Seagull and the Fountain

Over the weekend, I spent time in San Pedro, California. Located near Long Beach, much of San Pedro overlooks the Port of Los Angeles. While sitting in a restaurant patio near the marina, this seagull joined our party. It perched on the top of a patio fountain and lingered as if listening to our conversation.

Hollywood Postcard

Wouldn't this image make the perfect Hollywood postcard? Blue skies, green palm trees and mission style architecture are the epitome of California style. Throw in a little Hollywood glamor and you are looking at an iconic image. These are the kind of beautiful California days that make it hard to live elsewhere.

Bronson Gate

I'm pretty lucky that I have a job that takes me to such unusual, interesting places. This week, work took me back to California to the famous Paramount Studios lot on Hollywood Boulevard to help produce the Voice Awards.

One of the landmarks at Paramount Studios is the Bronson Gate. It was the original entrance to the studio lot and the inspiration for actor Charles Bronson's last name. It was originally Buchinsky before his agent recommended that he drop the Eastern European-sounding surname during the Sen. Joseph McCarthy and House Un-American Activities Committee-era.

Behind this gate is the Paramount back lot, filled with sound stages that film productions, such as "Glee," "Community" and "Star Trek." Although the iPhone camera didn't pick it up, behind the sound stage 4 is the Hollywood hills. From this vantage point, visitors can see the famous Hollywood sign in the distance.

Smog Sunrise

I'm in Los Angeles for work this week. I greeted the new day today with my iPhone camera and captured sunrise from my hotel balcony in Century City.

Sunrises and sunsets in Southern California are beautiful for an odd reason -- air pollution or "smog." Apparently, the layer of smog that sits over much of Los Angeles reflects the sun's rays, creating the brilliant orange, pink and purple color patterns in the sky when the sun rises and sets.

Thankfully, since air quality in Southern California has been improving due to the state's tighter air emission standards, these sunrises and sunsets have become less colorful. It's a change I'm happy to record with my camera.

Characters Leaving the Scene

I've learned a great deal from my father about photography. He loves nature photography, as I do.His photographs tend to tell stories, which is appropriate since he loves telling stories in person. While I lean toward simple compositions, my father's eye focuses in on interesting characteristics in a scene or moment.

Last year at the Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival, I was channeling my Dad's eye for composition in this image. Instead of focusing on the Cherry Blossom branch hanging over the water, I tried to draw the viewer's eye to the fleeing ducks in the top left-hand corner of the photograph. They are the real characters in this piece.

A Rose for a Rose

Birthdays are special days in my family. We Bordes are always looking for a reason to celebrate, but birthdays are king. Regardless of what is going on in our lives, it's family tradition to pause for a birthday phone call, birthday visit, birthday dinner and/or even birthday party to celebrate the day we arrived into the world together. Birthdays are moments that help us keep time with one another and acknowledge the blessing and accomplishment of another year of life, another year of life as a family.

Today is my Aunt Kathy's birthday. I won't disclose her age, but I will say that while each birthday is special this one and each birthday after this one is very special for all of us. For the past few months, she has been battling a very aggressive colon cancer. After rounds of surgeries, chemotherapy, and other challenges, my aunt is still fighting on with grace, optimism and peace. It's her peace that I find so inspiring.

We are all rooting for more time with her, for her healing. However, whether or not that is in the cards for our family, she has inspired us by how she embraces each day since her diagnosis with joy, humor and a willingness to be present. She wants to see people and go places, even when it physically exhausts her. There isn't a hug that doesn't linger longer than it did before or an "I love you" that is said with deep meaning.

So in honor of her special day, I wanted to post a photo that reminds me of her. She is like this summer rose -- colorful and bold in spite of the brutal sun. While this photograph makes the rose appear as if it stands alone, it was actually surrounded by other roses and flowers encouraging and supporting its stand. Just like in life, and especially on birthdays, we never stand alone.

Cheers Aunty K. Here's to today and many more birthdays together. I'm so grateful that we have grown together in the same family garden.

Crystal Chandelier

I'm not a gaudy girl, but I do love items that sparkle such as this crystal chandelier at The Madison Hotel in Washington, DC. Even though Marilyn Monroe sang that diamonds are a girl's best friend, my love of sparkle doesn't actually extend to diamonds. The sparklers that I love the most are crystals that act as prisms and reflect light. In photographs, while diamonds can create a similar effect, they lack the bright brilliance of crystals especially in soft light settings.