Passing On Timidity

I try not to write about or reference in conversation, my brush with death 18 months ago, but it's a part of my life that I can't run from and it is making me a bit less shy related to my photography.

I always knew life was short, but in the last several months it seems my interest in many things has exploded...including being hyper-sensitive to time and wanting to do certain things...now.
I have also worked hard learning and practicing a relatively new craft, my photography.

Since I have actually started to sell a few photos and given many more away around the world, I am increasingly aware of many holes in my portfolio and what I am also now starting to think of as inventory. Those holes being: live model experience both clothed and unclothed (and variations on the term 'partially'), abstracts, image series, project studies, and studio knowledge.

To fill some of these holes it means throwing a bit of my shyness out the window and not resorting to casual shots grabbed from strangers here and there.

Since photographing people in natural light is of interest to me, I am now either letting people know that I take pics or I am asking people who interest my photographer's eye to let me photograph them. They could have something physical, a certain energy, vibe or spirit, an elder's life experience carved into their face...any variety of characteristics might catch my attention. They could be family, friends, people in my life or the lives of my family, strangers...makes no difference. I am starting to ask folks who have a certain "something" if they want to "model" for me.

Happily, (and perhaps to the dismay or shock of some around me), more and more people are saying yes. Some eagerly say yes with an "I'd LOVE to", or, "I DEFINITELY want to". Others eagerly agree after seeing some of my portraits on one of my websites www.flickr.com/photos/casualclicks. When asking folks (not that they need it), I give them permission to decline kinda like 'no harm, no foul' in basketball, and so some say no. But that's ok.

As of this moment, I have six people who want to get together for photo shoots either right away or after finals or when their work schedule permits or they will be in my area.

But, I still most wish a certain someone would let me photograph her without sticking out her tongue. But that's ok too.

Finish

I finished walking the LA Marathon route yesterday. Took me 8.5 hours. I'm too cheap to pay the $100+ entry fee but still wanted to challenge myself and I really don't need the zoo
of activity. This was also my little protest against the marathon's commercialism and it being moved from cool weather March to hotter May.

I had only done 26.2 once before about a year ago so wasn't sure I could do it. Stepped off at 6:21 a.m. Nice and overcast which lasted to mile 13 when the sun and heat hit. I hit my first wall at 16 and then another at mile 23. My pace slowed from my normal 120 steps/minute to about 80. It was a very boring course.

I was surprised when a hummingbird came out of nowhere near a USC dorm and banged full speed into my chest. We said, hi, then he flew off. Surprised there were so few food aromas to distract a bit...smelled bbq and Korean a couple of times and that was it. Korean kid reeking garlic from his pores was the strongest smell and I wondered if he dates and figured the Korean girl probably reeks too so they'd be a wash.

A few homeless/drunks passed out face down in dirt or sidewalk. Sorry to the dead-like guy with his feet wrapped in rags who I had to step over...nothing I could do for him anyhow and had to keep the body moving.

A couple interesting signs...."burning desirables", "best deer antler company", "my child says daddy", "twin trees 1922" on the front of a little house but no trees in sight, "my child says daddy" on a storefront for a parenting org.

Took the train there and home. My wife cooked a great spaghetti dinner with corn-on-the-cob for dinner when I got home. Yum. I got encouraging texts and kind words during the marathon from my family. It made the distance go by faster. My son was on his way to go hiking from about 6-10,000 feet on Mt. Baldy. Amazing feat of his own!!! Way to go, Scott...inspiring to me the way he's lost weight and worked himself into shape in the last few years...hiking, wilderness training, rock climbing, biking!!! The kind of hero a dad needs. Someone to set the bar high for me to strive for.

Then at 8:30pm went to county hospital to sit with an alone friend with kidney problems. Got to bed about 3am.

Not to babble philosophical, doing the 26.2 is likely my way of pushing back and not wanting to admit I'm getting older. I'm hoping getting into shape will help delay aging a bit and maybe position my body to be better prepared to fight if another heart attack hits. I also have seen in others that decline really begins with one's loss of mobility.

Not at all sure, but I'm thinking about whether I can make it to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite with Scott sometime.

Hoooo...Hoo Hoo...Hoooo

I've gotten back on track with eating properly and exercising. I hike 4-5 miles up and down
hills at Kenny Hahn Recreation Area every morning starting about 6 a.m.

Since it's usually still dark, I can enjoy the quiet hush of the city which is just rising from slumber.
The owls are at their grandest with a long hoooooo two short hoos and then one more long hoooo.

Sometimes the fog blankets the ground and smothers any noise, except the owls. At the bottom of gullies where the go is thickest, the temperature drops about 10 degrees until I climb out.

In addition to the distance, my main goal is a heavy duty cardio workout....getting the heart pumping hard and sustained for a few minutes and then leveling out a bit so it can recover.
Repeat.

I hike various routes but always get three big hills in...Kick Butt Hill, The Executioner, Killer Hill,
or Grand Pain Grade. My goal is always to try and do each hill without stopping.

The wildflowers are so profuse and the trails often so narrow that the 6 foot tall growth creates a corridor for parts of my walk.

Everyone is pretty friendly thought there aren't many folks I come across before sunrise. But those I do all say hi. Not so much as a greeting but rather a kind of warning radar letting the person you pass know you are harmless.

I've come across Bob and Paul, two older guys 60 and 66. Nice guys who stop and chat a bit.
Willis is an 80 year man who shuffles along with his cane. And on the highest trail I once came across three old ladies 82, 84 and the 85 year old walking her little poodle and using her cane.

More later.