Snap! Some dogs love water!

This spring, Clara volunteered at a wonderful animal sanctuary in southern California called Living Free. One of the projects she took on was refurbishing the pond in the "big dog park." She had to clean it out and fill it. She usually brought one of the dogs with her to the park while she did the work, and this one loved playing with the water while Clara filled the pond. I thought these action photos made a good foursome to share with Helena's snap meme this week.

Snap! Interesting Japanese Folk, Part 2

I really enjoyed photographing the people in Japan, as well as tourist attractions, architecture, and nature. The bottom row are typical workers. The top row includes people dressed up to work with tourists: a group of Samurai that stopped for ice cream and to take a selfie and someone willing to transport tourists in a rickshaw. Linking up with Helena's Snap! photography meme this week.

Snap! Interesting Japanese Folk, Part 1

When we travel, I try to do more than just take photographs of the standard tourist attractions (although I do take plenty of those shots). I also enjoy taking photographs of interesting people I see. So, I thought I'd share a couple groupings of interesting Japanese folk as part of Helena's Snap! photo meme. I took the first photo at the Inari temple, spied the second pair trying to decide which bus to take in Kyotoa, and the last two at a baseball game. More interesting folk coming next week.

Snap: Japanese Street Hole Covers

While traveling in Japan, the variety of street hole covers caught my eye. I decided to take pictures of them in the hopes of turning them into an entry for Helena's weekly photo meme called "Snap!" that features a visual set of photographs. The first photo was taken in Tokyo on the street where our hotel was located; the second features deer and was taken in Nara, home to a park full of wild, sacred deer (blog post coming sometime this summer).The third was taken near an amazing bamboo forest (blog post coming sometime this summer); and the last was a fairly typical one taken in Kyotoa (but I loved the characters).
Thanks Helena for hosting this meme. It's something that I do think about and have created other sequences for almost every week, even if they didn't make their way to my blog. 

SNAP: Spring Wildflowers!

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been posting much or visiting blogs. But I'm still here!
I thought I'd post this lovely group of wildflower photographs and link up with Helena's Snap meme. You can see more of this week's snap photos here. I took these while walking to dogs up on the bluffs that overlook the Maverick's surf spot near my house. The flowers are each so tiny that they feel like little treasures when I find them.

Snap! Baseball season is coming!

A couple of weeks ago, while Henry was interviewing with the San Francisco Giants for a summer position in their Junior Giants Community Fund, I walked around the ball park a bit and took these four different photographs of the cement baseballs behind the park. I put together these  four photographs for this week's Snap! photo meme where people share four related photographs. For more of this week's selections, check out Helena's blog here. 

Snap! Artists at Work

Last Thursday, I posted some photos from a recent trip to tour the murals in San Francisco's Mission District. For today's Snap!, I'm posting four photos that form a photo essay about the artists working on the murals. We noticed some artists at work in one of the alleys, and my friend Lane suggested we go talk to them. I asked one of them if I could take his picture. He said sure. Then turned around and said, "Professor Ontiveros, is that you?" It turns out he's one of my former students! Lane snapped this photo of us:

Needless to say, I was totally surprised! It took me a while to recognize him because he was out of place, know what I mean? Anyway, it was interesting to talk with him about his art. He's been painting street murals since he was a kid and on this beautiful sunny day, he just decided that he couldn't stay in the library anymore and decided to head to the alleys to paint. He met the alley owner several years ago when they did a mural painting benefit fundraiser to fight cancer. The alley owner invited him to return anytime he wanted.  My favorite photo in my collage is the paint kit (which includes, uh, liquid refreshment!). My friend Lane who toured the murals with me is also quite a photographer. He took this great portrait of another one of the artists:

Lane had the advantage of carrying his big camera, while I was shooting with my iphone. But I am still happy with my Snap! (a group of four photos that tell a story). For other Snap! groupings, check out Helena's blog.

Snap! Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday was Valentine's Day in the United States (is this the same all over the world?), and I made a little collage of three photos to share. Two from our wedding day in 1984 and one of the beautiful roses my husband gave to me this year. I thought they made a lovely Snap! to share at Helena's this week.

Snap! Brave four ways

My one little word for 2016 is "Brave," and I've been playing around in my art journal with its various meanings. So, this week for Helena's Snap meme, I'm sharing photos of four of my pages. They're all slightly different styles, but I like them all. Do you have a favorite?

Snap: Goodbye Dear Friend. . . .

We recently had to say good-bye to Clara's dog Aria. Those two had such a close bond, it was incredible. I created an art journal page to say good-bye and a photo collage for Clara. It's a bittersweet Snap to share at Helena's blog this week.

Snap! The Texture of Nature

Last week while hiking in Southern California, I spied this interesting plant. I love it's shape and silhouette and texture. So, I decided to capture four versions of it for Helena's Snap! meme.  I've always been captivated by seed pods, and I think these look . . . I don't know, almost dangerous! I'm looking forward to using the photos to sketch a bit later on.
Anyone know what kind of plant this is? I'd love to find out.
Happy Snapping!

Snap x2! Making Friends at the Animal Sanctuary

I've been spending some time in Southern California where my sister lives. Clara's down here, too, and she took me to visit Living Free Animal Sanctuary, a wonderful animal rescue with lots of open space for the animals. On the tour, we visited the cattery, and she made friends with this very friendly cat. I made this triptych for Helena's Snap Meme (a series of one to four photos on a related topic). 
Of course, Clara loves dogs, too. And she spent some time with this  big guy named Ross.

He's very shy, but as you can see, he's taken to her because my girl is such an animal whisperer.
So, that's two different versions of the weekly Snap! because I couldn't decide which I liked best. For more Snap! fun, go check out Helena's blog here.

Snap! Superfoods

Cashew Nuts

Goji Berries

Hemp Seeds

Chia Seeds

This year, Helena is hosting a photo meme called Snap!  It should be a "visually linked set of between 2 and 4 images."  For week #2, I am sharing four images of superfoods - natural foods that pack a huge nutritional boost. This year, I am making a lot of Superfood Smoothies (which are inspired by the book of the same name by Julie Morris). These are four of my  favorites, and I thought they would make a good set of photos for this week's Snap! They also qualify as #7 Berries and/or Nuts for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt!

I also created a four photo collage with the goji berries, cashews chia seeds and acai powder (clockwise from upper left), but visually I think I like the four individual photos better.

I also made a few collages with six images (these also include flax seed meal in the lower right hand corner). Two other superfoods I enjoy that are not included in any photos are cacoa powder and camu berries. It's been fun to play with different ways of photographing these superfoods. Thanks for the challenge Helena.

Anyone else including superfoods in your diet?

Snap! Happy New Year!

Helena has been hosting a weekly photography challenge for a few years now. For 2016, her theme is "Snap!" She has in mind "between 2 and 4 photos that create a visual set." I like the idea of Snap! as a very small photo essay. 

I'm not sure how this will play out, but for my first Snap Set, I'm sharing four photos from New Year's Eve. 

To me, they capture the joy of being young and celebrating with friends, 

of being confident that your life is good,

and knowing you have a bright future ahead.

What do you think? What will you snap this year?