FRED MARCUS, 89

Fred_Marcus_89, originally uploaded by fotonomous.

Fred Marcus, 89 © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed September 17, 2010 in Encino, CA

A CARPET OF WILDFLOWERS

Saturday I went on a free hike sponsored by the Tejon Ranch Conservancy. I viewed a carpet of wildflowers like I have never seen before. California poppies, Lupine, and Coreopsis blanketed the hillsides. It was an incredible amount of beauty to behold. Here are my favorite shots from the day.

Lupine, Poppies, Coreopsis


California Poppies and Lupine






Grazing Cows






Portraits of me by Laurie Thomson




© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 10, 2010 at Tejon Ranch Conservancy

From tejonranchconservancy.org/about-us:
"The Tejon Ranch Conservancy was created to protect and implement science-based stewardship and provide public enjoyment of conserved areas of the historic Tejon Ranch and Tehachapi Range. Our vision is to protect, explore, understand, enhance and restore the incredible biodiversity found on the Ranch. At nearly 270,000 acres, Tejon Ranch is the largest continuous expanse of private land in California. Its 422 square miles make it almost almost as large as the City of Los Angeles and about 40% the size of Rhode Island. The Ranch is located along Interstate 5, approximately 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Bakersfield. Elevation ranges from 600 to 7000 feet above sea level."

Wildflower close ups shot with a Nikon 105mm f/2.8

ROCKY THE BOXER

"Rocky" © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 8, 2010 in Sherman Oaks, CA

p.s. Rocky's a girl!

Rocky photos shot with a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 lens.

PLAYTIME WITH CALI

Open W-I-D-E!


"Just try and take this persimmon away from me!"


Bend It Like Cali!


I wish her face was in better focus, but I like her expression.


Recent Videos:

Cali Has A Ball


We had a couple days of rain in L.A. so I had to find creative ways to keep Cali busy indoors. And find ways to poop her out! So I invented the Cali-lympics.

Playtime isn't just for fun, it's a daily way to keep training Cali through repetition, praise and sometimes reward.

Cali-lympics Day 1 - Stay, come, single jump, sit, and left paw.


Cali-lympics Day 2 - Cali nails the double jump!


There was a Cali-lympics Day 3 where I had Cali doing a triple jump but I didn't record it because the room was too dark. Right now I'm improvising her jumps with TV bed trays, but I hope to get some agility equipment eventually.

Cali 7.5 months
Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed October 21, 2009 in Encino, CA

SHE'S GOT LEGS, SHE KNOWS HOW TO USE THEM

I always spot amazing webs and spiders at night but have never been able to get a good photograph. These two beauties were out in stark sunlight and I had my macro lens with me so I was able to capture all the eerie details.

The spiders were quite large - around two inches in length - so it's a good thing I'm not arachnophobic because my head was >veryclose< to the second spider pictured. The beautiful green background in the first shot is actually reclaimed water at The Japanese Garden in Van Nuys. I love how the markings on the first spider's body make it look like a creepy skull or weird alien being.

Photo credits: © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed September 27, 2009 in Van Nuys, CA
The Japanese Garden / Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant

TRANQUIL QUADTYCH

Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2009
Photographed September 27, 2009 in Van Nuys, CA
The Japanese Garden / Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant

GET A LITTLE CLOSER

Spring has brought my front and back yard some nice blooms just begging for the macro treatment. I'm pretty much a learner when it comes to macro photography but the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 micro lens I have kind of does all the work for me.

I call this one "Riding The Wave"


A beautiful two-tone Rose




Photo by © Lydia Marcus
Photographed April 2, 2009 in Encino, CA

LUCY x 9

I decided to improve on my previous Sunday post showing Lucy and her many expressions and give her a full fledged montage. Enjoy!

...This post is dedicated to the memory of my Uncle Fritz - Happy April 1st Birthday!

BLOOMS, BUDS, BUGS, & VEGAN TAQUITOS

Hiking in the Encino Hills, lately I've noticed a burst in growth of the wildflowers.



And on Saturday I noticed in my own front and backyard, the lemon and strange tangerine hybrid tree are full of buds just waiting to become fruit. It's so nice to see splashes of color everywhere after winter.
While I was shooting the buds, I noticed a strange bug on the deck. I have no idea what it is, but it looked pretty cool shot with my Nikon 105 f2.8 micro lens.

Lucy followed me out so of course I had to take some shots of her. I love capturing the variety of expressions on a dog's face!







Later in the day, I stopped by the Julia Dean Gallery in Venice to check out the new show 4 Frames - 11 Southern California Photographers (including my mentor/teacher/friend Aline Smithson's work). My favorite work in the show was by Cindy Schafer - if I had the cash I would have bought her two flower shots (a dark reddish fern and a white group of flowers set against a blue sky).

Before I left Venice, I walked out to the beach to check out the Sunset. Because there was a little bit of a threat of rainshowers later in the evening, there were more clouds than usual.
Then I went to the latest Slideluckpotshow event at 5th and Sunset Studios. Slideluckpotshow is a great free event - part potluck, park slideshow. I sampled the food and actually was surprised by the good taste of some homemade vegan taquitos. The actual slideshow was an open air event on the roof. They had tons of folding chairs, lots of heat lamps, a VERY BIG screen, and an excellent sound system (all the slideshows are set to music). The clouds overhead were very dark and threatening rain, but aside from some light drizzle, the outdoor slideshow escaped the a downpour. Even if you missed the show, you can check out many of the slideshows on their site. I definitely encourage any photographers and photo enthusiasts to check out the next slideluckpot show event.

So all in all, between taking some cool backyards shots, getting to see a sunset over the Pacific Ocean, and going to the slideluckpotshow event, I had a pretty great Saturday!