Well, I just got home from another canceled shoot/no show. I don’t write about this often, but mostly this is irritating for a few reasons. For one, I don’t get to take pictures … which is the whole reason I do this in the first place. I love photography. The other reason is time. Now I usually don’t mind the wasted time, except this week my time is pretty limited. But I get irritated because this “wasted time” is time I could’ve booked with another model or client.

Let me tell you a few well-known facts … (rant begins here…)

(more…)

I smell skunk. It’s really gross.

Some of my best ideas have come from quality time in the bathroom…I’m not going to lie…but Starbucks is definitely a runner up in places I am most productive. I’ve burned two proofing disks…met TWO models here and delivered the aforementioned disks to them (this is a great place for entertaining clients), drank half a caramel macchiato, responded to two text messages, 5 emails, synched my Blackberry…and I also wrote this blog. Impressive, eh? Maybe it’s the Diana Krall I’m jamming to on my iPod…or perhaps it’s the funky ambiance of the place.

Or perhaps it’s just the caffeine running through my veins.

It’s been a pretty insane week to say the least. Work is a nightmare. I have about a hundred pictures to edit and review…and I’m working on two video projects right now. Why I always do this to myself, I will never really know. But here I am, piles and gobs of stuff to do. I have been working on minimal sleep and I pretty much feel like crap. But I honestly have no one to blame but myself. I’m pretty much a moron. :)

The cuz is in town, so I got to spend some quality time with Tara and Aleck on Friday afternoon and scheme on wedding photo ideas and scope out the locations where the wedding festivities will take place. I also got their invite yesterday and checked out their web site. A cuter couple you will not find. I’m really looking forward to shooting their wedding.

And that was possibly the most poorly written sentence in history.

Yesterday, I did a shoot with a very beautiful model from the OC. Her name is Ashley and she’s gonna be in our calendar. Very excited for that. Jen was working her makeup artistry and hair magic yesterday. Always a blast with her.

After the shoot yesterday, Mima and I took Pop out to dinner for father’s day. A cooler dad you will not find.

I had to keep the excellent grammar trend rolling.

Now, I’m thinking breakfast and some video editing. Shoot later this afternoon…and more editing is on the books. Exciting stuff, huh?

Keep it real, party people.

I had a great Sunday, as was expected when I wrote 20-something hours ago. :)

I woke up early and photographed Hannah and Justin up at Mt. Woodson Castle in Ramona. The morning light was a little harsh…but the warm tones were really nice for photos. I did what I could without assistance, which made light control a little harder…but I think we got some nice, creative shots for their announcements and invitations.

I headed back home and hung out for a bit before meeting Liz and Heather. I tell ya…I love those chicks. They are so funny and cool. I am one of the luckiest photographers and guys in the world to meet and photograph girls that are fun to be around. It is the best thing ever.

We dodged waves at Windansea before moving over to the Cove, where we finished up our shoot. Jennifer was doing makeup again today too; I love working with her. She’s absolutely amazing.

Anyway, some shots…

And some of the crazy ones…

The other day, Brian and I were having a conversation revolving around simple economics.

“Why would anyone pay $2 for a razor blade?”

The Gillette Mach 3 is probably one of the most expensive razors on the market. And also probably one of the best. I haven’t had to buy Mach 3 replacement blades for a long time … mostly because they were so expensive, but also because I went through my goatee-period and figured cheap blades were better than nothing. I’ve basically been putting cheap metal to my face for the last several months. Well … no more, I tell you. I broke down and purchased four Mach 3 replacement blades the other day and have to say this, my friends … they are well worth the money. I shaved just a few moments ago and it was completely effortless … like a hot knife through butter. Not butter … but buttah . People will pay the money if the product is well worth it. And I gotta tell you … worth every penny. And if there any hot, single ladies out there questioning this, feel free to come over and I’ll let you do the rub-the-face test.

In other news, I had one of the most glorious Saturdays I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been running on minimal sleep for the past few weeks so when my photo shoot canceled today, I took advantage of the situation by sleeping until 2. It was absolutely amazing. I also spent the time catching up on things, grabbing a sandwich with Brian, Flor, and Jeremy, and doing a little shopping. Good times …

I almost forgot … I had an awesome photo shoot on Friday with Stevie, one of my most favorite people. She’s always so much fun to hang out with … and despite the unpredictable lighting scenario, we managed to sneak away with some really nice shots. Also got a chance to photograph her friend, Medea, before she leaves for Hawaii … so that was nice. Here’s a few samples …

And on that note, I’m going to get to bed. It’s after 3:00 a.m. and have an engagement session later this morning in Ramona. Then later this afternoon, I get to hang out with two more of my favorite people: Heather and Liz. Looking forward to it … should be a pretty awesome day! Pictures later …

Photo shoots are always the best when they turn into little adventures…and today was no exception.

I shot again with Laura and Ennis and we set out on an urban adventure. First, I took them to my secret graffiti spot…only to find out it had been painted over. Ennis told me he’d been there within the past week, so this was a recent development. I was pretty bummed. But we shot there anyway. In an effort to be creative, we tried out our acrobatic skills. Laura is pretty talented at climbing fences in heels. I was pretty impressed. Everything was going fine and dandy until some dick scared the crap out of us and told us to get lost. Granted, we were sort of shooting on his crappy fire escape (and I use the word “crappy” very literally), but geez, lighten up, bro. Ennis’s attempt at friendliness was thwarted by this jerk’s massive attitude problem. So we promptly packed up and left, all the while listening to this guy’s tirade and lecture on “professional” photography. Dude, perhaps if you lightened up and had more fun, you would enjoy what you do…and you would be living in a slightly better place instead of the crap heap we were shooting at.

Granted, it makes a cool backdrop for a photo shoot…but the only reason we were shooting there was because it looked grungy and gross. Get a clue, buddy.

Anyway, I was slightly miffed…but only slightly, since we got some great shots of Laura. I’ll post some from that part of the day a little later…

The majority of the rest of our time was spent driving around in circles and in massive traffic to our next location. But once we got there, we had a great time. Here are some samples…

Ennis was definitely the most acrobatic today…

Anyway, it was a fun weekend with Laura and crew…definitely good times.

And now that my eyes are burning and I’m really tired, I think I’m going to get to bed now. More later!

Last night was the first night in several weeks I was able to get to bed before 3 in the morning. I slept long. And I slept hard. And I didn’t wake up until 7:30 this morning. It was glorious.

I spent most of my Saturday morning cleaning up and catching up on stuff. I had an afternoon photo shoot up at Windansea with the beautiful and lovely Laura Baker. She and her mom drove down to shoot with me and Ennis Rios , another cool and talented photographer. I photographed Ennis’s girlfriend, Gianna, a month or so ago and had a blast…so I knew we’d have a good time shooting with Laura. I think we worked well together…and Laura is just amazing to shoot. Effortless. Her new nickname is the Memory Card Eater…because you can just shoot and shoot and shoot and just not get tired of it. And for someone like me who is learning to control the number of shots he takes, I still end up taking hundreds of pictures of Laura.

Anyway, we had crappy weather, but got some pretty good shots anyway. And the shoot was a lot of fun too. We are doing some urban shots tomorrow, so I get to show everyone my cool secret locations. Gonna be a good time. And I think I’ll finish it up with a sunset engagement session at the beach. Anyway, here are some shots of Laura…

Here one of Ennis doing his thing…

I also randomly ran into Mike Crouch shooting a hottie at the beach too. I think he and Ennis got some behind the scenes shots of me, so I will post them when I get them. :)

More tomorrow!!

So Flor emails this over to me and I literally laughed out loud. I thought I’d share it with you fine people: