as a man in my 30′s (do you really want the exact number? no? good), i wish that i had more photos of my youth to look back on. not only for myself, but all the more now, to share with my child. i don’t really have much in the way of a “maternity” session of my mom, either. i know it was a different era back then and photos are more commonplace now. and this is why people should be thinking of this. there is a good reason that photographs have always been on the top 3 of everyone’s “what would you grab from your house if there was a fire” list. and just because photos are digital now, doesn’t change that. photos are the record of our history. this is how and a good amount of “why” i photograph people.

too much typing already… back to elle. she did not take any photos during her first pregnancy and said that she really wanted to document it this time around. she wanted to also feel like she can still think of herself as attractive in her mama stage. so we set out to do just that.

let us know if you think we accomplished her goals.   :)

another fun session and a lovely mama. wishing her nothing but a smooth final trimester and an amazing birth experience… thanks, elle!

here are some of my faves from their engagement session:

i am ecstatic to be a part of their big day and extremely honored to be able to document it for them. i love you guys…

and leave a comment if you like them. it doesn’t take long and it would be nice to see some hello’s from some of y’all out there.   :)

the concert was opened by brett dennen, so here are some photos of his set to begin…

a little break between sets and a massive stage overhaul before the band came on for their run at us…

huge and tremendous thanks and whole-hearted gratitude to J&S for providing me with this opportunity. i hope my work keeps me in consideration for the future   :)

again… don’t be afraid to say hi. i will say hi back   :)

we stayed at our friends’ house (they were actually down in so cal for the time, ironically) during our weekend and their place is just brilliant. (thanks again, toby and sonja!)

not too long after we set our bags down, we headed out to see some of their neighborhood. so, you can maybe read in the shot right below the full story of this “artist/collector”, but he basically has created these intricate sculptures on his property from things that he has found washed up on the shores of local beaches.

from litter to nature… a natural segue, right?

we got a few things together and headed to downtown berkeley for some food and general wandering.

excuse the grain on these two phish show photos… they were shot with my point-and-shoot… but i still like them.

after the phish show that night, we went to a late night performance downtown. jennifer hartswick (who plays/sings in trey anastasio’s solo project band) was going to be guesting with a band named moksha from las vegas.

the next day, we got a little bit of a late start for breakfast and decided to have lunch instead. we stopped at this place that we had heard good things about, but what people said could not even touch how amazing these burgers were. and there were so many options on the menu. the choice was difficult, but we both left super full and super happy. if you are ever in berkeley, make a point to get to Barney’s. trust me.

get into it, brother. don’t be scared!  :)

as we walked back towards our friends’ place, we saw a few racks of sunglasses outside a little shop and decided to try some on before making a purchase. well, my brother ended up being the model for a very impromptu sunglass product shoot. and he was good at it!!!  ;)

onto pre-show fun and people watching. no show pictures coming… just stuff before it.

for those who may not know, the upraised finger as people walk up and down the sidewalk is to indicate they need a ticket. the grateful dead did a song called “i need a miracle” some years back, and the term kind of stuck with the hippie crowd as saying: “i need my miracle ticket” or some form of that. so now you know… and you thought you wouldn’t learn anything today… pshaw!

the next morning, before we left to come back home to so cal, we went out again for breakfast. i had to pull the car over really quick to take a shot of these old “street signs” that i do not know the history of (sorry… wasn’t it enough that i taught you the story of the miracle tickets?), but these are just so cool to me. this is good history. well, visually, at least… since i do not know the actual history.

and who would have known? we scored again with where we ate. the breakfast was nothing short of phenomenal at this little place in north berkeley called the sunny side cafe.. another place for you to bookmark if you like making your tastebuds do a little happy dance.

overall, yet another amazing time in northern california. i need to live up there. if you know me, you know how much i firmly believe that. some day, nor cal… some day we will be co-habitants. until then, i will return soon   :)

the opening band was Nathen Maxwell & The Original Bunny Gang. Nathen was originally with the band Flogging Molly, so that was a very unexpected treat.

a great show by someone who is not only amazingly talented, but incredibly passionate about his music. what a treat to be there.

stay tuned for more concert photography coming your way…

you know that “game” you can play at, say, disneyland where you grip this handle and squeeze it and the lights go up and down and it tells you your HOT meter or rating? well, if you could gauge love in such a way, the amount of love (not only between the couple, but within their friends and family) at this wedding would have put that thing on tilt.

again… just a few that jumped out at me quickly tonight. more to come, you two…. much more….   :)

the extra bonus for the night was that he was paired with rosi golan, another singer/songwriter extraordinaire. they have done vocals for each other’s songs on their albums and their voices go together like … well… do you like peanut butter and jelly? do you like bagels and lox? use any of those or other pairings and you will know what i mean.

the show was at this little gem of a place in san diego called lestat’s coffee house. i have been to my fair share of shows in that area, but had never been here. what an intimate setting it was. made the experience that much better.

let’s get to the photos, shall we?

jake phillips, a friend of both rosi and william’s, played and sang all night in support. i admit, i got a little excited when he finally picked up the banjo.

performing rosi’s tune “hazy”. find this and purchase it on itunes. this song has easily cracked my top 50 songs of all-time by any artist.

for their final song of the set, they unplugged and came right out into the middle of us all to sing one of my all-time faves by william: “good morning” (another one you should check out)

one last shot of william… i will be sure to catch his show every time he is local from here on out. period.

so i was a lucky fan and got a signed copy of his set list. here it is, pictured in my little girl’s crib. you see, not only do i love his music, but my little girl has basically been listening to him since her first days home with us almost 2 years ago. so his music is a big part of my life. thank you, william…

when i got the chance to get some tickets (thanks, jessica!) to one of the few games the sox were playing at the big A this season, i took it. i love going to sox games here and soaking in the opportunity to see all of the other sox fans in attendance (so you will see plenty of “atmosphere” photos here as well).

i will even give some blog space to some of the sox haters as well (on the right, below)….

starting pitcher for the sox for the night: clay buchholz. this kid threw a no-hitter in his 2nd ever major league start previously.

i used to love coming to the park when i was a kid, with my dad, in time for batting practice. i think i had forgotten how much i enjoy that still. how often do you get to watch some of your sports heroes do things like this?

and there goes clay, through the slice of sunlight on the field, to throw his warm-up pitches in the bullpen:

i like to think this is how this conversation went on the field:

“how many home runs you got in ya tonight?” “i feel like maybe two”

and it was true. this is where the home run derby and all star game were held a week or so ago, and papi (david ortiz, below) won the home run derby. he apparently was not done, as he hit two out during this game.

this was a big night for the angels. just the day before, they had made a fairly large trade, acquiring pitcher dan haren from the arizona diamondbacks. they ended up starting him on monday night, his very first day with his new team. here are his first moments on the mound of his new home field:

and some moments from his first inning of work, sitting down papi with a strike-out to end the inning:

that tiny slice of light spent a few minutes on the infield, creating quite an annoyance for jed lowrie during the second inning:

during the 5th inning, kevin youkilis shot a linedrive towards the middle of the infield. it struck the angels new million dollar invested pitcher in his arm. ouch!

and thus ended dan haren’s night and first start for the angels…

time for the 7th inning stretch… and it’s root root root for the red sox…

baseball players say “good game”   ;)

coolest glasses on this fan. from what i saw, he wore them the entire game.

and here is papi rounding the bases after hitting his second home run to nudge the red sox into the lead. i edited this image in an old-fashioned way because i always think of papi as an old-time big bopper:

there are always plenty of fireworks in the stands during red sox/angels and yankees/angels games, it seems. i will not bore you with my take on that. but, something happened between an angel fan and this red sox fan below. she was 4 rows or so in front of him, so who knows what happened. but after they threw the angel fan out, they came down to collect her as well.

nope. not budging. you can’t make me!

she gave in fairly quickly after the above and started playing to the people all around who had been watching the events. it was pretty hilarious.

one of my favorite players, maybe of all-time, kevin youkilis. i zoomed in on this photo and he is almost or possibly looking right at the camera.

and for the ninth inning, it was papelbon time… and in most cases (and this was no exception) that means a win for the sox.

thanks for humoring the sports lover in me… that should be my one sports related post for the year. you can allow me that, right?  :)

i have said this before after family sessions, and this was no exception … and maybe one of the best examples of my thoughts on this. i love when siblings are close. love to see a big brother or big sister protect and love on their younger sibling. and, on the other side of it, seeing that younger sibling look up to their elder… it just hits this special spot inside my heart. i love capturing that for the parents.

this little girl was so sweet, shy and curious. if this family is not careful, she could have them all wrapped around her finger in no time   ;)

even though the parents did not want to be involved in the day’s session, i found a little way to involve them that i feel makes a fun / alternative for a family shot:

it was great finally getting to meet this family and i easily could have hung out with them longer… one of those couples that are so completely genuine and friendly. thanks again for the opportunity to work with / for y’all and i wish you the best in the years to come with your adorable and inspirational family.

while the couple “worked the room”, you could tell how deeply loved they were. i love this first moment of a ring display  :)

this friend of the happy couple was cutting a mean rug all afternoon. he and karen had everyone entranced while they shared a dance…

with the enormous windows, i could not help but take some silhouette photos of karen and nick together. this is one of my favorites:

as i said before, thanks again to the happy couple for trusting me with documenting your day with you. it was a pleasure to meet you both and your families. i wish you both the an amazing life together.