So, this is what happens when you retire

My parents retired a few years ago, had a house sale -opened the doors and put a price tag on everything in the house, including the house, bought a big truck and a fifth wheel trailer. They have been criss-crossing the country ever since with their 6 cats. I call them the crazy cat people, but that's beside the point.
They stopped by the Portland area to visit, so I took some time off to hang out with them. Here they are in their full glory as we sat on their "patio" and had some apple-tinis. During their cruise around the country, they have taken a truck load of pictures - friends, wildlife, road hazards, sites, etc. etc.

Now, my dad has picked up a Nikon D80 and shoots like there is no tomorrow. I think my explanation of apertures and shutter speeds deepened the fog of confusion as he is trying to learn to actually USE his camera and have some control of the quality of his photos.
Guess what we did for the couple of days they were here. That's right, drink beer and discuss how an aperture and shutter speed combination can be made to control the artistic side of photos, like depth of field and motion blur.
Some people say that parents are like tornados, the come around for a short time, mess things up, and leave after all the pieces have been scattered. Mine come around, we have some good food, good drink, good conversations and then they run off to continue their trip. This time, it's from Denali National Park, Alaska to somewhere in the deserts of Nevada. They were going to Texas, but decided that it wasn't such a good idea. Here's a couple of shots from while we were out on their first night at the Wall Street Pizza in Gresham, OR.

Welcome to the Fall

Autumn used to be my favorite part of the year: colors of leaves, warm days with cool evenings, soup. MMMMMmmm, soup. Although it's not number one in my book of favorite seasons, it is in the top four - "participant" prize goes to Fall. Thanks for coming. Actually, it's not a bad season, but it means that the daylight hours get shorter and all that.


These are pictures from this week about the Fall evenings and the wonderful (relative term) things they bring. Notice that I put the rain first, then the clouds?

Both shots were done during the same night, actually within about 10 minutes of each other. Full Sail Pale Ale was the inspiration for both of these shots. mmmmm beer. Actually, my creative juices have been flowing again for personal projects and I am trying to expand my range and shoot with different styles.

Photography as a career?

Andy Warhol once said that "Art is a boy's name".


Brilliant.


So now, I ask the question with a qualifier -"what is art, and who decides that something is art?"


I spend hours scouring the net for inspiration. It's amazing what you can find out there and is generally uninspiring. I thought one day about American art and the major museums. MoMA came to mind. Some items are wonderful and others make me reconsider calling myself an artist. I visited the Seattle Art Museum for their Roman exhibit and scratched my head at some of the "art" they had on display. Their normal displays were awesome, and the ancient Roman stuff was worth the money, but some of the displays in the main museum wonder why ANYONE would be interested. I guess everyone has their opinions, but really????


Like most photographers, I catch myself saying "Anyone could shoot that. It's only art because Richard Avedon shot it." To be fair, I sometimes see shots that are so simple that anyone could have shot them, but the photographer did something to put their spin on it, making the simple shot absolutely beautiful. This is where I find that I am truly inspired by other photographers.
If you are looking for inspiration in life, look around you and see what you had overlooked before. Why do you get out of bed? I get out of bed because I can learn something new every day by looking around. Mind you, I have those days where I ask my self what the hell I was thinking quitting the 9 to 5 gig that I had to pursue professional photography as my bread and butter!?!?!
That's when my lovely significant other bonks me on the head and reminds me that my boss rocks and I get to deal with new people and new challenges all the time. No other job has made me so mad in the past, but none has been so rewarding either. My boss can be a jerk, but he is usually pretty laid back and has great taste in music and beer. What more can you ask?