One Camera. One Lens. One Photo a Day.

Sparky, on the swing…

This afternoon the heat really kicked in so Nicki and I took the kids to a little Ladera Ranch “plunge pool”.

It was so relaxing and refreshing and after that the kids wanted to play on the swings and playground next to the pool.

Colton, from a portrait session…

This morning I headed up to Newport to do a Kids of OC portrait session, including this one of little Colton.

I photographed him for last year’s book and it still continues to astound me how quickly he has changed and how much he has grown up since that session.  He is part of a play group and I’ve photographed or will photograph several of the little ones from the group for this year’s book.

Mopping Up…
A worker at an airport hotel near LAX cleans the dining area after the morning rush….I happened to be up there for a couple hours to do an interview with Jim Miotke, President of Betterphoto.com (where I teach online).

While waiting for Jim doing another interview, I saw this photograph, made from the fourth floor balcony.

Sibling “battles”

I’m sure it won’t be the last….and Kate better watch out…Sparky is already getting pretty big and he may be mellow but don’t mess with him .

Paige and Chad, Portrait Session this evening…

One of my favorites of these two great kids from a session in Las Flores.

Sparky, on the move!

He’s so quick as he scrambles around the house … we should put a mop on his knees because then we could scrub the floors while he’s at it.

Here I was waiting for him to do “The Move” his crusing and crawling version of break dancing.  It didn’t quite happen and it would be much better suited for video than a still frame.

Even so, it was great watching him just enjoy crawling in the bedroom.  We *think* he’ll be walking soon, but so far just crawling and standing.  He does a mean set of squats too, but no forward steps.

Sparky in Kate’s Room, while Nicki reads…

Kate was a bit under the weather today so we kept a very low profile.

It had been an incredibly hectic week — lots of clean ups around the house and while it took a lot of energy — especially on Nicki’s part as she painted the baseboards upstairs and downstairs (they look awesome!), we were all exhausted by the time Sunday rolled around.

Sparky just loves hanging out in Kate’s room — the big sis!

While he was cruising around the room and paused for this photograph, Nicki was happily reading one of her baby books to make sure Sparky’s on pace.

He seems to be doing just fine.

Tavin and his Shadow…

This afternoon we spent a few hours over at Jason and Jodi’s and letting the kids just play together.

The light coming through the window was incredible and this image was made as Tavin was checking me out as he headed up to the kids’ playroom.

Antonio Parkway, looking south…

Heading to the gym this morning very early it was a bit dreary with the coastal fog making it’s way all the way up to Ladera Ranch.

It’s been this kind of summer for most of it.

Usually this weather pattern is gone by early July but we’ve been experiencing a longer period of the dreaded “June Gloom” than I can remember in a while.

A client down in Laguna Beach mentioned how socked in it has been at the beach.

When we lived in Manhattan Beach it was often socked in much longer than further inland.  Kept things very cool which was handy since we didn’t even have an air conditioner in our apartment (especially foreign since we moved from Phoenix!).

For us, though, it tends to break up around mid to late morning but at the beach, you could be socked in for a much longer time.

It’s makes for a dreary summer, but I like the mood it creates in the photo.

Flower in afternoon light,

Nicki bought some plants to liven up the patio and I loved how the bright afternoon sun looked casting a shadow on the plant against the out of focus patterns of the tablecloth.