Need a Light?

The man is always on my back! ;-)

Preparing for an early morning launch.

Minding the prop-arc (the area underneath the rotating propeller blades).

Afternoon on the flightdeck.

I've been working on some old navy stuff for the website lately. I really like some of these pictures, but I've never really done much with them. Alot of my navy work has been published in some form or another, but I don't always know when something's been used. I've got such a backlog of images from my 5 years in the navy that I'll probably be posting the occassional old school navy image for the rest of eternity! Okay, maybe not that long, but I definitely have more than a couple. Hope ya'll enjoy 'em.

In the spotlight...

as the record turns...

the music transforms me.

Okay, it's official. My website is up and running now. I still need to add some images and do a little reorganizing on it, but it's 100% functional. The nice thing about it is how easy it is to update. So, I was able to get a website up quick that I can continue to improve on as I get time.

These are a few images that I've been working on for a music themed page on my site. I'm hoping to shoot more for it in the future.

Until next time, I leave you in peace.

This guy is in charge of making sure no one gets in the path of incoming planes during landing operations aboard ship. Fun!

These are spent .50 cal. shells from a live fire exercise I shot back in my navy days. Basically, the gunner's mates onboard throw some kind of "target" into the water, the boat circles around, and then they shoot it until it sinks or they run out of ammo. Of course, they're timed to see how fast each team can get to their gun mount. Afterall, it is an exercise and not just a chance to shoot a really big gun for fun... right?

If I remember correctly, this guy was from Wisconsin, he was just out travelling the country with nothing but his mini band setup. Interesting fellow. Yes, I did tip him. :)

I shot this at a wine and jazz festival. Good music + good booze = good time!

This is going to be the homepage of my new website! I'll be sure to post a link to it as soon as I get it up and running.


An interesting shadow and a window outside the camera store I frequent in Santa Barbara. I like this shot because it's a great example of breaking the rules. By that, I mean it was shot at mid-day with the sun high in the sky creating insanely harsh shadows on everything. Most photographers say, "don't even pull your camera out of the bag between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. because the light sucks! You should only be shooting outside around sunup and sundown to get the good lighting." Well... sometimes it pays to say the hell with the rest of 'em, I'm marching to the beat of my own drum! ;-)

A boy and a puppy in Venice Beach. I love the irony of how creepy this happy little scene turned out.

This is from a ride along I did with the Baltimore Police Department back in 2001. I was selected for the worldwide military photojournalism workshop in Fort Meade, Md. and my assignment was to do a ride along with the local police. The story didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but I got some great single images from it and a great experience to learn from.

On a more serious note, I found this image while perusing through some old files for a website I'm working on and decided to dust it off and throw it up. This is a shot I grabbed without looking through the viewfinder, I was literally shooting from the hip. I shot this side of East 5th Street in L. A. while walking down the other side. Though this looks like a relatively deserted street, it's actually the heart of a several block area known as Skid Row. Thousands of people live on these streets with little or no shelter. There are Porta-Potty Brothels right next to heroin addicts shooting up on the street and regular stabbings to go with it. I've heard about this place before, but I never imagined that it was really that bad. It's truly a sobering experience to stand in the middle of a thriving, modern, city, and still be sourrounded by so much human suffering. And to think I didn't even have to leave the country to find it... wow, we are so much better than all those third world countries aren't we? Gee, I sure am glad I'm an enlightened American who was born into the land of prosperity so that I can persue the "American Dream" without having to worry about poverty and starvation like those poor people whose governments don't care about them. I mean, imagine what there living conditions must be like...