FAIR FUN FOR ALL

I spent Sunday at the wonderful L.A. County Fair. Serena and I posed in as many of the kitschy wood cutouts as we could find. I shot a bunch of Polaroids, had a hot dog on a stick, and some unusually light creme fraise ice cream. Here is a "best of" from the day and night. The fairplex is so huge that I'm going back Thursday to see what I missed.






















See even more shots from the L.A. County Fair on my Flickr page.

FRESH EGGS & PIGS

Fresh Eggs & Pigs photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed June 22, 2007 in Lancaster, CA (near Edwards Air Force Base)

Peugeot 505 Turbo Diesel

Peugeot 505 Turbo Diesel photo by Lydia Marcus

Photographed July 6, 2008 in West Los Angeles, CA

INVITATION TO MY NEXT PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

Hey Everyone,
I'm happy to announce that I have three pieces in another group photography show. The show opening is this Saturday, September 20, from 7-11pm (invite is attached). If you can make it, please stop by and say hi and check out the work. The three pieces I have up were all in the Julia Dean Galley show last October, so if you made it to that show, don't feel pressured to come to this one. One of the gallery's neighbors (#103 - the clothing shop) is having a huge sale that same night and will have 2 open bars, DJ's, and sale stuff going on in the store from 2-8pm. So all in all, the evening should have some festive atmosphere going on.



Gallery Info:
Untitled Gallery 1855 Industrial Street #109
Los Angeles, CA 90021
213.415.1822
http://www.untitledgallery.net

BUCOLIC NOVA

Chevy Nova SS photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed September 13, 2008 in Encino, CA

Nikon D80 / Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (shot at f/2.8)

IF TINA FEY RAN FOR VICE PRESIDENT...

...I'd actually be enthusiastic about voting in the next election. As it stands, I haven't got any enthusiasm or understanding of any of the candidates.

At least here's what we've all be waiting for - Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in the opening skit for this season's "Saturday Night Live." She and Amy Poehler (as Hilary Clinton) do not disappoint. I wish I could say the same about the actual candidates.



My favorite line was Tina saying, "What an amazing time we live in, to think that just two years ago I was a small town mayor of Alaska's Crystal Meth capitol and now I am just one heartbeat away from being President of the United States."

I can laugh now, I'll be crying either way come November.

FALL BECOMES US

The official date for the beginning of Fall this year may be September 22, but I can tell you that it's already begun - official or not. How do I know without consulting Fritz Coleman, Johnny Mountain, or Dallas Raines - basically it's a coolness in the night air that prevents me from wearing shorts in the evening anymore and the need to actually take a jacket out with me too. Drat, summer is gone and I spent the last two weeks of it as a sickie stuck at home with bed rest. Well in honor of Fall, here's a montage I made in 2006. Funny enough, these golden colors of Fall were captured in Los Angeles in December - the actual time our leaves were turning. The air may be cold in September, but apparently it takes awhile for our trees to catch on.

Fall Foliage montage by Lydia Marcus
Photographed December, 2008 in Encino, CA.

Camera: Leica Mini Zoom
Film: Kodak Ultra Color 400

MOSES COMES PREPARED

Well it's been almost two full weeks and I'm just getting over my sinus infection. Aside from the last few days where I made brief outings to the dog park with Lucy, I've pretty much been sticking to bed rest. I've been feeling pretty isolated and there's only so much TV you can watch. My Ex, S, was sweet enough to drop by and give me a get well card. It was so damn funny I thought I'd share it here. If you click on the image, it will open bigger (and easier to read) in a separate window.



The card is from the Jewish Card line and I just love their catchphrase, "Cards that warm the kishkes." Well it definitely warmed mine! :-)

MEN WITH LEAVES

At the Libbit Park in Encino, there's a pretty big problem with little bugs swarming your head (I've ingested a few, I know). People have realized that the bugs don't come near you when you stand under the trees so this had led to people actually taking branches off to use as bug protection. I've noticed that women will occasionally walk around with little branches, but the men have taken it up a notch turning it into full force survival gear worn around the head. Not only does this end up being a humorous take on fighting the bugs but it actually works!

Men With Leaves photos by Lydia Marcus
Photographed September, 2008 at the Libbit Park in Encino

MERCEDES 250C

Mercedes 250C photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed September 9, 2008 in Van Nuys, CA


Polaroid SLR 680 SE version on Flickr.

1979 GMC Sierra Grande Truck Polaroid Quadtych

1979 GMC Sierra Grande Truck Polaroid Quadtych by Lydia Marcus

Photographed August 23, 2008 in Woodland Hills, CA

To see more photos of this truck on my Flickr photostream go to:

1979 GMC Sierra Grande Triptych

1979 GMC Sierra Grande

HAPPY 87th BIRTHDAY DAD!

Fred Marcus photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed April 10, 2007 in Encino, CA

PIER TO HAPPINESS

This was the view of the Atlantic Ocean at twilight from the Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada - one of the Florida Keys. The vision was total serenity and tranquility as there didn't seem to be a dividing line between where ocean met sky. When I look at this picture i'm instantly transported back to that magical moment and place. Ahhhhhhh what a relaxing view. This photo was shot with a Nikon D50 (my first digital SLR) with an extremely wide angle Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens (the only non-Nikon glass I own).

This photo has just made it to the final round of the Los Angeles Times Photo Contest - I'll know by the end of September if it's won anything.

This link
Pier To Happiness
takes you to the photo if you'd like to leave a comment on the L.A. Times site.

Pier To Happiness photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 25, 2006 in Islamorada, Florida

TREEHOUSE

Treehouse photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 23, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA

MY TWO MOMS

I've got another summer sinus infection. Every time I'm sick and laying in bed feeling miserable I start missing my Mom. No matter how old you get, the thought of Mom coming in to bring you food and company and TLC is comforting. So in lieu of the fried matzo my Mom will never be able to make for me anymore, I comforted myself by digging into old Hi8 videotapes and watching some home movies from a lifetime ago. In the 5 and a half years since my Mom's passing, I think this is only the third time I've needed to watch videos again just to see her and hear her voice. It's a dicey thing to bring out the videos - usually seeing my Mom makes me feel good - but you just don't know is it going to make you too upset as well. I pulled out tapes from 1991 and 1992 - tapes that had my Mom and my second Mom, my Aunt Lisa, too. I think this is the first time I've seen any of these images since around the time frame they were first shot. It felt so good to see my Mom laughing and being her vivacious self. In the case of my Aunt's video, I had recorded her 75th birthday at her apartment in West Hollywood - virtually my second home. I was only 22 when I shot the video but for some reason I had the presence of mind to actually do a walk through the apartment documenting the rooms and the little knickknacks and photos on different tables. How wonderful it was to see all the details again. At one point I even captured my Aunt and Dad talking to each other in German (a very rare occurrence). So Mom and Aunt Lisa, today I think of you both strongly and am so glad to be able to see you again.

I just came across this photo of my Mom a couple weeks ago when I was looking through old photos. I just love it. She looks so beautiful and radiant and I love her smile.

A photo of me and my Aunt in her apartment I think around 1989. The look on my face says it all - how much I love her and how safe and loved I feel when I'm with her.

A PERFECT DAY

Practically everyday in L.A. is a blue sky day, but clouds, well they're harder to come by. But today little puffy clouds were sprawled across the Valley sky and the view was beautiful to say the least. Here is a Polaroid diptych taken in my back yard midday and my front yard at sunset.

A Perfect Day Polaroid Diptych by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 29, 2008 in Encino, CA

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY

Ever since I bought my Sony T100 that uses a Memory Stick Duo card and I bought a Sandisk 4 gig SDHC card for my D40/D80 cameras, my life uploading images has been bothersome to say the least. The Sony card doesn't fit in my Lexar multi-card reader without first sticking into a separate Sony adapter. I'm constantly searching on my desk for the damn little adapter piece that manages to always get stuck in between papers, fall into my drawer, or worse, fall on the floor. In the case of my Sandisk SDHC card (the Ducati Edition from the Extreme line), the big selling point for me to buy the card was not only could it fit into my card reader but it also can fit in any USB port - theoretically making it twice as convenient to unload my images to a computer. But the rub is that my Lexar card reader (purchased at Walmart in January 2004 while on a road trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico) can't read the card. It has read other SDHC cards before so I don't know what the incompatibility issue is. So every time I want to use it, I have to turn my iMac around, unplug one of my USB devices, put the card in, turn the computer back, upload the images, turn the computer back around, take the card out, and turn my computer back to where it started. When you have to do this every single day it becomes really annoying. The idea behind the convenience of having the USB attachment on this Sandisk card isn't so you can't use it with your card reader, the idea is that if you find yourself at a computer that doesn't have a card reader, you can still upload images in a snap. But spinning my computer around day after day wasn't my idea of a snap. I couldn't take it anymore so I went to Fry's yesterday (the absolute worst place for customer service but the best place to find all your computer and electronics items under one roof) and bought a new card reader. Well finally I can breathe easier and upload images quickly and easily all from the same device! I selected a Sony 17 in 1 multi-card reader / writer because I figured it was probably the only reader that would let me use my tiny Memory Stick Duo card without having to use that damn adapter. It's also really nice and sleek and minimalist looking too. Even though Sony makes PC's, the design is very evocative of my nice aluminum iMac. I tried it out as soon as I got home and it works like a charm - the best part of all.

A VISITOR IN ONE'S OWN CITY

Sunday I went to Franklin Canyon Park for the first time. It's a huge wilderness spot in between the city (Beverly Hills) and the Valley located near where Coldwater Canyon meets Mulholland Drive (across the street from the Tree People). Had I not been there to partake in a Polaroid Nerd Out event, I never would have even known it was there. I was shocked by the sheer size of it -Franklin Canyon Park is really vast - 600 acres in all. Part of the parks history dates back to 1914 when William Mulholland constructed L.A.’s first reservoirs at the top of Franklin Canyon and one of these reservoirs is really the setting for the opening sequence of the "Andy Griffith Show" where Opie (Ron Howard) tosses a stone into the lake. I spent most of my time on Sunday at one area of the upper reservoir, but there's plenty left to explore when I return. A lot of the trails were pretty flat and not rocky so I may experiment with my mountain bike one day. And it was definitely a dog friendly park so I will have to bring Lucy The Boxador as well.

Polaroid photos (Polaroid 195 using expired Fuji FP-100C instant color film):

I think all these tall, feather like plants appearing in many of the shots are Common Reed (Phragmites). They were absolutely stunning up close.








With this shot, I wanted to see if the Fuji FP-100C could really capture all the different shades of green coming from so many different plants and trees. I think it did a very good job.



Sony T100 digital shots:
I think this may be a Redwood tree, it was really beautiful and kind of graceful. I enjoyed it's cool shade for quite some time.





Me (fairly thrashed after too many hours out in the 100 degree heat) holding my homemade sign.


All photos by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 24, 2008 in Beverly Hills, CA

Franklin Canyon Park
2600 Franklin Canyon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA
(310) 858-7272

FAMILY TRUCK

John and Paul Thaden - father and son. The truck (a 1995 Ford F150 XLT) was originally owned by John's Dad, Clarence, who passed it down to his grandson Paul.

Photos by Lydia Marcus
Photographed July 26, 2008 in Encino, CA

TIME TRAVELER

Polaroid photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed February 24, 2007 in Encino, CA

For behind the scenes info about the making of this photograph go see it on my Flickr page.

A HONEYDEW FOR ME AND YOU

On Sunday I had some fresh honeydew and just when I was about to throw out the rind I decided why not let Lucy have a lick at it. I put it on the floor of the kitchen and in mere seconds she had picked it up in her mouth and carried it into the living room - her favorite spot to eat any treat. She loved the honeydew (her first time tasting it) and I had a blast taking photos.

Lucy placing the honeydew "bowl" down on the carpet.

Digging in full snout.

Getting tired of eating standing up, Lucy takes a more relaxed approach.

Licking her chops at the tail end of the sugar rush.

This is my favorite photo - the look in her eyes says it all - honeydew hangover!

At this point, she just started looking guilty - either she thought she'd done a bad thing or perhaps the honeydew was just too much of a good thing.

Pure honeydew exhaustion - sugar low - Lucy MUST rest.

Lucy The Boxador photos by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 17, 2008

GETTY GREEN

Getty Center photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 15, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA

WHO IS TOUGHER?

OR

Halloween Polaroid photos by Lydia Marcus
Photographed October 31, 2006 in West Hollywood, CA

TESTAROSSA & TRASH

Testarossa & Trash photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed May 13, 2008 in Beverly Hills, CA

ENCINO COMMONS: THE VALLEY'S MIRACLE MILE

A new sign reaching across the Plaza de Oro to the Encino Town Center. I like it!

Encino Commons photo by Lydia Marcus
Photographed August 13, 2008 in Encino, CA