LUBD does St. Patrick's Day!

My friends Sara and Jayson always throw a raging St. Patrick's day party. Actually, it's usually pretty laid back and mellow. This year they asked Level Up Beat Down to play the party. They set up in the small space in the living room and seemed to enjoy the change of venue. They had learned some Irish songs especially for the occasion and impressed everyone with their mad music skills! They were asked to play their first encore and they gained a couple of fans! It was their first time playing in the East Bay and this made it possible for my parents to make it to a show! All-in-all, it was a good, fun show. I hope to hear the Irish songs again. Please don't take them off your playlist!

LUBD at Unity Music in Santa Rosa

This was a some show. There were MANY bands playing and while one was playing on stage, the other set up on the floor. This continued throughout the night. I only watched Level Up Beat Down because the other bands were a little more harder than my liking. I did, however, meet a mother whose son goes to Novato High. What a small world! It was a fun show. The guys seemed to enjoy themselves. And, the teeny bopper girls came running in when they played Lady Gaga. They at least gained one fan from the show, which is what it's all about, right?




I loved the big sun rug behind the stage. It made for some great shots.

A study in low light, no flash

A friend convinced me to attend a Level Up Beat Down band practice while on Thanksgiving break. Even though there was no heat in the little room and I sat snuggled in my big coat, scarf and gloves, it turned out to be a good experience. It seemed too intrusive to use flash and there was only one little lamp in the room, so I played around. I upped the ISO to 3200, an option I did not have on my previous camera. It makes the pictures really grainy, but I was actually able to take pictures without flash. Here's the best of the bunch.
This first one was taken with an 800 ISO. I like the blurriness, although you can tell I wasn't holding the camera steady because the microphone is blurred too.

The only semi-good picture I was able to get of Russ. He was too close to me.

I took many pictures of the single light in the room. It photographed well and was visually interesting.

I think you can tell in every picture I have of Stephen that he loves to play the bass and he is very photogenic.

I tried to get some good drumsticks moving pictures, but it didn't work so well with the limited amount of light. I did like that I got the little band drawing Mic did in this picture.

South Beach, Pt. Reyes

I had a day off for Veteran's Day and decided to get out of the house. My goal was to reach the Point Reyes Lighthouse, but I didn't know how far it was and didn't think to fill the car with gas. When the needs gas light came on, I decided to find a place to stop, not sure that I could make it to the lighthouse and then to a gas station. I found South Beach. It's a small little beach, which had about 10 people visiting it. I grabbed my deli sandwich, my journal and my IPOD. It was nice to have some beach time. The weather this year kept me from my usual beach outings. After lunch, I grabbed my camera and took a walk.



I really like how the fog and the clouds blend into one in this picture. It really was a beautiful day. I brought a jacket, but it stayed in the car. This picture is the physical reminder I have of a calm, relaxing, slow-moving, thoughtful day. I need more days like this.

I couldn't decide if I liked the picture with my shoes in focus or the one with the shoes out of focus. Although, the colors in the first one are a lot better. I really liked this idea. Now to find a beach that doesn't have a curved road leading to it.


I like how the focus is on the street reflectors. There's a lot of possibility in this picture. Will you ever get to the beach? Does the road curve away or towards it? You just don't know. That's what I like about it.

Meet ...Level Up Beat Down...

Level Up Beat Down is the hubbies new band. They played their first gig at the Phoenix in Petaluma Saturday night. They seemed to have a lot of fun and played a solid show. There were a couple of tunes I recognized and to my relief their music is more accessible than his last two bands. My pictures are only ok, I need to get used to the new camera. It seems that I also forgot how to shoot in low light. I've been busy taking photographs outside. There are also things I could do with the D70 that I have to read the manual for on the new camera. I'm so lazy.

First up...Mic...Drummer Divine...


Russ...Singer Superb, Guitarist Glorious ...


Stephen...Bassist Brilliant

I saved Stephen for last because this is my current favorite band photo. I just love the lighting on this. I'm not sure about the focus. I think it makes more sense to have what he's looking at in the photo. But, it does add a little bit of mystery to it. The picture of Andrew with the light on him and his drums is still my top favorite.

Can't forget the token group shot.

You'll be seeing more of these guys, as their booking shows like they haven't played in years.

Arizona

I had the joy of seeing the state of Arizona for the first time. It was wonderfully hot and three days there just wasn't enough. We went for my husband's cousin's wedding, but had a little time and a rental car to do some exploring.

Botanical Gardens
The cacti had many flowers and the contrast between the flowers and the sharp spines was an obvious picture of my life - lots of harshness with a bit of beautiful mixed in. I think it's why I took so many pictures. This I thought was the best. I'm working on trying to see more beauty in my everyday life.

In the midst of all the cacti was a little butterfly world. They had misters in this world, which made it feel a bit cooler than the surrounding areas. The butterflies just sat there, waiting to be photographed.


This little guy quickly became my friend. I took many pictures of him because he just sat there and smiled. He must have thought that I was just as interesting as I thought he was.

A spiny little cactus amidst the rocks.


Papago Park - This is my new favorite place in Arizona. Not that I've been to a lot of places in Arizona. This part of the park is literally called Hole in the rock. It's a very short "hike" to the top. I don't think you can really call it a hike because there are actually stairs carved into the rock. You sit right in the middle of the hole and an amazing breeze blows right through as you stare at the vast flatness that is Arizona. It was the highlight of my trip and worth every penny for the rental car.




I have also added a new favorite tree to my list of favorite trees. I just like them all! The Palo Verde is the state tree of Arizona. It is an amazing tree. It has green bark because it has chlorophyll in it. If it gets too dry and the leaves fall off, it is still able to make its' own food. Amazing! Here I am looking at the teeny, tiny leaves. I just adored the tiny leaves.

Back in Business!

My new camera has arrived!! I'm going to have to develop some muscles to use this powerful piece of photographic beefiness. I am a Nikon devotee and was debating replacing my stolen D70 with either a D90 or D300. After waffling for quite some time, my husband talked me into the D300. It will have a learning curve. There's so much I can do with it and it will really push me to be more creative and knowledgeable. It is quite a bit heavier with the metal casing instead of plastic, but that also makes it a lot more weather proof. It has so many buttons, right now, I can figure out about 1/3 of them on my own. Hopefully I can develop into a photographer worthy of such a tool. With that, here are the first pictures with the new camera!

Bees and Basil - Bees are extremely difficult to photograph, especially at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. They are busy and in almost constant movement. I also met a nice little spider, actually he's rather large, and he was really enjoying all the bees present.