Final thoughts of 2007

It has been a great year. Spent a lot of time with my family & girlfriend, Erica. Traveled a lot. Joshua Tree & San Luis Obispo a few times. Went to New Orleans twice, and finally got out of the country and went to Russia to visit some orphanages.

Through everywhere I have been, and everything I have seen, the main thing I have learned is that one person can make a difference. And you don't have to go far to make a small difference in someone's life. You can compliment a neighbor or co-worker. Small & positive compliments will make a big difference in someone's life.

Here is a portrait of me, my brother, and my cousins I took a few days ago.

Portrait of Erica

Interesting light. Interesting fixture. Interesting textures. Interesting person. Interesting combo.

Window in New Orleans

I ran across this image last night in my New Orleans Archives from my last trip.

Steve McCurry

I ran across this book last night, Portraits, by Steve McCurry. McCurry is one of the best photojournalists I have ever seen. His porfolio is unbelievable and his images have made several covers of National Geographic. I admire Steve's cultural style of photography and see myself with the same drive for cultural exposure.

Check out some other links I found.
Here and here.

"If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view."
Steve McCurry, Photojournalist.

Russia Revisited, by Joe Photo

Joe Photo wrote an article for Rangerfinder Magazine. Check it out.

I have decided that I am going back to Russia next summer. Since I have been back from Russia, these last six months have been the most interesting and life changing months that I can remember in my life. I have learned more about the attitude of human nature than I ever expected to learn. We are all fragile human beings, and all we need is love. It is easy to lose sight of how much our loved ones matter to us. And really, in the great journey to the middle, our family and friends are all we need in life. It is easy to focus on our pride and material things, and Russia allowed me to realize how much our worldly possessions do not matter in life. Seeing all those kids with just a drawer of everything they own under their bed, and with no individual parental figures to look up to deeply touched my soul. Looking back on my life, past and present, I have nothing to complain about. And although I have virtually no parenting experience, I have learned that children are the most precious human beings and should be constantly surrounded by love. I will do my best to treat and respect all children that I meet as I would treat my own.

I have thought of many excuses to not go back, but they are all too selfish to even write down. I remember last year when I signed up, I was so excited and I had no idea what to expect. I just wanted to contribute to one of the greatest humanitarian efforts that I could personally tag along. This year, I am even more excited because I know how humbling this trip will be. I am not thinking twice about not going back next summer anymore. I have thought about those kids every day since I have been home and on my other travels. I got the Russian bug, and I am going back. I will never forget the lessons I have learned in Russia.

Most of these images are Joe's, some are mine, and some were shot by some of the kids that stole our cameras (they gave the cameras back).

Me shooting the shot below.



The kids like to play soccer. It was always the Russians vs. Americans. Needless to say, they were difficult matches against these buff kids.



















Yes, I am taller than everybody else. And of course, I am the only one who blinked in the shot.

Ema's Christmas Portraits

I did some Christmas card portraits for a good friend of mine, Nathan. For a little girl who is afraid of strangers, Ema really opened up to me. When I saw what her little outfit, I knew it was going to get some good portraits.










Funny Kid.

Went to Greg Porter's Studio for class.

The studio class went to Greg Porter's Photography Studio. He sampled a Slim Fast pour shot for the class similar to the image below. He also shared some of his personal studio secrets, which we swore not to repeat....
It was real interesting to hear different perspectives from studio professionals (which I have very little contact with), and from one of Greg's art directors in what they look for in great studio photography and photographers.

"Quotation Marks," A new beginning for the blog

Quotes are a great thing to share.
"We are all guilty of crime the great crime of not living life to the full.
But we are all potentially free.
We can stop thinking of what we have failed to do and do whatever lies within our power.

What those powers that are in us may be no one has truly dared to imagine.
That they are infinite we will realize the day we admit to ourselves that imagination is everything.

Imagination is the voice of daring."
--Henry Miller. Writer, Painter

Midnight Portrait in New Orleans

While I was on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, Erica saw this lady and insisted that I take her portrait. But it was really late at night and there was really no available light. Due to my visually-aware-quick-witted shooting style, I managed to squeeze out an impressive portrait.

Before & After Post Edited Image

By request, I gave this image a textured post edit.

Before

After

HEY! Wait a Second....

A few months ago,I took time out of my jammed packed schedule on a Saturday to take this AWESOME PHOTO for my other job that pays the bills, and all they did was say 'hey thanks' and patted me on the back. I woke up extra early ON A WEEKEND and put a lot of effort into timing this sucker because I knew it was an important image for this company. I didn't get 'no money, no honey, no credit!'

I believe this was the last pro bono job I did besides Para Los Ninos. There has been a theme that has popped up several times this week for me:
No matter how talented you are (in any field), cheap or free labor will always be treated and appreciated as cheap or free labor.

I was browsing one of my favorite photography websites/ magazines, JPG, and I ran across this photographer, Trey Hill. He had some cool wedding & landscape photographs that tickled my fancy.

Huntington Library

Went to The Huntington Library about a week ago with Erica to attend a horticulturist seminar. Afterwords, we only had time to walk just the desert garden. If you know Erica, we didn't get very far. She knows the names of almost all the specimens, and, well, there are a lot. So many plants, so little time.


Neptune really isn't packing much these days.