A late night after work I was wondering out to find dinner down one of the back streets a couple of years ago. This light was humming away and I snapped this shot.

I took this on a break as I was heading out the front door. The tinted glass gave the grass behind it an abstract quality I liked. Well maybe abstract isn't the best word... it felt like a screen print to me, at least near the upper portions of the image. The silhouetted grass in the upper blue part is my favorite part of the image.

A street sign down in Venice, CA. It was just one of those things I passed by at first, then kept thinking about it. Seemed odd that all that bouncing light was going to go unnoticed, so ran back and I snapped a pic.

Feet mingle on part of a sidewalk in Venice near the beach.

Hmmm.... now how should I do this?.. People have been asking me if I had an "about" page ever since I put this site up. I have been looking around at what other people do for theirs and trying to decide what to do for mine. I originally felt that this whole site was an "about" page.... felt very internet-y (like that word?) to have a separate little page.. so I decided it would be cool to do it just as a post and link to it. So here it is. Ok... so there is a start.. now..

Should I go into a big personal monologue about myself? Like...

As a child I was born in 1974 and grew up in Southern Illinois. I spent my school days distracted by what the wind was telling me out the window and my summer days out in the woods behind my parent's trailer park chasing it. Most of what I know about life I learned out there. People ask me how long I have been into photography and I never know how to answer that question really. But I think one of the main motivations came from my father who was paraplegic and couldn't go hiking himself. I would come home and try to explain to him what I had seen. This is when I started learning how to draw, drawing him maps of everywhere I had been. I think that is when I really learned to see. I don't know if that really answers the question, but it is what I think about when people ask. If only I had a camera back then...
As it is, I have always loved photography, but only became a photographer when I could afford to. Out of highschool I started doing color correction work on photographs for print at an ad agency. I looked with envy at all the photographers they worked with. I borrowed slr's while I was in college to get through the photography classes I took. I just started using little point and shoot film cameras all the time. Finally a few years ago now I bought a small digital camera and found myself taking pictures all the time. I post some of those early shots on this site from time to time. Things have just kind of kept going from there.. to me making this site.

Or... should I do ... an FAQ? To get through all the cold facts...

Do you have an about page?
Yes.
What camera are you using?
Pictures on this site are divided between three cameras... a Kodak DC4800, a Canon D60 and now my Canon 10D. But please I beg of you, try to critque the pictures and not the camera... some of my favorites I took with my little point and shoot Kodak. : ) I miss the days when people said, "You took that with a digital camera!!"... now I get "Your camera takes great pictures."
Who is this Ocala you always mention?
A girl I saw on the steps one day and couldn't get out of my head for two years. Then she and I met and we immediately became best friends... and now she is my girl for always.
Do you use Photoshop? How much do you Photoshop your pictures?
Yeah, I love Photoshop. As I hinted to above, I have used Photoshop on a professional basis for quite awhile doing color correction. With the photography on this site I try and keep the photoshop work toward the same kind of stuff I did in the dark room... I just always try to keep my pictures honest to the experience. Its not a rule.. just usually what I have been after. There is just something about the truth of the picture I had to wake up at 5.30 to catch the morning light, rather than just bumping the saturation in Photoshop. I am not usually into a lot of manipulation. That being said, I will almost always tell you in the post if I did heavy manipulation. Sometimes that is what the pictures wants.
Why is this site called "Forgottengrain"? You trying to be deep or sumpin?
I am so glad you asked that question, since I am eager to go into another big diatribe. : ) The site was originally here so my family and ocala's could keep up with where we were at and what we were up to. The meaning of the name is summed up in the quote from the post I did before this. It is just based on the idea that we over look so many things that we depend on everyday and that there is a flow to everything... one of those hippie things I learned in the woods.
Why are the pictures resizable?
cuz.
I am sensing a bit of sarcasm in your writing.
That's not even a question.

Or... maybe I should just open it up for people who actually know me to say a word or two (eek maybe no one will write anything... that would be super embarrassing).. or just open it up for questions in the comments...

A night at the beach.

I wandered down to the beach one night on a break from working late and the soft cyan glowing "AT O" spoke to me.

This is part of a plastic fire hydrant that had been painted over. I found the texture of the paint that couldn't hold its grip on the plastic interesting and thought it best to capture and preserve it for future generations. : )

When I was a little kid I used to sit and stare into the grass by my feet and try to imagine what it would be like to be tiny crawling though that environment. How different the world would be and how private and secret it could be as well.

A discarded sign on the sidewalk.

This tree was amazing. The bark was flowing over the whole surface. I didn't expect this picture to turn out, but as it is, its a favorite.

Bounced light on a door to a closed down restaurant.

Poor tree, but I liked the effect that time and growth has had on the letters.

Everyday down at the beach new graffiti goes up. It is really cool. Makes me wonder how many coats are on those walls.

The glow of the beach sand on the shimmer of the paint.

Peace sign in pavement down by venice beach, complete with green drinking straw.

Another picture on the way home from work. I am always on my way home at what photographers call "the golden hour", so its hard to resist the urge to snap a few. : )

Ride home from work the other day.

We've turned the weekend routine of doing laundry into a pleasant weekly ritual. In that rat race of everything it is actually a comfort to have some rituals. We go to a laundry mat and have been going early in the morning and getting coffee and a bagel for the wait. While our clothes spin away in the antiquated machines we sit and talk about whatever comes to mind. I have found myself looking forward to it each week.

On a side note, after a few comments about wondering what I looked like. It got me thinking about doing an "about" page. I was happy to point out a place where I actually do show up in the pictures and I appreciated the comment, but I decided I didn't want to put up such a page. Seemed to undermine why I started doing this blog in the first place. (I am worried this is going to sound like arguing, when really it just brought up a train of thought) The whole page is about me. Every picture is a self portrait in a way, a very real way. I grew up in a fashion that always made me feel like I was an intergral part of the environment and vice versa. The Forgotten Grain title was based around that feeling... you know.. when you are a little kid and you are moving.. or just going on a car trip with your parents and you look back at your house and watch it go... you appreciate it in a whole different light. You even notice things you never did before. This site just gave me a way of looking back at them again, those moments. Its funny but I bet I frequent this site more than all others combined. : ) Staring at the pictures of the tracks where I grew up when I feel homesick or the picture of Cal everyday because... well ... just because.

I really appreciate all the comments lately. I have been amazed and suprised anyone even looks at these besides myself. I always feel like I take pictures that are only interesting to myself. I just realized yesterday that two of my all time favorite photoblogs have links to mine. What a compliment! It made me realize I need to update my links section. : ) I went immediately and revoted for them at photoblogs.org. You should too. They are perpetualkarma and shutterbabe.org. Another one of my favorites is waytoblue.org. At any rate thanks all.

Outside of work, I appreciated the texture of the sign.

A post with some history.

I love bounced light. This is the door to a closed down restaruant.

Bubbles near the Santa Monica Pier.

VW Vans are everywhere in the neighborhood near work. This particular orange one caught my eye on several occasions when I didn't have my camera. Finally with camera in hand I got this shot early in the morning. I cropped it from the original, thought the composition was better this way.

This is a new favorite. Just a quick shot I took to document the yellow growth on the cement. The composition looked nice to me with the fence breaking through diagonally. For me what saves it is the one yellow/red leaf that offsets all the colors.

A windy chilly day at the beach at lunch.

A privacy fence, they are all over here and with the crowds you can understand why.

We wandered around Venice,CA this afternoon. There is a skate park on the beach.

This extremely young tiny fellow knew his way around a board and was right at home among the swarm of skaters.

I am hoping on getting down there with a camera a lot, as it is where I eat lunch most days.

A discarded polaroid in the grass.

A windy day makes palm trees a hazard.

A potted plant takes the sobriety test early in the morning by the backdoor to work while the power is out.

"White" in red where the grass is greener.

Another shot from the pier at Venice Beach. I appreciated the quiet of that day. This picture really reminds me of that. Something about the texture of the water gives the illusion that this is a miniature to me.

A dog eyes me cautiously, yet lazily, as I snap his picture in a walkway.