My Neighborhood

The fall season is upon us here in the bay area.


Even if parts of it still look like spring.


I live on a dead end street.


In a tin shack.


With a secret inner sanctuary.


Near a train station.


And secret passages.


California Avenue Train Station


People here like expensive cars.


That look sporty.


And go really fast.


But run on batteries instead of gas.

Death Valley

I think I may have a romantic obsession with Death Valley. This was my third trip to Death Valley. My first two trips I went by myself just because I felt like going. This trip included eight friends and, coincidentally, my dad.

My friends and I were there for the adventure of descending Coffin Canyon. My dad was there to enjoy the bluegrass music of The Death Valley '49ers 59th Annual Encampment. As luck would have it, we were very fortunate my dad was there as access to the trail head required a high clearance 4WD vehicle. Of which, we only had one. This also worked out nicely for my dad. After dropping us off at the trail head he was able to explore some nearby abandon mines that also required a high clearance 4WD vehicle.

Our trek down to Death Valley ended up being in three cars arriving at approximately 6PM, 1AM and 4:08AM. Dave, Amanda, Lauren and I left Palo Alto around 8AM and enjoyed a lovely drive which included the ceremonious passing of the 100,000 mile mark on Dave's 4Runner somewhere along Hwy 395.



We arrived at Furnace Creek just after dark and cruised the streets of RV-ville looking for my dad's mini-van. We found the mini-van but not my dad so we left a note and listened to an accordion player/yodeler for a bit before heading up towards the trail head to make camp. After setting up camp and devouring the tasty leftovers of Lauren's Save Mart whole roast chicken, we had ourselves a little private dance party at club Death Valley high desert, complete with authentic star filled sky and strobe headlamps. A quick star show by Dave and his laser capped off our evening.





Rich, Laura and Adam arrived as expected at 1AM after some guidance over the two-way radio as we watched their headlights race past the dirt road turnoff across the valley. Never to be deterred, Kambria, with last minute recruit and hero relief driver Justin, casually cruised into camp at 4:08AM for a quick nap before our 5:30 wake up call.

Zachary Todd Cox 1976-2008

I feel blessed to have counted Zach as a friend in this life and look forward to that friendship in the next. I may not have been profoundly close to Zach but I do have many, though I wish there were more, fond memories of good times, good adventures and good laughs spent with him. Several of these experiences made a profound impact on my life and I often, even before his passing and still, reflect on them.


Civil War Moustache - Halloween show 2000(?) at San Jose LDS Institute building


Civil War Moustache - Provo 2001(?)

Blue Angels

I don’t remember the first time I saw the Blue Angels air show but I’m pretty sure it contributed to my boyhood fantasy to fly fighter jets the same way Star Wars contributed to my boyhood fantasy to fly star fighters. Nowadays when I watch the Blue Angels (or Star Wars) ...I still have that same boyhood fantasy. Or more likely, I just refuse to grow up.

Seeing as I refuse to grow up, I brought along one of my toys to fleet week and took some pictures:



A few Blue Angels facts:

•Formed on April 24, 1946 by the Chief of Naval Operations, Chester W. Nimitz, to keep up public interest in naval aviation after World War II.
•One of the first models I built as a kid was the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
•The Blue Angels have flown nine different demonstration aircraft.
•My favorite aircraft is the McDonnell F-4J Phantom II flown by the Blue Angels from 1969 to 1974
•In 1949 the Blue Angels sported a bright yellow paint scheme with blue markings.
•My favorite color is blue.

Treasure Island

Just Lookin

I started a photography club on Facebook. I decided to give out assignments. The first one is a self-portrait.

Robert Plant | Alison Krauss

This was so awesome I don't even know where to begin! Plant and Krauss sounded as good or better this evening live as they do on their album, Raising Sand. They played almost every track and then some... Yes, they even played a few Led Zeppelin songs: Black Dog, Black Country Woman and The Battle of Evermore. Each sounded beautifully amazing as a duet with Krauss. As did Plant's In The Mood. Krauss also sang Down to the River to Pray from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Everything just sounded beautiful and amazing!

I was very excited to see, hear and take pictures of this event and nothing was going to stop me. As soon as the previous act left the stage, I made a beeline for front and center on the railing. I managed to stay relatively unobtrusive to the people behind me, who were probably the only people in the audience not standing, and fire off just over a thousand shots before security came up and said I had to put away my camera because my lens was too big. Lame! But, oh well. So I gave my spot to the girl behind me with a point and shoot camera, which I adjusted so she could get a better picture.

Image #16,000

Yeah, I laid on the shutter button pretty heavy during this show!

Elder Bradshaw Comes Home!

Elder Jefferson Bradshaw returned home from the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission this afternoon, walking off the plane at 3:51 PM. He served two years in New Mexico as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


Image #15,000 shows Jefferson posing at home with a small portion of his necktie collection acquired as a missionary.

Radley Famley

Image #14,000

Dan and Laura's wedding. Waiting outside the Salt Lake Temple.

Radley's First Driving Experience

A memorable milestone in any boy's life: their first time behind the wheel! I'm happy I was able to share this moment with Radley. Just don't tell the cops ...or the rental car people ...or his parents.

Simon

A fun little photo shoot with Simon

Slackin' Off

My brother Andy dropped by and suggested we go out for a little slack line action. Sounded like a fine idea for a Wednesday evening to me.


Yeah, Andy is a little more experienced than I am at this.


I'm still getting the hang of it.

New Toy On The Block

I recently discovered that I could purchase the lens from a Holga camera that some guy has hacked up to fit on a digital SLR. Brilliant!

It arrived in the mail today. So I attached it to my camera, started at the front door and then went for a walk through my neighborhood.

Image #13,000

Coming down the Altamont Pass, at sunset, on the drive home from Yosemite.

photo credit: Vanessa Cook

Yo-So-Mighty

Wednesday in SF

Self Portrait


Post industrial landscape or modern art?


The deYoung Museum

Learning To Fly!

Vanessa is a superhero. Honest. She has superhero powers and everything. One of her superhero powers is the ability to fly. She was kind enough to share this amazing superhero power with me for a day.










Image #12,000 on my camera was part of today's fun:

Johnny B on TV

My brother John called me up this morning...only slightly random.

He asked if I could come by the local cable access channel TV studio this evening and be part of the studio audience for some show he was going to be featured on...completely random!


John's first professional makeup job?


Totally legit!


It's possible that one third of the studio audience was a Bradshaw.



"Hey mom, I'm on TV!"