Early nerd fest.....

Every year a group of us comes up to Big Bear to indulge the inner nerd in us and revel in a week of computer games, movies, unhealthy food, no sleep, and very little sunshine. Our brother Steve's family has a cabin right by the lake so its an awesome place to stay at. We usually do this in december but this year is a little different.......Steve is getting married in this june and so we retreated to our mountain oasis for his bachelor party. Its been a blast hanging out with every one, playing the Wii and right now they are playing rock band.....hahahahaha awesome cus Matt doesnt really know the words. Anywho, i usually cant stay in for long, not because i dont like the people but because the outside beckons and begs to be photographed and seeing as how i always bring up my gear it s a call that i must answer. I went out yesterday in the afternoon, it was so much fun!! It was so good too to be shooting some nature stuff again. Nature photography is by far my 1st love in photography and by far my favorite thing to shoot. Shot some bird stuff but it became very apparent that the 300mm lens that i have just isnt enough.......i need bigger glass!!! oh well, someday ill get there........so there you have it. I will try to document our activities better today and still try to go out on more time before we leave. Heres some photos from yesterday.....enjoy!!

The 411......

Ok so i know that its been a while since i last updated the blog, and if you are a regular here you may have noticed that the updates have been somewhat sporadic lately. Well there is a reason for it, as i start to pick up more and more work it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with updating the blog. Right now between editing, shooting weddings and shooting for the magazines that i shoot for life has been well busy. While it has been a challenge and a stretching experience for me it has also been an exciting time and i am having the most fun that i have ever had "working". Right now im working on a fairly large project for one of the magazines, you may recall one of the earlier post where i went up in a biplane to shoot some photos. The project continues and i continue to grow and love my job more and more. One of the challenging things about this project has been that i took on calling and scheduling things for the photo shoots, administrative stuff has also been my weak spot so this has been a good experience for me. After weeks of trying to get the shoots scheduled i was beginning to become frustrated, as the weather has been lees than cooperative, i would play phone tag with people......all the obstacles that you could imagine seemed to be happening. So after many attempts at trying to get things done and nothing working out i was pretty discouraged, but things began to come together and i have been having a blast with all of it. Memorial day i did the shoot at the lagoon and it was just awesome!! The owner Josh who runs a watersports rental facility at the lagoon was just awesome to work with and incredibly accommodating. He had 2 of his guys that are the wakeboard instructors take me out in the morning for a wakeboard run, they were super chill and great to work with. I came back in the afternoon and rode wave runners until the sun went down. So my memorial day was, wakeboard run in the morning, sushi with the fam for lunch, hang at the beach for the afternoon, and go back to ride jet skie's.......HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?!?!?! So there you have it, been busy but having a blast!! Heres some photos from the lagoon and check back this week as i will be posting some photos from a wedding we just shot. Right now im up at Big Bear for the weekend for my buddies bachelor party, i went out this afternoon for a little bit so the next post will be on that. Enjoy!!

Congrats to Jamie and Kasha....

You know, its really cool that as a photographer i have had the privilege to photograph some very cool weddings and even cooler that some of those have been for friends and family. Last Saturday Jen and I had yet another incredible privilege and we there to photograph Jamie and Kashas weddings. The wedding was in Fallbrook at a nursery called Finnamex, the area were the ceremony was held was gorgeous!! Everything was just perfect..........except for the fact that it was about a thousand degrees out and i was drinking water like crazy. Strangely enough i didnt have to go to the bathroom at all the whole day and that was because i was sweating like no other that day. So it was a nice little endeavor trying to stay hydrated and at the same time take photos and keep from passing out. So basically take photos and try not to die, other than that everything was just awesome. Oh have i mentioned the food? THE FOOD!!! Holy cow!!! INCREDIBLE!! Jamies cousin is a chef, and an amazing one at that too. It was some of the most amazing food ive had at a wedding. This was also the most unique wedding we have done as well, as there were some jewish elements thrown in and right as the ceremony started they had this guy come down the aisle with this huge horn. To signal that the ceremony was beginning the horn was blown and the show began. We were blown away by everyones high spirits and just the incredible kindness of both families, it was truly amazing to see just how loving everyone was towards each other. Even towards us, i felt like i was part of the family while i was there.....it really is indescribable. Jamie and i have this "brother sister" relationship going, and while i am not really her brother i take the title happily and am honored to have it. Of course with such a title comes the inevitable defensiveness when your little sister starts dating a guy, but if there was ever a man that could put a bother at ease man it is Kasha hands down. Never have a seen a more gentle and caring man, whose love for God and respect and love for his wife are so evident it was truly amazing to see. It was great to see Jamie so happy......and trust me it was evident throughout the entire day. Well to top off a great day there was lots of dancing and let me tell you Kasha is a maniac on the dance floor. Im still just in shock of sorts replaying the day in my mind and seeing just the incredible joy shared by the whole family. It was incredible......thank you guys for letting us be there for your special day. We love you both!!! Enjoy!!

Who says work isnt fun?

Went out on an assignment for one of the magazines that i shoot for today, probably one of the funnest that i have done thus far. Todays adventure involved going up in a biplane!! Yep you read it right a flippin sweet plane, it was about the coolest thing ever!! I was a little worreid the night before when it started to drizzle and was praying that the weather would hold up for the shoot this afternoon. I almost lost hope today when i looked outside and it was overcast........but thank you God it cleared up and it was a gorgeous afternoon. Th ride was a blast and it was cool to be in an old plane with an open cockpit, got more stuff that i will be shooting soon so i will keep you all posted. Oh and stay tuned for some images from Jamie and Kashas wedding coming your way. The wedding was OFF THE HOOK!!!! Enjoy!!

The sandal is afoot part II

So last year i posted a blog with a bunch of photos that i did for Cobian Sandals. They are a local sandal company and thanks to my now former neighbor Angela Arnold (no longer neighbor and now Calvanico) i was given the task of photographing kids running around having fun and wearing the sandals. It became very apparent to me that day that i was very surely becoming an older man, trying to keep up with these kids was the most exhausting thing i have ever done. Anywho, to make a long story short, i got a call from Angela again saying that they wanted me to do a second shoot (much to my surprise). So we scheduled the day and the day of the shoot......freezing cold and completely overcast. It was a very stark contrast from last years shoot were we had nice warm sunny weather. Well i always say that bad weather makes better pictures........never did i think it would come back to bite me in the butt. The afternoon was still a lot of fun, and i think we got some cool stuff.....but then again thats not for me to decide. With a lack of sunlight i had to create my own warm light, so i slapped an orange gel on the ol flash and viola. Only 2 photos for now, oh and just so you are aware i am experimenting with some post processing techniques. so thats why the photos look "weird" if you have an opinion, good or bad, please leave a comment. I love feedback and this is a big learning experience for me. Ill post more later along with some of the originals, but i need to get them done 1st and off to Cobian before my deadline. Enjoy!