Vacation

The Fog Of War Tour - A link to what I did on vacation

Not so Real estate

Some "video training" on a "news story" involving Real estate.
LANG shooters Al Cuizon and Marc Campos star in this irreverent mad-cap comedy, with a tragic ending.

That Time Of Year

Its fire season here in Southern California... actually it never went away. Our winter this year was really only two weeks long. Here is a link on fire bag tips featuring yours truly and Brett Snow via NPPA.

Wildfire Bag

Here is a fun shot I got last week of a firefighter getting water on his head as the grandson of a man who just lost his home watches.


Redlands Firefighter Dempsy Chappell rubs his head with water he and one-year-old Paul Perez are standing in after a blaze that destroyed one condo and damaged another at the Vista Loma Condominium Complex in Redlands, Saturday, May 26, 2007.

An intresting day

Yesterday began the mentoring and interning process of a new photographer a The Sun. Guy Kitchens. Watch for his stuff on our website www.sbsun.com ... We had quite a day. I wish I had that kind of luck when I interned in Vacaville at the Reporter. Although it was a very cool and invaluable experience to me. I would HIGHLY recomend a paid or unpaid internship to any serious student of photojournalism. Without it, one would really have no idea what they are getting into. We started the day with visiting a family whose brother was killed the night before by a gang member, then went to an auto salvage yard on fire and finnished off with a peace officers memorial.

Prodded, Herded and Handled

Being a photojournalist for the news media gets you used to being “handled” by public relations, agendas and even The Secret Service. I had the pleasure of photographing the President of the United States this last week. Talk about being herded. Between security, the military and the schedule, it was show up at 8A.M. and wait here… wait there… check in here and there… dog sniffs bags and cameras, people sniff same. Then I got a total of 10 minutes as the Prez spoke, to get the picture. Not that photographing a speach is difficult. Sitting so long, then rushed into the room to photograph was funny. The speech started the minute we were cattled in onto the photo stands. I was literally white balancing my camera and setting the exposure during the actual speech. No prep time. Classic “hurry up and wait… now get lost.” They were running us out of the room before the Prez had even finished shaking anyone's hand.
On the other end of spectrum, I really enjoyed creating a front-page story from a stand-alone / found situation. I was driving in the rural Mentone/Highland area when I stumbled across a beekeeper. I have seen bee boxes along the roads for a decade or so but have not found a keeper working since ’93. They put me in a bee–proof suit and I got close. I love bees, so this was cool. I am kind of particular about how I leave my equipment set. i.e. which lens is on what camera, ISO, white balance set, formatted cards, etc. so when I mixed up my camera and lens combo a couple of days later, I thought to actually smell the camera body. The one that smelled like bees wax had the 14 mm on it.

Trippin San Francisco

A collection of images from S.F.
Sidewalk/MUNI Imagery

Could It Get Worse?

It was a bad day in Berdoo. I found my old friend Sponge Bob face down in a trash-strewn field in the pre-dawn rain, next to Pioneer Cemetery. You have to laugh or you will cry. This town is going through a very challenging time with violent crime. I have seen this type of scene many times with people over the last year or so, a couple only yards away from this very spot. The assignment where I had discovered this scene was to spend the morning getting soaked with the SB Mayor and a writer on a census of the homeless in the city. We were able to find one man who was washing a towel he used as a bandage in the rain runoff from the street above. He was tending a wound he received from a gunshot to the stomach and lost his colon. This is his home.