So I was watching Iron Chef America tonight and I literally laughed out loud. The chairman was in rare form as he introduced the secret ingredient. :)

I just HAD to capture it and share it with the world.

Allez cuisine!

…just not “Abercrombie” hot.

Which is why I could probably never work there.

*sigh*

dallasnews.com – Employees: ‘Hierarchy of hotness’ rules at Abercrombie & Fitch

Images from the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Wow.

Who knew that I would drive up to LA and meet and angel…from Indiana? :)

I had a great day yesterday…long, but fun. It all started the night before…on Wednesday…everything caught up to me, so I decided to turn in early. That did me in, since I woke up at 5am on Thursday. I had a shoot scheduled with this cute girl from Indiana who was up in LA visiting, so I thought I’d head up a little early just ’cause.

I got up there in pretty good time and decided to kill some time and grab a hot dog at Pink’s. As you know, it was rather tasty.

Afterward, I drove around a bit, checking out places to shoot and all that. I even scoped out the Hollywood sign. I basically played tourist for a few hours until Stephy called me.

Let’s just say we had the best time. We were only supposed to shoot for two hours…but two hours became eight and well, the rest is history. We mostly hung out at her friend, Erskine’s, and shot around his apartment. After our marathon photo session, I took her to dinner at some place on La Cienega that happened to be open and we enjoyed some good eats.

Anyway, it was a great day. And Steph is not only beautiful, but a sweetheart as well. Here are some photos from the shoot…

Nothing like a chili dog and a Chicago dog at Pink’s to start your day. :)

I’m here for a shoot, so I’ll write more later. But now…time to eat!!

The staring contest between me and the Big Texas cinnamon roll has ended.

And the cinnamon roll won.

I was so lucky back when I lived in Point Loma. I was five minutes away from the beach in OB…and occasionally, when I got off of work from the bank, I would cruise out to Dog Beach. I’d pitch my shoes, but still in my Dockers, I’d walk out on the sand and just sit for thirty minutes or so and watch the orange ball drop into the ocean. It was my favorite time of the day…it was mostly quiet, with the exception of the gentle sound of the water rolling up on the beach. For a brief moment, I forgot everything…except for the important things: friends, family, God, my life. But it was good Me Time. I wouldn’t have argued if a special someone was there to share it since things like that were meant to be shared…but it was good quiet time.

Elisabeth and I talked about this as we shared a sunset shoot in Carlsbad. She occasionally goes out with her fiancé to share the sunset, so she knew of a killer beach to shoot at this afternoon. It was sort of an impromptu shoot…she hit me up yesterday to see if I was free and fortunately, I was. So I headed out LATE this afternoon and we got some gorgeous shots.

With a little help from my lighting assistant, God…

And with a little extra help…

So this may be sort of random, but I’m blogging via my iPhone and the WordPress client to try it out. It’s actually pretty cool. So we’ll see how it looks. :)

So today I was at Albertsons and I picked up a copy of the San Diego Reader. Now, most of you in SD know you can pretty much get this mag anywhere. It’s one of those free throw away publications people pick up when they’re bored and at the grocery store or the doctor’s office. Well, if you look on page 5, you’ll see an advertisement for iTan with the very beautiful Miss iTan, Emily Tisdale. Well, it just so happens that I took that photograph.

It’s pretty cool to know that thousands of people will be looking at that picture, even though they don’t know who I am.

And that’s all I have to say about that. :)

In the past year, I’ve been very fortune to work with a lot of talented models…as well as some talented photographers…that have helped me take my photography to the next level.

I’m a firm believer that knowing the fundamentals of light and composition make a great photographer…so I have been busting my butt and working hard to be even better. Knowing how to work with simple light sources, such as the sun, help SO much when you start to work with more complex, different, and multi-directional light sources. I’ve learned a lot.

Lately, however, I’ve been feeling a drive and inspiration to get back to my roots. I love glamour and I love beautiful women and it really is fun to chase a look and make the light to get that look…but sometimes simple exercises in natural light make you think a little more. You start to think more about composition and angles since you really have no control over the sun; unless, of course, you make a phone call to God before the photo shoot…and even then, it’s unpredictable.

So today, I had a shoot with the beautiful Christie Burns. She’s been on my list for the longest time…and we finally made a shoot happen today. Lots of fun, but we kept it simple. One look. One camera. I didn’t even bring out a reflector. I could have…but I wanted to think a little more today. We were chasing more editorial imagery today…and we had a great time doing it. She’s got an amazing personality and an adorable girl-next-door innocence that really comes through in her photos.

Christie is SUCH a goober…

I’ve been doing a few web projects this summer in addition to my own web site…one of which has been for my best friend, Laura.

There’s still a few things that are being worked on, but for the most part, we launched the site last night and fans are already raving. :)

It’s simple, professional, and…pink. :)

We will be launching our friend Renee Calvo’s new web site in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that! But for now, check out Laura’s site.

And Maxim’s gift to me. :)

Anna graces the cover of Maxim once again this month…and totally makes my day.

Ah. :)

I’m having mixed feelings about these Chocolate Skittles. I just bought some at Walmart…and while I love Skittles and I love chocolate, I don’t think that combining the two was necessarily such a great idea.

But hey, you don’t know until you try it, right?

I had an exhausting afternoon yesterday…

We had a shoot with Revolt at a gorgeous mansion in Poway. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work too. We shot the cover with Shark Attack and 4 amazing models, we shot a couple advertisements, and we also shot the Ten on 10.

I had been wanting to shoot with Melyssa Grace for the LONGEST time…and I was so stoked she wanted to shoot with me. :) Mely was Miss Maxim, Philippines 2007 and she’s not only beautiful, but intelligent, professional, and super sweet. We had fun shooting around the mansion yesterday…here are a couple of shots…

Look for more of Melyssa in Revolt In Style Magazine next month. :) I’ll be posting more images of her in the portfolio in the next week or so.

My friend, Jamie, forwarded me this video…and I thought it was HILARIOUS. I think this whole hands-free law is the most ridiculous thing ever…especially since I can still LEGALLY email, text message, and surf the web on my Blackberry while I’m driving…I just can’t hold the damn thing up to my ear. :)

Hands Free Safe Drivers – Watch more free videos

Had an awesome day in the sun celebrating my best friend’s 18th birthday. Laura, her mom, her niece, and I spent the afternoon at Sea World. I haven’t been to Sea World in YEARS…we’re talking elementary school here. But it was lots of fun sharing the day with some my favorite people. Got a little burned. I had a shoot yesterday, which I also got burned at…so I’m just adding to the redness. :) But it’s worth it. :)

One of the things Laura has wanted to do for the past couple of years is swim with the dolphins…so her mom made it happen…

Afterwards, another photographer friend of Laura’s had arranged for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Arctic exhibit, so we were taken around “backstage, if you will,” and we got to see a polar bear, a walrus, a Beluga whale, and an Arctic Fox up close. Laura has always wanted to meet an Arctic Fox…too bad I’m from San Diego and not Antarctica.

*insert rim shot here*

*insert cricket chirp here*

Anyway, here is Laura and Natasha, the Arctic Fox…

Boris, Natasha’s partner in crime, was on the other side of the fence…he is a white Arctic Fox and had a plastic cone over his head. Satellite Fox, if you will.

Anyway, fun, fun day. Tomorrow should be fun too!! :)