The Expressive Blog

I am so fortunate to live in a place as beautiful as Santa Cruz, on the Monterey Bay. My typical drive, from home to my studio, takes me through such gorgeous scenery, that sometimes I can't resist stopping to take a few photos. Since I am a pro photographer, it's not really goofing off, right? Maybe it is goofing off, but the results, so far have been very interesting and arty images, in my humble opinion. It is possible that I may actually sell something from this growing collection of images, some day. Then it really really will not be just goofing off. For now, I hope you will enjoy these views of this amazing place I call home!

Feel free to comment on this, and anything else in this blog!

Train cars, west side, Santa Cruz

The photos below, are taken along West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

Occasionally, I start my day early enough to see the sunrise. It is certainly easy to do this time of year, when the sun rises later. Here are a few early morning views of the Santa Cruz Wharf and Boardwalk. Just click the "More" button, to view.

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Back in October, I had the privilege of photographing the San Francisco wedding of a very special couple. Ben and Sara, met at West Point Military Academy, and each has served actively, in defense of our country - Sara, as an intelligence officer, in Afghanistan, and Ben, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, in Iraq. Aside from the distinguished level of service they both give, this couple has such class, which was apparent in their words and everything about their wedding day. Thanks, Ben and Sara, for the kindness and courtesy you showed me, and best wishes in your life together! Here are a few images from their wedding...

Sara's sister and bridesmaid, was 100 percent there for her, on the big day. Every detail was attended to!

Below, we see Sara with her sister, in a very classy Rolls Royce, just before they depart for the wedding ceremony.

Sara and Ben tied the knot at the San Francisco Presidio Chapel

Yes! They seemed to be literally walking on air!

The reception was held at the Marines' Memorial Hotel, in San Francisco. It was my first event there, and I was thoroughly impressed with the venue. Of course, it helps when you fill the room with lots of great folks with something very special to celebrate!

The slide show, featuring highlights from Sara and Ben's lives, was a BIG hit! Below on left, we see Ben's parents reacting to some of the photos...

Sara and Ben, used this saber not only to cut the cake, but also lift out the slice and put it on a plate! Can you imagine how difficult that had to be? I suppose the steady nerves and hands required to pilot a helicopter, can also help cut the cake... As you'll see, they made it look easy!

The end of the celebration was just as perfect as the rest of the day. Here they are, surrounded by many dear friends and family.

The extraordinary wedding photographer, Anne Ruthman, recently wrote a very thoughtful and information-packed post on her blog, about why wedding photos take as long as they do. As a pro photographer, I could not agree with her more, on everything she has to say about this subject! Essentially, what she says, is that we photographers, are artists, who appreciate and care about our clients, who give us the opportunity to do what we love - create beautiful images, that have deep intrinsic value for them. And, of course, it takes time to go through the many (1400 to 2400, in my case!) images we shoot at a wedding, and prepare a final presentation of 1000 or so of the very best shots. What I especially appreciate about Anne's words, is that it's not just me preaching my views about the creative process and production times for the HUGE project that all wedding assignments are. See Anne's post here. Thanks Anne! You're amazing!

P.S. In case you're wondering... We normally have wedding photos available to the couple and their guests, for online viewing, within three weeks after the wedding.

Many thanks to Scott Haines, of Newfront Creative, for his excellent work updating and expanding the capabilities of the new Expressive Blog! My original plan, was to keep the old blog around for everyone who had been visiting it, but the database that supports the old blog became corrupted - all my fault, of course - and it had to be scrapped. Fortunately, Scott was able to work a miracle, by migrating all the content from my original blog, into the new Expressive Blog

This post marks the beginning of this all-new blog, with larger photos, and other special features I can hardly wait to try out! If anyone out there is looking for a great engineer/web design expert, I highly recommend checking out Scott's company, Newfront Creative!