Isabella’s Closet
She has many beautiful dresses. Each morning when she wakes, her mother lets her choose one dress to wear that day. Isabella takes her time to choose the most beautiful dress and finishes off the outfit with a signature pink bow to hold her curly sandy blond hair in place.
After choosing the perfect dress the choices are simple. What cookie to eat. When to take a nap. When to play. Life is good. Life is simple for Isabella and because of that – beautiful.
Bracing for Hurricane Sandy
Bracing for Hurricane Sandy. That is Hurricane Sandy Ego or San Diego as it’s formally known. Not a cloud in the sky here and it is 85 degrees. It is raining sunshine and blue skies on us while the rest of the country is getting doused with rain. Life is tough here but we will survive. This was a picture I took yesterday afternoon to capture all of the drama here in San Diego.
My new D4
It arrived today and it is a beast. My new D4 promises ISO performance up to 204,000 and full HD Video at 30 frames per second. This camera is at the front of camera technology. Take a look.
Isabella’s Magic Show
Michelle created a video of Isabella’s wonderful and mysterious magic show. It is truly magical and cute. This is a must watch.
I entered a San Diego Charger Photographer Contest Today
I entered a photographer contest today. The contest is to give you a chance to become a San Diego Chargers field photographer at one of their home games. You get to on the sidelines with your camera and take pictures of the action. The contest said if you like photography and the San Diego Chargers than this is your chance to do them both together. Well, I just happen to love photography, and love the San Diego Chargers – so it was a perfect photography contest for me to enter.
To enter you had to write in 200 words or less why you wanted to become a Chargers photographer for a day. Well I instantly thought back to when I was a kid and how I sent a letter to the Chargers every month asking them for a job to be a ball boy. My brother Bill told me the only way to get a job is that you had to be persistent and just keep at it. That was his philosophy and he always seemed to be getting good jobs so I did it, and I did it, and I did it. Month after month I sent basically the same letter in asking to be a ball boy. Once in awhile I would get a form letter back from them saying that they would keep my request on file. So I kept hoping. Eventually I stopped writing those letters but I never stopped hoping for the chance to get back on the field with the Chargers just once. So this contest seemed like a perfect thing to do. Now that I love photography and love the Chargers maybe this would be my chance. Well, thousands of people enter so the chances are low, but I still have a chance! – which is all I wanted.
I was going through some stuff tonight that I collected during those years and I found this that I was so proud of at the time. I remembered that I was terrible at drawing school but I always thought that I did good drawing the Chargers helmet that day This was in 1979 that I had this and I kept it in a scrap book for all those years. I have hardly anything left from my young days of what I did but the Chargers stuff has survived all those years, and so has my hope for them. They haven’t made the Superbowl but I keep dreaming they will.
Self Portrait
Sometimes when I go on road trips for work I take my camera. I started traveling heavily for work in 1997 and pretty much traveled about 50% of my time through 2011. That’s about 14 years and during that time I amassed close to 2MM miles in the air and many Christmas’s, Thanksgivings and other holidays on the road. It was always pretty hard to travel so much and it wasn’t until I stopped traveling so much that I started to learn what would make business travel much easier – just planning to do stuff you like. Too many times you go on a business trip and you work all day, go back to the hotel, hop on the computer and start answering emails about work from back in the office. I did that for so many years and it drove me crazy. I couldn’t sleep because I would be answering stressful business emails at midnight in London or whatever part of the world I was in at the time. So recently I stopped all that. I rarely go back to the hotel and answer emails right after work. Instead, I do a couple of things that really make me happy and make trips worthwhile and keep me sane. I go the gym, and I bring my camera. When I go the gym, I feel connected to home because I bring some of my daily routine with me. When I go out after with my camera, it makes me realize that every business trip is a chance to explore the world and learn more about places I visit.
I went to Chicago for a business meeting recently. It was to Chicago. It was a great set of meetings actually and I really enjoyed it and what I also enjoyed was going out after those meetings and exploring the city of Chicago. Just me, and my camera. The place was amazing and while I had been to Chicago countless times before, I never saw it like I saw it this time. I actually saw it for it was, a beautiful city. It makes me regret a bit the 12 years before when I had traveled close to 2mm miles on planes that I never brought my camera with me. The memories I would have captured could have been priceless. I wish I had one that.
This link has some of the pictures I captured while in Chicago. I took this interesting picture below a bridge. There was stainless steel that was so shiny that I could capture my reflection it it while I walked under it.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Travel/Chicago/26120603_VTR3Nr
Reflection Pool
We took this picture at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. Tu reflects in the tranquil gardens.
Love, Love, Love
I finished a new song today. I am trying to put together another CD of songs soon but it will probably take many months. This is a fun little song that I actually did for Bridget’s family for a video of Frankie and James but I didn’t use it. So now, here it is.