We Don't Need No Education

While visiting some former professors at the Journalism Dept. at San Jose State University, I stumbled upon some older lecture chairs that have seen better days. I figure they are swapping them out for more comfortable seats. A few of my classes used these.

This photo just reminds me of the "We Don't Need No Education" song by Pink Floyd, I can just picture this playing in the background as they were taken out.

Photos of the Week (Ending 05/25/07)

Again this week (I think the third in a row maybe,) my pics for photos of the week are from my chef profile. This is of Pal from Roti, a fun Indian restaurant who likes adding spices to things, his recipes are so unique even the co-owners admit they don't always know what he adds to the dishes. Here he is with spices and an amazing smile.



Here he is taking out nan bread, which gets baked at very high temperatures. It's easy to lose the bread at this point, but he is careful, and it was delicious.

Photos of the Week (Ending 05/19/07)

This week's photos of the week (O.K., I admit it's been so hard to limit it to just one photo that I've rarely done it) are from my chef profile of Nate from A-16. Nate is the head chef and here he is with his sous chef working together to prepare a pizza.




Nate hard at work at filling a mouth watering canolli that was delicious.




Wines are pretty important at this place that has over 400 of them, so even there head bar tenders/sommeliers just had to get in some fun photos.

Photos of the Week (Ending 05/11/07)

This week I got to accompany the San Francisco Daily's society writer, Carla, to a fashion show benefitting the San Francisco Ballet Company. In addition to the traditional small group photos that compromise a lot of the society page, I was given an invitation to shoot the actual show.

Here is one of the dancers, Jeremy and Samantha, who entertained the crowd before the fashion show. We ran this yesterday to tease the society page which ran today.



The models walked down the runway fast, even the official photographer for the society running the show said they "ran like racehorses". Nonetheless, it was a great show, with beautiful clothes, and I especially liked this one as it showed the different colors and the motion of the event.


I will post the pdfs of the pages of the paper as they are sent to me.

Photos of the Week (Ending 05/04/07)

Yesterday I blogged some photos used in advertising, set up shots with lighting and backgrounds, with the final product in black and white. These two photos are also advertising photos of shots.

First, Julio, a line cook at Fresca, calmly works over a rising flame. My editor JP, said this photo (meant to be in Town Talk to raise awareness of the restaurant) made him want to eat.




Usually when I do Town Talk photos, I look for a person and a literal product. This week I found the adoption center at Pets Unlimited and just had to get a shot of Ambrose, a German Shepherd mix waiting for a home and Lisa, an attendant. When I did Pet of the Week Photos for the Pinnacle, I just shot the animals alone, but this shot in Town Talk will really go far in showing how well this dog gets along with people, and I hope gets him a new home as well.

Photos of the Week (Ending 04/27/07)

Like last week, my two of my photos of the week are from my chef profile written last week. (My editor emailed me today that it will run next week on Monday, so I will post a pdf of it when in does.)

This week I profiled Rosa Kilroy, 41, an immigrant from Mexico who learned English when she moved here in 1992. She is now sous chef at Left at Albuquerque and enjoys watching her customers look happy as they eat from her open kitchen.






For Town Talk I photographed Lindsey Kirk wearing lots of things from Jest Jewels. The motto there is "More is More" so I photographed her wearing a Rachel Weissman head band, as well as a Tarina Tarinto Barbie ring and Swarovski crystal ring.

Photo of the Week (Ending 04/20/07)

Meet Erik, the chef at Circa, a shared plate restaurant in San Francisco. I photographed him cooking and some posed portraits for a chef profile and this was my favorite shot. (I'll post the profile when it has run.)

I like how I put him in a less typical spot than for traditional portraits, which suits him a lot, and how you can see his earrings.

Portraits like this (though not necessarily for a newspaper) are the focus of the One Light Workshop I am attending today taught by Zack Arias. Though I currently use either available light, my flash, or a combo of the two for photos, this workshop will cover strobe (fixed light) use and possibly be a new direction for me to take both my newspaper and my wedding photos.

Photo of the Week (Ending 04/06/07)

This week's photo is inspired in part by my friend, Colleen, who finally saw my photos and story on the Body Art Expo and asked, half tongue in cheek, "What no photos of a tattoo artist tattooing themself?". Well, I had one and had half decided to make it my photo of the week anyhow, so, here is "If You Want Something Done Right" featuring Daryle touching up her own tattoo.


This week I really had a chance to evaluate tattoo photos, a subject normally in color in black and white, and having found them looking quite favorable, I also am putting it up in black and white.

Photo of the Week (Ending 03/30/07)

Though my photo of the week picks tend to have people in them, particularly in motion, this week's photo has not one human and very little movement.

While on campus to photograph the marketing buildings, I was walking around and noticed these bright purple flowers "trembling" with the wind going by. At first they were so out of place with their enviornment that I just watched them, but soon decided to preserve the moment in a photo.

These week's photo selection is "A Shock of Purple":

Photos of the Week (Ending 03/23/07)

The photos I chose this week are of life up close. First Valerie Nicolaysen in the 100 meter individual medeley (which she swam all butterfly).


Next, I photographed and wrote a story on spring. As part of it I visited Filice Farms which recently obtained bees. So with a long lens and lots of courage, I went to the bees' boxes and waited and took several shots. I didn't even get stung. This is my favorite.

Photos of the Week (ending 03/16/07)

It's theme week for me with both of these pictures having to do with having pride in your work. In this photo, Raul makes beds at the homeless shelter where he has been staying for the season. I was really touched by his unbreakable spirit, which I think comes out here even as he makes his bunk bead.


Next is Larry Otis, who co-owns the soon to open bar, The Broken Wing, with his wife, Julia Smith Otis. The name comes from the honorary title given to people who have survived a motorcycle accident as Larry has. As you can see, the bar has a second chance in life itself, it used to be a bank and its old vault doors add to the charm.

Photos of the Week (ending 03/09/07)

With Dr. Seuss' birthday last Friday, I got some great colorful shots including librarian Cindy Brown reading dressed as cat in the hat

to Nicole eating, after carefully considering green eggs and ham.

Also this week, Lou Bettencourt, was reported as retiring (at the end of the month) from being director of the YMCA, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying pick up games with the kids.

Photos of the week (ending 03/02/07)

I had an interesting week at work, with fun events and many hours to drive around and find art in the simple everyday happenings in Hollister.

I also have a first for me on my blog for photos of the week.

First, a sports shot. Josh Schroder is on track to beat San Benito High School's pole vaulting record of 15 feet, 6 inches. He's already up to 15 feet, one inch. One of the track coaches, Iran White, said he never saw a non pole vaulter shoot a really good vault photo. He's said this was pretty good, though, and I've already received compliments on it.



My second photo of the week is sort of a surprise, as it's my first such still life choice. Without a person or even creature in it, this photo of the snow capped, but otherwise green mountains is my other choice. I'd barely taken my coat off on Wednesday when my publisher had me go up to the mountains to shoot the snow. This was right near private property, apparently closer than I thought as I felt the ends of barbed wire against my jacket.

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.

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.

Photos of the week (ending 02/09/07)

Both of my photo of the week selections from this week's Pinnacle involve kids. Photographing kids is always fun because after they forget you are there they are so expressive.

My first selection was from a story about families who have a child with autism. When I went to photograph Victoria and her son, Nathan, assignment in hand to photograph them just interacting as family members (as well as other family members if they were around), I didn't know what activities they would be engaging in. In a short hour, Nathan played outside, read a book, played with toys including a dinosaur and a train set, but kept coming back to his favorite the bubbles.

In this moment, he and his mom bond over the bubbles:


The second photo of the week was taken to go alongside a story of San Benito school districts working together to standardize math learning targets across the grades. I needed to find children using math visually, not just reading books, but counting money or something similar.

I was hoping to find something that would show that math can be fun at the younger grades, and I shot this among others.


I like the dichotomy of Maria looking so serious while she counts out her place holder cubes, while just a few desks away kids are picking out their squares with smiles on their faces.

Photo of the week (ending 02/02/07)

This week was a great opportunity to get out and explore places in Hollister that I've never been and really get to know them from the inside.

First up was Ozeki Sake, which gets its rice from Sacramento. This photo of Yoji shows him checking out the koji which ferments the sugarless rice. It was on our paper's front cover for this week.

Occassionally, I'll go to shoot something and be told that something better will be happening later. If I can return I do, I always want to get the best shots I can. When I arrived at St. Francis Retreat to get photos of the geological search for evidence the area is near a fault line (which would modify the reconstruction plans if it is), the trench was still being dug, and as it was not fitted for safety no one was in it.

I was told if I could come back later I would see it compeletely ready to go with people in it. I went back and asked to go down into the trench, which they let me. I like how this photo shows the depth of the trench, the work going on, and you can even see the surface peeking through.

Finally, not a shot of the week per se, here is one of me after I went down 15 feet underground for some shots.

Photo of the Week (Ending 01/26/07)

We had a lot of interesting photos in the paper this week, so as usual, I'm picking two photos as my favorites for the week.

The first photo shows David Krajewski, 5, who got up to get a closer look as Doris Parenteau read aloud from "Just in Case" at Sleepytime story time at the San Benito County Free Library.

I really like David's expression of wonder as it contrasts with Doris' serious expression as she reads the comedic book.

The second photo shows instructor Isabel Torres, who introduced a new Latin flavor-rich dance style she created and calls Latizmo to her students.


Her students really got into the style of dancing and it seemed a great way for kids to excercise, socialize and express themselves in a positive enviornment.

Photo of the Week (Ending 01/19/07)

Among the photos that I enjoy taking the most are those that show action, freeze time and make things still that weren't still at the time. It's part of my passion for photography, and part of how I chose to name the company.

Our sports and fitness section included a piece I photographed and wrote about a local group of girls on a competitive hip hop team known as Club FX. The moves are fast, the girls athletic, and they are definitely keeping physically fit through their perserverance and practice.

My two photo of the week choices (so hard to pick just one favorite, though this is my first time on this blog choosing two from the same assignment), are below. First is the girls cartwheeling over their chairs. I like how each one is in a different aspect of her turn.


The second photo is of Jasmine Gonzales on the right, and Desiree Troia, jumping over their chairs, with their legs up high and pony tails flying up.

Photos of the Week (Ending 01/12/07)

It was an interesting week at the paper with stories about the Boy Scouts Christmas Tree Pickup (and car rides with the boys, the chaperones and I discussing who had the worst travel stories - with their frequent camping trips they sure had me beat), interactive white boards and a request from the publisher that we bring back some pictures highlighting sports outside of the norm for us.

With such an interesting week I chose two favorites, first this one of Stephen using a stylus on a Promethean board to complete the word hide. I really love the educational toys nowadays, and the look of understanding and learning is definitely in his eyes, as is the look of pride in his teacher's eyes.


Armed with the idea to bring back less common sports and fitness stories we succeeded, in fact, we didn't even bring back one shot of a sport using a ball. My favorite from the lot was this one of Charlie reaching for the upper part of the climbing wall. It was his first harness-based climbing wall lesson ever.