January 4, 2006
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Photopost: The Year In Pictures 2005
THE YEAR IN PICTURES 2005
None of these photos have appeared on the blog and were taken from photo expeditions throughout 2005. I’ve selected a chronological series, starting in Jan. and ending last month. I took a lot of photos in 2005 and completely filled my 3000 photo quota on my Webshots Gallery.
Cloudscape: Signal Hill. Jan. 2005. Lots of rain early last year meant lots of beautiful cloudscapes. I took my camera in to work quite a few days last year in hopes of catching some great cloudscapes.
Friendship Bell: Torrance, Jan. 2005. On a hill overlooking the sea, the Korean Friendship Bell is built on a serene park with no hint of the hustling bustling city. This is right in my “backyard” as it were, in Torrance.
Goodyear Blimp: Carson, Jan. 2005. In 2006 I hope to get some video of the blimp landing and taking off, and “one of these days” I’d like to go up in the blimp with a camera and get some aerial shots. The blimp crashed in early 2004 and was gone from the landscape until early 2005 when I took the photos.
Container Cranes: San Pedro, March 2005. I stopped my car on the shoulder of the northbound 110 Freeway to catch a couple of shots of container cranes with clouds above. I might just make a whole “harbor” expedition this year. Lots of interesting sights in the L.A. Harbor.
Spike: My media room, March 2005. “ I am owner of all I survey” Spike seems to be saying as she preens. That’s a 12″ laserdisc sleeve on the left. I’ll try to get some better “cat photos” in 2006, although I still maintain that mine won’t pose.
Flowers: Manhattan Beach Arboretum, March 2005. I heard there was an arboretum in Manhattan Beach, and stowed the camera and was on my way. The place was tiny, with very few plants, but I got this nice shot with the first stalk slightly out of focus after a few tries.
Parrot: Long Beach Aquarium, April 2005. On my first “Photo Expedition” with Liz, we went to the Aquarium, where I got all the footage of fishes in the “Arbitrimage Dreams” movie. There is an aviary too, where this regal guy was hanging out.
Fountain: Getty Museum, May 2005. Nestled in one of the outdoor nooks of the main building on the Getty grounds is an interesting fountain.
Statuary: Getty Museum, May 2005. I like the fact that the Getty is one of the few museums which encourages photography. I rather like this shot of two statues.
Abandoned truck: San Gabriel River Wash: Highland Park, July 2005. I’ve been snapping photos of abandoned vehicles ever since I got my first camera. This was taken with the telephoto from the top of the York Avenue bridge.
Pershing Square, August 2005. One of the many photos I took on my first “Subway Trip” to L.A. last summer. I plan to take our rail transit all the way to Pasadena this year, and perhaps the other way to the San Fernando Valley. This shot was taken with the camera touching the ground and angled up in the air.
“The Phantom of the Opera”: Movieland Wax Museum, October 2005. I do get lots of hits on the Movieland Webshots folders. I took my camera along with me when I visited two weekends before the museum closed it’s doors and went out of business.
Palos Verdes Peninsula, Oct. 2005. A short trip after work in October to the ciliffs overlooking the ocean after another of our frequent rainstorms this past year. I was looking for cloudscapes. The sky wasn’t blue but I did get some interesting shots. The photo used in the “Internet Island” composite came from this expedition.
Chicken Man: Doo Dah Parade, Pasadena, Nov. 2005. This guy is in the opening shot of my latest MikeVideo internet movie, “Doo Dah”, shot during the parade. It didn’t rain during Doo Dah, like it did on Jan 2nd this year on the more famous but less exciting “Rose Parade.”
Self Portrait, Dec. 2005. Here is a study for my latest blog header background, and profile pics. The curtain on my HDTV behind me is the background to the opening credit sequence from the 1974 compilation movie, “That’s Entertainment”.
I shot a lot of photos in 2005. Each month I like to take at least one “expedition.” Where will I go in 2006? This year I plan to shoot a series at Disneyland, to which I usually don’t take a camera, and perhaps go to Las Vegas, since I didn’t have my new camera when I used to go. All I shot in the early aughts was video. This is also the year I plan on spending a weekend in San Francisco, if I can save enough money to make the trip. I’ll drive up the coast, with the top down, camera at the ready, and then take a memory stick or two full of photos while in the City by the Bay. I also intend to attend the Native American Pow Wow at the Anaheim fairgrounds this summer. I really want a new digital camera, and I almost won one at the Christmas Party. With the 150 bucks I did win, our controller told me to use it to buy a camera. I ended up using it to pay for car insurance. The camera I really want is an 8 megapixel SLR with removable lenses. I need my wide angle lens. (EDIT: The camera I “want” costs about 900 dollars.)
Comments (32)
i love your pics. i laughed when i saw the blimp. when my kid was 3 he wanted to be a comedian when he grew up. we were ok w/that since he was a funny little guy, but never knew why. one day the blimp flew over us and he said, “when i grow up that’s where i’m gonna live.” “thought you wanted to be a comedian?” ”but they live in blimps MOM!”… like it was common knowledge!
i love pics of old cars and trucks. they speak to me a way i don’t quite understand… and your abandoned truck pic is perfect…
i think the camera you want is more than $150… don’tcha hate saving? i’m all for immediate gratification whenever possible! :love:
Hello Mike
See I can come back again in your time zone. LOL
I would say that I really am not a poet so you didn’t miss anything. I was just too tired to be creative last night. Had to have a little operation on my hand and the meds were kicking in about the time I wrote that post. I hate it when I am too tired to sleep.
Hope that you are doing well. This is a great post as usual. Love the methods you use to document your years. So very creative. But then I have come to expect that from you.
Have a fantastic day.
Kat
One expedition a month is an admirable goal. When my kids get older, I’d like to get out and see more of the world with them. Your photos are great. I love that fountain at the Getty, you really did a wonderful job of capturing the tranquility there.
Wishing you many wonderful picture taking opportunities in 2006.
Callie
I loved the pics.The Getty Museum one is really neat… One expedition a month..crucial for me and hard to do..
but thats the stuff memories are made of..!
hello mike,
would you like to make a few comments of my site? Critique or suggestion.
I like the kitty and the flowers.
I hope you do go to Disney Land! It’s the most magical place on earth! I’ve never been to California, but I went to Disney World in Florida a couple years ago, and it was amazing. I’d love to go back there someday. Happy New Year!
~Jenny
there are several of your photos here that i really like. number one the animal pictures… the cat spike is so cute! but i love cats so it’s an affliction of mine that everyone has to deal with
(mine does know how to pose)
but i still say if they weren’t naked they wouldn’t want to be photo’d that way 
i like your abandon vehicle. i think you should post more of those. i have a thing for abandoned houses, i like looking at them but i never stop to sake pictures cause i’m usually driving to or from somewhere. the statues are cool as well. i like taking pictures of them. my trip to germany in 2003 i came back with all kinds of pictures of statues and statue faces. whatever i thought was “cool” or pretty. i even took vulgar pictures
i’m hoping to travel a lot this year. i got a weekend coming up i’m going to try and go somewhere by myself. we’ll see though. it usually falls through whatever my plans are. And i’ve got april my real vacation coming up where a friend of mine and i are going to abe going on a major trip. we just haven’t specified where yet.
I think you wrote once that you weren’t able to travel many places. There’s no time like now to start. I always come back with strange, tragic, beautiful and weird experiences from every trip.
Dear Mike:
I didn’t know that ANY museums encouraged photography. Nice to read that about the Getty. And I loved the picture of Spike best, I guess, but thass ’cause I’m partial to animals. So yeah, I liked the parrot and Chicken Man, too. (“Chicken Man! He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere.” Remember that one?) But Spike is just too much. What an expression!
Let’s see, there was something else I was going to say. Oh, yeah, at the Kentucky Horse Park, not only do they encourage photographs at the Parade of Champions, but they emphasize that if you DON’T take a picture of John Henry when he’s paraded through the viewing area, he will walk over to you and ask why not. And nuzzle you till you do. Nobody dares to test out this theory. The cameras flash like mad.
I like the abandoned truck the best. I love shots of old broken down things. Art can be found in mundane everyday objects and things from your daily life. Scenes from Las Vegas might be interesting. I’ve never been there. But, I’m more interested in what the inside of a hotel room might look like than the inside of a casino.
You have some wonderful photos, the lighting on the blimp is great, you caught Spike’s attitude, how lucky you are to get in a vehicle and go to the ocean to catch cloudscapes and the pershing sq. photo is luscious!!!! Really nice photo play!
What a great idea to have your year in photos. Your cat looks just like my cat, Jolie. I’m always putting picture on my blog of my pets. I’m looking forward to your pics of San Francisco. I loved that city although we were there for only one day. We saw quite a bit…There’s much to see there. If I had my life to live over, I think that I would like to live in San Francisco for a year…in one of those pastel colored apts overlooking the bay…Of course, I would have a flower box.:sunny:
Mike, I always enjoy your photographs. The best and most memorable for me is still the once where you photograped people watching at art at a gallery. Those pictures are still in my mind and something I hope to be doing as well at some stage in my life.
:goodjob::goodjob::goodjob:Great photos!
oh Michael this is a wonderful post!!! The blimp brought back childhood memories… I used to think there was only one and I always wondered why when we moved it followed
I can’t get my cats to pose either, which is strange because they’re so vain and just KNOW they look good. From the look of this entry, you had lots of memorable adventures in ’05. I’ll bet ’06 will be just as fun filled!
I loved your photo post! I need to do this too. There are so many places that I could go see in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota that it would give me some great photo ops.
My favorite is the city picture – I love the angle that you used because it made the buildings look even taller.
RYC: I thought about bringing a glass of wine sledding but I was worried that I might chip my glass sliding down the hill. Once I’m sick of winter (late February), I’ll go back to my wine shot.
I really like your photography, especially the one of the statues.
Wow! You’ve had quite a year! Great photos. Where do you find the time to be so prolific? I hope, as the year progresses, to divest myself of some of my current activites so that I can spend some more time on photgraphy. Maybe even take a course, or two, at one of the local colleges.
Thanks for stopping by my Xanga and introducing yourself. Your Xanga site is a very intriging Xanga site. I’ve subscribed to it in the hope of learning a bit and expanding my horizons. Besides, us bald guys gotta stick together!
{bald}LenWebGuy
Was just commenting last night how i’d be dangerous if i knew Photoshop as i watched a Kelly Preston commercial and was thinking of Travolta and Tom Cruise jerking each other off while they are both reading Dianetics:lol: And of course, i’ve always wanted to do a Laura/GW/Condi 3-some picture, with little Georgie taking it up the arse of course:coolman:
Back in the GLORY days of AM, Dion was as much a staple as “A Boy Named Sue,” “Stand By Your Man,” Tom Jones and “To Sir With Love”…you really didn’t think about stuff like THAT influencing people simply because it was just there:sunny: GREAT to see that a decent dude like Dion was a major influence on MY influences…and i sure as hell am gonna be buying the album…oops, CD:love:
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the visit…. It’s good to know that InternetIsland is growing…I had a few comments on some islanders on the last post…so that’s really motivating to post the InternetIsland topic.
Great photos here…very interesting.
ryc: I have been an active blogger and commentor since 2001…I already made some of my posts private…I have tons of posts…and lots of photos to share…but some people’s internet access is not that great so it loads pretty slow and sometimes freezes….so I want to please all and just privatize the old posts…Hope to hear from you again…God bless.
I’m well familiar with that blimp. One Christmas day I took an excursion on the 405 and popped off the freeway to take a look at it.
You are a sweetheart, you know that? Except……Why did you name a female cat Spike????? For shame LOL
Thanks for the suggestion. Happy new year to you as well.
Daniel
Hey there Mr. Mike! I have to say that I have missed you and all the rest of my xanga friends recently. Thank you for stopping by and reminding me that I’ve been missed, it’s helpful to hear that once in a while! I have been going through so not so fun personal issues lately, and it is keeping me pretty distracted from the “me” things that I usually have time for like xanga. Hopefully soon I will be gin to find more time to be around here…once things get a little more smoothed out.
You’re photographs are beautiful…there are some pretty neat things to see on that side of the country…I hope to some day see them for myself! Take care…I’ll be around, just maybe not as talkative as I normally am.
:spinning: Malcom???? Now that is a hoot!!! Yer a doll, you know. The next time I am in CA, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to meet me at some secluded place and we will rehash all this!
Every single one of those is an amazing photograph! I don’t have much time today, so I may repeat other people’s sentiments, but Happy New Year! And statues are much more positively (meaning not negatively) responsive to cameras than things like paintings. Don’t tell, but my husband took pictures of the Sistine Chapel when he was in Italy six years ago. The boy should have been shot by the guards, by all rights.
Smiles to you, good Mike.
hey dude, i’m phenox ryzing’s roomate.
my old site, jaqz was shut down coz it was…well. old. three years old. and as in shavin yer head, it’s good to get outta the old sometimes. cought in patterns by waves of fear if you will.
wow lookit me talkin all cool like.
anyways, i like yer site, i’ve been here before, actually, when you were goin on about the beach boys.
don’t think i ever commented, but i appreciate the thoughtfull comment you left on my friend’s site.
later dude.
:goodjob:
also?
i’m diggin on da dream catchers. i make and sell them in the summer time.
where was that picture taken, outta curiosity?
heh.
I like the picture of the blimp and the picture of the truck.
I don’t know why.
-Jos-
éùðí ñåâéí ùåðéí ùì ñâéøú îøôñú, àçã îäí äåà ñâéøú çåøó. áñâéøä æå äââ åä÷éøåú ôøé÷éí åîàôùøéí ÷éôåì îäéø áàáéá åäøëáä áçåøó ëàùø äñâéøä ðãøùú.
Congratulations Mr. Harris. Iwas fortunate sufficiet to possess shared “The Wood” with Mark although bar-tending in the Gingerman inside the mid 90s when I went back to college for a profession transform.
He is a terrific guy as well as a correct expert in an market that I
really like which has too handful of. God Bless to Mark, Michael and Pat.
MJG