Candid Event Photography telling the story of the PG Rotary Club 2025 Holiday Party at the Lodge in Pebble Beach
As still a new member of the Pacific Grove Rotary Club, I am finding ways to contribute to the club that suit my skill set, one of which is of course photography! The holiday party for the Rotary Club this year was in a beautiful ocean view room at The Lodge in Pebble Beach. The sun was flooding in, plenty of space to move around, all of which made for a great environment for capturing some of my favorite kinds of photos, event candids! The Rotary Club had a massive white elephant present game going on with the “stealing” bidding for presents money all going to help one local family. The Rotary Club really is great at directly helping the local community. Thanks to everyone for making it a really fun end to my first months as a Rotarian!
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.
CSUMB Event Photography when everyone meets for the first time!
It was not just me for the first time meeting all the MBA graduates at CSUMB in Monterey California as I went there for event photography of their graduation ceremony, it was all the graduates first time meeting each other too because it was an entirely online program! So there was the extra excitement of seeing each other in person for the first time, as well as receiving their degrees at this special awards ceremony just for their online MBA program. All that made it a very fun and lively event to photograph first getting some candids as they arrived, then the ceremony photos, and then some group photos with each class getting their chance to celebrate in a group portrait out on the front steps of the very cool looking building entryway at CSUMB. Thank you to the team at CSUMB for choosing me as the photographer for this exciting event!
Andrea contacted me over the summer inquiring about having a 1950s theme photo shoot including a classic Chevy Bel-Air car they were going to rent when the visited the area in October. I thought this sounded great and over the next few months we exchanged ideas for locations and the style of the shoot. She wanted it to be a free flowing and candid photo shoot, so no off camera lighting used, just my trusty Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM lens and the sunny skies of Big Sur. They were a very fun couple to photograph, making my job easy! Thank you Andrea for choosing me as your photographer and for sharing all your great ideas (that I will use for future clients) for candid portraits!
It was kind of unusual that my very first photo shoot since moving to California was an engagement shoot in Big Sur, something I do not specialize in and have not done in a long time. However, Prasanna contacted me and said he liked my work and even though I told him I am not an engagement or wedding photography specialist, he still wanted me as his photographer. I was flattered by that! The weather just worked out, as well as the timing, for getting these candid engagement shots. I now have a go to location for this type of shoot if clients do not have their own preference! Thank you Prasanna for choosing me as your engagement photographer and congratulations!
Candid and Personal Event Photography in Albuquerque
This was a truly unique event for me to photograph in many ways. The Nexus Fellowship rented a residential house here in Albuquerque to host a week long event. It was only attended by about 30 people, and mostly in one room. I spent 21 hours over three days photographing these people sharing the most personal stories of challenges they faced and how they overcame them. How was I able to do this and not be totally conspicuous? First, thankfully the main room had three points of entry and an outside hallway system leading to all of them. So I could go around unseen to each of those three different photography vantage points. Then I had my camera in silent shooting mode, so when I took a photo, the camera was completely silent. It was by far the most personal, intimate event I ever photographed. It definitely had an impact on me and I will carry things I heard and learned during those 21 hours with me going forward. Thank you to Inaam and the entire Equity Lab team for choosing me as your event photographer!
Political Campaign photography with real voters in Albuquerque
Making candid photos is one of my favorite things to do as a photographer, so when past client Athena Christodoulou contacted me about meeting her at a Bosque political event to make candid photos of her talking with voters, I thought this is a great chance to use the natural environment without walls to make some truly unique images for her campaign. Athena was able to talk with a variety of people, even someone with a dog (always a photography win), with several different backgrounds. She also changed jackets to add variety to the candid shots. Thank you Athena for continuing to choose me as your photographer!
