A Brilliant Peice Of Humor

I wanted to share what I think is the best uTube video I've seen yet. This is likely something that only digital photographers will fully appreciate, so if you don't get, well, just trust me, ...it is very funny.

I should state for the record, that there is nothing at all funny about the WWII figure who is depicted here. And, it is hard to watch this without feeling a twinge of bad-taste. But, if you can get past that, the sub-titles are hilarious.

The Gamble House, Pasadena

Some friends and I visited the Gamble House in Pasadena Today. The house was built in 1908 as a winter home for the Gamble Family (of Proctor & Gamble fame). It truly is amazing. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend Google-ing it.

This post has a dual purpose. I need to know if the slide show below is small enough to run smoothly on most computers. If it runs good, just tell me what you think of the pics. Otherwise, let me know if the large file is choking your computer. So, please leave me a comment below. Thanks.

Here's the slide show. Just press "play," or you can browse one by one. Sorry, ...no interior shots, ...photography is not allowed inside (boo). Hope you enjoy.

Pic Of The Day #2

Pic Of The Day #1 ...?

This is an image that I took recently on a visit to Florida. I was visiting my parents who winter in Sarasota each year. I've never been really into shooting flowers, vegitation, or in this case, trees. But, this tree trunk seemed unusual to me, since I'm not from Florida. This was not the best image from the trip (most are also brighter and less discomforting), but today was not the most productive day for me, so this image seemed to express my frustration. Tomorrow will be brighter!

Watch out for more "Pic Of The Day" images in future posts. Who knows, this post may start a tradition?

Los Angeles Travel Museum

Even though I've been in Southern California for a few months now, I haven't explored much yet. Many of my Sunday afternoons are spent on the couch recovering (from long Saturdays shooting). But, last Sunday afternoon, I drove over to the LA Travel Museum to check it out for a future engagement shoot. I got these pics while I was there.

Other places I've visited recently are: The Nethercut Museum, and The Norton-Simon Museum. These visits were a while back, but I may blog them anyway, so stay tuned.

So nice of them to paint that handle red so I could make a more interesting image!

...Oh come on! ...there are children around here!

...do I detect at theme going on here?

Party Of 5 Engagement Session

It was really fun to get to shoot a few shots of one of Becker's engagement couples. And they were the best of subjects; ...the makings of another beautiful [b] wedding. I can't wait to see the images on [b]ecker's blog.

The weather on Sunday was as perfect as it could be, but the light... the light was more than perfect. As promised, here are a few more images from the session. And thanks, again, to Becker for this opportunity.





This shot was taken right before the shot in the previous post. I think I like this one better. What do you think?

Becker's Party Of 5 Was Awesome

I just had the most incredible opportunity to meet The Becker. Becker is one of the best (and most successful) wedding photographers in the world. Five of us spent the day at the [b] pad, [b]ecker's [b]eautiful home in the OC. Becker is so open and generous with info about how he has generated his success! There was lots of priceless info, and it was fun too.

We also had opportunity to shoot a real engagement session with a couple who's wedding he'll be shooting later in the year. Becker kicked out hundreds of awesome images in no time, and each of the 5 got to shoot too. I've posted one of my shots here. Check out [b]ecker's blog for more. I'll post a few more tomorrow, but for now, I'm [b]eat. Thanks [b].


And here's a pic of [b] in action...

Happy New Year!

I'm confused! ...and amused. It seems many of the doors at the Grifith Park Observatory are having an identity crisis. The observatory is facinating, no doubt. But watching visitor after visitor trying to decide whether or not to go in was priceless! Its the first day of '08, and some friends and I decided to check out the Grifith Park Observatory. I hadn't been there before, and I really wanted to scout it as a potential location for engagement portrait sessions. We had a good time touring the observatory and then ate lunch at the cafe.

Christmas Pics

Ok, so I didn't really take very many pictures at Christmas this year, so there's not much to show. But I did like this shot of a delicate lace angel hanging on my mother's Christmas tree.

Each year at Christmas I take a few quick portraits of my only niece (so far). They have to be very quick as the window of opportunity for posed shots is very small at her age.

She is her grandparents' pride and joy, and being an only child, she is showered with gifts and attention.

I almost forgot the nephew! Here's a cute pic of my niece with her older brother.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Just a quick note to wish every one a beautiful day.

I'm fortunate to celebrate the Holidays twice this year. I'm spending Christmas morning with friends here in California, and later on I'll fly home to the Midwest where I'll celebrate again with my parents, brother, and his family. I'll post a few pics in a couple of days, but for now I'm much too busy consuming far too many calories, exchanging an amazing number of gifts, and all the other Holiday stuff. We are truly blessed.

House On The Hill

Yesterday I blogged about my recent boudoir shoot with my friend Miriam. Well, after the shoot we took a moment to enjoy the incredible sunset view from her yard, and I wanted to share this view. Yes, I said this is the view from her yard! I told Miriam that I'm going to pitch a tent and live right there in her yard.

I've never been to Italy or Greece, but these pictures remind me of images I've seen from that part of the world. I hope to visit there soon!

And this is Miriam. She's as pleasent and humble as she is beautiful. She said I could blog any of the headshots from the session.

The Power of Music

I'm a person who likes solitude. I can be quiet with myself and explore my thoughts for hours. I guess that's useful to keep a person grounded. But today, as life seemed to be bearing down a bit more than usual, I found myself surfing blogs and photography sites searching for a diversion (and some inspriation) from myself and my thoughts. Just as my search for a diversion had become tiresome itself, I came across a site playing a really cool song I'd not heard before. Not sure of the artist, but the song was from a Hotel Costes compilation. I decided to leave the song to repeat in the background while I sorted laundry (the diversion of last resort). Its easy to forget how powerful a little music can be. Now the laundry's sorted and I feel so much better.

Picture Of The Day

I thought I'd throw in a couple of lovely details from a recent wedding just to add a little color to this post. I'll be blogging this wedding in the next few days, so here's a sneek preview.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

What am I thankful for?

Well, I thought a lot about that through the day yesterday, and I was surprised that not much in my day-to-day life jumped to the forefront of my mind! And then it occurred to me that I must be awfully spoiled when I have so much, to then expect so much more!

So, I decided that what I am most thankful for is that I have the opportunity to live in a place where life is really fairly easy, and I don't directly face poverty, war, famine, etc.

I am truly fortunate to live in a blessed nation, and my thoughts are with those elsewhere who have not been so blessed as I am.

Party Of Five!

I'm so excited! I just learned today that I'll be attending [b]ecker's next "Party Of Five" workshop in January. For those of you who don't know, [b] is and awesome photographer, and kind of famous too. I firmly believe that [b] should take his rightful place on next years AmPhoto Top Ten Wedding Photographers In The World list. I've been watching [b]ecker's website for a while now, and it's been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to me. [b] is certainly one of the stars of wedding photography, and I appreciate his willingness to share his expertise with others. Thanks [b].

Hello California!

I've lived a number of places, mostly in Kansas and Missouri; ...can you believe I hadn't heard the phrase "fly-over states" until I got hear to California? Well I am officially from a fly-over state.

It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I am excited to be here. I'm looking forward to building my photography business here in LA/OC. I haven't been here long, but it already feels like home. And, it's really nice to be excited about the future; ...change is good! The future's so bright....