Modern Art Collection at Stanford's Cantor Museum

The "Sister" Horse at Stanford

Now I have an urge to move this work to Shoreline Park.

The Idea of Horses

California

Big Sur Coast (Garrapata State Park)

Garrapata State Park is probably the most photoed state park on the Big Sur coast.

Due to this week's big storm, the trail is closed, but the view is too irresistible.

A snap, a better photo will have to wait for another day.

A footbridge was installed lately. I consider it a good use of my tax money.

Golden Bamboo

Nine Koi

Looking at the fish pictures certainly made me nostalgic, something I had long forgotten suddenly resurfaced. At my childhood home in Taiwan, a painting of nine koi hung on our dining room wall. (In Chinese, nine koi symbolize "live long and prosper".) Under the gazes of the nine fishes, our family shared food for more than two decades. In 2004, my parents moved to a high rise apartment (government housing). Because the space of their new home was smaller, many of my parents' painting collections were put into storage. I had never seen the nine koi again. I had totally forgotten about it. Until today.

Lanterns of Hakone Garden

#6 Shrine - Resembles a primitive Shinto Shrine.  Gift of Muko-shi, Japan, Saratoga's Sister City.

#2 Snow Viewing - Developed in the 16th Century with a wide roof for deep snow accumulation, wide light box, and 3 or 4 legs. May be rustic or refined.

#5 Lotus - The sacred flower found in water. It's part of a triad of lanterns around the pond.

Lantern near the water fall. I couldn't find any details of this one on the brochure.

#1 Kasuga - Pedestal lantern used at entrances of gardens and Buddhist temples as the "guardian". The carvings on the light box indicate its origins.

#4 Misaki (front) - The Beacon which shrines its light across the water. That it is of simple form and workmanship is an important aspect. 

#3  Kanju-ji - From Edo Period, Kanju-ji Temple, Kyoto. The proportions of the rectangular forms and openings represent an austere and quiet simplicity. (I noticed people put money on top of and inside the lantern. Don't know what it means. Is it like throwing coins to a fountain and making a wish?) 

Waterfall, Hakone Garden

The interesting thing about photographing waterfalls is: you never know what your photo will look like until the exposure is done. Sure, you have a pretty good idea once you have done enough long exposures, but how the silky water turns out is always a mystery, a welcoming surprise. Every time, I am delighted by what the camera sees. It shows me the world my eyes can't see and teaches me to be humble and trust the process.

Movies to Watch for Armchair Backpackers

Pacific Sunset

                                  "What childishness is it that while there's breath of life in our bodies,

                                    we are determined to rush to see the sun the other way around?"

                                                                                                                                       Elizabeth Bishop

Don't Look Back

It was dark and I knew I shouldn't stay on the trail any longer. "Pack your things and go, straight to your car, don't look back", I told myself. But of course I looked back. Part of the photography training is you always check the opposite view. I stopped on the trail and took yet another photo (now really the last one). Then I remembered the myth of Orpheus. No doubt Eurydice would be doomed if I were Orpheus.

The Road Home

I was heading back to my car after today's photo shoot. As usual, it was almost dark and I was the only person on the trail. Far away, the passing car lights on hwy 1 were like beacons, telling me where I should be going. Suddenly, I had an urge to capture this moment, the empty trail, the long way back. Going home is often the loneliest part of a journey. 

A Day on the California Coast

Seeing Colors

The bright and saturated LCD screen of my new phone is very misleading. Photos appeared to look good often turn out to be disappointing when viewed on a laptop (the opposite is also true for my DSLR, where photos look so so can be much better when viewed on a bigger screen). Slowly I learn to adapt my eyes, but it is still a lot of hit-and-miss. 

The unexpected effect of having an overly saturated display is I start to pay more attention to colors. I go back to basics, to compose in one color, two (complimentary) colors, and a jumble of colors. Photos taken this way help me to appreciate paintings. When I noticed the mixed colors of a Japanese maple tree made a photo look like an Abstract Expressionism painting, I thought, "this is so cool"!