Scavenging the Recycle Bins of Los Angeles

Every Thursday we put out our trash cans to be picked up on Friday. Any time between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning this person or others like her make the rounds of our neighborhood's Recycle bins. Scavenging our plastic and aluminum and I am sure selling it. Some how this bothers me. I go to the effort to recycle so this person can come by and steal it. Now, it's not a huge deal except that the City of Los Angeles charges me to pick up my trash and I am sure that the money the City makes on the plastic bottles and aluminum cans helps to pay for the cost of picking it up. So my question is why should these people make a living off of our recycling bins?
By the way these pictures are of her checking my neighbors can before it was even on the street.
What do you think?

Check out "Now Public"

Click on the tile to go to "Now Public". It is a very cool site and has a lot going on.


This is Anya, who is from Russia and is working at Century City for the Summer. Thanks for the picture Anya.

Elisabeth is Leaving

This is my great friend Elisabeth Rossi. She is packing her PT Cruiser and leaving town.
Her husband works for United Airlines and yes he still has a job. To keep it he had to transfer to SFO. This is her packing, and when I say packing that includes her wonderful two children Leo who is 8 and Evi who is 6 and driving to Redwood City to start a new life there. We have been close friends with Lee and Elisabeth for at least 15 years. She is holding it as an adventure and is in the allowing of life to lead her where she needs to go.
Often we don't have a clue as to why but what seems to work with change is to allow it and go where we are drawn to go. It really is about trusting that everything is always perfect, just the way it should be.
I will miss her, it's kind of amazing to be able to feel so connected to someone. At least now we will have a place to stay when we visit the San Fransisco area. I took a mental picture of the two kids and knew that they would be much older the next time I see them.
This is Evi and Leo, great kids, I look forward to watching them as they grow up. It should be very interesting. So good bye to the Rossi's. We love you.

I got my Canon G-9 back

About a week ago I left my Canon G-9 in a restaurant and didn't miss it until I got home. Oh well.... That's life. It gives me the opportunity to buy a new camera and let me tell you I love my G-9 and when I unpacked my new one today I felt like lost child just came home.
The exposure to loss could be lessen by leaving it at home and in the box. But not me. I have that camera with me everywhere and if I don't I have my Nikon D-200 with me.
The G-9 is a great camera and really is a pleasure to shoot with.
I chose it because it shot RAW. But it does so much more.
Most of my street photography is shot with the G-9. It is less intrusive in public, I can shoot from the hip, as it were, and I can shoot from the car with out having to put it to my eye and block my view. I do have a rule that I never hold up traffic by shooting a picture, unless it is such a great shot I can't help it.
There is so much going on in the world to be a photographer and not be able to react to the moment and capture some slice of time.
I was on a ferry in Washington and had left my camera in the car on the lower deck and we came around a corner and I will never forget the scene, the sun was setting and there was a light house with a little red house next to it and the light was coming in low from the West lighting the face of the lighthouse. It was perfect and me with no camera. I went nuts. Now I will say that I have that picture in my mind better because I couldn't take a picture but it was perfect it's the one that got away. So today I am allowing myself to shoot freely and without much reserve. I get some good stuff and often get lucky.
Keep shooting and leave a note and let me know some one is reading this.
David

So you say you want to be a Photographer

You have a camera and so now what. Sure you can shoot the kids and stuff around the house and then take it on vacation. But what else is there in the world?
I consider myself a "Street Photographer". I love shooting people on the street doing what they do. Going, being, waiting, walking, running, shopping, eating, driving, just being their self.
I would not have gotten this image above, except that I always have a camera with me ready to shoot. You just never know when life is going to present you with something worth while to record. So, what can you do with this stuff? Share it. The one I like to use is Flickr. (See the link to the right.
Flickr has given me a place to share my work and see what works and get feed back from others. I have over 3800 images up and they have been viewed over 165,000 times. With out the internet how could the average person share their work with so many people?
One of the cool things on Flickr is that people can select an image as a favorite and then you can go to that persons site and see what else they have chosen and then go see that persons work. You can make all of those people a contact and they will be linked up to you. I guess that makes a community. I could go on but I invite you to take pictures and share them.

California Josuha Trees in bloom

Click on the image to view it large.
This was taken in the Antelope Vally. It was taken with a Nikon D-200, shot in RAW format and post processed in Lightroom.

Unlock the Mystery of Digital Photography

Have you ever wondered how this digital photography thing works and how you might get the most out of your Camera?
It's not as hard as you think but there are some things to learn.
Start by reading the manual. Don't worry about what you don't understand, there is a learning curve.
Then take some pictures and hook your camera up to the computer and try to download them.
There is probably a CD that came with your camera so put it in and follow the prompts to load it.
Once you get the photos to show up in the computer you are on your way.
Of course this is just the beginning but you have to start here.
I welcome your questions.