Wednesday, September 29, 2010

First loves

16 years ago I shot these two kids in love in a park somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.  16 years later these two kids are still in love and are celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary today!

Happy Anniversary Shannon and Jose!


Thank you for always being there for me.  Thank you for always welcoming me to your lovely home and cooking the best tacos ever.  Thank you for having the 2 sweetest girls, Maya and Morgan, to play Beatles Rock Band with.  Thanks for being one of my earlier guinea pigs models for when my passion for photography first started. I love you guys. 

I shot the photo above with my old Ricoh KR-10 35mm SLR film camera.  I even developed the roll myself and made prints in the darkroom.  Aaaaahhh.  The good old days.  This was my first legit camera and I still use her to this day.

Cheers to first loves and everlasting relationships!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Cancer and Santa Cruz

This trip to Santa Cruz was never meant to be fun.  At least, that's what I felt at first.  We were going to a place where we normally go when it's funtime.  Christmas, New Years...but, this time we were going there because my husband's mother, my lovely mother-in-law had CANCER and was having surgery.  Gods, I hate that word.  CANCER.  Cancer was becoming synonymous with Santa Cruz and I hated this thing called CANCER more than ever.  My husband and I wanted to provide support and just be with her for a few days while she healed.

When we reached the hospital surrounded by mountains and trees in Silicon Valley I breathed a little bit.  The hospital was top of the line. It was pretty. It had robots. It had art.  It had free coffee.

But, the moment I really knew everything was going to be okay was when I saw Janus right before the surgery.  She was in her hospital gown with an IV in her arm and a smile on her face.  She wasn't going to let her situation get her down.  She had more important things to worry about.  Turns out I needed her more than she needed me.     

WEDNESDAY




______________________________________________

THURSDAY 

The day after her surgery she wanted to go on a walk.  We walked along West Cliff.  She took us to some tide pools.  She stood on the edge of a rock and laughed.


Bonfire to celebrate the Harvest Moon 
All her friends were surprised to see her already out and about.

_______________________________________________

FRIDAY

Took some time out to break bread with some other loved ones in the area

________________________________________________

SATURDAY

Since Janus was doing really well, we did fun things.


5 photos stitched
*Pano*



Janus Laughingbear Blume
This is her, 3 days after her hysterectomy (or womboval, as I prefer), looking and feeling fabulous on her way out to celebrate life with friends.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."  
-Winston Churchill

All photos taken with an iPhone 3GS.  Used the Hipstamatic app except for one photo I used the Pano app.  Added text and made collages through Picnik.com.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Anti-Monday

In order to counteract the doldrums of a Monday, I choose to reminisce about the lovely weekend I had through iPhonetography.

FRIDAY

Rockin' Sushi Dan's with my sis
*PlasticBullet*

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SATURDAY

View from window seat at CPK with the hubby
*TiltShiftGen*

Finished Halloween costume shopping
*CameraBag*

This year-round Halloween shop on Magnolia in Burbank is the best
*ShakeItPhoto*

View from the Hollywood and Highland center where we grabbed some grub.
The kabob place on the third floor is good.  Except for their pita.
*TiltShiftGen & PhotoGene*

Hollywood Ave
*TiltShiftGen & PhotoGene*

Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl
Really went to go see the opening act, Grizzly Bear. They were beautiful.
Phoenix was fun too.
*Hipstamatic*

Phoenix at the Hollywood Bowl
*PhotoGene*

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SUNDAY

Put out my new mat for the front door.
*Hipstamatic*

My Onyx enjoying her Sunday
*Hipstamatic*

My Charlie enjoying his cat grass
*Hipstamatic*

Watched a ton of The Munsters on Netflix
*Hipstamatic*

Yes, please
*Hipstamatic*

Oh, weekend how I miss you.  I hope everyone else had a nice weekend too!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

iPhonetography with Kyle Cassidy

First of all, if you are not familiar with Kyle Cassidy's work please check him out.
Like, right now.Don't worry.  I'll wait.
http://kylecassidy.com
 See. Cool, huh?

Anyway, he is a photographer I admire quite a bit.  Not only are his photos amazing, but he is most generous.  He openly shares his wisdom, techniques and stories online and when I saw that he was offering up an iPhonetography wokshop here in LA I jumped at the chance.

I admit I was nervous at first, but then I quickly learned that I was being silly and that it was going to be awesome and all at the same time I'd gain the power of iPhonetography!  Woohoo!

The various applications used in the following photos were Photogene, PhotoMarkr, Lo-Mob, TiltShiftGen, Hipstamatic, Plastic Bullet, ShakeItPhoto and CameraBag.
All photos were taken and edited on an iPhone 3GS.
PhotoMarkr was used for all the photos to add my watermark
RACHELMCCAULEY.COM

The start of class (L to R Kyle, Michelle, Amy, Josh & Michael)
*Hipstamatic*
---------------------------------------------------

Our first stop was to buy some water somewhere in Montrose. Kyle challenged us to find photos, even when doing the mundane

*Plastic Bullet*

*Lo-Mob*

*ShakeItPhoto*

*Lo-Mob*

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Then on to Vazquez Rocks!  
Otherwise known as the Battle Rocks where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn.

*Tobacco graduated filter + CameraBag*

Captain Kyle beams down to the planet surface
*Plastic Bullet*

Vasquez Rocks
Away team on the lookout for photo opps and big lizards
*CameraBag*

Uh oh.  Are our heroes in danger?  Stay tuned...
*TiltShiftGen*

Spock begins his ascent
*Photogene*

Spock's point of view
*TiltShiftGen*

Unfamiliar terrain
*Photogene*

Pitfall close call
*Photogene*

Spock spies Kyle sliding down the rock face
*Hipstamatic*

Spock spies Amy iPhonetographing
*TiltShiftGen*

Spock spies Josh taking a break
*TiltShiftGen*

Stop in the shade to check out a strange rock formation.  Fascinating.
*Hipstamatic*

Keep on climbing
*Hipstamatic*

Scenery
*Hipstamatic*

*Hipstamatic*

*Hipstamatic*

My climbing gear
*Hipstamatic*

Another stop in the shade.  It was hot.
*Hipstamatic*

Reached the top only to find vultures (crows, really. just trying to be dramatic) circling
*Hipstamatic*

That's our clue to start our descent.  No sign of the Gorn up here.
*TiltShiftGen*

Oh no!  Our Captain is being attacked!!
*CameraBag*

Science officer Spock to the rescue!  Set phasers to KILL  *insert phaser sound here*
*CameraBag*

Captain Kyle (the Gorn ate his uniform before Spock shot his Gorn ass) and Spock take relief in a cave till Scotty can beam them back up
*CameraBag*

And you know what that means?  Photo shoot time!
*CameraBag*

Goodbye Vasquez Rocks!
*Hipstamatic*

-------------------------------------------------

Then we stopped off for smoothies at some random mall

Kyle challenged us again to find something interesting in the parking lot of this random mall.
This is what I came up with.
*Hipstamatic*

Sipping on smoothies at the food court in the mall, we commenced editing photos from Vasquez Rocks.  A rude lady walks by, stops and says, "Now, this is a sad picture."  And, then walks away.  
I guess she assumed we were being anti-social, which was the complete opposite of what was really happening.  If it weren't for this technology I would never have met all these cool people. At least, one good thing came out of that.  She inspired me to take this photo. :)
*CameraBag*

Here's a cute dog for the people who made it this far.  Here name is Aurora.
*TiltShiftGen*

And, how cool is Kyle's iPhone cover?  I wants.
*CameraBag*

So, for anyone worried about the price of photography, just know that it doesn't matter what equipment you have.  You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy camera to get great photos.  Nowadays, camera phones are getting better and better and all the available apps for a couple of bucks can bring you tons of fun and lasting memories.

"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference.  All of them can record what you are seeing.  But, you have to SEE."

-Ernst Haas

EDIT - You can see Kyle's lovely travel diary here