Mom Says I'm Running Away

July 27th, 2010:

Last week I had the chance to capture the events unfolding during Alysse and Arthur’s big day (yes, they’re the cool couple who had their engagement pictures done at Dodgers Stadium a few months back).  The weather was screaming hot and hazy out in Los Angeles, but when I reached the Oxnard Harbor, it was a glorious 80 degrees, with blue skies and a nice cool breeze: essentially the perfect day for a wedding.  I had a great time keeping up with all that happened, and Congrats again to Alysse and Art!

July 22, 2010:

You might remember Mina and Alex from a few months back when I shoot an Engagement Session for them at Huntington Beach, well, in a few weeks here they will be getting married and requested a bridal shoot with the Los Angeles skyline in the background.  Felicia and I spent an afternoon a few days before this shoot scouting out downtown and found some perfect spots.

On the evening of our shoot, the weather agreed with us, Mina and Alex showed up dressed to the nines, with huge smiles and bubbling with excitement. Perfect, since I had drank way too much coffee too!  This perfect storm of instances resulted in a 3 hour long session in two locations where I excitedly dragged this beautiful couple all about downtown Los Angeles.  I am thrilled with the results and am looking forward to shooting their wedding in a few weeks here!

July 20th, 2010:

In the middle of a blistering hot Sunday afternoon, in the middle of a Southern Californian heatwave, Felicia and I met up with Eileen and Nathan for an engagement shoot at the Los Angeles Arboretum.  After paying our $8 each and being cautioned by the front desk ladies against taking “Professional Photography” (they specifically seemed concerned about flash stands and reflectors) we spent the next hour and a half, camera in hand, wandering all about this giant garden.

We all did our best to be low key during the shoot, and made it through the entire time with no security issues.  I would definitely love to do another shoot here in the future – there are just so many amazing backgrounds!

Eileen and Nathan were absolutely cool, didn’t let the heat get them down AND remained picture perfect!  I, on the other hand, ended up as a sweaty mess from climbing on everything I saw.

July 15th, 2010:

I just got done working on these pictures from a shoot at Venice Beach last weekend.  I am glad to have a chance to photograph Brandon and Jodi, a statuesque couple who both hail from different parts of the mid-west, but now live here in Los Angeles.

They really wanted a bright beautiful California day for their beach shoot, but out of nowhere came overcast skies and chilly winds — quite the contrast to the 100 degree days we are having this week!

Thankfully they were great sports who were really comfortable with each other and the camera so we had a great time nonetheless.

July 13th, 2010:

Today my wonderful wife and I had the chance to meet up with Shaby and Mike at the Grove in Los Angeles for a late evening/twilight engagement session.  We all ran amok throughout The Grove, dodging security and garnering some great shots that show this young couple in love.  I love the perfect blue skies of twilight!

July 7th, 2010:

A few days ago Felicia and I met Nathasha and John at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles for an engagement session.   When Felicia and I arrived early the entire station was in the midst of a giant Avon photo shoot, a dozen giant strobes (flashes) filling up the mammoth size of the main arrival hall, crew and soft boxes everywhere.  Slightly let down by having all that business around in the middle of MY shoot (there must have be 20 people standing around managing gear, talent, etc), Felicia and I took a little recon tour around the station to see what our other options for locations were (we had arrived about 30 minutes early).

We found a bunch of great spots outdoors, down the corridors and up near the tracks, but luckily when we got back to the main arrival hall to meet Nathasha and John, the shoot had just started clearing out, so we moved in.

Nathasha and John are an extremely fun couple, who were very willing models so we ended up using almost all our found locations over the next hour and a half!  They even were so kind as to buy us dinner afterwards!

July 3rd, 2010:

Destiny and Luis flew out to California from NYC the other night to spend the long weekend in Southern California going to a friend’s wedding and just taking it easy.  Destiny booked an engagement session with me to surprise Luis with some very “Cali” feeling images on Santa Monica Beach. Surprised he was, and we spent a solid hour as the sun went down capturing some images of this great couple!

To San Diego:

A couple of weeks back, my wife (aka second shooter/assistant), and I headed down from Los Angeles to San Diego to photograph Ray and Jazmin’s big day.  I had shot Ray and Jazmin’s engagement pictures at the Disney Concert Hall a couple months back and was definitely excited to be part of their wedding.

After the traditional church wedding, we headed over to Balboa Park for a quick photo session in the bright, springtime, Southern California sun.  We quickly jumped back in our cars and headed for a fun-filled reception on the San Diego Bay, which was especially scenic as the sun set over the marina full of sailboats and other assorted watercraft.

Congrats once again to the Happy Bride and Groom!

Go Blue:

Alysse and Arthur are huge Dodgers fans, and when they started talking to me about doing their engagement session in a local baseball field, I threw out the suggestion of heading over to Dodgers Stadium for a game/photoshoot.  The idea stuck and we all matched our schedules to that of the home games and everything worked out for us to go watch the Dodgers vs. the Braves.

We were slightly worried about my cameras and security, but everything went super smoothly for us and we had the entire length of the game to wander about the mezzanine level and get all sorts of unique shoots.  Alysse and Arthur even got a few “Congratulations” from some of the security staff.

For those of you wondering, the score was 4-0 Braves going into the 8th, the Dodgers pulled out a spectacular 3 run rally, but couldn’t quite get that fourth run.  Final score was 4-3 Braves, but as we said in the seventh inning stretch “We’ll root, root, root for the Dodgers, if they don’t win, it’s a shame…”  What a shame.

I am totally looking forward to shooting their wedding next month! It’s going to be great!

Day 462/463:

Massive flooding in in Southern Poland… Roads flooded, closed and washed out.

And after 6 hours in a car to go what should have taken 1 hour, it turns out rain doesn’t only effect cars it also slows trains down and my train was 4 hours late…..

Fortunately the train from 3 hours before was only 41/2 hours late, which left me on the platform in the 40 degree windy rain for a mere hour and a half. Finally I got on a fairly empty train for the 3 hour (uneventful) ride.

I arrived in Warsaw about 8pm and went to the Taxi queue, and when I went the the first cab the drivers directed me to the one at the back of the line, “odd”, I thought, but maybe it was his turn, or the other were busy drinking vodka and such, so I jumped in a gave him an address and he started driving.  Then I saw the meter start to climb VERY quickly.  It probably should have been a 3 or 4 kilometer ride, but we hit that really quickly, so I started watching it and it was just rolling up really fast and we definitely didn’t seem to be travelling quite so fast.  Then at a stop light I finally saw what was up when the meter went from 7.1 kilometers to 7.5 kilometers WHILE stopped… he had a little switch by his leg and was adding distance!

I said “HEY HEY HEY” and I pointed and he said “no, no, no, its ok, were are there!” he turned a corner and stopped on the beautiful square where a hostel was supposed to be.  The meter said 31zl, but I got out and grabbed my bag, then handed him 15zl (what I think the ride should have cost), he start to raise his voice, but I looked across the square and saw two police officers and said “Police?” questioningly. He said “no, no, no” and jumped in his cab.  Freaking shadies…

I walked around the square looking for a hostel that was in the Lonely Planet, which of course was full.  But I asked them for a recommendation for somewhere nearby that was nice, and they called some place and told me 86zl for a private (about twice the cost of the dorms at the hostel).  By this point I said “sure, whatever, tell them I am coming”.  When I got there the woman at the front desk was extremely rude and told me the bathroom was in the hall and handed me the key to what might go in the running for the dodgiest room I have ever been in (and that’s saying a lot).  At this point I just don’t care and ask one important question “Do you have internet? WiFi?” (I wanted to give the wife a call)

“No! Pizza Hut down the street!”

Fortunately though, I did manage to make a reservation to move to a proper hostel in the morning… As long as it doesn’t rain I am looking forward to this very awesome looking city tomorrow, but with my luck…..

The next day turned out MUCH better, the weather was great, and I met up with a local, Isha, who reads my blog and gave me the most extensive tour of Warsaw I could have imagined.  We wandered and wandered, the entire time she told me all about this city which has changed hands and rulers over and over throughout the last 1000 years.  It has a very intense history and the people here, just in the last 20 years, have control of their country once again.  It was the perfect way to end my time in Poland and am uber-thankful for all the touring, company and spicy vodka that Isha provided!

Outside the presidential palace. Honoring the president who recently died in a plane crash.