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

Side Glance


Maybe it's not a great life to be a chicken in a coop, but this one sure looks purty. And I love the way the fence in front of it just faded into oblivion.

Took a great walk this evening. The lights were shining orange over the blue lake, and unusually it was warm and fogless. It was nice to just walk hand in hand and not think of the long to-do lists. I have to put walks further up on my list from now on.

Heartless - A Must See

A film by Whitestone Motion Pictures, the backstory of the Tin Man from the Land of Oz. Beautifully lit, gorgeously shot, and only 22 minutes, so you have no excuse not to see it.
http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/films2-2/heartless/

And, you know, because I can't blog without a picture, here's a shot of SF nearing sunset, from a walk I took last week. I'm probably overusing the shots with blur, but I do enjoy it.

Anatomy of An Image, Week 1

I've decided to start a new series on the blog called Anatomy of an Image. I'll post it once a week, on Mondays. I hope to talk more in depth about my thought process as I take each picture. I can't promise it'll be interesting, but maybe it'll be informative.

The Basics
Focal Length: 53mm on a crop sensor, equivalent to about 85mm
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/320 of a second
Aperture: f/2.8

The Story
The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. This frog was in a huge terrarium and he was maybe an inch across. And he was just stuck up on the glass like a little suction cup. So I got as close as I could,, focused with my center focus point and recomposed so he was in the left third of the picture. Then I took a few shots to make sure he would really be in good focus. Fortunately for me there was good light.

Anything else I should be adding to this series? Other information you would like added? Or maybe this completely bores you. Whichever it is, let me know.

More Beach Shots


Which one do you like better?

Ocean Beach At Dusk

I keep  learning new words for my favorite part of day. Remember when I told you about the blue hour? Recently I learned that another word for that is Civil Twilight. And separate from these is the idea of dusk. Civil dusk starts when the sky stops being light blue, and when you start needing a light to read outside. So my guess would be that this picture qualifies as dusk, but also as part of the blue hour. Anyone who knows better is welcome to comment!

San Francisco Street


It's funny. As soon as I tell myself that it's ok to take a break from shooting I can't seem to stop. Maybe it's because I've been walking more, but I keep feeling inspired to pull out the camera. Today on my way home, for instance, there was this amazing side light on all of the buildings. We know the mantra: front light for color, side light for texture, backlight, for shape. So I took a bunch of shots of just textures. I've never been a fan of overlaying textures onto my images, but who knows? That all could change. I'll let you know if I try it out.

I've also been trying to put together a print book of some of my New York images. I've wanted to create a book for a while, but just organizing it all made it seem impossible. Restricting it to just New York made it feasible. So I'll let you know how that goes; I may turn it into an ebook as well if I feel motivated.

In other news, I realized that I often make changes to the blog and don't let you guys know. For example, did you know that you can sign up to get this blog by email? There's a box on the right side of the blog, you just type in your email address and Feedburner (the service I use) will send you an email to confirm. Once you confirm you'll get an email of the blog every day I post, and of course you can unsubscribe at any time (although I don't know why you would want to!).

In addition, I've put up two portfolios, one of people and one of architecture/buildings. They are still very much a work in progress, and I'd appreciate any feedback you all have. The links to those are top right on the blog, but you can also visit them here and here.

And the picture in this post? Took that yesterday. I was bored waiting for the bus so I decided to practice my panning on some pedestrians. In some ways it's harder than it is with cars. But I'm sure as with anything I just need more practice.

That's enough for today. I'll see you tomorrow.