Confessions Of A Freelance Photographer

A couple of winners...

2009-06-07T23:27:00.001-07:00

That's me on the right with the winner of 2009's Celebrity Chef Challenge - Head Chef and Owner of Tuli Bistro Adam Pechal. I photographed the event on Friday night and accosted Adam shortly after his win for my self-portrait +1. His food looked GREAT and I'm looking forward to trying his place out... I would have by now but moving to the 'burbs has hampered my Downtown eating time.

... sweet Rubicon, how I miss you...

Doug HATES Chickens

2009-05-03T22:26:00.001-07:00

This is Doug and he hates chickens. He actually is my boss's husband (not to mention quite a looker, too) and he was contributing his male modeling expertise for a promo shoot for the InAlliance Celebrity Chef Challenge being held June 5 in Sacramento. Had a blast photographing him as well as a few of the contestants for this year's soiree. More great pictures will be coming soon - I just HAD to post this one ASAP!

Celebrity Chef Challenge

2009-04-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

(Photo is mine - just to lazy to not use my istockphoto version!)

So, after a few year's break I'm heading back to the Celebrity Chef Challenge as their event photographer! Here's some info I ganked from their website:

On Friday, June 5, 2009 from 5:30-9:30pm the 7th annual Celebrity Chef Challenge will pit five local professional chefs and one amateur competitor in a head to head battle to determine “whose cuisine reigns supreme,” all to raise funds for individuals with developmental disabilities.

InAlliance is a great organization and I'm glad to be working with them again. Also, this year's event is going to be at the Towe Auto Museum - one of my favorite places!

For tix and info head over to www.chefevent.com

New Relanch Soon!!!

2009-03-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Over the last two weeks in between the birth of my daughter, Gabriella, and a metric ton of tests at school I have been working on a new look for my website. I'm VERY close to getting it finished and am very excited about it.

I am hoping that I'll get it finished by the end of this weekend. All I need to do now is to post images from a few of my weddings and I should be ready to go. Keep checking back - www.devinbruce.com !!!

Amazing Pictures

2009-01-29T21:31:00.000-08:00

This Eastern European (is it un-p.c. to say Russian anymore?) website shows off some war-time photography mixed via photoshop with present day photographs of the same surroundings. Very moving - I just wish I knew the Crylic alphabet so I could read what in the hell it all is about.

Nice to look at anyway.

Click here to see and (not be able to) read.

For the Liz

2009-01-09T15:27:00.001-08:00

A new portfolio from Dev! (Finally)

2009-01-06T03:57:00.001-08:00

For Jen Mc.

2008-11-19T19:31:00.001-08:00

She knows what its about...

Contest for Photographer's Forum Magazine.

Mr. Bo... Jingo?

2008-08-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

What the hell is going on. Within the last four days I have seen this term -> "Jingoistic" <- pop up all over the internets - everywhere from articles to comment boards. This word, by the way, is one I have NEVER heard in my 30-flurerer years on this planet. The problem is that the people using it don
t really know what it means. Take this comment from a Yahoo news article about the apparent lack of coverage of Jamaican runner Usain Bolt's big-time win last week in favor of US swimmer Michael Phelps:

What's the surprise? The Nothing But Crap network has a proud tradition of jingoistic(Devin bolded this) coverage of events. If there is not a big American story, it gets relegated to the broadcast backwater or ignored entirely. NBC should be ashamed, but if 40 million people are stupid enough to watch their awful coverage things won't change.

That's nice - except that jingoism is defined as "extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy". Where in the context of the comment above does the aggressive foreign policy appear Sounds like someone liked the sound of a word without bothering to figure out what is actually meant.

I am calling it right now: "Jingoism" will be the new buzzword for 2008. CATCH IT!

Bummed out...

2008-06-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

So, I had to turn down a shoot with Maxim Magazine today. Muy malo. Well, back to work...

What up, Chris?

2008-06-29T12:37:00.001-07:00

The original GHOST FACE KILLAH!!!!

Jesus-E???

2008-06-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Think about this - that the Wall-E movie was a story about the bible and the eventual second coming of Jesus. I was thinking about it last night and there are a lot of things that support that idea. Here are a couple of points - some with more credence than others (and make no mistake - I am not preaching - these are just thinks that I have noticed that matched up between the bible and the movie I saw last night):

Jesus/WallE = 5 letters each

Both died and were "resurrected" after dying for people's "sins" (in the movie the people's sin was sloth).

Both "saved" humanity because of their sacrifices.

In the bible the Earth was created in 7 days; in the movie the Earth was ready for moving back to on the 700th anniversary of humans leaving for space.

The girl's name was "Eve" (obvious allegory to Adam and Eve)

"Eve" carried life (the plant) inside of her and, because of it, became the de-facto mother of humanity.

The 2 fat people that "woke up" from their stupor on the ship were named... JOHN and MARY!!!

I'm sure there are more but I need to investigate more thoroughly...

I Really Outdid Myself This Time

2008-06-13T04:04:00.001-07:00

Because of this I know I am in the right business...

Re: My last post (that should be below this);

2008-05-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

Nevermind. Just listened to their whole album and they suck. They didn't use CAKE as an influence - the Flobots totally bit their whole sound off em. It's like if you put RATM and Cake in a blender and chopped them up with a bit o' bleach mixed in, then poured your concoction out on a screen to dry and turn into a papery recycled mess.

I DID like Handlebars... but bothered to look online where they had two separate versions of videos for the song. One (before they were signed) was a cool animated/graffitied piece about revolution. The newest one (made once Universal picked them up) is a childishly (literally) made video with kids... who act like mean adults!

Yuck. I wish John McC. would strike them down with his heavenly sword...

I'm calling it now:

2008-05-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

Flobots for the win in 2009. You heard it here first... although it sounds like they owe CAKE a bit of a shoutout.

What I did on Cinco De Mayo

2008-05-14T12:19:00.001-07:00

Self explanitory!

Busy, Busy Night

2008-05-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Mikuni's "M5" Party celebrating the Downtown Mikuni's 5th year of being open. There was fun galore to be had and I was there to photograph it:

More coming soon. I'm trying to go to sleep at a respectable hour and if I play any more with these then I'm gonna end up being a Tired Timmy tomorrow!

P.S.

2008-05-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

Byron Allen = Yuck.

Was just thinking about this...

2008-05-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

I do think that music helps form who you are - especially if you are exposed to it at an early age. Through your early experiences, it shapes how you perceive the world overall. I remember the first music album I ever bought/received. My mom, on a whim, bought me U2's Rattle and Hum on cassette tape from K-Mart as a gift.

I remember taking it back, still wrapped in it's protective anti-shoplifting plastic cage (they used to put the tapes in these things and YOU would have to cut it out, thank you very much), and trading it in for the soundtrack to Weird Al Yankovich's UHF.

I think that explains everything.

Getting the Ball Rolling

2008-02-25T08:45:00.001-08:00

I hate winter for photography. It has been quite rainy around Sacramento for the last month or so and I HATE having to be wet and uncomfortable while I am in turn trying to keep my equipment toasty and dry. Even the sunny days are shitty cold and usually windy. I think I had enough of that during my newspaper photography days...

The above pictures were taken for an art show where the only rules were that you had to find the crappiest camera possible to photograph with. I found this beautiful 2 MP beauty circa 2001 and hit the street on one of the before mentioned cold/windy days. Yuck.

First Day of School 2008

2008-01-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

Here I am keeping my student loans at bay.

This is what I do with $200 and 16 spare weeks.

I caved and made a Flickr page...

2007-12-19T00:33:00.001-08:00

Nicole for NeoVintage Clothing
Originally uploaded by devinbruce

Here is one of the first entries I've plopped on my new Flickr page - it is fro a fashion shoot I did back in the day. I played a bit with it useing Photoshop and Voila - Nicole from NeoVintage!

Super Bingo

2007-11-30T03:19:00.001-08:00

Get Out And Vote!

2007-11-28T23:46:00.000-08:00

This is Kelli:

Kelli is a model I shot for a fashion shoot in 2006. She is participating in a contest to be the face of "Yes To Carrots" - a line of beauty aids that incorporate the remarkable cleaning and regenerative power of... yes, carrots.

Vote for her - she is nice and deserves to become the image I imagine when thinking about roots I can clean my hair with.

P.S. - That's my picture they are using for the contest - yeah me!

Spare Time

2007-11-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

So I'm shuffling my way through blockbuster Video a few days ago when I see this perched on the shelf:

"Hey", I think to myself, "I was at that one shooting."

I pick the DVD up to take a look at the back and - BEHOLD:

Yes, that's right. That's ME!

I actually bought the DVD and found that it is chocked-full of me - next time you see me, be sure to ask for an autograph!

PS - I tried to find a picture of me taken by one of the other photographers there but all I found was a picture of one of the ring girls with my zoom lens sitting next to photographer Jaimee Itagaki on the bottom left (I was between her and the guy taking this picture):

Where the hell was I?!?! (Image by David Brooks/signsonsandiego.com)

I'm Still Alive...

2007-10-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

Miss me?

2007-05-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I know.... I've been gone a long time. To be fair, I have been busy. Since my last post I have:

- Gotten to work with Sports Illustrated for two rounds of the NCAA Championship in March.

- Gotten a new job as the Manager of a Portrait Studio.

- Been taking care of my wife who had to go on disability because of her pregnancy.

- Ended the brunt of work with SierraStyle Publishing (mainly because of said new job).

- Shot two weddings.

- Officiated one of the two said weddings.

- Became an Ordained Minister (obviously BEFORE I officiated)

- Had a photo essay published (both text and pictures) in Mainline - an experimental magazine put out by Sacramento City College.

- Bought five new dress shirts.

- Put together a crib.

- Shaved almost every day.

So, that's about it. You should be all caught up now!

XOXOXO
- Devin

HA!

2007-03-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

The above is a posting from this week's PostSecret. (If you don't know about PostSecret, you should. Go here.)

Noticing that on the receipt that you can make out both "CA" for the state as well as the beginning of what looks like "Sacramento" for the city, I did a search for the name of the hotel here in the city.

Lookie what I found!!!!

Someone from Sacramento has been naughty....

Wow!

2007-03-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Over the last 24 hours, the blog has had a flurry of visitors all searching for the same thing - Jeff Landay. (You can read my previous post on Jeff and the event held in his honor here.)

Last night, one of the local TV stations did an update on his progress back to health. I didn't get to see the piece myself but, in the teaser clips in commercials I saw a young man that is coming along quite nicely. When I photographed him a few short months ago he was so skinny and almost... frail. Having a massive head wound can do that to you, I guess.

Last night, the kid looked absolutely ripped! Well, not body builder ripped - but he's put on weight and just looks like he's progressing so well. (The clip I saw had him doing some sit ups with a physicail therapist and he was just cranking along!)

I'm really excited for him because he seems like a genuinely nice guy and what happened to him just seemed so unfair.

Later today (when I get home from shooting) I am going to put together a slideshow of the evening at Club Aqua for everyone to look at. Most of these pictures haven't been seen before so it'll be a new look at a truly inspiring night...

Related Tags: jeff, landay, sacramento, club, aqua, aaron, tippin, marines, Iraq, veteran, injury, recovery, update

Laura

2007-02-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

Laura and I got together and shot a number of pictures over the weekend. She needed a few headshots and I needed to try and cheer myself up and get out of the house. The picture above is one of the pictures that I took not as a headshot for her but a part of a portrait series I am thinking about putting together into a show.

I realized something today. Out of all of the people I have taken pictures of over my whole career a photographer, there is one who I keep coming back to - Laura.

I started shooting her back when I was in school and just starting out learning photography - we ran around in the same circles (mainly centered around the theatre department at our school) and became friends. It seems that everytime I shoot her I seem to be on the cusp of another personal breakthrough in my skill as a photographer. Does this mean that she is my muse (if such things exist)? I don't know.

What I do know is that I really enjoy shooting with her - she's always super relaxed and, even though she is definitely a hard core feminist through and through, she still allows me to make dumb, sexist jokes without giving into the urge to perform an impromptu tracheotomy on me with the nearest ball point pen.

Devin Bruce 2.0 - V.2

2007-02-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

I lied.

I decided to try to keep the more "classic" look of my website instead of redesigning it to the orange-colored one I posted about below. I just decided to consolidate what I had previously and class it up a bit.

All I can say is that I love my Dreamweaver class - I just wish it moved at a faster pace. I've already done all of my homework that is due well into March!!!!!

Related Tags: Devin, Bruce, Photography, Gallery, Website, Design, Dreamweaver

The Beginning of an Illustrious New Career in Web Design

2007-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Class this semester for me consists of a magazine production class as well as a creative web design class - the latter of the two being the catalyst for what you see above. It is a project where you create your own homepage that later will be linked up with homework assignments you turn in.

It is as good as it is going to get for now - I've still need to learn how to use the slice tool in photoshop to create tables and content boxes but I think that it definately is a good start!

Related Tags: Devin, Bruce, Photoshop, Website, Design, Class, Sacramento, City, College, Slice

2 hours, 15 minutes

2007-02-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

This is how much time it takes the Sacramento Police Department to respond to TWO calls about a noise disturbance from the assholes across the alley from us who keep their crying, howling dog locked inside during the day and, apparently, like to start full-scale drunken parties at 3:45 in the morning.

Once they police arrive they spend a total of 2 minutes dealing with the situation and then back in their car to wherever they go when they are busy NOT responding to calls.

It is now 6 A.M. Who needs to fuckin sleep, right?

Damn it, I'm fed up with Downtown.

Related Tags: I, hate, downtown, sacramento, horrible, police, response, tired, assholes

I'm a finalist!!!

2007-02-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

I entered the "Best of College Photography 2007" contest this year on a lark - I saw the entry forms in my Photoshop class and grabbed one. I had actually forgot about it until three or four days before the deadline! I quickly had some prints made and asked my beautiful wife Rainey send them out for me.

A few months later I received the above letter in the mail letting me know that I was a finalist chosen out of the original 28,000 entries!! Grand Prize is a new camera and $1000 - man, that would come in handy about now (camera and cash both).

My chance of winning, based on odds alone, are still pretty slim. They culled the top 5% of the 28,000 for possible winning and that still means that I'm up against roughly 1400 other photographers. Who knows, maybe I'll be chosen. Allegedly I'll find out withing the next few days if I placed so think good thoughts for me!

Related Tags: devin, bruce, photography, contest, best, of, college, 2007, sacramento, serbin, photographer, forum, magazine

I've officially become the old man in the building...

2007-02-04T03:27:00.000-08:00

So, I got some new neighbors last week (they rent the apartment to our right and share a wall that is the total length of the space) and they are NOISY. Nothing but banging and yelling. Thinking that it was natural "moving in" sounds I tried to ignore it - up until Thursday night.

It was non-stop. At one point my wife got up and banged on the wall and yelled for them to quiet down. They didn't even notice. I finally went over and, a bit angrily, told them that it was late and asked for them to quiet down.

Now, jump ahead to Saturday night/Sunday morning.

2:15 AM, dead asleep when I am awakened by a drunken group screeching the perennial favorite "Pour Some Sugar On Me" outside of my house. They then climb the stairs next door and proceeded to crank the stereo up to 11 and jump up and down while dancing and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Damn it.

I go over and yell at girls who don't look old enough to drink, let alone rent their own apartment, that they need to be quiet.

The best part is that while I'm talking to them, they look at me like I'm the asshole.

(In an old man voice) Young punks! In my day, kids had respect...

(Thinking about it, I actually think that I'm the second oldest person living in the building now. Jeez, I need to buy a house...)

This makes me happy

2007-01-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

Shadows and Light

2007-01-08T01:34:00.000-08:00

I love shooting subjects that are challenging - subjects like the tech rehearsals held today at the Magic Circle Theater in Roseville. The theater company is putting on Fiddler on the Roof and I stopped by for a few hours to see what I could shoot from it.

What I love about things like this is that, because of the changing light (and, most of the time, the lack of it), you have to come up with alternative ways of shooting. Silhouettes are cool but if you have a steady hand (or a tripod), long exposures are something to consider.

Related Tags: Magic, Circle, Theater, Roseville, Sacramento, Shadows, Light, Documentary, Devin, Bruce

More Tess

2007-01-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

Picture of Tess taken in Downtown Sacramento in November 2006.

Related Tags: Tess, Fashion, Portrait, Downtown, Sacramento

Leatherface from Off The Hook TV

2007-01-04T02:23:00.000-08:00

Everyone, meet Leatherface. Leatherface, meet everyone.

Here's a dude that I went to high school with - his name is Leatherface. Well, not really, but that's his stage name. You see, Leatherface is a wrestler - he was featured on an episode of Viva La Bam as a special guest star (The Arbor Day / Treetop Casino Episode).

I ended up running into him first on Myspace and then at the SushiMasters event I shot in September. Last month, I got together with him and his buddy, The Executioner, to shoot some stills for a DVD they are putting out. Very nice guy with a very sweet girlfriend.
He was pretty quiet in high school but, then again, I didn't know him too well. Never thought back then that he'd be doing what he's doing now, though!

Check out what he's up to at his website:
www.offthehooktv.com
(Probably NOT work safe)

Related Tags: leatherface, wrestler, viva, la, bam, sacramento, off the hook, dvd

New Tools Part 2...

2007-01-04T01:42:00.000-08:00

Yeah - so, new monitors suck. After I meticulously worked on the brightness and contrast levels to FINALLY have a properly calibrated monitor, the computer went ape sh*t on me and decided that I should look at everything in contrasty black and white.

WHAT?!?!!?

So, I ended up breaking down (after working on the problem for the last week) and buying a Spyder2Express. The S2E (as I like to call it... well, not really) is a monitor calibrator. You plug it in, set the little eye dohickey on the screen of the monitor and let it do it's thing.

10 minutes later - perfectly calibrated monitor!

Good side - now prints are dead on all the time.
Bad side - $70 for the S2E that I'll use maybe twice.

Hey, anyone wanna buy a used monitor calibrator?

Related Tags: photoshop, monitor, icc, profile, color, calibration, spyder, new, tools

New News and Review News Feature This Week

2006-12-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, with this morning comes a link to some stuff I shot the weekend of December 17 - Sacramento's newest basketball franchise! Haven't heard? Yeah, almost no one has.

Sacramento recently became the new home of the Sacramento Heatwave (formerly the Fresno Heatwave) and are a part of the newly resurected ABA.

The Sacramento News and Review has a piece about the team this week in which I shot the art for. You can check the story out here.

Not many people were there - hopefully they will start packing people in. Unfortunately, I see similarities between these guys and other small market sports teams that had moved into the area...

Related Tags: aba, sacramento, heatwave, basketball, news, review, alternative, newspaper, river, rats, roller, hockey

New tools bring more work in the long run

2006-12-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hey all - I've been hammering away at wrapping my head around Color Workspaces.

"What are Color Workspaces?", you ask? Well, basically they are Satan.

You see, I got a new monitor for Christmas - a sleek 19 inch, lcd wide screen bohemeth. (It actually allows me to work AND watch movies at the same time!!!) It rocks! Yet...

I have been noticing that since replacing my old, clunky monitor I have been having problems with color correction and have traced it to the calibration of my monitor in relation to photoshop. Here is an example of the problems I've been running into:

The "problem" picture - after saving it in photoshop it dulled out and lost a lot of it's appeal.

The fixed version - much more "poppy"

This is the result of the Color Workspace profiles - the first is Adobe 1998; the second is sRGB. Basically, Adobe RGB is preferred by pros because it keeps all of the color information in the file. Unfortunately, for output - it stinks. You get washed out colors on the web as well as on prints made at the photomat. sRGB is much better with the wow factor for displaying on webpages and print photography, but much of the color information is sacrificed.

So, what am I to do? I'm still trying to figure out if my editorial work is affected by the profiles - the images are converted into CMYK (which is another ball of wax altogether) and shouldn't make a difference... but with Photoshop you never can tell.

More as I figure it out...

Related Tags: photoshop, profiles, color, problems, web, portrait, photography, monitor, lcd

All Nighter - Part II

2006-12-21T20:24:00.000-08:00

Whoo boy - Monday went well with my finished piece that I wrote about previously. Once I get a breath back I'll post a picture of the finished product. Above is the end result of a marathon 14 hour design-fest for my Advanced Photoshop final. We had to produce a poster advertising an art show being held next semester at SCC.

Again, another all nighter - but to be fair, I did work on other stuff while working on this as well. Just glad that this semester is FINALLY put to bed!

Related Tags: advanced, Art, city, college, design, finals, photoshop, Sacramento, school, show

What you get when you stay up all night...

2006-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Untitled - WILL be Acrylic/Mixed Media by 10 AM (hopefully)...

This is my final for my Design class Ive been taking this semester and I still have to paint all the colors in by 10 AM.

Damn it, I'm tired...

Related Tags: Art, class, final, project, school, sleepy, show

You have to be one or the other

2006-12-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

WINNER...

OR LOSER
(Taken at UFC 65 at Arco Arena in December 2006)

Related Tags: 65, fighting, Irwin, James, KO, Sacramento, UFC

David Collier

2006-12-14T03:03:00.000-08:00

Some portraits I shot of local photographer David Collier near the end of September for the November/December issue of Luxury Living Magazine. I was bummed because they features his work over the portraits I shot - I got really inventive, too.

He shoots landscapes and uses mainly a Hasselblad for his work. I was trying to find an interesting way to shoot him and thought, "Why not shoot him through his own equipment?" - so, I had him set his camera up on a tripod (I was too afraid of breaking it myself) and focused on the screen...

Related Tags: Art, Collier, David, feature, Living, Luxury, Portrait, Sacramento

Jeff Landay and Aaron Tippin

2006-12-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday night, Club Aqua in Citrus Heights hosted a fundraiser/welcome home party for Marine Corporal Jeff Landay. Cpl. Landay was seriously injured in Iraq earlier in the year where, after being in a coma for over a month, he had to undergo drastic skull and jaw reconstructive surgery.

After Landay's mother wrote local radio station KNCI detailing all that her son and family had been through, the station put together this event that was also attended by country music star Aaron Tippin, who performed an Acoustic set for all of the attendees.

Aaron Tippin (right) performs.

After the performance, Landay was presented with a Purple Heart for his injuries sustained in Iraq.

Landay with his mother, Michelle, watching the performance.

The evening was very touching - Tom (a photographer who works for Folsom Life and who I run into all of the time) actually stopped shooting at one point and made a point of shaking Landay's hand and thanking him for his service. Hundreds of people showed up to show their support, not only for the Landay family, but for ALL veterans (who showed up themselves in droves); it's events like this that make me think that people can be good sometimes.

Related Tags: aaron, club aqua, fundraiser, heart, home, Landay, marines, purple, Sacramento, tippin, welcome

I've been doing it wrong all this time...

2006-12-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

The above video* is a "training" video about eating sushi and the Japanese traditions associated with it. My discovery of it this is actually quite timely - last week I shot pictures for the Mikuni 2007 Calendar and I could have used the information!

The shoot was set for earlier in the morning and lasted well into the 2 PM area of the afternoon - I shot 10 different dishes in all and each one will be used in the calendar, which is a promotional thing they give out to vendors and clients as well as other people who need to know the date while looking at a sushi roll.

When I get a copy of the calendar, I'll be sure to add a few pictures from it here.

* Disclaimer - This video isn't real! It is, what they call in "the bisness", a farce. Do not take anything from it seriously! That is all.

ROBBED!!!

2006-11-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

My car was broken into! All that was taken was some of my school work (which I sorely needed today - nothing worse than trying to tap dance my way around what I wanted to do without any visuals), my cell phone car charger and my business cards.

What???

Business cards? Who wants to steal my business cards? Do they get a high price on "the street"?

Whatever, man. I'm gonna be out $200 for a window so, if you don't recieve a gift from me this year, Merry Christmas. Your gift is keeping the rain and cats out of my car.

Greystone

2006-11-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

In the November/December issue of Luxury Living Magazine I was asked to drive to St. Helena, California to take pictures of Greystone. I'd never heard of it myself - looks like I was the only one!

Greystone shares a building with the Culinary Institute of America at Napa - one of the most prestigious culinary schools on the West Coast. The place basically is a castle (it used to be a winery) and it is very intimidating to walk up to.

Inside was simply beautiful - the waiting area includes copies of Wine Spectator to read (they underwrite the restaurant) and has a roaring fire ready to warm you up from the often chilly Napa Valley weather.

While I was there shooting I pretty much had carte blanche - I wandered around and shot the chefs working as well as a few of the entrees they had prepared for me.

That next weekend I grabbed my wife and headed out there for an early dinner. It was a bit expensive for my tastes (I'm not used to paying such amounts for food), but it was well worth it.

So, I think I'm gonna come back...

2006-11-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah. Gave WordPress a try. Not really a big fan. Don't get me wrong - I'm sure it's great for people who have the time to learn how to use it. As for myself - not so much. Over the next couple of days I'm gonna start moving all of the content over here so sit tight!

Tess

2006-10-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here’s a picture I took last week of a friend of mine named Tess - we went out and shot in the “Warehouse District” here in Sacramento. Although this looks like a studio shot, it was actually taken in front of the Napa Auto Parts off of 19th Street (otherwise known as the “Big Blue Box”).

I was inspired by some of the photos that were featured a few weeks ago on America’s Next Top Model (I’m not proud to write that I watch the show - just because of my wife, though) and I decided to try it. Me likey - not quite the blurred effect that they featured on the show but I’m a fan of how it looks.

SushiMasters 2006

2006-10-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

I did a little event photography at the SushiMasters 2006 event at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on September 18th. I got there around 1:30 in the afternoon and shot the event (with a second shooter) until almost 10!!! My legs were incredibly sore the next day, believe you me. It’s weird, but you never realize how much sushi rolling involves bending at the waist and looking down until you have to shoot chefs doing it.

The last thing I had to do (which took me forever) was the food portraits - and all of it was post-production work. I had to eliminate the backgrounds on all of the dishes and that was a lot of fun. I’m quite happy with the results:

Shray

2006-09-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for almost 2 months to share these images of a sculptor named Shray. I shot these for Luxury Living magazine back in July and have had to sit on them until the magazine came out.Shray is an artist based out of San Francisco (for now) but who does all of her bronze pouring here in Sactramento at the Art Foundry (http://www.artfoundryinc.com/).

On the day of the shoot I drove out with Assistant Jon to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco to meet Shray and her husband, Neil. Once we found each other, we entered the LoA and had 30 minutes to shoot . Because of the lack of time (and the fact that it was “Free Admssion” day to the museum and there were hundreds of people walking around) I shot all natural light. Unbeknownst to be, husband Neil was shooting shoot with his own camera. (You can see those pictures here: http://www.shraybronze.com/legion/index.html)

After we finished up there we headed over to their apartment to shoot some environmental portraits as well as some “action” shots of Shray working with some clay. They have a beautiful corner apartment overlooking the city and, while we were shooting, got to see the Parrots of Telegraph Hill flying right by the windows!

Here a a few pictures that didn’t run in the magazine - I have a slew of them and will they will probably end up seeing the light of day over at Shray’s website - http://www.shraybronze.com.

The Biggest Chicken Egg in the World???

2006-08-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of two pictures that ran in Out Here Magazine’s Fall issue that helped illustrate a story about the (possibly) World’s Largest Chicken Egg that was laid in Smartville, California this past summer. (The egg was 6.4 ounces which blows the previous record holder’s 5.6 ounces out of the water.) I got a call early one morning from the editor asking if I’d be able to head up ASAP and shoot the egg for her mag. I was STOKED - this is exactly the kind of thing that Charles Kuralt (one of my personal heroes) would have covered!!!

Sixty miles later I ended up on the doorstep of the Peterson family, the group that owns the chickens that laid the egg. Because of the light-bluish hue of the egg’s shell, they know it was one of three Araucana hens that they have. (The Araucanas are well known for their ability to produce tinted egg shells.) None of them were the worse for wear, though. I kept my eye on each one and none were walking funny.

I could probably become a hermit if I wanted to...

2006-08-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what’s going on. Just a few short weeks ago I was sick and had to sit out of my daily photographing activities for a coulple of days (as well as lose out on a weekend). After four or five days I was feeling much better so I went back to my hectic schedule.

Well, I’m sick AGAIN! I’m just getting over the worst (hopefully) - a terrible sore throat as well as a nasty and constant cough. The cough isn’t as constant now but just as nasty. (A few times I’ve nearly blacked out while hacking myself silly.)

While sitting in my illness-induced isolation from the world I’ve come to realize that I like not having to deal with the general public. Just sitting around creating white blood cells and sweating (because, of course, the interior of my house runs close to 90 degrees with the air conditioning on) has really made me happy as a clam… well, a sick clam who takes impromptu “naps” on the kitchen linoleum after coughing fits.

Folsom International Triathlon

2006-08-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

So, this last Sunday I went out to cover the

One thing I’ve noticed about these types of events is how nice everyone is. I had one of the event coordinators come up to me and, instead of trying to chase me off or ask for credentials (which is common in other sports and events that I’ve shot) he actually clued me in on some of the better vantage points for photography in the immediate area. Very cool dude - it’s people like him at events like these that make me not mind the 5:30 AM wake up so much.

Click here to visit the F.I.T. website

Vern Peasenell

2006-07-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait that I did today of Vern Peasenell, an artist from Roseville, California. His studio is located right next to the railyards and is full of the interesting stuff he’s done over the years.

He’s quite a talented guy - he works with wood, metal, paint, printmaking, ceramics… even foam! The guy is a whirlwind of not only ability but energy as well. A really fun time - he was bursting with ideas and was a pleasure to shoot!

Look for his pictures in an upcoming edition of Roseville/GraniteBay Style Magazine!

Terry Miura for Luxury Living

2006-07-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

Terry Miura is an artist here in Sacramento who I shot in May for Luxury Living Magazine. He was kind enough to let me into his studio for almost an hour as he worked one morning on a piece.

These pictures weren’t used for the magazine article - they mostly ran with pictures of his artwork. I really liked these images, though, and think that they show a bit of insight on Mr. Miura.

Take some time to check out his website - along with his portfolio you can see what he is currently working on in his studio as well as upcoming events and workshops.