pink flowers, Canon 300D

This photo is the result of a happy accident. I played with the “tv” setting on my camera and the photo came out extremely underexposed, (very dark; the image was almost invisible) but when I set the auto levels in photoshop, this image emerged. I love the effect. It reminds me of the Lomo camera I’ve always dreamed of getting. The flowers look like they were plucked out of the rainforest, and not sitting in someone’s urban garden only inches away from broken bottles and traffic.

Can anyone explain to me how this effect happened?

Off to visit my friend Jen in Chicago this week! We are going to experiment with night photography in her garden…

cloud mirror, Canon 300D

Photo Friday’s theme this week is “Clouds”

The Vallejo, Sausalito, CA Canon 300D

Only a few days before our lives took an unexpected turn, Matt and I were invited to the most lovely dinner party we’d been to in quite a while. We were told it was on a houseboat in Sausalito, which sounded like fun, but it also sounded crammed and nausea-inducing and I kept wondering how we were going to prepare the stir fry we were shopping for.

When we arrived (see photo above) I was blown away. This was not a regular houseboat. This was The Vallejo and used to be a working ferry boat (about 100 years ago). It is huge and gorgeous both inside and out.

A friendly tabby came to greet me as I walked up the gangplank (good sign) and as I entered I was amazed by the beautiful wood. The floors were caramel (it was the magic hour) and the sun beamed in through the windows. They had art everywhere, a huge kitchen, the biggest wooden dining table I have ever seen and staircases leading to different rooms. It felt very much like a home, but different, like a treehouse or secret portal.

We climed a ladder to the top, where our friend had set up a DJ studio. Ammon played incredible music while we ate guacamole and watched the sun go down.

In the sixties, the Vallejo was a popular hangout among artists and poets because the painter Jean Varda and writer/Zen philosopher Alan Watts lived aboard. At various times you could find Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder (among others) hanging out there.

I could feel the magic of it. It is one of those places that simply inspires you. It made me fall in love with San Francisco again.

Sasha, Nikon Coolpix 4500

Photo Friday’s theme this week is “Fashion”

This is a photo of my dear friend Sasha that I dug up from the archives. It has always been one of my favorites.

Ocean Beach, Canon 300D

Recent comforts:
– Reading White Oleander (dark and beautiful) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (this fictional story is told from the perspective of a fifteen-year-old boy with autism)
– Laughing so hard we hyperventilated while watching Patton Oswalt at a comedy club. I am a big fan of inappropriate extreme potty humor.
– A daylong meditation retreat with my friend Sara. I didn’t last the entire day because I was seduced by the sunny day outside and the promise of a transcendent beach walk. Ironically, when I arrived at Ocean Beach (pictured above) it was so impossibly windy that my ears and eyes immediately filled with sand and my perfect beach walk fantasy crumbled under my bare feet. I suppose I should have brought my Burning Man goggles.
– Celebrating SARK’s new book, Make Your Creative Dreams Real at a local bookstore. I am honored to make a cameo appearance in this book!
– Holding Matt’s hand.
– I-tunes! and shuffling our entire CD collection while I make jewelry. I have been comforted by my work these days, putting colors together, sending happy bits out into the world.
– Receiving sweet messages from you.
– A perfect poem.
– Knowing I don’t need to call or write anyone back these days. The freedom of trusting my friendships enough to be silent.