April 2009– Good and sad news to report

UCI Extension Class – “Keeping it Simple: Photographing People”

Class began April 9th with 10 students in my basic portrait photography class for the UCI Extension program. From students to retirees, this year class is as diverse as all the others have been over the last 8 years. Some come wanting to just learn how to do a better job of taking their snap shots of their family and friends, and others want to make a living with a camera like me. My hope each semester is that I can share what I know and help them all enjoy taking better photographs of the people that end up in front of their lens, for fun or profit.

If you would like more information about the UCI extension classes please call 949.824.5414, or go online at www.extension.uci.edu.



35th Grand Prix of Long Beach

Wow! It is hard to believe it has been 35 years that they have been racing through the streets of Long Beach. I have had the pleasure of being a staff photographer for the last 28 years, from the days of F-1 to now with the Indy Cars.

This is the first year that the newly united open wheel race teams of Indy Car were racing on the streets in Long Beach. It was great to have the “family” back together again and to see all the familiar faces again, Tony Kanaan, Justin Wilson, Dario Franchitti and, of course, Danica Patrick.

Besides the Indy Cars, we had the Indy Lights, American Le Mans series, Speed World Challenge, Drifting, and, of course, the Pro Celebrity race with Keanuu Reeves.

The weekend started out with beautiful weather and then it got hot. It was over 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. I got to the track at about 6:30am in the cool of the morning and left about 6:30pm at night, when it was still 85. Despite the long hot days of work involved, it is still a lot of fun being a part of the Indianapolis 500 of the West Coast.

Come out next year and join in the party! www.gplb.com

Karen’s Birthday!

My wife Karen had her birthday in April and we went to Disneyland to celebrate. For those of you that don’t know, you can sign up to get a free pass to go to Disneyland on your birthday. www.disneyland.disney.go.com

Her birthday fell on one of those hot days we had and so we didn’t go to the park until later in the day to avoid the heat. We got the pass, then went to dinner at the Grand Californian Hotel, before going into the park. We had a great time.

The other big news from Karen’s birthday was that I gave her a digital camera. It was time for her to go to the digital side and now she is learning to love it.


“ Morning Light” on DVD

The Roy E Disney documentary movie, “Morning Light” that I did the still photography on, and was in theaters this last October, is being released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 15th. www.amazon.com – morning light

This movie is about the casting, training and the participation of 15 young sailors in the Trans Pac yacht race that sails from Long Beach to Honolulu, Hawaii every other year.

Of course I love it because I was involved in it, but it is a great story about an amazing group of young adults. You don’t have to be a sailor to enjoy it.


Sad News!

My mentor and friend in photography of 28 years, who is one of the premiere portrait photographers in the world, Joyce Wilson, lost here husband to cancer in April.

Tom Holt, was a wonderful man. I meet him soon after I met Joyce. He loved a lot of the same things I loved so we got along great. He loved life, family, golf, fishing, good wine and single malt scotch, and of course Joyce.

They moved from Indianapolis to Santa Barbara where Joyce taught for awhile at Brook’s School of Photography. As much as Tom loved the Mid West, he grew to love the weather and the wine of California.

A couple of months ago we had the pleasure of having Joyce and Tom stay with us. We had just pruned our roses back, but Tom showed us how to do it better. I had forgotten that he had owned a garden shop before they moved out West from Indy and so he knew what he was talking about. As Tom’s condition became worse we sent him a picture of how well the roses had come back in. I had a chance to talk to him just before his passing and he was happy to see how beautiful the roses were, and happy that his knowledge had helped. We now have a beautiful way of remembering him.

A wonderful service was held in Tom’s honor in Santa Barbara which Karen and I attended.

He will be missed.


Spring Cleaning

If you or anyone that you know would like to buy their negatives from any type of work that we have done over the last 28 years, now is the time to talk to us.

We are cleaning out the storage locker that we have stored all the negatives in and will be destroying the first 15 years (1982 to 1997) of negatives in the next couple months. Over the next year we will be trying to contact clients to give them all one last chance to buy the last 12 years of negatives and then we will be destroying those.


Kristen and Mike

Some dear friends of ours, Kristen and Mike are getting married at the end of May. Enjoy some of the engagement Images I did for them in Laguna Beach.