Pink Moon

Not quite a full moon when I took this shot out in 29 Palms two weeks ago, but close. A 30-second exposure, f 7.1, ISO 400. By illuminating the foreground, I greatly overexposed the moon, but I like the effect!

Listen to Pink Moon by Nick Drake

Linking to Skywatch Friday. Click on the link to see great skies from all over the world. Have a great weekend!!

Old Town Irvine

Seems like a lot of S CA towns have tried to develop an "old town" section. I'm a big fan of old architecture and old stuff in general... much more interesting than new. Perhaps the most famous and successful of the old towns is Old Town San Diego. But Old Town Irvine??  Never heard of it, and seems to me Irvine hasn't been around long enough to even have an old town. I was on my way to a meeting earlier this week, and exiting Sand Canyon Ave. off the 5 Freeway I noticed a cool old building. I didn't have my DSLR with me, by my iPhone always serves as a good backup.

You can actually see this from the freeway, and I've wondered what it was. The old, original-looking corrugated iron siding and roof remind me of an old packing house of some kind. As I got a closer look, it became obvious that people went to great pains to maintain much of the original construction detail.

Even an old wood walkway between two parts of the building has been preserved, although it's way too rickety to actually be used. Pretty cool, eh? Probably would have been much cheaper just to tear it down, but someone made the decision to keep it. [After a quick Google search, I learned that this is the old Irvine Bean and Grain Storage Warehouse (1895) - see bottom of this post.]
The entire front of this old warehouse has a covered front porch, and much of the flooring, walls, and even the light fixtures look original.

On close inspection, this old ceiling fan definitely looks original. I used selective coloring (b&w except for the fan) to make it stand out from the background. Here's the part that really intrigues me... I'm no electrician, but all these old electrical panels sure look original to me. Wow!

I wonder what "Big Gravity" is?? As you can tell, I had a lot of fun with these iPhone photos. So there you have it, Old Town Irvine. Old Building Irvine might be a more appropriate name, but either way a fun place to visit and photograph. Hope your weekend was a good one!!

Linking to:



If you're ever in the neighborhood and want to check it out, here's some additional information.
Old Town Irvine stands today as a testament to the rich agricultural past of what has become one of California's most heavily urban counties. Founded in 1887 as the distribution and storage center of the 125,000-acre Irvine ranch, Old Town Irvine was to develop over the years a bean and grain storage warehouse (1895) and granary (1947) known as the Irvine Bean and Grain Grower's Building, a blacksmith's shop (1916), a hotel (1913), a general store (1911), and an employees' bungalow (1915). All of these structures have been rehabilitated for commercial uses and their exteriors have been painstakingly maintained.
Location:  Sand Canyon Ave and Burt Rd, Irvine
Reference:  http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/counties/Orange/landmarks.html

Greetings from Joshua Tree!!

My wife and I went out to JT last weekend to do some "scouting" for a photo shoot. My nephew is starting a new business (high end jewelry) and has asked me to be the photographer. I'm honored, but at the same time a little nervous, given I'm just an amateur. At any rate, we will be heading out to the Joshua Tree area with a couple of models and a director.  We've scouted out what I think will be some great photo shoot sites... and in the process of scouting took a few sunset photos in Joshua Tree National Park. Hopefully I can share some live model photos with you in the next couple weeks.  Wish me luck!

Linking to Skywatch Friday. Click on the link to check out great skies from all over the world. Have a great weekend!!

A Hardscrabble Life with a Sad Ending

What were their stories? What were their dreams?  Why did they end up way the heck out here, so far off the grid, in the middle of the desert? I can't even imagine how difficult life must have been out here. Summer temperatures are crushing, and winters are cold and windy. This cabin has no air conditioning, not even a swamp cooler. How would a family survive? If you follow my blog, you know I'm intrigued with the desert homestead cabins east of 29 Palms, and I've photographed quite a few of them.

The sand around this cabin is so scoured by desert winds that it looks almost like concrete.
Linking to Your Sunday Best and Weekly Top Shot

I liked the looks of this place so we stopped for some photography. A very isolated and lonely looking homestead with a little structure build behind it. My wife and I figured the little structure was an outhouse our perhaps a doghouse. Here's another view.

See the little structure in the back? Actually looks like two side-by-side structures, the one on the right is smaller with a flat roof. Big dog / little dog? When we went back to take a look, here's what we found.

In case you can't read it, it says "Born (spelled bron) 2-20-10, Kathryn Dalia, My Wife. Pass away 7-29-76". So this is a small shrine that Mr. Dalia built for his wife when she passed away in 1976. The small attached structure to the right turned out to be a shrine as well.

This one says "In Memory of Dad", June 2, 1982. Evidently Mr. Dalia passed in '82, which would have been 6 years after his wife, and his child or children made this second shrine. These shrines make me think this family was living here full time, trying to make a go of it. Truly a hardscrabble life.

The inside of this desert cabin was unusual as well. Most of these abandoned homesteads are either full of trash or cleaned out. This cabin, although long ago abandoned, had everything left behind and more or less intact... dishes, furniture, even food. People have left it alone, which is great. Perhaps out of respect for the family that lived here??

One is left to imagine what life in the open desert must have been like for the Dalia family.