Ventura Holiday

I have spent many holidays in Ventura. If I can remember correctly, almost every Christmas I have spent here I have made a trip to the beach. It's usually sunny and warm on this holiday. It was a little chilly today, nothing to really complain about, just under 60 degrees and it was sunny.

I'm not too sure why, but I have been really interested in driftwood lately. It has so many uses. You can build surf shacks out of it. I'm planning on building picture frames out of it too. There is a great artistic quality to this wood. And it's just there on the beach, soaking up rays. Maybe I like driftwood so much because it really defines what life should be. It travels all over the world, crashes on the beach, lays in the sand and sits in the sun. Okay, so this is my dream and my way of looking at it.

It's just a reminder to take a holiday from the day to day rat race of your life. Become driftwood for a day, just sit and watch the world go by. After all, it's going to go by no matter what, you may as well enjoy every moment of it you can.

Enjoying life for a moment...

I was going through some photos I had taken earlier this year and stumbled upon this one from White Sands, New Mexico. How I missed it earlier I have no idea. Sometimes you just have to take a step back for awhile and let the good ones come to you.

I'll just ponder on this for awhile. Sometimes, there are no words needed to help you enjoy the moment.

Stormy Monday....

  
     So here it is, a rainy day in Southern California.  It really does happen every now and then.  The last storm I saw was in Death Valley a few months ago.  The forecast called for clear sunny weather, how they missed the huge storm that rolled in I have no idea.  It kind of reminded me of the movie "LA Story" with Steve Martin.  He plays a TV weatherman who pre-records his forecast for the weekend so he does not have to go to work.  It's a great movie, you should check it out for a laugh.

     So back to the weather  here in Ventura.  It's rainy, a little chilly and not much to do.  I'm sitting here with my dog Rocco and we're just hangin.  I may venture out a little later and see if I can find something to take a photo of, something dark and menacing maybe..... I'll have to see what type of film I have loaded in my camera.  Yes I said film.  I still shoot film for most of my projects, there is something to be said of the sound of a real shutter going "ca-chunk".  For those of you out there who shoot medium format you know exactly what I mean.

Here is a shot (above) in Death Valley with the storm moving in in the background.  I shot this with Konica Infrared film.  2 secs @ f/22 (35mm film)

     Days like this remind me of being a kid and wanting to play in the rain.  I still play  in the rain, I love getting cold, getting my feet wet and then going inside where it's nice and warm, putting my feet next to the heater and making some hot chocolate.  When life hands you  lemons, make lemonade.  When it's cold and rainy, get wet and make hot chocolate.  I'll be practicing this one today.