Sandavi Photographers

PappasHome

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Check out the latest page I just posted using Showit: PappasHome

Chasing Mickey

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:49:00 +0000

OK folks, so I know it's been quite a while since our last post. All will be explained later but, long story short, were on a photographic hiatus due to the baby, jobs, and a potential move....more on that at another time. ;-)

...So we went to Disneyland today on a specific mission to get a maternity picture of Sandy with Mickey Mouse. This is all in a bigger scheme to get photos of the baby with Mickey as she grows. So we get to Main street and wait mickey out at a location that we know he will be at, we just didn't know when. Amazingly, he came out within 10 minutes and we were 3rd in line to meet him. Sandy set's up the pose we mickey and I was about to shoot when who steps in but Donald Duck. Normally this would be totally awesome to get the 2 biggest Disney characters with her, but that dam* duck ruined our plans! Still pleased with the photo and amazed to see Donald on Main street for only the 2nd time in 5 years.

We worked on plan B, to find him at his house in Toon Town. Long story short, those pictures just plain sucked. We then went on with another mission to get a Captain Jack pirate hat for tomorrow's pirate themed baby shower (?) and on our way we ran in to our favorite punk rock family. Cristy and John are friends from a great bygone era of mine and it is always great to see them and catch up.

On our way back up Main street we lucked right into meeting Mickey exactly where we left him. This time without Donald. Back in line we went and we we got the planned photo! 2.5 hours later and it happens to be the same actor in the costume because he remembered us. So now we have what is probably Sandy's last planned maternity shot and baby Zowie's first picture with Mickey.

Thankful!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Sandy & I had been laying low for the last two weeks in a long, agonizing wait. A wait that tested our faith in ways that we have never been tested before.
Let me start by saying that we are a little old to be having a baby. It is known that older women tend to have more babies with birth defects, particularly with Downs Syndrome. So, at Sandy's age, it was suggested that she undergo testing and so we did. An initial blood test called a quad-screen showed an increased likelihood for this condition and so an advanced ultrasound was ordered. The baby showed some markers of the syndrome. On their own, these markers mean next to nothing, but combined with the other factors (age and quad results) did not look good for us. An amniocenteses was ordered and we were counseled with the question as to what we would do should the worse happen ( I will end speculation here and say that we would indeed have kept the baby). The results of an amnio can take up to three weeks, and so all we could do was that which I hate more than anything....Wait.
...and so wait we did. This was incredibly hard on Sandy but hard for me as well. I knew by the way my Glucose levels stayed high for no reason that I was stressed, but Sandy took it much harder. All the joy of having a baby were put aside while she worried about the outcome. The look on her face and in her eyes just broke my heart. She could hardly manage getting anything done as this was all she could think about. She even nearly decided to postpone finishing her last two college classes ever and forgo graduating. We both relied on faith more than ever before and walked to Church every evening to pray. We also received prayer from many friends and family members for which we are very grateful. Thankfully, Sandy was coaxed into sticking with her classes and finishing up by her friends, and so she did!
So finally, 11 days after the test, a voice message was left from her doctor to call her back. Let's just say it took Sandy some leg work to actually confirm the news, but at long last, the tests proved negative and showed that all is normal with our baby!!! and for those who don't already know, it's a girl!
We are still not completely out of the woods as there is one more issue to clear up, but at worst, it will be a treatable condition. More on that at a later date.
So, finally! Sandy and I are back to our normal selves and able to enjoy this pregnancy and move on with our lives and plans. For starters, we rushed to CSUF yesterday morning for Sandy to get her last minute cap & gown so that she could attend her graduation! not only that, but she graduated with honors! I am so proud of and for her. Now Sandy is finished with school and I get my wife back in the evenings ...at least until the baby is born, then she is shared for 18+ years! ;-)

So now we are having a very happy memorial day weekend.

...and a big shout out and thank you to those who gave their lives for the simple pleasures we enjoy in this country!!

Frank & Karol's wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Recently Sandy & I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Frank & Karol, two friends of mine who I have known for many years from my Long Beach days.
Frank is from my home town of Cerritos but I didn’t know him until after high school. We had common friends and he was influential in inspiring me to move to Long Beach back in the early 90’s. My brother & I ended up in Belmont heights after finding an apartment referred by another common friend (go Cathee!) and we ended up with a couple of very cool neighbors, Karen and Karol. In these days, between our apartment, Karol’s, and our downstairs friends, we had some great parties and great times.
Frank & Karol didn’t actually hook-up until well after I moved away, but they have been an item for many years now and it’s about time that they tied the knot!
It was awesome to reconnect with the old Long Beach crew. I only wish the night were longer and that Sandy & I could have stayed longer, but with Sandy’s delicate state, partying is not always an option. ;-)
Cheers to Frank & Karol!

A new addition to our team.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:18:00 +0000

It was a case of denial and ignorance. Ignorance on my part in that I have been too absorbed in my own work & drama to notice that Sandy was growing ever so slowly, and Sandy had been swimming in the waters of denial for some time, never believing the facts until she saw the undeniable results of her sonogram the amazing fact that after all these years….we have a baby on the way!!!
She told me later that night after apologies for not telling me sooner. At our age, she has concerns and didn’t want to get our hopes up. This I could understand, but after realizing that her own mother gave birth to Sandy at the same age, this all sounds of little worry to me now and I just keep her focused on the prize at the end of the 9 month highway.
She wanted to wait until after the 1st trimester to clear before telling our families & friends, and after the results of the sonogram came in we found that she was farther along than expected…15 weeks! So now that we have cleared that milestone it’s on with the good news.
We couldn’t be more surprised and excited as we had all but put the idea of kids out of our heads, but here we are with a little pooper on the way and big, big changes on the horizon for us.
We do indeed feel blessed.

Thank you: The Bokeh Pot

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Thanks to The Bokeh Pot for featuring us in their latest post.
What is the Bokeh Pot? as stated in their blog:

In a nutshell, The Bokeh Pot was created to serve as a directory and event resource for the up-and-coming photographers of the wedding and portrait industry.

This blog was created with three basic goals in mind:

1. give a little extra exposure to all those talented wedding and portrait photographers who have been in business 2 years or less

2. provide a place where other photographers, new or well established, can easily find the like-minded in their own community, to help break down walls and build more friendships and support

3. provide a common place to find out about all the numerous photography related events happening

Crystal and Laura are on to a very cool and generous concept here. Please check them out, provide comments and show some love...

Smugs

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:54:00 +0000

It's interesting how sometimes things just seem to come together for you.
In accumulating what I feel are the best services I can use, 3 great companies that I am either already a client of or intended to be a customer of, are working together to create an awesome solution for photographers. The companies involved are Showit Sites, Smugmug, and Bay Photo Lab.
I already use Showit Sites because I love their look, feel, and ease of use. David J. has yet another great software product here. If it wasn't for Showit Sites, Showit web, and especially his OSP forum, I don't know where I'd be in the photography world these days.
I have also been using Smugmug for that past two years primarily because I love their interface, but I never thought this would end up being a full-scale order fulfillment solution for me. I intended to use Pictage for this purpose when money & jobs were more abundant for me. While Pictage now offers a much more affordable solution for folks like me and may still be a better choice for some people, I was uncomfortable with their reputation for poor service & the spamming of your clients. While they apparently have addressed these issues and have some advantages over Smugmug, they are still a corporate entity that answers to stock holders first. While I have no issue with corporations at all, I always favor the underdog, especially when they are privately owned by people who genuinely care about their chosen specialty and their community of customers. Smugmug was already known for this and is running at maximum warp into building an even better resource for the professional wedding & portrait photographer community with their latest offering: Smugmug Pro.
Smugmug Pro offers the ability to integrate directly with Bay Photo Lab (yet another great, small company with a passion for their business and their customers!) and the professional features and offerings seem to be growing on a weekly basis. I was sold on SmugMug Pro based on three items: Printing is offered through Bay Photo Lab, unlimited storage! And the eventual ability of bay Photo to work seamlessly with Excel Picture frames to design & deliver orders online in one stop. Everything else they offer is gravy. As an added bonus, they are building on their community by starting SMUGS, a monthly regional meeting of fellow SmugMug users to meet, network & discuss business issues. I went to their 1st Southern California meeting in Hollywood last night at Robert Evans’ Studio in Hollywood. It was great to hear David J. speak about Showit’s new features and integration with Smugmug and Jeff Jochum & Don MacAskil of Smugmug share their stories & take questions. This was also a great meeting & networking opportunity in which I got to meet Jasmine Star, Dane Sanders, Robert Evans and also see some other new friends from the recent [b] school meetings such as Regis Chen, Ryel Hendrickson and Michelle Yam (who I shared a ride with and provided excellent company!...her site is coming soon. ;-)).
Jasmine Star will be involved with hosting Smug meetings in Orange County and so I have that to look forward to next month. To me, this is the most exciting thing going on in the photographic community these days and I am so glad to see these small companies doing so well and forming this awesome symbiotic relationship with each other.
Thanks to all who spoke at this meeting, to Robert Evans for opening his studio for this event.

Catching up & Frank & Carol's - E-session

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:22:00 +0000

It's been a while since our last post, but not for lack of business.
There was a great turnout to the last [b] school GTG, including the Becker himself, and many more great folks who are linked on the image at Facebook

We also attended a day at the Pro Photo Expo in Pasadena. While this year's expo was at a greatly improved location at the Pasadena Convention center, the seminars just weren't as varied and dynamic as last year. Maybe am am comparing this unfairly against WPPI, but the offerings were just dull to me. Hopefully next year will have something better for me. The convention itself was pretty much the same as last year, but how many photo labs and album companies can one take in? I had enough of these at WPPI....but one thing I paid too little attention to at WPPI was Smugmug's partnership deal with Bay Photo Lab. I will post about this at another time. All I can say is that I am very excited about the ability to order prints directly from our site and offer a complete solution from upload, to print, to frame...or bind. Long story short...It's very exciting and you will start seeing the changes soon.

Today Sandy & I shot an E-session for our good friends Frank and Carol. I will need to write a detailed story about how I know these two when we post their wedding. We are very happy for these two and can't wait 'til their wedding day.
These two are long-time long Beach lovers and we wanted to shoot somewhere that was about the city. Well, we had way too much wind to deal with at the more urban sites that we had in mind, but we all agreed that the Queen Mary would be a great place to shoot at. The images are barely finished importing, but I knew I wanted to get one particular image up ASAP that we just love.

...so how do you like it? Please comment.
Click on the image to see it bigger.

WPPI 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Sandy & I returned yesterday from our 1st trip to WPPI and this will not be our last...this will be a yearly pilgrimage.
For thise of you who don't know, WPPI is THE event for Wedding and Portrait Photographers International...in essence, it is a massive trade show/learning/networking/and gathering of the vibes for those of us in the photo industry.
I am so grateful that Sandy was able to get time off from work to spend more than two lousy days at this event and get to see the (almost) entire lecture series and trade show. Sadly, she got sick as soon as we got there, but she trooped along and came away as inspired as me. This would not have been the same for me without her. Thank you ACUSD!
Where do I begin in describing this? we saw so many amazing photographers and learned so much, it is all a blur of information overload. All I can do is say thank you too all the people who put this together and spoke. I will miss a ton of deserving folks in the remainder of this post, so I'll just want to thank everyone who spoke here & shared their knowledge and experience to us all.
The standout speaker for me was 1st and foremost Yervant. His lecture was purely inspirational. Sure, he was ultimately promoting his new album design collection with Graphi Studio but he put on an amazing show, with images accompanied by a live Russian violinist:

At the end of Yervant's presentation he premiered his latest fusion based slide show.
For thise of you who don't know, the term Fusion is a buzz word for the usage of photos and video in a wedding slide show presentation that is now allowed by the introduction of HD video into digital SLR cameras. A problem for photographers with video is that we often love to shoot in a vertical orientation. Video limits us to the standard horizontal format. Yervant circumvented this issue by 'inventing' vertical video by simply importing video into Photoshop, and rotating the video file 90 degrees...then showing the video along with still images...and still images morphing into video images. This must be seen to be understood, just let me say that our jaws dropped as this was the most amazing wedding imagery that I have ever seen and Yervant has latched-on to this "buzz word" and forged the trail for this new genre.
Running a razor close 2nd place for our favorite presentation was fellow Aussie photographer Jerry Ghionis. Jerry is a master speaker, teacher and entertainer. The dude is slick and funny with his presentation.
I'll just say that throughout everything we learned this week about posing, Jerry provided the icing on the cake by providing clever tricks and one-liners to loosen-up your photo subjects that I can't wait to put to use.
He's also a quite friendly guy:

I guess I am quite the photo nerd...I am almost constantly listening to podcasts & blog-stalking some of the top shooters in this business and it was amazing to see these people all around in one location. To see the likes of Yervant, Dennis Reggie, Joe Buissink, Bambi Cantrell, Mike Colon and tons more just walking around and easily approachable is awesome.
We only went to one party this year with Sandy being sick, but had a nice time atthe raging party that Becker threw down at the Real World suite in the Palms hotel.
I want to thank Becker for putting this on and not giving me grief for bringing an extra person, Sandy (long story). Becker's party was the hot ticket in town and speace was limited. I told Becker that Sandy wasn't coming before she got her time off and I think I ticked him off...Becker...if you read this I am so sorry and want to say thanks for being a gracious host.

When in Vegas, I always take time to visit my sis, Rhonda. Actually, we also brought along my mom & nephew to visit Rhonda & stay with her. due to the insnity of all the vents at WPPI, I sadly didn't have a lot of visitation time, but I did get these cute shots of her & her new baby girl ;-) The bitch needs a saddle! (the dog, not my sis!!!)

Some other highlights? watching Denni$ Reggie..the $50k photographer himself, give a demo at the microsoft booth:

Learning some posing techniques by the great Hanson Fong at the Canon booth:

..and briefly meeting with some very inspirational speakers...like Dane Sanders and Mike Larson, who must have thought it was so cool to see me in the front row of his presentation that he took a photo:

We are already looking forward to and planning for next year's WPPI.

WPPI!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:25:00 +0000

Sandy & I will be attending the WPPI show in Vegas this coming week. I am particularly excited that Sandy has taken some vacation time to stick around a few days as I was originally planning on doing most of this myself. We will be attending numerous platform discussions on everything you need to know to run a photography business and then some, while networking with thousands of other photographers.
I will be posting updates via Twitter and Facebook for this who care to follow.
Stay tuned...

Not on-board with Amtrak

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:40:00 +0000

This is funny, but true... View on:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

Workin' the neighbors

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:32:00 +0000

So this weekend we had no plans in store, photographically speaking. Yet we were anxious to play with a large softbox I recently purchased. We currently don't have a studio, but that's OK because our aim is to create location portraiture that with studio-like lighting. So, we wrangled our neighbor's kids and tortured them for an hour to get these results. They were very good sports and excellent models.

http://sites.showitfast.com/12249/2243/dana_ryan2
sites.showitfast.com/12249/2243/dana_ryan2 /showit.swf">

3 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Sandy & I Had our 3rd anniversary last week and went out this past weekend to where we have always gone to celebrate...the Santa Barbara wine country. Particularly, we LOVE to eat at the Hitching post. Their steak makes one understand why people give thanks and prayers for a good meal! Holy cow, this place rocks!
Here we are out in front:

We also love a particular courtyard spot in Solvang for photos & hope to do a proper shoot here with others one day...these are all in the same location..

This year's trip was shorter than we normally do, but worth every minute. Our next trip is to WPPI just after Valentine's day and we got a gentle reminder from a bear:

We also spent part of a day at Universal Studios to utilize the annual pass we paid for but never fully used. Here's a fun pic I took of Marilyn. ;-)

[b] School GTG

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:35:00 +0000

I have been involved with the [b] School for some time now and getting involved in networking with other photographers and building our network of like-minded photogs trying to build a better business. This is proving to be more beneficial than the [b] school itself, but then I suspect that this is with the [b] man himself anticipated.
On Friday night (Jan 9th) I proposed a gathering at the Corner Bakery at the Block in Orange. While the turnout itself was not so good, the company was great and it is expected that this will be a regular event for us that will grow.
Besides Sand and I along with my friend Stafford, Jeff and Dana Sipper were there as they were from previous gatherings, as well as Amanda Lynn and Kerry Garrison. Amanda is a very talented shooter in her 1st full year of shooting on here own. She has had a great year and should be having a great second year and more. I had heard of Kerry Garrison before as a guest on a recent edition of the Pro Photo Show podcast,but had yet to follow-up and check out his web site and podcast called Camera Dojo...How could I have let this go? This is easily among the best resources for photographers at any level. I am already a fan and look forward to chatting with him again.
By the end of the night we decided to make this a regular meet-up since random meetings are just a pain to get everyone on the right schedule. These meetings are open to everyone and we hope that this grows into much larger numbers.

Thank you Jeff, Dana, Amanda, Stafford and Kerry for coming out.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:18:00 +0000

I want to thank all my family, friends and associates for all the gifts we have received this past year and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
While this past year has not been terribly easy for me with Missing my Dad & developing diabetes, I am grateful for what I have in my life and hope you are too.

The holiday season has been a busy one, with Sandy's class schedule and catching-up on production from weddings & portrait shoots. I'll catch you up on the highlights the best way I can, in photos.

Before Thanksgiving, we had a great shoot with Corey and his lady. These two are hot and made the shoot even hotter!!!

We also had a nice Thanksgiving meal at My Bro's new house in Long Beach. Here we are with our Uncle Odell...

We only went to two Christmas parties this year, three if we count Jackie's B-day party (sorry Jackie, I don't have those photos up yet)We went to one thrown by Kiss Wedding books (Kiss-mas), which was a generous & fun party on their part, but I didn't bring my camera. We also set-up our studio at Brent and Noriko's party and got stuff like this...

...We also shot Tony & Aracelli for their Christmas card...

Christmas is only now beginning and we have much more to do, but I just wanted to take the time to catch-up on this blog and wish everyone a happy holiday season.

"we were ashamed"

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:26:00 +0000

This is perhaps the most iconic image of the great depression, by a photographer I have always liked, Dorothea Lange. Thsi is the story as told by one of the children in the image.
This gives a great perspective on appreciating the things that you have in your life and not taking anything for granted.

From CNN.com:

MODESTO, California (CNN) -- The photograph became an icon of the Great Depression: a migrant mother with her children burying their faces in her shoulder. Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. She said it brought shame -- and determination -- to her family.
Katherine McIntosh holds the photograph taken with her mother in 1936.

Katherine McIntosh holds the photograph taken with her mother in 1936.
Click to view previous image
1 of 3
Click to view next image

"I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again," says McIntosh, who turns 77 on Saturday. "We all worked hard and we all had good jobs and we all stayed with it. When we got a home, we stayed with it."

McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. The picture is best known as "Migrant Mother," a black-and-white photo taken in February or March 1936 by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson, then 32, and her children.

Lange was traveling through Nipomo, California, taking photographs of migrant farm workers for the Resettlement Administration. At the time, Thompson had seven children who worked with her in the fields.

"She asked my mother if she could take her picture -- that ... her name would never be published, but it was to help the people in the plight that we were all in, the hard times," McIntosh says.

"So mother let her take the picture, because she thought it would help." Video Watch "we would go home and cry" »

The next morning, the photo was printed in a local paper, but by then the family had already moved on to another farm, McIntosh says.

"The picture came out in the paper to show the people what hard times was. People was starving in that camp. There was no food," she says. "We were ashamed of it. We didn't want no one to know who we were."

The photograph helped define the Great Depression, yet McIntosh says her mom didn't let it define her, although the picture "was always talked about in our family."

"It always stayed with her. She always wanted a better life, you know."

Her mother, she says, was a "very strong lady" who liked to have a good time and listen to music, especially the yodeler named Montana Slim. She laughs when she recalls her brothers bringing home a skinny greyhound pooch. "Mom, Montana Slim is outside," they said.
Don't Miss

* iReport.com: Are you worried about losing your job?
* Commentary: Why we lost faith in Wall Street
* Obama pledges to work with governors on economy

Thompson rushed outside. The boys chuckled. They had named the dog after her favorite musician.

"She was the backbone of our family," McIntosh says of her mom. "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That's one thing she did do."

Her memories of her youth are filled with about 50 percent good times, 50 percent hard times.

It was nearly impossible to get an education. Children worked the fields with their parents. As soon as they'd get settled at a school, it was time to pick up and move again.

Her mom would put newborns in cotton sacks and pull them along as she picked cotton. The older kids would stay in front, so mom could keep a close eye on them. "We would pick the cotton and pile it up in front of her, and she'd come along and pick it up and put it in her sack," McIntosh says.

They lived in tents or in a car. Local kids would tease them, telling them to clean up and bathe. "They'd tell you, 'Go home and take a bath.' You couldn't very well take a bath when you're out in a car [with] nowhere to go."

She adds, "We'd go home and cry."

McIntosh now cleans homes in the Modesto, California, area. She's proud of the living she's been able to make -- that she has a roof over her head and has been able to maintain a job all these years. She says her obsession to keep things clean started in her youth when her chore was to keep the family tent clean. There were two white sheets that she cleaned each day.

"Even today, when it comes to cleaning, I make sure things are clean. I can't stand dirty things," she says with a laugh.

With the nation sinking into tough economic times and analysts saying the current economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, McIntosh says if there's a lesson to be learned from her experience it is to save your money and don't overextend yourself. iReport: Are you worried about losing your job?

"People live from paycheck to paycheck, even people making good money," she says. "Do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Elect the people you think is going to do you good."

Her message for President-elect Barack Obama is simple: "Think of the middle-class people."
advertisement

She says she'll never forget the lessons of her hard-working mother, who died at the age of 80 in 1983. Her gravestone says: "Migrant Mother: A Legend of the strength of American motherhood."

"She was very strict, but very loving and caring. She cared for us all," McIntosh says.

Jaclyn & Gino!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:33:00 +0000

I failed to mention in my previous post that I did not get out of the hospital until the morning of Jacklyn & Gino's wedding. Thankfully they had a late afternoon wedding, and what an eventful day it was!
Jacklyn & Gino have been together as long as I have known them and have been together longer than Sandy & I despite them being (NEARLY!) 1/2 our ages. They are an incredibly fun and ambitious couple and we had such a good time celebrating their wedding day as well as shooting it.
The original plan was for an outdoor wedding, but this got rained-out. The wedding and reception was at the Reef in Long Beach,who were able to relocate the wedding indoors. This turned-out to work quite well and the rest of the day went-off without a hitch.

Diabetese???

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:01:00 +0000

If I ever had any doubts about my commitment to getting-in to professional wedding photography, they were wiped-out this past week in a very dramatic way..
Over the past few weeks (especially that last two) I had been feeling more and more tired and thirsty all the time. So much so that I was flaking on photographic commitments in favor of sleeping and zoning-out. I thought I was depressed or burnt-out on the idea of making this a business and escape from the 9-5 world. As last week progressed I simply could barely stay awake and focused. I thought I had some viral infection that I needed antibiotics for and would have to wait it out. I took Thursday off to simply sleep as I was so exhausted. I tried to see my Doc, but couldn't get an appointment until the following Monday (today). At 1st I thought I'd just wait it out, but I had a wedding to shoot on the following Saturday and it was becoming obvious that there was no way I could do this in my condition and that I had to see a doctor ASAP.

Long story short...I made Sandy take me to the hospital was quickly diagnosed ketoacidosis from diabetes (had no clue about this) and hospitalized for two nights. Had I waited any longer I might have ended-up in a diabetic coma or worse!

So now I'm dealing with the fact that I'll be packing insulin at least for the next several months...not pretty, but it could have been way worse. I can deal with this and hope to wean myself to at least a Type-2 state of diabetes (oral medication) at some later time and I am motivated to do this and eat waaay! healthier and exercise more regularly and more vigorously.

The staff at the hospital gave me excellent care and I am sooooooo grateful to have medical insurance. As I was feeling so much better by mid-Friday I begged the doctor to discharge me ASAP so that I could shoot Saturday's wedding. He assured me he would and followed-through, assuring me that I would be OK for this. I was very, very close to seeking a replacement photographer. I knew that a good shooter could have been found, but thank God I was able to make this myself. I asked a friend to act as an assistant whom I hoped would do a reasonable job with my technical direction, but he exceeded my expectations and allowed me time to sit and relax whenever I needed with (almost) full trust that he would get great candids for me. I concentrated on portraits before & after the ceremony as well as the ceremony and was free to shoot when & where I wished thanks to Sandy, and Chris!

The wedding went incredibly well despite a little rain and I am forever grateful to the couple, Jacklyn & Gino for choosing us. Being motivated to get better for this wedding may have saved my life.
See the next post about them.
Thank you all of my family & friends for the prayers & well-wishes.

Photographer William Claxton dies at 80

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:17:00 +0000

William Claxton has always been an inspiration for me. He shot many of the most iconic images of my favorite jazz artists.

From the L.A. Times:

Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times
"I didn't want to stage my pictures," noted jazz photographer William Claxton once said. He died Saturday at age 80 of complications from congestive heart failure, according to his wife of 49 years, Peggy Moffitt Claxton.
William Claxton dies at 80; photographer helped make Chet Baker famous

"I didn't want to stage my pictures," noted jazz photographer William Claxton once said. He died Saturday at age 80 of complications from congestive heart failure, according to his wife of 49 years, Peggy Moffitt Claxton.
By Jon Thurber, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 13, 2008
William Claxton, the master photographer whose images of Chet Baker helped fuel the jazz trumpeter's stardom in the 1950s and whose fashion photographs of his wife modeling a topless swim suit were groundbreaking years later, has died. He was 80.

Claxton died from complications of congestive heart failure Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, actress and model Peggy Moffitt Claxton, told The Times.

* William Claxton's photographs helped define an era's pop culture
Photos: William Claxton's...

FOR THE RECORD:
Claxton obituary: The obituary of William Claxton in Monday's California section said he was taking the bus downtown to the Orpheum Theatre at age 2; it should have said 12. The obituary also said the Tiffany Club was on 7th Street. It was on 8th Street. —

In a career spanning more than a half century, Claxton also became well known for his work with celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen, who became a close personal friend; but he gained his foremost public recognition for his photographs of jazz performers including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Stan Getz. But it was his photographs of Baker that helped teach him the true meaning of the word photogenic.

"I was up all night developing when the face appeared in the developing tray," Claxton told the Irish Times in 2005. "A tough demeanor and a good physique but an angelic face with pale white skin and, the craziest thing, one tooth missing -- he'd been in a fight. I thought, my God, that's Chet Baker."

Claxton observed that over the years he had taken photographs of some ordinary-looking guys whose faces would just pop out on film. He said that's what Baker had.

His 1951 photograph of Baker started a relationship that continued for the next five or six years as he chronicled Baker's rise to fame as one of the most visible jazz performers of the decade.

Claxton called photography "jazz for the eyes" and tried to capture the often dynamic tension between the artist, the instrument and the music.

"For the photographer, the camera is like a jazz musician's ax. It's the tool that you would like to be able to ignore, but you have to have it to convey your thoughts and whatever you want to express through it," Claxton told jazz writer Don Heckman some years ago.

Almost as much as the recordings themselves, the photographs reach into the essence of making music.

"That's where jazz and photography have always come together for me," Claxton told Heckman. "They're alike in their improvisation and their spontaneousness. They happen at the same moment that you're hearing something and you're seeing something, and you record it and it's frozen forever."

Born in Pasadena on Oct. 12, 1927, Claxton grew up in an upper middle-class family in La Cañada Flintridge. His mother was a musician and his older brother played piano; Claxton said he tried the keyboard but had no patience for it. He started collecting records, especially jazz, at an early age. At 2 years old, he was taking the bus to downtown Los Angeles to hear jazz greats, including Ellington, at the Orpheum Theatre.

Years later, he would go to jazz clubs and shoot photographs of up-and-coming musicians just for fun and to listen to the music. An incident that he recounted in the introduction to his book "Jazz: William Claxton" speaks of a more innocent time between celebrities and photographers.

Claxton recalled taking his old 4-by-5 Speed Graphic to photograph the legendary saxophonist Parker at the Tiffany Club on 7th Street in downtown L.A. He hung out with Parker until the place closed and then took him and some of his young fans to his parents' home in La Cañada Flintridge, where he improvised a studio in his bedroom and posed Parker with his fans in a formal portrait. He said that he had never seen Bird, whose life was cut short by drug problems, look happier.

Claxton started at UCLA but gave up college when Richard Bock, who was starting Pacific Jazz Records, hired him as a photographer. He created a vast array of memorable album covers for the label.

Toward the end of the 1950s, he started moving into fashion work. He married Moffitt, who was the muse of fashion designer Rudi Gernreich. In the early 1960s, they created the photographs of the topless bathing suit designed by Gernreich with Moffitt as the model.

"That was a big family decision," Claxton told Heckman. "Whew. Was I going to let my wife show her breasts in public? We hassled about it for a long time. Finally, we decided to employ nepotism. Only I could photograph it, we would have control of the pictures and Peggy would never model the suit in public. And it worked out OK. The pictures were tasteful, I thought, Peggy looked great, and it was historically a breakthrough for women, that they could feel free enough to show the beauty of their breasts."

Claxton also directed the film "Basic-Black," which is viewed by many as the first fashion video and is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

While taking assignments for Life magazine, he photographed Sinatra at a recording session at Capitol Records, Barbra Streisand in New York, and McQueen. All were notoriously tough assignments, stars distrustful of the media and reluctant to be photographed. But he gained their trust and developed a friendship with McQueen through their common love of sports cars, race cars and motorcycles.

His work is collected in an array of spectacular books, including "Jazz: William Claxton," "Young Chet," "Claxography," "Steve McQueen" and "Jazzlife."

Claxton is survived by his wife of 49 years; his son Christopher; sister Colleen Lewis of Eagle Rock; and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial gathering is being planned.

jon.thurber@latimes.com

Jaclyn & Gino's E-session

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:42:00 +0000

Yesterday evening we did an E-session for Jaclyn & Gino for their November wedding.
Sandy has known Jaclyn since she was a baby and is very excited to be photographing her wedding (...and so am I) Jaclyn and Gino are a fun couple and know that their wedding will be a blast.
Here are a few from Last night...

Melanie & Kevin's wedding at Cafe Hidalgo

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:43:00 +0000

We recently shot an excellent wedding for our friends Melanie & Kevin at Cafe Hidalgo in Fullerton, CA.
You may remember these two from an earlier E-session.
Cafe Hidalgo is an excellent restaurant and wedding venue. The entire even was held in the courtyard, lending an old spanish atmosphere to this amazing day.
Congrats to you both.
A slideshow will be posted this week...stay tuned.

The groom seemed a little nervous before the ceremnony, even having a cigarette...

Then, he made an escape attempt, but was quickly subdued by his groomsmen.

I love this pic...

The groom finally wised-up and the cermoney went on smoothly.

They used an English theme to their table centerpieces.
I borrowed one of the props for the ring shot.

Disney stars & genetic engineering

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:44:00 +0000

I almost believe this is true:

Disney Lab Unveils Its Latest Line Of Genetically Engineered Child Stars

Radio Poppers & new pics

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:35:00 +0000

A few weeks back, I recieved my long-awaited Radio Popper flash kit.
I have been following Kevin King's posts on the OSP forums for at least a year now since he started promoting his then new product idea. What he has done is improve on Canon's great, but limited remote flash triggering system and convert the optical pulse signal into a radio signal. This stuff is much better explained on the Radio Popper web site, so I won't kill you with the details. The end result is I can now place my flashes anywhere I wish; behind walls, outside at sunset, anywhere! and shoot in TTL mode, meaning that lysdexic me doesn't have to worry about guide numbers and subject to distance rations and the like.
In a nutshell...these things kick ass! there are two things I don't like about them;
You'll have to start with a fresh battery before any wedding, or bring a screwdriver to change you battery due to the hokey housing that requires you to un-screw the cover to replace the flash. Also, you have to tape the receiving wire's "bead" in fromt of the flashes optical receiver, this is a must to place the bead here, but in my 1st wedding gig with these babies, I had to keep re-setting the placement to adjust for various light modifiers that I use. I found a cool solution to this problem, so my next gig should be easier.
That being said...I love these babies and cannot recommend them strongly enough.

I used them on two more recent shoots. One of which was for our friend's new baby (Amy & Jose-b)...here is our fave:

I also shot a portrait of a classmate for a project recently. I told him I wanted something urban, he delivered by showing me an abandoned restaurant in Mission Viejo that is cover in graffiti on the inside. I will defiantly use this place again.
Here are two faves so far:

[b]usine$$ [b]uilding

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Some of you who know me know that I am a fan of many photographers in the wedding industry as well as others. One shooter who's openness in sharing his business secrets with others is truly amazing has been building an online community for photographers called the [b] school. This is created by the one & only Becker. You will recall him from some of my previous posts (I'm gonna make you look for them ;-)). Anyhow, He has been building-up hype for this project with videos, links and general miscellanea about the business for the past year that has been very beneficial for me in building confidence in our capabilities. I have gotten to the point where I am almost angry if he misses a day of posting. Well, the [b] School is going live next month (Oct. 1st)and I HIGHLY suggest that any photographer, new or experienced, to sign up and give it a try. Please follow the link below for more information.

On a slightly related note regarding business building, I will be updating my site and plan to have it launched by November 9th. Why this date? This date marks 1 year since my Dad passed away.
This past year has been very difficult for me and my family and I chose to back-off of our photography to grieve & help out with family duties, but from here on I am ready to take-on more and get this ball rolling.
My dad was always a business entrepreneur and would be incredibly excited to see Sandy & I following our dream with our photography business.
It is in his honor that I will do whatever it takes to make this business a success and I will launch on November 9th to celebrate the my Dad's life and bring some light to an otherwise gloomy day.

Stay tuned...

Brent & Noriko's wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Dave T.) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:41:00 +0000

This past Saturday, Sandy & had had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of an old friend of mine, Brent to his amazing new wife Noriko. For me it was like shooting a family members wedding as I have been close to his family for many years.
This was a wedding of firsts for us. It was our first time using our new Radio poppers (I will post a review in another post), It was also our first time truly using off-camera flash, and it was our first time creating a slide show for the reception. Despite the challenges, it all went off incredibly well and it was a beautiful wedding at The French Estate in old-town Orange.
Much more can be said about how great Brent & Noriko's wedding was, but for me, pictures speak better than words.
More images will be posted online over the coming week, so for those interested, please post a comment here or send me an E-mail and I will send the link when the images are up.
This is a long show, so be please patient if the upload is slow. For all of Brent & Noriko's friends & family, I promise this will be worth the wait.

Here are some of my faves so far....