He likes hot wings

Alex is always an interesting subject to me. In fact, I can never stop taking his picture because I am completely fascinated by his approach to life. Something I secretly admire about him is the way he eats. I surely don't admit this to his face....I don't have time to with all the jokes and jabs I have to deliver while he carelessly piles his entire plate of food into his mouth in one bite, sauces and crumbles of this and that left smeared across his face from the nose down, little bits left in his beard and his lips shiny and begging for a napkin. But you see, he doesn't care. He eats with abandon and is as blissful as a baby. Sometimes we see these idiosyncrasies as something to add to our list of pet peeves and beg for them to change, but what does that say about us? I'd rather find him adorable and admire a quality he clearly possesses that I do not.

~Lola Rain

Sutro Baths

Recently I took a short drive over to the Sutro Baths. 22 years in San Francisco and I had never been there! Well, I'm happy to report that its beautiful. It was a slightly foggy day and I couldn't have asked for more. Here are a few of my shots. Enjoy!

~Cupcake

Fall in love

Growing up in New England, the fall season has always been the most magical time of year to me. The smell of leaves that have changed colors, the crisp bite to the air, the golden sunlight that casts an intoxicating glow across all that it touches, the sound of the wind blowing past empty tree branches, the crunching beneath your feet....well, it's all equivocal to feeling of love for me. And not so surprisingly, I have always fallen in love in the autumn. It turns out, it's not just me. I read an article last year that explained why it's written into our DNA to search out a partner before the winter hits, but nevertheless I continue to bubble over with complete joy as the first leaves begin to change color and fill with love the first time I hear a crunch beneath my feet.

~Lola Rain

Where cigarettes go to die

I'm not a smoker, never was and never will be. Thankfully, these ciggs are dead and no longer being absorbed into someone's lungs, possibly even mine by taking in some of that dreaded second hand smoke. For whomever smoked all these cigarettes, their lungs much be gasping for clean air.

~Cupcake

Not always what it seems

Sometimes you have to look a little deeper to see what's hidden beneath the obvious. It's amazing what you will find when you explore the unexpected.

~Cupcake

The sweetness of light

“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”

Photography literally means "to write with light." "Photo" means "light" and "graphy" means "write." This is, of course, technically what transpires as you open and close your shutter, sucking light into or out of every corner of your image. And the first thing you must learn as a photographer is to pay attention to light, so much so that your eye becomes an internal camera constantly metering and focusing on the world around you. I've always been hypnotized by exactly that...how many different kinds of light there are (and believe me there are more than I'm sure you realize) and how these different kinds of light can transform the same object.

~Lola Rain

Cupcake and Sprinkles

I didn't get my nick name from just anywhere! Over the weekend I ventured to the San Francisco Book Sale at Fort Mason. All books were $5 and under!! They housed over 300,000 books ranging from photography, fiction, text books, graphic novels and even a self help section. Needless to say I walked alway with more books then I could carry back to my car. Being in the Marina I HAD to stop by That Takes The Cake on Union street. This little bakery has the best cupcakes I've had in a while. This one was by far the best carrot cake cupcake I've ever had in my life. I recommend next time you are on Union street stop by That Takes the Cake, you won't be disappointed!

~Cupcake

I love rock n roll

So put another dime in the jukebox, baby

I love rock n roll

So come an take your time an dance with me

- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Hope you all like this post. I am thankful for my friend Kayla for being a great model and rockin' that guitar like she knew what she was doing! Thanks kaybay!

~Cupcake

Reading Roses

I recently read online that Reading Rainbow lost its budget and will no longer be airing new episodes. Growing up I remember watching Reading Rainbow all the time! I'm sad that future generations won't be able to experience the magic that was Reading Rainbow! Well, I guess in a way, this is my little tribute to my new found love for reading. I must say, I love nonfiction, good memoirs and am partial to Bay Area writers. Any good book recommendations?

~Cupcake

Give me that sage wisdom

Before I repainted the inside of my apartment in San Francisco, I inscribed the things I wanted to invite into my life and home on the walls before lathering the sheetrock with fresh colors that soothed my soul. It was my way of clearing out the relationship that had unfolded poorly within those walls in the years before, it was my way of replacing toxic emotions with those that truly represent me…..love, health, wisdom, happiness. When I was finished painting, I cleansed each room, each doorway, each place that had been a former battleground, by burning sage and allowing the past to evaporate with the smoke. I set up a meditation alter, I placed my Buddha collection strategically around my home. And suddenly, I could breathe.

These practices may not be grounded in science, they may be ridiculed or not understood as a way to recreate one’s life, but those opinions are completely irrelevant to me. In order for them to work, they only need to be meaningful to me—I simply honored my pocket of space in the universe and chose not to believe it was pure coincidence that I then invited into my life all the things I set out to. I don’t think what we believe in is as important as simply possessing a belief. The rituals I used are not unlike any other ritual, they are simply vehicles to harness the power we inherently possess.

~Lola Rain

What inspires Cupcake and Lola Rain...

A friend recently forward an email to me with Clark Little Photography. I instantly forwarded it to Lola Rain and we were in love! I mean just look at this amazing photograph! Not only is his work beautiful, but it takes a lot of effort to get the shoots that he does. As a non-swimming member of society, I am horrified of being in the ocean. The thought of being swooped up by a gigantic wave and not being able to swim against it terrifies me. Little’s work is innovative and risky. I love it. One day I hope to have one of his pieces in my home. Check out his work and I guarentee you will fall in love. :)

~Cupcake

Her eyes blink with truth

"There are various eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes: and as a result there are various truths, and as a result there is no truth."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

She stands alone,

lost in the trance of her bathroom mirror,

searching, hoping, tracing her face with her fingertips.

It is truth that she finds,

it is truth that stares back at her.

The long, angelic contours of her cheek

reminding her of someone

so tightly bound in her structure,

yet so distant and unfamiliar;

her nose like the button

beneath her father's on a collared shirt;

her plump lips like those of a child,

begging to tell her stories of the playground.

But it is her eyes that jolt her

like brand new wedding china crashing to the floor,

taking the breath out of her own lungs,

as the dam of suppression

breaks under pressure,

gushing all her years upon her head,

all the images tucked away inside her neurons,

all her moments of happiness bordering on mania,

all the times love poured from her iris's

into those who dared to look,

all the tears that have wrenched their way

out of the leaky faucet that is her soul,

all the faces she doesn't remember

but cannot forget.

It is her eyes,

open like shiny crystal balls,

that blink with truth

and light the room with all that only she

can ever know.

~Lola Rain

Words to live by...

Hope you all enjoy :)

-Cupcake

One thing that I LOVE about San Francisco is the variety of farmers markets. Every Thursday there is a Farmers Market right by my office in Crocker Galleria. These organic tomatoes are a weakness of mine. They come at a high price, but they taste great and the best part is that I'm supporting local farmers. Oh, how I love my city, and my tomatoes!

~Cupcake

City girl meets country cow pasture

I love things that are out of place. A bathtub full of books instead of water, lying in bed with a guitar instead of a man, bedroom furniture set up in the back yard. I find these scenes interesting to create or capture. I'm fascinated by the idea of something being out of place. Of course, in our human minds, there are things that make sense and things that don't....a bathtub is created to be filled with water and bathe in so items such as soap, a naked body, or a wash cloth don't arouse any amount of astonishment when among the tile and porcelain. We've created these things that must be a specific way otherwise we scoff at their confusing state. But why must everything make sense? Why can't we be comfortable with a little chaos, a little peculiarity, a reassembling of logical ideas or circumstances? I suppose I'm simply driven to make things interesting, to create a ripple in a still pool, to stimulate my eyes and mind. I feel insane when my world is tame.

~Lola Rain

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror mirror on the wall...

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit.” - Aristotle

Look to the sky, it never lies

Rarely in life do we fully appreciate the simple existences constantly surrounding, supporting and enhancing our lives. We take these things for granted rather than marvel at the utter complexity of their existence, rather than contemplating that underneath the constant material flow of life, lies a natural world that takes its time, is never anything but honest and exists without pretense. I am more drawn to nature and to the earth than I am to the material world because of this...because it is what makes sense to me and allows manufactured life to melt away.

A simple thing like the sky above us elicits a sense of awe and wonder in me. We may ignore it, but it’s always there. It's impact is strong, and it's constant moodiness can alter our own moods. But even more profound is the way it reminds me of a simple fact: we live on a round piece of matter, floating magically in the midst of an immense universe. And if you really stop to think about that, to realize we’ve created a life far more complex than necessary, to understand that we are simply a part of this natural wonder, then you can discover a feeling of appreciation and a lesson to be learned from all that is natural.

If anything, you can count on the sky to connect you to the earth and yourself. The next time the summer sky opens up into a fantastical rain storm, run out onto the hot pavement, feel the rain pour from above...and just feel alive.

~Lola Rain

Introducing Lola Rain...

When I was 14 years old, I was given an ancient camera and the tools to make my own film while away at summer camp. As I stood in the dark room, developing the images I had chosen to capture, I discovered a powerful way to represent the world through my eye. I still have on my wall that first photo I took and developed, a black and white rendering of old canoe oars…and it still lights me up.

My passion hasn’t been consistently present, I found myself in business school instead of art school, I’ve tried to imitate what seemed like a more normal or responsible path in life…but the artist in me has always cried out, has always shaken and forced me to abandon high paying jobs, environments that didn’t inspire or support my true path, relationships that suffocated my colorful soul.

So here I am. I don’t have a plan or any idea where my art will lead me. I only know that with every click of my camera’s shutter opening and closing, with every idea that springs from my mind and splatters itself across a glossy piece of paper, with every folder filled with another 600 pictures on my computer desk top, I feel more alive.

Introducing Cupcake...

My name is Natalie aka Cupcake. I'm a small town kinda girl living in the big (well, actually, really small) city. I adore cupcakes! (Hence the nickname)

I get inspiration from the people and things around me. I love the randomness of life and how unexpectedly people and situations happen. (This is what Lola Rain and I have in common!) I admire the unexpected beauty in things. I feel like you can really capture an image in B&W. There is something pure and innocent to it, yet it leaves you open to possibilities. Architecture and landscapes tend to take my breath away. Puppies and animals are a weakness of mine.

I enjoy photography because it’s lively and free. There are no rules, no limits and no boundaries.