Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Codas – Rich, Michele and Lindsay!

Click on the image for an animated version.

Vdara Hotel, Las Vegas, NV © 2010 Richard M. Coda

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Codas – Rich, Michele and Lindsay!



Click on the image for an animated version.

Photograph by Lindsay Coda (c) 2009

Post Christmas Observation

Jesus for Sale, 2009 by Richard M. Coda

I took my daughter out to the "Town Dump" in Cave Creek today so she could photograph some "western" stuff to use in one of her paintings. The Town Dump is a touristy, kitschy, western themed curio shop. Lots of rusted sculptures, old sewing machines, Mexican wooden doors, cow skulls... you name it. Visually very interesting. They have these little niches where they have items displayed... some are "themed" some are totally not related to each other. In one of these niches I found this. For some reason this image disturbed me quite a bit... almost like saying Jesus was for sale... for $28. And, a classic painting like this ending up pasted on some old wood almost made me cry. Another affront to Christianity, I guess. Kind of reminds me of my Salton Alien image. I think I'll have to go back and see if I can photograph it with the big cameras.

Guest Blog: Christmas... Lindsay Style

My daughter, Lindsay, is an artist at heart, and a traditional one at that. She loves the Masters and prides herself on technique. She paints and she draws using a variety of mediums. We took her to National Portfolio Days a few weeks ago, and at 15, she received comments like, "If you were a senior showing me this portfolio today, I'd offer you a scholarship right now... wouldn't think twice about it" (NHIA). "A lot of people are going to be after you in a couple of years." (AIBLU) Yes, she is an artist... but put a camera in her hands and she's a completely different person.

We went out to look at some of the larger displays of Christmas lights tonight. Lindsay is a very unorthodox photographer, especially when it comes to night photography and Christmas lights... she uses the camera as if it were a paint brush, creating strokes and abstract compositions, even though she does not like abstract art (yet).

She even got me doing it...

And, here are a few action shots...

Merry Christmas!

Please don't call the ACLU on me!


Photo by Lindsay Eve Coda, 2008

From my family to yours, we wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas.

Real Genius...

What is real genius? Some people think it's a number. I think it can be someone who has a keen insight on what it is to be human. Charles Schulz was such a man. Tonight "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is on for the first time this Christmas season. I have never missed this classic cartoon. Me and Charlie go way back... we are almost the same age. Another genius... Vince Guaraldi. Some of the best jazz ever written... and for a childrens' cartoon, no less.

Me and Charlie, 1962, somewhere in England, by Richard J. Coda Jr.

I will remember those dreadful curtains to the day I die. They followed us home to the U.S. and I can remember them well into junior high. As a sophomore in college, my Chemistry exams mysteriously fell on the nights the three Charlie Brown specials were on. The professor was noticeably absent at all of the exams. I figured he was home watching Charlie Brown. Imagine his surprise when I ratted him out in the school newspaper!

All kidding aside, this cartoon could be a textbook. It shows man at his best and his worst; at his cruelest and his kindest; at his most guilty and his most innocent; at his most arrogant and his most humble; at his most selfish and his most selfless; at his happiest and his saddest.

I remember Christmases as a child. We had snow; we had real trees; we had the Norelco Santa; we had simple gifts; we had a completely different view of what "Christmas is really all about." To tell you the truth, I actually feel like Charlie Brown does... today, "it's all wrong".

Maybe it's because my daughter is now a young woman and I long for those Christmases when she was little. Maybe it's the attack on Christmas. I don't know.

I hope that someday I can get that magical feeling back again. I know, tonight, for a half an hour while I watch with my daughter, I will feel the magic for a little while.