Day 13, Duck

Day 13, Duck, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This duck was not happy with me. He was asleep on the edge of the spill over between the two lake at Dos Lagos. As I was there to shoot the benches that I posted yesterday, I notice this guy asleep with his head tucked into his wing. He did not make for a great shot, so I started talking to him. He turned around and looked at me then he quacked back. (See Below) So then I tossed a pebble that was by my feet into the water close to him. He thought it was food and got all excited as he moved over to investigate. When he did not find something to eat I thought he was goint to fly away. I was hoping that he would fly away so that I could get that as a shot. But he streached out (this picture), tucked his head back into his wing and went back to sleep. I tossed another pebble and another, but he was done and would not budge. Amazing, even the animals around us are a little jaded.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:
1/4000 sec
Aperture:
f/5
Focal Length:
210 mm
ISO Speed:
800
Exposure Bias:
0/3 EV

Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos

Day 12, Benches at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

I wanted to shoot these cool benches for some time now, but I just finally got around to hitting them. Isn't it amazing that you just can not seem to get to what is close to you, but when you are in New York, you can shoot 2 gigs.

I love the curves and lines that combine with the bamboo backdrop by the lake to make a serene place. The sense of quiet seclusion is only enabled by the fact that the walkway that crosses the spillover between the lakes is lower then the shopping and because of the curve of the path, completely sheilded. The place of a bench, when done well, should invite you to sit and stay. Many times, I see benches that are no good for anything more then tying a shoe. They are in the middle of the bustle and flow of a mall or on a street that is as inviting to sit and pass a few moments as a root canal.

I love to find a place to hide every now and then. As a sales rep, I am on the go all of the time. Some days, when I don't have a business lunch, my favorite thing to do is to go hide for a little bit and think about the world in a bigger way. I have had some of my best ideas for both work and life just learning to let my mind wonder in a place that isn't dominated by messages that overwhelm. I turn off the radio, the phone, get away from the internet and people as much as possible. Then it just happens.

Here is a pic that I wish I took.

Curves, originally uploaded by Durian Surprise.

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Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture:	f/32
Focal Length:	75 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos

Day 11, Amphitheater Backdrop at Dos Lagos, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

In direct opposition to my post yesterday, this is not old, unless you think a year is old. For Thanksgiving, I thought that I would post some pics that I have been thinking about taking for a year. Last year we were home for thanksgiving with all of my familiy visiting and staying at our house. I come from a family of six kids, so start adding in all our children and it is starting to get big. So I went for a morning ride with one of my best friends (see Day X) and we went on a route that we have never done.

Cajalco is a small, windy, two lane road and we are afraid of due to the traffic. So here we are barreling down the the 800 foot drop in less then 3 miles on Thanksgiving day with the road all to ourselves and we come to the new development, Dos Lagos. It is a retail center with a man made lake. The lake is on two levels with a little 10 foot waterfall right beside a cool walkway that bisects the two little lakes. The developer built a little ampitheater. There is nothing particularly speacial about it, it is an outdoor space with a modernistic backdrop. As I was walking around the new development, The ampitheater is out of place with this backdrop since the shopping complex is built in the "established" or "Main Street" style. The shops and area are built to look like like it has been around for awhile even though it is new.

This is the hard part of living on the West Coast, there is no sense of History. We build developments to look old, when they are new. There are not Civil or Revolutionary war era memorials or buildings. The cities don't have the sense of place that comes from history. This particular development was Orange Groves 5 years ago. Now it one of the places that we spend a lot of our entertainment time. In fact, another development out here that we love to go to is Vicotoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. It has the feel of up scale main street from 50 years ago. Of course it isn't 50 years old, it was a vinyard until they bulldozed it under 3 years ago.

LA is a great big freeway and each city is distinguished by how many off ramps they have. As Southern California has grown, all that has happened is that the gaps in the freeway have come closer together to make the spawl even bigger. Don't get me wrong, I love it out here. I love the weather and the people are great. Life seems to run at a different pace. But it is hard to see the orange groves that I have grown up around disappearing.

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Camera:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:
1/4000 sec
Aperture:
f/5.6
Focal Length:
51 mm
ISO Speed:
800
Exposure Bias:
0/3 EV