One of the things I do as a photographer is to come up with my own projects in order to keep my creative juices flowing.  One of these projects is a skateboarding shoot…but I didn’t want to shoot it like a typical photo you would see in a skate magazine (boring!).  I wanted to show the grace and beauty that skateboarding encompasses much like a dancer performing on stage.  It combines balance, coordination, timing and concentration much like any other sport.

Obviously, I can’t shoot this without a skater. That’s where Greg Lontok comes in.  He’s been an awesome friend , a co-worker and  just happens to be a skater too.  Woke up early and headed out to a skate plaza in Boyle Heights.  One of the advantages of living out in Southern California is the great weather and on this morning we had clear, crisp skies.  The sun was sitting just perfectly for the silhouette shots that I wanted.

Thanks Greg for being my model!

Click on this last image to get the full effect:

I had a photoshoot this past Saturday with Kim, massage therapist and owner of Navitus Massage.  She’s not your typical masseuse, she also does energy work.  Kim brings a sense of peace and tranquility whenever you’re around her and I wanted to capture that for these headshots.  If you ever get a chance to get a massage from her, do so…do not hesitate.  She said it best, “…massage is an excellent tool for connecting more deeply with soul, mind and body.”

Kim is the most positive and radiant being in this world, which makes my job all that much easier.  No matter how I pointed my camera or what settings I have on it, the picture would come out looking fantastic.  The following pics are the best of the best that I really love.  The rest can be seen on my main website.

This was a recent photoshoot with Michael and Kristin Bolus and their newborn baby Andre whose just 3 months old.  We decided to shoot at the Pasadena City Hall since they remodeled it and it looks pretty nice.  This was on a weekend, so of course when we got there, there was a huge wedding reception in the courtyard.  No problem…we perused around the reception and shot in the hallways and out in front.  Gotta say, little Andre held up pretty well..I think I got tired before he did!

Another picture from the last studio shoot.  I scanned in the negative and edited last night…it’s a daunting task keeping your negatives clean and dust free.  I probably spent an hour last night just cleaning up the dust in photoshop.

Here’s a couple of pics from my black and white, medium format film, studio shoot…whew!  That’s a mouthful.  These were shot for my Black and White Portrait/Fashion class.  They were shot with film and scanned with my Epson V500 (nice scanner).  It took me a while to edit them as they were covered with dust…I need to keep my negatives cleaner!  If I remember correctly, I received an “A” on these…yay!