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Project Cupcake

What started out as a Facebook discussion on my friend West Cooke’s mad cooking skills, and his hidden away restaurant, Cooke’s Smokehouse (A couple blocks away from the location of one of my old surf shops) got a little out of hand. Funny what can inspire us to create something special. It is remarkable what can arise in both cause and affect via inspiration. A few of us had been joking around online. Kat Merrick, Jim Scolari, Jim Rice, West, the usual multifaceted blend of community that is the town we all refer to fondly as Ventucky, our land of

Voice

Lone Voice Extreme athlete Garrett MacNamara has been visiting, and we are working on a few projects. He sat next to me as I rapidly did a search for a print file that a client had requested. In ten minutes this is what I pulled out of one of this season’s file folders. I doubt many, if any eyes have seen them or hearts heard the songs these images sing. In my files they are nothing particularly unusual. So does the fact that many people do not know they exist matter? What about the other thousand or so similars? Oh,

Vtown Introspectus

The town I live in, like many in the US is faced with stark fiscal realities as money supplies shift and real estate markets go someplace no one thought that they would. It is a time for my little town as well as myself to consider how the future should look. In a historic review of many great cities, you will generally find that decisions made in times of calamity later proved to be what defined the town. Our neighbor, Santa Barbara is a great case in point. When an earthquake leveled much of downtown Santa Barbara not long after

World Oceans Day

I awoke late this Sunny Sunday, having spent the night wrapping a job on the computer and getting to sleep at 6:30 AM. I pulled myself away from my girlfriend Donna who was doing her best imitation of a dead woman at 9:15 am. I had some coffee and rolled down the valley into downtown Ventura for a haircut appointment at 10:00 am with my Samoan pal Danny Moa. By twelve, after we had rapped out and talked a lot of story and I stood squinting in the broad light of high noon, I felt different. It wasn’t the haircut.

Drawing the Line

Tyler Warren, Walking the Line Learning to say “no” was one of Life’s hardest lessons for me. It came at great expense to those I love most in the world. No is not simply the absence of yes. It is the proverbial line in the sand of our life’s path. For a photographer and artist it is quite possibly the single most important thing that one can ever learn, because it is the no’s that will give you the space for the yeses that determine your subjects and future. I have had several “aha moments” in a career association with

The Bodner

Ever have one of those friends who is just, well, there when you are together? They are always so present in the moment, that they perpetually gloss over tidbits you would really appreciate knowing about them. Everyone enjoys bragging on their pals and assorted loved ones. Some people truly are ignorant of their own genius and opt to not give us the chance. Their vocation is just what they are, so what could the big deal possibly be? A year ago I met Jessica Bodner and her boyfriend, Robert Catalusci. They had recently relocated from San Francisco to Ventura. Two

My Agenda

The blog to do list waxes long and there is so much to communicate. But at the top of my list is a chain of creative people. Artists, writers, film makers, dancers, musicians, photographers and business owners, whose work and bright glow I hope to share. It will need to be fun, inspiring and encouraging, because that is who and what they all are. Also: Making a fiscal way in Photography An examination of technology and how it affects man. Technology and Green. A look at Canon’s new 5D Mark 2 and what may be the most amazing imaging tool

Metaphysical Momentum: Water Carriers

Ventura has been in the throes of an art boom the past few years. I have watched amusedly as a diverse group of people have been drawn to our little berg from far flung corners of the earth and served as cultural and intellectual fodder for a renaissance of sorts. Creative seedlings they all are, putting down root, bearing fruit that the town will benefit from. No where has this been more obvious to me than in the recent Ventura Film Fest event where during a period of four days, film makers, artists and musicians mingled with a diverse cross

Mary Carmel Osborne: Unintentional Icon

To call Mary Osborne a surfer girl is about as misleading a statement as calling me a surf photographer. Yes she is a surfer. But that description is a tight pigeonhole for her to fit into. It is what she is, not who. Mary and I have history together. I doubt that there is anyone who knows me as well and anyone that I trust as much artistically and personally as her. The ability she has as an artist, producer, professional athlete, and model is often overlooked in a cursory glance. Too short to model, too nice to compete, and

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