My Bro's on the News!

My younger brother, Jon, started BikePortland.org less than two years ago after moving to Portland and finding that there were a huge number of cyclists and not much online info about bikes in the big city. Now he owns/runs the most popular bicycle site on the planet!!

He recently posted a story about a couple of young cyclists getting beat up while riding in one of the tougher neighborhoods in Portland. Comments about similar incidences were coming in like ants to a Skittle.

The local ABC news affiliate monitors his site for good stories and noticed how concerned people were getting about this post. A reporter was at Jon's house within 48 hours of posting about the girls, interviewing him for the 11 o'clock news!

Check it out here: http://www.katu.com/news/5277051.html

I was stoked for Jon about getting on the news, of course my older brother and I had to rag on him a little... but he is sincerely proud that his creation, Bike Portland.org, is getting so many important issues in front of so many people. And I am so proud of him too.

Here's Jon with his family from Christmas:


Way to go Jonny!!!

George and Terry at the Montage

Sunday we had perfect weather for a wedding at The Montage Resort in Laguna. It was pretty windy but it totally died down just for the ceremony!! It was amazing!

EMP had the 'Dream Team' there to cover the event in all it's beauty- Brandon and Stefanie were with me to get it all.

I started in Terry's room to get some detail shots and to record the girls prepping for the big moment. I knew right away Terry had style when I saw her dress and the pearl necklace- very elegant attire for an elegant and classic looking girl.

The flowers were done by Enchanted Florist- just amazing!:

The necklace (which later got changed to a beautiful diamond one):

I love the color of the rooms at The Montage, it works so well with the soft light from the sliding glass door for images like:

This was taken from about twenty five feet up to get a cool view never before seen at the Montage (that I know about!):
Right after the ceremony Terry was pretty excited about her ring!:
Under the natural rock arch (Terry was a trooper getting across the rough terrain with high heels!):
To make a perfect day even better, Alex and Jeff from Elysium were there along with Jeannie and her crew from Details Details. And the party went off due to the musical mastery of Peter at Vive Inc.

To see more images check out a little slideshow, click here.

Trees are Good

As some of you know, I am a bit of a nature boy. I love gardening and enjoy being surrounded by nature. I recently found a company that collects and distributes cardboard boxes- what a cool idea, reusing them uses way less resources as compared to recycling them! Check them out here.


At their site, I found a plethora of cool links to environmental sites, one being www.treesaregood.com. Great site to learn all about planning, planting, and maintaining trees in your yard or the office. There are many great reasons to plant big trees.

The best reason for me is using a deciduous (leaves fall off in Autumn) tree in front of a south-facing window because we have huge window (9 feet by 9 feet) on the front of our house- south-facing. In summer the leaves shade the house to help keep it cool and in the winter the leaves fall off to allow the sun to warm us up! Sometimes it actually gets too hot in here in winter... even with some tinting on the windows!

I find trees and plants very relaxing to be around- I think because there are no hard lines just natural, curvy, lines. Fluttering leaves is very calming as well- like watching a water fall.

Check out the site and plant some trees!!! you'll be glad you did!

Out and About in Guadalajara

Our wedding this past Saturday was in Guadalajara and we were there for a few days so we (My assistant Brandon and I) had a chance to walk around the neighborhood we stayed in as well as the Historical Center downtown.

Love the bright colors:Our first stop after checking in at the hotel was at a taqueria... awesome tacos for fifty cents each- we had a plateful along with a 'Coca' then continued on our walk about. There were some very nice houses with manicured yards and clean paint along side more run-down houses... a little like a middle-class neighborhood in the US.

The day after the wedding we were able to go downtown. The buildings were incredible- huge Spanish style cathedrals and other buildings. Many people were out enjoying the nice evening. Family seems to be very important in this culture. In the main plaza downtown there was an enormous fountain, lights on all the large buildings, people hanging out everywhere, lots of little markets and shops- coffee, frozen yogurt, donuts, food, etc.

While taking in the sights we were bombarded with sounds: a preacher on a super-loud PA system, whistles, horns, people talking and laughing, tour buses motoring by, music, etc. It was a lot to take in...

A very nice young lady approached us as we were shooting things like garbage cans and the cobblestones to tell us the location of street performers... we went to check it out... As soon as one of the clowns saw my flash go off he immediately invited be into the center of a circle of 200 or so people! He must have been pretty funny because all the Spanish speakers were busting up when the clown would speak and point at me!! I know some Spanish but not when it's coming at me at 100 miles an hour! We were there for about a half hour until the show was over..... after our photo was taken the clown handed me his card and asked if I could send him some photos for his site.... cool!

We had a blast and got some cool shots:
The main Cathedral downtown:
After Brandon and I joined the circus!
Check out the slideshow.

Mexico Wedding

Mexico is always a cool place to visit. This was my first time to Guadalajara and found it just beautiful. Modern architecture is very popular so there are many cool commercial and residential buildings to look at. There is also much history especially in the historical center downtown.

The wedding was pretty cool- not too different than some weddings I have done in the States but there were some definitely unique events. The Bride and Groom (Angie and Steve) are from the US but the Bride's family is from the town we were in- her uncle actually married them!

Some images:


Angie and the girls (and I) got to ride in the horse drawn carriage- so cool! Their church is in the background.


Yes, those are real fireworks- and yes, the reception was indoors! I thought about how that would work in the US- I figured the sprinklers would go on and everyone would get soaked... then I looked up and found no sprinklers at all... that's good! or is it?
After the six fireworks went off and the smoke added to the discharge of a smoke machine and cigarette smoke, you could hardly see your hand in front of your face- let alone breath without feeling like a brick was on your chest!! It's a dangerous job but some one's got to do it!

The party was completely out-of-control! the reception went until 3:30 and the staff had to pretty much chase the guests out! Those Mexicans can party!!

Check the slideshow.

New Brighter Look!

The blog got a little color change!! As you may have noticed. As did the website- Jeni liked the light open feel of a lighter brown. She recently painted the living room a really light cream- from a deep sepia color- and just loves the relaxed, open, comfortable feel of the lighter color.

I hope I don't have to change the color of my site every time she paints the living room!!!!

Hope you like it- Let me know with a comment!

OK, I will put some shots of the new living room when I get back from Mexico!

Adios!

Mexico!!

Yep, we (my assistant Brandon and I) for Guadalajara, Mexico for a wedding, first thing in the morning... I was getting my gear ready for the trip when I realized how much STUFF I lug around to every wedding I shoot!

A few bodies, a few flashes and a bunch of other stuff!!

My favorite photo case is a by Porter Case- it doubles as a dolly... I use it on every trip because it is the max size for a carry-on (yes I have to carry all this stuff on the plane so it doesn't get swiped). I used it on a trip to the West Indes for a wedding and loaded it up with all our (mine and Jeni's) bags- like three large suit cases and a few smaller bags... Jeni was cruising through the airport like a celeb with just her purse on her shoulder while I easily rolled all our bags with ease!

Yes, this is a big plug for Porter Case- I sent my case in for some repairs about a week or so ago so it would be in top form for the trip... I called two days ago to check the status and make sure it would be here. The lady I spoke with totally stepped up and made sure I would have it by today... It came this morning... but, dang-it, it wasn't my case!!! It was a brand new one!!! No charge for the new case (mine was 2-3 years old and just beat on) and no charge for the $50 two day shipping charges!!

You just don't see service (outside EMP!) like that anymore!

Kick Butt Porter Case- they have my business for life!