My office for two days last week was to photograph vineyards up in Sonoma. Besides being in the serenity of the outdoors, it is a nice change not to be photographing people and simply working with old mother nature.
I realize how hard it is to make a truly great landscape photograph. I must have taken over a thousand photos and was satisfied from an artistic stand point with only a handful of landscapes.
Growing up in Northern California and then moving away, I seem to appreciate the beauty more and more every time I go back to Sonoma. The beauty of the outdoors in Northern California is more tangible then in southern California. Don't get me wrong. I love living here. This past Sunday, the water was warm enough that I jumped in the big blue without a wetsuit with my fiance Allison. There is nothing better then swimming in the ocean. Come to think of it, there is tangible beauty in southern California. A lot of it. Two very different types of mother nature in two different places. Both locations warmed my soul.
I will have more work photographing vineyards in the near future, please enjoy these photos for now!
Last week I photographed 40 couples up in northern California and San Diego (for the Belmont Village Senior Living Corporation). All the couples have been married over 40 years, most were wed over 60 years ago. Some couples wore almost identical outfits, some of the couples could not stop kissing each other, and other couples graciously danced in front of me and I was the only one in the audience.
The show openings are the week of June 13th in Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Cardiff by the Sea!
I came across across Pioneer Town this past weekend. Pioneer Town is an old wild west town that is used to film movies and western reenactments. It is located just outside of Palm Springs. Coincidentally, they were having their annual cowboy get together. All the cowboys wear cowboy attire that is accurate to the clothing style of the late 1800's. All the cowboys and women look incredibly real. Going to Pioneer Town feels as if you jumped in a time machine and went to the wild wild west.
THE LAST GOOD WAR started at Cal Poly in my senior year of college. As an alumnus it was quite an honor to speak at Cal Poly last week and rewarding to have an excited group of college students ask a ton of questions. Take a look at the link below to read the thoughts of my former professors and students that saw the presentation:
http://mustangdaily.net/cal-poly-alumnus-hits-bookstore-shelves/
http://mustangdaily.net/cal-poly-alumnus-hits-bookstore-shelves/
I photographed Sam Menzelos for an editorial assignment last week. Sam has a character based on him from the "The Pacific". Sam is also an 88 year old accountant that is still working and owns his business. He can locate everything in his office without a problem!
The Last Good War has been selected as a finalist in Foreword's Book of the Year awards, in the Photography category. Here's a link to the info page: http://www.bookoftheyearawards.com/books/9781599620855/
