Have you ever cried so much your head hurts? I have.

A friend of mine shared a quote from Patricia Wrede on his blog the other day…and I found it extremely poignant and meaningful, especially now. I thought I would share it with you…hope he doesn’t mind. :)

“Time and death are the strongest enemies we face, and the only thing stronger than they are is love.”

So the weekend had some good points and bad points…but could I expect it to finish any better than it started?

Those of you who read this blog know that I tend to be pretty vague about anything deep or personal. Those close to me will know what I’m talking about…but the masses might be confused with the cryptic, mysteriousness of it all. Anyway, to continue my trend, I will simply ask for those of you that pray to pray for my family. Health issues and whatnot…we are going through some tough times. I know that God is faithful…but it’s so hard to remember that these days. Anyway…I appreciate all my friends who continue to support, ask about, and pray for my family.

So aside from the awesome shoot on Saturday with Melissa, the really super-cute model I got to photograph…the rest of the weekend was sort of cool and sort of busty…but not in a good way. Shoots were cancelled on Sunday and Monday for a variety of reasons ranging from lack of wardrobe, miscommunication, rain, dudes installing window blinds. I’m not terribly disappointed because I’m taking rain checks on the shoots. Get it? Rain checks? *grin* On Sunday, I slept in a bit…which was nice…then ran out to Point Loma to get Megan where I was met with a great surprise…she had picked up a lost Marine. 

Meg, Evan, and I went to lunch at the Olive Garden…like old times. After a hearty lunch, we went to REI and played with the toys and then headed to the Tea Station where I sipped on tea, sucked down boba, and felt like a minority. Wait. I am a minority. Never mind…

We scouted a random photo shoot location I might use while we drove over to Deanna’s place. There, we basked in our indecisiveness and talked about lizard poo. The rest of the evening was spent driving around yet again scouting shoot locations and somehow we ended up at the Yardhouse (second night in a row for me) for dinner and drinks. Definitely good times.

After a long, fun day…I headed home with Meg in tow and we finished out the evening with a little CSI.

The next day was uneventful…despite the leak in my ceiling. Yes, my ceiling started peeing on me, which was not fun. The only thing that really got wet was my bed, so I was up all night washing my linens. I ended up having to move my bed out of the way…and I filled up an entire pot full of water. Yum. What a great way to finish the weekend, huh?

Hopefully this week will go by fast and next weekend will be better. I’m getting sick of this rain. I usually love the rain and all…but I’m convinced that nothing good can come of it. At least this week.

So it’s been a crazy few days. Had a little bit of a scare on Friday. I won’t go into details, but at least things are okay for now.

My pal Meg is in town, so we had a slew of photo shoots planned this weekend. The first two on Saturday morning were a no show. I have never had a model just NOT show, especially after confirming her time and everything. Very, very odd. The tide at Windansea was high anyway, so it was okay. Instead, we went to Nelson’s and scoped out photo equipment and scouted photo shoot locations.

In the afternoon, I had a shoot at Doug’s with Melissa. Melissa is this totally sweet, totally cute, and totally hot model/go-go dancer. We shot her in some cute lingerie and casual as well as a totally hot go-go outfit, complete with the boots. For location, I wanted something edgy and fun and I had spotted a parking lot in the middle of downtown with some crazy-cool graffiti…so we shot there. It was out of the way, but we did have a little audience across the street in this construction site. I don’t think they got any work done because they were standing on their scaffolding staring at us and making the occasional cat-call. Melissa was a professional and a trooper and didn’t mind and we just kept shooting. Got some amazing shots. Those were my favorite of all…not only did Mel look amazing, but I LOVE the colors in the background and the textures.

Here are some samples:

And a few of me doing my thing…

And then I had to take one with the car. I know my car isn’t the coolest…but you gotta love the fact that a hot girl is sitting on your bumper. ;)

Anyway, we had a lot of fun shooting together. Good times, definitely.

Later that night, I headed out to Carnivale in Little Italy with Doug and a couple of ladies. It wasn’t the hot spot we expected, but we couldn’t nail them for false advertising. After all, we did see a couple tall dudes on stilts, and jugglers. :) And the funniest thing of all was the line at Filippi’s was out the door. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Filippi’s is good and all…but it’s Little Italy. There are like 100 Italian restaurants within a three block radius.

We ended up going to the Yardhouse for some dinner and drinks. Definitely a good time.

Well, I have to go pick up Megan from hanging out with her pop, but I will be back. Enjoy the day!

Check out more pictures from the shoot here as I edit them.

I’ve been one busy guy lately…and this weekend is going to be just as busy…with 4 shoots scheduled. Meg will be in town, so it will be good to see and work with her on these sessions.

With the completion of the last wedding video from last year’s wedding season, I pulled out some of the candids I snapped of that wedding and was really surprised with how they came out…so I’ve added them to my wedding portfolio. As a matter of fact, I ended up adding quite a bit to the port since I’ve been shooting nothing but swimwear for the past month and a half. Not that I mind in the least…they’ve been amazing shoots with amazing results. So check out the newest additions in my portfolio to the Wedding and Swimwear galleries.

And enjoy your Friday too.

I’ve decided that I hate my “P’s.” The loop doesn’t come out loopy enough. You can throw my “R’s” in that same category too.

I also hate people that don’t answer their phone. It’s fine if I call you once and you don’t answer. It’s even fine when I call you twice and you don’t answer…’cause, I’m sure the chances of me calling when you are in the bathroom are really, really high. And I don’t want you answering when you’re in the bathroom. But damn, answer your phone once in a while. I don’t call people very often and when I do, it’s probably somewhat important.

Well, sometimes.

That’s another thing I hate…people that talk on their phones in the bathroom. Yes, people do it. Doesn’t the person on the other line mind the echo? Or the flush? Or the mild grunting and groaning?

I hate people that talk on cell phones while driving. Wait. Scratch that. There are some people that can multitask…but I’m talking about the people that drive like they have their heads up you-know-where because they are too busy yapping on their cell phone. There should be a law. People with only half a brain should not be using cell phones while driving. It takes at least half a brain to operate a motor vehicle. If you are using that half to talk on the phone, there’s no one at the wheel, if you know what I mean.

And honestly, most people walking around out there only have half a brain. Seriously, have you talked to these people? Scary.

And there you have it. Things I hate. Thanks for listening to my rant. I do that once in a while. But I’ll close this out with a few things I love.

I love ice cream. :)

I love crushed ice. Why Gus’s is the only place that serves crushed ice in their sodas is beyond me. More places should crush their ice.

I love wiener dogs…and I want one. They are so long and they walk funny, like a big sausage with feet.

And those are my random thoughts for the day.

So I just realized that I have a hole in my sock. That’s one of the most annoying things ever. I also have a hole in my jeans too, but that’s more socially acceptable. That, and it is Sunday…aren’t things supposed to be holy, er, holey?

Lame joke. This weekend was sort of kickback…but definitely had some cool parts. Friday was definitely one of those cool parts. I never want to go to work again. I took the day off … yet I woke up EARLIER than I usually do…and I think I might have only been home for like 2 hours the entire day.

I met with my pal, Heather, up at Windansea and shot for a couple of hours. I think we took some of the best pictures we have ever made together. The cloudy sky, which is my friend, made for some nice even lighting…and she just looks gorgeous as always. Anyway, good times. Here are a few edits that I did:

Gorgeous, ain’t she?

Anyway, I ended up seeing her two other times during the day…the details of which are long and boring….but good times nevertheless. :)

After the shoot, I headed home and quickly went through the pictures and edited a little video before meeting Heather up at Starbucks. After giving her the pics, I headed to good ‘old UBOC and had lunch with Brian. I was hoping to run into some of the other folk…but they were all in a meeting. I did get to see a few old friends like Monique, etc…and it was good to chat a bit with them.

After lunch, I raced home to burn another disk for Heather and then drove out to her place to deliver the disk. Nice Guys are definitely efficient. I also scouted for some photo shoot locations along the way. :) Let me also just say that Heather’s dog, Watson, is the COOLEST! I love that guy. He’s so long. Weiner dogs are the best!

I went home yet again to work on more of the video and then met up with Doug downtown for happy hour at HOB. We ended up catching a 7pm showing of Alpha Dog, which wasn’t too bad and then meeting the crew at the Cat Lounge. There were some smoking hot chicks there…and it was definitely cool to see everyone and toss back a few.

I got home around 1 or so and crashed.

Saturday shoots got cancelled, so I spent the entire morning finishing the Einstoss/Elhard wedding. And…it is now done. And amazing. Brian, Flor, and I had a midnight (okay, well it was more like 1:30am) viewing of it and it was nothing short of spectacular. Well, being my worst critic, there are things I would defnitely change…but for the most part, I am pleased with how it came out.

And I’m even more pleased that I have my life and my soul back. Well, for now anyway.

Today was just as kick back. I slept in and listened to the rain, which is the BEST. No shoots today, since they were cancelled as well…but I’m alright with that since the weather was pretty terrible anyway. But I spent the morning cleaning and getting organized. Also, the taxes are sooo done and I’m getting a pretty nice chunk of change, so that’s always a good thing too. Too bad I’ve already have it spent. In my mind, anyway. ;)

Well, I think I’m going to get to some of the editing for the girls and watch a little tube. I am dreading going back to the grind tomorrow…but I can enjoy the freedom for a few hours anyway. Hope y’all had a great weekend too!

So I have been firing off emails like none other…the keys on my keyboard have almost melted because I’m a typing fiend. But I can’t help it…I’m SO EXCITED about this project I’m going to be working on. I can’t say much right now since we are still in the preliminary planning phases…but let me just say it’s going to be so cool…and so hot…all at the same time.

Had tacos and Coronas tonight with Doug, Erin (the Smirnoff girl from Nicky Rottens), and her friend. Good times…good tacos…and great ideas were born.

Okay, I’ve already said too much. But stay tuned. :)

Well, my Sunday was pretty much kick-ass…football, food, beer, and babes. Doesn’t get any better…and being that it was Superbowl Sunday, you couldn’t expect any less. :)

I woke up early and met up with Kendra and Cori. They work up at the PB Hooters too and are the cutest. We had a lot of fun even though it took driving to three different places. Most of our morning was spent driving around San Diego trying to find a cool place to shoot. Tide was high, so Windansea had basically no beach to shoot on. OB was definitely not a cute option with the pretty much ugly beach and too many onlookers. So the girls took me to the jetty at Mission and it was a perfect spot with not too many people and some rocks to shoot against. I think the pics came out pretty good…but I haven’t had a chance to review them all since I was pretty busy all day yesterday. But I’ll post some later. :)

Anyway, after the shoot, the girls took me to Hooters and treated me to lunch. How could I refuse?

After lunch, I headed home for a quick shower and headed downtown to meet Doug for the game. We went to Nicky Rottens, where we indulged in food and drink and the game. During halftime, I photographed the bikini contest, which was interesting in itself…but cool nonetheless. I also got to snap a few of Holly Weber, who was there for the game and some promo stuff for the restaurant. The Miller Light girls were there as well as a Smirnoff girl…so we of course took some photo ops with them. After snapping some pictures of the girls after the contest and some of the promo girls, we sat down (or stood up) and ate and hung out with the girls. I had one of the best burgers ever, some fries with cheese (because everything is better with cheese), and watched the rest of the game. I left about 6 minutes before the end because I had to head home for more video editing madness…but that project is coming together nicely, even though I missed my self-imposed deadline. It will be done in the next day or two and I will have my life and soul back.

Anyway, the weekend was pretty sweet. And I can see another great weekend off in the distance. Five days away, to be exact.

Happy Monday.

So just as expected, it was a gorgeous day in San Diego. Perfection. And speaking of perfection, that’s what I was photographing today. Her name is Ashley…and I seriously love taking pictures of this girl. She’s the coolest! If you recall, this is the same girl that nearly froze to death for me a few weeks ago. Today, it was slightly warmer…and we had a blast shooting up at Windansea. Always good times with Ashley.

I know I usually post only edited photos…but out of the 500 + shots we took today, there are many that I’m not even going to touch. That’s how good the shoot was. Why mess with perfection?

So anyway, here are some of the shots. I don’t usually post this many, but they are so stinking good, I just had to share:

and a few goofy ones from behind the scenes:

We defnitely had a great time. I smashed my foot against a rock and really didn’t notice it hurting until after we got home…probably because my foot was so cold and practically numb. Not-so-good times. But who cares…sometimes you gotta take a little pain. Suck it up…take it like a man. Anyway, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.

Okay, so it’s time once again for another crush…and I mean it, guys…this time, it could be love.

Right. *Ahem*

So anyway, I will just come right out and say it…my newest, biggest crush is on Nadia Underwood, a model and actress from Chicago, IL. You know I usually don’t have crushes on models…but she might just be the one to change the trend. Some of you may have seen her recently on the CW’s Beauty and the Geek…and by far my favorite Beauty. Her and her partner, Mario, just recently got eliminated from the show…which is a bummer, since Mario also seemed to be one of the nicest guys on the show too. Together, I would have liked to see them go all the way and win the $250K…if it would have meant seeing more of Nadia.

I know that you can’t believe everything you see on TV, but what I do see in Nadia is a genuine sweetness that just seems to just radiate from her. She is so stinking cute (and hot) it’s not even funny. You know, it’s rare to find a girl that has equal portions of sweet and hot…and Nadia is definitely that girl.

Anyway, check out the elimination video where Nadia and Mario say goodbye and leave the Beauty and the Geek mansion. *tear*

So cute! And the greatest smile too!

Back in high school, I had Honors and AP English with Mrs. Whittington. I enjoyed English … probably because it’s one of the languages I speak … but also because Melissa Holmberg sat behind me in second period. Foxy.

Anyway, a lot of people didn’t really care for the Whit … but I sure loved that old gal. She challenged us to write like creative thinkers; always evolving, growing, and learning. She was one tough broad. One of the things that she taught us happens to be one of my pitfalls: she taught us that there was no such thing as an “final draft.” I’m sure you remember high school … a lot of teachers would have you write a “rough draft,” to make sure that your thought process was on the right track. Then, when they saw that all of your ideas were in order, they would have you write a “final draft” to turn in. Whittington always told us that there was no such thing as a final draft because papers could always be rewritten. I guess it’s like that in life … things can always go in different directions and just when you think you’re done, you realize you can start from the beginning and do things a little bit differently … and in the process, making it a little bit better than the first time.

I was sitting last night editing some photographs from a past photo shoot when I realized the Whittington curse. The girl in the picture I was editing was so beautiful … and my editing wasn’t bad by any means. But I just wasn’t happy with how I had approached the edit. I’m sort of middle ground when it comes to photo editing. I’m of the opinion that “less is more,” but I also realize the necessity for little bit of Photoshop. But for some reason whenever I leave an edit, I’m always wanting to start over and do it a different way. Realistically, there’s just no time for that … and in the end, I am never happy with stuff that I do. I am my biggest critic, after all. Is that a good thing or bad thing?

So I started reading Max Lucado’s Grace For The Moment again. I always start off the year really well, devoted to reading a page everyday … but then I just stop for some reason; usually it’s because of time. I’m going to make a better effort to actually do it. It’s a good way to start the day.

Speaking of days, I’ve been 28 for the last 25 hours and 15 minutes … technically speaking, of course. Getting older isn’t the joy that it once was … but birthdays do make me realize how many amazing friends I have. Thank you, everyone, for the birthday greetings, wishes, myspace comments and text messages. I love you all. And hey, I may not be getting younger … but I am getting better looking. Ridiculously good-looking.

And on that note, I have some work I gotta get done. More later …