Happy Halloween mateys!!

I love this time of year! Last year...Cassi's Dad was in a motorcycle accident on the 28th of October and we were still in a daze on Halloween night so I don't have any pics of Cassi being a belly dancer. Every other year I have these amazing Halloween pictures of her in costume.

This year, our studio had a pirate themed homecoming and we had this killer backdrop that I planned on using. And then the fires came...and I never got a round to taking the pictures so we decided on the next best thing...

A real pirate ship. This pirate ship is docked down at the Embarcadero here in San Diego. It is the ship that was used in the movie Master and Commander that Russell Crowe starred in. We also spent some time touring some of the other ships in the bay...The Berkeley, the Star of India and a Russian submarine that was used by the Russians in the Cold War.

Cassi had toured these recently with her father so she played tour guide for me...all the while looking like a genuine wench...errr....pirate!!!

I was playing around with actions in photoshop so you can see there are many different effects on the images.

I love getting feedback so tell me your favorite!!!

Cassi and I are headed to Hawaii for a much needed vacation on Saturday and I haven't decided if I am bringing the laptop along but I am sure I will have a lot to share at some point!

Enjoy!

San Diego Fires

This is the sunset tonight from Del Cerro. If you look close, directly under the sun...Qualcomm stadium is there. If I lightened this image you would see it...the sight of the evacuation center for over 10,ooo evacuees. I didn't enhance this image at all because I wanted to show how true red the sunset was tonight.

When we were at Qualcomm on Monday night, this was one of the people evacuated. I don't know how he got the bed down there but he sure looks comfortable. I believe his wife is asleep in the front seat of the car.
I shot this picture out of the window on the way out of the parking lot. Behind the fence is set up for a radio station's event for this Sunday's Charger game. As of right now...it isn't known where the Charger's will play this Sunday.

The view from my house on Monday morning. This faces North. The fires were to the North and South of us.
The stadium where the evacuation center is.
The Charger's evacuation field being used for all animals. I have heard it referred to as Noah's Ark.
They brought in the National Guard to protect everything all throughout the city at the evacuation centers and where the fires are. I love that this particular National Guard is protecting a huge stack of Huggie diapers...go figure!

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that all my family and friends have made it through this fire storm mostly in tact. My workplace is in Poway and we have many Poway and Rancho Bernardo clients who have been directly effected by these fires. My heart goes out to them.

We took many donations down to Qualcomm stadium the first day of the fires and I realized my photographic calling is definitely not of a journalistic nature. I felt completely guilty trying to take pictures of someone else's misfortune and I know there is a place for that type of portrait but I feel intrusive. So I took the few pictures I took out of the car window with no flash. The people working at Qualcomm were very warm and friendly and I am glad I was able to contribute in a small way by bringing the donations.

Today one of the news stations was talking about how he watched some still photographers sifting through the personal things of fire victims so they could "set up" the perfect shot (like a baby doll amongst all the destruction) and he thought it was wrong.

I agree with him.

Enough said.

President Bush comes tomorrow to Qualcomm stadium tomorrow. Arnold Shwarzenegger (our governor) has been here since Monday. Brian Williams and Katie Couric are doing there national news from here. Geraldo Rivera and Matt Lauer are here. It all seems surreal in a way, a spectacle in a way, yet...they are doing a job to bring this disaster to everyone in the country.

San Diego has really banded together and taken care of our own. I suspect then next few weeks we will receive many phone calls at the studio from our clients who have lost pictures. I know that every time I hear people talk about what they took with them when they evacuated...the first thing they say is their pictures...their memories. I am honored to be a photographer who daily captures these memories for them. Memories of moments in time that can't be replaced.

Enough of my ramblings!

Enjoy!

Kikki and Patrick's Wedding video

Kikki just emailed me this video montage of her wedding and I wanted to share it with you. Her pictures are posted earlier on my blog and it was a storytale wedding. If you watch the video you can tell Kikki was meant to be a bride...it's too bad she will only be one this one time!!!

Saturday was her one year anniversary. Congratulations again to the both of you!!!
Enjoy!~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40741_eBRPU

Rachel and Lathen's fabulous wedding!

All of the details at Lathen and Rachels' wedding were highly detailed. This signing album was handmade and beautifully personal!

Her garter...
The amazing dress she wore
Something old...
Something new...(actually her something new were a gorgeous strand of pearls from Lathen. This little flower girl ran down the aisle once she got going. It was a funny moment.

After the ceremony some fun shots of the bridal party.

Rachel looking stunning after the ceremony on the golf course.
Flower girl number two rocking her basket. I don't think she could have posed any sweeter!
The M&M's say Rachel and Lathen and I have always loved solving word problems and so I thought my "Lathen heart Rachel" was a cute way to show the rings.

I have so many more images I want to share! Grandpa brought tears to my eyes more than once, the father of the bride did a strip tease, there are cool cigar shots of the groomsmen, the wedding was emotional and beautiful, each detail was so cool, and of course the bride looked radiant and the groom happy to start this part of their lives together.

I have had an extremely busy weekend and I want to try and get in bed before some ridiculous hour tonight (it's already 10:40!!) so I thought I'd quickly post and show some of the images from their wedding on Friday.

It was a perfect SoCal fall day weather wise and every detail of this wedding was well thought out. The people were amazing and Rachel and Lathen were the calmest wedding couple ever! I loved the pink and orange color scheme and they had a candy bar filled with about everyone of my favoritist candies! I will post some of those delectable images at a later date once I have gone through the daunting task of editing all the pictures from that day.

So for now...

Enjoy!

Do you think it was something I said??

Isn't Fantasia a hoot???

My daughter turned nine today. I can not believe there was a time in my life that my daughter didn't exist in my life. I know it sounds silly but I even classify my life as "B.C." Before Cassi!
She has changed me in ways I never thought possible. She has made me a better person (yes...a few more gray hairs too!!!) and makes me laugh more than I ever thought possible.

A nine year old girls world is filled with Webkinz, Hannah Montana, girlish fights, High School Musical, and Zach Ephron. These are a part of my world right now too.

She recently told her class that Zach Ephron was her cousin...too bad she also told them he was her boyfriend which took away all credibility on the first fib!!!

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday at my Mom's house. Cassi's Dad surprised her with two ponies for her and her friends to ride at the party. Cassi loved it!

The pics above are of one the horses. I can't believe how animated (no pun intended!!!) Fantasia is in these! These make me laugh!

I was going to post in vivid color but the teeth were looking a little nasty and the "chocolate syrup 2 action" from Kevin Kubota's actions was a quick fix.

I have plans to share more images from:

Darrin's awesome games (check out his "star of the game" interview on KUSI prep pigskin last Friday...it's hysterical!!!!)
Cassi's birthday party
More wedding images
Halloween images
and the wedding Geri and I are photographing this Friday...

and I will do so soon!

I am in the middle of photographing high school homecomings here in San Diego all of this month. One of my jobs at the studio is organizing, staffing, setting up, and photographing 8-9 local high school homecomings and proms each year. They overlap with more than one on the same night on some weekends and so it takes some strategizing on my part to keep it all organized. Most of my brain power goes to these events (along with many other events and jobs!) and I get behind on personal things. So I apologize in advance if I don't post as often as I
would like this month! October is my favorite month for pictures so I promise many more posts soon!

sooo...Happy Birthday Cassi and I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in the future!!!

Enjoy!

Lathen and Rachel Engagement

Geri and I photographed Lathen and Rachel this last Sunday afternoon. The Padres had just lost their game and were off to Colorado for the Wild Card Playoffs the next day and the Chargers were in the lead. Someone other than Lathen and I chose the date and time for this session and he was such a great sport letting us photograph him when he could have been home watching the Chargers...ummmm...give it up before the end of the game...

We started at Summer's Past Farm and walked through the grounds stopping at areas around the farm photographing the two of them. They were so much fun and up for anything! After an ice tea to cool us down we headed to their old stomping grounds.

They met when she was a freshman in high school and he was a sophomore at El Capitan High School in Lakeside. They brought his letterman jacket covered with his patches from playing baseball in high school. We walked the grounds of the high school (Geri is an alumni from there also...graduated 1999 I think!!!=} Did I score any brownie points there Geri????) while the 3 of them reminisced and talked about their memories of the school and the changes that had been made to the school since they graduated.

It was a neat experience being with them where they first met and realizing how far they have come up to this point. They are going to get married on Friday October 12th and the wedding sounds like it is going to be a blast!!

Thank you guys for the great experience and I can't wait to see you guys on your special day!!!

Enjoy!!

Joe and Liz's wedding

I love how radiant she looks with her father!

You could tell how much Joe liked kids and will be an incredible Dad some day!

I helped a friend, Christi Ransom photograph a wedding this past Saturday. It took place at the Temecula Creek Inn in this super cool area tucked away at the back of the golf course. The venue is romantic, intimate and a picturesque place to have a wedding.

Everyone in the wedding was absolutely gorgeous and super friendly. Liz and Joe were such a great couple to photograph and I feel truly honored to be a part of their special day.

Thanks to Christi who trusted me to help her shoot this wedding. We had a great time working together and I can't wait to see all the images she took at this wedding. She has such an incredible eye and makes a great wedding photographer. Thanks again!!!

Enjoy!!!