Farewell, Stardust

The Stardust closed on November 1:(
Up Next is Echelon Place...I bid thee farewell.

Las Vegas midcentury, old hotel sign, Stardust, Echelon Place

Ubiquitous Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous, ubiquitous, or seemingly everywhere, offers help for those who've had one too many overseas.
You can find AA meetings by region here.

FYI--the photo, which uses the text of AA as its centerpiece and taken at dusk, shows the impact of that time of day with respect to color.

Tip: If you photograph at dusk, then tweak levels in Photoshop, you can bring out color much easier using the Levels sliders (Image>Adjustments>Levels) than if you took the photograph at a noise suspectiable time of day such as mid-day when a lot of light is scattered and uneven.

In most cases, adjusting the Levels involves moving each end of the sliders inward toward the beginning and end of the histogram graph and the middle slider toward the peak. Watch your picture get more detail and deeper color as you move sliders, then adjust to maximum detail and color.

Photoshop levels, photographing dusk, Alcoholic Anonymous, AA meetings

Airline Madness

Today, I'm calling each airline to find the status and number of miles in my frequent flier accounts. I want first class.
While I'm at it, thought I'd give you the scoop on airline humor (well funny at least to me).

Delta--Wait is short, about a minute, for representative, but watch out the recorded ad for first class passengers that offers a "dirty martini." My goodness, who'd want to drink that, sounds like it's radioactive!

United--Wait is longer, recorded ad is muffled (gee I can't understand it! Get with it, United)

American Airlines--Wait was 3 minutes and they let me know that from the get-Tell you to go to AA.com, I can deal with that,but only if I'd had one million drinks over the past 5 years (AA is has a whole different meaning to me). What could that be?
Hint: I don't drink! Found out that there are no upgrades on partner airlines. Forget my first class dreams on Air Tahiti from LA to Paris over the holidays, it's just not gonna happen : ( Promotion that they inform you of; get a Citi Advantage card and you get 20,000 free miles. Gee what's the little print got to say about that?

airline rules, airlines photography, American Airlines complaint, travel photography tips

Airline, Airport Security and Photography

An Easyshare Camera Shunned by the Airline

My Kodak Easyshare isn't a mobile device so why should I have to turn it off at take-off and landing. Would the same rule apply if it I was using a film camera?

Read on to find out the airline rules scoop--

What are American Airlines security priorities? And the airlines and airports. Here's the irony of my being checked in at Guatamala and in Dallas.

At the Guatamala City Airport

In Guatamala City I was checked upon entering the passanger area and let through with my flammable hand cleaner that I bring around to prevent myself from getting the runs. At the departure gate I was frisked and had my bags searched throughly, but the flammable liquid passed was permitted.

All airport personnel were profession and extremely congenial (that's just the way people in Guatamala tend to be).

On the American Airlines flight to Dallas

This has to be worded in narrative, the story is much better and can be understood better that way.

There I was with my Kodak 5 mp Easyshare camera, pointing it through the window after wiping it off with the sleeve of my shirt.

My laptop on top of the empty middle seat next to me. A flight attendant walks by.

"Sir," she says with a stern grin about 15 minutes before landing in Dallas, "turn off that camera, you can't use it now."

FREEDOM, that's the first thing I thought. I have umpteen times shot through an airplane window at take-off and while landing.

"Why now," I thought.

The flight attendant walked away, so in control of my picture taking that she failed to ask me to put my laptop under the seat in front of me.

Comment, please: Now please comment as to you think whether or not I shot a few after I was told not to...

At the Dallas Airport

Upon arrival in Dallas, I entered customs where I saw agents who were big, blonde men with a marine haircut (okay, this is Dallas, so I understand). I had been quized on where I'd been and why by one blonde agent in particular. I told him I was a photographer. But, now as I look back, a better answer for what I did would have been a professor, my other job. He asked me what equipment I had and how much it was worth. I answered, then he let me know that my equipment needed to be registered beforehand.

The guy was pleasent enough, but he was more intent on finding something that I had done to get me detained. I'm glad he let me off for not registering my equipment. I had no idea that there was even such a requirement. Who in the government is supposed to let you know the rules. Perhaps I didn't read one of the forms carefully.
airport, holiday travel, American Airlines, airport security

Making Something-Pretty-That's-Not Photography

Nothing about this is pretty, but it's a pretty photograph.















You couldn't have spotted this unless you looked hard; this is the front of the gym, a non-descript, battered building in San Andres, Guatamala.

Here's the list--use it for your photography.

Not Pretty Things to Turn Pretty

1. Texture--sharp objects, itchy animal close-ups, smooth as in a reptile, scaly as in a puffer fish
2. Smell--a skunk, anything gaseous, smoke, text such as Yum or Yuck
3. Sight--anything that looks like a monster, abondoned vehicles, impoverished parts of town
4. Hearing--using text such as choo, choo, hmmm, ouch, a hand scratching a blackboard, any musical instrument
5. Taste--a bottle of Pepto Bismo or horseradish, brocolli, a close up of a tongue with any type of food on it.

When taking a photo look for things that are powerful adjectives such as sharp (as in ouch), faded, ancient, crushed, smashed, broken, battered, crude

Please comment here as I'm sure you have your own ideas of making the ugly beautiful.
photography, photography tutorial, photography composition, candid photography

Big, Fat Pigs for Christmas Dinner and Other Guatemalan Tales

Yesterday...was such a lovely day...How sweet it was--

A Day in San Jose (not Costa Rica nor California)

Began the day eating way too many carbs. ZZZZZZZzzzzzz. But after two naps, I was ready for my appointment to tour San Jose and San Andres, two towns about 35 kidney-shaking minutes down the road from La Lancha (Coopola's resort).

My driver, happy on the way to Tikal, but distressed on this day, was more than happy to show me around his neck of the woods, San Jose, Guatamala, no movie theaters, but gorgeous lake-side views among brilliant tropical color--greens of palms, blues of the lakes, and multiple colors of the architecture.

My trip:
San Jose tour--Find out my guide is unhappy when I see rows of people sitting in plastic green chairs along a long wall in the middle of this very cute town. Guide tells of funeral wait. Guide also lets me know that the funeral is for his wife's aunt :( and he can't go cause he has to work. Tell him I'll go along if he wants. No answer. Next, drive up to small home. Guide's wife and small child (girl) walk out to say hi. So cute.

Before Gym--yes, I have to go to the gym. Gym, located in San Andres, was closed :( Waited for guide to find owner to open. Pigs, dogs, chickens, and Guatamalan turkeys (they look like peacocks passed). The wait was like being in an open zoo. After a half-hour, very nice looking man in wheelchair, owner of the gym, opens the door. A tropical gust pushes us inside.

During Gym--I work out in polyester white pants (how could I, My sheer existance spelled G-r-i-n-g-o). Crowd gathers. I beg for someone to join me at my power lifting feats. All decline. They sit and watch me.

Lunch--Villa Benjamin
in San Jose. Brand-spankin'
new place with wild lake view.
Order large pizza for me and my guide.
Takes an hour.
Made from scratch. Tasty.
Piping hot with tons of tomatoes and
tons of sauce and tons of cheese. Yum.

Back to Hotel--Yes, vehicle looks like a semi, without the tractor, it's a Kia. The ride is kidney cracking, road not paved with more potholes than craters on moon.

Funniest Moment
Huge pig passes by
while I waited for guide to find
man-in-wheelchair
to open gym. Another young man
walks up to me, points to pig,
and lets me know that it will be
Christmas dinner. Oh fun!
travel, Guatamala towns, Tikal, humor

Goodbye, Thanksgiving; Hello, Christmas

Hello, Christmas


Goodbye, Thanksgiving

Happy Black Friday. I officially declare today not only Black Friday, but also Digital Art Photography for Dummies day. Tis the season for art photography.

Many buy digital cameras for Christmas, so many will find Digital Art Photography for Dummies, the best (and most fun) digital art photography book around. Not sure? Check out the reviews and your arm will be twisted.
holiday photography, turkey, Digital Photography for Dummies, Christmas

Happy Turkey Day

Photo taken on the entry way road to Tikal in Guatemala

Coppola Gossip Youth without Youth

As I sit in the fine restaurant having the best Antigua coffee that there is, I chat with many here and receive some mighty fine gossip...

Sure, I know that this is a travel photography blog, but talking with people, finding out the latest tidbits about life (especially celebrity life) is half the fun.

Just makes me feel more than the specks of dust that I'll ultimately be in the infinite zones of time. (Can't help but to think that way after viewing the ancient Mayan civilization.)

This being a Francis Ford Coppola resort, much of the chatter is about him.

On to Youth without Youth, a new indy film by Coopola. Found out he's in Romania filming right now. Apparently he usually comes to his resorts three or four times a year, but hasn't of late because of his making of the film.

The film is based upon a novel by a Romanian author. Coopola's gone back to his roots after years of making Hollywood blockbusters, a return to lower budget films of the independent persuasion.

Now that my breakfast is eaten. (I've been sitting here typing away between yummy bits of a veggie eggwhite ommelette, toast, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed OJ, and Guatamala cake) I'll be on my merry way to this--


I'll rest a bit by the pool.


Take a canoe ride on the lake.


Have a beverage.
Coppola resort, Tikal hotel, travel, Coppola movie

Tikal 630 AD

Tikal's main temple, taken with a yellow filter

Tikal, or city of the dead, is a minimimalists dream (compared to Angkor Wat, anyway)--tidy pyramid strutures built in the middle of the Guatamalan jungle. If you lived there you were engaged in one of the following: a peasent farming, royalty lounging or a priest looking to Venus and other heavanly bodies.

The Mayans had a marvelous sense of awarness, organizing their days similar to the way we do, a year was 18 months with 20 days each and a five day period to worship the Gods--the regulars, you know, the gods of the sun, moon, corn--items they were grateful for.

A King too ran around, a rather ostenatious lot, in imagary anyway, wearing jaugar skins wearing, a knife that looked like a fork (it had three blades) and toucan feathers all over his head.

Bless them all on this Thanksgiving Eve.


Blue filter--Mayan king


Yellow filter--lawn outside temple and moss covering part of ruin


No filter--spooky light inside temple
travel photography, Tikal, Mayan ruins, lens filter

On the Way to Coppola's Place

Just thought I'd pay Francis Ford a visit today. Took a Taca flight from Guatemala City after driving there from Antigua. Made for a busy morning, and being the late-to-bed-late-to-rise kinda guy, I wasn't too put-aside.

Now a word about the weather... it's phenomenally cool--in the upper 60s to low 70s as a cool front past through. Hmmm, I had no idea cool fronts made it this far south. As usual, I came totally unprepared and brought only one light sweatshirt. Brrrr.

After taking the short flight in which I passed out, we were in Flores, Guatemala close home to Tikal ruins, one of the wonders of the world. The airport was just an overhang filled with taxi drivers and the drivers of the two big resorts out here--El Camino Real and, yes, Francis Ford Coopla's La Lancha. Our driver picked us up in a suave 4 wheel-drive thingy that was oddly shaped.

A very unattractive turkey (above)--the highlight of this drive--passed thingy vehicle's side, so I told the driver to stop. I got three shots before it and a dog came after me. Not a good thing, cause the dogs here are skinny as rails. The driver informed us that, not to worry, they have their rabies shots.

All-in-all getting here was a charm--the people, the land, the thingy vehicle and the resort.

Gossip: Coopla has three resorts, this one, and two in the country of Belize--one, Blancaneaux, in the Mountain Pine Ridge forest reserve, the other, Turtle Inn, on the Placencia peninsula on the beach. No movie stars come to this one, you want that you gotta go to the beach in Belize.

travel article, Coppola resort, Tikal, Central America Travel

Antigua Coffee Bean

This I think is the most famous bean in the world. It's from a plant grown at the Filadelfia Genuine Antigua Plantation. Shot it using micro mode on my Kodak EasyShare.

The coffee plantation is about a 2 mile walk from the center of Antigua. It's one of the most interesting walks I've taken in a long time--beautiful pastels everywhere from the sun low in the sky to the stucco doors on shops and homes.

The plantation is just past the town of San Felipe, a bustling little place that seems fairly prosperous (my guess is the plantation and tourism supplies a livelihood for lots of people).
coffee, Antigua coffee plantation, coffee bean, micro mode

Antigua Art Photography

what's your life like?


rooftop life


pepsi red


old vs new


colonial color


playing


natural window


cart of oranges


men painting


hotel garden ornament



The title says it all. This place is gorgeous. Let the images tell the story.

art photography, photo sets, travel photography, photography for dummies

Colonial Charm in Antigua Guatemala

I've set a foot before in many colonial towns, but this one is different from the rest. The streets are wider. Hello from Antigua, Guatemala. After one of the nicest flights I've ever flown, a two-hour hop from Palm Springs to Dallas, then a short train ride at the airport to the next plane which just began to board as I got there, and, last, a three-hour ride to Guatamala City, I was almost to my final destination, one so close, yet so far.

My ride to Antigua was about an hour, after which, I checked into my hotel-- a lush and well-appointed bed-and-breakfast called the Cloister. Barrelling with hunger my partner asked our host where to eat. She informed us about the "noisy" Mexican restaurant, Freida Kalho's, around the corner where they had "to die for" mango chicken.

We went there, I ate the mango chicken. And guess what? I really did die. It was that good. I'm in heaven now sitting in a toasty room filled with Mayan-patterned fabrics that cover the pillows, the beds, the floors and the walls. Yes, my friends, I'm in Mayan-land. Come join me for the next few days while I show you a tour of the best that Guatemala has to offer.

The pic above was taken at the good 'ole 1600 ISO setting, one that seems to never fail me at night when I don't have a tripod.

Camera Christmas Shopping Tip

With a little more than one month to go before Christmas, I wanted to a couple of quick tips to help you select a digital camera as a gift either for a family member or friend, or for yourself.

1. First, if you're buying a point-and-shoot, consider the following list. It's a fairly thorough list of what's out there.
2. Next, look at the list, find the cameras with the least amount of shutter lag time. You wouldn't want to miss the rowers in this picture, if you were standing on a bridge in Paris, while you're waiting for some chip in your camera to tell the camera to open and close the shutter.
3. Buy a camera that has access to lots of the settings in the knob at the top. Look for the letters Av and Tv as part of the rest of the nomenclature in that knob. Some cameras, such as the Kodak EasyShare, have Tv (shutter speed setting) within an option only available on the LCD screen, and the shutter speed times are very limited, and result poor picture quality.
4. Look for ISO speeds of at from 100 to at least 800.
5. At the store, set the camera to a high ISO speed and take a picture. If the picture is grainy, don't buy.

digital cameras, gift ideas, Dummies book, Christmas shopping cameras

Photography Lens Extenders--A Note from Betty

Lens extenders offer optical performance and are a durable lens attachement for fast conversion of f-stops and focal lengths by attaching to preexisting lens.

One is Canon's Extender FD 2X-A for the telephoto lenses of 300mm or longer, doubling the focal length capability of the lens.

Here's Betty's note about extenders.

Matt, a friend of mine advised me what to buy knowing what I was looking for...mainly photographing wildlife, scenery. I have take the lens out twice and love it. It's heavy and expensive the major drawbacks.

Information about extenders my mentor sent to me.

The extender multiplies the lens focal length and f stop. Example is: A 2X doubles the lens effective focal, so a 70-200 mm f 2.8 becomes a 140-400 mm f 5.6 lens, of a 300mm f4 becomes a 600mm f8. If the extender is a 1.4 it multiplies by .4 and changes 1 f stop. Example: 70-200 f2.8 becomes a 100-280mm f 4.
Also, there are even a few 3X converters, which multiplies 3 times and add 3 stops. 70-200 2.8 becomes a 210-600 f 8 lens.

lens extenders, photographing wildlife, Canon extender, focal length

Sepia Tone and Motion Photography

Five Hints to Create a Sepia-toned Photograph Filled with Motion

I always play with my camera. One of the things I like to do with it is move it in different directions when the shutter is open.

Here are some hints to do just that...

1. If an object, such as a horse and carriage are moving at night, set your camera to Tv mode and then set your shutter speed to 1/2 a second, more if you are daring.

2. Follow the object you are photographing as you shoot, kind of like how a seagull follows a boat. Your objective is to get the object clear among a moving background.

3. Take the photo in Raw format if at all possible so that you can get sepia from the Raw workflow in Photoshop CS 2.

You can do this with any object from your dog catching a frisbee to your baby crawling on the floor.

sepia tones, panning your camera, long shutter times, digital photography tips

Fun Stats--I am Family

Did you know-

• Twenty percent of the people in the country live alone?
• That 3/4 of the people in the United States live in urban areas?
• The median age of females is almost 3 years higher than that of males?
• If an election were held and all the females voted one way and the males another, the female vote would win?
• Women, on average, live 5 years longer than men (you go girls!)?
• A little over 80 percent of people living in this country are white (that was a surprise to me, maybe cause I live in California in a Mexican neighborhood)?
• There are 3 65 year-old men to every 4 65 year old women (hey men, bet you can't wait till your 65!)?
• Nearly all of us over 15 can read (whoever said Americans were stupid?)
• All states but Louisana have a legal system based on English common law (is that why it's so wild in Nola?)
• We're near to the point that there are as many cell phones as land lines?
• Two-thirds of the people in this country use the Internet?
• The Bahamas and the US haven't agreed on a maritime boundary (hmmmm war with Nassau?)

Turn-of-the-last-century photography

When we think of photographs usually we think of the twentieth century, but you can find photos that were taken even earlier than that.

While eating in the Red Tomato in Cathedral City, CA restaurant last year, saw slides of various photos slipped into big lightboxes, which were hung on the wall.

I went to the owner and asked if I could shoot them. Well, he gladly sent yes, and also talked to me awhile about the photos.

Here's one of them, that after I got it, I manipulated with a Photoshop filter.

What type of classical painting do you think this photograph looks as if it could be?

Critiquing a Photograph

A lot of my work teaching Digital Art Photography and Photo Restoration at betterphoto.com involves critiquing photographs. This is just what I'm going to do with this photo, a photo taken on my recent trip to Cabo.

Photo Critique--

1. This photo has some great contrast, not only in color but in texture, the textures of the splashing water and those of the old yellow rope.
2. The color and texture of the rope changes in the first third of the frame. It goes from blue (covered with blue plastic) to yellow. The yellow occupies two-thirds of the frame, thus following the Rule of Thirds.
3. The exposure in this photograph is relatively good as there are no blasting whites or blanketing blacks in the most important areas of the photo.
4. The photo uses a natural effect (water being churnned into white capped bubbles), which gives the photo a lot of depth (some of the bubbles jump from the backround to the foreground just above the rope. Another way to achieve this effect, except using another natural phenomanon is to photograph smoke or mist.
5. The light increases from the splashed water the closer you get to the frazzled knot in the rope's center. That, my friends, was a stroke of luck. Part of composition is just that--luck.

photography, photography critique, rule of thirds, color and texture

Reptile Pet Photography

Anyone around here have a pet reptile come on to my comments and tell us about it...

Here's a reptile I found sitting on a man's shoulder at port in Cabo. The guy kept on wanting me to hold it so he could make some money from me. I really didn't care about the money, but I sure as heck didn't want to hold that thing. Can't tell you why, either. I usually love animals. Guess furry ones are more my thing.

What kind of reptile is this?

reptiles, iguana, Cabo, reptile pet

Front Page Newspaper Election Images

Take a look at the newspapers in cities across the USA and write which one is best in terms of telling the story about today's election. I've added a bit of humor and harsh photographic commentary to open your election eye.

Montgomery, AL Red, white and blue voting stickers that say "I voted," and that look like open condom packages.

Phoenix, AZ Low quality pic of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Pederson and wife

Tucson Citizen Precinct 216 at the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus office with too much clutter.

LA Times the LA mayor shaking an unknown man's hand blocking gov candidate Angelides at a diner (the blocking handshake's got to represent a pretty ex-bodybuilder.

Denver Post nice curves of concrete patio under dogs watching a line of voters (go figure?)

Miami Herald lady in red getting a sticker put on her lapel

Atlanta Journal-Constitution bored boy touching a flipped bottom lip while mom votes--nice composition, but it doesn't look like an election image.

Chicago Tribune pic of an alternative paper ballot

Times Picayune Asian American woman studies ballot at elementary school. Nice composition and content for such a drab subject of voting options.

Billings Gazette text and image voting scene that could be an ad in a campaign TV ad

NY Times How do you spell bore? An image of the candidate for the State Comptroller race in front of blue drapes of a voting booth.

Philedelphia Daily News this one's a winner, a little girl sitting under a voter and seen at the bottom of the frame from under the closed curtains inside a voting booth

Dallas Morning News superstar-like gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell among a pack of camera's walking away from the voting booth, nicely framed and balanced--a real narrative here of one very tall-looking man.

newspaper front page, photojournalism, USA, photography

The Rigged Election 2006 Poll

Vote here; vote here; vote here!

The votes are counted; but does your vote count?

Take this poll.



election poll, rigged election, elections, USA elections

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Magic

Cabo any way you look at it is one beautiful landscape. The town is divided into two.

One part, a gritty Mexican place with all the cultural elements--tortilla-filled food stands, ticky-tacky stucco facades filled with wares of screaming color.

The other part, on the waterfront, is filled with tourists sipping anything alcoholic in tall curvy glasses or big fat mugs among fine handicrafts and art galleries that seem to be popping up all over.

Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, travel Mexico, travel photography

Puerto Vallarta--On the Waterfront

With just 8 dollars in my pocket and two hours to go before the ship leaves, I am off to a photo shoot. I grab a cab, barter a bit with the driver and off I go--a round-trip tour downtown and back 'n 45 minutes.

I shoot anything that looks appealing from the window of the car, come back and find I got a great set of waterfront photos.

Fantastico!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, travel, books

Zihuatanejo Tranquilo

Tranquilo is a Spanish word meaning calm. It's a cognate for the English word tranquil.

Zihuatanejo, travel photography, travel, digital photography

Zesty Zihuatanejo Photography

Now here's a zesty little town in Mexico. Just people here...
Cruise stops are so short!



Little girl getting her hair braided on beach.



Young man blowing horn in traditional regalia (I think?)

Mid-Century Modern Acapulco

My addiction--mid-century modern architecture.

Here's a shot of a hotel that's buried in Acapulco's hinter lands.



mid-century modern, modern architecture, 50s Acapulco, photography

A Candyless HALLOWEEN :(

Halloween night on a boat certainly is very interesting. Many people came prepared for the dress-up event from flappers to three blind mice. The costume parade was adorable as this crowd--red staters mostly--livened up their heartland life.

MY ONLY COMPLAINT: THERE WAS NOT A PIECE OF CANDY TO BE FOUND!

Maybe the kids got some, but I don't know. All I know is that I was craving a small tootsie roll to unwrap and let melt in my mouth and get stuck between my teeth.

I wanted a piece of root beer hard candy too, just to finish off the chewy, chocolatey tootsie roll treat.

Last, I would have died for a kiss, just one little silver-foiled wrapped kiss.







C
O
M
E

O
N

C
R
U
I
S
E

L
I
N
E
S

...loosen up a bit and get some candy--lots of it--on board!