Chicken IS always Good

iPhone with Hipstamatic

Stumbled across this sign while Walking the Earth in Washington DC.  I love Cooking Chicken so many ways - I have witnessed grown men weep joyous tears when eating chicken cooked in my magic La Caja China.

White House Washington DC

Postcard from last Week . . . White House in the Spring / Washington DC

See more in the White House Gallery here: Washington DC Photography

Postcard from Last Week

Blizzard 2010

4' of Snow fell on Washington DC over 3 days in early February 2010. The entire Washington DC Metro area was virtually shut down for a week. Here is a gallery of images - all taken within 100 paces of my Fireplace. See Gallery Here: Blizzard 2010 Washington DC

Snow - Images by Randy Santos / dcstockimages.com

Postcard from this Week

Occasionally while skimming through the Washington Post I'll check out my Horoscope. Just for fun, not that I really believe any of that Hocus-Pocus Mumbo-Jumbo. But one the other day one really hit me. So much so that I cut it out and taped it on my monitor:

LIBRA (Sept 23 - Oct 23) This is ground control asking you to come back to Earth. Living in a space of infinity possibility has it's advantages, but at some point you need to touch your feet to the ground and get to work. This is that moment.

The funny thing is, even though I love to Walk the Earth, I broke contact with ground control long ago. They may be calling but I have long since changed frequency. I enjoy operating in the Stratosphere at my current sustained cruising altitude. It works for me.

Postcard from this Week

Postcard from this Week

Saturday Morning Part II

My friend Keith's comments (one of my 7 readers) on the previous post got me thinking. On my little Saturday Morning Walking the Earth strolls I take so many photos, most of which I never show here. I just do a quick edit of whatever I find interesting and throw them up. Lucky for me my brain is just wired differently than most regular folks. I literally see everything around me in terms of shapes, patterns, color, and light. With my trusty G-9, I'm simply capturing what I see, to share my vision of how I observe the wonderful World around me. It's like good healthy food for my constantly swirling brain. Hopefully this inspires others to slow down and look around.
(click images to enlarge)
So, my point is, with Keith's comment, having actually inspired someone, inspired me to go back and review what I shot Saturday morning, a group of well over 100 images. I quickly selected a few more that made me smile. Images that didn't make the first cut but upon review seem worthy of sharing. They may be good, they may be bad, I don't know, But for me that's not the point, it's just what I do, Thank God. And btw, thanks Mom (one of my other 7 readers) for my over-stimulated hyperactive brain. You are beautiful and I Love You!

Washington DC Architecture

I love the architectural details of Washington DC buildings and am constantly shooting more images than I can deal with and adding to my collection of Washington DC images. Had a nice little shoot last week at 12th and Constitution and afterwards took advantage of the wonderful gloomy weather to shoot some images of patterns and shapes that make me feel happy inside. Bad weather makes good images. I love the soft effect of dreary overcast light on interesting architectural details. Here are just a few from my stroll around the block. See a little gallery of all the images shot here: Gallery of New Washington DC Architectural Images.
(click images to enlarge) All images are either of the Old Post Office Pavillion or the EPA Building. You can always view my main gallery of DC architecture on dcstockimages.com here: Washington DC Architecture

Perfectly Perfect

Ever have one of those days where you just feel the magic of the World tingle down your spine? I did Saturday. I spent the day having my oldest Son Brady drive me around town to shoot various locations I had image requests for, but didn't have in my collection of DC images. After knocking out all the locations we stopped by Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill to give it a try. Afterwards, walking back to our truck, and ready to head home, we were bathed in what some call the "magic light". I know it when I see it, knew something good was about to happen and couldn't let this pass me by. I had Brady quickly pull down and double park on the West Side of the Capitol, told him to sit tight, I wouldn't be long, this light will only last 15 minutes max. Well, the light just got better and better, one of those times where you really feel like you are moving through the world exactly according to plan. As I looked around, I was basically the only one out there (except for a few with cell phone cameras) shooting images of this fleeting moment. I felt like I was the only person on Earth , at that moment, feeling this beautiful scene before me. Maybe it's all in my mind but that's all that really matters anyway, that's where the fun is. I wish I could have shared that feeling with everyone I know. I can only share the images so here are just a few from that 30 minute perfectly magical window. (click images to enlarge)

Postcard from this Week . . .

Snow Day

Yesterday was our first real snow of the year. The kids had off school so I decided to take a snow day too. We spent the entire day outside around a nice warm toasty fire. James made Smores and I drank dark beer. Just for good measure I cooked a pork shoulder all day to absolute perfection. Nothing beats sitting around all day, stoking a warm fire, in the snow, eating Smores, enjoying a tasty selection of dark beers, and topping off the day with mouthwatering pulled pork barbecue. As James said, "This will give me good dreams". (click images to enlarge)I think I'll do it again today.

Quick Stroll through Georgetown

Had another APA/DC event to attend recently, this time in Georgetown. I arrived a hour early to deal with parking and have a nice pre-event stroll. As usual, I took way to many photos of random things but there's so much good stuff around if you just look and allow yourself to see. Besides, it keeps my brain busy and at least makes me feel like I'm being creative and productive. here's a few. (click images to see larger)

Postcard from this Week . . .

SummerTime in Chinatown

Yesterday my youngest son James wanted to ride the Metro. We've had just a beautiful string of SummerTime weather this August. Sunny low humidity temperate days and cool summer evenings. All the windows open at night with that cool Summer Breeze makes for great sleeping weather. SummerTime is meant to be enjoyed, work can wait, I'd rather go downtown with my kids anyway. We ended up heading down to Chinatown just to walk around, enjoy the craziness of the city, and have lunch. I love the architecture of the older DC buildings and there's still quite a bit left in the Chinatown area. Here's a few shots from yesterday, just for fun, all right at the corner of 7th + H, NW.
(click images to see larger)These little outings are actually "work". The last time we went to Chinatown, as anywhere we go, I took photos. One image of the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro ended up on the cover of Modern Luxury Magazine. Another image of the Chinatown Arch was licensed by the Washington Convention Center for their lobby, 6'x8'.

Saturday Morning ...

. . . in Glenwood, MD with my best little buddy, my Canon G-9.
(click images to see larger)

Postcard from this Week . . .

Postcard from this Week . . .

Change

Everyone is talking about Change. Change is good. I like change. In fact every few years I get the urge to change my work and direction. This is a good thing, for me at least.

I'm in one of those transmorphic phases now. I'm creating a new LiveBooks Website and am having a little trouble deciding on images to include. I put images up and take most of them down, seeing them as the past. I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up. I always used to say, "If you don't know where you're going you'll sure as hell get there". Well, I know where I want to go it's just sometimes I change paths. I'm kind of travelling along the winding country road through life. I have the destination, I'm just taking the scenic route.

It can be hard to reinvent yourself and market your work in a new direction. Also to let go of previous work and the income it provides. But change is good and is what makes you wake up with a smile. I see the future as bright and shiny.

I haven't shot anything this week because I've been obsessing over this LiveBooks site and what images to include. I've really only just now finished the Things section. The other two sections I'm not thrilled with and will change, and come to think of will probably change some of the Things gallery I just completed. In going through various groups of past images I have actually found several forgotten about images I like. Here's a few:

Details: Part Deux

With regards to the project mentioned on the previous post. The client's feedback on image selection was that some images provided would be suitable. But, more images were needed specific to to Leesburg, VA in order to complete this project. When I get these projects I want the entire project to consist of my images. Considering the size of this project, and that I knew any additional new images created would have future value, I decided on Friday to drive out to Leesburg and see what I could come up with just for fun.

I basically shot from 11am-2pm. It was a beautiful day but incredibly fridgely cold, like 12 degrees. A little tough for me to get the old creative juices flowing when my brain is frozen solid but I tried. Here's a few I like. If interested you can view a gallery of many more images here: Leesburg Gallery. It was worth the effort, many of these images will generate imcome in the future.