Escape to Santa Cruz

This weekend we visited Santa Cruz.  It was like coming home - suddenly I didn't look like the odd kid on the playground, but blended perfectly in the crowd.  The weather was magical, be it a little ominous in light of the snow blizzard that's engulfing the East Coast.  Temperatures in the low 80 confuse the heck out of my biological clock but I admit I enjoyed it.

Santa Cruz is an amazing place!  It is the land of the fifty year-old skateboarders.  There are beach bums, regular bums, and just people who look like bums but aren't.  Nearly everyone has tattoos and their hair is a bit too long, and they wear weird clothes.  Tie dye is very popular here.  So are VW vans in bright colors.  I saw an actual open top military Jeep pass by full of teenagers who were listening to Sublime as loud as they could.  The rich drive their vintage cars on Highway 1, and the not-so-rich ride bicycles and carry all of their earthly possessions on their backs.

There were a billion dollar view villas overlooking the Pacific, piercing parlors and record stores, liquor stores and cafes, souvenir shops, cotton candy and deep-fried everything on the Boardwalk, calliope music and arcades, yuppies and hippies, yoga moms, youths looking like gangsters, people smoking cigarettes and other stuff at street corners, beach goers and surfer dudes, and sunshine - lots and lots of sunshine!

And honestly, as crazy and unusual all of this seemed, I feel it's still more natural and organic than the wastelands of Suburbia.  In Santa Cruz there's a real sense of culture, of community.

We arrived at high noon so I resorted to taking photos countre jour.  I was shooting while pushing a stroller, so don't judge my composition technique too hard!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Freefalling

Freelensing + Fall = some serious visual excitement!  

Freelensing is the method of detaching the lens from the camera body and shooting by using your feet as a vario, and tilting the lens to find a focus point.  It's really fun, and I want to give all the credit to my fellow photographer Alex for inspiring me to try it out!  The shallow depth of field is insane, and the overall effect is almost like a tilt-shift.  I present you my first experiments with this technique, and boy, do I love the bokeh and the flares in these!  

Taken in my back yard this morning, just before the weather turned overcast.

Last Days in London...

Well, this is it.  All of my London archives have been revised, edited anew, and posted here.  These images are taken during my last weeks and days in London before we moved to the States.  They are  quite random and quite precious - although I was eager to start anew I truly liked the city and I still miss it sometimes.  This is where I learned to light-hunt!  

The still life macros shown here are barely retouched - the quality of light in London was almost always perfect as the sun was filtered in the most exquisite way through the clouds.  Also, favorite images from Oxford Circus, Tower Bridge, the Tube, the South Bank and St. Paul's, Market Place, and a snapshot from the only time I rode in a Black Cab.

Enjoy!

Summertime Sadness

I miss my home country...

The nostalgia is strongest in the Summer, which I always associate with a vacation in Lovech, Bulgaria, where I feel most free and like myself.

Here are a few images from the archives, including an outtake from a portrait shoot with my sister. Taken with a Sigma macro lens that produces the most amazing flares!

Chasing Light

As I was saying recently, I am lucky have many great photo opportunities, but lately they have been limited to capturing special moments rather than special lighting conditions.  Most of the time it's either a work gig or an outing with Johnny, both which inevitably end up happening in mid-day sunlight and although I try to make the best of it, it's been months since I've captured anything during a sunset/sunrise, or at night.  In other words, thanks to motherhood and pregnancy my light hunting days are temporarily over.  

It's just so hard to get out of the house only to shoot stuff...so I try staying in to chase the light.  We work  best artistically with limitations, don't we!

Here are a few pre-July Fourth shots representing my usual subjects - kids, cats, and naturey crap...but with a bit of a bokeh/flare twist.  Enjoy!

What A Difference A Year Makes?

Yes, I meant to put the question mark up there in the title.  Really, what has changed since last December?  Everything.  Everything is different...yet some things, I think the most important ones, are exactly the same.  And thank goodness.

A year ago I went for a photowalk around downtown Sunnyvale with my friend, then-neighbor, and fellow photographer Parisa.  The other day I met her there again, only she is now a he, as Parisa has become Paris.  This should have made all the difference, but somehow it didn't.  It was just a photo date with my friend, and although I was excited about the new developments in his life, our time together felt familiar and comfortable.  Same place, same time, same person...same fun!  And then it struck me - the trick in life is to embrace change while preserving your essential self and the things you believe in, the things you love most.  A few of us manage that balance easily, but I don't think it was ever meant to be easy.  It's right, however, and that's that.

Many people I know have difficulties understanding and accepting different sexuality and gender identity, and I am so very glad that I don't.  One less thing to worry about, I guess.  Besides, I have discovered that whatever the sexual preference or the chosen gender belonging, no one is doing anything to me, or against me.  This is not about me.  It's about the freedom of being yourself, whoever this might be sexualy or in terms of gender.  I was never a fan of boxes and labels, anyways....one must be careful with these, because otherwise you might wake up and realize you have become a walking stereotype yourself.

Paris and I always have these great conversations about life and art and personal struggles and soul searching.  I wish you guys have a friend like this in your life too!  Please enjoy these portraits and have a great weekend!

BECOMING PARIS.

PARIS TRYTTEN photography.

A Sutro Sunset

Another family outing, another set of beach and coastline photos, this time in San Francisco!   I braved the elements last Saturday evening to capture the sunset over the creepy cliffs near Sutro Baths, and after that we had dinner at Cliff House with friends, which was fun as far the company went, and a bit disappointing menu-wise.  I've had much better gourmet food, though I guess people go there not for the sea delicacies but really for the view.  

I threw a few iPhone VSCOcam shots in here too, and my favorites overall must be of Johnny - he made the funniest faces as the wind blew his way.

Thanksgiving Part Three: The Mountain (and the beach again)

We had a great Thanksgiving with my in-laws and the puppies, and the only challenge I had was to accept the presence of the big giant dead bird that was sitting in the middle of the table.  The winter holidays are always tough on me as I am a vegetarian for moral reasons.  But this aside, it was a wonderfully intimate and lovely family gathering, and I hope you had a nice time with your loved ones too this Thanksgiving!

Tassajara is this enchanted place.  There's no describing it, or at least I am not ready to do so, not yet, and surely not here.  You must see it and experience it for yourself.  Reading Steinbeck might help too, and drinking lots of red wine.  I hope that these images would help you get transported and sense even a little bit of the freedom, beauty, and magic that reside there...

And on the way back we stopped at the Monterey State Beach, you know, because it was right there.  

Favorite images: the portraits of the three Johns and the flare blasting sun paired with the American flag at the beach.

Enjoy!