Thursday, August 14, 2008

Breaking Waves

Northern California beach

I've been on vacation too long -- and haven't accomplished a thing. Oh, you mean I'm supposed to be on "vacation", not hauling my 10 lb camera from here to there and designing artwork on my laptop?

When I left Dallas I had just delivered a 22 pc installation for a hotel registration desk. Apparently it was well-received by the designer, since I have already designed a similar one, and have a meeting set up for a third. I have new ideas now that I'm traveling and refilling my creative reserves.

Sometimes I get lazy, though. Nothing stimulates me more than a looming deadline. In looking at my calendar I see that I have less than a week left here in northern California. With that in mind I went kayaking on Monday, then shooting down in Monterey. Tuesday I went shopping and processed my photos. Wednesday I drove north to some rocky beaches close to Bodega Bay and did the thing that I love the most -- photographed rocks and water with slow shutter speeds. I was alone on the beach, with wind whipping my hair, waves crashing on black rocks and kelp littering the gravelly shore. The sun was low in the sky, plating the water with gold. I took a deep breath and thanked the universe for letting me have that moment.

Dahlia taken with Lensbaby 2.0

Today I returned to the dahlia garden at Golden Gate park with my Nikon, my macro lens and my Lensbaby, just for fun. And on my way home I made a stop at SFMOMA to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

It was spectacular. I've been to a lot of museums, lots of galleries, seen more art than most people. This exhibit moved me like no other. I wanted to spend more time in front of every painting, examining each stroke, and empathizing with the emotions shown on the canvases. ...sigh...

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