Lane Victory

Mojave Floor

Ok, Let Me Splain

Ok, Let me Splain... no that will take too long... Let me sum up.

It has been a quite a while since my last post but things had got away from me there for a bit. I will break all the big news into acts for easier digestion.

The Epic Post in Three Acts

Act I: Transition
I am self employed, again. A funny thing happened to me on the way to the assignment... I was on one of the best shoots I had while at SGVN (and there were only a hand full) not good news but good pix, during the memorial of a police officer.
An added bonus was shooting next to L.A. Times' Don Bartletti all day. Whata great guy!
Any hoo, I got back to the office and got layed off, again, from the same company, after 11 years, from different papers. As the journalism industry continues to circle the drain I had been working in earnest on the preparation of my own departure to go back to freelancing. I was only weeks away from cutting through the fence when low and behold, a severance package. I was giddy, nervous but giddy.


Act II: Freelance
Through several sources I am able to photograph for corporate and editorial outlets as and independent contractor/freelancer. This is keeping me moderately busy photographing for companies like Baskin Robbins,
events for T-Mobile
and Hershey's,
Magazines like Foothills Magazine
and online news services such as The Associated Press and Patch.com.






The Hershey's event was to photograph their S'mores Snacktivity Suite at the BlogHer 2011 convention in San Diego, which brings me here. 2000 women bloggers got me inspired to start posting again!




Act III: Family Time
One thing that was very hard to do in my last job was spend quality time with my family. With abysmal conditions in the newspaper including furlough days and no vacation accrual our time together was a bit dodgy. So a long awaited trip to Monterey and San Francisco was not to be missed,

visited Evan at Boy Scout summer camp,(right)
Hiked Mt. Baden-Powell
and went to The Huntington Library to see some nice art.

Its been a good summer :)

An L.A. 80 Degree Winter

Fred Judkins of Burbank sets up for the Alice in Wonderland Croquet Field at the Coach Barn on The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden grounds on an un-seasonably warm, Sunday, Dec., 12, 2010. Judkns was dressed for the Victoria Tea and Dance Society.

While many of my Facebook friends are buried under snow drifts it has been a miserable winter here in SoCal... not to rub it in...

12 Miles Per Hour

How long does it take to get from South Pasadena to West Covina at 3pm on a Thursday. You guessed it... One hour. I spent a little time with self-described shutterbug and photo blogger Laurie Allee -Allee's South Pasadena Blog-for her Image Award from South Pasadena then to Tennis Athlete of the Year Alexis Valenzuela in West Covina. Sent both and blogged before I have to photo a meeting. Working from a car has some time advantages :)

Off Beat Sports

The past two weekends have been filled with shooting some off-beat sports for me. One weekend was piles of pro skateboarders at XGames 16 in L.A. which was a blast. Easy access, good free food and ok shooting locations. The parking was a bit much $50 for both days but... The next weekend there was a friendly soccer match between the L.A. Galxay and Real Madrid and 90,000 beer-drenched screaming fans in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (parking $20) then a horse of a different color the next day with Hunter-Jumper horse riding in San Gabriel Canyon. All of which was a blast except for the hours of traffic getting out of the soccer match.
Jamaican-born Los Angeles Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan "Spiderman" Ricketts during the LA Galaxy and Real Madrid match, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2010, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. SGVN/Staff Photo By Eric Reed
Real Madrid's Royston Ricky Drenthe, left top and Galaxy's Juninho try to recover the ball during the LA Galaxy and Real Madrid match.


Monique Bienvenue of Downey jumps a Thoroughbred horse named Dillon on the Cross Rail competition at The Rainbow Canyon Ranch during a Hunter-Jumper style horse show called the Rainbow Summer Classic in San Gabriel Canyon in Azusa, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2010.


Curren Caples Men's Skateboard Park Competition of X Games 16, on the Event Deck of LA Live in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010.
Taylor Bingaman on the Men's Skateboard Park practice of X Games 16, on the Event Deck of LA Live. Kevin Kowalski watches his fellow skateboarders practice before the Men's Skateboard Park Competition of X Games 16, on the Event Deck of LA Live in Los Angeles, Calif.

Soccer Gallery
Horse Show
XGames

Take My Flag... Take That!

"It is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me," said (WWII Vet, Carl) Harstine, 84, who then corrected himself to say the day he married his wife took the top spot. "This has been a close second."

This is a follow up story that Tribune writer, Dan Tedford and I did on how WWII Vet Carl Harstine of San Dimas had his U.S. Flag stolen off his home two times last month.

We (in the media) and I for that matter have rarely ever seen any reaction to a story. Feedback is rare in a positive way, you are often working in a very social vacuum. It was heartening to see this kind of public outpouring in reaction to a story I helped produce.



More than 100 people came out to give Carl Harstine, a WWII veteran a new U.S. Flag Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, at his San Dimas home. Harstine has his flags stolen - twice - in the last couple months, the event is the communities response. A motorcycle club, city officials and people from La Verne and San Dimas presented Harstine with new flags and poles at the event. SGVN/Staff Photos By Eric Reed

I drove past Carl's house hours later and was reminded of a story relayed by his neighbor, Bob Knoll. He told me how Carl lives alone and when the local sheriff's deputies read that in our initial story one took it upon himself to knock on Carl's door and let him know that he will never be alone and that the officer was also a Marine and knew many in the neighborhood who would do anything for him.

Full Story

More Photos