Glendora Fire

A fire started early this morning in the foothills of Glendora. The smoke quickly filled the sky and created an ominous looking sunrise. At the time of this post, over 1700 acres had burned, a couple of homes were destroyed, and arrests were made because of suspicious activity in the area.

No-show

There have been a few occasions as a photographer where the subject does not show up for the session. This happened yesterday and it puts me in a situation where I'm not comfortable. Yes, my time is valuable. But I don't subscribe to the "I-wanna-get-paid-for-doing-nothing" school of thought. I like to earn my pay by shooting, so it's difficult to submit an invoice without the work attached. My answer yesterday was to compile some stock images for the client and submit those with the invoice. Win-win.

Another One Bites the Dust

Barnes & Noble has closed its bookstore in Old Pasadena after two decades of business there. We shopped at that location many times and it was a store my sons liked to go to since they were toddlers. It's unfortunate that brick and mortar businesses like this can't compete with online retailers because we're losing some cool traditional places that the next generation of readers won't get to experience. But I have to admit that I'm not a bookworm. Most of my reading is for information or research, not relaxation. As a photographer, I prefer a coffee table book with great images. My brother once considered buying a book for me as a gift. He called my wife to ask if she thought I'd enjoy it. She replied sarcastically, "Does it have words?"

Fill 'er Up!

A few days into 2014 and I already feel like I'm running on empty, at least from an inspirational perspective. The holidays are over, people are back to work and it's time to "fill up" and move forward. The jobs tend to trickle in at the start of January, so I have time to get my creative juices flowing. I went out this morning and had trouble finding anything interesting to shoot. Just couldn't seem to get focused. Then I remembered an old Flying A service station nearby and thought that the gas pump metaphor would be a perfect fit.

New Year's Day

The New Year always starts out with such optimism. Resolutions. . .new beginnings. . .plans for success. Even my own intentions were to get to the end of the Rose Parade route this morning in time to photograph Dodgers announcer Vin Scully as he rode by in a classic car as the Grand Marshal. But I arrived a couple of minutes too late, missed my shot and immediately felt disheartened by starting off 2014 with failure. A Charlie Brown moment. So, this image of a trampled and flattened New Year's tiara discarded along the edge of Colorado Blvd. represents the dreams that get smashed before they get out of the starting gate. Let's hope for a quick recovery.