"Poland, Past & Present"

Please join me at the Pomp salon in Santa Monica, on December 7, 2008 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm.


I will be showing the latest series Poland, Past & Present

"In the new series, Poland, Past & Present, Rico
Mandel captures the attention and detail of his
subjects, while also placing you in an imaginative
adventure of travel through Eastern Europe."

Hope to see you there!

Up The Road In Milpitas

So earlier this year I was up in Milpitas on business and got done early. It was late afternoon and the warm light was bathing the green hills to the east. I was drawn to them and followed the road up into the hills to see what was there. I wound my way up past a beautiful park and into another land. It was rural and rustic. Cows grazing, chickens in the yard and even turkeys roaming freely on one property.
It was like going into ranch country and yet a few minutes away is the Silicon Valley, old tech to the east and super high tech to the west. As I wound my way up I was taking in the warm afternoon with the beautiful green hills and deep blue sky. It was like a mini afternoon
vacation quiet, peaceful, the wind blowing lightly and the warm sun bathing my surroundings. This series of images was taken along this road on a peaceful late afternoon. They remind me of the old west. The rolling hills, staking your claim, riding off into the sunset where ever the road will take you.

Another side track on the same trip

It's interesting that earlier that same trip (see earlier post "A Drive Along Point Molate") I decided to take a detour on one of the roads near the Altamont pass. The once green hills had turned to brown. The rich blue afternoon sky supported these beautiful cumulus clouds that seemed to form the perfect backdrop for the rolling hills.












So I found myself driving down this road surrounded on both sides by the hills with the afternoon sunlight casting beautiful shadows over them. So what is a photographer to do when presented with this pallet... You just have to shoot and explore. See what's around the next corner and the next bend. visualize what you think that the final image will look like and then come back to my computerized darkroom and finish the vision.