busy busy busy as a lost film can...

...on a bumpy and windy road. The last few days I've been running all over the place. Had a foto shoot-out in Fremont and drove there in the pouring rain with my bad night vision.... the rain was so pouring-down hard that I couldn't see a thang but apparently better than other drivers who kept drifting between lanes with invisible land-markers in the wet mess, or whose cars just simply straddled two lanes. I just would find a car with very bright taillights and stay a safe distance behind them. The drive over the bay bridge and continuiing to Fremont is over an hour - I must confess it was the first time I've ever driven on the bay bridge and seen the cars driving less than 50mph!!

Upon arriving, my GPS unit didnt have the street number, so I hunted around in a very dark industrial area till I saw someone outside the side of one building, then saw the number sought as I turned into the parking lot. There I stayed with other photographers for over three hours. Three models were in attendance and most of us just took turns shooting; the big shadow-box to the right of a solid-white background created the studio effect which I don't like. Eventually, I started shooting without the benefit of a flash nor the synched studio-lights there... which startled quite a few.
It poured when we departed and this time drove south to the San Mateo bridge, and through the rain made my way back up to the City. It was a longer trip but faster I thought not having to pass over the Bay Bridge and the bottleneck that is created by going through Oakland.... of course it was pouring-down buckets of rain again!

The next week I had a photography club meeting close to the Ferry Building at the Crossroads cafe. It's my third time meeting with the various photographers and others interested in the magic of imagery.... I enjoy discussing photography with others but rarely get the chance... this is a great way to meet others. Many brought their cameras, others brought their prints and/or portfolios, and there were quite a few very impressive images!

The next day I drove for my latest follow-up in San Jose with my eye clinic. The drive was pleasant enough and even this journey was a test for my eyes as each time I've done this hour and ten minutes drive, my eyes has changed. Easily remembering the first loooong drive, made even longer by the simple fact that I couldn't see a thang on the highway!! To top it off I wore some cheapo glasses ~ so cheapo that it actually lessened my vision - or, what I could see! I later threw those away. My last checkup in September rated my vision at 20/40. This day it had increased to an approving 20/25 and with time I am hoping it'll be even better than that! I hated driving during the late hours as my vision is noticeably worse in dim lighting; for the past few weeks I've been driving at night with better vision, and I know that will improve also. The halo effect everyone talks about for me is minimal and as my eyes are moistened, it's even less apparent. My next follow-up will be in January just before I leave for a long-awaited month in Europe and at least 20 days in Rota where my apartment has been sitting empty for the last few months. I am also planning to spend at least 10 days in France to shoot with a model there.

I've only had my plane tickets for over five months! :-)

Returning from the clinic, I stopped by the Baylands Preserve in Palo Alto hoping to get some great shots of masses of migrating birds flying or feeding.
I did get some birds but not en masse as I had hoped for.... the mass must have departed on a train to a restaurant to dine out.

I then went straight to a wine bar in the downtown area of San Francisco - only over an hour early - as I arrived back in the City during the peak of a early rush-hour. Not wanting to get into the mess of traffic again, I just stayed there waiting first in my car, then going inside to wait till my group eventually showed up on time, but not before I had time to discover the rustic brown interior and even grab some shots!
It was very pricey with a white house wine priced at $12 {wow} but hey, this is San Francisco! In my little place in southern Spain, for that price for just one glass, I could've purchased in a local market four to six bottles of reds or white, of better or similar taste and body.

my wine glasses and plate of fried squid
yummmmy!

I was shocked at the amount of people who were there drinking and eating!! The least expensive glass of wine was priced at $9 - perhaps I'm in the wrong business!

While in San Jose I went to a big chain-store electronics store to buy a PCI card for my newest external hard drive which has SATA capability but unfortunately the card is crashing my system. So right now am copying files over from the older external drive to the newer at a slower rate ~ only 1gig per second ~ but at least it's moving faster than a few megabytes as previous!

Fast is so relative!!

So, here I have been for the past 20 hours again, copying image files..... my life is a circle!!!

I was trying to park for just a minute in a yellow zone ~ yeaaaa, I know ~ and when the tires were done turning, I looked toward the parking meter, and saw the words on its post... listing the towing warning and when parking is allowed, and then it dawned on me:

I was sitting inside my car, still belted in and behind the wheel, and I could see the words on that parking meter post! Even when I had glasses, I couldn't read the words!

It's not only a miracle, this bit of modern technology, but amazing! That in some little-noticed daily routine of Life that everyone takes for granted: breathing, touching, drinking, seeing.... that I could see well without glasses for the first time in soooo many years!

Everyday is a revelation for me in regards to my vision. Sometimes I cant see well, or hardly at all, and after a few simple blinks, my vision return after the cornea is a bit more well-moisturized.

Today I was on the road almost all day and didn't get back to my cell till after sunset. I had missed two of my required eye-drop applications and my vision paid dearly... I could hardly see at all during the drive home in the dark night. However I still know that my eyesight is better now without glasses than it's ever been in the last four decades!

We take so much for granted, and we don't realize how much we have (or not have) till it's gone..... or in this case, till something that has gone bad and has been replaced.

And yes, I did try to blind myself looking directly into a bright golden sphere tonight. But one needs to see what is all around... as in most events... there is more to the eye than the main "performance"... one must look elsewhere, because the main event is often just one part of a whole scenario that often we forget to notice....

It's when we take that moment to pause for a second to see what else there is, then we can truly appreciate what Life offers and how WE also offer something in return.

BACK from friendly Eugene

Mt Shasta seen enroute SF...
aren't the clouds jes GorGeous?

Wednesday ~ 11:58pm: Returned from Eugene and as always: a stop-N-go nine hours on the road again. Don't ever get that "fat-free" French-Vanilla.... yeeeck. Never put the camera in the front seat and turned ON.

Not if you want to finally reach your destination within the coming year!

I was lucky enough in being able to stay VERY busy this trip.... usually I am so bored out of my mind and shoot just flowers, sunsets, etc. It was good to be able to shoot some other people too... I love staying busy and up late working on fotos while watching the Olympics. Of course I was driving all over Eugene and getting lost.... Aside from the 9-hour drive between Eugene and SF, I think I spent too much time on the road and in cars!!! I finally departed at about 5am Wednesday to beat the rush hour traffic in the Bay Area when I finally arrive.

It was a very good trip for me, resulting in a shoot with a Medford, Oregon model. Cannot forget my friend's skate rink wedding and the great handmade wedding cake!!! Then had a session with a very photogenic couple on Sunday who are expecting a little one in a few months, then finally finished with a very pretty teen and her brother on Tuesday, then later photographed her parents later that same afternoon.

I'll never forget Eugene's sunsets and even Mount Shasta was lovely and dressed in clouds; aside from snapping some pixs while driving 65mph down the interstate, I also stopped and got some better pixs of that beautiful mountain!

Saturday ~ 9:50pm: What a day!! Though I had my alarm set for 8:15am, I actually awoke several times starting at 6am.... I was busy busy as a bee readying to go to deliver a box of goodies of art materials for an internet friend, then head over to the bride's home preparing for her wedding. Then as I was already starting to shut down my laptop to depart, an email arrives with the simple subject line I've been waiting for: driver's license

A kind family discovered my "belt pouch" with my IDs and credit cards near the street at 29th and Willamette, and contacted me. I've known Eugene people to be kind, honest and thoughtful, and this is such proof of that thought; while I worked at the main library here, people turned in money, laptops, credit cards, among other things!

My sincere thanks to this family and well-wishes for them in this new world of thoughfulness to your neighbor and fellow man.

The WEDDING: I arrived early ~ better early than late always ~ be fore noon and soon began recording their spercial day... I am always honored to be a part of such happy and important personal events... it's not easy to be the one entrusted with such responsibilty, but I love to document these moments of happiness, and feel it's something I do quite well. That she would think of me in her important moment is such an honor, specially when one considers that I don't reside in Eugene any longer.

I finally got home at about the same time the sun began to set - again - and stopped several times to record that also. The sun sets in Eugene at about 8:20 and the sunbeams were fantastic. I plan to use one of the sunbeam images as a background for one of their pictures.

Tomorrow I will shoot a pregnant mother-to-be and that will start about 2pm and continue till sunset. I'm so happy I am staying busy and taking fotos ~ it's my life!!!!

Friday ~ 10pm: I spent a disgusting busy day outside in the Northwestern heat of 90f+ and humidity. While I was able to get to all of my scheduled appointments, I did a stupid thing today that is typical of my crazy lifestyle... all of my life I have misplaced and/or lost items. Today, I not only lost the house-key to where I am staying with a friend, but I also lost a belt "pocket", complete with my military ID and CA driver's license, plus a slew of credit cards. Yeaaaa, I've checked the car inside and out so many times and drove back to the places where I thought it might have detached itself from my belt. No luck... plus I had my newest version of my business cards in there too, so if anyone honest did find it, they would have called me.

I am soooo disappointed.

Tomorrow is the wedding, then Sunday I have a shoot that will take up most of the afternoon. Monday or Tuesday I will take a little drive to the Oregon coast which I really like but now may not do it, due to the loss of those important documentation. It seems all of my days are filled up and then I'll depart a day earlier.

While returning from my last search of where the lost items might be, I saw the clouds over the Eugene foothills, and again, I went to get my camera and snapped away. It was so incredible and if not for two individuals who were there with me talking about the sun and about photography in general, I would have cried at my idiotic day and its strange turn of events.

It seems again that Eugene's sunset brightened my day and left me with an awe that I could only have here.... and in Spain.

Thursday 14 August: Early morning departure at 4:45AM. The Harrison Street entrance to the Bay Bridge was closed... a motorcycle cop was there but he didn't help any of us stopped across the street, wondering where to go to get on the bridge. I followed the four cars in front of me and within three minutes and three traffic liggts, I was on the bridge... finally. It seems so strange to be driving through this city that I call my hometown... to see it filthy, dirty, empty of cars and tourists, the shops and restaurants closed and dark... then compare that with the daytime-version: full of cars, traffic and tourists, no room on the sidewalk to walk even... the dirty street hidden by parked cars.

I was to be in Medford, Oregon by noon to shoot with a model... my GPS predicted my arrival before 11:30. With several stops for gas and rest - stretch those old legs - I thought I should arrive about that time. An hour later at a gas stop outside Fairfield did I realize I left the house with only a dollar and some change in my pockets... luckily just enough to buy a french-vanilla coffee... I had to count out 40 cents worth of pennies but the girl behind the counter just smiled and accepted the change.

I watched a golden bright red sun rise... and though I kept watching it, I didn't stop to snap a picture. Perhaps the next time.....

The car was doing quite good... I've been keeping tabs on gas mileage for many months and this trip actually gave me almost 30 miles to the gallon for the first portion of the tank. This is a first for this car since moving from the relatively flats of Eugene to the hills and traffic of SF!! For the remainder I used the a/c as it was sooo hot - how nice to finally have a car equipped with that cooling miracle after 30 years driving without a/c in hotter-than-heck climates! For the rest of the trip it dropped a bit and when I finally filled up again just before Roseburg, the mileage was about 22+ miles per gallon for the rest of the tank... that's not bad when compared to the 12 miles I got for the gallon when I first moved to the City, and buying gas exactly once a week! Those hills and the stop-N-go traffic will do it to the car's performance!!!

In Medford I spent an interesting three hours shooting with a gorgeous model, then when it came time to download the fotos to her laptop, I realized that along with forgetting my cell phone charger, I also forgot the correct cable for the camera. Now instead of DLing 500+ pictures in less than 10 minutes, it would take three times longer!!!

This trip wasn't starting off well! In addition, I actually had to stop the car once I passed Fairfield to find my allergy pills... I smelled something that reminded me of hay burning and my sinuses were really bad this morning...... wow!! By time I arrived in Medford, my sinuses were again so bad even the model offered me some pills which I accepted and 20mins later, I could actually breathe again!!!

Finally done copying the pictures to her laptop, I started the final portion of my trip to Eugene, and traffic was bad. To make up for the traffic, I stopped at a rest area where olive trees were growing; these were old trees with the most beautiful roots!! Unfortunately, the restrooms were terrible! The sinks were filthy and though there were people cleaning, the sinks were so dirty I didn't touch them. It reminded me of seeing the restrooms at the rest areas off the german autobahn, and they were even more filthy than these!



Traffic into Eugene was bad starting about 30miles south, but as I arrived just after 8, I drove over to my "old spot" at Amazon Park and photographed the sunset.

I always feel so honored and special when I am "welcomed" to any location and the sunsets are so incredibly beautiful and colorful! Tonight was no different....



I like Eugene!!!