I did want to share another view of (most of) 2011, below is a collection of photos that I put together showing Matthew (or MG) from 1 day old (upper right) to 1 year old (lower left) in roughly 1 month intervals.

Matthew Greg Lato - Birth to 1 Year Old

As luck would have it, tonight my wife found the stocking cap that Matthew came home from the hospital in (featured in 1 day old photo)…wow, hard to believe that ever fit his current big head!

Amazingly, a good half of the photos above (and of all the photos I took of him) were taken on the iPhone. Not sure if that makes me a bad photographer parent or not; since you trade accessibility of the iPhone for the quality and control of the big glass.

So two photographic New Year’s resolutions for me:

1. Focus on taking picture more regularly. There are some big gaps in time between these images as the rest of life got in the way of photography.
2. Focus on hiring another photographer for family portraits. It’s too darn hard to try and be on both sides of the camera at the same time when dealing with children; not worth the risk!  :-)

Each of my 12 favorites below became a favorite as it representas a special moment, unique scene, or most successful translation of what I saw in my mind’s eye into the final photo as well as an attempt to show a wider range of photographic subject matter.  Enjoy!

(You can also review my past favorites from 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007)

Quail Lake in Southern California's Angels National Forest (January, 2011)

Sunrise at Keys View, Joshua Tree National Park, California. (January, 2011)

Breaking light from a storm near the California-Nevada Border. (January, 2011)

Read the backstory for the above photo…

Petroglyph Canyon at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. (February, 2011)

Fremont Cottonwood trees along the Virgin River at Zion National Park, Utah. (February, 2011)

Sunset near Zion Canyon entrance at Zion National Park, Utah. (February, 2011)

Window abstract at de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. (March, 2011)

Visitors at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. (March, 2011)

Halema'uma'u Crater in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Kona, Hawai'i. (April, 2011)

Read the backstory for the above photo…

Carousel at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, California. (December, 2011)

Read the backstory for the above photo…

Sunset through sea arch at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California. (December, 2011)

Sunset through Big Sur Portal at Pfeiffer Beach, Big Sur, California. (December, 2011)

If any of the above photos spoke to you as well, you can click on the photo to order Art Prints.  As always, I appreciate your support of my photography!

Note: this yearly ritual started thanks to my friend Jim Goldstein and his anual Your Best Photos of the Year blog project.  Huge thanks to Jim for his continued time and effort to run this blog project year after year!  If you found this posting via his project, please take the time to subscribe to the blog feed or follow me on your social network of choice (see links in the sidebar).

Matthew - 4 Days Old

Of couse my favorite photos from 2010 are all of Matthew, our son born in September. This has definitely been the year of Matthew as we prepared for his arrival and then adjusting to the new routine of family life.  As the first four months of life with Matthew comes to a close, looking back at this photo of Matthew at just 4 days old brings a lot into perspective.  The hat which was too big for him then won’t even fit now; it’s amazing how quickly he is growing up!

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

February

X Marks the Horsetail Falls Firefall in Yosemite National Park

For a few days each February, the angle of the sunset in Yosemite valley lines up such that the setting sun creates a sliver of light on Horsetail Falls.  This sunset lights up Horsetail Falls like the Yosemite firefalls of the past. All of this assumes that mother nature cooperates with the clouds and weather. This past February I was lucky to get good weather during my trip to Yosemite to capture the Horsetail Falls firefall two days in a row. The above HDR photo capture the wider scene as the sunset approached it’s narrowest and just after two airplanes had just flown over, creating this X in the sky over the fire falls like a real world treasure map.

Note: The same angle happens in October as well, but since Horsetail Falls is a ephemeral waterfalls you usually don’t have water flowing over it in October.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS with Canon 1.4x Extender)

April

Purple Lupin Growing Along a Hillside near Oroville, CA.

In April, myself and a friend drove up to Oroville, CA to Table Mountain to check out the wildflowers that always propagate this area. The fields were full of small yellow flowers and purple lupin.  From a distance creating a carpeting affect.  I like how the above photo shows the diversity of this area with the lupin in the foreground, the carpet affect in the mid-ground, and the hillside of trees in the distance.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

A Lone Oak with Weathered Fallen Branches near Oroville, CA.

While exploring Table Mountain, I discovered a lone Oak tree in a ravine.  It had a collection of fallen branches that had weathered over the years and create a very intriguing set of patterns and lines. Once converted to a black and white photo, the lines became even more apparent. It seems like every year there is a few photos of mine that just seem to work best in Black and White.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

Lobby of One Bush Plaza in Downtown San Francisco, California.

While walking through downtown San Francisco, on a route that I frequent monthly, I suddenly realized this wonderful scene that I have been walking past for years.  Maybe it was the time of day and the way the light was illuminating the area, maybe it was my frame of mind (maybe it was both).But I walked 50 feet past and stopped, turned around and created the above image.  It’s the layering of details and lighting that keep me coming back to this photo time and time again.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

June

Field of Wild Iris with Distant Snow Capped Eastern Sierra Peaks

While visiting Bodie State Historic Park east of the Sierra Nevadas, I happened to stumble across a wonderful field of wild iris’.  The with snow still capping the Sierra Nevada Mountain peaks in the distance, I had to take an hour detour to photograph the scene.   The idillic nature of the place still speaks to me when I see this photo.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II)

Front Display Window of Boone Store and Warehouse (Westward View of Standard Stamp Mill, Firehouse, and Dodge Graham Truck)

Years ago I had the idea for a unique way of documenting Bodie State Historic Park, the abandoned ghost town maintain in a constant state of decay in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevadas. As it can sometimes happen with a project, a single image sticks with you and becomes central to the project.  For this project it was this image of the front of the Boone Store on Bodie’s main intersection. The reflection of the nearby buildings in the large window while at the same time showing the preserved state of the interior of the store became the genesis of my photography book Reflecting on Bodie (and became the cover image).

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II)

Cab of Refurbished 1921 Dodge Graham Truck (Southwest View Down Main Street of Morgue and Miner

Part of the challenge in creating the photos for my Reflecting on Bodie book was looking beyond he obvious for reflections of Bodie. This photo of the windscreen of the Dodge Graham Truck sitting on the mainstreet in Bodie is one of my favorite non-obvious reflections.  The way you can see the inside of the car cab, through the rear window of the car to the buildings behind, as well as the reflection of the buildings sitting infront of the car perfectly symbolized the duplicity the reflections at Bodie can provide.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

July

Seawall and Seal Rocks at Dusk

July was the Scott Kelby World Wide Photowalk.  I joined the photowalk lead by Jim Goldstein at the Sutro Baths in San Francisco. This photo of Seal Rock was the winning photo chosen from all the photos submitted from Jim’s photowalk. It was my favorite long before this though, the moodiness of this photo keeps drawing me in.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS)

October

Halloween Decorations at Night

Halloween always kicks off the house decorating season.  My wife usually mixes Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and this year it was a combination of pumpkins, candles, and jack-o-lantern lights. The great textured pumpkins and the soft candle light made for a great combinations for a HDR photo project.  This photo was my favorite from that evenings work.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II)

November

Colorful Autumn Leaves on Pebble Sidewalk

This year I wasn’t able to make my fall pilgrimage to the Eastern Sierras for autumn leaves display.  However, the late in the season color change of all the trees in our neighbor hood allowed me to get my fix right in my own front yard.  This collection of leaves on the pebble sidewalk was waiting for me just a few feet from my front door!

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Zeiss Macro 100mm f/2 Makro-Planar T*)

December

Sunrise over Dublin Hills East Bay Regional Park

Winter is the time for landscape photography in the Bay Area.  We finally get interesting clouds in the sky and the rain helps to create more mood with lighting and fog.  One early morning I checked out a newly opened regional park on the hills a few miles south of my house.  The early morning light combined with ground fog made for this wonderful view to start the day.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS)

Coyote Silhouetted in Orange Glow of Sunrise

While returning to my car after the previous sunrise photo was taken, I meet up with a local coyote who was also enjoying the morning sunrise.  After following him around for about 30 minutes, I was able to photograph him on the ridge of the hill just as the sun came up over the horizon.  Then he disappeared down the other side of the hill.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS with Canon 1.4x Extender

Yosemite Lodge Holiday Tree

Before Christmas, the family and I spent the weekend in Yosemite.  I was all exciting about the potential for a dumping of snow during our stay (naturally it rained, then snowed the day after we left).  However, the holiday lights set up at Yosemite Lodge made for the perfect HDR photo opportunity (thanks to my trusty Golf umbrella).

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

Yosemite Lodge Mountain Room Restaurant & Christmas Tree

This night time view of Yosemite Lodge Mountain Room Restaurant at Yosemite Lodge just cried out to me to be photographed.  So in the middle o the rain storm, while the rest of the family was enjoying Hot Totties in the lounge, I was out in the cold rain to create this magical image.

(Photo taken with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L)

Looking back on 2010, it was a great year of photography, accomplishments, and change.  I hope your 2010 was as memorable and 2011 is even better!

(Note: click through on the photos to view more details, purchase prints, or license stock usage via the photo archive.)

Update:  This yearly tradition continues in large part due to a blog project that is coordinated each January by Jim Goldestein.  I want to thank Jim for continuing his efforts in this project, I anxiously look forward to his posting of all of this year’s participants.

If you found this post via Jim’s blog project, Welcome!  Please subscribe to my RSS feed, join me at my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter to stay in touch through 2011!

San Francisco Union Square Holiday Tree Seen Through a Holiday Wreath.

Now through the end of the year I’m holding a Holiday sale: save 30% off of all orders from the Photo Archive!  This includes Art Prints, Pano Art Prints, Canvas Gallery Wraps, Photo Card packs, and Photo Puzzles.

All you have to do is:

1. Visit the Photo Archive to find your favorite photos (don’t forget about the search feature…)
2. click “Add to Cart”
3. choose the Art Print types and sizes that works for your needs
4. Check using the coupon HOLIDAY30

This offer ends at the ringing in of the new year.

Happy Holidays!

Photographers have already photographed everything too many times, except cheese.

That is one of the many great quotes about photography that I have collected over the years, and one that you might have seen appear once or twice in the sidebar of my blog under Inspiring Words.

A few years ago, I started a photography related internet service called FocalPower.  The goal was to build a photo sharing service that filled a number of the holes in the online photo sharing industry.  As way to get the name out across the Nets, we invested some programing elbow grease in solving another personal pain point I had at the time: how to store my list of photography quotes on line and share them via my website.  We created a photo quote database and a bit of web code (a widget) that pulled a random quote from the database and displayed it on your website or blog.

Fast forward a few years and FocalPower the service hit the uneven tracks that derail a lot of boot strapping startups…and never got out of alpha.  However, the FocalPower quote database and widget still survives and both are continuing their organic growth.  The database archive contains over 700 photography related quotes thanks to myself and a number of other quote contributors.  The quote widget is still deployed at 1000′s of sites and delivering close to half a million quotes a month.

But this has lead me to consider what to do with the FocalPower Photo Quotes Archive.  While I enjoy hosting the service and find value in it myself, I figure there has to be more value that it could be providing to the wider photographic community…and so I’m asking: What would you find more valuable from the FocalPower Quote Archive and Widget?

Do you have your own secret stash of photography related quotes?  How would you like to share them with the world?

How would you like to tap into and leverage the Photo Quotes Archive  on your own blog or website?  What things do you wish it would do that it doesn’t do today?

Do you even care about a Photo Quote Archive available online?  (looking for the good and the bad here…)

I’ll be collecting this feedback over the next month or so and will see what are the most dominant threads.  I’ll then look into the feasibility of incorporating some of those ideas and expanding the current FocalPower.

I appreciate your thoughts!  And would appreciate it if you pointed other photographers here to share their ideas as well.  If you’re a current user of FocalPower, I also appreciate your continued patronage!

PS: someday I should writeup a post mordem on the FocalPower Service and some lessons learned about the photo sharing SaaS business model and world…until then feel free to contact me directly if interested.

Matthew - 4 Days Old

It’s been quiet around the digital homesteads recently as all my focus for the past week has been on the physical homestead.  Matthew (aka Baby Mini-G) was welcomed into our family recently and my wife and I have been busy adjusting to life as parents and members of the sandwich generation.   I’ve also been quickly adjusting to the new photographic genre of baby photography…and loving every minute of it!

I also never thought I would become one of those video obsessed dads video taping my children…but I sorta have.  My video and still camera of choice lately has been my iPhone 4.  All the initial photos of Matthew were taken with the iPhone, processed (if needed) on the iPhone, and uploaded directly to a private SmugMug gallery I created to share photos of Matthew with family and close friends.  The kicker is how easy it was to record a video and share it by uploading it straight to SmugMug with their iPhone app SmugShot.  So, I’ve become that dad in order to share these fleeting moments with distant family.  I’m also using the big camera as well, the above photo was taken with my 5Dm2, not the iPhone.

My wife and I are now getting more sleep and getting used to the new routines.  I’m hoping that I can get some photo processing done in the next week and a half I have officially taken off.  And while I may occasionally post a Matthew photo or two here on the blog, it’s not going to consume the site…I hope!

BTW:  If you’re interested in signing up for a SmugMug account, you can use my discount referral code of rlwhGGBRyRWI6 in the signup coupon field to save yourself $5.  I’ve had the chance to meet both Don and Chris MacAskill (the founders) and a number of SmugMug team members; they’re a great group of people and they’ve built a great photo sharing service that I have used for over 3 years and they rock as a video sharing service as well!

Last Days as the Office

First Days as the Nursery

One of the most notable parts of the new Nursery (notable for us photographers) was my effort to bring back the picture rail.  You typically see picture rails in Victorian era houses, sometimes right beneath the crown molding, sometimes a foot or more down from a tall ceiling.

So, what are they for?  Just as the name implies, hanging pictures from.  No more nails in wall, or being locked into one picture or another hanging in the room for a long time.  Picture rails allow you to change up your photos or art work regularly and without breaking out the touch up paint.  The nursery was the second room in our house that I installed picture rails in.  The thin line you see toward the bottom of the crown molding is the small gap between the crown molding and the picture rail.

Now that everything else in the nursery is done (just waiting for the last pieces of furniture to arrive) I finally have time to get some photos up on the walls…and more up here on the blog.  The mad dash to delivery will be filled with photo processing…

Road to Bodie

The primary purpose of my trip was to start my SoFoBoMo month long project, Reflecting on Bodie.  I’ve been asked by many people what is SoFoBoMo and why do it.  The concept is simple: within one month capture a set of photos, process them, layout and publish them in a book (PDF file).  SoFoBoMo was started a few years back by a few photographers as a individual blog project.  This year the group was formalized and an improved web infrastructure was put in place to support SoFoBoMo moving forward.  As for ‘why do it?’, the real purpose for me was a public commitment to create a photo photo project and create a finished artifact (the PDF book).  Deadlines always help focus one’s energies.

If you’ve never been to Bodie, it’s an old mining ghost town in the middle of the high desert, elevation of about 8200 feet.  At it’s height back in the late 1880′s, the town was about 10,000 people.  In the 1940′s it was essentially abandoned by it’s last remaining residents.  So there it sat being preserved by the freezing winters and the hot summers, many of the buildings and rooms still contain items left behind by their previous occupants.  It was eventually handed over to the state of California in the 1960′s and made into a State Historical Park.  Now it is maintained in a state of arrested decay for future generations to catch a glimpse of California history.

A number of years ago, during my first visit to Bodie, I had the idea of a rather unique way to photograph Bodie.  The idea sat in my head and over the years and I haven’t come across anyone who presented Bodie in that manner.  This year’s SoFoBoMo became the structure I needed to turn that photo project idea into a reality.

This weekend I spent two days at Bodie collecting the raw photographic material I need for my project (minimum of 35 photos).  Over the next 27 days I will be working on filtering down and processing the photos, coming up with the final set to tell the story of Bodie, and then laying out and finally publishing my PDF book on the SoFoBoMo website.  As I work through my journey I’ll post updates with progress and tidbits of what I’ve learned to date.

On that note, a few of the key items from this weekend’s photographing:

• Always review your photos as you work through your idea.  After day one, I noticed that I tended to capture images in the same manner.  With that in mind I was able to adjust my vision on day two which should add more variety in the final book.
• Even when having a pre-visualized plan, pay attention to your current environment and adapt along the way.  I was able to enter the park before sunrise as part of Bodie Photographer Day on Saturday.  My plan was to capture a nice sunrise vista of Bodie (thinking cover shot).  As I made my way through town to my sunrise location, I noticed that the pre-sunrise lighting conditions for some of the buildings worked better for what I was trying to accomplish.  I ended up grabbing a quick sunrise vista shot but then re-focused my image capture quicker than I originally anticipated.
• New equipment may not always work out the way you intended…but don’t give up on it, experiment to find the value for your use.  I rented a Canon 24mm Tilt Shift lens specifically for this trip.  My expectation was to help straighten the buildings that were the focus of my photos.  The reality was that I wasn’t able to photograph most of the buildings straight on which minimize the ability for the lens to do it’s tilt magic.  However, the shift capabilities became invaluable for getting the best possible shots with minimal interference.  The tilt help a bit to take the edge off the building perspectives, but in the end I used this lens in a much different way than expected.

I won’t be posting any photos until the book if finished (at least not any that will be in the book).  But I’ll keep everyone up to date on my progress and look forward to your thoughts!

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the new look and feel.  Take a few moments to browse and search the archive and let me know your favorite photos.  And please share any other adjustments you think that will make the archive easier to use.

It’s amazing, as well as frustrating, how time consuming it can be building out an integrated website and blog that looks and works just the way you want.  It’s an evolutionary process, so there will be additional tweaks and adjustments over time.  The Archive will also continue to grow  with new photos and have slight organization shifts as I work through my backlog of unpublished work over the coming months.  So remember the search feature to help you find anything specific.

My SoFoBoMo Project

This year I have decided to participate in SoFoBoMo, the Solo Photo Book Month in which you photograph, design, layout, and publish a PDF book in 31 days.  I have followed SoFoBoMo since it’s inception over the past two years.  This year I’ll be working on a photo project call Reflecting on Bodie and publishing it as a book.  This is a photo project that has been rattling around in my head for the past five years and I’m excited to finally make it a reality and publish it as a book.

I have a vision of publishing a Fine Art Folio (or two) out of this project as well.  I’ll have to evaluate that idea once the book is published.

20% Discounts on All Work

During the Month of June, I’m running a special promotion at latoga photography to celebrate the public soft launch of the new site and archive.  Anything within the Archive, Art Prints or Stock Licensing is available at 20% off!

The Catch…you need to use a certain coupon code at check time.   I’ll be publishing that code regularly via Twitter.  I’ll also be tweeting when new portfolios of photos have been added to the archive. So follow my feed on Twitter to get the code then browse through the archive and pick up a copy of your favorite photo.  And please help spread the word on the promotion!

This is the top quote I have in a small frame sitting on my desk.  Something I look at multiple times through out the day.  As you can tell, my focus for the past few months has not been on posting many blog entries.  Life outside of photography has gotten very busy and caused my attention to be focused elsewhere.  I’ve been busy preparing for the start of a new long term project:

Baby Q

My wife and I are excited about our first born, Baby Q (for question mark), due in September.  Since I know later this year will be very busy for me on the day job front, I have been busy finishing the last few on-going projects around the house as well as the big move…moving my home office out of the future nursery.  Today was moving day and I’m ecstatic with how clean my (new) office looks…mostly because I left most of the junk in the old office still.

Baby Q not only launches my wife and I into the category of parents, but also into the sandwich generation (taking care of a younger and older generation in the same house).  Time will tell what all this means with regards to photography, but I wanted to share the news with all my readers so they would know why the long spell of relative photographic silence.