I just got back from an hour and a half walk. I don't know how far it was but I was in the mood to explore! I had explored an area around my neighborhood another time and I guessed it was about a mile and a half in one direction. This had to have been at least 3 times that distance. But oh my gosh! Talk about cool stuff to photograph! I didn't bring my camera on purpose. I really wanted to enjoy the walk. The prior exploration walks I got an idea of what I wanted to photograph and the time of day that would be good to photograph it and came back. I will do the same for this route. But I did like some of the imagery so much I took a few pics with my cell. If they turned out even half way decent I'm sure I'll post them below.
And I know… I should have at least updated with a quick "hello, I'm back safe"… But things have been a little strange since being back from Colorado. I'd say hectic but it hasn't really been. I guess I've had other things I'd rather be doing.
Ok so this is gonna take me a bit to get posted but I should get it posted by this evening.
Colorado - So, as most of you know I had an absolute blast in Colorado! I definitely need to get back there, preferably when it's a bit warmer and I can see some more of the nature other then just white! Though I will admit I was surprised at how easily I handled the cold! I guess being dressed for it helps.
Thursday - I actually worked a little over a half a day. My flight left in the evening and I got into Colorado at about 8pm. My cousin Joey picked me up and brought me back to her place.
Friday - Was up and ready for the day by 7:30 and went with my cousin to take her daughters to school. She and I went to breakfast and then met her friend Layle (?sp) at the mall. They got their ears pierced together. My friend Jason met up with us at around noon. It was the first time meeting him in person. It’s amazing that you can be so close to someone and have yet to meet them in person. Anyways, it was great meeting him face to face, as well as his kids. My cousin Joey and I had agreed to help Jason pick out some stuff to decorate his living room, so that was our goal for the afternoon. After shopping at a few places I think we finally ended up picking out some great items at Cost Plus World Market. Joey had to pick up the kids and drop them off for Nate to watch that night while she, Jason and I went out.
We met back up with Jason and went out to dinner to this authentic Japanese place that Jason loves. It was good food! I even had a Japanese soda which was quite an interesting experience. The bottle itself kept me intrigued. Hehe So I took a few pictures of the dinner but then this is where I made the biggest mistake of the evening. Joey wasn’t into getting her picture taken. She seemed quite moody about it actually. So when we decided to take the light rail to downtown Denver to go to the movies I figured I didn’t want to lug around a camera when all we were doing was going into a theater. BIG MISTAKE!
I actually would have liked to take pictures on the light rail and there was a tunnel on the way to the train that had neon lights and when you passed them they made cool chime sounds… It would have made for some fun pics. But then again we were rushing to catch the train so I wouldn’t have been able to take a lot of time to get the pictures I would have enjoyed getting. So like I said, even on the train would have been kind of fun to get some pictures. We were walking to the theaters and Jason saw the horse drawn carriages and ran over to ask how much it was. So he paid for us to go on a carriage ride. It was freezing and Joey and I were bundled up under the blanket while Jason had to bear the cold in just a jacket. It was great though… I was bummed when Jason pointed out that a picture of Joey and I bundled up in the blanket would have been classic! It would have been. I was torn between missing out on getting great pictures and also being able to experience the moment without constantly thinking of the pictures I could get with my camera…
After the horse carriage ride we looked at the movies and didn’t see anything good playing but saw a bowling ally so we decided to check it out. It was a great bowling ally! Nothing like the white trashy places you usually see. This was like a full on club! Great bar area and it played loud music and had the neon lights. We got a lane almost immediately and I had a blast bowling though I have always sucked at bowling, I still had an awesome time! I laughed a lot and thoroughly enjoyed myself! There was this one guy from the lane next to us that kept teasing my cousin. It was hilarious and I don’t think I could describe any of the incidents’ without writing another novel. But it was good times for sure! We made our way back to Jason’s and ended up setting up the stuff we had bought for him that day. It looks good. I think I got to bed around 2am.
Saturday - My cousin Joey had a hair appointment at 11am that I went with her. I took some time to journal and got a call from my mom and sister asking how my time was so far. Later that night we met her friend Tish at her place at about 5pm and the night started from there. One thing I was surprised about was that everyone we rode with seemed to get lost! I was thinking most of these people live here, why are they getting so lost? Haha We finally got over to Rio Grande, a bar in Denver and met up with a group of people. I met my new friends Bruce, Nicole (Tish’s sister) and Deseree. I really enjoyed Nicole and Des. We hit it off and had a great time chattering away about lots of things. I took a few pictures. We made it over to the Comcast belated holiday party at about 9pm… It started at 7pm. Hehe It was at the Aquarium. This place was awesome! The whole thing, set aside for the Comcast party. So I of course made my way through the aquarium part of it and took pictures all along the way. We left that party at around midnight only to go to another bar and close it out. I was tired. But we even made our way to Denny’s after closing out the last bar. I didn’t get into bed till 5am!
Sunday - There was a blizzard warning so it was emergency travel only. So I was able to recuperate from the night before. Hehe And I was actually able to watch the game between the Patriots and the Colts. A very good game considering I don’t much care for football. I went to bed at about 10pm, fairly early considering the other nights I was in bed well after midnight!
Monday – I went with Joey in the morning to work and Jason was going to pick me up and “babysit” or “entertain” me all day. We ran a few errands, went to lunch and then went to see a kid appropriate movie since his kids were with us and then went back to his place for the rest of the time. Joey had to work late so she needed me to work out meeting up with Nate so he could take me to the airport. Jason was nice enough to drive me all the way back to Joey’s. Joey ended up calling me to tell me she was ditching work and she made it in time to see me off. I landed in Ontario Ca. at about 10:00 and my parents were there to pick me up. I had a good time and can’t wait to go back.
A Chair’s Photography - I’ve meant to write about this for a while but I think because I’m a bit nervous to put it out there I’ve avoided it. But the decision is made… I am looking into getting a photography business going. There are so many aspects of it that I’m not sure in what direction to take it. But the defined plans are putting up a site, selling prints, and offering my services for events, family portraits, etc. I have been encouraged by a few of my friends. I think Jason was the first to get me to think about it seriously (since he knows I can put up the site and he’ll help me market it) and as soon as I had made the decision in my own mind, without really telling anyone I suddenly had a lot of people randomly suggesting that I sell my prints, or offer my services and many of the things I had already been mulling over. Hmmm? Yeah, I think someone upstairs is trying to tell me something. Hehe Each person offered either confirmation or even another perspective of what and how to go about it. It’s been exciting!
Photography - Last night I was textin Jason about wanting to go to China Town and then I realized that I always feel so excited about going out of state to take pictures of places I’ve never been, but there are plenty of places here in California that I haven’t been to that would be awesome to take pictures of! So as I drove home I started to make a mental list of places I would like to visit or revisit, taking my camera along. The cool part is I already have plans to make most of these trips!
Here’s what I have so far…
Santa Monica Pier / Promenade
PCH and the surrounding areas
China Town
Bishop
Redwood Forest
San Francisco
Fresno
My friend Russ called me last night (he is one of the many to suggest I start a photography business without knowing I have already been thinking about it). He was really encouraging about my photography skills and getting the business going! And for our next visit he’s going to show me around PCH (Pacific Coast Highway for those of you who don’t know what that is) and some of the surrounding areas. He says there are some great spots for pictures. I’m really excited! We’ve made plans to meet the last Saturday of February. We have a hard time hanging out since we live so far apart. But I plan on driving down to his place and we’ll make a day of it! I am looking forward to it. He said it might be prettier in the spring but with how hard it is to commit to a date we should just stick with February. Hehe And I agreed, if I need to I can always get together with him again in the spring!
My brother Brian said he’d take me to China Town. He says the one in San Francisco is better though. And I’m like, heck… if you want to take me to San Francisco lets go for it! Haha But I’ll have to set up the date and just tell Brian he’s taking me. But I think I’ll shoot for March or something. If I went up to San Francisco then I’d add a few more places to my route! My friend Sandeep lives in Fresno I’d have to visit him! He has a farm and I think it would be cool to take pictures up there. Actually he’s asked me if I’d be willing to take pictures of it for him. He’s another person that has encouraged me to start a photography business. And of course San Francisco! And then I’d have to stop by and see my friend James! Gosh… maybe I should plan a trip to go up North! I could drive up Friday night and stay till Sunday night so it wouldn’t be taking me away from work. I’d eventually like to get up to the Redwood Forest!
Santa Monica Pier is a place I can go on my own… Though I think I would like someone to go with me, especially someone that enjoys photography as much as I do. Hehe But if I go alone it might be kind of interesting.
So I just got off the phone with my friend Andie. She said she wants to take me to the Arboretum in either LA or Pasadena. And then she came up with a great plan! Since most of my friends are taking me to awesome places to take pictures and to experience new things… I should put it out there that all of my friends pick their favorite unique place to go and we’ll set it up to go together… So, how about it friends? Help me experience the more interesting places of California! Anyone interested? Let me know!
Labels: A Chair's Photography, Colorado, Photography, Pictures
posted by Charity at 1/27/2007 11:49:00 AM 
