Snail Mail

I love snail mail. A distant friend and I have recently begun sending each other REAL MAIL, rather than emails or phone calls. It is intensely satisfying to put a pen to paper and write to a dear friend. It is also exciting to look in the mailbox and find a letter. I think this may be my new hobby. I used to write letters all the time, and I have had many pen pals over the course of my life. It all got wiped away by the internet. Email. Skype. The dreaded Facebook. Maybe I am regressing. I don't care. Modern technology and instant gratification be damned. I'm reverting to the old fashioned notion that all good things take time.

The mailbox also yielded some other excitement today: a book!!!! Creative Photography Lab by my friend Steve Sonheim with Carla Sonheim. Some photos I took using my smartphone are featured on page 23. How cool is that? Well, I think it's pretty cool.

I met the talented photographer Steve Sonheim and his wife Carla in Salida, Colorado. Now they live in Seattle and I don't get to see them as often as I would like. This new book might interest you if you want to learn how to take more expressive photographs. There are 52 exercises in the book. I have only had a chance to skim over it, but so far what I have read is great. I can't wait to do more of these exercises! I am honored and flattered that I was included. Thanks Steve! You can see more of Steve Sonheim's work here.

Mexico

Last week I had the good fortune to travel to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, to have a little getaway with my sister, my eldest niece Natalie, and her friend Grace. Girls only!!! We had fun. It was the first time I had ever been to that part of Mexico. So beautiful! So relaxing! So humid! I brought back some photos and a nice little heat rash. I didn't take that many photos, except for the ones I always take with my own eyes.

It was nice to see a familiar face - the desert iguana. Just like the ones in Joshua Tree!

Lots of pelicans

Sisters

Even artists need a holiday, every now and then. The visual library in my head has now been refilled. Back to the studio!