rachel & nicolas

such a lovely event, the joining of rachel and nicolas in the holy union of marriage. they came from california, the midwest, and france. it was the first service i've attended where everything was announced in pairs: english and french.

they'd both waited a long time for this day, and made it their own in every way. instead of a matron of honor, rachel had her brother by her side as her 'man of honor'. dry eyes? not to be.

a lovely reception followed inside the winery

the french factions were plenty

the love of good american friends

"at last..."

ginger

she is the sweetest little companion, this labradoodle girl. she accompanies the Shepodd family on many excursions so today during a karate school picnic, i decided it was time for her formal portrait. let me introduce you to Ginger...

jacks, illuminated

signs at night take on a new presence, illumination is nearly magical...there was something missing in my last series from this restaurant, so i returned another day, after nightfall, with cosby. :) .

anderson and gordon

what i love most about dancers is their fearlessness. to try. to try harder. to try something new. to push themselves. and to be able to laugh through it. really, it is nothing less than honorable, and i am honored every single time they ask me to create their portraits.

so continues the adventures of sign shooting. it is so contrary to what i am accustomed: the subject stays put and i must move to find the dynamic shots. in short, the image has to be about the sign and how it defines or accentuates a space.  turns out i love this type of work. the only downside is the wierd factor. how bizarre i might look to the passersby watching...i wonder when i will be visited by a uniform, in this day and age of strange doings. but all is well. i hope my client will be happy and the managers/owners of jack's will reap rewards from the assignment as well. the very cool retro-inspired bulb light had 8 burned out lightbulbs. i simply fixed them in photoshop, which beats climbing the ladder.

a special jazz number

there are many reasons i enjoy our dance studio. aside from the commitment to company work, and the importance of performance over competition, the all-school shows incorporate every level of dance skill from beginner to highly technically trained. miss j caught me off guard during dress rehearsal, however. a bright girl whose intellect is ahead of her physical limitations, she was included in this fun jazz number, surrounded by a group of kids that inspired me to no end. during bows, the big kids helped her onto stage. the support behind her throughout this dance and during bows took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. this kind of compassion and inclusion is indicative of the leadership behind livermore school of dance, and why, of all the dance schools in the area, we continue to call it home. 

hiking with a camera phone

traveling lightly, i set out with my phone and dog this morning. it's been a long time since i've hiked in our local hills and it was quite a nice way to start the day. although in truth, i'd already waged war against the spiders who are outnumbering us. by weight. i'd been to osh for said insect soap (and bone meal which i added to the patio plants) so i suppose we didn't actually start our day on the trail. but the fog had crept in over the hills, creating a gentle breeze and cool temps. the freshness of the air, crunch of gravel under foot, sight of horses grazing among adjacent hills, a quietly meandering creek. it's been too long since my last visit. am thankful it is practically in my backyard. the view from the phone:

subway from 'in the heights'

the subway car from the show was created in our driveway, by mr. hamilton and a truckload of  pvc piping. the rear posters are an assembled new york subway map downloaded in 15 sections from the city's website, the poster on the left is the publicity print from this show. truly a family affair, the subway car came together nicely...and was huge. at 12 feet wide, the top portion barely fit in our dining room. equally as long, it took up all the vertical space in the garage until its delivery. scott designed it to come apart in 3 sections for the sake of transportation.

i overlooked blogging the jazz show, which is not surprising considering my physical state during the dress rehearsals and shows. i cannot remember having been so sick. but sick or not, the show goes on. so feverish and literally delerious at points, i shot this show and veered close to no one.
many of the dances were lit dreadfully dark. although it creates a very dramatic stage presence, the imagery is miserable to capture, at best. the videographer struggled as well. but such is working in the field with available everything, none of it under our control. adapt and adjust, find a solution to best mete out the problem and shoot away. here are a few representative shots from that night. (scroll right to view them all.) the full gallery is at my website: www.zenfolio.com/fuloflyfe

party prevails

he started the day right by riding with his grandfather in the disabled american veterans truck pulling the tomb of the unknown soldier in the nation's second longest 4th of the july parade, alameda.
surprisingly however, the city gave out a "no fireworks except in designated parks" rule....which essentially and sadly canceled our independence day celebration in dublin, one of the only bay area cities to allow 'safe and sane' fireworks at all. why would we want to see the only valley sky show with thousands of others in san ramon, when we could relax at home and have our own show? really it was a bummer. but after calling the sheriff's department a third time and comparing notes with the neighbors, the rules relaxed and the party prevailed. the fourth was celebrated on our little loop in a very sparkly and safe way. dublin knows how to throw an independence day party. 

who knew?

while photographing senior kristin several months back, her father asked if i photographed signs. signs? sure i can photograph signs. i'm so accustomed to moving objects like dancers, the idea of signs seems like a pace i can spend time and thought on normally not allowed. at the time, i didn't know he was the president of arrow sign company. since then he has hired me to shoot commercial work for him in the form of their fabrication plant in stockton, two sign installations in dublin and pleasant hill, and more fabrication at their neon shop, with future assignments to come. who knew signage could be so fun?? here are excerpts from the stockton plant, job #1.

let them eat cake

my girl finished the first of a series of cake decorating classes at a local craft store. some basic frosting techniques were put into play with this culminating project - her own cake. she calls it "boring" but i say it's sweet as can be. :) i like the leaves the best....so much work mixing the frosting for such a small detail! good job sarah.