RANGER QUADTYCH

Ford Ranger Quadtych
© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 20, 2010 in Sherman Oaks, CA

Shot with a Nikon D80 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

THROUGH A DOG'S EYES

I watched this documentary last night on PBS. You can see it streaming on their website. So powerful to see the service dogs matched up with their owners of all ages and disabilities. If you're a labrador lover like myself, the film will take an even tighter grasp of your heart. My favorite person featured was six year old Aiden who has Cerebral Palsy. Jennifer Arnold, the owner of Canine Assistants is an amazing woman who began facing her own disability when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at just 16.

Here's Jennifer talking about training methods.


The cutest trailer - training puppies!




From www.pbs.org/dogs-eyes/film:

"Through a Dog’s Eyes will change the way you feel about your own dog. The documentary follows a handful of people as they journey through the heartwarming and often challenging process of receiving their service dogs.

Jennifer Arnold, founder of Canine Assistants, discusses her teaching methods and the life-changing impact these dogs have on the recipients and their families. She gives us a glimpse of puppy-rearing and training, and takes us inside the intense and sometimes nerve-wracking experience of matching people with their dogs. Ádám Miklósi, Ph.D., one of the world’s foremost experts in dog cognition, also discusses the science behind Jennifer’s training philosophy.

You’ll also follow the families home and watch their relationships with their dogs unfold. Sometimes what began as love at first sight deepens. Occasionally the initial chemistry doesn’t last. Overall, it’s a bonding process that, as with any relationship, takes work and time.

These hopeful stories provide unique insights into the ways canine assistants improve people’s lives. What’s more, you’ll see your own dog in a whole new light."

SALTON MARINA

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 28, 2010 in Salton Sea, CA
Nikon 24mm f/2.8 lens and a Nikon D80 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body only)

A JINDO WITH A VIEW

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 7, 2010 in Encino, CA at Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park

Photographed with a Nikon D40


Photographed with a Nikon 18-55mm

THE DAM WILDFLOWERS

The Sepulveda Dam surrounded by wildflowers. This view of the Dam reminds me of a battleship.

In the past few weeks driving past the Sepulveda Dam on the 405 and 101 freeways, I noticed that yellow wildflowers were in full bloom around the dam and surrounding basin. The head on view I wanted to photograph was too dangerous (it's only accessible by pulling onto the shoulder of the freeway and getting out and taking a photo), so instead I opted for walking up to the Dam from the 101 North freeway entrance that actually has a sidewalk. Along with the wildflowers, I encountered about a zillion foxtails - and I'm still pulling them out of my sneakers.

Once I got to the top of the Dam I saw an extraordinary view of the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve that is on the backside.



To me these photos represent Valley beauty at it's best.

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 10, 2010 at the Sepulveda Dam in Encino / Van Nuys, CA

Sepulveda Dam photographed with a Nikon 55-200mm VR

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.

THE TOURIST

"The Tourist" © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed April 3, 2010 at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Photographed with a Nikon 55-200mm VR

GROOVIN' TO THE 8 TRACK

Griffin Technology is using this photo on their blog to promote their Throwback Thursday Promotion.

Griffin makes great accessories for iPods, iPhones and Macs in general. Right now I'm using the Griffin + Threadless "Funkalicious" case to protect my iPhone and make it look just a little bit cooler :-)





© Lydia Marcus / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed May 10, 2008 at the Culver City Car Show
1972 Ford Mustang with a Pioneer Super Tuner (with 8 track)
Sony T100

WHAT, NO PINK FLAMINGOS?

This was my first visit to the Salton Sea. There is an incredible beauty in it's isolation, stillness, and silence.

To learn more about the history of the Salton Sea I highly recommend watching the documentary Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea narrated by John Waters (http://saltonseadoc.com)

© Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 28, 2010 in Salton Sea, CA

CALI STROBIST

This week I did a strobist style portrait session with Cali. The set up was a red seamless paper background, 2 Nikon Speedlights (an SB-800 and SB-600) controlled off camera in Commander mode by my Nikon D80. Each light was mounted on a stand with a small Photoflex umbrella. The black outer shell of the umbrella was removed so that the Speedlights could shoot through the white side. Initially I tried shooting into the umbrellas, but with Cali being so dark, there was just too much light lost and it wasn't looking bright enough. Even shooting through, I had to plump up the light settings on both Speedlights to +3 stops. First shot above was done at f/4.5 at 1/45, second was f/6.7 at 1/45.

Cali is remarkable patient and focused for a puppy. She will sit and pose for quite some time if you have her ball and chuck it in her line of sight. :-)

Photo Credits © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Cali, 1 year old
Photographed March 25, 2010, Los Angeles, CA

NO MORE STOCKPILING!

New B/W Instant film for Polaroid 600 & SX-70 cameras!!!! Impossible
Project (@ImpossibleUSA) launch new Polaroid films today! http://bit.ly/c56OaW

#TIPpress is the buzzword on Twitter today as info about the films
rolls out.

Over the course of the year, 6 total films - PX 100 & PX 600 Silver
Shade (monochromatic film), color 100 & 600, plus color & b+w for
image film (spectra).

Pricing is 21 usd / 18 euro per pack of 8. Curious why no more 10
shots per pack? Pricey BUT available!!!

@Futurowoman (one of my Flickr contacts) was a test photographer of
new PX 100. Here are some of her test shots http://bit.ly/dBEowU.

@Tubes tweeted: Here is a bunch of pictures of the new Impossible
instant film. Gorgeous packaging. http://is.gd/aT2Tn #TIPpress

I'll add info as I learn more.

The Impossible is Possible. Edwin Land would be so proud!

- Lydia Marcus @fotonomous

SPORTYCRAFT

Ford Econoline 150 Sportycraft
Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed March 8, 2010 in Lake Balboa, CA

L DIA

With a little creative cropping I made this sign come pretty close to my name. I framed it to just take the "L" from the preceding word "Del" and included the "Dia" that followed. I few friends call me "Dia" - short for Lydia - so when I noticed the L lingering so close to the Dia I knew I had something!

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles at Olvera Street.

BLEND OUT

When I created this blog I wrote that fotonomous is the "Web identity of Lydia Marcus, an individualist, Piscean & native Los Angeleno (Encino/WEHO) raised in diametrically opposed communities shaped by culture, status, sexuality, and spirituality. This multifaceted upbringing informed her ability & desire to always seek to blend out instead of blend in."

This past Saturday when I saw this ad covering a downtown Los Angeles building (it's part of an advertisement for the new Hyundai Sonata) I was pretty excited. I've never seen the words "Blend Out" written anywhere before. Maybe Hyundai has been to my blog! ;-)

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles.

SERVICE

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 20, 2010 in Downtown Los Angeles

MALIBU WILDFLOWERS

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 15, 2010 in Malibu, CA
at Leo Carrillo State Park Beach

SURFIN' WESTRIDGE-CANYONBACK

Photo credit © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed February 7, 2010 in Encino, CA
at Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park

JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

1/23/2010 I visited Joshua Tree National Park with flickr friends. Vivid blue skies and a smattering of light snow dusting the park just made everything that much more picturesque.

From the nps.gov website:

"Joshua Tree encompasses three of California’s ecoregions. Its geology shows the effects of plate tectonics, volcanism, mountain-building, and stark erosion. With elevations ranging from 900 feet to over 5,000 feet above sea level, the park is home to a diversity of biological communities found nowhere else in such proximity. Sand dunes, dry lakes, flat valleys, extraordinarily rugged mountains, granitic monoliths, and oases are all found within its nearly 800,000 acres. Each feature makes its contribution to the natural tapestry of the southwest."

Joshua trees are so beautiful far away or super close up.


Even their shadows are pretty.


Me hamming it up in front of one of the Joshua trees. Photo by Matthew Dillon, a flickr friend.


Me too!


I don't know why, but these signs just always crack me up. I don't want to do something 'til I'm told I can't do it! I never wanted to shoot or camp so badly before. ;-)


I think this one can easily ;-) be misinterpreted to mean that dogs off leash are totally okay! LOL.




This rock formation already looked like a man's profile to me but the Joshua Tree mustache just cements the deal. :-)


Speaking of mustaches, I shot this photo of this little girl at the end of the night at a local 29 Palms pizza joint. She got the fuzzy thing out of a vending machine that sold facial hair (and mole) disguises). A little drag king in training - so cute.


There were a lot of great hiking spots at Joshua Tree. These snow covered rocks were beautiful. Matthew Dillon took all these shots of me.






I like that this shot shows off my yoga booty. :-)


Laurie Thomson, a fellow flickrite, took this shot of me. I love it! Wonderful use of natural hair light.


Sunset light over Joshua Tree




Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Joshua Tree National Park
Twentynine Palms, CA

PIONEERTOWN

Last weekend I went on a Los Angeles Group flickrmeet to Pioneertown and Joshua Tree National Park. For this blog post I'm sharing photos from Pioneertown. If you'd like to check out photos other people took on the meet, check out this discussion thread on flickr. Next time I post, I'll share my Joshua Tree shots.

Here's a description of Pioneertown's cinematic history according to to www.pioneertown.com:

"Pioneertown was built in 1946 as a movie set for western movies, including the movies of Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid, with Duncan Renaldo, Annie Oakley with Gail Davis, Judge Roy Bean with Edgar Buchanan, Range Rider with Jock O. Mahoney, and Buffalo Bill Jr. with Dick Jones. The movie set was to provide a place for the actors to live, and have their homes used as part of a movie set. Some of the original investors in the town were Roy Rogers, who also built thePioneer Bowl, Sons of the Pioneers, which the town was named after, Dick Curtis who was a professional villian in old movies, Bud Abbott, Russell Hayden, who played Lucky on the Hopalong Cassidy series, Louella Parsons the Hollywood gossip columnist and Philip N. Krasne: The Man Who Saved Pioneertown. Mane Street is private property and is always open to courteous pedestrians."

Pioneertown is only a two hour drive from L.A. We were graced by the beautiful presence of fresh snow all over Pioneertown.



Me on "Mane" Street. Photo by Laurie Thomson.


While most of the group wandered through the Pioneertown, I found myself drawn to the Pioneertown Motel in the back and the snow covered cars and landscape behind the Motel.













This is the motel.


The motel was very cool and had a lot of character. Each room has it's own kitchenette. It's definitely the kind of place I'd like to stay at in the future - quiet, peaceful, nostalgic.



A beautiful tree on Mane Street.


A funny snow woman by the motel.

This snow woman reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in drag as Dorothy Michaels in the classic early 80's romantic comedy "Tootsie"

It was pretty much a ghost town at Pioneertown - we were the only tourists. The only other people I saw were staying at the motel. A few of those were out walking their doggies out in the snow.

This cute doggie named Gracie was sunbathing in front of her two mommies' motel room.









As the group was getting ready to leave Pioneertown, I met these three amigos.



These guys were kind of like Jackass or Dumb and Dumber come to life. The guy on the left was a groom to be. On the way to get married, he got his car stuck in the mud. While working to get the car dug out of the mud with a shovel, he split the tux pants he was supposed to wear to the ceremony. Once they got the car out, the trio did some pre wedding celebrating with Pabst beers. This was just before 11am. The last thing I heard the groom say was something about he should have known better about getting the car stuck because he grew up driving that road and that his wife to be was going to be pissed and he probably wasn't going to be "getting any" tonight. At least he had a sense of humor about it. Good luck with the marriage buddy.

Photo credits © Lydia Marcus 2010 / www.lydiamarcus.com
Photographed January 23, 2010 in Pioneertown, CA