It tastes like the ocean. We nodded our heads as Margaret said it. We slurped the slimy little lumps from their shells, taking in a dollop of homemade cocktail sauce and an occasional bit of shell or sprinkling of sand with it. It’s a magical thing of cognitive dissonance to look at these unattractive little…
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year! Last year, Isla was just turning two, and she was an adorable babble of words and not-words. Now, at age three, she’s morphed into this beautiful little girl who has opinions and ideas about everything, seeks out ladybugs with her eagle eyes, and befriends ducks by…
Wallis rolled ahead of me in her little tricycle, looking back at me skeptically, unsure of whether or not to trust this lady with a camera. She trailed behind her older brother Julian who was mostly disinterested in vetting me out. I would have to win them over, mostly by staying back and letting the…
She knew from the beginning, even before he asked her to be his girlfriend, that she wanted to marry him. It was over videochat that he introduced her to his adorable nephews who were sitting on his lap. Jason had little Justin ask the first question– will you be my uncle choo–choo’s girlfriend? And Mega…
They share a love of travel and are often seeking new adventures. When they set out to go hiking in Argentine Patagonia, Raquel thought a proposal might be in the works, but she knew the custom ring they had gone shopping for couldn’t be ordered in time, so she let her suspicions slide. And then,…
After I shot my first few rolls of film, I did a little experiment. I sent one roll to my local lab, Oscar’s Photo Lab, in San Francisco, and I sent the rest to Richard Photo Lab in Los Angeles. Richard Photo Lab is easily the most well-known film processing lab in the country today,…
They told her they were having “guy time,” and the three of them, Mark, Joe, and my brother Albert, ran off to conspire at the beach, leaving her behind with Nikki for the day. Shelly imagined the boys were hanging out a bar somewhere, watching the game. She certainly didn’t suspect this. She was on…
Is there anything more beautiful than getting back to the roots of what drew you to something in the first place? For me, shooting film has been an incredible journey back and a total jolting leap forward at the same time. Shooting film is humbling. You have to get back to basics in your technique,…
And now we wait. Yes, I shot film. Real, tangible, old school film. I’ve been seduced by film photography. I love everything about its look, the buttery softness of the highlights, the beautiful colors, porcelain skin tones… everything. So after attending Jonathan Canlas’ Film is Not Dead platform class at WPPI, I had a new…
Earlier this month, I taught the final workshop of our four-part series. It was a live portrait shoot with two wonderful models, Henry M. Chu and Shannon. We were rained in and spent most of the session in a loading dock, but with all the awesome participants, I think it turned out just fine. First,…
Tens of thousands of photographers in Las Vegas? It must be WPPI, the annual Wedding & Portrait Photographers (International) convention. This was my first time at WPPI, and I was prepared to be completely overwhelmed and hoping to be inspired. As it turns out, inspiration trumped overwhelmed-ness, and all in all, I had a great time….
Sometimes, it rains. Literally, metaphorically, sometimes we have to adapt and change our plans. With some things going on in Silvia’s life and forecasts of rain for the week, we seriously considered cancelling the engagement shoot. But I am so very glad we didn’t. It became a reprieve from the rest of the world, a…