The Fendley’s
I spent Thursday afternoon up in the beautiful town of Encinitas at the home of the Fendley’s. We were taking family pictures for a special project that they are working on. It was a great day and as usual I always find myself having the most fun taking pictures when I am taking pictures of people that I know and love. It is so much easier to be able to take pictures when you know the people and everyone is comfortable. When you do, you can take the most personal pictures of them in a comfortable and non threatening setting. I think that the only really good pictures you take are when you are connecting with the person you are taking a picture of. I can usually tell when I see a picture if the photographer is really connecting with the person that they are shooting. If they are not, the pictures look uncomfortable – like when you see someone wearing a sweater or shirt that looks just a little ill-fitting. I think with the Fendley’s I am able to capture great moments because they are so great in front of the camera, but they are so connected with the moment. This makes every moment real and genuine so the pictures turn out great. It was a great day and I can’t wait to post all of the pictures in the next few days.
Isabela is still cute-ing it up
Look at this girl – is she not the cutest little thing you have laid your eyes upon? Well, that is Isabela and she keeps insisting on cute-ing it up until people can’t take it anymore. As she gets older by the day, she learns new techniques, faces and hand movements to make herself even more adorable than she was before. She has just begun adding in cute sounds and baby words into the mix to “take it to the next level of cuteness”.
This clever little girl knows how to work the crowd and will pull out an arsenal of cute activities if it means winning them over. For example, she has discovered the innocently extending her middle finger while sleeping or doing certain activities will create the ultimate ironic situation which will cause people to be bowled over by the cute factor. I mean a baby extending the middle finger while gently rubbing her eyes. Come on – that is genius. You have to hand it to Isabela she is cute-ing it up to a level we have never seen before.
The Trip
I found it buried under a bunch of other books on the shelf next to my bed. The tattered copy of the 1990 South American Handbook was in my hands and it was bringing back memories of good times right after college when I just wanted to travel and explore the world.
As I opened the book, I noticed the sticky notes that were pinned on the pages of interesting cities, sites and countries. The notes were placed there by Bill my brother and myself. I had just returned from a long trip to Central America and he brought up the idea of the two of us taking a car trip from the top to the bottom of South America. He was ready for something different and new and I was itching to continue my travels. The book was our planing guide for the great adventure. The marked pages were places and things that we could drive to and see while we spent time touring through each country. As I turned the pages and saw the scribbled notes it brought back all the great memories I have of the time – the anticipation and the wonders of what such a trip would hold in store for us.
The trip never happened. For probably a dozen reasons all of them good ones – we just never made it happen. And as I turned the pages of the book it now it made me a little sad. What memories had I missed with my brother? What adventures should we have had together that we did not? Each crinkled note and page of that book now represented regrets of a trip not taken. While we talked about the trip together, we created dramatic visions in our own heads of taking a rugged jeep through desolate mountain ranges and coming upon small villages of locals. We might spend the night with them and eat the local food. We might end up in interesting situations every day. When we finished the trip we would have endless stories of our adventures. We would have memories.
As I looked at the maps (now falling out of the book), I realized an important lesson. We never regret the trips we take- just the one’s we don’t. I am sure everyone has experienced this regret at some point because I always hear people say that they wish they had traveled more while they still had the chance. Bill and I didn’t go on that trip, and we probably won’t ever have the chance now. I’ll keep the memories of planning the trip in my head because in my mind, I felt like we did make that trip in someway if only in our imaginations. I’ll keep the book too. I am sure I will open it up again someday and wonder about what it would be like – the trip we never took.
Fly
I use photoshop a lot to color correct photos and to accentuate the subject. I am not great at photoshop but I think I can make a picture look better with it. I took a few photos of Charlie today as he was being tossed up in the air by his father and older brother. At times some of the photos made him appear to be sky high. I found one photo which looked like he was flying to the heavens and upon looking at it, it kind of looked fake because it appeared he was so high.. Well he was at least 15 feet off the ground when this picture was taken and I took it while he was ascending upward. Rest assured, this photo is not enhanced in anyway to make it look like he is flying. This is the actual picture of how high he was.
Yes Sir!
I was at the USD basketball game awhile ago and about 25% of the bleachers were filled with new Marine recruits from Camp Pendleton. I guess they let the guys out for a little fun that night. I took a picture of a group of Marines standing at attention and I couldn’t help but notice that they all looked very similar. Now it might be something to do with the great chow they feed the guys or perhaps the regulation eye glasses that they make them wear. One thing is for certain these guys are certainly disciplined.
Its a Goal!
When we were kids my dad made us watch British Soccer Games on ABC on Saturday afternoons. The games were actually pretty boring but the announcers of the games were very lively in their British accents and made the games interesting to watch. Our favorite moments on those Saturday afternoons were when one of the teams scored a goal and the announcer would scream quite loudly into their microphone… “Its a goooooaaaaal”, drawing out all of the vowels as the British do.
Today was a soccer day for me. First and foremost I had a chance to watch my awesome nephew Geno play soccer for the first time. He is an awesome athlete and very competitive so I was very proud to watch him doing his best on the field. Later that day my other two awesome nephews, Charlie and Irish took me to the San Diego Soccers Indoor National Championship game – and they won. It was an all around great day for Soccer in San Diego and the weather as usual was picture perfect. Click on the link below to see the full gallery of Geno playing his heart out in the soccer game.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Portraits/Soccer-Boy/21896010_SkrPXn
The Magical House and Fairy Garden
After a long search of hundreds of houses across San Diego Tu finally found her dream house and moved into the beautiful home this week. Tu knew the instant that she walked into the fairy tale backyard of the house that it was her dream home. She called me to come over and take a look at the house. She never told me why. The minute I walked into the backyard I was instantly overcome by a sense of calm serenity and peacefulness. The backyard reminded me of a Japanese Tea Garden and at the center of the garden stood a Banzai Tree which was planted over 50 years ago. The garden was a complete masterpiece – a work of art and something that evoked emotion and feeling from the instant you stood in it.
Well, the backyard was not the only incredible thing about the house. The entire interior of this beautiful property was painstakingly remodeled from floor to ceiling. Hardwood floors, completely new kitchen, new appliances and entirely renovated bathrooms were the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the cake of this place.
While the garden was magical and the house beautiful, the real energy and soul of the place was the history of the family that lived there and grew up together there. In 1961, 50 years ago a young couple Del and Grace purchased the small home in Clairemont with the vision of raising a family in the beautiful town on San Diego. Over the next 50 years they did have the family they dreamed of having 3 boys and 2 girls – Christopher, Geary, Michael Leslie, Lisa and Denise.
I had the chance to meet with Lisa on various occasions and she filled me in on the history of the house and shared with me many stories about what happened there as they grew up. As she told me the stories, I thought back to my own childhood home and realized that selling the home must have been a very emotional experience. It was not just a house to them, but a place where almost all of their best memories happened. I felt honored that they would entrust us with something so special. Having viewed many of the homes that Tu was interested in, I had a chance to view lots of homes with very little soul or character – flips where sometimes unscrupulous buyers would buy properties cheap from distressed homeowners, do a few cosmetic changes and then try to sell the property for tens and thousands more than they bought it for. I think that is what made this house incrementally more special to me. It was a diamond amidst the rough housing market. Lisa told me the story of the garden and how her father came home from work each night and trimmed the trees and roses, how her mother had carefully selected clippings of special plants from places she had visited and planted them in their garden. Each plant held special meaning in this garden and things that would not grow anywhere else in San Diego defied the odds and grew in this backyard. Maybe the plants and tree’s grew not only on sun, soil and water but on love. Lisa mentioned to me that she began the renovations over 6 months ago and that it was an outlet for her after she lost her partner. I realized that this renovation on her families property was not about money but love. It was a labor of love for her father, her mother, her family and loved ones and for the memory of her childhood. This was about bringing the home to its most beautiful state before saying goodbye. Well it was quite touching and made me realize that this home must be taken care of and protected to protect the legacy of so much that has happened before.
The day before the closing – Lisa’s father came by the house to drop off a gift for Tu. It was a Buddha statue from a ruined temple in Vietnam. The statue was beautiful and we placed it in the center of the garden. It was the perfect place for the statue. The whole garden seemed to come together after this perfect and thoughtful gift. Later that day, I looked out in the garden and saw two hummingbirds playing and flying from tree to tree. As I watched outside, I thought to myself that this truly was a magical house.
http://www.frankiefoto.com/Photography/The-Magic-House/21655974_ss6tNJ
William Fitzsimmons tonight
I went to see William Fitzsimmons in San Diego again tonight. I have been a big fan of his music since he released an album called the Sparrow and the Crow and I felt it was a pretty influential album on the folk music scene. If you have ever seen William Fitzsimmons you know that he is known for his 1890’s beard style and soft singing style. Actually both of his parents were deaf and that is why he says that he learned to sing softly. Since there were never loud noises in the house he learned to play very quietly. William Fitzsimmons is a true artist and always sings his songs differently each time he plays them. Sometimes this can be a hit or miss strategy but in the case of his singing and style it is always beautiful. As an added bonus we got to see Chris, Vanessa, Tierney and Landry tonight at the event. It was a really great show and a great night.
