MAY: Faces and Places

May was a busy month, starting off with my first ever workshop, the Sports Shooter Academy, which was conveniently located just an hour south of me. It continued with a visit from my new friend Sam Navarro (who I get to see again soon!) and then a visit to see my grandfather in Seattle with my sister, and then a visit here in LA with my sister for our once a year get together.

I took a lot of photographs - some good, some bad - and had no idea how to blog about them. SO, I condensed them into big collages to break them down into basically three blocks of what this past month has been like.

I also released my first newsletter, for those interested. You can sign up for my quarterly newsletter here: Sign-up And you can see the first one here: Newsletter

Thanks to everyone who has signed up! And thank you for taking the time to look at my work here on the blog.

Sam's Visit

 Venice with Sam

Visiting Grandpa and Family

 Sibling Time

Good "Build It Yourself" Blood Marys

Some experiences need to be lived through video... or GIFs

An Afternoon at the Venice Beach Skate Park

This past weekend, seeking some respite from my home office and laptop, I rode my bike down to Venice to photograph people at the skate park. There can be too much time spent inside and at a certain point, you're just ricocheting around the internet without accomplishing much. I needed fresh air and some pressureless, fun photography.

I've never actually photographed skateboarding before, which I find kind of funny. Two of my first three magazines I subscribed to as a kid were Snowboarder and Skateboarder magazine (the other was the free Lego magazine). I got them just to look at the pictures and dream of being a professional skateboarder and snowboarder myself, though I always faced a severe lack of concrete in Wyoming.

The park was full of boarders taking advantage of a nice day, but one in particular kept trying a big trick out of the pool. He was a fun kid with a lot of energy, and the concrete was pretty packed with spectators and boarders, so I found my opening and pretty much stayed there, playing with different ways to photograph the action. I tried not to concern myself with getting all the angles or doing anything that I'd usually push myself to do on an assignment. I was there to relax and have fun, and acting like that takes some of the fun out of it.

I came out of there with a couple pictures I liked, feeling refreshed by a relaxing excursion outside of the house to a place I hadn't been before.

Hope you enjoy the photos.