New Dawn Amongst the Rubble

As I finally make a move to update my website I have begun scouring my dusty collection of DVDs and other files that have accumulated on my hard drive. I'm looking for images that might make it to my new site. In this process I have started to uncover a few gems that had have been hidden amongst the rubble... I have also come across quite a bit of "almost there" images... frames that were good at the time, but merely just a step in the learning process. And one of the biggest things I've come to realize I am in need of some serious organization. So I even bought a hard drive to help me make some sense of these things. So here goes! Ugh! I hope to have this together by next Christmas.

The Traveler

I came across this photo of a traveler I ran into at the Reno Airport in the summer of 2003. I was on my way back from the Truth With a Camera Workshop and stopped in to shoot my friend's wedding south of Carson City. I have no idea who this guy is or what he is doing in Reno. I remember grabbing my things at the airport seeing this guy and needing to take his picture. That is the beauty of the camera... an excuse  to be more than just curious but to engage with the unknown.

CSU-Monterey Bay Basketball

I shot CSU-Monterey Bay Basketball Vs. CSU-Stanislaus last Friday. Bouncing a set of strobes off the ceiling. The game was pretty awesome with CSUMB pulling ahead in overtime to win the game. Here are a few of my favorite images.

These students showed up in pajamas for the men's game. 

At this point CSUMB had locked in the lead in the final seconds and everyone was holding their keys up. Something like "have a nice drive home' was being yelled.More images can be viewed here

Cannery Row

I just spent some time photographing on Cannery Row in Monterey. And I have to say that amidst the tourist attractions are some interesting folks, doing interesting things.

These first couple of photos are of Dick Crispo at his studio on Cannery Row. To the right is the Monterey Peninsula Art Foundation which Crispo helped form. He also painted murals inside prisons. He is an interesting guy!
I met with a few of the new and older folks who have set up shop on the street John Steinbeck made famous.

I shot photos of a dog chasing a stick at McAbee beach nestled between the hotels and restaurants. A homeless man once told me between sips on his 40-ouncer that the rubble of the old canneries at the other end of the beach was a good place to fight.

I also met up with Daren Warnick, owner of the Cannery Row Sardine Company who was nice enough to wheel his giant can of sardines out of his shop and onto the Row. He is selling sardines that are from the USA which is unique.

And finally I just walked around a bit at night and tried to envision the place covered in fresh sardines and with some of the grit that Steinbeck wrote about.

Ps: sorry about the images I am trying to figure out how to post from my archive.

new project

Here is a portrait I shot today of surfer and concrete worker Ken Donahue. The image is a kick off on a project that I have been meaning to start for way too long! More images to come soon.

Steinbeck House

Here is a photo from an assignment covering the house where John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. I was blessed with some great natural light in the "Blue Room"

Caption: Steinbeck House Valley Guild volunteer Karma Nilsen sets a table inside the Blue Room at the Steinbeck House in Salinas, Calif. on Wednesday September 30, 2009. John Steinbeck's sisters Esther and Beth lived in the room until the upstairs was finished in 1906.

Scott and Lindsay

Here is a audio slideshow I created for Scott and Lindsay's wedding which I shot earlier this month. The wedding took place at Asilomar State Park in Pacific Grove, California.

Recent Portraits

The first two portraits are of Rahman Al-Kaabi juggling at a house where he has found refuge in Carmel, Calif. Al-Kaabi was an actor and a clown in Iraq with a troupe whose performances angered certain factions to the point that members of his group were murdered.

The third portrait is of Pacific Grove Police Chief Darius Engles as he stands in front of a row of photos of past police chiefs dating back to 1924 inside the entryway at the Pacific Grove, Calif. Police Station. Engles was set to retire.

Blake and Eugenia

Here is an audio slideshow I produced from a wedding at the Carmel Mission in Carmel, California earlier this summer. The wedding went great and while these slideshows take some time to produce I think they offer clients a major value in documenting their wedding. The natural sound I blend with interviews and images means they get a video-like multimedia show as well as all the stills I normally provide. And although these take a lot of time to put together, and add new challenges while shooting, I am having a lot of fun with the process.

The Crush

The Crush is on! I shot some stuff at River Run Winery and a few other small wineries. Will post some more soon. I love this time of year!

Change as the Constant

Some serious hang time has passed since I got the notion to put any new work up here. Over the past few months my work has been light to steady to heavy and I have shot a wild variety of things.

From a traditional Jewish wedding to a traditional Catholic wedding.

From skateboarders to shots of fresh herbs in to go bags.

I photographed the scene at the Monterey Hostel and made a portrait of Kamal Saleh, a former Major in the Iraqi Military, who was imprisoned and tortured under Saddam Hussein.

Change has been the constant and I have been forced to come up with some creative solutions in a wide variety of situations. I guess this is why I got into the game in the first place. The interesting people I meet, places this job takes me and the challenge of recording it.

Central Coast Section

Here are a few sports images from the Central Coast Section Track and Field and Baseball championships. And while I covered a number of teams both of these images are of Monterey High School Athletes. 

The baseball photo is my favorite because of the emotion. The photo is of Monterey catcher Caio Errico as his team was headed south. The two teams, Monterey and Los Gatos baseball team, had been neck and neck until the end. 

The track photo is of Monterey's Jake Averson and is just some nice light. I shot this with a 400mm. 

from the attic

I came across this photo of my friends Geoff Welch and his son Nate in front of a broken board shrine in their front yard in Pacific Grove, California.  It took me some time to find it and I figure I'd better post it before I loose it again. 

Cabernet at Deirberg Winery

This is a project I have been working lately. 

The overall project is a group of slideshows showcasing the wines of the Dierberg Winery in Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County California. 

I had a a great deal of fun making this! 

FYI: The Soundslides slideshow and the Quicktime video I derived from that look a lot nicer that the video viewer on this post.

Public Comment

I am starting to see that by writing here I'm inevitably going to be doing more learning than anyone who may happen upon this and manage to get all the way through it.

I guess thats the beauty of these things? 

Anyways heres a photo I shot on assignment today that brought the idea into my mind.

Old Barn, Old Guy and Natural Light

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet and shoot photos of Frank Tarantino, 80, beside the old dairy barn he owns in Carmel Valley, Calif.  

Built in 1889, the barn housed the cows that produced the first batches of Monterey Jack cheese.

Frank is working with friends to restore the barn before the historic building falls apart.

He's a classic old guy with an amazing piece of history. This is why I love being a photographer!  

For the first two shots I used natural light. I met up with Frank at the barn in the early evening and by then the sun was filtered through a tree. I moved him around to position one of the small slivers of sunlight on his head. 

Then in the third photo we went to the other end of the barn. I zoomed my strobe and dropped it down a stop and then popped the light to his left with an off camera cord. I had some help holding the strobe up as I shot from a low angle.

When I first chimped at the images on the back of my camera I liked the high key effect the of the strobed image.  Later after looking at the images on my computer I decided that I prefer the ones shot in the natural light.

I was in a rush to jump to another assignment but I did have a few minutes to walk with Frank and hear about the history of the place. I hope Frank gets his wish.   

St. Patrick's Day Glasses

My life as a freelancer is evolving quickly and I am starting to develop work in new areas for myself. I will post more about that later for all you interested fans (all three of you) as things develop. For now I'm sending out my best wishes to those at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I feel the pain of those who lost their jobs as I am still adjusting after loosing my staff job.

Here are a few photos from some assignments I shot today. I covered the Otter Open Golf Tournament which is hosted by CSU-Monterey Bay. I was lucky to catch CSUMB golfer Oscar Nystrom as he knocked his ball from a sand trap on the ninth green on Bayonet Golf Course. Sometimes the golfers wait until you have moved on before they hit it into the trap other times they dive right in! 

Later in the day I covered the beginnings of festivities for St. Patrick's Day.  I was lucky enough to find a few folks who were in the spirit early in the evening at Crown and Anchor pub and the Farmer's market in downtown Monterey. 

Meeting and photographing Ted Holt, 80, who wore bright green St. Patrick's Day glasses as he shopped in the open air market, was the high point of my day.

Moments

Over the past weekend I found myself with my camera looking for moments in two widely differing situations. I covered Salinas High Basketball team as Bellarmine Prep. hammered them to a 65-36 loss. The morning after that I was just looking to get something different of my friend and his son as they played in their backyard. 

And while these two assignments may be as different as night and day I walked away from them with a reenforced appreciation of why I came to photography in the first place: The ability to capture moments in time and harness raw emotion. 

And while these photos may not be my best, they serve as an excellent example of photography's ability to isolate these fragments of time and stir new emotions as we view them at a time removed from that moment. 

entering the blogosphere

Here goes! Out of shear boredom or the naive belief that I may have something to add, I'm throwing this up for the masses.  Don't expect too much. If you walk out of here with any new tidbit of information I have achieved more than I expected. If you emerge with a smile I have achieved a triumph. With any luck I will learn more than you in the process.