Photo Stories
This annual parade featuring mostly local school kids welcomes the visiting monarch butterflies to Pacific Grove who are on their own annual parade of sorts, or rather migration! The parade closed with some high school classes of 50+ years ago carrying their banners. I wonder if some of those class of 1975 and later people as kids walked in this same parade?
Read MoreThis summer I have been an invited guest to the Pacific Grove Rotary Club luncheons. After getting to know what the club is more about, I have decided to join, and even before becoming an official member, the club asked me to be a judge for its annual Pacific Grove Rotary Concours Auto Rally during Monterey Car Week! I am a car enthusiast and know a lot about a lot of cars, but I have never judged a show before. Luckily, there were not that many criteria to judge each car on. Basically there were 17 categories, 13 specific ones, and 4 overall “grand prizes” to consider for each car. Of the 250+ entries, it was on me to judge the even numbered entries, along with one other judge doing evens, and two other judges doing odds, so that each car had two judges assessing it.
Well, that was in theory, ha!
Irving contacted me asking about using Hidden Beach in Point Lobos State Park as the location for a surprise engagement photo shoot. Hidden Beach itself may be hidden, but it’s a very small beach with not really any place for a photographer to hide, but I did my best to keep the element of surprise when Irving arrived with Marissa and the ring came out! After Irving proposed, and Marissa accepted, we did some posed shots using my unique style of off camera lighting. After the beach, we went up on the nearby bluff for a different meadow and ocean background. Thank you Iriving for choosing me as your photographer and congratulations to you and Marissa!
Read MoreI found myself in Paso Robles, California in walking distance to Downtown City Park. I took my camera in the cooler morning time around this park enjoying for the first time in a long time a peaceful photo walk just making photos of things I found interesting. This led me to making photos of the structures in the park itself, including a Carnegie Library turned museum, various flowers and greenery, as well as some unique features along the streets around the park. If you visit Paso Robles, this park is even nicer at night when strings of lights dangle from the trees, and on Thursday evenings in the summer there is live music.
Read MoreI was introduced to the custom of going out to see the last sunset of the year, and then the first sunrise of the new year when I lived in Japan in the 2000s. It is a custom I have tried to keep each year no matter where I am in the world. This year I was back home in Pacific Grove and went to my beloved Asilomar Beach for both the sunset and sunrise, and Mother Nature provided a spectacular one for both. It was a time to reflect on my first full year in California and what I hope and want for my second one.
Read MoreAndrea 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!
Read MoreIt 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!
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