Photo Catering

It's 2009 and I haven't posted in over a year so I'm going to make a ginormus post summarizing all of 2008.
From here on my resolution is to stay fit and caught up in my life.
January 3rd set the stage for the entire year when my beloved mom died of renal cancer.
We are a very close family and this was an overwhelming emotional roller coaster that changed my perspective on life and mortality in a good way.
I created a video tribute with the generous help of my friend and graphic designer Rhonda Moore.
The first image is of mom and her triple trouble in 1963 (me on far left) and 42 years later was our last "nice" group shot in 2005. The last image was the announcement for her services.

After the service we had the most incredible "Celebration of Life" reception hosted by my friend Jennifer Carlsson of Cigi's Waterfront.
A day that began with tears, ended with laughter and fond memories of my moms wonderful life.
I miss you mom.

January 12
Ulrich's 50th Anniversary

February 2
Lauren and Andy's Wedding

Check out their slide show and signature book or entire wedding.

February 8
Kelly and Scott's engagement session collage.

March 1
Second shooter for Gillian at Christine and Daniel's wedding.

March 26
Jillian and Michael's engagement session.

Love their signature book.

April 2
Rachael's senior portrait session.

April 5
Addie and Pete's wedding with Tracy Sherman at beautiful Coto De Caza. She is a pleasure to work with and flattered me by using my photos for their spread in The Knot magazine.

April 8
The start of an awesome 4 week intensive (missional photography) at Rock Harbor. I was in the presence of Dane Sanders, Jessica Claire and Mike Colon. Yep, I was in lala land.

She digs me.

Piggy backin' the Mike man. GREAT TIME !

April 10
The high was immediately squelched by the reality of turning 50. Hey, it's just a number.
I was the victim of a huge surprise party. Thanks again to everyone for a great time.

April 24
Promotional shot for The All American Boys Chorus Asia tour.

April 26
Amber's senior portrait session. Tons of great shots that will eventually show up on my site.

April 28
I've been working with the fine people at QSC Audio for 15 years now.

Congratulations on their 40 year anniversary.

May 1
Promotional shoot for the band Aviation Hero. Had fun with them young whipper snappers.

May 25
Another fun family portrait session.

This concludes part one.

June 7

Kelly and Scott's wedding.

June 27

Jillian and Michael's wedding at the Ritz with the fabulous Gail Garceau leading the way.

Want more... slide show and full wedding if you so desire.

June 28

Congratulations to Caroline and Kirk on their 40th Anniversary.

July 4th

God bless America in this troubled time.

July 21

Working again with the innovative Glenn Mossman of Pacific Parking systems.

July 23

Back at QSC Audio for some location studio head shots.

July 29

My niece Ronna and a couple of her friends for a fun shoot in the S.A. river bed.

August 2

Nothing like heading to the Temecula wine country on a bus with 30 friends and neighbors.I'm not a fan o' the grape juice so I tossed back a couple of bruhaus. FUN DEAL !

August 6

As mentioned in part one, I get to meet incredibly talented photographers who are truly the nicest people.

David Jay is no exception. I love the way these "Young Guns" came along and really changed the dynamics of the photography environment. What use to be pure competition and trade secrets is now a pleasant Open Source environment of photographers working together. SWEET !

I'm so bummed the pic I took with my point and shoot of David and me was just not good enough to post. We both looked great but the low light quality of that camera was C-rap. BUMMER !

August 9

Meet the Beverly's.

August 21

First actual vacation time at Lake Lopez. AHHHHH...

I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by soooo many great friends and family.

That's my dad (lower left) with his yellow lab Holly that I think is actually glued to his leg.

August 29

"Witch" the reunion tour. I've know these guys forever. Don't let the stage garb scare you. These are some of the nicest, smart and successful guys that happen to be head bangers at heart. I met, saw and did a lot of things back in the 80's while working for a couple of big time record companies. I'm glad I survived.

Literally everything you ever wanted to know about Witch is listed on Mark Piotroski's site.

I took both of these promo shots. ROCK ON !

September 15

Vivien and David's engagement session.

October 4

Rainy day portrait session for the Musselman's.

October 11

Promotional shot for the artistic and talented jewelry designer Erin Cone of Ruby's Whim.

October 11

After Erin's session I headed over to the OCPCA K9 dog show. AWESOME!

I was invited to photograph the event by my CHPie friend and artist/photographer Kelli Francis.

Nothing like being surrounded by hundreds of police personnel with their K9 counterparts. I highly recommend you see one of these shows. They are so entertaining and you support the high cost of training these valuable dogs. Funny, I didn't see one gang banger in the area.

October 25

Vivien and David's wedding.

October 31

Another first. My mom's Halloween birthday without her. SAD !

mom bday2.jpg

November 7

Caught my first dodo (dorado) while fishing with my super fun friend Dan.

Not only are they pretty fish but they're pretty tasty.

November 9

Meet the Mobley's.

November 15

Economy buster. I did 6 family portraits in 1 1/2 hours. That's one session every 15 minutes.

It went quite well and I may do this every year.

November 19

Family portrait of my close friend for 40 years Rick and his wife Julie with their cute kids.

Before dinner I got this shot of their daughter doing her homework.

November 22

This is my dentist Dr.Crisanta Alzona (I call her Cristeen) with her hubbie James who is also a dentist.

I did their wedding many years earlier and think they are genuinely the nicest people you'll ever meet.

She'll hate me if she reads this but I think she is the prettiest dentist I've ever seen.

November 23

We decided to bail out of town for our first Thanksgiving without mom. She was really into whipping up a fantastic T-day meal so the three boys along with dad decided to hit the road. Thanks to my incredible sister in law Jane, who planned a train ride trip to the Grand Canyon and a home cooked meal at her mom's house in Kingston AZ. AWESOME TIME ! Thanks Jane.

November 29

Meet the Periolat's. Grandma and Grandpa with all the youngins.

November 30

Jackie and Nick about to experience the joy of their second child. Their wedding photos are on my website.

November 31

This is my cat Keekee that I've had for 19 years. I shot this with the 85mm 1.2 "butter" lens.

I swear you can't even breathe using this lens wide open.

December 4

A session of Natalea and James in HB with my talented photographer friend Cindy Meadors.

Love this shot I got while we were there. Now that's a big bubble.

December 7

I present to you, Brian, Alex and Matt. Shot of the boys for their mom's Christmas gift.

December 14

Got a little place at Crystal Cove to enjoy some holiday cheer with my close friends Lauryl and Dan. They unofficially adopted me so I'm their baby Huey.