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.

Vendor Interviews: Jordan River Entertainment - DJ

As I blogged last month, I am starting my series of blog interviews with wedding vendors. First up is Jordan River Entertainment. Jordan was the DJ at one of the first weddings I ever worked on as an assistant photographer many years ago.

Since then, we've worked together on many events including weddings, bar- and bat mitzvahs, and most recently Molly and Jeremy's wedding in September. Here he is with the lovely couple:

Jordan is really great at getting people up out of their seats and enjoying themselves. Here he is getting the crowd to sing to the bride and the groom:


He even got a conga line line started, you can really see how much fun everyone has in it, too:

Question and Answer with Jordan:

Q:How long have you been in business?
A:17 years.

Q:How did you get started?
A:I was in a Rock band in high School and we had all this cool sound gear.
A friend suggested we use the gear to DJ for a Special Events.

Q:How many weddings have you worked?
A:About a thousand weddings.

Q: How many other events?
A. Another Thousand.

Q:Describe your style and role on the wedding day.
A:Muscial Director, Orchestrator, Emcee. DJ.

Q:What requests do you get most from brides?
A:All Brides have unique expectations. The Classics still work, Hip Hop and Top 40 have become more mainstream.

Q:What have you learned from your years in business?
A: Never promise anything you cannot commit to.

Q:What tips do you have for brides and grooms?
A:When you find vendors that you like, book them. Lowest price is not necessarily the best deal.

Q:How can brides and grooms contact you?
A: Jordan River
www.a-dj.com
408.978.0979

Fire Dancers

One of the more unusual and fun assignments I have had as a photojournalist was to photograph fire dancers who were getting ready for Burning Man 2006. Keith Barefoot and Rebecca Picker of Nocturnal Sunshine entertained crowds at a private birthday party in Santa Cruz.


A mostly silent crowd (apart from uncontrollable gasps of shock and admiration) watched them perform. They got the fire both close to each other and themselves, without flinching, or missing, even managing to talk to the crowd while twisting and twirling fire about themselves.

Black and White and Full Color Photos

When I put together getting ready shots for a wedding I often use black and white images. These are images that have been captured digitally in color, then converted. Often other images also look great in black and white.

Here is one of my favorite converted shots from Chauntel and Gerardo's wedding:

In this shot, in the absence of color, the emotions of the bride and groom and the motion of the hands really are brought to the viewer's attention.

Here is the same shot again in color:

Here the eyes see the emotion and the hands, and may alos notice how well her bouquet matches the flowers that were put out on the pews.

Either way, the color, or lack thereof, helps bring out something about the mood of the shot.

Life story reaches out to community member

Meet Lillie Marcheski (formerly Anderson):


She's 90 years old, and this year she began writing her memoir, based on her experiences as a nurse in WWII. Here she is from a painting commissioned of her in her war uniform, age approximately 25.

Today a gentleman came into the office at the paper and wanted a word with the lady who wrote that story (me). He told me that he was 91, and had also served in the war. He shared with me a book he had written and we talked for a bit of his experiences.

My story in the life section really meant a lot to him, as did, I hope, the chance to talk to me about his experiences in the war.

A friend recently told me how lucky I was to have my job, that as a photojournalist I'd have experiences most people would not. As a photojournalist and writer, I'm also able to bring my experiences to others, and also share more of their world in return.

Lillie's twin sister, Lilla, who served with her in the war:
Lillie's nursing school photo as well:


and finally some service ribbons Lillie earned serving as a nurse in a hospital in New Guinea that was literally built just after her crew arrived:

Theme parties (part two)

One new trend I've been seeing a lot of recently is to have a theme for adult parties. Jason's birthday party had two, one theme being that of casino night. The room was really decked out for the occassion:



The second theme was that it was a surprise party. Jason knew he was going to a party that night, but his wife hoped he wouldn't figure out that it was a party for his own 40th birthday (the next day). Her careful planning worked, as he was truly surprised to see he was the guest of honor.

4S Casino Party Suppliers did a great job with a roulette wheels, a craps tables, a black jack table, and slot machines keeping people entertained for the whole party.

At the end of the night the money was exchanged into raffle tickets and the birthday boy had a fun time calling out the numbers of the winners.

Bride and Groom portraits at the wedding

As a photojournalist most of the photos I take are when it happens actions shots. For stories often a few posed shots will be taken to show what a person looks like (i.e. a close up detail head and shoulders shot know as a mug shot), but the majority will not be posed. As a wedding photojournalist, the majority of my shots are also candid moments.

This page from Chauntel and Gerardo's wedding album shows many candid moments of them together (the one on top is her and her dad), in a book with a few formals (posed shots) chosen, but with them and other people, not just them alone.

Some couples want a few posed images of them for the album, and the question arises of when to do it. These were taken of Molly and Jeremy at cocktail hour, after a few formals of their wedding party, I took the two of them alone for a few moments and captured these.

I had a great question recently from a bride whose wedding I will be shooting in September. She wanted to know how the formals they wanted could be shot in such a manner that they would miss as little of the cocktail hour as possible.

I told her that I can do groups fast, and also offered her an option if she wanted to see her groom before the ceremony. Many people do not want to see their fiancee before the wedding and that is fine. For those that would consider it though, they could have the moment of first seeing each other captured in pictures away from the eyes of the crowd (blindfolding the groom and bringing the bride to him, really makes this an emotional moment when he finally sees her).

A few great emotion pics are taken, some brief time alone for them, and then when they are ready, some portraits of them with each other and if desired their bridal party can be a great use of time allowing them to miss little, if even any cocktail hour with their friends.

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.

Food Photography: A Slice of New York

A Slice of New York 's Kirk asked me to take some product shots for their new website. I shot pizza's right out of the oven including these two:



The place features frozen drinks with flavors that get changed a lot, when I did these it was Pina Colada and Watermelon (they might be different ones in there now):


In addition to great New York Style (thin slice) pizza, the place also makes great calzones and strombolis:


They just started serving the new cannoli:


and one of my new favorite treats, the dessert pizza. This pizza requires an hour's advance notice to make and has Nutella and powdered sugar, when they add the sugar, it looks like a little blizzard is descending:


and finally the finished and delicious result:

La Trisha and John's wedding (part three)

Location: Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center

Right after being introduced for the first time as Mr. and Mrs., the two took to the dance floor an took a spin only noticing each other.


Soon it was time for La Trisha to dance with her father, which she did gracefully to "In My Daughter's Eyes".


When her bouquet was tossed many women, and a little girl tried to grab it, some of them weren't that close as you can see.


When it came time to get a group shot of the happy couple with the winner of the bouquet and garter toss a flower girl joined them. A few of them even put on their silliest expression just for the photo.

When it was time to end the reception, La Trisha hugged all her guests goodbye warmly.

La Trisha and John's wedding (part two)

Wedding Date: 01/27/06
Ceremony: South Valley Community Church, Gilroy, CA

La Trisha's cousin, Danette, danced to a song to help set the tone.


La Trisha was all smiles as she walked down the aisle to meet her groom. She was escorted by both her brother and father. John was so eager to take La Trisha up to the archway to get married, that he reached for her hand early, leading the pastor, Darryl, to gently let him know it was not yet time.

La Trisha and John's smiles were ever present throughout the ceremony.


The couple lit a unity candle with tapers lit first by their mothers at the beginning of the ceremony. They chose to leave the tapers lit as well as a symbol of the two people who were coming together to form one united bond.

Near the end of the service, a friend performed in white as an angel.

La Trisha and John's wedding (part one)

La Trisha and her wedding party got ready at her house which is also the site of her childcare business. So many of her getting ready shots have cute and colorful animals and other designs in them.
The afternoon sun peeked in through the shades (after quite a bit of rain) and bathed the room, and the women getting ready in a beautiful natural light.

As La Trisha was getting ready, her friends prayed with her, and her cousin, moved to tears by emotion, joined in with her hand raised in praise.

In addition to having gorgeous sequins and beadwork, La Trisha's dress had an intricate cross woven back.
After making a video message for her then soon-to-be husband, La Trisha received a hand clasp of reassurance from her videographer. The room she and her party finished getting ready at for the church also had colorful decorations for children in it.

La Trisha posed for one last portrait before getting ready to say, "I do."