If Looks Could Kill - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

If looks could kill, I just about died upon sighting of this tiny fluff ball. At a standing height of roughly 10 inches, a burrowing owl is only slightly larger than an American robin.

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Thankfully, I did not let the fierce stare-down discourage me and chose to give it space, along with a plethora of compliments. One of the two, or something else, seemed to have worked. She allowed me to be around her for half an hour until I absolutely had to leave, during which time she was giving me all kinds of looks (remember the red fox from Hokkaido?), including this one. I don’t know about you, I’m convinced that she really likes me. :-)

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If looks could kill, I would have died many times. Thank you miss big-eyes.

To my human friends, happy owl-o-ween!

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Boys Will be Boys ...... - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

I love it when children are like children, like the ones that chase bubbles with all their lives. What I didn’t realize is that boys will be boys and stay that way for a long time. I had this epiphany while in Arezzo, Italy for its Giostra del Saracino. Over there, I got to observe them doing what they do best.

Boys play:

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Boys fight:

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Boys would be playing to fight:

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It seems that they each have a boy in their ever-maturing human bodies, rent free. What I need help figuring out is, at what point, the boy gets evicted. Or does he ever? I mean, do you see a boy lurking underneath this gentleman’s skin?

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Winners Find Solutions in Arezzo, Italy - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

In a recent trip to the medieval city of Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy, I got to take a behind-the-scene view of the flag-wavers practicing in preparation of the city’s upcoming Giostra del Saracino (more on that later). Despite the fact that the team has been performing the art of flag-waving since 1960, it’s never an easy task to keep the flags afloat, let alone with grace.

While we as bystanders tend to focus on the time of performance, I appreciated the practice when it reminded me that at times, just like life, things don’t always go the intended way. There are moments when we feel we almost “dropped the ball”:

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And other times when we are completely swamped:

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As someone puts it:“winners find solutions, losers make excuses.” I am sure the flagwavers never let the weight of the flag staff or the sun glaring into their eyes become what stands in the way of putting out the best orchestrated show every time, even when it means sometimes blood would be shed, which unfortunately happened in this practice.

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In terms of the small price that I paid to bring back these images? Let’s just say we were in a unique spot (photographically speaking) which happened to be a nice shelter for blood-sucking insects. And, it didn’t help when we were the only two warm bodies there. :P

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