Wow. What an unexpectedly cool assignment I had today. This afternoon I was sent to Mountain View to photograph this man, Charles, and his unique garden and home decorations done in a Polynesian inspired theme. I didn't really know what to expect, some fountains, some plants, bamboo, tiki torches, etc. It was for the home and garden section so I thought it would be another boring photo or two of gardens as usual. Turns out Charles' place is unbelievably extraordinary, and I ended up spending 3 hours talking with him and getting the tour around his tiki-Gaudi-esk house and yard. How can I describe this very strange yet very cool experience? Let me explain what entering his place is like.
To start with, there are towers and towers of 80 feet high bamboo shrouding the entire house. It looks as if you are about to enter a jungle from a normal suburban street- and you are. Then you wander into his front yard filled with bamboo seedlings, a rock fountain, and tons and tons of plants. As you pass the alley and enter the backyard and are surrounded in lush green the smell of mold, moss, and dirt fills your nostrils. Then you hear the delicate and soothing sound of trickling water from his 20 or so fountains created from driftwood found at Santa Cruz beaches. (The plants, the smell, and the moisture in the air really reminded me of Hawaii, of course it's January and I was freezing out there.) Then you wander past the walls of bamboo and redwoods, past the two cages with quail, and come across a rock wall and pond compelete with a mosaic of tiles with salmon painted on them. Above you are wooden planks and you hear the shuffling and flapping of the 40 or so wild doves walking along them.
When you enter into the house, into the tiki room, it feels like a dream or something out of a movie. Charles puts on the lights and you start to take everything in. To the left are lamps made of ivory and pink shells. A stuffed puffer fish glows with red light. A taxidermied bobcat rears up and snarls in mid air. Paintings of sunsets and palm trees hang on the dark blue walls which glow from black lights while the ceiling is covered with an old fishing net. A window overlooks an alcove with a rock waterfall, tropical flowers, and plants. Above the window hangs a sign made of driftwood with bright orange lettering which reads "welcome to fantasy island". Around the right side of the room is a green and gold couch, lounging chair covered with a zebra print, and a gemstone-like coffee table covered with taxidermied quails and hawks. In the middle of the room, dozens of hand-carved tiki statues grimace. This is Charles' house.
That's the furnace on the right, I was really disappointed with it though. I was hoping for something ferocious looking with huge flames coming from its copper belly -maybe I'm letting Sweeney Todd affect my imagination there just a tad.
I love the lighting that is reflected into the student's faces from their notebooks. I love the sense of being an actor and performing in a theater you get from this perspective. And I love the cute intimate moment between them; for a moment they look like two high school kids in love -even though it's actually just a scene from the musical. But I like to pretend that it's both :)
Yeah, yeah....so I take a lot of kid photos. I'd say 50% of my photo assignments from here revolve around kids. That's because Menlo Park is a pretty kid-friendly town, and there are tons of really good schools around here. I can understand why so many people move here from the city. Let's face it, the city is not a good place to raise children, not if you want them to experience taking the school bus everyday, or running through the woods, or being able to walk home by themself without having to worry about getting runover by Muni or accosted by another crazy on the street (sorry, I'm in a bitter mood today). Anyways, I'll take kid photos anyday. Anytime I get a kid assignment it always puts me in a good mood, even when they cheese it up in front of the camera. These shots were for an upcoming story on the newly rebuilt elementary school in Woodside. This school is friggin' rich. I mean the whole project cost 14 million to complete. 14 million! Too bad some of that doesn't go to help the kids on the other side of the freeway. Here are some scenes of kids playing in the new school:
Kindergartners running and playing during recess (this photo really reminds me of my own childhood when I'd just run around the playground till my feet pulled under me.)
Wow. What an unexpectedly cool assignment I had today. This afternoon I was sent to Mountain View to photograph this man, Charles, and his unique garden and home decorations done in a Polynesian inspired theme. I didn't really know what to expect, some fountains, some plants, bamboo, tiki torches, etc. It was for the home and garden section so I thought it would be another boring photo or two of gardens as usual. Turns out Charles' place is unbelievably extraordinary, and I ended up spending 3 hours talking with him and getting the tour around his tiki-Gaudi-esk house and yard. How can I describe this very strange yet very cool experience? Let me explain what entering his place is like.
Last nite in an effort to show how local people are getting involved with the different campaigns for February's primary I shot the Obama headquarters in Palo Alto as they were all anxiously awaiting the results from the New Hampshire primary.
I knew today was going to be miserable. I was asleep last nite all snuggled up underneath the covers when I heard the rain and wind suddenley slam against my bedroom window as the storm of the century was just getting started. The wind was so strong it even kept shaking the whole house. So I knew today would be no picnic because my editors had told me that I was getting assigned to storm coverage which meant that I would be stuck in this horrible storm trying best to keep myself and camera dry. So, I bundled up in snowboarding jacket, beanie, scarf, galoshes and umbrella armed for whatever the elements would throw at me. When I got to the office no one really had any specific places they wanted me to cover, so I ventured out on my own looking for cool rain photos. Let me tell you storm coverage is miserable. Looking for good wild art photos is hard enough, now add in howling winds, fierce rain, and extremely dangerous driving conditions and you'll just get a taste of what it's like. Plus all the editors really are looking for are informational photos of flooded areas, so creativity is not so much of an option there. In all I spent about five hours today in the rain, scrambling to get decent photos. Not fun at all but luckily while I was on my way to get another info photo I saw these cute cows grazing by the side of the road. 
I've never seen cows like this before, they are striped in black and white -like pigs, and have very shaggy hair. I thought cows are usually solid colors or spotted. My coworker calls them oreo cows. Was trudging through the storm for five hours worth it? I'm still deciding.
