Michael Grecco at Julia Dean contest

A couple of years ago I took the "Dramatic Portrait" class by Michael Grecco at the Julia Dean school of photography in Venice CA.

Michael was so good. Great class. One cool thing he did was have a contest for the dramatic photo of the group. Now, this was completely up to him--his was the only vote.

Never the less ---our group won the little contest. First and only contest I ever won for photography.

window and water reflections

shot thru a window in the winter near Boston.

sailboat masts in a puddle

Spring skiing Mammoth Mountain

Glorious day! sunny, hot, good snow................

A good time to be alive it was.

Stealth Bomber during the Rose Parade

Got a cool press pass for the Rose Parade oh so long ago in January. Forgot I had these till today.
The quietest bad ass stealth bomber flew overhead. It was stealthy indeed. Could barely hear it till it was right overhead.
The first shot is from right beneath it. The other two are it coming right at me.

Bad Ass Airplane.

Alta Utah and Little Cottonwood Canyon

This is your typical view coming up or down Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah. The road is often slippery as hell and tons of snow blanket the trees, road, everything.

In short--it's awesome.

Broken Glass is your friend

Some workers broke a huge window in my old house while renovating. It stayed broken for a month or two.
At first I was kinda pissed but soon realized it was kinda cool. I mean no air or animals came in and the photos were very fun and eye catching. Click on that bad boy and see how cool it looks bigger.

So I did a bunch. Here is one simple one. Depending on the time of day, focus, f-stop, etc.... you could create a whole world of possibility. More to come cuz these are fun.

Del Rey Yacht Club Catalina Race part 2

A few panoramics to start with. Oh Oh I ended with a preposition.
The first is the starting point in Catalina for the race back to Marina Del Rey. I left it choppped up and not cropped just to be different.
Next is a 6 shot pano completely done in Lightroom with a couple of Nik filters thrown in for good measure. And cropped thinly or tightly or whatever you want to call it.
The 3rd shot is the Marina Del Rey to Catalina portion of the race. Those three boats with Malibu in the backround are our main competitors. The went high - we went low. They were right -we were wrong. We lost by 14 minutes or so.
This last shot I just like.

Del Rey Yacht Club Catalina Race part 1

The race was super fun. Ok these pics were taken at night while moored --safe and sound. Fun with flash at night. The light was full moonlight in the back and the flash from a point and shoot for the figures.
These were all hand held at midnight on a boat. Thus less than stellar sharpness. But stellar fun taking them. X, Hunter, Greg, Carl, and me had a ball thinking of ways to shape light.

More tomorrow from this series. Then on to some sailing pics.
Stay tuned.

NY spring flowers iphone style

NY spring flowers, originally uploaded by philberon.

iphone with colorsplash app.

It's a beautiful day! It's a beautiful world today

Buildings may crumble but Maytag...........

Maytag, originally uploaded by philberon.

I took this picture on Route 66 out of Santa Fe in 2002.
On a Canon G1.

This crazy maytag washer sitting in front of this crazy wall of some home long gone.

Say what you will about technology--that Maytag is in perfect shape. Poor little thing--sitting out in the rain, in the dessert, in the cold, in the scorching sun.

They don't make em like they used to.

The Four Corners

The Four Corners, originally uploaded by philberon.

Ah, embarrassing photo of the week.
In 7th grade I was in a class with three of my best friends-Andy, Bobby, and Dan the Man.

I guess we were a bit of trouble cuz our teacher Mr. Dziedzic put us in the four corners of the classroom-so we wouldn't talk to each other.

Deep down he loved us He was one of the best teachers --good friends with us and very cool guy.

Still friends with these jokers. We all have a tad less hair now.

Lee Tonks fabulous photos

LEE_3762editedflk, originally uploaded by lotsofdpi.com.

I met Lee and his wife thru my class at the Julia Dean School of Photography in Aline Smithson's class.

Lee is certainly gifted -everyone knows that. Most known for his phenomenal photos of his daughter (placed in some rather unique circumstances).

I've been a fan of this body of work and it can be seen by clicking on
www.LeeTonksPhotography.com

I came across his Flickr page and had to share this pic I've never seen before. Remarkable.

For those who ask-and everyone does-- I met his daughter and she is the cutest, well adjusted, girl who has ever been asked to pose with dead stuffed animals and leap of cliffs--you have ever met.

Great job Lee!