Photographing the memorial service for Richard Stillwell with sensitivity in Pacific Grove
I was asked to photograph the memorial service for Richard Stillwell, a very well known figure for nearly a century in Pacific Grove, California. The stories told by his family members and his friends during the memorial service covered all aspects of his life from how he was a firefighter, a mentor, and as a very active figure in the community so well, that even though I never met him, I felt I had a very good idea of what type of person he was and how impactful he was on many people’s lives. Many people were visibly overcome with emotion in attendance. As a photographer at such an event, there is a balance to be found of sensitivity, but also capturing the moments that will help others remember this memorial and feel its impact long after this day. What you see in these photos is my effort to find that balance.
Celebrating two years in business in Pacific Grove with Saint Addiction
I had walked by the Saint Addiction store front many times, and was always curious about the clothing store because it is a very rare thing, a boutique clothing store just for men right here in downtown Pacific Grove, California. Well, I wish I had stopped in before the ribbon cutting celebration event for their 2nd anniversary yesterday as I really enjoyed meeting the owners and I really liked the style of a lot of the clothes they have for sale there. I talked with one of the owners, Elmer, about collaborating on a few things that would be mutually beneficial for both of our businesses. This is what the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce is really great at doing, connecting to local business owners in a friendly and fun environment that may not normally ever meet. Thank you to the teams at the PG Chamber and at Saint Addiction for adding a special event to a Thursday afternoon!
2002 BMW M3 Convertible (SMG) — Steel Gray Metallic over Black Leather — 133,000 miles — Documented Maintenance, Clean Title — (100+ photos below)
ASKING $13,500 OBO
TEXT / CALL: 813-240-5357 (not a typo, I moved from Florida)
***talking on the phone first about the car is required in order to setup a time to come see it and test drive it***
OVERVIEW
This 2002 BMW M3 Convertible is finished in Steel Gray Metallic over Black Nappa leather and is equipped with the Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG), Xenon headlights, factory navigation, Harman/Kardon audio, Park Distance Control, and 19" Style 67M wheels. The car shows ~133,000 miles and has been owned primarily in New Mexico and California.
It has a complete and well-documented service history, including a professionally rebuilt SMG hydraulic pump, starter replacement, brakes, tires, alignments, spark plugs, filters, differential service, and several recent oil services, with the most recent completed in October 2025. A clean California smog certificate was issued on October 16, 2025.
The car has been garaged the vast majority of its life,and comes with a copy of the original owner’s manual.
Finally seeing the monarch butterflies in Pacific Grove in their sanctuary
One of the symbols of the town of Pacific Grove, California is the monarch butterfly. I lived here over two years, with never seeing one so I was long wondering, how can it be the symbol but yet I have never seen a single one?? Well, I learned they only go to a very specific area, a sanctuary, and it is not in an area I regularly pass by nor can you see from any main thoroughfare. So I finally took my camera to this monarch butterfly sanctuary, and once again, my expectations were really different than reality! There were no clusters of butterflies, they were not flying right by people’s eyes, there were a scattered few, and they were high up in flowering tree branches. I brought my preferred lens for photographing insects, a Sony 90mm f/2.8 G Macro lens, which was not nearly long enough to get photos of the butterflies without a lot of cropping in to get the photos you see here. Luckily my Sony a7R V camera has the resolution to allow for that. So I recommend if you are going to photograph the butterflies, bring at least a 200mm lens, and be prepared to look up, maybe even high up, to see them! At least now I know what to expect and can be better prepared to photograph them next year.
Photographing the PG City Veterans Day Ceremony 2025 for the PG Rotary Club
Joining the Rotary Club of Pacific Grove has given me even more ways to connect with and contribute to our local community. The latest example was being asked to volunteer to photograph the City of Pacific Grove Veterans Day Ceremony for 2025 for which several Rotarians made up the Honor Guard. I was glad to help out and capture through photography this annual ceremony and to get to hear the stories of service from the different speakers. Thank you to all that served on Veterans Day.
200+ Photos of runners from the 2025 Monterey Bay Half Marathon available to download for free!
I knew about half a dozen people running in the 2025 Monterey Bay Half Marathon and remarkably was able to see and photograph two of them despite shooting from only two locations for about 90 minutes! I was on Lighthouse Ave in the middle of downtown Pacific Grove starting at about 9am on Sunday, and then went to a spot just past Lover’s Point Park on Ocean View Blvd sitting on a curb by the water. See my photo below to help you remember if you saw me, and especially if you waved or smiled to the camera, maybe I got your photo. The galleries below are just a simple. Please click any of the buttons below to go to the FULL galleries. I separated the photos into two galleries, one for smilers and one for people just running by. Please note if you did smile or wave, I might have missed the initial wave / smile so you might be in the non-smiling gallery. In the SmugMug galleries you can download your photo for free!
Celebrating 30 years of Trader Joe’s in Pacific Grove!
The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce is really good at celebrating businesses in our community with ribbon cuttings, be they for a grand openings or major milestones like the one Trader Joe’s celebrated — 30 years of being in Pacific Grove! I learned the mural painted on the front of Trader Joe’s, 30 years ago, was to show other things for people to check out in Pacific Grove and give them a reason to stay in town longer, as this was the first Trader Joe’s in the area. PG beat out Seaside to get it largely because it had a better building available for it to move into. It’s so interesting how things like that happen and change how a small town changes because of it.
