Angels

This, my friends, is the oh so beautiful layer of smog that covers my dear Los Angeles.

Simply

Make your goal effortless action
avoid unnecessary action or action that is not spontaneous.

Treasure simplicity
eliminate whatever is unnecessary and artificial and appreciate the simple and the apparently ordinary.

Cultivate stillness
only stillness will clear muddy waters and enable you to see the truth.

Be patient
can you remain unmoving until the right action arises?

Be gentle
love peace and restraint and avoid all unnecessary violence. "do not regard weapons as lovely things. for to think them lovely means to delight in them, and to delight in them means to delight in the slaughter of men."

See beauty
in the mundane and the normal. Apreciate the beauty around you and in yourself.

Be true
dedicate your life only to that which you find beautiful or fascinating, and thus be true to yourself.

Live in the moment
feel the hand of time sweeping past second by second.

Be happy
to conduct one's life according to the Tao, is to conduct one's life without regrets.


Be compassionate and honor life
only those who are compassionate and treasure life in all its forms can show true bravery and acquire true wisdom.

http://www.blueboard.com/tao/

Windy Inspirations

Something tells me I should feel embarrassed for this.. I spent a good 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon taking pictures of this tree in a parking lot. Though, Tyler had softball practice at that park so it isn't totally weird! Anyway, while watching the wind blow around the branches and leaves, I thought 'Why haven't I played around with exposure times more?'.  Night photography isn't really my thing but I really want to do some 5 minute day exposures! 
Obviously it was crazy bright outside, way too bright to take any exposures over a second. But look at those leaves at the bottom! SO BEAUTIFUL! I can only imagine how beautiful a 5 minute long exposure would be. That leads me to this little beauty:

A B&W ND 3.0 filter, which can help create long exposure photos like this and this. Oh, I cannot wait to play! EEP!

Photoshop is not a dirty word!

I feel like photoshop has a bad reputation, and I totally get it. Far too often I see those 'beauty shots' where people completely blur the skin to make it look 'soft'. It. makes. me. crazy. Of course I'll take out a blemish or a deep line or something totally distracting.. but freckles? I LOVE FRECKLES! Skin has texture and it should stay that way. 

There are so many arguments that photoshop has created, but in reality... EVERY single one of my photographs will at the very least be put through camera raw to make adjustments, and then to photoshop for more detailed ones. I'm always struggling with 'did I take that too far?', and by looking through my photos, most of the time the answer is yes. Looking at the picture above, though, it is just so amazing the drama it helps you create. Sigh......