Heart Bypasses All Borders

I hate goaltenders as matter of principle (they tend to stop me in my tracks), but Brett Leggat of the Tour Mudcats is a cool guy, despite my prejudices. Rock on, Brett.

Great Wall of China

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

Monet in the Mini Mall

I like this photo for a couple of reasons. It reminds me of a painting (Monet?), and it was shot in the courtyard of a retail mall near Temecula, California. Art is where you find it.

Ramona, California

This was the setting for the very first Highland Valley Studios Music and Arts Festival, held in Ramona, California, on June 6, 2009. Several bands set up on the back porch of the house and had this view for inspiration as they played. Many talented artists, from jewelry makers to sculptors to painters showed their wares in the nearby barn. A lonely bull grazed in the fields nearby. A good time was had by all.

Surfer, Venice Beach Pier

I've been shooting with a Nikon Coolpix L2 for the last couple of years, a camera a good friend gave to me to help me get back into photography. Most of my equipment had been either stolen (in San Francisco) or destroyed (after I rolled my Toyota RAV4 in 2001 just 15 miles outside of Victorville). A few days ago, I purchased a used Nikon D50 digital SLR that will accept my two remaining Nikkor lenses, and I'm having a blast with it. Here's a shot of a surfer, taken from the Venice Beach Pier. He rode a wave, whipped around and slid down the backside.

Christo's Umbrellas, Tejon Pass, October 1991

Some of the 1,760 umbrellas that conceptual artist Christo had installed over the rocky and undulating hills of Tejon Pass, situated between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in 1991. When I scanned this slide, I kept the slide borders, as it reminded me of looking out a window. I took this photo during a short trip my friend Breck Wilson and I took to see the umbrellas. I was impressed. Sadly, a woman viewing the umbrellas on a windy day was killed when one of the umbrellas fell over.

TJW

TJW
(Song lyrics inspired by Tony Joe White)

by Richard Graham

Long ago he’d moved away
Time blew through the fields and trees
Years long gone felt like yesterday
And he fell down to his knees

He clutched an old book, fingers clasped
As the weathered shack creaked in the breeze
Short of breath, he wheezed and gasped
Raising his head, he whispered, “Please”

He smelled the bayou’s whisky musk
A frog croaked not too far off
An owl hooted in the dusk
And he started to shake and cough

Gathering sticks and dried moss
A hand-rolled cigarette burning down
He started a small fire
And stared at it with a frown

Wondering why he felt so bad
Thinking about goodness and sin
He reached for a beer
As his cigarette burned down to skin

Shaking his hand and setting the bottle down
He grabbed his scratched up guitar
Picking and slashing out a song
He sent a tune out to the stars

Slinging the guitar over his back
Throwing the empty bottle away
He walked away from the shadowy shack
And turned the key in his rusty Chevrolet

Sedona Self Portrait

I set my camera up on a tripod for this shot, which was taken somewhere outside of Sedona, Arizona, in the late 1990s. My guitar case is covered with roller hockey stickers. I miss my RAV 4, but the two-door version had a propensity to roll -- something I found out within a couple of years of taking this photograph. I owe my current existence to the seatbelt. Toyota stopped making the 2-door version after its second year. Without a vehicle these days, I'm about as "green" as a person can be, but I miss those road trips. Deeply.

Malibu Pier Sunset

I'm struck by how the sunset shines through the pier's pilings on this silhouette shot.

Monument Valley Haze

There isn't much to talk about this photograph in terms of quality -- the hazy sky is washed out and not very attractive, and there's not much detail in the shadows -- but Monument Valley is one of my favorite places. This shot illustrates a part of its attractiveness to me: A dirt road leading to where? What were the stories of the Indians who lived here long ago, and who live near here now? A sense of mystery. Starkness. The outcroppings to the left and center are called, quite appropriately, Left Mitten and Right Mitten.

Bridge Over the Digdeguash River

This covered bridge is next to my uncle's "camp" next to the Digdeguash River, not far from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, my father's birthplace. Vandals burned down the bridge one Halloween some years ago. I shot the photograph in 1984 while on a trip with my college friend Rob Krier. Rob was born on May 10, just like me, though he is much, much older.

Avalon Harbor, Catalina Island

Considering its proximity to Los Angeles, I should try to get over to Catalina Island more often. I've taken the ferry across from Long Beach with a bunch of triathletes to cover a race for Triathlete magazine, and a bunch of roller hockey players to cover a tournament for Roller Hockey magazine. I've also crossed over to the island on a friend's small boat. We came upon a massive pod of dolphins, and it was exhilarating to have them surf through our wake, swim alongside us and ride the bow wave. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

Grenada Coastline

This is a lonely part of the coastline of Grenada, a Caribbean island I visited while covering a triathlon for Triathlete magazine in about 1990. At about the time I took this shot, another photographer showed up. Rolling up his pants, he waded into the surf to get shots of the crashing waves. We talked for a while, and I learned that he had published a book of photography. Small wonder -- he obviously went the extra mile to get certain shots. Still, I'm happy with the scene I captured.

Swim Start, USTS Phoenix, 1987

This is one of my favorite shots from my days as a writer and editor at Triathlete magazine. I took it at the start of the professional men's swim leg of the U.S. Triathlon Series event in Phoenix, Arizona. Series' points leader Mike Pigg is wearing the red swim cap.

Time for the Dentist

I haven't yet been to Africa, but I imagine that the hippopotamus there have better teeth than this poor zoo-bound brother. Get that man to the dentist!

Ghost Trees on Kona

This was one tree. I simply took one shot, rewound the film in my camera, moved the camera a little bit to the right, and took another shot. The photograph was taken on the Big Island of Hawaii, near the Mauna Loa volcano.

Rob Krier, Crater Lake, Oregon, 1984

I took this photograph in 1984 when my San Diego State University friend Rob Krier and I took a two-month, 17,000-mile road trip across the United States and Canada. Oregon's Crater Lake is one of my favorite spots on earth. It sits in the caldera of an ancient volcano, and its deep, dark-blue waters are cold and clear and wondrous.

Oceanside Pier and Reflection

There's something about the pier in Oceanside, California, that my camera seems to like. In this shot, it's the long expanse of beach that makes for a great reflection from the sky. Check out the tiny dot on the water to the far left of the photo -- that's a surfer.

On the Path

This shot was taken from just outside the eastern edge of the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I like the dead trees and the little bridge on the path toward what is the coolest city park I've ever seen in my life.

The Old Man in the Tree

I shot this at the entrance to a fee-based state park in Colorado not too awfully far from Cripple Creek. I didn't note the location because I wasn't prepared to pay an entrance fee, but I did notice this tree near the check-in kiosk, and marveled at the grimacing face in the tree created by time and an industrious bird or two. It's one of my favorite recent shots, and was taken in the spring of 2008.