Latest flower arrangement by Lily

26 December 2015:

Wow.

Canon 5D

Slippers

24 December 2015:

Lisa did say that she wanted slippers for Christmas.

Canon 5D

Shiitake Mushroom

20 December 2015:

This mushroom and its fellow mushrooms ended up in a very delicious soup later in the day.

Canon 5D

Farmers' Market Oranges

12 December 2015:

California oranges!

Canon 5D

Orchid from Tom

29 November 2015:

Our home-remodel contractor gave Lily and me a very nice orchid at the conclusion of the recent bathroom remodel. So, I tried out my new studio lights and the relatively new macro lends on one of the blooms. I still have things to learn, but it is fun to try.

Canon 5D

Surf Legends Memorial

28 November 2015:

On our walk down to the pier this evening we went by our newly christened Surf Legends Memorial statue, on the grounds of the community center. Quite nice! This is the back view - I wanted to get a silhouette as the sun set.

Canon 5D

Exterior wall, Impact Hub, LA Arts District

14 November 2015 (continued):

This is one of the exterior walls of a business incubator organization called Impact Hub. It is located in the Arts District. This very colorful wall faced a rather boring parking lot.

The more I look at the way this wall is painted, the less I understand about how they managed to do this.

Canon 5D

Colorful wall

14 November 2015:

A mural from the photo walk in the LA Arts District.

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Stickers, LA Arts District

14 November 2015:

More stickers for my collection.

Canon 5D

Departing Union Station

14 November 2015:

This might be Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner Train 784 leaving Los Angeles Union Station for San Diego, although that would mean it left the station 10 minutes early! Whatever Amtrak train this is, I do like the shot, taken from the fourth street overpass near downtown Los Angeles. 

The engineer did give a few blasts of the horn as he/she approached the bridge. I would like to think that they were giving me a hello. I waved back.

Canon 5D

Beer Kegs, LA Arts District

14 November 2015:

I went on a photo walk with a number of other photographers through a part of the Arts District near downtown LA. More photos to follow.

Canon 5D

High School Reunion

20 October 2015:

A mini high-school reunion at a hotel in Jakarta. They are classmates from the late 1960's.

Canon 5D

Selfie: Reini, Ria, Lisa

18 October 2015:

The top picture in this group is probably my favorite one from "wedding 2". From left to right we have Reini and Ria, both cousins of Rika and Lisa, and then Lisa. The corresponding view from Lisa's camera is shown below. It is in black and white because the lights cast some very weird colors on their faces, so it looks better this way.

Canon 5D (and an iPhone)

Wedding 2 (Budi and Luki)

18 October 2015:

Budi and Luki got married yesterday here in Jakarta. Budi is a cousin of Rika and Lisa. I have attached a few selected pictures from the big wedding reception, attended by an estimated 1500 people. 

Top: One of the wedding photographers is showing "Little Richard" (Reinhardt) a picture of himself on the back of the camera. Richard, his father and a cousin of Reini, once lived in Pullman, Washington while Reini was there. Reinhardt was lively. Lisa gave him the substitute moniker Little Richard. It fits.

Second from top: Lisa with the wife of Aries (Aries is another cousin of Rika and Lisa) and their two daughters. They all attracted a lot of attention.

Third from top: The scene along the buffet line.

Bottom, Left to right: Lily, Luki, Budi, Lisa, me. Courtesy of the wedding photographer, who was handed my camera for this shot.

Canon 5D

Jakarta street scene

18 October 2015:

I was feeling cooped up in the Jakarta hotel where wedding number 2 will take place later today, so Lily and I went for a sunrise walk in the area. I thought I needed a typical Jakarta scene, complete with a storefront, scooter, and a not-so-clean canal.

Canon 5D

Offering

16 October 2015:

The morning offering at a small shrine on the grounds of our hotel in Bali.

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Birthday Party

15 October 2015:

In the evening of the 15th we went to a seafood restaurant in Bali to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the father of Lily's sister-in-law. I estimate there were about 25 people in attendance. These events are at least as much fun for me as the tourist sites. There were the usual family pictures at the end of the meal, and the pictures were taken by smart phones, as you might expect.

Canon 5D

Black and White

14 October 2015:

Although Bali is very colorful, today's two offerings are in black and white. The flower image is a Cambodia Japan that was in the garden at yesterday's restaurant spot. The lower image is Seminyak Beach. Lisa and I took a short walk from our new hotel down to the beach on a beautiful day.

Canon 5D

Hengki's new toy

13 October 2015:

Today we moved from the bamboo houses in rural Bali to a nice villa in the outskirts of Denpasar. On the way to Denpasar we had lunch at one of my favorite Bali restaurants. It sits adjacent to a big rice paddy, and is very scenic. While waiting for our lunch to arrive, Hengki, Lily's brother, unpacked his new drone and flew it around the rice paddy. When the flight was over, his wife Ida helped him carry it back into the restaurant. I like the way the drone is reflected in her fancy sunglasses.

Canon 5D

Morning Walk

12 October 2015:

Lily, Lisa and I went out for a walk this morning with two staff members of the bamboo resort. We walked for almost 2 hours through small villages, rice paddies, and along a nearby river. It was great, and we needed the exercise.

Canon 5D

Sunrise House

11 October 2015:

This is the truly amazing view from the back of the open-air living room out across the valley behind our bamboo house on Bali. Lily and Lisa are at the table. We are staying in "Sunrise House."

iPhone

Dinner in the bamboo house

10 October 2015:

Today we flew to Bali and met up with Lisa who had just flown in from Vancouver. We then headed up into the hilly rural part of Bali to a resort made up of bamboo houses. We have not seen much of the outside yet because we arrived just before sunset, but I did get this fun inside shot of a part of our group of 10. From bottom left, going clockwise, we have Siau Yung, Lily, Pauline, Ida, Lisa, Andree, Hengki, and a little bit of Leo.

Canon 5D

Wedding Number 1

9 October 2015:

This is why I like to attend weddings in Lily's family. This family is huge! They had to take the traditional group photo of close relations in two sittings to get everybody on camera. This is group 2. Group 1 was only a little smaller.

The wedding party had about 500 attendees. It included a sit-down dinner and a faux Broadway show that roasted the bridegroom (Teguh).

Canon 5D

Jakarta just after sunset

8 October 2015:

A view from a fifth floor walkway of our apartment complex (were are staying in an Airbnb apartment). Traffic jams are as bad as ever here in the city. We went to dinner shortly after this picture was taken to visit with some long-time friends. It took us one hour to reach the restaurant, driving the streets between 6:40 pm and 7:40 pm. It took us just fifteen minutes to return at around 10:00 pm. 

Note the big buildings on the horizon - there are a lot of those now, many more than when I lived here in 1977. Thirty million people live in the greater Jakarta area.

The "fifth floor" has a very large outdoor swimming pool placed between 6 tall towers that hold the apartments. I will attach a bonus picture of Lily's brother Andree and his granddaughter Chloe enjoying the jacuzzi in the pool area a few days ago.

Canon 5D

Visit to grave site

7 October 2015:

Today we went to the grave site of Lily's parents. It is in a peaceful part of the countryside outside of Jakarta, and it took us about 1 1/2 hours by car to reach it. The surrounding area was quite nice but unusually dry. Jakarta has reportedly not seen rain for about 4 months. However, we have a light rain falling outside our Jakarta apartment tonight, and that is a good thing.

Canon 5D

Dress Fitting

6 October 2015:

On her first day in Jakarta, Lily was summoned to a dress fitting for the wedding we will attend at the end of our trip. Pictured here is Yayah the dressmaker who is the sister of Lily's brother Didik; Chloe, granddaughter of Lily's brother Andree, and Lily.

Canon 5D

Engraving, Nezu Museum

5 October 2015:

We were traveling on October 5, and I did not take any photos that day, so I will post this instead. The original image was taken on October 4 of a Kanji inscription carved into stone. It was in the garden of the Nezu Museum. Then I experimented with the image. 

Canon 5D

Meguro River in the Evening

4 October 2015:
The highlight for me from today was a visit to the Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo where I looked at 13th and 14th century brush paintings. There is some similarity between the style of these ancient masterpieces and my lowly attempts at 'minimalist' bicycle art, so I was trying to learn from the zen masters. I ended up buying a book that has reproductions of many of these old pieces, and will study it at home.

Near the end of the day we took a walk with Midori and her son down to the Meguro River, and then after parting with them Lily and I walked up and down the quiet walkways alongside the river. The evening light was great.

Canon 5D

Midori and Kosuke

4 October 2015:

We have known Midori, shown here on the right, since about 1989. We met her through mutual friends in Hermosa Beach. At that time she was a young student out touring the world. She now lives in Tokyo with her husband and her son, Kosuke, shown with the camera. He is 10 years old, and loves trains and taking pictures of trains. We are near Tokyo Bay, with the Tokyo monorail in the background. After this walk we went to the nearby Tokyo Institute of Technology (a high school) and walked through a science fair that they are holding this weekend. Midori has a long-time friend whose name is Megumi. Megumi's son was taking part in the science fair, and both Midori and Megumi thought it might be fun to take us there. As a bonus shot, I will include the picture of me checking out an electric car built by the students, taken by Lily. They got to practice their English!

As an aside, Midori and Megumi would babysit Rika and Lisa from time to time while we lived in Tokyo. At lunch, Megumi pulled out an old letter written to her by a 5 or 6-year-old Rika, telling Megumi that she really missed her company after moving back to California!

Canon 5D

The old neighborhood

2 October 2015:

On top: Lily in front of the (luxury) apartment building that we called home for about 3 months in 1989. At the bottom, the bed of irises in the adjacent park (Arisugawa Park) that Lily used to enjoy, and did again today. It was fun to visit the old neighborhood.

Canon 5D

Culture Lesson

2 October 2015:

We went for a long walk today. Our first stop was to the old neighborhood where we lived for three months in 1989. On the way, we came upon a playground occupied by a group of children in day care, all in red hats. We rested on a nearby bench.

There were about a dozen children, all being cared for by about 4 adults. One girl tripped and fell right in front of us. The immediate impulse for both Lily and myself was to help her get up, but we hesitated because we were not the care givers. Then we learned a lesson. One care giver was standing right next to the fallen girl, and did not reach down to help. Instead, all of the care givers took note, and then encouraged the girl to get up on her own in a sing-song voice, which she did with barely a complaint. Amazing! In the U.S., I am sure that at least two of the adults would have immediately picked her up, dusted her off, checked her knees and elbows, and given her a big hug. Not here. It was really interesting to see how they help the children learn how to take care of themselves at a young age. So much for helicopter parenting!

And, just for good measure, when little girl got up she put her cap on backwards, this time with a bit of help from the adult who had been standing right there. A bit of independence there, too.

End of lesson.

Canon 5D

Grounds of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum

1 October 2015:

Two very similar shots from our try-to-get-over-jet-lag walk today. These are the grounds outside of a closed art museum. It reopens on October 10, and looked really interesting through the windows, but we will not be here. A prince once lived there.

The two women hunched over the ground in the first shot must have been looking for 4-leaf clovers. It was just starting to rain a bit at the time. The rain came on stronger later, and we hid in a restaurant for lunch.

Canon 5D

Toothbrush Bouquet #2

13 September 2015

Looks like commuters packed in a subway.

Canon 5D

Toothbrush Bouquet #1

12 September 2015:

Anybody need a spare toothbrush?

Canon 5D, 100 mm macro lens

Palms

28 August 2015:

Deep blue sky just after sunset made for some nice silhouettes of three palm trees on Prospect Ave.

Canon 5D

Moon and clouds

26 August 2015:

We just kept looking up on our walk tonight. It is a bit warm and sticky for the South Bay, and the clouds are fun to watch.

Canon 5D

Windows

1 August 2015:

We happened to be down in Laguna Beach yesterday, gallery-sitting for a photography exhibit at BC Space. I had a bit of spare time between lunch at The Lumberyard in Laguna Beach and gallery opening time.  It is supposedly an artistic community, I was in an experimental mood, and ...

Canon 5D

Sunset

22 July 2015:

From last night's walk down to the beach.  The warmth and humidity made it feel more like Hawaii than Hermosa.

Canon 5D

Big Meter

18 July 2015

I was in the old steam plant in Redondo Beach today, helping to set up a temporary art gallery for a show that starts August first. I had a few minutes to explore while I waited for some paint to dry. The plant dates from 1949. 

iPhone Hipstamatic

Sunflower #3

13 July 2015:

This one is from the end of the session yesterday. Same sunflower.

Canon 5D

Sunflower #2

12 July 2015:

Today's macro photography exercise. This sunflower has gracefully faded.

Canon 5D mark II, 100 mm macro lens, focus stack of 4 images.