Monkey at The Mystery Spot

I used to drive past The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz all the time, but never went there. I had a friend who literally lived five minutes away by way of foot, but never found the time. With my friend Al Kaplan's stuffed monkey and my friend, Colleen, that was going to change.

Here is our tour guide Ryan, leaning, at the mystery spot, and on the left, Monkey, who seems pretty skeptical.



Inside, I put Monkey on a pendulum, before I learned it was the marker of the center of the Mystery Spot. Ooops.




Due to the unusual gravity in the area, people can walk up these stairs as easy as a ladder. I put Monkey on them, he reminds me here of the movie, The Usual Suspects.



I handed Colleen my camera, so I could be in one with him.



This is what the leaning cabin behind me looks like.




We had a great time. Tomorrow, photos from another spot we went to, no clues this time.

Monkey's Visit Part One

My friend, fellow photographer and blogger, Al Kaplan, recently loaned me one of his most prized possessions. It all started with package arriving from Miami, Florida.



Inside was his stuffed monkey from when he was a child, Al told me it is 62 years old. Al has photographed himself with his monkey for many years. Though old and falling apart here and there, the monkey blended in well with the ecclectic artwork in my friend Colleen's apartment.



We soon were out and en route, I had Colleen pose with the monkey at a scenic bridge in Santa Cruz.


While waiting to get into the day's entertainment, we posed Monkey with some things in the gift shop, one of my favorites was this with him with a slingshot ironically bearing the words, "Professional Model".


Tomorrow I post some more pics of our adventure, but first a huge hint as to where we went:

Crafting Independence: An Enterprising Teen

Today I went to three restaurants and boutiques to profile for the San Francisco Daily. One of the boutiques was started by two ladies in their early 20's. I enjoy hearing about young entrepreneurs, and it reminded me of some photos I took of Dominique Flores, 17, who is planning on starting a business designing and making clothing for older people to help put her through college.


Dominique got the idea from designs she created to help her grandmother who had had a stroke and required her grandfather's help in getting dressed. She wants to design clothes they will enjoy wearing in terms of design and functionality.




As a winner of the California State "I Made it With Wool" contest, she travelled and competed with this outfit.


She enjoys making quilts, which first motivated her to begin learning how to sew.

Kel-C Jeffries, Boxer Extrordinaire

One of the most interesting people I've been privileged to meet and photograph is professional boxer Kel-C Jeffries. Jeffries trains and works hard in a field not taken seriously by some. Here are two shots of her sparring on the left, with Lisa Lewis.



I love the determination in her eyes, the same look she has when she steps into the ring.



I photographed her demolishing Stephanie Dobbs, here on the left, at the HP Pavilion.






Kel-C won the fight unanimously, and with hits like this the entire match, it's easy to see why.

Sebastian at Dog Obedience School

Does your dog misbehave, bark at the wrong time, act out, or just jump on you like this?


Our house dog Sebastian, a German Shepherd and Chow mix did (all that, whines, and does some dinner stealing as well), so he was taken to obedience school. At Andrea Sommers' class in Dog Behaviorsm she teaches some interesting methods including umbillicling, tying a leash to your belt, so dogs can be lead around easily.




The classes were great at learning who was in charge "alpha" at the house, hint, not only should the dogs be taught that every human is alpha to them, but also every other animal in the home.




This dog was placed in an alpha roll after he disrespected people and even tried to bite. The look in his eyes (as well as Andrea's) just say it all.



Andrea teaches people to speak dog as it's easier to do that than the other way around. Here she is with Sebastian.


She even showed the proper length choke collar to help him be controllable on a leash. He looks pretty happy.


We learned a lot, but he will still need a few more lessons.

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.

An Engagement with Jordan River

Today I had the pleasure of doing a joint engagement session with Jordan River, with whom I am shooting the couple's wedding in late June. We met Marissa and Bradley on a beach in Santa Cruz for some fun and relaxed engagement photos.




Bradley has some experience being the subject of many photographs as he has been a model years ago. With his playful attitude, he was easily able to help his fiance become an instant cover girl.




Bradley is a huge fan of black and white prints and so he asked if we could turn several of the romantic moments into black and white. Here are two of my favorites.





The sun was in the right position to give some terrific light to our couple for the whole shoot. By changing their position, I was also able to catch this great silhouette as well.




Marissa and Bradley, Jordan and I will see you both in a few months on your wedding day.

A View from the Pit

I've had the opportunity with a few papers I've worked for to shoot concerts from the photo pit. It's an exciting experience, with the crowd yelling and pushing behind you, and a limited amount of time (usually three songs, but sometimes just two) to get all the pictures for the publication. Usually places have you leave right after, once I had to go out and come back in throught security again even though I had had a ticket to the show in addition to a press pass all along.

Sometimes people will ask me to take a picture of them at the show, here is a group that I photographed of Dianna, far right in pink, and her friends.


Later during the show, I think perhaps during the second song, I turned around to get some shots of the crowd's reaction. Both Dianna and her friends are in the middle, and to the right the familar sight of a security guard dealing with a crowd surfer. This shot got published as part of the photo package of the show.

Tres Pinos Inn - Food Shots, Part Two

With the summer looming ahead, things will start once again getting very busy for The Tres Pinos Inn. Here are some more publicity photos I took for them for promotion.

I just love their glasses, especially against the faux wooden wine list cover.



Another one of the glasses with wine chilled to just the right temperature.


Small groups of guests can even have an intimate party gathering in the wine room.


The sliced meat here is so rare, it almost looks unreal.



Crab salad spread on endive, looks beautiful and has quite the kick.


One of the inn's claim to fames is that they always have the fishes sticking out their tongue to catch the eye of the diners.



Apparently, they aren't the only ones, bartender Nick loves to stick his tongue out at me, I don't think he thought I'd be fast enough to catch him at it, but I was.

NIN Concert Photos

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (some would say he IS Nine Inch Nails as the band's only constant member - who records almost all sounds himself on his tracks), is one of my favorite musicians, in addition to being one of my favorite marketers.

Last year, shortly after I got to shoot some photos of him from the photo area, I found out that he had partnered with a company that was able to shoot his whole concert and sell photos. Though they've since parted ways it was brilliant.

Now, he's done it again with a concert T shirt that has a phone number that when called plays a small bit of his not yet released track, "Survivalism". Again, I'm impressed.

Here is a montage of my favorite shots of him from the concert last year.

Pain? What Pain?

On Saturday I went to The Body Art Expo at the Cow Palace, an event that brought in hundreds of tattoo artists from all over the nation and tens of thousands of attendees. Many visitors started new tattoos, and as a correspondent for the SF Daily, I was there to both shoot and write about the event.

Today one of my photos was the front page photo as Renee Jean, 23, gets a prior tattoo corrected by Dodge (who like many people in the tattoo business just goes by a single name). Renee had just gone to a tattoo shop and on her 18th birthday and picked something from the wall, this makeover one was more meaningful, a lotus blossom (a flower that means rebirth like her first name does), with a pearl, her birthstone. (Click on image to see larger cover.)


Inside, the story , "Some say tattoos don't hurt" many of the people I talked with didn't find the experience that painful at all including Renee on the cover who compared it to getting her back scratched. (Click on either image to enlarge to read story.)

Wilfredo Castano, my photo professor at DeAnza College, a school I attended for a year before transferring to San Jose State University, told me that even when I'm shooting a color photo I'm thinking in black and white, an assesment I agreed with a lot. I was conciously thinking black and white as I shot the expo and I really like how the lines and details came out.

As Professor Castano told me, "Sometimes by taking away the color, you get a more realistic and honest picture of what was there, you make the viewer really grasp the subject."

I'm still a huge fan of color, though. Here are my favorites in color:



This was the photo that really started me thinking about the no pain concept, Jesus Hernandez talks on his phone while Javier Espinoza puts on his tattoo. Hernandez was just smiling and joking the whole time. Other attendees ate lunch, drank beverages and even tried to sleep during the process.

As Daryle Fountain puts a foot tattoo on Lisa Barbazota, she lets me interview her and says that the small amount of pain is worth having the design she really wants (a lady bug on a sunflower) added to her body. Barbazoto told me that having a lady bug land on your foot means you will have good luck.

Shawn Barber, a painter and apprentice tattooer, has traveled the world painting tattooed artists (other painters and many tattoo artists), who, like himself are tattooed. Here he is painting a portrait of fellow painter, Amanda Lynn. Barber's new show, "Tattooed Portraits II," will open at The Shooting Gallery on Larkin Ave on May 5th.



Michael Barron, 45, was one of the few people who told me that the process did hurt. He was getting his tattoo, a large rendition of the Archangel Michael, put on his back by Matthew Hamlet, to help him deal with adversity.



Most of the attendees fit into a neat demographic section of young with tattoos or piercings. Not these folks, though, Mary and Grady Proctor, both 57, came to learn about the artwork, though neither had or would even consider getting a tatoo. They likened the experience to going to a museum and were pleased that no one treated them as strange for having attended.

Here they are watching Tim Goodrich finish up a tattoo, a Chinese character for loyalty, on Lawrence Pratt.

Amy Lou's Blues at JJ's Blues

As part of the recently passed Women in Blues week at JJ's Blues, one of the peformers was Amy Lou who plays with her band Amy Lou's Blues.

When Amy first came out in this hat and sang a slow drawly song, she reminded me of several actresses from the 1920's, so I completed the transformation with this photo into black and white:


As the next pictures will show, she's quite a colorful, in all senses of the word, performer. In her red dress, with her beautiful red hair and awash in the red lights on the bar, Amy got up and gave those seated at the bar a personalized song.




Amy is a great performer in that she makes everyone feel as if she is singing literally to them, which was actually the case for this last one when she saw me there with my camera.