If you’ve never been, ya gotta go on out to the Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Patch, it’s very cool. Pumpkins for as far as you can see…. well almost if you look over that way…. and a little over there. But really, there’s a lot of pumpkins. This was our first year there, we went last Sunday, the last day of the event and I was very nervous as we drove into a parking lot filled to the gills! All I kept thinking was, “There’s not going to be any pumpkins left and I’m gonna have to think fast when the boys are disappointed. There’s always McDonald’s. OK, I’m safe.”

Quite honestly it’s not a patch. It’s a field. A really, really BIG field, with thousands and thousands of pumpkins! One of the pleasant surprises for me was that’s it’s not just a field of pumpkins but there are vendor booths, pony rides, bounce houses, kettle corn, a farmers market… you know, you’re just gonna have to go next year and see it for yourself. For info click on the underlined words above that say Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Patch.

Which by the way, I’d like to mention to my non-uber-techy readers, if you click the underlined words in my posts you will be taken to some pretty cool or fun web pages. So keep that in mind.

OK, how many of you just ran back to the chocolate milk post?  :)  Come on, be honest.

I remember clearly thinking on my way home, “What are they gonna do with all those thousands of leftover pumpkins?”

And if you had any doubts, the boys had a blast, even little Luke.

See ya next time!

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But doing homework while surrounded by your favorite Legos doesn’t hurt either.

See ya next time!

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I will be honest, typically I’m not a fan of jazz music, but this night was an exception. The musicians were amazing! It didn’t hurt that some of the musicians were people you recognized from movies or TV or had heard of. I did make some new friends back in the “green room” where all the talent eats and hangs out before the show. Some of the people in this photograph are: Bill Cantos (Jazz pianist), Michael Shapiro (Drums), Rabbi Marvin Gross CEO of Union Station, Kleber Jorge (Guitar), Hussain Jiffry (Bass) and Debby Boone (Vocals).

This image was made from backstage while Debby Boone was in the middle of her set.

The MC for the evening was Adam Arkin. Adam is known for his roles in TV shows such as West Wing, Chicago Hope, Law and Order and Frasier. He also has directed Grey’s Anatomy and Boston legal and has played roles in movies.

Along with being MC Adam filled in on percussion and proved to be very accomplished in the rhythm section.

The amazing guitarist, Kleber Jorge from Brazil

My new friend, bassist, Hussain Jiffry

Michael Shapiro on drums. Michael organized most of the musicians for this event and has for the past 10 years the event has been running.

Debby Boone perfomed a song by Rosemary Clooney her late mother-in-law, skat style.

Another great thing about this event was hearing people perform in a way you may have never seen before. Hector Elizondo performed a jazz duet and it was great!

One of my favorite parts of the evening was listening to singer and song writer Bill Cantos sing a page out of the yellow pages in a G chord, blues vibe. So cool!

Well if you ever have the opportunity to attend this event I highly recommend it. Grap your folding chairs or a blanket and some dinner to go, and enjoy some outstanding music, all for a great cause.

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You all remember them now? Now that was a fun family portrait. So if you create something like that for the fam, boy, for the kid you better rock it right? So I started thinking, a little painting with light, some cool locations for some portraits and, oh yeah, let’s rock some high speed photography in the studio!

As many of you know I honestly strive to bring out the personality of the people I’m photographing as well as incorporate their personal hobbies, sports or interests. Spencer digs tennis so we used tennis as our basis for some painting with light.  Painting with light is pretty cool to watch if you never have before, this shot is created in pitch black illuminated only by a flash light.

It also turns out that Spencer is like this stud Karate guy. He brought all these swords and staffs and stuff. A little scary cause I thought “If I make this guy mad, I’m done!”  :)   No, he’s totally cool and pretty impressive with his gear.

For all you photo buffs out there, I used some of Chase Jarvis’ techniques for the leaves and the water in the shots below.  I used 2 ProFoto Compact-R 600ws studio strobes with shoot through umbrellas as well as one Canon 580EXII with a stofen diffuser. All the lighting was triggered with Pocket Wizards. Camera is a Canon EOS 1D Mark III tethered to my 17″ laptop shooting through a Canon 70-200 2.8L IS lens. If you have further questions email me! Now on to the rest of the images!

Do you know a senior that needs some rockin’ senior portraits that they’re not getting at school? Send them to www.seniorzrule.com Thanks! See ya next time!

Here’s a couple favorite pictures as well. (Nice work Valeria :-)  )

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OK, so many of you don’t know this, but I started a garden in my backyard. Why? Well, my son Isaac had a little project his class did in Kindergarten where they grew a lima bean plant. He was very excited when he brought it home, so we planted it in the backyard. Several beans sprouted and he actually ate them. So we decided branch out, so to speak. We took a trip to the local nursery and bought some starter plants. We bought corn, watermelon, cantalope, strawberries and a tomato plant. It’s been fun seeing the plants come along. Here’s some pictures I made over the last couple days.  Enjoy!

It’s funny, I don’t remember there being a fly on the back of this leaf when I shot this picture. I love the red stripe on the edge of the strawberry leaves.

Little Luke has been out there analyzing leaves and soil with me. At least, that’s what it looks like he’s doing.

I remember sitting in the back seat of my parents red and white Impala with stacks of our personal items all around me. I also remember my Dad telling me not to look at the mountains for fear of it giving me nightmares.

Well, as a curious kid like most, I couldn’t resist looking and will never forget seeing the flames towering into the night sky. Our house was 4 streets below the wild chaparral and manzanita that was lighting up like roman candles.

The news guys said the flames were 40′ high and I bleieve it, it was insane. Well, it’s no news to all of you that La Crescenta, La Canada, Altadena and Tujunga are going through it all over again. I drove up to survey my sisters house (totally safe) and see where the fire was in comparison to 30 years ago when I was a boy.

When I was there the other night it was to the East of my old house, but have yet to know if the mountain straight above my old house burned or not. I will be curious to see if one landmark survives this most recent attack.

When the boys that lived on my street would skate and bike, we’d look at the top of the mountain and there was what looked like one massive tree perched on top and all alone. In my mind I’ve always labeled that place Big tree though it was only in my mind. I never have hiked to Big Tree, but it’s a place I’ve always dreamed of visiting.

Not too long before I left home I was told that Big Tree was actually a bunch of trees all clumped together. Maybe some day I’ll get there, but for now I’ll have to wait for the fires to clear and hope that Big Tree has survived.

These pictures were made on Sunday night the 30th. Our prayers are with all those effected by these fires.

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Now seriously, isn’t she just beautiful. Can’t wait to hear what Mom and Dad and her Grandparents think. Come back again some time Taylor!

:)  Enjoy!

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