Oct 28 - Harvest Time

It's harvest time in California. Wineries are in full swing starting to make 2009 vintages. Chile, due to the fact that they are South of the equator, starts 6 months sooner. These fermination tanks were at Veramonte Vineyards, a sister company to a winery in Napa. They are known for their Pinot Noirs, which were really yummy. In fact, just last night, Apryl and I had a bottle from Veramonte and it was really good.

Even though we go to Temecula every couple of months, we already miss the big vineyard country that we spent 5 days in Chile and Argentina. Next weekend we are headed back up to Napa to enjoy wine country once again, and see harvest time in full swing. I'm sure you'll be seeing photos here in a couple of weeks.

Oct 26 - City of Hope Poster Session

To get experience in taking photos of people in a candid/photojournalist way, Apryl had me attend a poster session event. They had already hired another photographer to do the shoot, but we both figured it would be good experience for me to join in. I really like this photo because it shows the people engaged in the discussion and the environment around them.

What do you think?

Oct 23 - City of Hope Quote

This is a picture of a gate with the City of Hope quote on it. I took it when I photographed a poster session at the hospital. To all those out there with cancer, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Oct 21 - Happy Birthday

This is my beautiful wife. It's her birthday today and I am just wishing her a very happy birthday. As some of you may know, I'm taking a Portrait class at a local community college as I really want to learn and understand lighting techniques and how to take better photographs of people. I think I hit this one out of the ballpark, don't you think? It helps that the subject is absolutely stunning and easy to photograph.

Happy Birthday Apryl, I love you!

Oct 20 - Favella Man

What would you do if you met a woman from another country that completely stole your heart? You'd move there for her right? You'd sell all your belongings, pack up and move to her country to be with her.. Right? Sure, because you love her. But what if you get there, you find out she's pregnant with your child and then runs off to Europe with her manager, never to see her or your child again. What would you do then?

Well, this man that we met in Brazil started living on the streets and in favellas (illegal shanty towns). After this happened to him, he started painting pregnant black women and adding mosaic tiles to an outdoor staircase. When people heard of his story, they started sending him tiles to add. He's now been doing this for over 20 years. He makes money selling his art and taking photographs. He still adds tile to the staircase.

As for me? After some time of obviously being heartbroken and spending time trying to find my newborn kid, I think I'd move on.. I don't think I'd want to live on the streets lookin like a crazy man, but who knows.. It's never happened to me.

Oct 16 - TGIF

Why is it that there are tons of Dunkin Donuts in South America, but none in Southern California? Anyway, why would I put this random "snapshot" on my picture of the day page? A couple of reasons. Even though I just took it quickly, its actually fairly well composed. There's a little bit of rule of thirds withe the donut in the lower left and the coffee cup in the upper right. There is a triangle creating a relationship between the objects in the photo and its a fairly simple photo, not too much going on in the background.

The real reason I posted it? I was looking through my photos and I saw it and it put a smile on my face. It's been a slow week and I'm happy it's Friday. I'm sure you are too. Hopefully this puts a smile on your face.

Oct 15 - Sunset on the Beach

Sometimes when I'm sitting at work and I look out my window and the rain is coming down, I can only think about running away and sitting on the beach. That usually brings me to the thought of this picture. I didn't know much about photography at the time, but I know I wanted this shot. In fact, I tried for 3 nights to get this shot, changing settings, trying it out with and without flash, learning as I go along. By the third night, I finally got it. I was so proud of myself as I had never really played with manual settings or nighttime shots.