On Assignment in San Francisco

I've just returned home from one of my favorite trips to San Francisco. I photographed "America's Favorite Psychic" Sylvia Browne for her new book cover for Harper Collins, which will be released in Spring 2010. She is an absolute firecracker and I loved meeting her. The shoot went extraordinarily well and I had the best crew! My friend and super talented photographer, John Sanossian, was in town so he helped out on set as well as joined me on some photo questing throughout the city. I enjoyed quality time with many close friends as well as meeting a ton of new friends. Holiday parties, random encounters with strangers, even a moment where I bonded with a seal, who stared at me for about 10 minutes as I talked to him/her. Anyhow, I smiled and laughed for 5 days straight. All this fun and I flew home, just in time, for my sister's birthday/holiday party. I love my job, I love my friends, I love my life. Perhaps I need a place in LA and SF someday. These photos were taken by my Canon 5D Mark II, My Panasonic Lumix and my iPhone. The photo of me by the bridge and the boots were taken by John. Enjoy!

Through My Eyes

I wanted to introduce an idea I had.
Several people have recently asked me what my biggest inspiration is. As I started to answer, I realized that I had no idea how to narrow down what my one biggest inspiration was. There are so many things in my everyday life that I see, that I smell, that I hear... tiny moments and objects capture my attention and inspire me. In search of some answers for myself, I recently opened several old folders of photographs and pulled aside a few. What I found while viewing my photos is that there is no rhyme nor reason to what captures my attention. Although there is some consistency, the range of subject matter is random. Really random, actually. I was thinking to myself, "Hmm... I wonder why I was inspired to take a photo of that bowl of nuts at dinner in NYC all those years ago". :)

I suppose that my final answer is that there isn’t one answer.

What inspires me? Kindness, laughter, love, children, LIGHT (always light), happiness, sadness, life, death, objects, elements, sunsets, smiles, beauty in darkness, a beautiful sky, rain, snow, travel, dirt roads leading to nowhere or everywhere, dreams, my family and friends, fashion, great food & wine, music, passion, trash, a blade of grass... the list goes on and on. Looking through these images, I thought it might be fun to start snapping everyday random photos, capturing these moments and sharing what I see in my life on a regular basis. I’m hoping to also learn some things about myself along the way. I don’t want to confine myself by using only one camera, so occasionally the photographs may be taken on my professional cameras, a point and shoot or it may simply be taken on my iPhone. I won’t go into the archives as I move forward. I’ll only show current images.

I’d like to end this entry by sharing that a very close family member passed away on Thanksgiving. I learned only a couple of days ago and tomorrow morning is his memorial. He lived a wonderfully full life and made an impact wherever he went. His kindness and his heart have always been and will always be inspiring to me.