It Never Rains in California......Right!

It always seems that when my parents from Los Angeles fly up to Portland, Oregon, to visit me, it never rains here. However, lately it seems that every time I go to Los Angeles for work or family visits, the rain follows me like a lost puppy. So last weekend I had the pleasure to work in L.A. on a two-day shoot for Nike football. Now I must say that the second day of the shoot brought a mixture of sun and clouds, but no rain. But the first day was something completely different. We had a good five-hour delay while we waited for the drenching rain to stop, which it finally did. But a good crew can make the time go by fast. So hence the following images of a few digital techs and assistants passing the time with a little game of smash ball. On a side note, Nike decided to hire two photographers for the shoot. Of course I was one of them, however, I had the extreme pleasure of working alongside sports photographer extraordinaire, Donald Miralle. If you have never seen his work, click on his name in this post to see his site. I really admire his work, and I think you will too.

Digital tech Kyle Alexander looks for any signs of blue sky.

Assistant Ryan Miller passes the time by taking a little stroll
over to catering for some cool treats and hot eats.

Fellow photographer Donald Miralle decides to patiently
wait out the rain under the tents setup for the digital techs.

Assistant Collin Erie says let the games begin.

Dustin Edwards, digital tech, returns serve from Collin.

Collin Erie takes smash ball to new heights.

My In-Laws and The Holidays

I sometimes feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Not only do I have a wonderful family on my side whom I respect and love dearly, I am also blessed with wonderful in-laws. Actually I think I can safely say that they are the best in-laws in the world. Yes, I am like Fox News, fair and balanced.

Now I do recognize that the term "in-laws" conjures up some very negative connotations for some people, but not for me. Not only am I blessed with a terrific daughter Leah and my awesome wife Susan, I am also blessed with wonderful in-laws. Susan's mother, Joan, and stepfather, Ralph, live in northern California, near her brother Ben and his wife Erin. For the past three years we have traveled south from Portland to spend the Christmas holiday with them. Susan's father, Ken, and his wife Christine live in Melbourne, Australia - sadly, not somewhere easily accessible by car. Both of them are terrific people as well, along with Christine's son Joel, his wife Melissa, and their daughter Tiia.

But back to my trips to see the California in-laws. Due to my extreme fondness for them, I now get very excited about the Christmas holiday, and that is a tall feat for someone like me who was reared in a Jewish household. So filled with anticipation of great conversation, laughs, wine, and food, I was obsessed with getting my family out of town when Portland was buried under almost nineteen inches of snow. Thanks to some intense weather-monitoring on my part and a bit of luck, we made it out on the 23rd, and found ourselves arriving at Ralph and Joan's house in Bodega Bay in time for Christmas Eve dinner.

What follows are some images from our week there. Two things stand out from this trip, the first being Ralph's gift of an accordion to Joan. They are both accomplished pianists, so Joan had no trouble playing a few tunes after opening up her gift. Immediately recognizing what a cool present she had received, I knew I had to take her picture against the hills behind their home. It was a real "Sound of Music" moment that filled my head. I told them that the upside of having a son-in-law as a photographer was that they get a lot of nice images of their granddaughter. The downside is that I might ask them if I can take portraits of them with accordions or other objects that seem fit for my creative mind.

The other thing that made this trip special was seeing Leah and her grandpa Ralph bond. And I mean a superglue bond, which was nice because at one point when Leah was twelve months old, grandpa Ralph - who was trying to amuse her by sneaking up to the window that Leah was gazing out of - gave her a big "peekaboo," which induced copious amounts of tears and screaming. She was a little apprehensive of grandpa the rest of that trip. But no more. Those two are now soul mates, as you can gather from one of the pictures below.

Joan "Von Trapp" and her accordion.

Leah and grandma Joan.

Grandpa Ralph and Leah having some fun on the beach.

Grandma Joan and her gift to Leah. One of Many!

My lovely wife Susan enjoying the California sun on Christmas day.

Aunt Erin and Leah before eating Christmas dinner.

Uncle Ben gives Leah a ride.

And some more rides.

Oh yes, Ralph's birthday is on Christmas. Happy Birthday. You rock!

Ralph enjoys his ocean view before the presents are opened.

Me and Leah on the beach Christmas day. Photo by grandpa Ralph.

A Monkey with an iPhone and a New Year's Show

Many of my friends, and even some of my colleagues and clients, know that I have seen a few Grateful Dead shows in my time. Okay, I admit, just a little over a hundred shows. Yes, that makes me an official Deadhead. The past few years I have been going down to the the Bay Area with my wife Susan to spend Christmas with her family. Usually we stick around until a few days after Christmas. This year my brother-in-law Ben, another dedicated soul to the band like me , said he had extra tickets for the Phil Lesh & Friends/RatDog shows on the 30th and 31st (NYE) in San Franciso, and asked me if I wanted to go. Ben and Will, thanks for the tickets by the way. In case you don't know, Phil Lesh was the bass player for the Dead, and Bob Weir, who heads up RatDog, was the rhythm guitarist for the Dead. I wanted to take my nice pro camera to the show just to shoot a few pictures in and around the venue, but they were not letting anyone into the show with these types of cameras. Since I have always said to others that it is not the camera, but the monkey behind it. I decided that if I was a good enough monkey, that the tiny little camera on my iPhone should be just fine. I must admit, it was hard to get use to shooting with it, but a few clicks and I was feeling fine. So here you have it. A few shots to give you folks a little look at what was going on in a small part of San Francisco on New Year's Eve.

Happy 2009 to you all. I hope you all have a safe a prosperous new year! And as some of us Deadheads say "AIKO!"

The balloon drop

A little too much NYE partying

Dancing in the hall with the Birdman of Alcatraz