simple joys of life

posted September 18, 2010 in About, Happenings

Blog readers, I just wanted to thank you for your readership and I am excited about good things to come on the blog next week. I’ve dealing with some personal issues and am excited about the light at the end of the tunnel (I’m managing at the moment, but the positive force of friends right now are super awesome). I’ve got two weddings in the que that are really special to me and I want them done right. Hang tight.

I’m still processing all my experiences from Burning Man, but I will say I am so glad I went and have no regrets. I hope to post three blog entries soon: my experiences, my personal art project focusing on couples in love, along with a special wedding I photographed at Burning Man. The effort to get my equipment unpacked and cleaned was worth the commitment of going to Burning Man. I wore my Boy Scout uniform for three days while I was shooting portraits.
Hauling my portrait studio equipment around the playa was made easier thanks to my Burley Roo trailer. I paid $40 on craigslist for the thing it was the best “accessory” purchase I made. Carrying around equipment can really hold you back when the temperature is 100 degrees. It hauled with ease 5 gallon water jugs and ice back to camp. Had to turn down a few requests to taxi dirty hippies. My excuse: I was tugging two Alien Bee Vagabond battery packs (40 lbs), 4 pocket wizards, a beauty dish, 2 strobe heads, 2 light stands, 15 lb sand bags, my Westcott Illuminator Collapsible Disc Background to use as a backdrop, food, water and playa essentials (another 40 lbs). Yes, I am a Boy Scout and like to be prepared. Confession: I also carried around a ring flash just in case I needed it for a touch of on-axis fill. Turns out I didn’t use it… but the extra weight made for a stellar sandbag to hold down the bike trailer while I shot.

Spray-painted my trailer with a few extra cans laying around just so it would “fit in.” Plastic slinkys decorated my Klein mountain bike I hand-built in 1998.A new friend of mine, Becker, invited me along to camp with them . He’s one awesome wedding photographer in Orange County and is a real leader in our industry. Bounce over to see his Burning Man images. Here’s a shot of our team in our make-shift playa studio (John Mireles, Tony Bisson, Nick Adams, me, and Becker):I visited a good friend of mine in Virginia last week. I’ve know Alex for years, went to Colgate together, ‘studied’ in Australia, and have great conversations that linger for hours. We pick up where right we left off without missing a beat.I’m amazed when I return home from travels to see how much the landscaping has grown… even just a week does a tremendous amount for flowers about ready to bud: they just explode with color. While I enjoy the labor of yardwork, I love seeing the results:

Speaking of fruits of labor, I picked hot peppers and bell peppers from the garden last night. Growing your own food makes it taste that much better.
Nothing puts a smile of my face quicker than the doggie antics of Dash and Stella. Dash (left) avoids conflict, while Stella attempts food crimes.