Candice's LJ

I meant to do this last week, but I wanted to wait until I finished processing my photos, which I didn't finish until yesterday.

So, Saturday July 24 was the 3rd annual Worldwide Photowalk (WWPW). I decided that this year I would sign up and lead a photowalk through downtown Los Angeles. I planned a route that would take folks from Pershing Square to  the Central Library and the Bunker HIlls steps, then on to Angels Flight and the Grand Central Market for a rest stop, then finally to the Music Center. The walk was listed as 5-1/2 hours, as past experience has told me that photowalks tend to go long. I put up my photowalk on the WWPW site and waited to see who would sign up. To my utter shock, all 50 spots were filled pretty quickly, even though mine was one of three photowalks that was listed for downtown LA.

So, having planned the walk, and having enlisted Brett to help out, the two of us set out late Saturday morning for downtown. We stopped at the wildly popular Nickel Diner for lunch before hand, where Brett ordered a Maple Bacon Donut, which was actually rather good. The food in general was good, good enough that I do want to go back and try some of their other dishes and desserts.

After lunch, we headed over to Pershing Square, and imagine my surprise when I was greeted with a huge crowd of walkers. I introduced myself and Brett, went over where the walk was going, did the standard Fight Club-style intro of the "rules" (don't talk about photowalk. Naw, kidding, you can talk about photowalk. Take the lens cap off and leave it off, since you never know when a shot you like will appear, and etc.), gave a few suggestions and warnings (the security guards at the library get snippy when you take photos of people at the library, photographers at the US Bank Tower have been hassled in the past by security), and off we went.

After a short photo stop at Pershing Square, we walked over to the library. The attraction of the Central Library is the architecture and the art. It is a truly beautiful building. Before going about, I told the walkers that we would meet up again at the top of the Bunker Hill steps at 3:30.

Some of my photos from the library:




After a long linger at the library, I met up with the group at the top of the steps, and saw that my group had gotten a bit bigger, a few late comers showed up. From there, we proceeded to Angels Flight, walking over to 4th, then down to Angels Knoll Park (seen in the movie 500 Days of Summer), which is right next to Angels Flight.

Angels Flight is right across the street from the Grand Central Market. That stop was also also meant to be a rest break for folks who wanted to sit down, maybe get a bite to eat.

Angels Flight and Grand Central Market photos:




During the stop at the market, a few walkers decided to go over to the Bradbury Building, which is on the other side of the market. We then went over to the 2nd Street Tunnel. Also took some shots of the Million Dollar Theater.

Bradbury Building, Million Dollar Theater and 2nd Street Tunnel:



After the stop at the market, a few of the walkers decided to call it a day and head home. We said goodbye to them and thanked them for coming. The rest of the group went on to the Music Center, home of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, and Mark Taper Forum. It was late in the walk, but most of the walkers were still with us. The Disney Concert Hall was a popular stop for photos. I think the building is rather unattractive, but I also think it's one of the most interesting things to shoot downtown.

Walt Disney Concert Hall:



At that point, it was after 6:00pm, and a lot of walkers called it a day. Those of us left went across the street to the Dorothy Chandler. By that time, Brett was pretty close to wiped out. One of the other walkers told us that he had actually been out shooting since before midnight and that he had planned to spend 24 hours shooting. We finally ended the walk across the street from the Chandler at the DWP building, which has some nice fountains, though on this day, they had caution tape across the entrance so you couldn't get to the other side.

Chandler fountain and Downtown from the DWP building:



At 7:00pm, the official end time for the walk, Brett and I said goodbye and thanks to the remaining walkers, and headed home, via the red line.

So that was photowalk day.

The photowalk also has a contest connected to it. Walkers can pick one of their shots, upload it to the photowalk page for their walk, the walk leaders then pick the winning photo for their walk. There are prizes for winners of their local walk, peoples choice and a grand prize, chosen by Scott Kelby, they guy who started the Worldwide Photowalk.

It was at this point that problems started to spring up. One of my walkers, who had registered for the walk and was on the attendee list, suddenly found his name no longer on the list, which meant he was unable to upload his photo. He sent me an e-mail. I went over to the photowalk help forum and found out this was actually a common problem. I posted a topic asking for help, and other walk leaders posted in that topic asking for help, too.

I waited a couple of days and didn't get a reply, so I posted again. Still no reply. After 4 days, I got pissed and began posting my frustrations on Twitter. That got responses from other people who participated in WWPW. I then got a Facebook update that the submission deadline was extended to address another problem people were having with the submission process. I responded to that update about the problem my walker was having and asked for it to be addressed. I got an immediate response to that, and soon after a solution was posted and e-mailed. I fowarded that solution to other leaders and to the walker in my group. He was finally able to upload his image.

Now, the only thing left for me to do is choose a winning photo from my walk, and there are a lot of very good images to choose from, this will be a tough decision.

The problems soured me a bit on leading a photowalk next year, though I am thinking about a couple of walks I would like to do, including having an evening/nighttime walk of downtown, and collaborating with lrc  for a walk in his neck of the woods. I don't know, it will depend on how they address the problems from this year and what steps are taken to correct them in time for next year.

Anyway, that was all that, and I hope you like the photos. If you also want to see photos from other people in the group, they can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/wwpw_la/pool/with/4852534420/

And I hope everyone had an enjoyable annual gift day.

The doorbell rang around noon, it was the letter carrier (our new super nice, utterly competent letter carrier, a welcome replacement for U.S. Ponytail's lazy ass) with a present from my niece, Nycke. I open the package and see what looks like a pair of Daisy Dukes, and think to myself, "Okay, why is she sending me slut shorts? Does she think I look dowdy?" I take it out of the bag and see it's really a tote bag made from a pair of DKNY jeans. Relief ensues.

lrc  also sent me a present that arrived late, an off camera slave strobe that can be put into a clamp lamp and placed anywhere you can attached the lamp to. Now I have to find uses for it. I don't do much portrait work, but It will probably be useful when one of Brett's model friends is in town for a visit and wants to sit for us.

I also got a rain cover for my DSLR, for those rare days it's raining and I decide I simply must be outside with my camera. It's actually very cool. I almost want to find some crap weather just so I can take it out for a test drive.

I really need to get out and shoot more. I haven't been to Balboa Park in ages, and the LA Flickr group is organizing a Joshua Tree meet, I might just have to sign up for that.

Went to the doctor today, talked about my troublesome womanly problems and she mentioned the H word, which I will admit wasn't at all upsetting to me. She explained the procedure details and said I should think on it for a bit and call her nurse if I decide I want to schedule it. I'm a little squicked at the thought of more surgery, but the payoff is it solves the problems altogether and I can stop eating pain killers for 6 days out of every month and feeling like a zombie all that time. It's not like I plan on using the damn thing at this stage of my life, so why keep it? Have to discuss some logistics with Brett, but I'm thinking sooner is better than later, so I will shoot for having it done before the end of the month.

So, I took a frivolous dip into my savings and bought a used Canon 24-105mm IS L series lens. The price was not too much over half what the list price is new, and a good bit less than I've seen from reputable sellers for used. The seller got himself a new camera which came with that lens standard (he bought himself a Canon 5d Mark 2. Must be nice to have money to burn), so he didn't need his old lens. It looks new and works perfectly. As was the case when I bought the 70-300mm IS lens a couple of years ago, I will be working on creative ways to prepare ramen noodles for dinner for the foreseeable future as a way to save money to make up for my latest bout of retail therapy.

This lens replaces a Canon 28-105mm lens I had, that was the first or second lens I bought after I got my first DSLR. I thought about selling it, but then decided, instead, to give it to the_ogre, who has a Rebel, a gift he gladly accepted, and which arrived on his doorstep a few days ago. That lens was good to me, so I hope he enjoys using it.

Saturday, I was at one of the local camera shops to buy a filter, and the fella behind the counter asked me what camera I had. I told him I had the Canon 40d. He asked me if I had checked out the 50d, I told him I had, but that if I ever get the desire and the money to upgrade, I would go for the 5d Mark 2 (like the guy who sold me the lens). He asked me if I had tried out the Mark 2, at which point we both had the same covetous grins on our faces. We talked cameras and locations for a little while. We both agreed on the total awesomeness of the Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens, and he recommended the Canon 24-70mm as a very good, though expensive, portrait lens. I certainly can't afford that lens, so I'll stick to my nifty 50mm for portraits.

Turns out the clerk is a rail fan. I mentioned to him some stories I've read about rail fans being hassled for taking photos of trains and railroad tracks, which led to a discussion about being hassled in general when out taking photos. Brett mentioned the time the security guard at L.A. Live got on us for taking photos of Staples Center, and the clerk suggested that one way to avoid that would be use a monopod instead of a tripod, as it's less noticeable than a tripod, and the average security guard is likely to believe you when you tell them that it's just a walking stick. We chuckled at that, but I'm gonna take his advice.

Right now, Brett has my Canon S3 IS and accessories, including a set of recharbale batteries and charger. He's getting pretty good with it, so I'll probably give it to him. His digital camera is a little point and shoot that doesn't have the options the S3, a more advanced point and shoot, has, and he's talked about getting more ambitious with his photography, and wanting a better camera for when he takes photos of his model friends, which is why I loaned it to him in the first place, and is something I can completely understand. I was very happy to have a DSLR when we went out to Venice/Malibu a couple years ago to shoot his friend, Asia.

Brett and I went to the L.A. TImes Festival of Books Saturday, where I gave my new to me lens a bit of a workout, and it performed very well. The book festival was very crowded this year. Being a free event, I imagine a lot of folks came out because it's entertainment that can be had on the cheap for the whole family, you can hear free music, attend free readings, see famous people, and attend free lectures and panel discussions from famous writer and celebrities. We didn't stay as long as we have in the past. There weren't really any authors there that we wanted to see, plus it's a bit sad now that Golden Apple Comics no longer has a booth at the festival. They stopped going when Bill, the original owner and long time friend of both me and Brett, died, and his wife and son have really cut back on the stores exposure at those types of events. That's too bad, as GA Comics was one of the original exhibiters at the first L.A. Times book fesitval, and their booth always had fun stuff going on.

I spent Saturday in downtown L.A. in Little Tokyo at the Cherry Blossom Festival with Brett. It was pretty cool. I don't spend much time in Little Tokyo, so it was a nice change of pace.

We both had our cameras (actually, we both had my cameras, since my S3 IS is on long term loan to Brett) and took lots of pictures. Mine are here, Brett's are here.

I noticed a scratch on the focusing screen of my 40D, and stopped at Canoga Camera to get a replacement, and, ohmyGAWD, that place is photo geek heaven. They have EVERYTHING! Okay, maybe not everything, but they have a lot and it's all droolworthy. I totally recommend this shop. Before going there on Saturday, I'd only bought from them through their website. From now on, when I need something from them, I'll take the 20 minute ride to the store.

I didn't have time to change the focusing screen before going downtown, so for the entire day, that damn scratch drove me crazy. But now I have a new screen, a better one, in fact, installed.

My Canon 17-85 lens is starting to act up. The autofocus is jumping around when it's zoomed past 17mm. Not just normal hunting, but jumping to and fro and to and fro before focusing. It's probably a faulty USM motor that can be replaced. Peeves me, since this is my standard walkaround lens, pretty compact and easy to carry. Sending it for repairs means I won't have it for minimum two weeks. But at least the Canon service center is just over in Irvine, and their service is very good, so I expect my repaired lens will be as good as new.

Brett will be spending Christmas with his parents this year. He'll be driving out to Arizona to see them the Tuesday before Christmas and will be back the Sunday after.

Since he'll be off with his folks, I decided I may as well go out and do something different for the holidays, so I'll be spending the Christmas/Yule/Solstice in Santa Cruz with lrc and zabster for Larry's annual Whiskymas party. At this party, I will be making my famous (well, famous to some) red jambalaya. Pretty much the point of the party is to eat food and drink whiskey. Since Larry is already sitting on, I think, 3 or 4 of my past contributions to his whiskey collection, this year my contribution to his party will just be my cooking.

I'm almost done with shopping for presents. I have gifts for my mother, sisters, Aunt Bertha, and my friend Alison. I have to get a present for Brett, and that will be that for my gift giving this year. A lot of people won't be getting gifts from me this year, which kinda sucks. I enjoy gift shopping, but circumstances dictate I cut way back this year. I have to get to the post office on Wednesday so my sisters get their presents by Christmas. At least I won't have to lug as many packages as this year. Hopefully, this time when I go to the post office, the whiny bint from last year won't be there.

The job hunting isn't going anywhere right now. Even if the counry wasn't in a recession, this is a lousy time of year to look for a job. So far, most of the listings I've checked out, as noted in an earlier post, were in the porn industry. I have nothing against porn, but I'll change careers before I put myself through having to work with that level of incompetence again.

Things will probably look better on the job hunting front once the holidays are through.

Brett and I tooled around Beverly Hills on Saturday to see how they've dressed up the streets for the holidays. I got some decent shots, but the best shot of the night wasn't of the decorations, but of a gas station.

My new camera is the awesome! Don't believe me? Here's photographic proof that it is the awesome:

Inside the Bradbury building	City Hall lights
Second Street Tunnel	Inaugural photo

My sister, Brenda, called last night. She lives in DC, and like many East Coasters, whenever a natural disaster happens in California, they think that the whole state somehow is involved. So, seeing the news about the brushfires, she called to see how we were. I assured her that bad air is the worst we usually get from brushfires, being a good distance from the hills. We chatted more, got caught up on the family news, and, as always, she asked me when I'm getting married. Apparently "never" isn't an acceptable answer, but she laughed when I told her that marriage would get in the way of my becoming a successful crazy cat lady. I realized after we hung up that I forgot to ask her how our sister, Wanda, was doing after her foot surgery.

If there's a Popcornopolis store near you, go there at the first opportunity, buy yourself a bag of the Cinnamon Toast popcorn, go home, and merrily stuff you face. Be sure to conceal it from any other greedy bastards that might be in the house with you.

Todd is back at work. It's been about 6 weeks, and he'll attempt to work full-time while undergoing chemo. While his chemo won't be as rigorous as my sisters was when she was being treated for breast cancer, it still won't be a picnic. He's so happy to get back to the old routine that even having to deal with the everyday stupidity that emanates from the Denver office looks good to him. We've missed Todd, and not just because his absence meant much more work for everyone, but I must admit, that was a big part of it. It is so nice to have someone else to hand off the log book to.

I've ordered yet another camera, the Canon PowerShot TX-1. That means that, once it gets here, I'll have 4 digital cameras, so I really would like to get rid of one of them. It's a Canon PowerShot S500 5 megapixel compact camera. Brett has expressed an interest in it, though not a really strong interest. Considering he's laid claim to my old iBook, I don't want him to just be the repository of all my old tech, plus he already has a compact digicam and I think he'll want to move up to something a step above that soon. I had thought about giving it to his neighbor/coworker Lorena as a birthday gift, but she, apparently, has her eye on another digital camera.

Anyway, anyone who knows anyone who might be interested in an inexpensive compact digicam (Powershot S500), let me know.

Not sure what I'll then do with my Powershot SD800 IS. I'm thinking I might have it converted to an infrared camera. It's expensive, though. The cost to convert it is almost what I paid for the camera. The plus side it that with a dedicated IR camera you don't lose stops like you would using a filter on a normal camera, and you can shoot handheld IR images, while using an IR filter usually means taking a long exposure using a tripod.

I did find another date for the Diana Krall concert in August. My friend Allison is going with me. We're also going to see Pink Martini at the Bowl in September.

My mother still has my DIY home repair book. She's not only reading it, she's also looking up home repair sites on the internet, though I didn't see exactly what it was she was looking up.

Well, at least for the time being, I have a bit of extra cash. Got a good review at work and a modest raise, retroactive to the first of the year, so on either my next paycheck of the one after, 1/3 of the total raise will be added to that check. Adobe Creative Suite CS3 upgrade, here I come.

Mom is one week into retirement, and she's already hired a contractor to do get started on the remodel. She said she wanted to do A, B, and C. He said $25,000. She rethought her immediate plans and said she wants A and some of B, and that comes to about $8,000. Then she asked to borrow my DIY home repair book. Sometime in the near future, I think I should hide all my tools and put the ladder on the roof and say my brother borrowed it. Last thing I want to see is my 60-something mother climbing ladders and swinging hammers with her high blood pressure and knees that are in worse shape than mine are.

I need to get my hair done again sometime soon, and don't know if I want to keep getting braids done, or get a new style. The upside of braids is that once they're done, they're done, I don't have to worry about having it done again for months, the braids protect the hair from breakage and heat when styling it, and if I don't want to do anything with my hair, I can just leave it be and it'll look good. The upside of getting my hair styled is that I can try out something different, maybe a couple of somethings, and if I always go back to braids if I want. Of course, I could also get cornrows like this for the summer.

Update time!

Well, last weekend, Brett and I went to the LA County Museum of Art to see the exhibit Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images, a fascinating show that examines Rene Magritte's influence not only on art, but on popular culture. It's a beautifully designed show (and very popular, I've never seen LACMA that crowded), which will be ending this weekend, so if you're in LA, I highly recommend you go see it.

I'd like to post the photos I took of the exhibit, but even though LACMA does generally allow no-flash photography in the museum, they very uncooly didn't allow any photography in the Magritte exhibit. I thought about taking out my little point and shoot camera to snap a few shots, which wouldn't have been a problem considering I could have used the crowd as cover to keep security from noticing, but decided against it because I wouldn't have gotten any decent shots that way. There are some interesting rants on the 'net concerning the no photography policy LACMA has for special exhibits, this one in particular being the one most sited by folks upset by the museums policy. And, while I completely understand the frustration, I was also frustrated, I think the blogger effed-up on just what the fair use laws cover and don't cover. Yes, fair use covers the artists featured in the exhibit who "pay homage" to Magritte in their works, no, it doesn't also mean you can just whip out your camera and snap away at an exhibit where the museum itself does not have the option of making those specific works fair use.

Of course, the exhibit was so crowded that, even if photography was allowed, I probably couldn't have gotten any decent shots because of all the people that would have been blocking the sight lines. Oh, well.

However, LACMA will let you shoot your heart out just about everywhere else in the museum and on the museum grounds, which we did. My pics are here, and Brett's pics are here.

Afterwards, we went to to Farmer's Market/The Grove for dinner, though first I spent nearly an hour taking shots from the 4th level of the parking structure (where, with a somewhat steady hand and a decent lens, you can get a pretty nice shot of the Downtown LA skyline), which can be seen here.

This weekend I don't have anything nearly as interesting planned. I'll just be getting my hair done on Sunday. I found a new hair braider who's local, and we'll see how it goes. Saturday, there will be a lunar eclipse, so I will be either on the balcony or on the roof trying to get a decent shot of that. Or maybe I'll set up on the top level of the parking structure at the local cop shop on the next block, and take some shots from there in order to get above the trees, get a better view near the horizon. Worth a try.

Not much happening lately.

Brett's PC decided not to boot. It goes into an endles registry loop that no one seems to know how to get out of. Since he did need a computer at home, Snow White, my old Apple iBook, now resides with him. Except for having to get used to the size of the keyboard and using the trackpad, he's having very few problems with it, and quite likes it. If he isn't able to get his PC up and running again, which I don't think he's interested in doing, he's said he'd like to buy Snow from me.

What he definately likes is that the iBook has an older version of Photoshop CS on it. He's teaching himself how to use it to edit his digital photos, and doing a pretty good job of it. I showed him a couple of different ways to sharpen images and how to improve color, which is mostly what he wants to be able to do with his photos.

There's a new batch of photos on my Flickr page, so surf on by and take a look.