50th Wedding Anniversary

Had a shoot for the Banaga's 50th Wedding Anniversary this weekend. What a great family! Every from the happy couple, Oscar and Sally, to all 6 kids and their children were awesome. We started the day out at the Good Shepard church in Mira Mesa with a nice and looong mass. Great for the soul I'm sure but bad for an old photographer's knees. Some of the shots were actually pretty cool although the lighting was a logistical nightmare as a photographer, with the pews lit by warm tungsten lighting (orange-ish) and the alter lit by soft natural light. And of course to make things even more exciting the front few pews had a mixture of both kinds of light. Yay me! I guess I will be spending some time in post production playing with the lighting.

After the mass we took some family shots on the altar and then went to the officers club on Marine Corps Air Station Mira Mar, where there was a fantastic little buffet waiting for all the friends and family.The rest of the event progresses really nicely with a slide show of the couple throughout the years as well as testimonials from the family. The highlight of the day had to be the entertainment which was provided by all of the grandchildren.
All of the kids from ages 11 into their 20's provided dancing spectacles that everyone loved!

All in all a great day with a family that had a tremendous sense of love and connection to one another. We all should be so lucky to have a family like this.

Melanie's Bridal Shower

One of my great wedding clients, Melanie, had a great little Bridal Shower this past sunday with a few close friends and family. It was a beautiful sunny southern California day; the kind that make everybody who lives east of the California/Arizona state line really envious.She is a gorgeous bride with an gorgeous bunch of bridesmaids and an adorable Maid of Honor whose innocent little face masks all kinds of mischief!

Ladies! Remember that there is a gentleman here! Don't go showing off the honeymoon wares before the actual big night!

Had a great time! Se you guys on the BIG DAY!

New Photography Classes

I have just begun a series of photography courses for beginning Digital SLR photographers. The classes are aimed at teaching beginners and novices the fundamentals of Portrait, Sports/Action, Landscape, Nature and Travel photography. The classes will be taught be either myself or my buddy Sandy Huffaker or BOTH of us. We will also have a Photo Class and Field Trip for novices that are smaller and more personal where we will be giving a short lecture as well as answering questions one on one and giving advice on real world techniques.
For information on pricing and locations, feel free to leave a comment, email us at rmrphoto@yahoo.com or by calling 619-379-7899.

Gradfest at SDSU

Today was day 2 of the graduation festival, or gradfest at San Diego State University. Basically get a couple thousand graduating seniors, throw them in a tent over 3 days and take their photos in less than 3 minutes each. AND make them look great! That was my task today. I have been doing this for years and I still love it. The pressure of taking someone you have just met and then take a great portrait of them keeps my adrenaline pumped.
I try to put myself in their head and think like they would. You really have to be as meticulous as they would be. These grads see themselves everyday in the mirror, so I have to be as picky as they would be, because I want them to go away knowing that I would be as particular about the way they look as they do. I am lucky that SDSU has some of the most beautiful people in the world! Just makes my job that much easier.

Photo assistant for the day.

Today was a pretty full day. Spent pretty much the whole day assisting my buddy Sandy Huffaker on his photo shoot for the San Diego Sherriff's Department. Started the day at the county jail downtown. Great bunch of people working there. Have to give a shout out to Michelle for being our tour guide and facilitator at the facility. It was an interesting place to be in as an observer watching all of the faces behind bars and glass. Faces staring out at you, some with indignation, some with fear and uncertainty, others seemingly with a look of bewilderment. Wondering how they ended up there. The highlight of the morning was watching the TAC team suit up to confront an unruly inmate. Exciting and surreal at the same time. Like watching a Discovery Channel documentary but in real life.In the afternoon we made it into the east county. Our first stop was the SAR (Search and Rescue) beagles. Adorable little beagles trained to sniff out victims and help to rescue civilians. Great shots of Sandy photographing them.After a quick portrait session we made our way into the ASTREA hangar with all of the helicopters, got some great shots of the bomb squad and their robots as well as helicopters touching down on the airstrip.Picked up some great shots of the SWAT guys jumping off a helicopter skiff and took a great ride on a helicopter with a great crew of guys.Finished the day at the crime lab. Drove to the most non-descript building in the middle of San Diego and found a CSI lovers paradise. The folks at the crime lab were a real pleasure to watch and Sandy got some amazing shots in a lot of great places. Testing for blood on a knife, looking for latent prints, and matching casings and bullets in the ballistics lab. All in all was a great day spent helping out a good friend. More like this to come I hope, and more photos too.