Father's Day

In honor of father’s day I wanted to post an old photo of my father.  My dad’s family has always said that I look just like my dad did when he was younger. When I was in Paso Robles, California a few years ago for my grandfather’s memorial, my dad’s childhood friend said to me, “you look and sound exactly like your dad! Even your hand movements are like his!”

I can see these similarities when I look at him and at myself, but there is something so special about being able to look at and old photograph of him, placing beside a photo of myself and comparing the two side-by-side. To be able to see an image of my father from 1969, long before I even existed, is the best gift photography can give. Now I see what everyone is talking about! Take as many photos as you can today, you never know how important they’ll be to someone tomorrow.   

Camera Phones

Jim Gaffigan's take on the ubiquity of photography today. Funny and true!

Jim Gaffigan on The Conan O'Brien Show

Professional Wedding Crasher

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”
–Marc Riboud

It’s not often that I know anyone at the weddings I photograph other than the bride and groom, whom I’ve probably only interacted with once or twice before the wedding. Even so, I have as much fun, if not more fun, than everyone attending the wedding. As the photographer, it’s my job to put myself inside the minds of the bride and groom. How do they want to remember their special day? What images do they want to be able to show their children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren when they ask about this celebration that took place so many years ago? It’s my duty to fully enjoy every moment of the wedding, and then capture it. I take in the biggest moments, as well as the smallest details.  I watch the bride and groom, the wedding party, the families and the guests and I capture as many smiles and laughs as my camera can hold.  I capture the candid shots as well as the posed ones; the ones that originate in my mind and that no one will really understand the beauty of until they see the image for themselves.

I suppose the same things could be said for any type of event photography, but the reason I shoot weddings is because, well, they’re weddings! It’s an intimate gathering of family and friends to celebrate two people in love!  I love how much fun the bridesmaids have while they get ready, I love how happy the groom looks when he sees his bride for the first time in her dress and, my personal favorite, I love listening to all the speeches from friends and family about how happy they are for the bride and groom.

I have the best job in the world; I get to preserve forever a magical day for a happy couple, all while savoring it intensely, every hundredth of a second.        

My First Photo Shoot

During a family camping trip to Sand Pond in the Sierra Buttes, I somehow convinced my mom to let me take a few photos with her Canon SLR film camera.  That was quite a risky move by my mom considering I was only seven years old at the time. I'm sure I promised her I wouldn't drop it in the sand or water, and while the promise of a seven year old not to drop something does not inspire much confidence, I'm glad she took the chance and let me snap a few shots. I set up my scenes, had my sisters be my models and just look at the beautiful images I produced!

My goal here was to make it look like Robin was actually underwater swimming with dolphins. While some people may be fooled, a more scrutinizing eye will notice subtle giveaways of the fabricated scene such as the whole left side of the picture where our actual location is showing, the silhouette of my dad holding up the towel behind my sister and, if we want to get really technical with it, the fact that Robin’s hair is falling straight down (if she were actually underwater her hair would be floating all over the place!). Not to mention my finger creeping into frame in the top left corner. Rookie mistakes, but hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere!

Next, I had Melissa pose in the bushes. I told her that she was a jungle explorer looking for tigers (hence the ssshhh).  Just look at that natural spotlight on her face!

And if you had any doubt that a seven year old took these incredible shots, here is proof! I’m the only one missing from this family portrait that I convinced everyone to pose for. I like to think I've gotten a little better at portraiture since then:

Galena Creek 2012