Project Mayhem

By on March 1, 2009 in People, Photos

Saturday found me in Ontario for a grappling/submission tournament that my friend Ben was competing in. I haven’t had a chance to process a whole lot of the photos yet (I had two other shoots as well!), but below are 4 that I think really capture the energy of the tournament. Two of the shots are of Ben, and the other two are other guys from his gym, the Body Shop in Lakewood.

Click the samples below for larger versions from the gallery. Over the next few days I’ll add more to said gallery, so check back.

Edit: not that this is a very good photo, but I thought I’d get this one up also. There was a huge kids’ tournament going on as well, which was super rad. Here, two li’l subfighters mix it up.

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Two Teachers Fair

By on February 22, 2009 in Beach, People, Photos

I met with Tracy and Natasha today to do some beach photography. Of course, the clouds rolled in just as we got there, so we couldn’t take advantage of the light we wanted. Nevertheless, these two lovely ladies still managed to take some great photos.

I’ll add more pictures later, but what I have up in the gallery so far is available here.

Samples are below; as always, click for larger versions.


Tracy, in what is probably my favorite shot of the day:

And of course, what shoot wouldn’t be complete without Tash clowning around?

P.S. Tracy: it was nice to meet you again for the first third time. ;)

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Surgery, She Wrote

By on February 20, 2009 in Photos

I met with my soon-to-be surgeon today to talk about the shoulder I injured almost a year ago in a high speed mountain bike fall. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s in worse shape than we thought previously, with 2 tears in the shoulder and possibly 1 in the rotator cuff, plus a large pool of fluid.

What does this mean? 4-plus weeks in a shoulder immobilizer, and 4 months total of recovery. No diving, teaching, or sports for me. :(

It also probably means that I’m going to be a one-handed photographer for a short while. That should be interesting. So: if you want to get in front of my lens, now’s the time to do it!

Having been through some complicated and messy surgeries before, the actual surgery doesn’t worry me. I’m pretty bummed about missing out on life for a few months though.

I’ll drop more info as the date gets closer.

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Danger Rides Again

By on February 19, 2009 in Beach, People, Photos

I worked on a few more shots of Declan tonight and wanted to share them. I’ll try and add some more later if I get time.

From a technical standpoint, the first shot is terrible. It’s out of focus, framed poorly, and just feels kind of awkward. But then you look at Danger’s expression (“what the HECK are my parents doing to me?”), and it makes it a total winner.

There are a lot of great photos in this set, but I think this one is my favorite. Seriously, how cute is this kid?

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Of Flowers and Flames

By on February 17, 2009 in Photos

So I’m about two weeks into my daily photo project. Because of my hours at work, I’m only really able to shoot at night during the week. One of my frequent subjects has been a poor daffodil (?) that I’ve abused a number of times. I’m not super crazy about these shots, but since I don’t photograph flowers often, I guess I kind of like them. And since I’ve got a theme running, I might as well share the collection.

If you’re interested in reading a little more about each shot, click the photos for the full-size in the gallery. You can also find the latest dailies near the top of the page.

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Los Branquias a la Playa

By on February 15, 2009 in Beach, People, Photos

(The Gills at the Beach :) )

Edit: More shots are available here.

I met the Gills at Corona Del Mar for some shots in celebration of Danger’s 9th month. We lucked out and had pretty good light, although it would have been much better without the incoming storm blocking the sun.

Here are all the shots I have in the gallery for now. Click away to see larger versions.

So, the idea for the shot on the left was that dad (blue) + mom (yellow) = Danger (green). As soon as blue and yellow walked away into the background, green went straight for the sand. He looked thoroughly annoyed that he had this sticky stuff all over his hands, but he went for it time and time again. Too funny.

Edit: I’m pretty sure the photo on the right was shot by Becky, so kudos to her!

A parting, contemplative shot for you.

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Danger Gill

By on November 30, 2008 in People, Photos

I travelled to the far-off province of Fullerton tonight to shoot Declan “Danger” Gill as he approaches his 7th month. As you can see here, he’s a cute kid and is a lot of fun to hang around. Since his mom hasn’t seen the full set yet, I’m only putting up a few samples in the full gallery. Enjoy.

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Dedication

By on November 21, 2008 in People

How’s this for a shooting position? I’m still in pain. :)

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Secret Agents

By on October 30, 2008 in People, Photos

Kids are like secret agents. You might see one on the street and say “hello Gary”, and they’ll just keep right on moving because they have a mission they need to accomplish. They don’t need to tell you why they need to do it; they just know they have it, and it’s going to get done.

I had the great pleasure of meeting and photographing the Riley family today, and their two-year-old son Jack fits this secret agent thing perfectly. Several times he looked right at me, and you could tell his eyes were saying “hi Mr. Cameraman. I see you and your big fancy camera, but you know what? I have GOT to play with this toy train right now. Nothing personal, it’s just that if I don’t get this train moving, the lima beans aren’t getting to market, and I’m not going to let that happen. So you and your camera can come back later.”

In other words, kids have priorities, and your camera isn’t it. It’s what makes shooting kids so much fun. Below are some sample pictures from this immensely enjoyable shoot. A larger set, as always, is available in the gallery. As I write this, not all the gallery items are up, but will likely be up by tomorrow night.

A big thanks to the Svobodas for letting us shoot at their house!

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Sonja’s Birthday Bash

By on September 28, 2008 in People, Photos

Meet Sonja K. It’s her birthday.

I had the honor of shooting her at the Melting Pot in Brea for her celebration. Seeing as how I’m a gentleman, I wouldn’t ever give away a lady’s age, but suffice it to say she’s old enough to buy her own alcohol now.

Here, Ben does his husbandly duty and delivers the birthday spanking. His hand was so sore after all those swats that we had to amputate his arm. Poor guy.

Sonja had custom M&Ms made for her party. It was a really cute idea, but I think it would have been funnier if they had been peanut M&M’s. The variety of peanut shapes would have made for some great mods to the pictures. ;)

As always, more pictures are available in the full gallery. As I write this, I only have a few up, but will continue to add more. Even so, I thought this picture was worth sharing as part of the initial batch. I have no idea what’s going on.

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