JJ's Recap

I got to photograph some great musicians at JJ's the last two weeks. Here are some of my favorite shots, and a little about each.

Last Thursday was a special Harmonic Red show. I've looked forward to hearing him since finding out he's played a lot with Jason Ricci, another talented harmonica player I have enjoyed capturing in images.


JC Smith brought a new trumpet player last week, playing with him for the first time, and they still meshed together musically and visually as if they'd played together for years.

Alan Iglesias, who also played last week, is a great friend. A serious amateur photographer, we've had great discussions about my work and his own. He once called me "only the second musician in all my years of playing to get me onstage."


I've waited a year to see Joe Louis Walker who came on this Saturday. He was amazing and worth the wait. He has such a great stage performance.


One really neat thing that happened was that he played the harmonica during the first set. His roadie had told me that he would do it only during the second set (which I don't shoot for the club), but he surprised us all by doing it during the first.

When I asked why later he just said he had a sense that he should. I'm glad he did, I got a lot of great images including my favorite below.

Theme Parties Part Three: Oscar Party

Babe Poe is a huge movie fan. In fact I met her in line for an advanced screening for a movie. Every year she has a big party for the Oscars to celebrate the awards and also her birthday which often falls close to it. In honor of this year's awards (given out this weekend) and her birthday, here are some photos from last year's event.

First she made her guest go outside with Oscar related props, even her dog, Baby, posed for the camera.


One of the coolest thing about theme parties is the details, from her homemade invitations, to custom Oscar-themed popcorn dish, the place was all about the party theme.


The party also featured Oscar statues for the winners of the trivia contest. Good thing I wasn't playing, I only got one answer right.


The guests looked almost as happy to get their awards as the stars in Hollywood did.


After a long day of emceeing, Babe just wanted her boots off, and her friend tried to oblige, but it took a lot to get them off.

John McEnroe in the News

Last year, I was given the assignment of shooting some tennis players at a tournament and learned when I was there that John McEnroe was playing in his first doubles match in a decade. A big fan of his (I had seen him play at the U.S. Open when I was eleven) I stayed for his match as well, which he and his partner won. I love the look and intensity on his face.


One thing that struck me is that the whole stadium seemed to be egging him on. He walked out to "Bad to the Bone" and when he threw his racket down after a bad call the place was filled with cheers. When an equally bad call was made later, and McEnroe did nothing, I'm sure many of the boos that filled the stand were for that as well.


I'm so proud that he is now taking a stand on the fact that men and women should be paid the same at Wimbelton, which they know will be for the first time. A great athlete and all-around good guy in my book, happy belated birthday John. (He was 48 on Feb. 16.)

The Bridal Fair in Hollister

Colleen and I had a great time at the bridal fair yesterday. Thank you to everyone who came out and saw us. The reception room in Paine's has a beautiful painted background which was a great backdrop to our table.


Here is a closeup of some of our albums on our table.


Next to us was Paul from Big Fun DJ's. After having heard from many people what a great dancer Colleen is, I had to encourage her to put some moves on the dance floor. Everyone was great, she's amazing out there.


We also met some great vendors. Annie from The Veranda Cafe and Bakery displayed some great cakes. The hat one with blue frosting was really inviting. I wasn't the only one who thought so, though it was only a display cake, people kept eyeing it hungrily all day.

Who's that Girl?

Now that she knows, I'd like to announce which bride appears in the calendar section of The Pinnacle advertising the bridal fair that took place today.

It's La Trisha and her new husband, John. Here is the pic they used:


The bridal fair was great and I made a lot of contacts with vendors, brides and grooms. I had a great time as did Colleen, I will post a full report with more pics.

Photos of the week (ending 02/23/07)

I had another interesting week at work, going to a dairy, a meeting of educators learning about how to teach visual arts and a chance to check out a great graphic design company that has their footprint on many industries.

My first photo selection came from our story on dairies and their chances of economic success in the area. I learned a lot about the industry and got some great photos of cows being milked, but my favorite is this one of Lea playing with her calf, Bonnie.

At Schipper design the projects have included logos to full packages and the clients ranging from towns, to festivals to chocolatiers and wine makers. In this photo Markus is looking at the color swatches to match exactly a letter from a wine bottle his company created.

One last plug for the bridal fair, it's in Hollister tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 3. If you are planning a wedding or even a quincenara, come on down and meet some great vendors. I specificaly will be in Paine's Restaurant at 421 East Street. Be sure to stop by and say hi, I'll have something special for you that you can only get at the bridal fair.

Fun with Details: Flowers

One of my favorite things to capture details of during a wedding is flowers and how the are used. They are often found in solemn moments, like when these girls carefully and proudly walked down the aisle with these flowers.



That being said, flowers can also be in a lot of fun spontaneous moments, sometimes, when the ceremony is still technically going on . Vanessa had already turned her back and was walking out, when she realized she forgot her bouquet, and laughed as her maid of honor handed it to her.


Lastly this little girl, looks so eager as she holds her bouquet, perhaps dreaming of the day when she is the bride.

I'm exciting and looking forward to the bridal fair on Saturday. The Pinnacle used one of my photos for their calendar page which lists (among other events) the bridal fair, and no one outside my paper knows yet, not even the bride herself.

As she is out of town till Saturday, I will wait till then to post her pic so everyone can see which one was chosen.

Candid Moments with Kids

The photo I posted yesterday of the young lady raising two hands for an extra blessing of the couple inspired me to find and show some of my favorite kid moments from weddings, all candid shots of kids just being themselves.

From watching the adults this little guy figured out that all you had to do to get people's attention was to grab a microphone and start talking, so he did.


These flower girls decided to spin in the bride's parents' garden while waiting for the limo to arrive.


Finally this little fellow decided that his ring bearer's pillow made for a better yo-yo than its intended purpose.

Shooting Closeup/Tight Part One: Bar Mitzvah

At the paper we call a shot where it focusses on part of a person, often just their upper body, a tight shot. When talking with wedding clients I usually call it a close up shot, but either way, the purpose is the same, to really focus in on the subject and what he or she is doing in that moment.

Here is a closeup of Ian reading the Torah at his Bar Mitzvah. I like the tilt especially and the hint of the smile on his lips as he reads.


After I had captured some great images with his facial expressions, I photographed this very tight one of just his hands and the Torah.

Lastly, a close up of him and his Rabbi, but shooting it tight, your focus is on them with their expressions, Ian's more relaxed than even his teacher, and their reading together.

Blessing by the Congregation

One of the great aspects to being a wedding photographer is the chance to see many different and beautiful customs throughout different religions.

At a few weddings I've captured an image or two like this. It is from a Catholic service, though not all Catholic services have this part, in fact, many of the people who've asked have been to many Catholic weddings and never seen this done.

In the above photo the priest is having the congregation raise their hands and literally pray over the couple, Esmerelda and Ricky for them and their marriage.

In the picture below, an adorable little girl tries to give a "double blessing" to the happy couple, Vanessa and Paul, by raising both her hands. I like the symbolism and beauty of the moment.

Photos of the Week (ending 12/16/07)

I'm subtitling the photos for this week "Going to the dogs", an expression I've always liked as I'm fan of all dogs.

This week's photos both involve dogs who are part of stories dealing with health. First is Jade, on the left, with her veterinarian, Lisa. Jade is battling breast cancer and diabetes, the latter which left her blind.

Jade's moving story (along with how her family takes care of her), which I wrote, can be found here, "A dog's eye view of illness."

My second photo of the week is of Bear, and his owner, Bob. Bob had been a normal dog for six years when Bob's diabetes caused his sugar levels to effect his job. Bear has been trained to sniff Bob's hand, and let him know when he needs to take Insta-Glucose.

This photo captures the love and relationship between the two.


Melissa's story, "A lifesaver of a pet" about these two is also a great read.

Kip Fulbeck Portrait of a Portrait Maker

As a photographer, I usually don't get to photograph other professional photographers, but I had my chance when an assignment had me photographing artist, writer and photographer Kip Fulbeck.

Here he is reading from his semi-autobiographical book, Paper Bullets.

He really got into the passage he was reading (as is evident from my portrait of him) a scene in which his main character is just trying to get romantic with his girlfriend who wants to hear romantic words in what she thinks is his native tongue, when he speaks only English. A hilarious scene.

In his most recent book, Half Asian, 100% Hapa, he photographed people (without glasses, jewelry, or other adornments, and had them write a half page answer to the question of "who am I?" Many of which were quite funny and profound all at once.

My New Ad is Out

My new ad is out today. In the Morgan Hill Times, The Gilroy Dispatch, the Hollister Free Lance, and of course, the paper I work for, The Weekend Pinnacle.

If you have a copy of any, it's in the Bridal tab, on the inside back cover. It's this ad in color, half page:

This Just In (for the Bridal Fair)

Yesterday, I picked up two of these elegant certificates from the printing company. There will be two of these given out at the Hollister Bridal Tour next Saturday, Feb. 24, as part of the prizes given to brides attending.


Each certificate will allow the bearer to have a free engagement session with high resolution images on CD. The winner can chose their location, anywhere in Hollister, Gilroy or San Juan Bautista.

For those of you that will be making it to the show, my table will be in Paine's Restaurant on East Street. I'd love the chance to meet anyone who is engaged, or who even may be dreaming of a engagement someday.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. In honor of this day celebrating love and romance, here is a photo of Anh, a bride I had who wore two dresses. The first was a traditional white dress, for her Catholic ceremony, and then she wore this traditional Chinese dress for the reception.

In the Chinese culture red is often used to symbolize good luck, as it is also in the red envelops in her hand, which contain monetary presents. I loved her spontaneous joy as she fanned them out for the crowd to appreciate. In fact, I've title this one "Red Envelop Joy".

Last year the color red was big in terms of showing up in bridal bouquets and bridesmaid dresses. I'd love to photograph a bride who wears red on her dress in some way (perhaps a sash or stripes running down it) or a red wedding dress, for the ceremony as well.

The Money Dance

When I show potential clients wedding albums, one that often comes up when showing that of Paul and Vanessa is what are they doing (on the page showing them and the money). It's called a money dance, and I'll use these photos from their wedding to explain on my blog.

During a long song, the bride and groom come to the dance floor and dance for a short time with people who give the paper money ($1, $5, etc.) In this photo a groomsman is putting money into Vanessa's purse (and on the left is a woman with money heading for the groom).


As the groom wouldn't carry a purse, the money ends up pinned to him, often in comical ways, check out the "tail" Paul has hanging from his shoulder.

Usually only the adults come up, but this little flower girl looked like she wanted to dance, too.

Luckily, someone gave her $1 and then it was finally her turn.


After the song is over, the bride and groom, and sometimes a helper or two, helps count the money. Couples often use it towards their honeymoon.

Edible Bouquets

Deborah from the advertising department at The Pinnacle (who did a great job as my ad representative for my ad that will run on Friday) asked me if I had ever seen an edible bouquet as one of her new clients made them.

In fact I had seen this beautiful one at the recent rehearsal dinner for John and La Trisha:

Not only do they look great, but they are healthy and able to be enjoyed by everyone. In fact, this young lady could barely keep her eyes off this one until it was time for dinner.

Shane Dwight and Chris Cain at JJ's Blues

One of the regulars at JJ's Blues reminded me on Friday that I haven't put up some music photos in a while on my blog. It was a great weekend for talented musicians, and not surprisingly a very packed club both nights. I really had to dodge people to get some shots at both shows.

First on Friday was Shane Dwight. He wore his trademark sunglasses for both sets, but I did get one of him without as he was warming up.


With the trademark glasses, playing hard and showing attitude to the crowd.

Last night Chris Cain rocked the house. Chris has a very expressive face, and great sense of humor, even joking about being the warm-up guitar player for the night.

Thanks on the move

I was walking across the street in downtown Hollister this week, when I started hearing wild honking from a car. It turns out the driver was this woman, Isabel Torres who is the head of the new dance studio, Waves of Illusion, that teaches her style of dance entitled Latizmo.


Isabel rolled down her window and thanked me for the photos I had taken of her weeks ago and the great story that Patrick had written about her.


In her older classes Lenny Silva helps out and often gets the chance to show off his skills.


Her younger kids get the chance to really move, also. Emily Andoney, 6, center, showed off her attitude at dance class while she practiced her moves with Sonia Lucatero, 9, left and Israel Alvarez, 8, right.