Mom’s Cottage
My mom lives in Coronado in a simple but beautiful seaside cottage. She decorates everything so tastefully and simply and the spirit of cottage living. We were over to her house visiting her and to watch the Coronado Christmas Parade which is an annual event. It was a nice night, although we somehow managed to miss most of the floats. I went up to her bedroom and it seemed so calm and peaceful. I took this photograph of her bedroom which shows her simple but very nice taste. There is a cross above her bed – she is very religious and always has been. A night-stand, a simple makeup table and books stacked on the floor. My mom likes to read. She reads in bed at night before she goes to sleep. This looks like a nice peaceful place to wake up to in the morning as the fresh sea air and bright sun rises.
Black and white or color? I can’t decide.
I love taking black and white photos. I love taking color photos. Luckily, deciding which one to shoot is not required at the time a picture is taken rather it can be decided later when you are editing the photos. I still remember using my Olympus camera in the 80’s and buying Ilford film so I could shoot in black and white. I went to Mexico for 6 months and the only thing I took down with me was a bunch of Ilford B&W canisters. I must say the pictures came out more interesting then if I took them in color.
I have a hard time making a decision when I am editing wether I am going to use color or black and white so I will often save a version of each and use them later. My general rule of thumb is that if color is going to make the picture more appealing then I will use it, however if I am trying to convey some emotion I will use black and white. In any case, a good photo will often look great in either so you can’t lose. Here are two versions of the same picture that I took of Tu. You can be the judge and decide which one is better.
The picture in black and white
The same picture in color
Taking pictures of my dad
He has the same name as me – Frank McKenna. He was born in 1931 in a tough New York neighborhood and fought his way out of it coming out to California with my mom in the early 1960’s. At the time they had one daughter – my sister Kathy and they had no money to make the trip. Arriving in San Diego he eventually settled the family in Chula Vista and established one of the first insurance agencies in the city that was more well known for groves of lemon trees then people or progress. Over the next 40 years he and my mom had 12 kids and supported all of them by money generated from that Insurance Agency. My dad has always been known as a dynamic and creative business mind and is notorious in Chula Vista for his quick wit and interesting stories. For example, he once paid a cab driver for a ride home from a bar with our pet chicken Eggatha (much to our dismay).
I had the chance to take some interesting pictures of my Dad and interview him about his life. The pictures in the gallery show the creative and funny side of my Dad. He was a good father and taught each and everyone of us the value of a good education and hard-work. I like to think that everyone in our family is extremely successful and that is because he and my mother insisted on teaching us these things. Every night we ate dinner and prayed together. Can you even imagine a family of 12 doing that today? I can’t, but I always feel blessed because for the structure and clear direction that it instilled in us. We all love Dad a lot and thankful for everything he did for us. Click on the link below if you want to see portrait photos of his gallery.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Portraits/Dad/18399384_FWZRR6
There are performers, and there are artist.
There is the Ukulele. There are people that play the Ukulele. Then there is Jake Shimabukuro. I got my first glimpse of Jake Shimabukuro years ago when I was browsing YouTube and came across a video of him playing in Central Park New York. He was playing a song written by George Harrison “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”. The way he played that song completely transformed my perception of the Ukulele. The beauty and complexity of the sounds that he was bringing out of the Ukulele were grander and more beautiful then a 34 string harp yet he managed to deliver it with the simplicity of a traditional Hawaiian Ukulele sound. The video went on to become a viral sensation and since then Jake Shimabukuro has been transforming the world of the Ukulele with mind-blowing renditions of familiar songs as well as creating beautiful and timeless original pieces. Jake Shimabukuro has transcended from performer, to artist, to virtuoso. We are lucky to live in times where we can see a musician who is truly the best of all time.
I got a chance to see Jake for the second time in my favorite music venue in San Diego – Anthology. The atmosphere of the club is picture perfect for a performer such as Jake. The acoustics, lighting and ambience is conducive to watching and listening to every single note; and Jake does not miss a single one seemingly playing on every fret and string of the Uke in every single song he performed. If you have a chance to watch Jake you will find that he is like no other. He is young, hip and brings a rock and roll attitude to every song while respecting the timeless tradition of Ukulele playing and his Hawaiian roots. Jake loves San Diego and has many friends and fans here. He has played at Anthology 5 times and I have seen two of those performances thankfully. After each show, Jake takes the time to meet with fans back stage, sign Ukulele’s, CD’s, T-Shirts and anything else they present. People come from all over the world to see his shows in San Diego – there were 5 people that flew from Japan to watch him at this show. I feel lucky to have only been required to make the short 10 mile drive to Downtown to catch the show. Every time I see him, I feel like I am watching history in the making – watching the greatest Ukulele artist ever to play.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Music/Jake-Shimabukuru/20180563_VRHCHD
A visit with Maryann and Lee in Brooklyn
I spent a day with one of my very good friends, Maryann, and her boyfriend Lee in a part of Brooklyn called Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a super trendy and hip area where everything is original – you won’t find a Starbucks or McDonald’s anywhere near this area as they seemingly only support local merchants and goods. It is truly unique. So Maryann and I have been good friends for many years as we share the same passion and career – we’re fraud consultants and our aim is to rid the world of fraudsters, scammers, cheats and liars. We have collectively traveled to most places in the world to consult banks on how to stop fraud (although she more than I), and have fought fraudsters from Taipai to Toronto, from Norway to New Zealand. And to state without reservation that if there was ever fraud in the Arctic Circle we would be there too (which would be cool since I am dying to photograph polar bears someday). You might notice Maryann is wearing a big RoboC0p/Terminator boot on her foot- well she just had surgery on her foot so she is wearing that boot for protection and to help her foot heal. It was a great day visiting my very good friend Maryann and meeting her super cool boyfriend Lee. I decided to edit the pictures in black and white with selective color since Maryann’s favorite color is orange. Great day in the hood.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/BlackWhite/Maryann-and-Lee/20001538_WvDR2p
A visit to Occupy Wall Street New York
I just got back from New York and had a chance to photograph Occupy Wall Street which is situated in Liberty Plaza of lower Manhattan. Since the first time I visited New York many years ago, I have always felt like it is one of the centers of the world where most progressive ideas in politics, fashion, food, media and public opinion are shaped and formed. If it makes it in New York, it can make it anywhere. The Occupy Wall Street movement is an example of just that type of progressive thinking and the movement has perhaps grown faster than any other political movement ever and is now supported by close to 60% of Americans.
I have decided to photograph as many Occupy camps as I can in the next few months to help capture what I do believe will be one of the biggest populist movements in US history when all is said and done. What struck me about Occupy Wall Street was how well organized and cooperative it was. Everyone was working together feeding each other and even creating electricity by charging batteries with stationary bikes that everyone took turns riding. The people in the park were very well informed and while everyone might have had there own take on the problem and what they wanted to see changed they all agreed on one thing – economic injustice. While I was there, I was asked to follow a small group of protestors and capture their march on Wall Street. They all carried brooms and dust pans and where symbolically and literally sweeping the dirt off the streets up to the Stock Exchange. They carried a bin of brooms and solicited others to join them along the way. The group started off small but soon there were over 50. The police noticed and pretty soon there was an armada of police following the protestors making sure that they did not take a single step out of line. It was a very interesting day and as always I learned a lot.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/BlackWhite/Occupy-Wall-Street/19924661_sZJxfJ
Experimenting with HDR Photography
HDR Photography is a relatively new type of photography that uses multiple exposures from very light to very dark exposures to make sure that every element in the photo is exposed correctly. The darkest and the lightest areas are all lit up so you can see everything. It’s called HDR because it is high dynamic range photography. Cameras can only process about 4 stops of light but your eye can see about 11 stops of light. Have you ever taken a picture and it looks nothing like what you see? Well its because most of the range of light is lost in the camera.
I just started testing HDR photography this weekend. Take a look at a regular picture and then a picture enhanced with the use of HDR and some photoshop. Big difference huh?
Without HDR Method
With HDR Method
Pumpkin Carving at Patrick’s
We had a great night carving pumpkins, eating hot dogs, sitting around the campfire and face painting over at Patrick and Moni’s house in Bonita. The highlight for the kids was when Camille painted their faces. I got a neat picture of Geno seeing his face paint for the first time as he looked in the mirror. You can almost sense what he is thinking in his mind – what it feels like to be transformed into a completely new person.
