Lady Surfer vs Muay Thai Master I wonder what she was thinking at precisely this moment? When I see something like this happen in front of my eyes, my mind instantly goes through these steps: 1: Determine whether what you just saw actually happened. - If true, then proceed to step 2. - If false, then pick a new lunch place because the taco truck is serving psychedelic salsa. 2: Is the person in said situation hurt and in need of help? - If true, then call 911 and get ready to french kiss a stranger and likely sleep on the couch that night (emergency or no emergency). - If false proceed to step 3. 3: Chuckle to yourself from a safe distance and know that you are likely to be next (karma is a fair mistress). Happily, the lady surfer was just fine; however, I was still left wondering how it all happened and what she must have been thinking. No need to fret because my imagination can fill in the gaps for you with about 5% to 95% certainty: Extrapolating from the information I have, it looks like this poor girl was just going about her business when Sagat did a Tiger Punch in the water and sent three big waves at her from behind. That lanky Muay Thai Street Fighter character caught her completely off guard. How would you feel if this happened to you? I would have been in a state of bewildered, seething anger until I found out who did it and then I would do a quick assessment to see if I could avenge my honor without incurring physical harm. In this case, the surfer girl had no chance against the seasoned Street Fighter so she just quietly collected her board, brushed her hair out of her face and walked off the beach with dignity. Seriously, this is why Ryu beat him down; the guy just has no respect for lady surfers.

Christian OZ Photography

Limited Edition Prints (Each limited to 100 prints)

All photos are Creative Commons, Non-Commercial.

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Christian Ortiz > Hayes Mansion

I recently attended a conference at Hayes Mansion in San Jose. It is one of those old plantation mansions that seems to have a long and mysterious history. The matriarch of the family, Mary Hayes Chynoweth, commissioned an architect to build this mansion after the original structure burned down in 1899. She died before it was completed but some say her ghost lives on in the house (some = me). You can still see pictures of the family around the house which just adds to the eerie appeal of the place. I would have loved to stay the night and see if I experienced any paranormal activity, but alas, it was not to be. I am a masochist when it comes to ghost stories!

Christian Ortiz > Into the Labyrinth

Every so often you come across a place that sends you back in time. I was walking around San Francisco a few years ago, looking for a place to live and came across Grace Cathedral at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It was such a juxtaposition of thriving urban culture and medieval stone architecture that my mind did one of those upside down triple axle somersaults and landed in a different era. I was transported to the times when Knights Templar scorched the Earth and damsels were still in distress. I am sure someone is going to say that Grace Cathedral is actually a fine example of blagh, blagh architecture, but I don't care. To me it is the place where some religious belief or another was securely fortified and defended against a quickly diminishing pagan world. Too bad the endless pursuit of religious propagation had such a heavy hand.

I took this picture recently and wanted to process it in a way that would accentuate the dark times it must have lived in. The darkened angry sky surrounding the cold stone fortification almost looks like an admonishment of the ideals safeguarded inside. But rather than shrinking back, the structure stands tall and menacingly imposing in defiance. I like how the labyrinth in the foreground seems to represent the search for spiritual truth. Coming back to the present time, it is awesome how Grace Cathedral in actuality represents an open-minded search for God and the inclusion of all faiths. Visiting this gorgeous cathedral leaves you with the comforting feeling that we might be on the right track after all.

Christian Ortiz > Ancient Machu Picchu

There are certain places in the world that are a requisite visit for any self-respectable traveler. Machu Picchu is one of those places. I am sure you have seen the typical pictures of the ruins nestled at the top of an Andean mountain, so I offer you a different perspective of this gorgeous vestige of civilization.

I was in the middle of a two month trip through South America and had recently met up with my two brothers in Ecuador before flying into Cusco to begin the four-day Inca trail hike. We had arrived the same day that we were to start the hike and the only one who was prepared for the sub-zero temperatures was my older brother. In true style, my younger brother and I were just relying heavily on luck and the generosity of others. =) There is a lot more to the story, including a doggie peeing on us while we slept, a whirlwind romance with a llama and some unfortunate emergency defecation on the Andes. It is just not a good trip unless you get a good poopie story out of it. Wait until you hear my Bolivia story … but, let’s just leave that for another time. Needless to say we were the last ones to start the hike and the first ones to make the manly entrance into Machu Picchu. We pride ourselves on being stubbornly determined about these things.

When we arrived we were greeted by a thick cover of fog that obscured the entire site. It might as well have been Martha Stewart’s vineyard for all we were able to discern from our vantage point. We had to wait until the fog burned off a bit so we took the opportunity to video tape ourselves making fools of … ourselves (and thus the Machu Picchu crab walk was born). When we were finally able to run around the ruins we quickly got lost in a labyrinth of stone passages and tried to soak it all in. You end up floating around from one place to the next imagining what the ancient Incas must have been like and what it must have felt like to be the race who lived in a city so close to the heavens. Not even the annoying droves of giggling school-girls with their Hello Kitty* visors could take away from the experience.

* School girls, I love Hello Kitty as much as the next guy, but there is a place for everything and Machu Picchu is not the place for all that pink.

Christian Ortiz > Babel

I like Biblical stories. There is always someone getting out of line that needs to be smote. This picture reminded me of the Tower of Babel. According to the biblical account, after the Great Flood, humanity was united as one and spoke a single language. I guess they were emboldened by their great team cohesion because they decided to build a tower to reach the heavens. They meant to show God that they were His equal. Didn’t they just go through a mass flood that wiped out 99.9% of humanity a few years back? Come on guys, you really want to test your boundaries again?!

Anyway, as you can imagine God didn’t much like their insolence and when He came down to see what they were up to He said (or so I read, I was not there at the time):

If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confound their speech.

Can you imagine being one of the engineers building the tower when that happened? You are about 3 miles up on a scaffold and your buddy, Mac, turns to ask you to pass him the hammer and all you hear is gibberish. Mass chaos would ensue! And so it did and the mighty Tower of Babel was never finished and the peoples of the earth were scattered as punishment.

What is interesting in this story is that God realizes that when people are unified in purpose they can accomplish impossible feats, both noble and ignoble.

Christian Ortiz > The Self-Sacrificing

There is an amazing collection of Rodin sculptures up on display at The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. The collection is open to the public and admission is free! You are welcome to go there for as long as your heart desires and stare at these often twisted and wretched bronze portrayals of the human state. If you don’t know who Auguste Rodin is, don’t feel bad. He is the sculptor of “The Thinker” and “The Gates of Hell”. I love his representation of the gates of hell and will be going back to get just the right shot to share with you.

Rodin explained this piece by saying,

“These people, having passed through the privations of a long siege, no longer have anything but skin on their bones … I have not shown them grouped in triumphant apotheosis … their soul pushes them outward, but their feet refuse to walk. They drag themselves along painfully, as much because of the feebleness to which famine has reduced them as because of the terrifying nature of the sacrifice … “

I know his work seems a bit dark, but there is something very appealing about the way he chooses to portray his subjects. Admittedly, they all look like they have had better days, but it speaks to the struggle against whatever internal demons seem to inhabit our collective human psyche. Even if you don’t like his work, you can’t help but feel some strong emotion when you look at it. Isn’t this the point of art? To make you feel? Well, I love it! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Cantor for bringing this to the everyday person!!

Rodin reminds me of one of my favorite artists. He is a lesser-know painter by the name of Jan Kristofori who’s ominous work is so mixed between good and evil that you are left wondering which side he is on. I came upon his work at a museum in Prague when I was traveling through the Czech Republic. If I remember correctly, he was persecuted for being a Christian and imprisoned for a long while. I am sure this heavily influenced his work but his pain if our gain, I suppose. Check him out when you are feeling brave.

Christian Ortiz > Go To Your Happy Place

Perhaps if you were photographing the dumpster outside the local Zippy’s you might get a bad shot, but even then, I think you would somehow manage to capture a beautiful sunset reflecting off a broken glass.

We were driving around in the North Shore and I noticed this interesting little lagoon off the side of the road. The waves were crashing over the surrounding rocks and spilling into the lagoon as the sun was setting and there was a perfect sense of tranquility. It took me a few moments to take in the scene and then I setup for the shot. The resulting image is almost exactly as I saw it. The only thing missing is the warmth of the sun and the smell of salt in the air, but I will let you fill that in with your imagination.

I wonder if people who live in these paradises ever get so used to seeing these scenes that they get desensitized to their beauty. Well, not I, my friend. I think I would turn into a bum and spend my time sitting there staring all day. Maybe it is best that I do not live in paradise just yet. In the mean time I shall call this my happy place.

Christian Ortiz > Tree of Hope

Now that Christmas is almost upon us and everyone is getting ready for the big fat man in the red pajamas to swan dive down their chimneys, I thought I would post a nice holiday picture. This 19 foot tree is officially called the Tree of Hope. The nice folks at San Francisco City Hall asked the community to submit their written hopes and wishes for the future of our global community and turned them all into origami cranes for decoration. What a beautiful symbol of peace and love …

However, I believe there is more to this albino tree than meets the eye. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a few odd things that piqued my interest:
1) The tree is securely chained to the ceiling
2) There is a velvet rope surrounding the tree
3) The tree sits precisely in the middle of a dark circle on the floor
4) Towards the top you can see two men carved into the wall … just watching as if they were sentries

If you have ever see the movie “Night at the Museum” where all the exhibits come alive at night, then you would understand the signs above are conclusive indications that the tree is a clear danger to society and the folks at City Hall had to take preventative measures to ensure it would not break free and go rampaging across San Francisco. The chain is the first line of defense, followed by the velvet ropes that turn into lasers when activated. If that is not enough then the circle kicks in and forms a containment field. If the mighty albino tree somehow manages to break through those three barriers then the little men carved into the walls have to bust out their Greco Roman wresting moves or the city gets it. I feel bad for the Greco Romans .. it is hard to fight naked. I suppose this is the risk we take for having such a beautiful Christmas tree. Sleep easy San Francisco.

Christian Ortiz > The Grand Ballroom

A very good friend of mine gave me a private tour of San Francisco’s City Hall this weekend. There was not a person in sight and we had the whole beautiful place to ourselves. The architecture is impressive, the open spaces are gargantuan and the grand floor is … grand. Apparently this is where they host the Black and White Ball to benefit the San Francisco Symphony. Can you imagine being dressed up in your tux or formal dress and dancing here to the sweet melody of the Symphony? Well, it is now officially on my list of things to do before I kick it.

Christian Ortiz > Mnemonic

Stanford University’s Memorial Church has an ethereal feel to it that makes you wonder if you have left your body back at home by accident. This was my second attempt at taking this picture due to the ever vigilant caretaker who thwarted my first try. In these situations I find it pays to: a) speak another language, b) be crafty, and c) have the patience of a 300-year old tortoise. How could I give up?! This is one of those hidden gems that you come across and make a mental note to visit often so that you never forget what it feels like to be there.

Speaking of memory (warning: you are about to embark on a tangent) … I think we all go through our human experience recording memories in different ways. Some people have amazingly detailed memories and can recount an experience with very good accuracy. Others have selective memories and only tend to record those moments that have special significance. However, every person’s memories are colored with their own biases and perspectives. The point is that we are all unique and we all perceive and remember our journey uniquely. Photography is one way for me to record my journey and relate it to others (hence the title of this picture).

I am not a classically trained photographer; in fact, I am not any sort of trained photographer. Up until about year and a half ago, before my wife gave me my first digital SLR as an engagement gift, I just knew how to snap quick pictures with my little point-and-shoot camera. Now that I have Nikki (that is my camera – I name all my loved inanimate objects), she fills my free time with so much fun and childish excitement. Every weekend is an opportunity to discover some new and awesome part of the world (mostly my backyard). It is like taking a nose dive into my right brain’s realm and wallowing there for awhile before having to come back to the more structured necessities of day-to-day life. Assuming the world is meant to be in balance, this is one of my equalizers.

I also think a lot about my infant daughter and how she must perceive the world. Everything is new to her and she goes about it in a constant state of learning, awareness and wonderment. I think adults tend to lose this as they get more entangled with responsibility and sometimes they may even lose that ability completely. Being a parent reminds us of where we came from and how flexible our minds used to be … this is my way of keeping that alive so that I can not only have fun, balance my life, record my journey but also relate better to my daughter. Every little outing is an exploration. Ahhh, the possibilities are endless!

Technical note – This picture was one of my first attempts at High-Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. HDR is a process where by you take the same shot with different exposures and blend them together to capture all of the available light. I hope you enjoyed it, because I am getting more and more into this fun photographic style.

Christian Ortiz > Look Up

I have a selective memory. For the most part I remember those positive moments that spike up on the Richter scale of our lives and I tend to forget the dips. It is not like I consciously try to do this, but it just seems to be the way my memory works. Now, as you can imagine, this sounds great but it also presents some challenges. If I met my mortal enemy from elementary school today, I would not even remember him and he would probably relieve me of my Legos yet again.

I have always been fascinated by the sky. In high school, I remember having a strong suspicion that I would meet my maker driving off the side of the road while distractedly looking up at a beautiful sunset. I still have that habit, but I try to keep it in check now that I have a young family that needs their husband/daddy to be around for a long while longer.

My long running fascination with the heavens is nothing I need to analyze too much. It is simply an admiration of nature’s scandalous display of beauty. When there is a particularly awesome scene up on display, I often look around at the people going about their day as if nothing was happening and I am always a bit shocked that they don’t just stop and stare. How the heavens can they resist the urge to lie down on the ground and just watch the sky?! I stopped trying to understand it, so I just pretend it is a private showing for me as I stand in everyone’s way, staring up with my mouth open.

I took this picture recently while driving home from work. I wish I could have pulled over to get a few more shots so you could see how amazing the entire sky looked, but this one was pretty interesting. I love it so much that I wanted to show you a couple of other takes of the same shot. I hope you enjoy.

Christian Ortiz > Lady Surfer vs Muay Thai Master

I wonder what she was thinking at precisely this moment?

When I see something like this happen in front of my eyes, my mind instantly goes through these steps:

1: Determine whether what you just saw actually happened.
- If true, then proceed to step 2.
- If false, then pick a new lunch place because the taco truck is serving psychedelic salsa.

2: Is the person in said situation hurt and in need of help?
- If true, then call 911 and get ready to french kiss a stranger and likely sleep on the couch that night (emergency or no emergency).
- If false proceed to step 3.

3: Chuckle to yourself from a safe distance and know that you are likely to be next (karma is a fair mistress).

Happily, the lady surfer was just fine; however, I was still left wondering how it all happened and what she must have been thinking. No need to fret because my imagination can fill in the gaps for you with about 5% to 95% certainty:

Extrapolating from the information I have, it looks like this poor girl was just going about her business when Sagat did a Tiger Punch in the water and sent three big waves at her from behind. That lanky Muay Thai Street Fighter character caught her completely off guard.

How would you feel if this happened to you? I would have been in a state of bewildered, seething anger until I found out who did it and then I would do a quick assessment to see if I could avenge my honor without incurring physical harm. In this case, the surfer girl had no chance against the seasoned Street Fighter so she just quietly collected her board, brushed her hair out of her face and walked off the beach with dignity.

Seriously, this is why Ryu beat him down; the guy just has no respect for lady surfers.

Christian Ortiz > Cyclone Through Havana

On the second day of my visit to Cuba, a cyclone hit Havana. I was walking around the suburbs, looking for a place where I could get my hair cut. How was I supposed to know that a cyclone was coming in? I am not a weather donkey whose right hip aches before a storm rolls in. A nice man smoking a pipe on his front porch saw me meandering and scolded me and sent me running back to my apartment (stupid tourists!). I was staying with a ~70 year old woman with crystal clear blue eyes in a 20 story high-rise apartment built in the ’40s. There was one broken down elevator the size of a coffin, so I decided to make my way up the near pitch-dark stairs to the 14th floor. Cuba is not a great place to visit if you are claustrophobic or afraid of being crushed under dilapidated buildings.

I finally made it up to the apartment just in time to watch the impact. I was looking out the 14th floor window and next to me was my elderly host. This was nothing new to her, she had lived all her life in Havana; however, the 250 kilometer/hour winds made me cry out for my mommy. It was eerie to watch Havana get destroyed by the invisible force. We spent the next few days without electricity and decent food (I can’t even look at spam now). During those days, I spent a lot of time with my host and she slowly started to confide her thoughts on the Cuban psyche and shared her fears and frustrations of living in virtual captivity. She told me all about Cuba before Fidel took over and about the tragic hero, Che, who was used as a Trojan Horse for today’s dictatorship.

After the cyclone passed, I spent the rest of my time in Cuba getting lost, grabbing dinner with locals, being thrown down by army people for wandering into the wrong place … the best way to explain it all is that I would go back in a heartbeat. There is no other place in the world with its history and spirited people. As my good Brazilian travel-buddy would put it, “En Cuba, ahi cultura viva!”.

Christian Ortiz > Manos the Dragon

Have you ever been mauled by a fake Dragon? Well, me neither, but I hear tell it is a nasty experience, what with the fire breath and all. I found this little guy during a random street festival in South Korea (random for me, but I am sure the thousands of performers had it marked on their calendars). I asked my wife if we could take him home with us, but she pointed out that I do not have any experience raising Dragons. This was before the movie “How to Train Your Dragon” came out so I had no retort and I had to concede to her superior logic. In an alternate universe I would have taken him home, named him Manos and trained him to fight crime. We would have been vigilantes, dispensing our own sense of justice from the skies … I am just saying that sometimes it is ok to let your spouse bring home a Dragon.

Christian Ortiz > The Falls

I am partial to black and white photography. It must be my analytical mind trying to impose a binary feel to the way I see things. What black and white lacks in color, it more than makes up for in depth and range … on the surface it seems like a simple expression of the world, but the closer you look the more meaning it seems to convey. That was just a long-winded way of saying you will see more of these types of pictures in the future.

I took this picture of Niagara Falls from the Canada side. I was in Ontario on a business trip and had a weekend to myself so I took the opportunity to see the falls. It was one of those times when you just stand there in stunned admiration of the sheer magnitude of nature. I wanted to turn to someone and say “Holy crap, look at that!”, but alas, I was all alone and I doubt the old British couple next to me would have appreciated my language.

Lady Surfer vs Muay Thai Master

I wonder what she was thinking at precisely this moment?

When I see something like this happen in front of my eyes, my mind instantly goes through these steps:

1: Determine whether what you just saw actually happened.
- If true, then proceed to step 2.
- If false, then pick a new lunch place because the taco truck is serving psychedelic salsa.

2: Is the person in said situation hurt and in need of help?
- If true, then call 911 and get ready to french kiss a stranger and likely sleep on the couch that night (emergency or no emergency).
- If false proceed to step 3.

3: Chuckle to yourself from a safe distance and know that you are likely to be next (karma is a fair mistress).

Happily, the lady surfer was just fine; however, I was still left wondering how it all happened and what she must have been thinking. No need to fret because my imagination can fill in the gaps for you with about 5% to 95% certainty:

Extrapolating from the information I have, it looks like this poor girl was just going about her business when Sagat did a Tiger Punch in the water and sent three big waves at her from behind. That lanky Muay Thai Street Fighter character caught her completely off guard.

How would you feel if this happened to you? I would have been in a state of bewildered, seething anger until I found out who did it and then I would do a quick assessment to see if I could avenge my honor without incurring physical harm. In this case, the surfer girl had no chance against the seasoned Street Fighter so she just quietly collected her board, brushed her hair out of her face and walked off the beach with dignity.

Seriously, this is why Ryu beat him down; the guy just has no respect for lady surfers.