Liberace's House

Ahhhh...Liberace's home. Grand, just like the man, a flamboyant pianist and, shall we say, "queen?"

He died here at 68 after contracting AIDS in 1987.

That would make this year (last month, really) the 20th anniversary of his death.

To see all that was grand about the man, you gotta go to Vegas to the Liberace Museum.

Just in case if you're into extravagant entertainers and never heard of the guy, you can see him here.

Ma and Me

What's up with this? Who's that lady

Who's that lady (who's that lady)
Beautiful lady (who's that lady)

K, that's not the right song. That lady is my mother. The baby is me.

Hey, I refurbished that photo. Hey, I teach a photo restoration class at Betterphoto.com

Go there and check it out, then you can put picture perfect moments of your ma and you
on the Internet, or at the very least, make Christmas cards out of your pics, having recipients
guess who's in the picture.

Sample Photo Critique

Sample Photo Critique (of my own photo).

Matt, great setting here, the curves make this an especially interesting photo. There's a lot going on here--two mini stories, actually--1. A man taking a photo and 2. A toddler playing with the water in the fountain.

It's too bad the man is partway out of the frame and that the girl isn't placed in about the left third of the photograph.

I cropped her to reposition her in this way, and, in the process, changed this photo from a landscape to traditional (for printing).

The only problem is I've cut out a lot of the photo, so that what's left will have less resolution.

Here's what I came up with:

The Rex--Paris Art Deco

Le Grand Rex
1 Blvd Poissonnière - 75002 Paris
Metro Bonne-Nouvelle


The Grand Rex, built in 1932, is an Art Deco marvel. It's curvy towering architecture, ornate molds and grand neon, modernized going to the cinema. Its escalator – the first installed in a cinema, took movie-goers up to the mezzanine in a new and innovative fashion.

View from Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

View from Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

WATCH CBS 2 IN PALM SPRINGS TONIGHT AT 7 P.M.

DON'T FORGET "FIND THE ARTIST WITHIN" WITH "DIGITAL ART PHOTOGRAPHY FOR DUMMIES"

I'll take your questions...

This weekend only--I'll take your questions. Watch CBS 2 "Eye on the Desert " at 7 p.m. tonight and submit your questions about Palm Springs photography and the "Digital Art Photography for Dummies" here.

Submit in the comments section below.

American Palace

Did you know that Hawaii had kings and queens, and it wasn't all that long ago. King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani lived in the palace, which was built in 1882 in Honolulu.

On January 17, 1893, Queen Lili'uokalani was deposed, leaving the palace absent of the monarchy. The palace served royalty for only 11 short years.

The palace is located at 364 S King St in Honolulu.


*****If you're interested in this blog and want to keep it going, please check out the book, "Digital Art Photography for Dummies" by clicking on "Release Your Inner Artist" above.

Tivoli's Villa 'd Este

This, my fellow bloggers, is a photographer's paradise.

More...see earlier post : )

quintessential dolly

Another pic of Dolly hits Digital Traveler. This one was taken at 300 mm with my Tamron (28-300 mm lens). I was nearly half a football field away from the country singer, a place where they like the media to be for some celebrity performaces. Apparently the stars don't like to be photographed close up.

I had originally set out to the concert to get clear, up-close images of Dolly so I could submit them to "People" magazine.

No dice, though, I wouldn't even get near to sending this or any of the images to such a big mag as I wouldn't want my rep to be diminished as a photographer.

Darn. If I could only have bought tickets and sat up front.

Hello Dolly!

Went to Dolly Parton concert tonight. After seeing her, I realized that she really is a country girl. When she's not singing, her Appalachian vernacular was charming. Her singing voice is beautiful and hasn't changed one bit since 20 years ago.

She's playing small towns here out west. The concert was at Fantasy Springs Casino Event Center, a brand new theater in Indio, CA, which is really nice. Dolly's off to Prim tomorrow night, about a 4 to 5 hour drive from here.

My guess is touring like that isn't easy.

As far as filming her, I was way back, but I did have a tripod and after some mishaps, got some okay photos of her. I had to manipulate them a bit using the "reduce noise" option in Photoshop.

Minimalism

I'm going to take a walk from minimalist architecture to minimalist art. Check out the photo here, it's minimalist. In real life it's minimalist architecture. As a photograph it's minimalist art (photography). I've cornered this building to show the upper floors of a building covered with a vertical-blind-like stucture that's built to cover the glass underneath.

This isn't just a decorative element. Here in Palm Springs, temps can rise to 120 degrees F in summer, so the design element here is functional in that it reduces the heat coming into the building.

Now on to the art part. Look long enough at this picture and it starts to elude you optically. That, really, is the objective with this shot. At first it appears simple, even boring, but look at it long enough and you see it even after you turn away.

Minimalism originated in the 50s and 60s and can--

1. create an object of interest
2. use repititive patterns
3. be hard-edged
4. delineate space
5. lacks emotion

Minimalist architecture is easily photograhed with any lens, but to give a photo focus, a telephoto lens is best because you can pick one or two elements of the structure (whether it be a sculptural element or an edifice).

No Dwelling on Rejection

As a writer and photographer, I know the feeling of rejection. Blogging can help alleviate that pain. I've tried a number of times to get these photographs in an architectural magazine. No dice and no sweat, I can just put them here.

Bye Bye Aladdin for the Second Time

In 1998, the original Aladdin Hotel was demolished, imploded, if you will to be replaced with a casino megaplex--a new Aladdin Hotel.

The hotel, now in 2007, finds itself being remodeled and undergoing a name change to the Planet Hollywood Hotel. (See image above)

It's quite a shock to see the change in action as the Arab themed shopping complex adjacent to the hotel remains and is looking like a wash out next to the glitzy Planet Hollywood name.

So now as the themed hotels--Dunes, Stardust, Aladdin--implode, new ones with arbitrary names--MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Wynn--are becoming more common.

The only question I can ask is... will Las Vegas be fun without out the themes?

All Over the Place

Instead of a smiley or other emoticon to describe my mood today, I'll choose this picture.

Hello from Las Vegas

What hotel is this?

Serendipity

As a writer and photographer, I'm always trying ways to use both platforms to tell a story. Today the serendipidous happened--the two melded together like butter melts on toast.

I received a press release about John Richy, a writer who has been around for quite awhile.

While researching, I came across the text of the beginning of his book, "City of Night" while reading the blog "Grumpy Old Bookman".

I have to post this text as it's classic--

Later I would think of America as one vast City of Night stretching gaudily from Times Square to Hollywood Boulevard – jukebox-winking, rock-n-roll moaning: America at night fusing its darkcities into the unmistakable shape of loneliness.

Remember Pershing Square and the apathetic palmtrees. Central Park and the frantic shadows. Movie theatres in the angry morning-hours. And wounded Chicago streets…

Just after reading the blog, I was searching for a picture to put on this blog. And, to my surprise, I found really cool text relating to night. That's what you see at the top here. True serendipity.

Acapulco at Night

One pretty scene. Nothing like the warm nights in the tropics.

For more about Acapulco on my blog try these posts:

Mid-Century Modern Acapulco
Mid-Century Modern Acapulco Part 2

Where was this shot?

See the labels below for hints to the answer.

Is it Palm Springs for Dummies, No--It's Palm Springs Daily Photo

Let me introduce my new blog, Palm Springs Daily Photo. What better place is there to think about when you're freezing your buns off in the Midwest.

Palm Springs is rich with history.

Yet, within the daily photo You'll find that there's more to this place than rich Republicans and golf.

Religious Tolerance

Religious Tolerance

Let's not forget that religion comes in all colors.

Buy My Photography or Sell Yours

Copyright, 2006, Matthew Bamberg
Download high res of this for $20.
For high res, click on image.
Then pay by clicking on paypal link.

Digital Art Photography for Dummies author teams up with Palm Springs Consignment Gallery, a mid-century modern themed business to offer the finest in mid-century modern photography of the 50s and 60s. Framed photography of color and style from all over the world at 2100 N. Palm Canyon Drive, (760) 416-0704.

Staff takes special orders of specialty-made, framed, mid-century themed photography by Matt Bamberg. Order prints for your home, business or hotel that will have people ponder a style of streamlined geometry in architecture, signage or stylized items from old radios and televisions sets to phones and typewriters.

Learn to start a similar business through Bamberg's book, Digital Art Photography for Dummies, available at amazon.com

Epson Scanner Input and Output

It's that time of year again; the time when I pull out my old film negs and prints and scan them. I'm working with an Epson 4490.

I scanned the above image of an outdoor art sculpture that I took in Eastern Europe.

The settings I used for scanning were: 48 bit, film, color negative, 400 resolution, Best Quality, Target size 8x12 inches, scale 100 percent.

Now guess how big the resulting Tiff file was? 91 megs!

Found Art Photo in LA's Farmer's Market

Go to historical places like The Farmer's Market/The Grove in LA and you'll find many different kinds of art photos already arranged for you.

Set in a mid-century theme, the Farmer's Market in LA is one of that city's best attractions.

Food vendors and a variety of restaurants under one roof that serve anything from casual to upscale entrees bustle with dining patrons. You can buy fruit, nuts, pastries, muffins, cookies, cakes, fish, dried fruit, coffee, donuts, and gifts all in one fell swoop thorough this place.

Part of this place is set up like a museum, detailing some history highlights of LA.

Next door is the Grove, an upscale, outdoor mall that caters to both tourists and people living in the inner city. Hang around this place long enough and you'll detect the voice of Frank Sinatra in the air among the sounds of splashing water, as the highlight of this place is the singing fountain.