Paul Grant's Blog

Oktoberfest - Redwood City

Today was OKTOBERFEST in Redwood City. I had spent most of the day in my studio. About 3 or so I got out and took my camera for a walk. Tony, Brie and Samantha walked over from their house and we had a nice leisurely walk around the festivities. There was a great Munich Beer Garden style Oompah band. You should have heard them play “Brown Eyed Girl”.

Paula joined us about 6pm just before Tony and Brie left to see India Arie at the old Paramount Theater in Oakland.  I have always wanted to visit this Theater.  I remember my father talking about it a lot as he went there as a kid and I am sure with my mother.    My Grandparents lived not too far from there at 81 Glen Avenue, Oakland Ca.

More photos and video to follow.

Over this past year I have been hosting and teaching a variety of photography related workshops in my Redwood City studio.   I have come to enjoy these workshops where I meet a lot of great people and I am always stimulated to learn and teach more.  Today I held two 3 hour studio lighting workshops back to back.    To change things up a bit from past workshops I decided to focus on a theme of old 30s and 40s Hollywood Glamor lighting with an emphasis on black and white.   Below are a few images from today’s workshops.

It has been some time since I have posted on my blog. Recycling is not one of my favorite things. We live on a large flag lot and our driveway is about 200 yards long. We have 5 huge recycling bins for the Green stuff and then one trash bin and one for paper, bottles etc. In recent months however my outlook on taking out the trash has improved. On occasion Samantha helps me.

My PopPop Threw me in the dumspter

So today I did a practice/conditioning hike in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest.    The Methuzelah grove hike is about 4.5 miles.      You can see my route here:
Track (6-17-11 3-44-52PM) at EveryTrail
EveryTrail – Find the best Hiking near Bishop, California

Leavitt Meadow and Falls

For the second year in a row I am off to the easter Sierra’s near Lone Pine California.   I will be camping hiking in the Golden Trout Wilderness from June 19th through June 25th.    I left Menlo Park on June 15th about 2pm.    I headed towards the Sierras and decided to take Sonora pass over the mountains and Tioga pass through Yosemite is still closed and not due to open until June 18th.      In route somewhere around Livermore I realized I would be traveling by my cousin Nancy and her husband Ron’s home in Mi Wuk Village just east of Sonora.     I met up with Nancy and Ron about 6 pm.     They treated me to a wonderful pizza dinner and a tour of the area.    After that we went back to the house where I had the opportunity to have some great conversation with my cousin.   We caught up on 40 years of history.   It was GREAT.

After a good nights sleep and breakfast prepared by Nancy I hit the road (Hwy 108) heading east.    I stopped a few times along the way for some picture taking at places like the Dardanelle Bridge built in 1933, Kennedy Meadows, Sonora summit and Leavitt Falls overlook and Leavitt Meadows.   The image posted above is a com