I am rather fascinated with timeless faces. You could take this man's face, and he could be from the early 1900's. Maybe even 1800's. If the photo was in black and white, the viewer would think the photo was rather old. My first instinct was to make this image a black and white, but the photo looks better in color because of his big smile, the red bandanna, and his blue eyes.

Checkout my most recent ad campaign! The company is called ResQWater, and the drink is a hangover remedy. ResQwater is being sold in the state of Arizona, and you can order it online. To learn more go to: http://www.resqwater.com/

Enjoy!

I attended the burial of 8 veterans this morning at the Riverside National Cemetery. Every Wednesday members of the Patriot Guard Riders and The American Legion meet at the cemetery and honor the burial of our veterans. The group is made up of mostly Vietnam vets.

A vast majority of the time the family members of the deceased veteran can't afford to come to the interment, or the veteran out lived their relatives. So the veterans show up and undertake the role as their family for the funeral. There can be any where from 4-20 burials in a single day.

Below are a few images from the burial today, and also portraits of Vietnam vets I took a few weeks ago:

I typically only photograph people, unique individuals I feel have a timeless story. I create a portrait that any viewer from any generation can relate to. I do on occasion photograph landscapes. I love being outdoors, but very rarely do I take my camera with me to take a landscape photo. If I love to take portraits of timeless characters, why wouldn't I love to take portraits of timeless terrain? Any generation can appreciate nature. Nature is the utmost timeless subject. Here are a few landscapes I have recently taken. Maybe I will begin to take more....

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to UCLA Hospital and photograph children with cancer and their Mom's for Flashes of Hope:

"Flashes of Hope is a nonprofit organization that changes the way children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses see themselves through the gift of photography and raises money for pediatric cancer research.

The portraits, taken by award-winning photographers, help children feel better about their changing appearance by celebrating it. For families of terminally ill children, it's especially important to have a portrait that preserves forever the beauty, grace and dignity of their child."

I was rather nervous about photographing the kids because I thought it was going to be an emotional day, and I also wanted to do a great job! Luckily, I do not have a heavy family history of cancer, and I have not been around too many people who have had cancer. I was a little unsure how to act around the kids.

My girlfriend Allison took the day off from work, and assisted me. In fact I was so nervous, we got to the hospital an hour and half early. I could tell, I was getting on her nerves just a little bit....

Once we set up the lighting, and the first kid rolled in with a huge smile on his face, I was put at ease. My jaw was literally hurting at the end of the day from laughing so much. I ended up photographing 14 youngsters, and kid after kid came in with an I.V., and all of them were smiling. I thought I was going to have tears of sadness rolling down my face all day, it ended being tears of laughter!

I was up in my hometown of Sonoma, Ca this past weekend. I photographed a few growers at their home and vineyard, in the Carneros AVA. I feel like my girlfriend right now because she has her own paid wine blog, and here I am writing about wine. To learn more about the Carneros region please read below (it is from wikipedia):

"...The proximity to the cool fog and breezes from the bay makes the climate in Los Carneros cooler and more moderate than the wine regions further north in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley. The cooler climate has made Los Carneros attractive for the cultivation of cooler climate varietals like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Many of the grapes grown in Los Carneros are used for sparkling wine production.^[2] ..."

Please click on the link below to checkout the WWII portraits in the Coast News!:

http://thecoastnews.com/view/full_story/7260540/article-REMEMBERING-HEROES?