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

A Month of Film, Day 9 - Waiting Patiently


Baloo waits for the squirrels to come down out of the tree.

It's a long wait, but she's patient.

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 8 - Building Bridges Again



Compare to the digital version here.

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 7 - Rock Climbing



*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 6 - Mountains


*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 5 - Trees



Compare these to the digital versions of these shots I posted last week. There is a difference, isn't there?

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 4 - The Beach at Dusk


Something a little funky happened with the scan on this one. Not sure exactly what.

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month of Film, Day 3 - The Pelican


*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

Johannesburg, South Africa, Days One and Two

This blog post is a quick hello from South Africa. Since this is our last day of internet (we think) before camping and safaris commence for several weeks, I thought we'd put up a few photos from today and yesterday just to show you all what we're up to.

Keep in mind, I'm working on a tiny netbook that totally skews the photos, so all of these are straight out of the camera and I can't really see them so I don't even know if they're in focus. If they're not, I'm sorry.

Yesterday was our first day in Johannesburg. It's a interesting city, so crime ridden that everyone has huge walls and razor wire fences around their houses, office buildings, and even parking lots. No one walks anywhere (if they can afford not to), because the risk of mugging for anyone, especially tourists, is quite high. However, it's also a place with an amazing political history, especially in the last twenty years. Mandela is still on everyone's lips, and rightly so. Considering where the country came from, they've come quite far.

Yesterday we started the day at the Apartheid Museum. One entry, Evan was classified as 'white' and I was 'non-white.' This meant we had to go through a part of the museum separately. It was a strange feeling.




Later we went to Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg where we could see the houses of Mandela and Desmond Tutu. We also went to the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, dedicated to a12 year old  boy who was shot by the police in 1976 while students were protesting having to study in Afrikaans.


At the end of the day, we were frankly quite exhausted and we collapsed at a pretty early hour (I blame jet lag).

This morning we switched hotels and came to the Airport Game Lodge, a charming hotel with some animals on the grounds.

Like for example an ostrich. A very curious ostrich.


Then later we ventured out again into the city and went on a small tour. Evan managed to get to the moon!



Our last stop on the tour was Constitution Hill. It used to be a prison, but now it's the seat of the constitutional court. Some of the architecture was quite impressive.


The only photo we have so far of us together. We need to do better!


From inside the Constitutional Court building.



A view of neighboring Hillboro, one of the more dangerous areas of Johannesburg.



More razor wire. It's really everywhere.






This is our hotel room! Pretty nice, isn't it?



And some more of the animals staying here with us.



That's it! We'll have more for you later, but maybe not until we get back home in a month. Until then, cross your fingers that we don't get eaten by lions. :)

A Month of Film, Day 2 - The Birds



Shot on Fuji 400H film.

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

A Month Of Film, Day 1 - Sunflowers



I'm going back and rescanning my old film that I had the lab scan for me. Don't these look better than this?

*From September 22 to October 22, while I'm off vacationing in Africa, I'll be posting one film image (or more!) a day. Hope you enjoy them!*

The Tree



Against the Sky


The Chipmunk



Caught in a wild animal trap (unharmed and then 'rehomed' by driving him a few miles away) this chipmunk had done some serious damage to Evan's parents' house in Truckee. He looks so innocent, right?

Killer!


Ribs




I may be vegetarian, but I couldn't resist taking these photos. We went to the Reno Rib Cookoff, where Evan proceeded to put away a huge number of ribs, aided by his parents and photographed by me. It was a fun day. It's always nice to go out somewhere different, walk around and people watch.

Another Film Shot


A Glass of Wine


Depending on where and when you are when you read this, it may be too early for a glass of wine. Here it's 11 am, so it's definitely too early for me to drink one, but I figure that posting one on the blog doesn't have to be subject to the same restrictions.

Evan and I are spending the weekend getting all of our little ducks in a row before we leave for Africa this Thursday. You know, packing, buying that last thing we need to buy (water purifier, anyone?). I'm trying to lay in a supply of blog posts but realistically it may amount to one photo every two or three days, sans words. I'm hoping you'd still stick around for that.

Right now, as we're full of anticipation and hurrying around like busy little worker bees, life seems great. We're so lucky to be living in a beautiful city, with two healthy adorable get-into-everything cats (this morning Chee was trying to fit his head into a box the size of a deck of cards - boy does that cat love boxes). I've been trying to keep a gratitude journal. I write down three things a day I'm grateful for. It takes two minutes, and there's a lot of repetition. It's an exercise that's supposed to train your brain to be more positive and therefore more immune to stress. I have no idea if it's working - I'm already pretty positive, I'd like to say, but I figure it can't hurt.

Also, I've recently purchased an Epson V600 scanner and I've been scanning film like mad over the past few days. There was a bit of a learning curve involved, but I think I've got it down now, and I'm really enjoying watching the film come to life. So expect some more film while we're away. Happy Saturday!

Friday Film - Dandelion

Fuji 160S, a pretty film. Now discontinued. 
A little something pretty to start your weekend off right.

It's the Little Things


It's the little things that make me really love my life and be so grateful for what I have. Coffee, good friends (so many great friends, really, you guys are all wonderful), the weather of San Francisco that makes it possible to go outside in a sweater year round, and of course, my wonderful husband, both of our great families and our radically adorable cats.

It's all awesome. We're so lucky. And next week we're taking a trip to Africa for a whole month.

Sorry, let me pause. Did you hear me?

A WHOLE MONTH! AFRICA!

I apologize for screaming, but really. What do you expect me to do? I'm a little excited. More than a little, actually. We're starting in Johannesburg and making our way up to Nairobi overland, and honestly other than the basic outline I'm not sure exactly what to expect. Except that there will for sure be some photo opportunities somewhere along the way.

So anyway. I know the blog has been a little quiet lately. Partly I've busy, partly I also injured my wrist so typing and computer work hasn't been super fun (but I'm all better now), and I've also been struggling with how to post. I think I've got it worked out, and I'm going to schedule some posts for during our trip so the blog won't go dead, but it also might still be a little slow for the next month.

So how are you all? What's new? Give me all the juicy details.

Dahlias


The flower of San Francisco, and one of my favorites.