Day 40 - Flags at Work - 06.30.11

These flags have been up all week at work for the upcoming Independence Day holiday. Yesterday I took some photos in the early afternoon and wasn't pleased with the light. Again in the later evening I took some photos, but again wasn't thrilled. I tried again this morning, just as I got to work and I was much happier. I love the way the back lighting makes the flag appear to almost glow. I then had some fun in photo shot dropping the saturation for everything except the flags. So while I've been looking at these all week, they were still something I saw today.

Day 39 - Liska - 06.29.11

After work this evening we had a crew wrap party for one of the projects I have been working on this last year. It gave me the opportunity to take photos of a bunch of friends. I think this one of my friend Liska came out great. Love her smile on this shot. It was something I saw today.

Day 38 - West Side Metal Recycling Center - 06.28.11

Tonight I'm going right from work to the movie theater to watch "Return Of The King" the extended edition. So I'm not going to have time to worry about a photo. So I did some planning ahead and looked for a photo opportunity this morning on the way to work. Well, this was a little out of the way, but not by much. This recycle business gets some consistent business. I used to walk by it on the way home from work and it seemed like there was always someone there dropping things off. So I thought there might be some interesting images in the morning light. So this man with the cart at the recycle center was something I saw today.

Day 37 - Chili John's Bowl of Chili - 06.27.11

Went to lunch at Chili Johns in Burbank this afternoon. Split a bowl of chili and rice with my wife. We went there because my mother is in town and we hadn't brought her there before. If you ever visit Burbank, be sure to stop in for a bowl. it is truly great. So this big bowl of chili was something I saw today.

Day 36 - Morning Golf - 06.26.11

Woke up this morning and saw that it was the first day in a long time where it wasn't overcast. I remembered that a few weeks ago when I went walking with my wife in Griffith Park that the sun coming up over the golf course was really cool. I made a mental note of it back then that I needed to come back and take photos of the golfers as the sun came up. So this morning when I saw it was going to be a clear morning I jumped in the car with my wife and headed to the park. We got there just as the sun was peaking over the mountains. From the walking path outside the golf course I shot photos of golfers back lit by the morning sun. These golfers here were something I saw today.

Day 35 - Circus Liquor - 06.25.11

I'm still going through the thousands of photos I shot Thursday and Friday with the dancers. The funny thing is that it was late in the day that I realized that I hadn't gone out and shot a new photo. I had spent all my time going through the other photos. So while I was drowning in photos I ran out, drove a mile or two into North Hollywood to the corner of Cahuenga and Burbank Blvd. to the famous Circus Liquor. I say famous because I have seen this liquor store featured in several movie and in coffee table books. When I went the sun was setting which was nice. So that was something I saw today.

Day 34 - Dancing On A Bench - 06.24.11

Tonight was the dance showcase and so today's decision revolved once again around photos of dancers. I was in the audience this evening so my shots are from a little further away and so not quite as intimate. This was a moment in a very dramatic and wonderful piece set to Adele's song "Rolling In The Deep". The single light was great and made for a great photo. It was something I saw today.

Day 33 - Dancer Silhouette - 06.23.11

Went to my daughter's dress rehearsal tonight. It was 5 hours long. I actually filled my entire memory card with photos. My favorite photos were some of the silhouettes I took. This one is such a nice sharp profile. I love it. It was something I saw today.

Day 32 - Flowers - 06.22.11

Was exhausted today because last night I went to a screening of "The Two Towers" the extended edition so I was up late. So by the time I got home and I hadn't taken a picture I decided to keep it simple. Grabbed the camera and went walking down the street looking for a photo. These flowers ended up being something I saw today.

Day 31 - Red Wheel - 06.21.11

At my work there is a helicopter pad on the top floor of the parking garage. Just below that helicopter pad is what appears to be a rather large fire extinguisher. I'm sure fire extinguisher isn't the right word because it is a rather big container for water that is on wheels and has a hose wrapped around the back. It is painted fire engine red and I decided it would a good subject for something I saw today.

Day 30 - Valley Pumping Plant - 06.20.11

Saw this fountain the other night when heading over to Fry's. The moment I saw it I knew I would have to return and take a picture. So tonight I made a point of driving over and making it something I saw today.

Day 29 - Sunset Over Hollywood - 06.19.11

Went back up to the Griffith Observatory this evening with the family. There were lots and lots of people enjoying the perfect evening and the views. I got a few really nice shots. You can look at the my other two favorites here and here. All the while I was shooting photos I was listening to the Kinks album "Celluloid Heroes." The actual song "Celluloid Heroes" seemed quite appropriate as I looked out over Hollywood and took this picture of something I saw today.

Day 28 - Dance Rehearsal - 06.18.11

Picked up my daughter at rehearsals this evening and had a chance to snap some photos. This was something i saw today.

Day 27 - Sunset In Burbank - 06.17.11

The day started rainy and gloomy, but ended with a beautiful sunset. This is a shot looking over the Burbank power plant. You can see that the airport is in the distance because I caught a plane taking off in the shot as well. I took this photo after dinner. I ran first to the bridge on Magnolia that goes over the train tracks, but then decided that I should go to Olive to catch the silhouette of the power plant. We I made that decision I knew we had about ten minutes to get over there before the sun was completely gone. It was a good thing I've been walking and running in the morning because I had to run up the hill to get there in time to catch the sunset. And so when I got there, this was something I saw today.

Day 26 - Grapefruit - 06.16.11

At the end of the day I came home from work and hadn't shot a single photo. In the back of my mind I started off the day thinking I was going to wait for sunset to take some photos, but once I got home I was so tired that I knew I didn't want to have to go out chasing sunset shots tonight. So I took the easy way out, grabbed my camera and headed into the backyard. This not yet ripe grapefruit caught my eye in the late afternoon sun and I thought that is definitely something I saw today.

Day 25 - Griffith Observatory - 06.15.11

At lunch today I ran up to the Griffith Observatory to snap some photos. I took a break from the 50mm lens and went with my zoom because I really haven't done too many shots with a wider lens. I like the way the colors came out and I like the sense of open space. The runner up photos are here. 1, 2, 3. So now you now about my field trip and something I saw today.

Day 24 - Caution Broken Glass - 06.14.11

Took the camera on the morning walk. Wanted to keep it simple today. Walked by this store front and to be honest I'm not exactly sure what is going on here. It looks like an open wound. It says it is glass, but it has been painted over. And then there is all this goop where I think the owner was pasting over the cracks in the glass. All in all I just thought is was a weird sight and then the hand written warning of caution broken glass seemed to just be the capper to this low rent repair job. It was definitely interesting and something I saw today.

Day 23 - Koi - 06.13.11

Had some time this afternoon to walk around campus. Took this photo of one of the fish in the pond. Had to kneel down and get the camera right in his face so I could share this image of something I saw today.

Day 22 - Little Ballerina - 06.12.11

Today my daughter had photos for her dance studio. I went along and shot a bunch of photos of the girls as they waited for their turns to go in. I caught this little ballerina at just the right moment. Her eyes are electric. Besides this photo there were plenty of other beautiful photos that didn't make the blog. You can check them out here. So that was something I saw today.

Day 21 - Nate Tunes Up At The Mint - 06.11.11

Went and saw my son Nate and his band play at a place called The Mint tonight over in LA. The club is on Pico just a few blocks from Fairfax. Nice little venue. This shot was right before the started when he was tuning up and checking out the gear. I like the tongue sticking out showing the deep concentration. I also love the sharpness of the glasses and the highlights off them. The red is also very cool. So that is something I saw today.

Day 20 - Jeremy Bolm of Touche Amore - 06.10.11

Gonna be quick with the words because it is very very late and I just want to go to bed. Went to a concert tonight down in Anaheim. Saw Shook Ones, The Menzingers, Touche Amore and Title Fight. I got a real work out trying to hold my own in the pit with my camera. Got knocked to the ground once and lost my glasses once. Shot tons of photos and ended up with about 2 hundred passable photos. About 10 are really special. This one of the singer Jeremy Bolm of Touche Amore crowd surfing won the spot for something I saw today.

Day 19 - DWA Starbucks Window - 06.09.11

Decided to get the photo out of the way early today. This morning as I passed the Starbucks at work I thought that the contrast of the gray cold light outside and the warm light inside the Starbucks made for an interesting subject. In this photo I caught a few patrons getting the morning jolt of caffeine. So that is something I saw today.

Day 18 - Grand Central Building - 06.08.11

After yesterday's all day photo extravaganza I basically took the day off. On the way home from work I drove a couple streets out of my way to visit the Grand Central Building. This building is owned by Disney and is currently vacant. The reason I pay any attention to this building is because of its history. This building was the terminal for the Glendale airport. That airport served as the airport for Los Angeles for many years and is featured in many, many old movies. You can read more on the history of the airport on numerous web sights. This one is a good place to start. It has some good images such as the one below.

The challenge of making this somewhat interesting was the fact that there was this horrible green fence around it. There were distracting cars parked around the fence as well. So I basically use my old stand by trick of tilting the image. It's a cheap trick, but does provide some movement in the composition. I then played with the color in Photoshop, not a ton, but enough to make it more interesting. So that was something I saw today on the way home from work.

Day 17 - It's A Small World - 06.07.11

Wow, what a day. Went to Disneyland and shot a ton of photos. Then went to a record release concert for Touche Amore at Backside Records in Burbank and shot a bunch more photos. Then I came home and had to narrow it down to one photo for the day. I went with this photo of one of the children in the "It's A Small World" ride. I'm really happy with how close I was able to get and this is one of the few that didn't come out blurry. I'm happy that this photo represents well something I saw today.

Day 16 - HR Bobble Head - 06.06.11

I'll be the first to admit that today's photo isn't the greatest. It was a little rushed. I didn't go on my morning walk. I had my camera with me at work and in the afternoon I had a little time so I decided to go find a photo. At my work there is a room which is called the Hidden Room (hence the term HR). It is a room which was essentially empty space that some employees decided to decorate and turn into a makeshift bar and lounge. To get in you enter through a door hidden behind a bookcase. It has bar lighting as you can see and interesting decorations. This bobble head is on the bar and personally I think he looks kind of creepy. So he won a spot here as something I saw today.

Day 15 - Sunday Morning Rose - 06.05.11

It has taken me two weeks to finally get a portrait up on this blog. Up to this point it has all be things. This was my daughter this morning. She was playing a game on the computer, but I got her to look up just long enough to snap this photo. She is a beauty, right? So that was something I saw today.

Day 14 - Doctor Burbank - 06.04.11

Off to a good start this morning. Got up early and headed down the street to the Doctor Burbank statue where Victory and Burbank Blvd. meet. It was around 5:15 in the morning and the sun was just coming starting give the sky a glow. I took a series of photos and this one won the contest. Check them out. 1, 2 and 3. Also I learned how to use a new tool in Photoshop this morning. I learned how to use the photo filter tool. You can see some of the alt versions of this same photo here. There is a red version and a blue version. The red version is totally removed from reality, but I did like how is made Doctor Burbank look like Vladimir Lenin. I settled on the purple version because I thought is most closely resembled something I saw today.

Day 13 - Morning Laundry - 06.03.11

Took advantage of the beautiful morning sunlight and photographed some of our laundry. I know, boring right? Not everyday is going to be fireworks, but I don't really think that is the point of the blog. What I'm hoping to get out of this is to be disciplined to create at least one image a day and perhaps see the mundane in a new way. I think this achieves that. I think the laundry actually looks quite pretty in this light. The colors are nice and vibrant. So that is yet again something I saw today.

Day 12 - Coffee Bean Cup - 06.02.11

It is a funny thing these photo excursions I've been doing. I set out with an idea for some photos to take, but I end up finding things I never planned on and they end up here instead of what I originally intended. This morning was a good example. I woke up around 3AM and thought I'm going to head to downtown Burbank and take some night photos of the empty streets, stores, restaurants, and perhaps even some street lights and signs. That is what I started out doing and I got an interesting few images. But then just as I was ready to pack it in and head back home I noticed a Coffee Bean cup that had been left on a planter all night. I took a series of photos and when all was said and done they were some of the best photos. This one of course is my favorite.

Another interesting story about this morning was that I met a man who was on a bike downtown. He was well dressed and seemed all together. He was curious about my photos and we talked cameras and lenses for a bit. The funny thing was that at one point he got on his cell phone and asked me what city he was in. He was calling a friend to come pick him up. He said he got himself lost. I didn't inquire any further, but it did seem funny that this guy was on a bike ride at 3:30 in the morning and didn't even know where he was. And I swear he didn't seem drunk or high.

If you are interested here is a link to the runner up photos. 1, 2, 3.

So that was something I saw today.

Day 11 - Foosball Table Man - 06.01.11

There is a Foosball table at work. Had a few minutes between meetings today and so I grabbed the camera and took some photos of one of the men. I have some that are perhaps more in focus, but I kind of like the dreamy quality of this image. There is an interesting glow coming off him that adds to the dreamy quality as well. So that is something I saw today.