In my family, we have had our share of health problems and even recent deaths in the family. Historically, we’ve had addictions and diseases and all sorts of issues we’d not openly share. One day I will die and that’s okay because today I’m happy to say that I’m living life to the fullest. I fly back to Hong Kong from Seattle in about 4 hours. During my time on the West Coast I met some incredible folks like Chase Jarvis and Jasmine Star and reconnected with good friends like Dave Dolengewicz and his girlfriend Lauren. I reconnected with Wayne Mak who lived in Hong Kong and David Alvarado who I went to school with – we even shot a documentary together for one day in the hills of San Francisco. I hung out with Chris Nicholas and Joowan Kim of the Great Integration and photographed their show in the Mission. One of the greatest trumpeters the University of North Texas has seen was miraculously in San Francisco: Evan Weiss along with another great musician (and model!) Gabriela. Laura Trimmell and her boyfriend Donothan aka Diskgrunt and myself spent four days photographing and screen-printing and eating Voodoo donuts in Portland. Those were probably some of the best days of my life. I spent way too much time away from my beautiful and lovely girlfriend Q (who is a squirrel in disguise), but that will soon be solved with just a little bit of time and jet fuel >8< Sure, I’m going broke and I’m trying to hit a grandslam most days now but burning the candle at both ends doing something I love with the people I love feels so much more real than anything else I can think of.
Pictured above: Me and Nikko, volunteers for the laaaate shift at the Jasmine Star Wedding for Creativelive.com in Seattle. We’re overlooking the skyline from West Seattle. Shot at approximately 5:45am
We’re about to be on day three of shooting the Jasmine Star wedding for Creative Live. Chase Jarvis dropped by to introduce the lovely soon-to-be married couple Laura & Billy, and forgot his iconic sunglasses and his Ipad. We kept our hands of the Ipad, but we couldn’t pass up the fun opportunity to put ourselves in someone elses shoes – or eyes in this case – for a few minutes. Enjoy the photos we gathered!
On a sidenote, I chatted (in an official Creative Live capacity) with an amazing photographer from Mexico City who wrote a nice review in Spanish about CL: Michelle Bres.
I’ve been in hiding this past week somewhere between the Golden Gate bridge and Angel Island – arrived this morning in Seattle on a Virgin America flight from San Francisco and it was fabulous! Tomorrow (well, in 8 hours anyway) I’m going to be supporting Jasmine Star’s Creative Live workshop on wedding photography, which will be broadcast over the next four days. This video is an introduction to the concept.
Cicily Janus recently eulogized Jazz photographer Herman Leonard. The article is well worth the read as is watching the video below. Check the article for the brief mention of yours truly.
I’m spending a few days in Portland being creative with my friends Curious Doodles and Diskgrunt. We’ve been photo-taking and riding bikes and running all over town. This place has lots of gardens for the pollinators, loads of yummy food for your mouth and eyes, and beautiful days that seem to last forever. I might have to make a stop through here next year…
I just came from Seattle, but that’s top secret for the moment. Tomorrow, I’m going straight to San Francisco (no pun intended).
Here’s a very lens-flared shot of Nicholas Payton’s bassist. I still haven’t figured out why the piano in the shot appears sideways. I might have to take another look at the set. Shot in New York.
