For frustrated artist

This is more of a piece rather than just a photo. It is my interpretation on the inevitable frustration that all artist go thru. Art is a cycle, it will never cease. (Those are not my hands, but the real hands of a canvas artist)

Delylah comes from a law enforcement family

This is baby Delylah at only a few weeks old. The original shoot was for some Fall baby family postcards which we did shoot. BUT being in a law enforcement house I didn't pass on the opportunity to use some of the the attire as props (I should also mentioned that the deputy used to be my roommate while we both went to school in AZ, so I felt pretty conformable trying out any new ideas) . The hat is from the "Class A" outfit which is typically used for special occasions. Think of it as the nicer suit or tuxedo equivalent.

As far as the photo goes. It was shot at F1.8 to get an incrementing dreamy soft blur effect on everything but Delylah's face. That is also why the badge is out of focus. I did that on purpose. I realized I liked the badge were it was, but its golden color and its shimmer could be distracting and robing Delylah some attention.

Behind the lens. (A quick how to recipe)

(click to enlarge)

Here is the set up for the picture above (for the one above the camera one). The basic concept is to get as close to the ground as you can. I simply let my camera rest on the rocks and used some of them to straighten out the frame. Use a wide lens or open your zoom to its widest. Mine was at 18mm set to f22 . I don't normally use "live view" (where you can see the picture composition on the LCD screen), but I used it here for a better visual explanation. I almost always put my eye right to up to the view finder, even if it means laying on my stomach. Beeing at f22 you would figure that most of the photo from foreground to background should be in focus. The difference here is that I am so close to the ground that the lens can't focus at such close distance (we are talking inches). You can see the lens staring to focus at less than one ft away from the camera and on. A wireless release was use to avoid any camera shake. Last, but still important was a circular polarizer filter that help give depth to the clouds and the mountains.

Try this, on the street or on short grass, you'll be amazed at the different perspective you get from this angle.

Artist Sergio Huerta

Compelling visual artist and good friend of mine Sergio Huerta asked me to do some photos of him, for a recent new project. The basic concept was a portrait, but knowing me and him I knew it wasn't gonna just be a plain portrait. We set out with a few basic ideas and a couple of original paintings of his. After a bit of brainstorming and a few tests, we opted to use a piece called "State of Emergency". The canvas size and the ratio of the painting seem to be the perfect size. I asked him to get behind the canvas and align his head with the top of the painting. The idea worked! Now to take it a step further. Simple! Add a basic plain but interesting background to use for "negative space". The human eye tends to gravitate towards the top left corner of just about any flat surface that resembles a book or a piece of paper. So the concept here is to drag the viewers eye across the image through a texture filled brick wall and ultimately ending and resting visually on the subject.

Live- Last show ever at Milano.

TJ From the Dirty Sanchez. No Flash 50mm at 1.8

Tokyo Death March. No Flash open to 18mm.

Thunder Mountain.

Built over the years by a Creek indian. He said that an old medicine woman told him, "In the final days, there shall rise up a place called Thunder Mountain." She also said that those who live in there would survive the apocalypse. He spent years building it.

A very interesting place to say the least. It is now alone and inhabited. There is access in to this radical place, but the door at the fence reads "Enter at your own risk". No-one there to guard it or much less. Creepy, but that sign made me want to go in even more.

Dark, Cold, Hard

More people jump off from this bridge than any other in the world. Only one has survived.

The longer exposure makes the waves of water coming in an out look more like a ghostly mist. I set out to capture just that, and to my surprise it worked. I like the city of San Francisco, but the Golden Gate gets photographed so much that I wanted to provide a less traveled perspective. I chose a perfect day for this look. The city and the bridge were covered by a fog/mist that hovered right over the bridge. I made sure to use a "cool" white balance for the extra "cold feel".