Chef Showdown 2008

Recently I was invited to photograph the Center for Community Solutions annual fundraiser.

This is a great cause to raise funds to help those suffering from domestic violence. The event had the best of our local culinary talent including Chef Scotty of ChileCo and Chef Paul McCabe from L'Auberge in Del Mar as well as Sam the Cooking Guy and many other wonderful chefs.

Maribel & Esteban

Maribel & Esteban at the Prado in Balboa Park... Beautiful bride + handsome groom + a great venue = awesome photos

MotoExpo

2008 MotoExpo at the Del Mar Fairgrounds... jumps, stunts, girls and oh yeah bikes

Scooter in the Club

On assignment in the strip club for DJ Scooter's new CD cover... it's a tough job but someone has to do it.

Island Time

Just returned from a wedding in Maui... was able to get one day of exploration in before we had to return to the mainland

Maui by moonlight

Locals only surf spot, north shore. The only waves we saw and a 90 foot cliff climb to get there

Trail to the beach

IR photo in the woods

Lone sailboat with a man paddling out from shore (he is really small to the right of the boat)

Night shot from the resort... crazy bright moon and the warm glow from the fire pit

This image show the thick canopy of a wonderful shade tree we found

Can't get there from here

It's funny, there was an old skit on SNL with a New Englander that would make the statement "Cant get there from here"... seemed funny at the time but after trying to navigate our way around the state on Connecticut last week it seems all too true. Coming from California it was odd to be able to basically transverse the state in not much more than an hour (despite having to reevaluate our position several times) but it also took nearly an hour to travel the 28 or so miles to this covered bridge. Not due to traffic or any such slowdown just due to the terrain. Anyway, Erin and Ben were great sports even after a long wedding day, we were only able to play for about 45 minutes but I was quite happy with the results. While we were down on the rivers edge we noticed a couple sitting up on the bridge and we were pleasantly surprised to find they had ridden up on a red raked Harley... Kate worked her magic and in a few moments we were photographing bridal portraits on the bike. How many couples get to have this kind of fun on the wedding day, or for that matter convince their friends that they rode off on a Harley.

Winner x2

Recently we entered and merited in the Professional Photographers of America Nation Print Competition. Two prints scored "Calm after the storm" (top) and "The mysterious properties of sand and the insignificance of man" (boy on the beach). The second image was also chosen to be printed in the book that represents the collection.

Embellishmint

What can be done with a tattooed model and more flowers than you can imagine...

Keep your eye out for a new Embelishmint Ad due out in ceremony magazine.

Maggie & Jared

First time for an engagement session with flamingos... don't worry, Maggie is a bird trainer and had permission to be in the pen (although we had to explain that to security a few times).

4th of July - San Diego Bay

The view from Harbor Island, if you look close you can see 3 of the 4 fireworks displays over the bay. Had a good time that included dinner at C level and the show... but then paid for it with the hour of traffic to get home.