Bombay Beach

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 21, 2017

California is a wonderful state. It has endless beaches, mountains, deserts, national parks, spectacular waterfalls and tall magnificent trees. It is also a state of extreme weirdness.If Hollywood and Venice Beach aren’t weird enough try the Winchester House or one of the many roadside attractions. This year we took an exploration into the weirdness with the first stop being the Salton Sea.

The Salton Sea is about 15 miles by 35 miles with an estimated surface area of 343 square miles making it the largest “lake” in California. It also has a higher salinity than the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans and is similar to the Great Salt Lake. The “sea” also expands and contracts. It is much larger than it was in the 1920″s but has begun a cycle of contraction again a few years ago. It is not a great tourist spot. Sometimes dead fish litter the shores. There are a number of State maintained beaches and it has become somewhat of a Mecca for people wanting to live off the grid.

There was a documentary film made in 2014 about Bombay Beach discussing the residents of the ghost world along the Salton Sea. The people living along Bombay beach and the other beaches are not completely off the grid. There is the possibility of electricity and fresh water. As we traveled further down the road towards Slab City and East Jesus, the Salton Sea seemed less desolate on our return trip.

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Bombay Beach

Orthopedist Delight ?

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 20, 2017

Walking along the Santa Monica Beach you can see just about anything. There are street musicians, athletes, beggars,families, young lovers and even an occasional whale offshore. There were rope tightropes stretched about two feet off the sand where people could practice tightrope walking. I watched this young woman thinking about how hard it must be to balance with one arm already in a positional cast. Do you think her Orthopedic Surgeon would be happy or mad?

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Orthopedist Delight ?

The Dragon of Santa Monica Pier

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 19, 2017

Although my wife takes a lot more pictures when we travel, sometimes she just doesn’t want to be bothered. At these times she will sometimes say,” Hey take a picture of that.” So this dragon is for you sweetie!

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The Dragon of San Monica Pier

The Walking Boss

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 18, 2017

We walked through the Boot Hill Graveyard in Tombstone Arizona and saw the graves of the Clantons and many others that were “shot dead” or “kilt by an injun”. A little ways down the road was the OK Corral and an old west town that looked more like a movie set than reality.

In the graveyard I saw men in orange jumpsuits tending to the graves. I thought it strange that these men were doing this and said hello to them and told them they were doing a good job. But they just turned away and wouldn’t say anything to me. Then I saw The Walking Boss who shot a glare in my direction, : how dare I talk to these men. I moved on remembering where I was and felt a little sad.

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The Walking Boss

Sheriff of Boot Hill

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 17, 2017

Well we are back from our western adventure and have lots of great scenic shots from the southwest to share. Also, there are some unexpected people shots like this one. OK, he wasn’t the Sheriff but he did work at Boot Hill and was filled with information about the historic graveyards. He also had an interesting personal story so if you go there make sure you say hello. We stumbled on Tombstone on our way to Brisby and both places are worth a day trip from Tucson or overnight at a great B and B is Brisby.

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Sheriff of Boot Hill

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted by Imagery Photography on February 14, 2017

Since today is Valentines Day, I thought it appropriate to share an image from my work in progress “Just a Kiss”. This comes form Monet’s beautiful garden in Giverny near Vernon France. Happy Valentines Day to everyone, remember to love the one your with.

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Giverny Kiss

On Assignment—Heading West

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 18, 2017

The nice thing about being retired is that you decide your own photo assignments. No art directors,no clients, no schedules, just you and your camera. In October we went on assignment in Europe and I have been publishing pictures from that trip ever since. Now we are headed West so watch out California and Arizona here we come. Tune back in a month for new images until then please explore the other 1200 previous posts. Thanks for following us, see you soon.

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Joshua Tree National Park

Cathedral Garden Köln

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 12, 2017

We toured Köln with Claudia, a truly awful guide. Most of the guides we had on our Viking River Tour were exceptional but not Claudia. She was so awful we eventually turned off our headsets and strolled behind her. We got tired of hearing her psycho babble about World War 2 and how awful the Americans were. Köln was the most bombed city in Germany and the destruction was truly awful but we wanted to learn about the culture of the city, not a faux history lesson on the war. Once she pointed to a picture of Eisenhower and refereed to him as General MacArthur, her knowledge was not only prejudicial but inaccurate.

However she did point out one thing we might not have noticed on our own. This is the beautiful terrace garden and sculpture along the back of the Cologne Cathedral. Pretty on a gray rainy day but probably wonderful in the Spring and Summer.

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Cathedral Garden Köln

People of Prague #10

Posted by Imagery Photography on January 6, 2017

Over the years I have developed my technique for photographing people without looking through the viewfinder. In the 1970’s I first became aware of The Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Although it really has nothing to do with the observer effect it does help to mathematically corroborate that principle. Simply stated the act of observing something changes that thing. I knew when I pointed my camera at people their behavior would change.

I thought to not have people react to me I had to photograph them in a stealth mode. First I employed telephoto lenses but since going digital I have began shooing without looking through the viewfinder. Wasting bits and pixels is a lot different than wasting film. I set the camera to a wide angle and select automatic focus and exposure. I get a lot of crap but then I also get shots like this one which make it all worthwhile. Next a mirror-less camera because people do react to the shutter noise if they are close enough.

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