Twin Oaks

Costco is a wonderful place. Two dollar giant pizza slices, huge bags of peanut m&m's, sparkling hidef tv's greeting your entrance. But the real gem there is the $2.99 12x18 prints from the photo lab. Large enough make the photos be seen but not so big as to show all the flaws in your focus, exposure, and old lenses. It's really the perfect size in every way but one, nobody makes 12x18 frames. For as long as the 24x36 mm leica format has been dominate you would think frames with a 2x3 aspect ratio would be common. But frame manufacturers are still infatuated with the relic formats; 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, and 16x20. All useless to me. Kohl's sometimes carries an american made 14x20 frame (several of which grace our living room walls) that gives a nice 1 inch border to 12x18 photos. But at over $20 each on sale the frame ends up being 7 times the price of the photo.

Enter Wayne's do-it-yourself world. I took a piece of scrap pallet wood, ran it across the table saw and router a few times and voila, a free 12x18 frame. A quick trip down to the spca thrift store found a nice poster of a shirtless Brady Anderson. $3 and a glass cutter later I had 3 $1 panes of 12x18 glass.


As you can see in the photo trying to cut perfect 45º angles on a table saw isn't an easy task. So it was off to craigslist for a good miter saw. Craigslist is a great way to reuse/recycle and to avoid directly giving any money to companies that have outsourced jobs to china. So for about the price of three new frames I got a great deal on a saw in vacaville that will hopefully help me make countless more.

As I was leaving with my purchase the clouds were putting on wonderful show over the vaca hills. I detoured thru the backside of town, along the base of the hills, looking for a nice foreground to match with the sky until I stumbled upon a stalled housing development. Barren streets and empty lots lead to small hillside graced by a pair of oaks.

Here was a positive result of the housing slump. This view, or possibly the trees themselves, would be gone forever had the building craze continued. Although, I'm sure they've only been granted a temporary reprieve and the sun will eventually set on this view.


The twin oaks were nice but I convinced myself there was more to see in the hills. I meandered thru back-country, one-lane roads before popping up down the road from lake solano. The sun was getting low and a set of power lines were ruining the shot there so I headed up to berryessa for what I hoped would be a colorful show.


Well, I probably should've stayed at the oaks. But now I have a couple more photos that will need some frames. I think I'm also going to need some more wall space soon.