Category Archives: Picture of the Month

Covid-19

July 2020

After being shut in due to the Covid-19 emergency for several months, I found my need to get outside and be creative was pretty strong. I’ve done a few Covid safe shoots, and this shoot with Cassandra had better images, but I though this one was such a strong sign of the times, that I thought it should be the POTM.

My wife Lori has been busy for several months sewing masks and she thought she’d make some patriotic ones, because wearing a mask is one of the most patriotic things you can do right now, despite what our idiot leader thinks. Our lives and our economy won’t get back to normal until we beat this disease, and we won’t beat it spreading it due to mistaken ideas of what freedom is.

Since I had the stars and stripes bikini from a previous shoot, I though it would be fun to combine it with Lori’s mask.

Hope you’re all staying say, doing proper social distancing, and wearing a mask when out in public.

Social Distancing

June 2020

Tired of being stuck inside, I thought a shoot at the beach could be managed under social distancing rules. Brandy met me at the South Spit, and I used my telephoto lens for the entire shoot so we could stay some distance from each other.

There were two problems with the shoot however. First and foremost, we have the most unpredictable weather around here and even though it was sunny all day, right when we left Arcata the fog started rolling in. Not the weather I wanted for the shoot at all, as the goal was to have the sun streaming through the sheer petticoat.

The other problem was that due to shooting from a fair distance, I didn’t notice wardrobe malfunctions like twisted straps and underwear being worn backwards until I was editing the photos. So we definitely plan to try this shoot again on a better weather day.

Garberville Wildflowers

May 2020

While driving the Humboldt County backroads taking pictures of remote houses for insurance companies, I thoroughly enjoyed the numerous native wildflowers in bloom everywhere. One house I stopped at had a whole hillside covered in Blue-Eyed Grass, which is good to know if I ever need more for my garden.

Poppies were everywhere too, and as they’re one of my favorite flowers, I was happy to repeatedly pull over and photograph them when I saw particularly good displays. This old oak tree surrounded by poppies growing in between the boulders was my favorite.

Brandy

January 2020

I met Brandy while I was working my other job as a Fire Inspector for Arcata Fire District. I was doing an inspection of the apartment complex she lives in, and helped her install a new smoke detector.

Noticing how petite she was I mentioned Lori’s vintage clothing collection and that we were always looking for models to photograph her collection.

I was working on updating the web site for the vintage clothes and I wanted to update some of the photos. This particular bodice is one we bought in England back in 1995. It was the first piece I photographed for the collection, back in our 1914 bungalow in San Jose.

Since the garment fits the period of our house, I wanted to use it for photos in our recently completed parlor. Brandy ended up being a fun model to work with and I’m looking forward to more shoots with her.

Family Portrait Time

November 2019

Before traveling down to meet the siblings for Thanksgiving, my niece wanted a photo of Lori and I for her baby’s scrapbook, so he would have a record of who is family is.

My sister Linda sent a photo of her and her dog, so we thought we should include our cats in our photo. Easier said than done, especially when two of them don’t like each other all that well, and one of those cat’s does like to be held.

We did manage to herd them all together out by our new pond, and with the camera on my tripod I got a couple of shots off using my remote control before the cats had had enough.

I went inside with the card, loaded up the photos on my Mac, and was horrified that I managed to frame the photos so that Lori and I had our heads cut off. How was that possible, I had checked the framing with Lori in the photos when I set it up. Then I realized that the quick release plate that attaches the camera to the tripod had slipped, which caused the camera to tilt forward.

So with the quick release plate tightened extra tight, we rounded up the cats again, but couldn’t get George (the one on the ground) to cooperate, but fortunately I was able to photoshop him into the photo by grabbing him, putting him in the photo and then taking a quick shot before he took off again. Mr. Bingley (left) and Mr. Darcy (right) were better models and happier to be held, so it all worked out in the end.

Emma – Rock On

October 2019

I noticed Emma during this year’s Ferndale Dance Academy production, because she literally stood head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. At 5′-10″, Emma is 6 to 12 inches taller than most of the other dancers. I hope to work with her a lot over the next few months, as she is the same height as Lori, and she will be a good fit for many of the costumes that Lori has made over the years.

For our second shoot, we went up to Bear River Ridge, where she showed that pointe shoes can be adapted for rock climbing.

Emma, a young ballet dancer, dancing on top of a rock.

Pollinating the Gladiolus

September 2019

Even though we have a hummingbird feeder in our backyard, I still prefer seeing our little hummers working for a living. While I’m more than happy to provide the feeder when times are tough and there isn’t much in bloom, we do plant a lot of plants for their benefit, as well as ours.

This female Anna’s Hummingbird was enjoying sipping the nectar from the gladiolus we planted this year in our new cutting garden border.

Anna's Hummingbird feeding at our red gladiolus.

Hope – 1840s Bodice & Skirt

August 2019

Hope answered a Craigslist ad I had looking for dancers. She was off at ballet school but was going to be back home for a bit during the summer. Since she is so petite, I thought she might be able to fit into our 1840 Ensemble which is not only the oldest piece in Lori’s vintage clothing collection, it is also the tiniest. Not only is it one of the rare ensembles we have, it is extra special because it has both the day and evening bodices.

Even with Hope corseted down, she still wasn’t able to close the back on the bodice. Also, at 5′-0″ tall, she’s probably a few inches taller than the original owner of this garment. The bodice fits a 20″ waist so that gives you some idea of how small of a person this dress was made to fit. We’ll probably never find someone able to wear this dress, but it was nice getting good photos of it in our parlor.

Hopefully (no pun intended), I’ll get a chance to shoot with Hope again in December when she’s on break from school again. I still want to shoot her dancing, as the photos she sent me showed that she’s very accomplished and quite bendy.

Lupines Worth Stealing

July 2019

If you’re a fan of Monty Python, then you know who Dennis Moore is. In case you’re not familiar with the skit, Dennis would ride around the English countryside and steal lupines from the rich and give them to a poor family. One of my favorite Monty Python skits, and maybe one reason I love growing lupines.

I started a bunch of lupines in our new greenhouse to eventually fill out the new planter in the back yard. While I was watering them, Lori notice that this one had a nice diamond right in the middle of it. Now that would be a lupine worth stealing!

Flora and Fauna of Ferndale

June 2019

While working on my greenhouse, I came across this caterpillar, and having never seen this type before, I was determined to identify it. I started with searching images on Duck, Duck, Go for “green caterpillar with yellow head” and didn’t find anything similar.

I tried a few other searches and finally found one image of something similar, only technically, it’s not a caterpillar. Caterpillars are the larvae of moths or butterflies, and this guy is the larva for a sawfly. I had never heard of sawflies before.

This photo got me off on a project that has proven to be very addictive, identifying the natural flora and fauna of my garden. I have been having fun using my macro lens to explore the creatures that fly, run, hop, crawl, and even swim in my yard.

While I was documenting the animals, my wife suggested I should also document the plants. I have a Filemaker database for keeping track of what I plant, but I decided to go ahead and start documenting what mother nature plants too. You can find my ongoing lists of flora and fauna on my personal web site.

One resource I found that has been super useful in identifying what I photograph is the Seek app. I have found the best way to use it for fauna is to take a photo using my macro lens and DSLR, and then display the image on my monitor and do a Seek scan of that image.