Goodbye, from Linden Ln

Just in case there are those out there who wondered where our blog had gone, well here is our new blog address.

http://lifeunder25.blogspot.com

We will sorely miss Mill Valley and Linden Lane, our dear neighbors Brian, Wendy (& the late Norm). We'll miss the proximity of Mt Tam and the rest of western Marin...

But things change. Time to move on and we're discovering things to love about our new home in the East Bay. Tune in to find out more!

See you on the other side...  :-)

End of July Update

Ok, so it's been a while.

I know it's been way too long because Elizabeth pokes me every few days asking when I'm going to update the blog.

Well, it's been a busy few weeks since the last post. I suppose the biggest news is that my mother came out for a visit from North Carolina. It was a vacation for relaxing, not sight seeing. She's been out here several times before so we didn't need to to the "touristy" things. Rather leisurely hikes, books on the deck, contemplating the hummingbirds... that was the agenda for this trip!

The other big news is that we are moving! Yes, we're leaving the mountains and redwoods of Mill Valley in the north bay for the flat lands of Alameda in the east bay. Why? Primarily location and space. Since I'll be working at Mills College in Oakland beginning at the end of the summer, Alameda is much closer. The commute from Mill Valley is at least 45 minutes (and that's without traffic). From Alameda it should be 10–15 minutes. For Elizabeth there is BART access to downtown San Francisco as well as SFO. There's also ferry service to downtown SF.

The new place also has more room, with a storage garage on the premises, so we'll no longer need off site storage. Plus I have more room for my printing work.

The new address is 1614 Chapin St, Alameda, CA 94501...

More pictures can be found here:

It's going to be a busy month! Elizabeth is flying of course, I've got photo shoots in Tucson and Vancouver and am preparing to start at Mills in August... all this and packing for a move. We take the keys 23 July. Poor Nancy!

Best get cracking.

Quick Trip

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Originally uploaded by meatyokra

Elizabeth had a trip to Japan (Narita) the beginning of May and I tagged along!

I travel so infrequently that I am willing – in fact eager – to go almost anywhere, at almost any time... and for any length of time.

Case in point: This 24 hour layover in Narita.

Ok, full disclosure – I flew first class out and back... so that made a trip to Japan, with only one day on the ground, bearable. In fact, it made it enjoyable. A bed, good meals and a dozen movies I've been meaning to watch – it's not a bad way to spend ten hours.

In contrast, while I lounged Elizabeth worked!

After a short night in a small room we were off to explore the city. (this country wasn't designed for someone of Elizabeth's height!)














The town of Narita is about an hour, by train, from Tokyo. Narita has a large temple and grounds as well as a quaint, winding downtown area – both of which we explored. It felt as though we packed quite a bit into our brief visit.

Portland Gig

Up in Portland for a short, one day photo gig. Actually, only a 3 hour gig. Another photo booth for Nike, this time at a store called Aries Apparel – a women's sporting goods store that is a Nike reseller. Like the Boston Marathon photo booth, I created the background for this one as well. I was happy with how this backdrop came out.

Today I'm off to the Nike Employee's store before my evening flight. How to kill a rainy day in Portland? Might as well spend money seeking bargains on the Nike campus!

Bird Hunting

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Originally uploaded by meatyokra

This guy has become my little obsession.
When the weather is nice and I have time on my hands I like to sit on the deck and patiently wait for this guy to show up.
(better viewed LARGE)

Not the easiest thing to catch – he flits around rather quickly and his wings aren't always in a good position (photographically). Guess it's the challenge that makes it fun!

This is what my setup looked like for these shots:









Here are a few others...

Leaving Boston

Beautiful city, Boston. Everything downtown looks like it should have "Ye Olde..." in front of it. Even this 7-Eleven on Beacon Hill.

I was out here working an event at the Niketown store for the 113th Boston Marathon.

It' such a photogenic city and I managed to take hundreds of photographs, too. Unfortunately they all looked a little like this...

Over 1,300 actually.
The event turned out to be a success, thankfully, so for the last couple of days I was relaxed enough (though tired) to have a run one day and take a walk around town the next.

I'd love to spend a week shooting this city. I know that wouldn't be enough to cover it but it would be a start!

The history, the architecture... it's a lot to take in. (you can see more here )

A Nice Day

(click on image to view larger)