all i want is you

On Tuesday, I drove down to The Sunset restaurant in Malibu to join about 45 other photographers for a charity engagement shootout.

It was basically like photographic speed dating, going from couple to couple. Except I've got no speed dating horror stories. I really had a great time with each of the seven couples I photographed. They were down to earth, and they were in love.

Here's one initial favorite image from each micro-session.

2010 Graduate special

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sigh no more.

just one initial image from a spectacular engagement shoot with jordan and jessica, on the sprawling tejon ranch property north of santa clarita valley.

oceana

a few images from saturday's trek to catalina island, just 26 miles off the coast of san pedro, but a world away from the daily grind. we had perfect weather and partly sunny skies while we rambled around the town of avalon.

the wrigley memorial and botanical gardens sit atop a hill over avalon, erected in honor of william wrigley jr., who was instrumental in developing avalon.

a round-trip ticket to avalon: $66. watching golden sunlight fall over the hills like a blanket: priceless.

i rarely post personal photos here, but this about sums up a day spent on the island.

it's thunder and it's lightning.

a few favorites from last weekend's trek into the southern california desert, on and around the shores of the salton sea.

i'm stealin to be your one in a million.

some are white light

i'm a night owl. which doesn't jive well with having a job that requires me to be up and functional in the morning. but every so often i can't resist staying up late and indulging in the meditative stillness of long-exposure night photography.

what's interesting to me is how much i'm drawing from this image that i didn't see when i framed and created it.

despite gathering storm clouds, there is a cool stillness in night air laced with the scent of sagebrush.

and even on the darkest of roads, there is still, sometimes, light. like a spear shot from heaven, guiding us.

these are dark times. but we are not hopeless.

love that conquers

i can't think of a better time than thanksgiving to post some of my favorites from teague & jenni's engagement session. so much thankfulness is embodied in an engagement. she said yes. a man finds someone with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life, and she reciprocates. marry for love and nothing else. i am so happy for the two of you as you begin this new chapter in your lives, and i am thankful for the opportunity to capture the magic of your wedding day. a wedding is one day; a marriage is every day after. but the wedding day is a sweet point of demarcation.

down the highway.

charlie is one of about 50 people who live in what's left of the mining camp of randsburg. he's lived there about 30 years, runs an antique shop, tinkers in his workshop and goes land sailing on a nearby dry lake bed.

for me this is heaven.

spending almost three hours in los angeles with teague & jenni resulted in too many great photos. they brought the awesome and i tried to capture it. more to come, but here's a favorite.

punch a hole right through the night

Twenty years since the Berlin Wall failed; since Germans pulled at a loose thread in the Iron Curtain. The reminders of Communism are throughout Berlin, but those reminders are overwhelmed by the rejuvenation that freedom and liberty have brought these last two decades.

sometimes

sometimes you get an idea, and it works out even better than you'd expected. life is funny like that.

in a strangely isolated place

one of the highlights of every autumn over the last few years, has been a weekend jaunt to the eastern sierras of california. this trip was no exception, with golden yellow aspens everywhere, crisp blue skies and perfect weather. i never get tired of exploring the wild, relatively untouched side of california.

as if love was a sword.

i did a bit of experimentation with a tilt-shift lens recently, and was quite pleased with the results. it doesn't hurt when you've got models as laid-back and photogenic as megan and melissa. overall, i do like what a TS can do, though i'm not sold enough to buy one. it's a hefty investment, and i think it's becoming overused in the realm of portrait photography. but it's still a fun effect. the less that can be done in photoshop versus in camera, the better. 

sing tomorrow's praise.

July and August were great, busy months of capturing some fun images as part of my 30for30 promotion. Everyone brought a different personality to the table, and I had the pleasure of capturing some moments I feel really reflect who these people are. Thanks to everyone for braving the SoCal heat, dodging security guards, standing in the midst of fire ants, and generally letting me tell you what to do. Here are just a few of my personal favorites. And keep on the lookout for an upcoming holiday photo special, and if you are (or know) a graduating senior it's time for some relaxed and natural senior portraits. You only get one shot at life. Live it with Vision!

a song for our fathers

in no particular order, here's a few of my personal favorites from last saturday's game between usc and san jose state. there's nothing like the rush of standing on the sidelines and feeling the energy of a stadium full of college football fans.

what is a life?

i figured it was time to unveil a few more photos from my time in europe. i wound up with a lot of favorites, so it'll take me a little time to narrow down the absolute best, but here's some that i like. enjoy.

the best cup of turkish coffee i'd had in about five years!

the amazing cathedral of st. vitus in prague. the church took 600 years (!) to complete.

night falls on dresden, germany.

the ever-busy potsdamer platz in berlin.

the amazing square right across the street from the hilton berlin. an awesome place to sit, people watch and enjoy the sunset.

berlin's brandenburg gate

a chance moment at busy and bustling alexanderplatz in berlin.

a wonderful, enchanting rainy night walking the slippery cobblestone streets of prague.

that's it for now. expect more.

and expect lots more great images from my 30for30 shoots in july and august, very soon!

photos of the day - prague

a layover in london, and then it's america. a few photos from the enchanting, already much-missed city of prague.

photo of the day - prague

a momentary gaze upward at towering st. vitus' cathedral, the result of 600 years' of labor in prague.

photo of the day - terizin

a last glimpse of warm, summer daylight before entering a dark, musty cellblock at the terizin concentration camp in the czech republic, where jews were imprisoned before being sent to far darker places like auschwitz.