Can of Corn Challenge: An early baseball memory (April)

P.J. has convinced me, or probably like tricked me into another writing challenge.  He's done a good job, noting several times in the past that I seem to write more frequently when I have these challenges in front of me, so here goes.  This is a monthly challenge, to write about baseball.  Today's topic is an early baseball memory.

I grew up in Orange County, a suburb of Los Angeles.  Disneyland was only 6 years old when we moved to California.  The Lakers hadn't hit their stride yet and baseball was all about the Dodgers.  I listened to Vin Scully on the radio for Dodger baseball, but whenever we went to a game, it was always to Anaheim, to see the Angels play.  The stadium was close to home and we'd always see either Cleveland Indians or the Chicago White Sox.  

Anyway, we'd go to the game, pay a buck fifty to sit up in the upper deck by the left field foul pole and watch an Angel game.  Always the Chicago White Sox or the Cleveland Indians.  I hadn't really thought why, but I was fairly young, so as far as I knew, the only teams in the American League were the Angels, the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox.  I didn't know any different.

My first game that I can remember seeing, I saw catcher Tom Egan hit a two run homer for the Angels, then saw Andy Messersmith hit a solo shot.  Both homers cleared the left field fence and two lucky baseball fans went home with souvenirs that day.  I was shocked really.  In the past, listening to the games on the radio, I always assumed that the ball had to be thrown back on to the field so the players could keep playing.  Who knew?

From then on, I always brought a glove to the game.  We were always in the upper deck, so they never came up there, but I could still be an optimist.

The day after last night

I tried to think about what I might be able to use to write about this prompt.  I thought to myself that I wonder what kind of photo I could use with this, so I decided to let the fates decide.  I went to my Flickr account and thought it might be interesting to just post a photo of the last shot that got faved there and write a story around it.

I actually got very lucky since it could have been one of my more recent shots, but someone apparently found the shot of downtown Los Angeles in the archives and faved it today.

I enjoy going to LA, mainly because there's a lot to take photos of there.  I can take the train in from where I live and it drops me off at Union Station, right next to Olivera Street.  A couple of blocks over and I'm in Chinatown.  Three blocks the other way, I'm in Little Tokyo.  Up a couple of blocks a third way and I can then walk all the way around Walt Disney Concert Hall.  It's like you're in a time warp, where the day after last night keeps happening over and over again, you get to see different cultures and yet never really do any kind of traveling.

The other thing I enjoy about this area is it affords me to practice my street photography.  I know not everyone is comfortable taking photos of random people on the street and at times it can feel very intimidating.  But I've found that I can document life on the street in a variety of ways, not all of it nice, but all of it real.  Sometimes I post those shots in color, but most of the time, I'll post them in monotone.  For whatever reason, I feel that the monotone gives the shot a more authentic look to it, almost like something out of the past.

Street photography has its own rewards and it can present problems.  Most people don't like other people taking photos of them.  I understand that, but if no one took any photos how could we document what's happening out there?  I've tried a technique with a varying degree of success.  I'll see a shot, compose it in my mind, then walk by it with my camera in my hand upside down and fire off shots as I walk away.  With the zoom lens and the auto focus, I can sometimes get some very interesting shots that way.

Other times, I'll just take a shot, because it looks interesting.  Many people don't really notice when you're taking your shot, especially if you don't get in somebody's face about it.  That's another reason to carry a zoom lens along.  It makes for a less intimidation factor when you're in a crowd taking shots.

No matter what day I go, whether it's yesterday, tomorrow or the day after last night, I find the subject matter in the downtown area has always changed, so there's always new shots.  But at the same time, the subject matter is also constant and doesn't change.  I hope that makes sense.

Photo Blogging Challenge (February 2014): Red

So it occurs to me that I need to blog more often than once a month.  My last post was for this same photo blogging challenge on the theme new.  This one is on the theme red.  The photos I posted for last month's theme, I thought were rather good, yet I only received 2 comments about them.  It's kind of disheartening when that happens which may be a contributing factor in me not writing more.  

The other reason is February has been an incredibly busy month for me.  I participate in our school's Shakespeare club and our performance happens this Wednesday during school hours and then again on Thursday evening.  Seeing middle school kids memorize Shakespeare has always been amazing, even more so when I get involved in the process and it takes me forever and a day to get all of my lines down.

But on to this month's theme - RED

I really haven't thought about the theme that much this past month (Sorry P.J.), but when I looked at my shots I came up with six that I think will work quite well with the theme, so here we go.

1.  "K" Line
A couple of weeks ago on the 365 project, I was pushed to take a shot of some real live trains.  I'd been posting shots of the model trains when I went to the Great American Train Expo in January and my push partner wanted me to think bigger.  Coming home from a geocaching trek out in the desert, I stopped at this overpass in Colton, as it's right on the edge of a huge rail yard next to Interstate 10.  This shot ended up being one of the ones I posted for that particular challenge.  Many people at 365 weren't quite sure if it was a real shot or if it was another model train shot.  I assure you, these trains are huge, nothing that any of us could pick up by hand.

2.  Monorail Red
Back when I was in college, I worked at Disneyland.  It was one of those great summertime jobs that worked out well with my schedule while I was in college.  People always ask me where I worked when they find out I worked there.

I worked on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, Mike Fink Keel Boats, worked one Christmas and New Year's on Pirates of the Caribbean and the last summer I was there, I worked on the Monorails.  

Each ride had its own special appeal and you had a different thought process with each ride.  Someone asked me once if I ever went back to work at the park, which ride would I go to and without hesitation, I would choose the canoes.  I don't think I really appreciated it at the time, but when you think about it, there's not too many places and/or jobs where you can get an 8 hour workout and get paid for doing it.

When we went to the park a couple of weeks ago, I told them I had worked on the monorails and they asked whether I wanted to see the new look of the cockpit.  I'd driven the old Mark III monorail and this was the much improved Mark VII.  The driver now has the ability to go through an array of video displays keeping tabs on each riding compartment, including a rear display.  One time when I was driving, the train ahead of me broke down and I had to park my train over the motor boat cruise for about 20 minutes or so while they tended to the train in front of me.  Those cameras would have come in handy since one of the guests inside my train decided to jump out.  I'll never understand why people will do such stupid things in order to "save" themselves five or ten minutes of time.

3.  The Happiest Place on Earth
As noted above, we went to Disneyland over President's Day weekend.  My daughter flew down with her friend and she took me to Disneyland for my birthday.  Needless to say, it was one of the best trips I've had to the park in recent memory.  When we first entered into the park, we headed over to City Hall, so I could get my birthday badge, which I wore proudly the entire day.  I don't care how old you are, it's always nice to get birthday greetings from total strangers.  I started to seek out other people who share my day and wished them a Happy Birthday as well.  I don't think I should be that amazed in once sense, but it was quite fun to notice all the people who share my birthday.  

Later on, the younger set decided they all wanted some kind of hat to commemorate the occasion and a stop at the Mad Hatter's shop next door to Alice in Wonderland was in order.  Both my daughter and her friend got matching Minnie Mouse ears that they wore proudly throughout the rest of the day.  My son bought a Peter Pan hat and later in the day a small child even called him Peter Pan.

4.  Upland Station
Last weekend, I took the Metrolink train into Union Station on a reconnaissance mission.  At school, I run a photo club and the teacher across the hallway runs an art club.  We've talked about taking a field trip into downtown Los Angeles on the train for both clubs and we wanted to scout out locations ahead of time.  Since the plan was to leave from the Upland station, we met here Saturday morning.  While I was waiting for her to arrive, I walked around and took some photos, catching this one of the station and the light clouds in the sky.  I thought the red tile roof worked as a nice color contrast to the rest of the shot.  I submitted this shot and the Monorail Red shot to the Yahoo weather app as well, but neither one was accepted.  

5.  Go for Broke Monument

Located in the Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles, the Go for Broke Monument highlights the contributions of all Nisei veterans of World War II. Most of these veterans were interred in concentration type camps for the duration of the war, yet still felt the need to enlist and serve their country of birth, the United States of America.

The memorial includes the names of all who served with the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service (MIS), 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and the 1399th Engineer Construction Battalion.

Old Glory just looked awesome from this angle.  I almost wished I'd brought my wide angle lens along on this trip, but I think this shot worked out well, even though it's kind of tight overall.

Well, that's another month of shots posted for the theme.  Please stop by P.J.'s blog to see other takes on the same thing by wonderful photographers.  And, once again, please comment below.  I really won't bite.

Photo Blogging Challenge (April 2013): Transportation

A friend of mine who writes several blogs has put out a photo challenge for bloggers, so I thought I might give this one a whirl.  As usual, I forgot about it until the very last moment, but since it's still April, I'm good to go on this one.  The challenge was to take five photos throughout the month centered around a certain theme.  The theme for this month was Transportation.  Here are my five photos.

1.  Space travel
OK.  This one may be cheating since this isn't the actual space shuttle, but it fits the theme and I'm going to use it.  This is the Ellison Onizuka Challenger Memorial in Little Tokyo near downtown Los Angeles.

As President Ronald Reagan spoke in one of his eulogies following the Challenge disaster back in 1986, "The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives.  We will never forgert them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."  

I didn't have enough years of teaching experience at the time to apply for the Teacher in Space program.  If offered a chance today, I'd go in a millisecond.

2.  Walking
These people were just cool.  I took several shots of them and in reality, what I should have done was call out to them to get a better shot, or possibly a strangers photo of one or several of them.  Each of them had their own style, from the two tone yellow and red pants, to the two toned hair style of the guy leading the group.  It's hard to see, but each side of his head, left and right, was a different color.

I've come to appreciate walking much more as I've gotten older.  I've never been a runner, but I enjoy hiking and I get out and walk the neighborhood as much as I can to get some exercise.  It's becoming more of a habit for me the older I get, which I view as a good thing (the habit of walking, not the getting older part).

3.  Traffic
Not much transporting going on here, at least on the westbound side of the freeway.  Traffic was pretty much stopped with only cars getting by on the right shoulder of the freeway when I took this shot.

I had been on my way home when I spotted the smoke from what I assumed was a brush fire.  I calculated where the fire was based upon my position and decided to get off one off ramp beyond my usual off ramp.  That was a big mistake because as soon as I got around a curve in the freeway, traffic stopped dead and I realized the fire wasn't up in the hills, but right in the middle of the freeway.  

I was able to get off at the next exit, but it took upwards of 30 minutes to get there and I didn't think I would have gotten a really good shot, but I parked my car, walked over the bridge overlooking the freeway and just about the time I got there, this flare up happened.  It must have been really burning earlier while I saw in traffic.  Had I gotten off at my normal exit, I think I would have gotten more flames, but I'm pretty satisfied with this shot.  

Los Angeles freeways are our life blood.  They get us where we want to go, but when some kind of "cholesterol" clogs those arteries, things tend to break down, as witnessed here.

4.  Scooter
I spotted this scooter parked in front of a garage door in our neighborhood this week.  It represents a cheaper form of motorized transportation, something that can get you around those kinds of jams depicted in the photo above.  I wouldn't take something like this on the freeway though.  It's way too small.

I rode a Honda Supersport back in the summer of 1983.  I took it many places, gave many friends lifts to different things.  It's amazing how many girls just want to ride a motorcycle.  I always carried a second helmet just "in case."  I took that motorcycle to and from my summer job at Disneyland on city streets most days during that summer.  I made the mistake of taking the freeway late one night home instead of city streets.  Riding next to a tall truck, I suddenly realized how vulnerable I was next to it and realized that if the truck came over, even though I was wearing all of the proper safety equipment, I would be hamburger.  I took a break from riding.  A couple of weeks later, my dad got into an accident, destroyed his knee in the process and neither one of us ever rode a motorcycle again.

5.  Bicycle
When I lived closer to work, I used to ride my bicycle.  It was only a mile and a half ride.  I still have that bicycle, but I haven't ridden it in years and I know it needs an overhaul.  I think one of the things I do during my summer break will be to get the bike safety checked, buy a new helmet and get back into riding.

It's funny, that although I enjoy riding my bike, I prefer walking and hiking for the simple reason that it's hard to take photos when you're riding.  Walking, if you see something, you can stop, compose your shot and fire away.  Riding would be a little more cumbersome to take photos, because the camera would be strapped away, so I'd have to stop, get the gear out, compose the shot and hope the shot I wanted was still there.  So in a way, I think I'm trying to talk myself out of riding a bike.

Now that you've read all of this, here's a link to others who have participated in the challenge for this month.

Street Photography

This past Saturday, I boarded the Metrolink to ride it into Union Station in Los Angeles.  I was meeting a friend there and our purpose was to find some of the local geocaches there, but the primary objective was to do a photo walk together.  Union Station is located just southeast of Dodger Stadium near downtown and it's in walking distance of several ethnic neighborhoods, so the photo opportunities were almost endless.

We ended up walking first through Olvera St., a Hispanic shopping district just outside the entrance of Union Station.  Unfortunately, most of the shops, at 10:00 in the morning were still boarded up so the place wasn't really hopping yet, we we walked up and then over to Chinatown which was only slightly busier.  

As we walked along the streets, I convinced myself that I was going to push myself to take some street shots today.  Just aim the camera and see what I could take.  Hopefully, I could get some interesting shots.  I think I got more than just some.  One of the things this area of Los Angeles is not lacking and that's homeless or down and out people, not necessarily homeless, but basically hurting for many creature comforts most of us consider commonplace.

Chinatown is a bustling area with many people coming and going and yet you could still see people trying to make do with what little they had.  I saw more than one person trying to catch a short nap on a bench before someone wearing a security badge rousted them and had them move along.

Street photography is very much different than taking a landscape photo.  It's easy to take a photo of a deer in the woods, or a mountain stream.  It's quite another thing to take shots of complete strangers, most going about their daily business.  This is sort of one step down from the 100 Strangers project which I've written about in the past.  With that project, you actually have to go up and ask the person's permission before taking the photo.  With street photography, you just take the shot.  Sometimes they come out OK, and other times they don't look so good.  

Many times I was literally shooting from the hip because I didn't want the person to know I was taking their photo.  There was nothing really clandestine about that, I just saw something that looked interesting and wanted to get the shot.  If the person knows they're being photographed, they will change their expression or possibly their posture.  I wanted a raw image of what I saw.

With street photography, there's somewhat of an ethical question about whether people are being exploited by photographers in general.  I'm sure I will get a variety of responses regarding that issue, but I look at it this way.  If photographers don't take these shots, how are we ever going to know about certain situations?  Do we not show it because people are uncomfortable about certain aspects of what was seen?

When I take photos, I feel like I'm telling a story of my day or hour, depending upon how much time I used my camera that day.  This was my story for most of Saturday. I don't see this every day, but I did see it on Saturday and I'd like to share it with you.

Downtown Los Angeles

Monday, I rode Metrolink into Union Station near downtown Los Angeles.   The purpose was to meet up with some friends of mine I'd met earlier through the 365 project. The plan was to take a couple of hours or so and go photo crazy.  We weren't even sure what we were going to shoot that day.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated immensely.  The day before and most of the previous night, it rained.  Monday was cloudy, but there were patches of blue sky, which made for some very photographic skylines.  My friends picked me up at Union Station and we went to lunch at a great Mexican restaurant on the edge of Olvera St., which is the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles and part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument.  

About a block or two north of there is Chinatown and to the north were a multitude of different buildings. So we had two different cultural area we could explore or architecture.  Either way, it would be fun and we could always come back and explore another area at a different time.  Monday, we chose buildings and architecture.

We walked south over the 101 freeway which cuts through the middle of downtown L.A.  There are proposals on the table to create a large central park on top of the 101 freeway.  This would create a large green area and allow more freedom of movement of pedestrians around the existing downtown area.  Whether the idea comes to fruition or not is a different story and I don't expect it to happen for awhile, given the current economic climate.

Once across the freeway, we saw the Los Angeles City Hall.  Across the street from the city hall is the State Dept. of Transportation building, otherwise known as Cal-Trans. It had a very upscale modern look to it and I spent some time there taking some shots.

Eventually we ended up heading west toward the Frank Gehry designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  The best way I can describe this building is a structure that was built out of stainless steel panels, then left out in the sun to melt and warp.  Wall panels seem to fall away from the structure or bend toward it.  A walkway has been designed so the public can walk all the way around the building, some times at a low vantage point, while at other times, up high to get different perspectives of the structure.  

The building panels had to be altered after the finished construction due to excessive reflective light from the sun off of the panels into nearby condominiums.  Light and temperature was excessive, so many of the panels have been sanded to reduce their reflective capabilities.  At one point, we walked by one section that reflected a blast of heat toward the street.  There was quite a temperature gradient at that point near the front of the building.

Eventually, we ended up at a small coffee house across the street from the hall.  After coffee, we walked back down toward Union Station, passing, among other things, Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Cathedral.  The cathedral sits right on the edge of the 101 freeway and would be right on the edge of the new park if it gets created.

I will be the first to admit, I'm not much of an architecture person, preferring instead the great outdoor cathedrals to the human built ones.  However, I had a great time photographing the buildings and would love to come back again, but if I do, it will be with a new lens, one with a wider field of vision than my current 28mm lens.