Living Vicurioiusly

Photo by John Sandel. It's not his fault I decided to use it as a cliche.

First, thank you. Really, that's the first thing.

I've been blogging at Pasadena Daily Photo since January 1, 2008. Although it's been a rewarding education in networking, writing, photography and friendship, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a fast track to sanity. But it suited me and I've loved it and it's time to let it go. 

I'll still blog. There's a blog at my website, where I post writing and bookish things. I'll blog here, too, but not every day. For now, it'll be Zen Mondays, and when the mood strikes.

Obviously I had to change the blog's name, and I hope you like the new one. At this point you don't have to change anything in your feed because I still have the pasadenadailyphoto url. But if you bookmark LivingVicuriously.net, you'll be directed here.

This is a big change for me. In some ways it's a break-up, and in some ways it's a relief. But mostly I'm grateful: to the City Daily Photo family, of which I've been a member all this time; to Eric Tenin, whose Paris Daily Photo inspired me and all of CDP to begin, to the wonderful people I've met and blogged about, to Pasadena itself, and to you. Mostly to you.

Zen Theme Day

It's City Daily Photo theme day. Our theme today is "Pedestrians Crossing."

It's also Zen Monday, so you get to tell us: What are these pedestrians doing? Are they crossing? You don't have to be right. You can make it up.

On theme days, I like to remind you about all the great City Daily Photo blogs out there in the world. Have you met Susie of Arabia? Check out her Jeddah Daily Photo Journal. And visit the other CDP bloggers participating in today's theme.

Navel Gazing

Boz at Devil's Gate Dam, October 2009

City Daily Photo didn't have a theme day on January 1st, so today we're celebrating The Festival of the Belly Button by contemplating our navels. The question I'm to ask myself is, over the time I've been blogging, how has my photography changed?

 

Boz has eyelashes, November 2012

Mostly, two things:
1) I'm more aware of little details than I used to be.

and

2) I am now more interested in telling a story or conveying an emotion than showing you a thing.

You'll find the links to other worldwide navel gazers here.

Theme Day: Water's Edge

 sometimes the watershed is wet

Conveniently timed with City Daily Photo's theme day, Pasadena's Department of Water and Power**, in collaboration with the Pasadena Museum of History, is launching a free exhibit at the Central Library entitled, Celebrating Pasadena's Water Centennial.

We live at the "water's edge" in Pasadena and that edge is receding, so I'm grateful for this extended opportunity to learn about where we stand.

  sometimes the watershed is dry

City Daily Photo has a new website! I used to give you a count of our worldwide members, but when we lost our previous site we lost our main way of staying in contact. And apparently many of those blogs were not active. Right now, Julie from Sydney, Australia is working with Peter from Sunshine Coast Daily Photo (also in Oz, thanks for the corrections, folks) to put it all back together. As of today's count, they had re-recruited 211* active blogs.


*see Julie's comments
**see Ann's comment

Theme Day: Bakeries

I thought I was going to miss this theme day. I thought I didn't have any bakery shots, and I knew I didn't have time to go get one.

But wait! This is why I never throw anything away.

Two years ago, I took this photo of student chefs from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena as they worked to help create the cake for Pasadena's 124th birthday.

It was tempting to steal one of those sugar/frosting roses. It's not like the  chefs were paying any attention to me. I could have gotten away with it.

Here's the post I wrote about the experience. I posted more photos on Overdog. I've been neglecting poor Overdog. Ah, well.

City Daily Photo is now 1463 blogs strong. Bellis will be thrilled to know that the newest member of the fold is Cambridge, UK! Stop by and give a hearty welcome. Click here to visit the other theme day participants.

Theme Day: Fences

The first of the month is our City Daily Photo theme day, and this time it's "fences."

I thought I'd get creative and run by the pawn shop, but ours is a venerated business in a historic building (not exactly a fence). Perhaps I'd locate some skilled athletes and photograph them with their epees. Nevermind. I got caught up in the Halloween rush.

So here's a fence. It's even a little spooky.

I got so caught up in the rush, in fact, that I forgot Halloween was Zen Monday and here it is Tuesday and we're having theme day. So tomorrow will be a historic Zen Wednesday, the second one in PDP history. (The first was in June of last year.)

City Daily Photo is a worldwide family of bloggers like me who love to photograph their hometowns. As of today, we're 1433 strong. Our newest member is MyHelsinkiCity, Finland. Click here to see how other CDP bloggers have interpreted today's theme.

Theme Day: Under Construction

A few years ago, the eyesore at the corner of Washington and El Molino was a problem liquor store that plagued the neighborhood. This photo is almost exactly two years old.

Now, thanks to Joel Bryant and Trademark Development Group, it's about to become the Classics at Washington Park, a group of eight craftsman-inspired townhomes.

From the website: "Four of the homes will be marketed and sold at prevailing market rate prices. The remaining four homes will be reserved for moderate-income homebuyers."

I think this tells you a lot about the neighborhood.

Bryant lives in the neighborhood. So do I. We both want what's best for the area and, after he showed me around the site yesterday, I can say he and I are definitely on the same page.

To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers have interpreted the theme, click here to view thumbnails for all today's participants. City Daily Photo is now 1391 blogs worldwide.

Theme Day: Photo of the Year 2010

City Daily Photo bloggers share a theme day the first of every month, and the first of the year we like to bring out our proudest moments. This is my favorite shot of last year, posted September 22nd: the Occidental College men's cross country runners at Hahamongna Watershed Park. They remind me of Pheidippides, or maybe just Greek gods. I love the sunset catching the dust at their heels.

Today also marks three years of daily blogging for me. There was a time this year when I thought I might not continue. After all, a daily blog is a big commitment. But the rewards are so many that I think I can keep going for a while longer. Thank you all so much for visiting. I appreciate each and every comment, each and every follower, each and every day.

Happy New Year!

City Daily Photo is now 1326 blogs worldwide, with new blogs joining every month. Today you'll see the best of last year, so I highly recommend you click here and visit some!

The Rose Parade streams live here:
http://www.ktla.com/entertainment/roseparade/livevideo/

1001

Among City Daily Photo bloggers, one's one thousandth post is a big deal. I knew mine was coming but it landed yesterday, Zen Monday. I wasn't about to mess with tradition just to toot my own horn. I didn't want to pass it up, however, so I chose today for tooting.

But what photo to post? I tried snapping photos about town of street addresses. (If you live or work at number 1000 on any Pasadena street, thanks for not chasing me off.) But when I took a look at the photos, all those 1000s seemed wrong when I knew I'd be posting on day 1001.

I considered a "best of" shot, more Boz, more Hahamongna, City Hall, the Huntington and other Pasadena favorites. I couldn't decide.

I was looking up information on the Rose Bowl when I noticed the street address of our famous landmark: 1001 Rose Bowl Drive. How handy for my 1001st post.

Theme Day: Reflections

Nordstrom shoppers at the Westfield Santa Anita Mall.

Here it is the first of the month again, and that means a City Daily Photo theme day. On the first I like to update you how many blogs we have in the family (1243), and today I'll also mention the newest, Oxford Daily Photo (UK). I spent a summer studying at Oxford in 1999 and I still miss it. Uhoh. A new blog to love.

Not every City Daily Photo blog participates in theme day.
Find out who's reflecting today!

Theme Day: Funny Signs

There may be a part of Pasadena I haven't scoured for funny signs, but I don't know where it is. I had to go to Valley Village to find this one (thanks for the tip, Lisa!).

Sometimes I want to tell people Los Angeles isn't as weird as folks say it is. Then I see something like this and I think, yes, yes it is.

If you don't think this sign is funny, click on it to enlarge it and check again. And if you still don't think it's funny, I recommend a super-size bag of Doritos.

There are now 1234 City Daily Photo blogs around the world, many of which are participating in today's theme. Click here to view thumbnails for the participants and discover a new city!

Theme Day: Statues

They said the theme was "statues." They didn't say what the statues had to be made of.

I believe this guy on the Ambassador Campus is beating swords into plowshares. I have a feeling there's a piece missing.

This work (title unknown (Swords into Plowshares), 1992) was created in by J. Kenton Zlab. Zlab isn't the first artist to be inspired by this quote. A statue called Let Us Beat Swords Into Plowshares, created by Yevgeny Vuchetich, was given by the Soviet Union to the United Nations in 1959.

"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares" is a phrase from the Bible, specifically Isaiah 2:4 if my web search is correct. I found a cool website that compares Bible phrases from the different translations. Go ahead and try your favorites.

photo by Pasadena Adjacent
A late update to the post: Pasadena Adjacent furnished me with this photo she took of the statue when leaf man had a sword to beat into a plowshare. Sorry it took me so long to post. Thank you, PA.

There are now 1209 City Daily Photo bloggers around the world. Click here to view thumbnails for those participating in today's theme.

Blog Day: The Tenin Technique

Today the City Daily Photo blogs pay tribute to our founder, Eric Tenin. It's a good day for such a celebration because today is the 5th Anniversary of Eric's hugely popular blog, Paris Daily Photo. To date, Eric and his blog have inspired 1178 City Daily Photo blogs around the world, including this one.

Quoting from the instructions for today's theme day: "Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, all CDPBloggers are invited to post a tribute shot from their own city using The Tenin Technique of placing the camera on the ground to make an image, or of skewing/tilting the composition, or in some way imitating a specific photo Eric has posted or a common subject matter of Eric's photos...Have fun with it, make it your own and help celebrate a great guy who has spread a lot of friendship and inspiration around the globe since his first post in 2005."

I'm a big fan of Paris Daily photo and of Eric, who really does "spread friendship and inspiration" with his photos and blog. He loves the low angle, likes to tilt the camera, occasionally gets a lot of feet in the picture and, due to French law, blurs the recognizable faces. I can't bring you the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower! Eiffel Tower! Eiffel Tower! (Paris Daily Photo joke), but I can give you a few feet! And a little low angle tilting is the least I can do for a guy who, whether he means to or not, has done so much for so many.

How do you post a photo a day, every day, for five years? Maybe some of today's participants will find out. Click here to view thumbnails for participants in today's theme.

Theme Day: Best Photo of 2009

The City Daily Photo blog community is having a mid-month theme day called Best Photo of 2009. I know of no dictated criteria such as "best framing," "most skilled lighting" or "strangest physical position from which photograph was taken," so I went through all the photos I posted in 2009 and chose my favorite.

I posted it on June 6th and called it Mountain Sandwich.

Here are links to a few others that contended for the coveted prize--the runners-up for Miss Pasadena Daily Photo of 2009, as it were:

Paths and Passages from February 1st.

Art Night from March 14th.

Under the Engelmann Oak from March 17th.

Norton Simon Museum from March 24th. (March was a good month.)

A Mad Tea Party, from August 4th, was taken by a neighbor. We've never been sure which neighbor--either Lisa or Michelle. They're both brilliant, which is why it's hard to tell.

Things the Light Does from August 23rd.

Each picture I post is joy to me for its own reasons, but these are my favorites from the year. Thanks for sharing them with me. I have so much fun making the photos and posting them. The only thing that tops that is chatting with you all in the comments section.

1134 blogs around the world have hopped onto the City Daily Photo bandwagon. Many are joining in today's Best Photo theme. Check them out.