The Adventures of Flat Stanley

Not too long ago I received a special package in the mail from a young student named Rose.  Rose is at the Learning Center and has been reading the story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  Well can you believe to my great surprise, that special package that I received had Flat Stanley himself!  Along with Flat Stanley came a note from Rose asking if I could take Flat Stanley with me on some adventures.  Well, being the adventurous type, that's exactly what I did!

Our first stop was at the airport in San Diego, where we checked in, passed security and then went to our gate to wait for our flight.

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As we boarded the plane, several friendly crew members from Southwest airlines recognized Flat Stanley!  WOW, I had no idea he was such a big celebrity.  Well these friendly crew members invited Flat Stanley to meet the Pilot of a departing plane right up in the cockpit!  Can you believe it?  I sure couldn't.  It was quite a treat for both Flat Stanley and I.

Later on we boarded our flight and were greeted by the wonderful flight crew from Southwest Airlines to Sacramento, and then they introduced us to our Pilot and Co-Pilot who were super cool as well.  They even modeled for the camera!

After we took our seats, we took a look on the map to see where in California, Sacramento was.

When we finally got to Sacramento, we went straight to the car rental counter at Enterprise.

Upon arriving at our hotel room, we unloaded our camera equipment and set up the laptop so that we could blog about all of the days big events!

When we woke up the next day, we got ready to go to UC Merced for a big graduation, and this was a special graduation.  The President's wife, First Lady Michelle Obama was scheduled to show up!  Boy were we excited!  It was like a circus when we got there!  There were graduating students, teachers, police, Military, and Secret Service agents everywhere.  We had to go through metal detectors and everything.  Fortunately Stanley had no metal in him.

Stanley made a lot of friends while he was there!  He met video camera operators, UC Merced Bobcat football players, Secret Service agents and the entire crew that helped put on this event!

And he was given access to practically everywhere!

Later,  on the plane home we ran into the UCSD Women's Crew team!  They had just come back from a competition and had won bronze and silver medals.  Go Tritons!  The ladies immediately recognized Flat Stanley and wanted to take a picture with him, and everybody was all smiles!  They even put one of their medals on his neck!  It was great!

Flat Stanley and I are both so excited because this is just the beginning of many more adventures.  I can't wait to see what the rest of our adventures have in store for us!  

I will post more later....

Just a tease of Linsay and Nick...

More to come soon!  Keep an eye out here and become a fan by scrolling down the left side and click FOLLOW!

Tristan & Marie

Too Close To Home

A couple of months ago I was honored to have my good friend Sandy ask me to shoot a portrait of him to feature in News Photographer magazine for the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association).

The story in the magazine was an account of the day and how the events unfolded and how Sandy responded to it.

In the rush of trying to get his camera equipment to the crash site Sandy dropped one of his (more expensive) Canon lenses; a casualty of the days events. Canon, if you are listening, he could use a new lens.

A little bit of 2008.

Randy & Syndey

Patrick & Linda

San Diego & Coronado

Brtinee & Jonathon

Andre & Jen

Angela & Gene

Sandy Huffaker Jr.

The Sky is Falling

Veteran independent photojournalist Sandy Huffaker Jr. was at home working with his wife in a residential neighborhood of San Diego, California on December 8th when he heard the familiar sound of a jet inbound towards nearby MCAS Miramar. This time however, the sound was much louder and more powerful than any other time before. As he looked out of his front door he saw the F/A-18 lurching in the sky and soon after the pilot ejecting. Thinking quickly he nervously grabbed for his camera equipment and in the process dropped some of it while racing to the nearby scene, breaking a valuable lens in the commotion.

Photograph Copyright Sandy Huffaker Jr.

Living so improbably close to this accident made it possible for Sandy to be one of the first people on the scene to document the unfolding tragedy, all the while realizing that he could have been the news if the jet had crashed just a few blocks west of its final destination.


His photos of the accicent have run on the front covers of many newspapers running around the nation as well as internationally.

Remembering Kai Haug

A few days after Kai Haug's second birthday his parents noticed he wasn't hanging on to the swing with his left hand.  A couple of days later after getting off the swing he came over to get a drink out of a water bottle. The bottle had a flip top lid and when he tried to open it, his hand was limp.

-->>CLICK ANYWHERE TO VIEW KAI'S Story<<__ 

Kai Haug was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2006. He underwent surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. A routine scan in April of 2007 showed progression of the disease. He underwent a 2^nd surgery and battled this disease with childlike faith and courage. 

-->>CLICK ANYWHERE TO VIEW KAI'S Story<<__ 

Kai was diagnosed on April 8, 2006 with a Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor. He underwent surgery on April 10,2006. In May he became a patient at St. Jude Children's Research hospital in Memphis, TN. He began 10 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by 6 weeks of radiation, followed by another 40 weeks of chemotherapy. A routine scan on April 9,2007 (8 weeks before he completed treatment) showed progression of the disease. On May 3, 2007 Kai underwent a second surgery to remove the tumor. 

-->>CLICK ANYWHERE TO VIEW KAI'S Story<<__ 

It was in July that I had the opportunity to actually meet Kai and his whole family, including his Father Eric and his wonderful mother Jenica.  Friends had arranged for them to come out to the beach in San Diego all the way from Las Vegas and have a portrait of the family taken.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much this little boy and his family has touched my life.  It was an experience that I will forever remember.

Unfortunately Kai passed last year on December 7th, 2007, but you can still see Kai and his mommy Jenica in this video for St. Jude's Research at around :39 seconds.  This holiday season I ask all of you, please contribute if you can so that we can prevent this from happening to anymore families.  Please go to St. Judes website by clicking here.

Ronnie Revoredo

RMR Photography