Montana

A few random photographs.

Faces

For the past few months I have witnessed history being made in California. In June I photographed many same-sex couples be wed. The joy was evident in their faces as they exchanged their vows. After the recent passage of Proposition 8 which prohibits gay people from being married I have photographed the protests. The story of what this means to them is written, again, in their faces.

My own documentary

I took this picture of my cat, Eclipse, after he was diagnosed with cancer. He just had surgery to remove a tumor from his intestine and was just exhausted. Often, for my job, I have to take pictures of very sad subjects, people in pain, news that is heart-wrenching, funerals, murders, you name it. I often wonder what it would be like to be the subject in times like those instead of the photographer. So now, as I face a personal tragedy, one that is insignificant to the wider circulation of a newspaper, I move to make a picture. Just one. Not one for print, not one for my scrap book, not one for anything. Not even for my memory. Just one. A document. A witness. I have it and I know I have it. I may not ever want to look at it if this cancer kills him. This is my baby and I have pictures of him in a lively happy state... but somehow there is comfort in knowing this picture exists, even if it is never used.

I hope that in my work that being a witness to the pain of others and recording it with my camera brings them comfort too... even if they never want to look at the picture again.

You're kidding right?

Tell me I am not seeing this... and tell me that I'm not getting paid to do it! Yesterday I went jet skiing and para-sailing in Lake Tahoe - on the company dime. Sometimes life can be oh so good.

My 100th Jump!

For my 100th jump, 8 friends and I made a tracking dive from 18,000 feet. It all went fabulous except for one small mishap. If you watch closely you will see a collision, where Kevin's camera is knocked off his head and flies off, never to be seen again. We joke that somewhere in a field in Davis there are some awesome photos of this jump!

I threw in some footage of other jumps that day too.

Video by Jackson, Brett, Donny and Sue.

It was a good day

From left, Brett, me and Tui. Love the world up there.



And my first hula hoop jump - Brett on the left, Nick on the right, and YES I did make it through albeit "granny-speed" as Nick made sure to tell me.

A few May favorites

Horses at Bay Meadows Race Track.



Wish I could have been doing that in 100 degree heat instead of working!


A 13-year-old boy with Spina bifida after a CT Scan for a story on cuts in health care.