inside (which is white in real life, by the way, but not lighted here so it looks black) become a frame for them. And as I have promised to do for the month of August, here is a before and after for you of the original raw file, and then my edited version. Pretty standard edits today, the toughest part was getting the contrast curve in Lightroom right.

Thirty Days of Blank

I've got a problem, and it's called Google Reader. The problem is, I'm addicted. And every blog post brings a link to another amazing blog (most about photography, I won't lie) and I think, oh, cool, I'll just add that blog to my reader too, and then suddenly, there are over 300 new blog posts in my reader and I am drowning.

But that's a story for another day.

So, I was in my Google Reader, and one thing led to another, and suddenly I was at a blog that I had never seen before, one that belonged to a person I had never met in the real world, and one that I was unlikely ever to meet. And here's the link for you.

This person suggested doing 30 days of Blank. Of something. Anything. Whatever you choose. Starting August first.

I'm a little late, but I thought I'd do 30 days of before and afters, showing a little more of the processing I'm doing on my photos. Maybe even including some Photoshop. Starting tomorrow. Let me know what you think, and if this inspires you to do 30 days of Blank!

Blogger Image Sharpness: Can Someone Explain it to Me?

Do a little experiment for me, if you will. See that picture down below?

Click on it. I promise, it won't bite. Just one little click.

See how much sharper it is after you click on it? Why is that?

It's the same size. Same number of pixels, everything. Can someone help me fix this sharpness issue? I hate having my images look softer than they really are. And I don't want to ask you to click on every single picture.