Professional Photographers of California Print Competition

I had the honor of being the Print Judge Moderator for the 2011 Professional Photographers of California Print Competition, held in San Diego, California on January 25th. I guided seven judges as they reviewed and scored over 400 entries this year. For more information about the Professional Photographers of California, print competition, and the upcoming convention in March at the Pasadena Convention Center, follow the link. www.prophotoca.com

My Dad and Lacey Skydiving

My nearly 80-year old dad, Bill Gifford, and my niece, Lacey Bolander, each jumped out of a perfectly good airplane on January 22, in Perris, California so that my dad could check one more thing off his bucket list. On a beautiful cloudless day, in front of family and friends, they had a flawless jump. “Maybe next time,” was something you heard from a few that witnessed the event. As for me, we will see. For those who want to send 80th birthday greetings to dad, his birthday is September 25th). For information about the Skydiving School in Perris, go to http://www.skydiveperris.com/

"Reflections" - SCFTA

As those of you that follow my blog regularly know, I had a chance to photograph a couple of the rehearsals for Reflections. So… when the Segerstrom Center for the Arts unveiled the world premiere on Thursday night, January 20th, to a cheering audience, it was very exciting to photograph the finished production. “Reflections is the Segerstrom Center's first artistic partnership with the Bolshoi Ballet, a co-commission and co-production of the institutions in association with Ardani Artists. The production stars seven of the most brilliant ballerinas in the world today -- Maria Kochetkova, Yekaterina Krysanova, Olga Malinovskaya, Natalia Osipova, Polina Semionova, Yekaterina Shipulina and Anastasia Stashkevich -- all of whom were trained in the Bolshoi's revered dance academy. They were paired throughout the evening with four of the leading male dancers of the Bolshoi -- Vyacheslav Lopatin, Denis Savin, Ivan Vasiliev and Alexander Volchkov.” My biggest challenge photographing the performance for Getty Images that night was writing the captions afterwards with all those Russian names. I hope to see them again and again as they are so inspiring and, like anything, with practice, the names will be easy! If you would like see the images (and captions), please follow the link to Getty Images, http://tiny.cc/4h29h . To check the schedule of other events at SCFTA, go to www.scfta.org .

Sunwest Bank

I had the pleasure of photographing Sunwest Bank making a donation of $5,000 to Father Joe Carroll, of Father Joe’s Village in San Diego. Father Joe’s Village is a one-stop facility that provides services to the poor in San Diego. http://www.sunwestbank.com/

Orange Performing Arts Center changes its name to Segerstrom Center for the Arts

“After 25 years, at a festive public ceremony attended by Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and before a crowd of 1,500, Thomas V. McKernan, chairman of the of Orange County Performing Arts Center, announced that the Center has changed its name to Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The new name honors the extraordinary contributions of the Segerstrom family, whose unwavering commitment has been at the core of the Center's success. The evening began with a performance by Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Chris Botti and ended with a dazzling finale of fireworks. More than 40 members of the Segerstrom family were on hand to accept the honor.”http://www.scfta.org/