So much has happened over the past year to my business, to my family and to me personally, I feel like I could write a book! I think, to start me blogging again, from time to time, I’ll get back to posting pictures. Hopefully those of you that watch my blog or blogs will enjoy that. So I’m going to start with some favorites from different family related events I’ve shot over the past year.

It seems hard to believe, but little Luke has grown beautifully and turned 2 this past October. He’s such a sweet little guy.

We really enjoyed our time with family up in Mammoth for a time of vacation at Convict Lake. We were there for 10 incredibly windy days. There were some days where we had 50 and 60 mph wind gusts hit our tent, but we survived. Though I didn’t catch much, I had a great time relaxing while I fished the local lakes.

The boys have continued playing baseball and are doing very well. I’m enjoying cooking more than ever and have started a cooking and gardening blog at: http://theresidentdude.blogspot.com

Well, that’s it for now, next time I’ll post some fun wedding and event pictures. So much to share….

Enjoy the Holidays. God Bless!

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Here are some images from the Stryper 25th Anniversary Tour. I saw them last night in Anaheim at the House of Blues. My friend Tim Gaines is the bass player in the band and he acquired some MEDIA passes for me so I could shoot them from the pit which is located between the stage and the audience. Such a cool experience. Thank you so much Tim! Enjoy!

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If you’ve never been, ya gotta go on out to the Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Patch, it’s very cool. Pumpkins for as far as you can see…. well almost if you look over that way…. and a little over there. But really, there’s a lot of pumpkins. This was our first year there, we went last Sunday, the last day of the event and I was very nervous as we drove into a parking lot filled to the gills! All I kept thinking was, “There’s not going to be any pumpkins left and I’m gonna have to think fast when the boys are disappointed. There’s always McDonald’s. OK, I’m safe.”

Quite honestly it’s not a patch. It’s a field. A really, really BIG field, with thousands and thousands of pumpkins! One of the pleasant surprises for me was that’s it’s not just a field of pumpkins but there are vendor booths, pony rides, bounce houses, kettle corn, a farmers market… you know, you’re just gonna have to go next year and see it for yourself. For info click on the underlined words above that say Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Patch.

Which by the way, I’d like to mention to my non-uber-techy readers, if you click the underlined words in my posts you will be taken to some pretty cool or fun web pages. So keep that in mind.

OK, how many of you just ran back to the chocolate milk post?  :)  Come on, be honest.

I remember clearly thinking on my way home, “What are they gonna do with all those thousands of leftover pumpkins?”

And if you had any doubts, the boys had a blast, even little Luke.

See ya next time!

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Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that make it all good. Simple things like a cup of chocolate milk while doing your homework. It seems to make homework a little more palatable somehow.

But doing homework while surrounded by your favorite Legos doesn’t hurt either.

See ya next time!

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Saturday night I was invited to be the photographer for the Union Station Homeless Services charity event. The event was held at Memorial Park in Old Towne Pasadena. There is a small bowl style stage there with a large lawn where people brought their chairs, blankets and dinner and enjoyed the evening under the stars.

I will be honest, typically I’m not a fan of jazz music, but this night was an exception. The musicians were amazing! It didn’t hurt that some of the musicians were people you recognized from movies or TV or had heard of. I did make some new friends back in the “green room” where all the talent eats and hangs out before the show. Some of the people in this photograph are: Bill Cantos (Jazz pianist), Michael Shapiro (Drums), Rabbi Marvin Gross CEO of Union Station, Kleber Jorge (Guitar), Hussain Jiffry (Bass) and Debby Boone (Vocals).

This image was made from backstage while Debby Boone was in the middle of her set.

The MC for the evening was Adam Arkin. Adam is known for his roles in TV shows such as West Wing, Chicago Hope, Law and Order and Frasier. He also has directed Grey’s Anatomy and Boston legal and has played roles in movies.

Along with being MC Adam filled in on percussion and proved to be very accomplished in the rhythm section.

The amazing guitarist, Kleber Jorge from Brazil

My new friend, bassist, Hussain Jiffry

Michael Shapiro on drums. Michael organized most of the musicians for this event and has for the past 10 years the event has been running.

Debby Boone perfomed a song by Rosemary Clooney her late mother-in-law, skat style.

Another great thing about this event was hearing people perform in a way you may have never seen before. Hector Elizondo performed a jazz duet and it was great!

One of my favorite parts of the evening was listening to singer and song writer Bill Cantos sing a page out of the yellow pages in a G chord, blues vibe. So cool!

Well if you ever have the opportunity to attend this event I highly recommend it. Grap your folding chairs or a blanket and some dinner to go, and enjoy some outstanding music, all for a great cause.

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