Ocean Beach Pier Sunset 01.31.08

Now this is the kind of photography that got me hooked on shooting pictures many moons ago. I always enjoy the slow time of the year, because it allows me to get out and do what I really enjoy - this kind of photography. Too bad there isn't much money in it. =(

Honoring a True Hero

Every year during Memorial Day weekend, the Boy Scouts place US flags at every one of the more than 90,000 graves. I love photographing the cemetery but always make it a point to go each year to shoot the flags.

Tonight I was looking at the photos from last year and came across this photograph.



I photographed this particular tombstone because this young man was in the Navy and died on December 7th, 1941 - the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Tonight, for no apparent reason, I decided to Google his name - figuring that I wouldn't find anything. Was I ever wrong!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_C._Jones

Yes, Herbert Jones died at Pearl Harbor, aboard the Battleship California. But all of the details of his fight against the Japanese, as well as how he lost his life. He was honored with the Medal of Honor, which is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States Military.

On top of that, in 1943 the USS Herbert C. Jones (DE-137) was named after him!

It really amazes me some times what you can find out from a simple Google search. Mr. Herbert C. Jones is truly a hero in US history - and he's right here in San Diego.

Winter at the Beach?

Winter is always our slowest time of the year, mainly because people just don't think about doing beach photos in the Winter. Everyone wants to do them in the Summer because that's when you go to the beach - when it's warmer outside.

However, if you are familiar with the weather patterns in San Diego, you'll know that from about March - November we have two types of weather at the beach: 1. Clear blue skies and 2. Completely overcast skies.

Clear blue skies are pretty, and actually overcast skies are the best for photography believe it or not.....but the Winter months are the only time when we actually get any weather, and therefore beautiful clouds and amazing sunsets here in San Diego.

95% of the beach sessions that we do from March - November end up with pretty boring sunsets, if any at all (overcast). But from December - February, we have many amazing, colorful sunsets.

It's a little chilly some times, but if you can stand wind chill factors of say 58 degrees, then it's well worth your while.

Why are Professional Photographers so Expensive?

I posted this article on our website about two weeks ago. It got out to the photography community, and the response has been overwhelming. This article is now posted on numerous Photographer websites and blogs all over the world (thank you to those of you who took the time to ask us if you could repost it, and gave us credit for writing it).

This is a message that Photographers struggle getting out to their customers every single day. The next time someone wants to compare a mall or chain store "photography studio" to a Professional Photographer, send them to this article:

Why are Professional Photographers so Expensive?

More High School Senior Photos From This Weekend

We had two senior photo shoots this weekend, one at the Hotel Del Coronado and the other in Laguna Beach. Here are some composite images put together from some of the photos from both sessions.















San Diego Laguna Beach high school senior portraits.

Laguna Beach High School Senior Portraits

This afternoon I drove up to beautiful Laguna Beach to shoot some senior photos. Brittany is such a huge fan of the tv show Laguna Beach, that she and her entourage came all the way down from the Fresno area just to shoot her senior photos at the real Laguna Beach. How cool is that?

It was my first time shooting in this area. Luckily I had some help from a friend who lives in the area (thanks CB!) and was able to find a great location - Heisler Park.

We met at the park, and did some photos there. We then walked down to the beach and finished the photo shoot there. Here are some sample photos from the session:











Laguna Beach High School Senior Photos

San Diego High School Senior Portraits at the Hotel Del

This afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing Gelisa, a High School Senior. Our location was the Hotel Del Coronado. We shot about half of her photos at the hotel and half out on the beach just before and after sunset. With several changes in scenery and a few clothing changes, we got a great variety of photos.

Gelisa was great to work with, a real natural in front of the camera (who said she was shy?) Maybe it helped that I turned out not to be "creepy" (inside joke).

Here is a little sneak peek at our session:











San Diego High School Senior Pics at the beach

More from the downtown San Diego senior photo shoot

Just a couple of fun things I threw together from this weekend's high school senior photo shoot that we did downtown San Diego.

Thanks Sable!

High School Senior Portraits Downtown San Diego!

At long last, we finally found someone willing to give us a shot at doing High School senior portraits in downtown San Diego. I had already scoped out several locations that I thought would work well, and am thrilled with the photos that we got.

We had a few clothing changes, and several location changes. Here are several favorites from the session. You can view all of the photos HERE.

Sable's downtown San Diego High School senior portraits:































Downtown San Diego High School senior portrait photography

More HS Senior Composite Images

Just playing around some more, I'm loving these new toys.

New digital toys - fun for senior photos and newborn announcements

We picked up some new toys this week, I've spent some time playing with them tonight. Here's the first sample.