Day 19 - WinterGate

What a difference a few hours makes. Dry sidewalk and clouds starting to appear as the picture was taken. Scene is fairly dry, wintry looking with bare vine stems, lots of browns and rusts. Several hours later there was strong wind, lightning, thunder, heavy downpours and small tornadoes within about 20 miles. And a heavier storm is expected for tomorrow and Thursday. I will have to go out early and see what I can find - though I'm guessing the landscapes will not look pristine due to leaves and branches being blown around today. As for the gate itself, I just loved all the wintry monochromatic browns, the swirly lines in the gate and how the rounded lines of the barren vines echo them.

Bonus!!

After uploading my images to my computer and going through them, I began to realize that I had unintenionally taken several pictures that sort of fit in with the themes of some of my fellow Frenzy'ers! So, to pay homage to their work, as a way of thanking them for helping me keep up my enthusiasm for this project, I created this collage. I'm sorry I couldn't find pics to match more of your themes!

Please click image to view in full, and read caption explaining the different images!

Day 18 - Reflecting Door

Today, I took a walk around the neighborhood where my friend's house is located. This house is situated below road level, maybe 30-40 feet from the street. What caught my eye, other than the strong lines and classic structure, was the reflection of the trees in the window above the door. Fortunately I was above that tree level, and not reflected in the window, too! I love the classic stone and brickwork, as well as the beautiful leaded glass in the door.

Day 17 - His and Hers Gates?

This was another "Wait! Back up!" moment. Despite my 31-Day Frenzy, my trip was not all about scoping out doors and gates. Yeah, hard to believe. So, as we drove to outlying areas, looking for open land, streams, and general countryside vistas, we almost missed this gate. Or gates. I almost did a double take after noticing the graceful curves of the "pedestrian" entrance gate next to the monogrammed double vehicle gates leading to the home in the rear. I don't really see the need for the pedestrian gate (since it was locked anyway), so my guess is that the owners (the "W" family) probably couldn't settle on a style of gate, and compromised by having two gates, two styles, one next to the other. Any other guesses why?

Day 16 - Pillared Door

We noticed this door as we drove down a street in Park City. Actually it was the pillars that drew my attention behind a deep "lawn" of snow! Backing up the car to take a picture, we then noticed the scene behind us reflected in the window panes surrounding the door! I guess the people who built this house couldn't decide on a style - shingle siding, stucco pillars and a rough-hewn rustic door. They covered all their bases.

Day 15 - Abandoned Compound

We got to Utah, and after settling in, we set out to take pictures! We drove around a lot in the four days, and I'm not really sure where the gate pictures I'm uploading were taken, other than within 50 miles of Park City! This particular gate served as the entry to some sort of small ranch. Considering the abandoned state of the property, the decorative scrolled metalwork on top of the gate seemed oddly out of place. The house is behind the gate, to the right. The greenish building directly behind the gate served some unknown function, but the elements have gotten the better of it. You can see what was part of a roofline, and that the side is falling away. As for the other buildings on the property, they are abandoned and are all either falling down, in major disrepair or boarded up. I found the different types of fencing material on either side of the gate interesting as well!

Day 14 - Mediterranean

For today's image, I had to look for a nice door/gate AND find one in a vertical orientation for my thumbnail gallery. Hmmmm, are we getting a little compulsive here? Our coastal area is comparable to a Mediterranean climate, and there are a lot of olive trees. We had a large one in front of our prior house. Today's house isn't particularly big, but it's thematic and carries out the look well in good proportion. Framed by Mediterranean plants and an olive tree, the ornate front door and facade just say "Wine Country!" Please click on the image to view in full, so you can see all the well-considered accessories in greater detail.

Note: I am leaving early tomorrow morning (while still dark, so no chance for a pic) to go to Utah for 4 days to try for some winter (snow) photography. Unfortunately, it doesn't look promising for me to be able to process and upload images I take, though I do have an idea up my sleeve to try to make it happen. If you don't see image changing for four days, rest assured I have not given up the Frenzy. I will post my daily photos when I get back.

Day 13 - Cool Contemporary

Well, it rained during the night and early this morning, so I had to wait for it to clear up a little. I was looking for something a bit different than the last few days, and found it - a contemporary. And, please notice the clearing clouds! (Yes, it does occasionally rain in Southern California!) I also scoped out some additional streets for future houses!

I liked the clean look of this contemporary entry area. While I usually go for a tighter crop, I have been including some plant material in each of my images, and to get these plants, I had to go wider! So, it's more of a 'real estate' view than solely a "gate" or "door" view. Oh, and on this one, I did actually take it from inside my car, out the driver's window!

Day 12 - Traditional Wrought Iron and Glass Arched Door

I took my camera with me today when I went to my optometrist's office to pick up my new glasses. Exploring a different neighborhood, I found this lovely door. I was in my car, slowly cruising up and down streets. It must have looked a little odd, but there were lots of people around so they probably thought I was just driving carefully. :) Anyway, I was glad to see this house on the correct side of the street to catch the sun, which better shows off the ironwork and glass. Like yesterday's house, there is a lot of symmetry to this entry, but unlike yesterday's, this house is more traditional in style.

Day 11 - Tuscan Farmhouse Door

Well, back to the 'hood. Not quite as much whimsy as out in the desert resort area, but I'll try to fan out a bit in the next couple of weeks to some local arty areas to see what I can find. In the meantime, here's a nice replica of a Tuscan farmhouse (as they like to call them here) door. Very solid!! I love the textures of the stone surrounding the wooden door.

Day 10 - Palm Leaf Gate

Quite a lot of interesting....read bizarre.... gates to be found out in the desert near Palm Springs. Here is one, where metalwork designed to look like palm or banana leaves has been welded over the regular wrought iron gate! I'm sorry about the security sign, but it was there and I don't feel like digitally removing it. It's been a busy weekend, and I'm just glad to be home and am adding to yesterday's blog entry with the bonus picture, doing this one, and trying to re-format the Worth picture page. Lots of work.

Day 9 - House of Birds

This is utter stupidity! After going out early this morning to get a picture, then going to play golf, returning to the borrowed condo, uploading my picture and post-processing today's image and then finding no Wi-fi connection, we headed off to find the nearest Starbuck's. Larry on his computer, me on mine. He couldn't manage to get Wi-fi, so this one will have to do for both of us. But....lo and behold, in my rush to get the picture done, I saved it back to my CF card....NOT THIS STUPID LAPTOP!! So here I am at Starbucks, 6 miles from the condo. I guess Larry will stay here and use up our paid 2 hours of time, and I will go back to the condo, and get my CF card and card reader. I hope to get it loaded tonight. I am nothing, if not tenacious.

Ok, that Starbuck's closed and closed their server. Had to go back to condo to get my CF card and reader. Found another Starbucks, about 5 miles away, who said they kept server on all night even after they closed, so here we are, in car, in parking lot, in front of a closed Starbucks in the desert! I couldn't manage to get the picture loaded on the thread, but here it is! Yay. I will add a bonus pic when I get home, of the side gate of this place.

This house is like a bird house. There were screaming birds (peacocks?) in the back yard. Huge lot. The front doors, and entire structure for that matter, were totally customized, but very interesting. The side gate is even weirder, but I didn't have time to get it ready for upload. Anyway, enough for now, as with my luck, the battery on this stupid laptop will probably die before I finish this.

Sunday - We are now home and I'm on my "regular" computer. What a difference. What a disaster yesterday was in terms of fixing up the pic and uploading! Anyway, I am now going to insert my Bonus picture from yesterday (Day 9) since I am writing this a day later. This gate, below, is the side gate (house is on a corner) of the Bird House, which is the main photo. Looks like Africa, or Polynesia. Certainly not like Palm Springs desert area! But it made for some great photos! Enjoy!

** A couple of comments. Someone mentioned the sky looked unrealistic in the main pic. That is because it is! This was an early morning shot, totally backlit, with the sun coming just over the palm tree behind the house. I did all I could to block the sun, and the front of the house, of course, was very dark, while the sky was washed out. I had to lighten up the front of the house so you all could see it, and did the best I could on my laptop! The side of the house, however, was in more of a direct sunlight, at least the part not in shadow, and was kind of pale, colorwise! I guess I can go back and darken and add some more saturation, but not now.

Day 8 - Monterey CIRCLE

Well, this is an early posting today. I had to get this picture posted before we leave for the weekend! True dedication. Or insanity.... What I liked about this house is that the address, on Monterey Circle, is right above the circular design on the door. I'm easily amused.

I will try to post pictures to the blog over the weekend. But I will definitely take pictures daily. If I can't get them posted while I'm away, I'll do so when I return on Sunday.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Day 7 - Curvilinear

When I came upon this door on an architecturally modern house, I was charmed by its curvilinear entrance. I love how the curves of steel on the door allude to the ocean, and how the ceiling and curved design in the door echo each other.

Wow! Seven days into the Challenge and I'm finding I really love going out and searching for more gates and doors! I hope I don't run out of fun finds!

I'm going away for the weekend, leaving tomorrow. I'll try to go out early and get a picture to post, and will try to take and post more pics of doors while I'm away, but I'm not promising!

Day 6 - Electric Gate

Electric gates guard the entrance to this home. Notice the blue sky. Usually our sky is not quite so blue. But the good thing is that it made for a phenomenal sunset. Bonus picture below is tonight's sunset! Magical!! The island is about 26 miles offshore. Some days, due to smog and haze we can't even see it. Winter is the best for clearer air and long distance views. Oh, and to answer Eury's post, all of the gates and doors are from different houses.


Bonus Picture - Tonight's Sunset!

Day 5 - You Rang?

When I walked past this house, what jumped out at me was this metal-grille-guarded peephole (as if someone couldn't just vault over the top of the gate?). It brought to mind Lurch ("You rang?"), from the Addams Family. Yeah, I know I'm dating myself, but I did with Fantasy Island, too. The front door to the house is in the rear, up some steps, under that big arched portico.

Day 4 - Double Delight

Well, this theme is getting me up and out early! You can tell by the shadows. I took a picture of these doors plain, then decided to take them also showing the entry gates, or at least one of the double entry gates. I love the combination of the two, so that's the picture you get to see! The detail on the front doors is amazing - click on the photo above for a larger version.

Day 3 - Welcome to Fan-ta-sy Island!

I went out early this morning to look for a gate or door, since we're going to play golf today. Maybe playing "at golf" would be more appropriate, grumble, grumble. Anyway, still lots of shadows due to the hour but I wanted to get the picture taken, processed and posted before tonight. The first thing I thought of as I went past this house was "Fantasy Island" but since so many Worthians are so young, I'm now thinking that "Survivor" might be more appropriate, though this is hardly remote. Enjoy!

Day 2 - Doggie Peephole

This entry gate is located about a block or two from my house. I've walked by it many times, but never noticed the little opening in the glass that I'm guessing serves as a doggie peephole. So I crouched down to see if there was a dog inside, but alas, no dog. But I did see a colorful potted plant further back in the patio, so decided to frame that with the opening in the gate! Amazing what we notice when we're on a mission!

Day 1 - Welcome!

Welcome to my home! What better (and easier) way to start my 31 days of Doors and Gates than to take a picture of my own entry gates? Pass through these doors to my secret garden, complete with ferns, flowers, trees and little rock waterfall. I'm looking forward to finding and showing you lots of interesting doors and gates this month!