As if we really had a downtown … and as if it were here …

Here are just a few new shots of the Santa Ana Water Tower (sounds exciting, huh!?!?) as well as the Santiago Street Lofts (in Orange County, California).

May 22, 2008 – Three days ago it was 104 degrees as I commuted to a project near Moreno Valley in Southern California. Today I left Santa Ana in the midst of a near flash flood. The rain was coming down so hard I had to turn around at Tustin Ave. or risk being swept away in a river of water crossing the road. Wild weather for Southern California … even in winter.

At 8:30pm — on my way home — I pull off at Moreno Beach Dr for gas. ($4.17/gallon, by the way). I see what looks like dirt on the side of the road … lots of it … and it appears to be steaming. I realize, as my lights hit it, that it’s white. I realize that it’s snow. Lots of it.

There’s a good 4 inches of snow covering the ground, everywhere. It covers the plants, has piled up in the parking lot, it’s everywhere.

So, like any good west coaster, I act like I’ve never seen snow before in my life and take cell phone pictures of it … and then post them to the blog. (Wouldn’t you?)

In other news, I bought 2 airplane tickets from Florence, Italy to Romania today for approximately 3 cents total (2 euro cents to be exact), including tax. Now I just have to figure out how to get to Florence .. and how to get out of Romania. (Yes, it was one of those random days.)

At last, I finally have a conspiracy theory of my own … and it’s TRUE! I can prove it.

Secretly the designers of the iPhone clearly hate certain locales. One of these locales — albeit deservedly so — is Hemet, California. For instance, try to type Hemet in a text message. THE FINAL “T” WILL NEVER WORK. The letters around it work, but you cannot directly type the final letter T.

hemet ……. H … E … M … E …. R (?!?!?)

They don’t hate it so much that autocorrect won’t work, and it usually fixes itself. But still … clearly a conspiracy.

Now, I’ve only tried this so far on 3 iPhones, so perhaps it’s somehow localized… but really, it’s the strangest thing. There are probably other words out there, so if you want to add to The Great iPhone Conspiracy, add your “untypeable” words to the comments below.

(PS: I have a theory on why this happens, but that’s no fun. For now let’s just keep it a secret little conspiracy, just between you, me, and our 80,000 past readers.)

It’s really easy to take good pictures of my nephew Branson, he’s soooo cute. Here are a couple from Mother’s Day (May 14, 2008):

But it would also be easy (actually, easier) to mess up these shots. My mom (shown with Branson in the next picture) asked me what it is that makes my pictures look good. There are 4 basics — including the easiest “trick” of them all — that anyone can do to make their images look great:

1. Have a great subject that tells an emotional story. Clearly this is the key to any great photo … if you can tell a story and if you can interact emotionally with the viewer, then you’ve done your job as a photographer. Have a great subject, know the story you’re telling, and make sure you capture it.

2. Be able to identify the great shots. I take a lot of shots. On Mother’s Day I was hardly took any pictures … for me. That means I only took about 100 shots throughout the day — of which I liked perhaps 4. This is THE BIGGEST SECRET TRICK of all good photographers: Eliminate 98% or more of your shots, and only show the very, very best. With this trick, pretty much anyone’s work can look good. Of course, this requires that you can IDENTIFY the great shots, that you’ve got the technical aspects handled, and that you captured a good subject … but this is the easiest way to improve your photography: Only show your very best images.

3. Find great light. Always, always be looking for great light. Where is it coming from? What is its quality? Is it hard light or soft light, one source or multiples, dramatic or bland? I actually bought my loft based upon the quality of the light here: huge windows with the sun coming in just right means it’s easy to shoot here. But no matter where I am, if I see soft, natural, beautiful light then I can’t but help think about pictures. My “trigger finger” actually gets itchy … it’s funny. Know what good light looks like, and start recognizing and mentally cataloging those places where you can find or make it.

4. Know your tools! As in any art, you cannot seamlessly create what you want unless you have a mastery of the tools. Start with the basics: read your camera’s manual and buy Photoshop’s “Classroom in a Book”. Practice and drill both. Know your tools first, this is the foundation for being able to accomplish any of these points.

In the photos here, the reason the pictures look technically okay is (a) I used a good lens for portraits (50mm) with a low aperture setting to create a shallow depth-of-field. If you don’t know what this means, then you don’t know your equipment… and therefore you’re not going to get the shots you want, and (b) I used Photoshop to its full capabilities to create the beautiful black & white tones.

There’s always more, of course, but if you capture an emotional subject technically well and in great light, and only show the best images from your shoot … then you’re 95% of the way to an amazing photograph.

“Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury of the vicinage in civil and criminal cases; of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms… If these rights are well defined, and secured against encroachment, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny.””

– James Monroe (1758-1831), 5th U.S. President

Churches that are taxed out of existence for political statements; wiretapping US citizens without a warrant; no jury trials — nor even charges! — for anyone named a “terrorist,” and gun control spreading insidiously … these are the traits of our government less than 300 years after Monroe. Where will this nation be in 100 years? How safe are we from degeneration into tyranny now? And what are you doing about it?

It was one of those random nights.

Arrive at Leatherby’s Rouge Cafe at the new Segerstrom Center. Beautiful place. Think you know the front desk girl. Realize you DO know the front desk girl. Realize you have pictures of her on your phone because 2 years ago you photographed her, then never heard from her again.

Talk with a guy who knows your Grape Radio friends. Sit down and have a wine dinner with the President/Co-Owner of Merryvale Winery (very nice wines): a sea bass starter with Silhouette Chardonnay, then the Maple Leaf Duck Breast (2005 Merryvale Cab), followed by a grilled lamb sirloin (2004 Merryvale Profile), and finished off with — quite simply and beautifully — imported cheese plate with fruit … and the 1999 Merryvale Profile.

Discover that I also have pictures of the Merryvale Cask Room on my phone (taken at the MuscleCar 1000).

The President thinks I took the picture off their website … except thinks perhaps mine is better. Makes an offer to trade wine for pictures. I accept, wondering if he is actually serious. Talk to President for 30 minutes or an hour, mostly about the joy of local city government in the Napa area.

Later discover the person sitting next to me (anonymous, yes) has been “felt up” (somewhat willingly) the whole time through dinner by a stranger. I’m oblivious the whole time. They later trade numbers. Run into 2-3 more people who know someone that I know, somehow. I don’t trade any numbers.

Tour the interior and roof of the Segerstrom Center until we get kicked out by security. Head home. Allow friend to use the bathroom in my house for five minutes or less. In those 5 minutes, he gets parking ticket. Officer is still there, so we talk to officer for 30+ minutes, mostly about the joy of local city government. (Good thing that for safety sake we got the ticket: 5 minutes of illegal parking if there had been no ticket versus 35 minutes of illegal parking with a ticket. The world is clearly more safe now that we’ve been ticketed.)

Head home, think about 2 huge meetings earlier in the day and how they might affect my life in the future. Go to bed. Type lame blog entry on laptop, from bed. Wonder what it all means. Sleep.

…then here is your astrological forecast for 2008-2009

Born May 1

Relationships stabilize and take on new meaning for you this year. Some decidedly romantic and growth-oriented experiences are in store. It’s a strong year for organizing your finances. Opportunities to advance in your career come with a positive attitude and enterprising spirit.