JEREMY THE BLOGGER

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens really has it all; flowers, art, architecture, great food and the list goes on.        Photo Notes: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens | San Marino, CA | September 2019 | Canon Rebel

Last week, UNESCO World Heritage Center which recognizes sites of great cultural, historical, or scientific importance, announced that several Frank Lloyd Wright homes were added as a world heritage site, including the Hollyhock House which I had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago. It is quite the hidden gem in Los Angles, tucked away atop a hill in East Hollywood, in the Barnsdall Art Park.  Completed in 1921, Hollyhock is a perfect example of California Modernism and a stunning beauty with many photo opportunities (photos outside the house only as they do not allow any inside which was torture for me, but I understood).   Photo Notes: Hollyhock House | Los Angeles, CA | April 2016 | Samsung Galaxy Camera 2

I live in Arizona, so naturally I am surrounded by a lot of cactus.  However, what I didn’t realize before living here in the desert is how many different types of cactus there are. There are numerous nature and hiking trails with many forms of the cactus along the way; small, medium, large and gigantic.  The saguaro is sacred in Arizona to the point where the state government put GPS trackers in them because people were stealing and selling them on the black market.   I love every form of the cactus so I am sharing my recent pictures in a new section of my website entitled PRINTS .  If you are interested in purchasing any, then just send me an email and we can work something out.  Photo Notes: Brown’s Ranch Trailhead | Scottsdale, AZ | May 2019 | iPhone X

I think that road trips are the great American pastime.  While there are so many great things to explore within your own city, a road trip allows you to expand your adventures whether you are traveling an hour away or across the country.  Just pack a bag or two, hop in your car and take off for parts unknown.   For me, there is usually a lot of planning involved in my road trips and I like doing them alone.  Mainly because you are on your own time schedule and don’t have to worry about others needs and wants.  However, back in October 2018, I was visiting friends in Manteca, CA and they suggested a sort of spur of the moment road trip to Yosemite once they found out I had never been.  It was a fairly short drive, about two hours each way.  The road we chose to Yosemite was steep and winding up and then down the mountains, but once you turned the final curve and happened upon the Half Dome View Point, it was all worth it!  From that moment...

I love coffee!  I used to hate it.  In fact, I didn’t even really drink it until 2015.  I started working at a coffee roaster in Seattle and my world changed.  I learned what real, fresh coffee was and immediately after my first ever pour over using a Chemex, which is a brewing method where you pour hot water over freshly ground beans using a beautiful glass vessel, I was in love.  I learned a lot about the roasting process and what makes a good cup of coffee.   Now I enjoy going to coffee shops even more because I only pick the ones who actually roast their own coffee or better yet, have a relationship with the farmers that grow the coffee, know which beans are best to purchase and bring them back to America so we consumers can enjoy the perfect cup.   I also love finding a great space to work, relax, people watch and enjoy a latte, espresso or pour over (those are my top 3 go-to coffee drinks).  The Intelligentsia Coffee in Venic...

Sometimes you feel like you are falling into an abyss and there is nothing you can do to stop it.  Choices, reactions, non-reactions, everything has infinite possibilities and outcomes.  I have never had any regrets, only the wish or hope that if I could go back and do it again, I would choose at least one-hundred different ways to see which one was truly the best result.  Maybe they all would be the best or maybe they would all be the worst or maybe it would be a mix.  But, since I am in the here and now, I have to do what my heart, soul, intuition, gut or whatever you want to call it, tells me to do.   Photo Notes: Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Falls / May 2019 / iPhone X

Most people I have known stay at jobs they absolutely hate, for years, even decades because of one underlining factor; fear.  Fear of the unknown, the uncertainty of starting over and learning new things.  I don’t pride myself at quitting so many jobs, but I am unfortunately an expert at noticing all the signs of a job that is going down like the Titanic.  But overcoming that fear of leaving a job I hate because I’d rather do nothing then something that I know I don’t love, was the beginning of my freedom.  This first acknowledgement is the hardest one.  You finally have to admit that the job that has been eating away at your soul, the job that you hate, the company, the culture that is horrific, will never get better.  Freedom is the greatest gift we are born with and the hardest thing to hold on to.  Change starts with you and overcoming your fears. Photo Notes: Menifee, CA / July 2018 / Taken with an iPhone X

I will always remember the time a coworker dumbfounded me with one simple sentence.  It happened a while ago, almost ten years now, but it has stuck with me ever since.   I was working at a museum when a visitor asked me where a certain neighborhood was that she had heard about in a local guidebook and if I had any recommendations of what to do and where to eat in said neighborhood.  I excitedly explained about the great restaurants to enjoy and art galleries to explore and where it was in relation to the museum, which happened to be on the other side of the museum, no more than a five-minute drive away.  I also delved into the overall vibe of the neighborhood with its 1920’s architecture, cool boutique shops and bookstores all of which I knew first hand since I had explored the neighborhood a few days after I started my employment at the museum.  I love exploring different neighborhoods, especially ones I live in or work near.  After the visitor t...

You can call me whatever you want, however I only answer to Jeremy. The sum of my parts equal more than who I am. I have a right down the middle personality which leads to many uncertainties in my life but I do know that I enjoy taking photos of nature, architecture food and beverages. I like clean lines and a minimalistic sense of style. People keep telling me I should start a blog so here we go. These are my memories, my daily activities in photos and words.  Photo Notes: Yosemite, CA | October 2018 | Taken from a moving car using an iPhone X