Photography by Ronald Mariano :: blog

Good Times

2008-09-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

For some odd reason Natalie just loves to get into things. She loves to hang out in our pantry, closets, just about anything she can squeeze into (like the green organizer box below). She has even attempted to climb into the fridge.

Natalie just loves her pink car. Actually, she loves to be pulled around in it. Sometimes she will get out and watch (makes) Daddy pull the empty car around.

Below is an image of Natalie sitting on a stump near her great-grandparent's cabin. This was the first time she got to visit the cabin. She had a great time! Near by is a lake full with geese and a park will slides and swings.

We had a great Labor Day weekend, hope you did too!

Seven Days in Cambria

2008-06-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from Cambria, Ca. I decided not to bring my camera, our vehicle was full almost bursting at the seams. My wife had packed her little pink point-n-shoot camera though and we captured these precious moments:

In this photo, Natalie and I are taking a little break from shopping. Notice that Natalie is in full vacation mode - relaxed with sunglasses on.

Natalie is enjoying the sand, surf, & sun. This is the William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach located just west of Hearst Castle.

This photo of us was taken by Alison, Natalie's Nana. This day was very windy but this particular beach is sheltered (see behind us) which made it a very enjoyable day at the beach.

This sunset had a bit more red/orange color to it due to the fires up north. In both images you can see smoke in the sky. Over the next couple of days, ash from the fires accumulated on our car.

Both sunset images were taken along the Moonstone Beach Dr.

Here we are taking a tour of Hearst Castle. The views from here are amazing, just wished I would of brought my camera with me. I could of carried it in the backback I was wearing, Natalie lasted about 30 minutes in it.

My wife took this photo of our feet in the sand. Isn't she very creative?!

Natalie is very much enjoying the beach.

Family photo of us. Behind us is a castle with a moat. This castle was built for Natalie. Even though she loved the beach and enjoyed the waves from afar she was not too fond of the cold ocean water. The castle with moat kept her dry.

Backyard Fun

2008-05-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sara is teaching Natalie how to smell the flowers.

As you can see Natalie has almost got the technique down.

Mother's Day gift for my wife

2008-05-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

My wife received a camera for Mother's day. Here are a couple shots of her in action with her new pink Canon PowerShot SD 1100 IS.

Above image Natalie is probably thinking why do they need two cameras!

Striking a pose for her Momma!

My wife's pink camera in action, upclose you can see the "face recognition" technology in full effect! The camera also does movies as well, see post below.

Stellina (Little Star)

2008-05-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video of Natalie playing the piano. She's been practicing for a couple of weeks now.

Can you name that tune?

One

2008-04-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

Natalie is one year old! Here are a few images from her birthday party this past Saturday.

Not sure what to do with her birthday cake.

Natalie on her bike she received from her Auntie Corinne and Uncle Todd. For more images visit her blog Natalie.RonaldMariano.com.

My Favorite Subject

2008-01-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

What a ham!

Natalie loves the camera.

Happy Holidays

2008-01-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Wishing you the best this holiday season.

After the butterfly comes the BIKE. Can't wait!

Looking Back

2007-12-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to do a cycling calendar like Graham Watson (good stuff) but just never have gotten around to doing it. I'm surprised no one else has attempted to create one for the Northern California cycling scene. I guess I'm the first (that I know of). I started off with creating just one but I had too many favorite images to choose from so I ended up creating two versions, a men's version and a women's version.

I ordered one of each to see how they turned out. I was quite impressed with the quality of the calendars. I went with an online self-publishing company lulu.com. Basically, one uploads one's work to lulu.com, they print it out and sell your work for you. Below are the actual calendars:

Turn around time for the calendars from print to my mailbox was 6 days. I opted for the Priority mail shipping because I was eager to see the results before I started to sell them. I wanted to make sure that they turned out as good I had hoped. Boy, I was not disappointed!

Click here for more details regarding my 2008 Cycling Calendars.

6 Months Old

2007-10-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Six months in 6 seconds, here is a collage of Natalie images taken every month for the last 6 months.

Time has gone by so quick! She has gotten so big. She can now sit up by herself. She cannot crawl just yet but she has the movements to start crawling soon. She will be celebrating her first Halloween later this month, so be sure to check out all of her adventures at her blog Natalie.RonaldMariano.com.

Mission Complete

2007-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

I can now say that our backyard is complete. See prior entry for "before" images. The image below was taken in the early morning just as the sun was rising. If you were wondering what that red thing is hanging from the patio cover click here and then hit the play button.

I will have to take another photo during the evening to show off the landscaping lighting we installed. We think the backyard turned out fabulous! Now that the back yard is done we can now turn our focus to the front yard. The builder provided the landscaping for the front which is OK but we have other plans. So far, we've added landscape lighting which looks spectacular in the evening but during the day the front looks quite bland. So, stay tuned for the changes...

Almost There

2007-06-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

We've almost got our backyard complete. Two years ago all we had was dirt and weeds. See the transformation, before:

Just prior to having the cement poured.

Concrete for the patio and walkway is done, sprinklers installed and sod laid. Before patio cover:

To date, bricks for the planter has been set, trees planted, and patio cover installed:

Patio cover was installed by Carl and his crew from DayLiteDemensions.com. They did a fabulous job! We highly recommend them if you ever wanted a patio cover installed, they also do sunrooms & pools. Be sure to mention us when you call.

Almost there, with just a few more things to do our backyard will be complete...

Photo Tip: Oops! Where Did the Files Go?

2007-06-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Have you unintentionally deleted or formatted pictures, videos or sound files on your thumb drive or memory card? Lost data, fear not! There are several recovery tools out there, some fairly priced. I recently came across a FREE application recently reviewed by a tech podcast I listen to that can easily reconstruct the lost data and it's called "PC INSPECTOR - smart recovery" (Google search result #1).

I've tried it out myself on a compact flash memory card that was formatted and I was able to recover the images off of it. I've even recovered images that were deleted off the card several months old ago.

I haven't had to use this application in a real world situation but it's comforting to know that it's available when I do accidentally push the delete/format button by mistake.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

2007-06-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Already 2 months old, where does the time go?! Natalie received her first set of shots recently and she handled them very well. She is now 24" long and weighs 13 lbs.

Natalie now has her own blog, check it out at www.Natalie.RonaldMariano.com . Mommy will be helping Natalie keep it up to date with her photos and adventures.

Three Moms and a Baby

2007-05-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day at our house, on the left is my mom, then Sara's mom, and then Natalie's mom (my wife).

Grandma and Natalie posing for the camera. This is my mom's third grandchild. My sister has 2, Jesse and Rose.

The headband looks cute but it didn't stay on Natalie's head for long.

Our Little Birdie

2007-05-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, we love our Natalie to pieces! There is this face that Natalie makes where her lips get really small like a bird's beak. That face is tooo cute! Here's an image of Natalie showing her Mommy her "birdie" look:

Natalie has had many visitors over the last several weeks. Here is Natalie being very content in her Auntie Corinne's arms:

Look at me (posing for her Daddy):

Just under a month old and she's already got a great personality.

Perspectives

2007-04-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Beauty...that is all she does is sleep most of the time. Isn't she adorable!

Here's what I perceive the world (from her crib) may look like when she does decide to open her eyes:

This is me (from her perspective) - trying to wake up her up.

From my perspective, how cute is that!

Good times...

My Favorite Race

2007-04-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

My favorite race of the season has to be the Santa Cruz Classic Criterium and it is coming up this weekend. As a former bike racer (Elite 3) I would consider this course as one of the most challenging courses to race on. It has an off-cambered 180 degree corner, fast downhill section, and an uphill sprint at the end of each lap.

In the image above I'm the 2nd rider (yellow & blue kit) going around the somewhat wet 180 degree corner. Every time I raced on this course I've never felt comfortable with that bend. I almost always seem to choose the wrong line. I've even crashed going round this corner which was captured by my wife (girlfriend at the time - 2003).

No worries though. I got back up, went to the pits, and jumped back in the race to eventually win the darn thing! Here's a video (from 2003) of the sprint to the finish:

This course has all the elements for great bike racing. Whether you're a bike racer or spectator/photographer (that's me now) Santa Cruz is where to be at this weekend!

Daddy's Little Girl

2007-04-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

Arriving on her due date Natalie Alison weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz / 21 inches. Natalie at 1 day old striking a pose for her proud dad:

After being at the hospital since Wednesday we arrived at home Saturday quite exhausted. Besides being tired mommy, daddy, and baby are doing great!

To everyone that called, visited, gave gifts, and sent flowers THANK YOU very much for thinking of us.

Miles of Smiles

2007-04-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I've been shooting blanks. Not what you think though. Shooting blanks with my camera, in other words my camera has been in the closet since the beginning of March as we prepare for the arrival of our first child. I did get a chance to shoot at the Wards Ferry Road Race this past weekend and by the looks on their faces there were a few who were glad to see me shooting again...

...or maybe they just really enjoy racing their bikes! Whatever the case may be they were smiling and even though you can't see me behind the camera I was smiling as well!

The Finishing Touch

2007-03-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

I think we are finished! Here are a few more photos of the baby's room:

The room turned out great. I do believe our baby will enjoy this room very much!

Baby Makes Three

2007-03-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

A few more weeks and the baby will make three, well four if you count the cat. That's Holly below snoozing on the plastic bag right next to her warm and snuggly "cat bed."

Well, instead of shooting bike races I spent the past weekend with my wife finishing up the baby's room for her big arrival. Here's the room from a few months ago...

...a few weeks ago (new paint on the walls)...

...to today (March 13,2007)...

...image above is a close-up view of the border (theme of the room). With the room almost done, we're quite happy with the way it has turned out so far.

Rides at the Merco Cycling Classic

2007-03-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

I love BIKES! Between laps and the racing action I took a few snapshoots of the rides that the pros raced on. These bikes were in the pits and are used when the racers need a replacement when their bike is damaged and unridable due to a mechanical or crash.

I'm guessing that this little dude's favorite ride is the Pinarello - the kid has good taste!

Just Like Mike...

2007-02-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

Even though it's still early in the cycling season there were a few cyclists that were letting it all hang out - Michael Jordan style - at the Snelling and Merced races:

It was great weather during the Snelling Road Race on Saturday but the same could not be said the next day in Merced (as seen in the image directly above - nasty). Rain or shine I'll be there again this weekend, see you at the Merco Cycling Classic.

A Pair of Levi's, an Angel, and a Graham of Images

2007-02-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

Amazing is how I would describe the 2007 Amgen Tour of CA prologue that was held in SF this past Sunday. I was unable to attend last year so for this year I wasn't going to miss it for the world. I will miss out on the other seven Tour of CA stages but at least I was able to attend one. There were tons of people there, from cycling fans to cycling stars. Most memorable for me was when I got to meet one of my favorite photographers Graham Watson. As for the race, Levi once again won the prologue just like he did last year. The question now is, will he win the overall? Last year he was 3rd overall.

The prologue finished at Coit Tower which sits on top of a hill. There are spectacular views of the City and bay from this spot. As I soaked in all the wonderful views I ran into another cycling celebrity, the "Specialized Angel." Her real name is Jana and you can read all about her in this interview.

So there you go, a pair of wins for Levi (this year's & last year's prologue), an Angel at the top of a hill, and a whole lot of images like Graham's. Like I said, "amazing."