On Geary street in San Francisco rises a huge and spectacular concrete structure that stands out from all the concrete structures around it in its bold architecture -  and its bolder purpose.  It’s full name is the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption. Unlike Alcatraz, every person who walks into St. Mary’s is not only considered worthy to be saved, but that exact purpose is the reason for the Cathedral’s existence.  While tons of concrete were poured to break the spirit of the men who occupied Alcatraz, each ton of concrete in St. Mary’s was poured to uplift the spirits of the people who enter and worship in this church.

The closest thing to bars you will see in St. Mary’s are the pipes of the organ.

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First of all, Happy Holidays to you and your family.  I sincerely hope that 2010 brings you much prosperity and joy.

Speaking of joy, my wife and I have just arrived home after 4 days in San Francisco. The getaway was well deserved for both of us, but after 20+ shoots in December (plus a day job and an additional part-time job), I needed a creative re-charge.  San Francisco never fails to give me that.  It’s a world class city with an exceptional sense of its own identity. It combines history with future and makes it all seamless and somehow connected.  I don’t know if I could live in SF (there are LOTS of people) but I certainly visit there as often as the opportunity presents itself.

OK, you beat it out of me – my wife is a foodie.  We shopped for the perfect cheese, the perfect wine, the perfect entre and enjoyed it all. But in between the culinary adventures I did have time to shoot two SF landmarks that, at least to my very convoluted mind, are deeply connected.

First is the Cathedral of St. Mary on Geary street.  It’s a massive and inspiring structure. The outside is defined by courageous architecture just as its inside is defined by creative use of space, light and art.  Believe me, regardless of what you believe in,  your eyes will lift heavenward when you see the inside or outside of this building.

But first, I have to start with another famous SF landmark.  A landmark that exemplifies the complete opposite of St. Mary’s.  Whereas the Cathedral is all about hope and redemption, Alcatraz is all about suffocating hope for a population deemed un-savable.

Both are very large concrete structures built for opposite purposes but that brings me to another point.  Before I even left for this trip I promised myself I would not blow off frame after frame and hope to get some good shots.  Nope, this time I decided to slow down and ’see’ through the lens. Each frame (more or less) was taken with ‘concrete’ intent and I am happy to report that I like what I’ve seen.

Hopefully, you’ll agree.

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I confess, I was never much of a cat person. I always related well to dogs but cats typically didn’t interest me so much because of how aloof they can be.

Then we got Mischief.

Watching this kitty learn and play is must-see-TV around this house lately.  Even our two dogs sit back and watch her chase shadowy, imaginary prey across the living room floor.

This kitty also gives me a new subject to try out my new 35mm f/2 lens on. It was an anniversary gift from my ever understanding wife.  You see, I react much like a kitty with catnip when I get a new lens.  I prefer to think of it as unlocking vast creative ideas deep inside my soul when I try a new lens. My wife’s opinion is far more succinct and slightly different from mine, she says I get ‘lens stupid’.  OK, enough of our opinion poll…

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Sometimes you bump into a model who has so many looks that you swear that you’re not shooting the same girl anymore. Meet Kaulin. From sweet to sexy to fine art, this girl can do it all.

Natural beauty, natural grace and a significant intelligence to make the whole package easy to work with and easier to shoot.

My buddy Rick was at the shoot, and his comment was shooting Kaulin was like ’shooting models in a barrel’.  I interpret that to mean Kaulin’s grace makes direction a second thought.

I confess that here in the Central part of California, I see a lot of wannabe models, lots of girls that buy the magazines but don’t know much beyond that.  Kaulin was natural, relaxed and graceful from the first frame to the very last (and there were LOTS of frames).

From cure to coquette, Kaulin impressed me.

We’ll be shooting again, if she’s not a Cover Girl by then! Thanks Miss K, let’s play in the studio real soon.

And tell Katie I said hi!

This shot was taken by Rick at SoShootMe.com. And don’t you know he wishes that we could have traded places! Sorry, buddy! Someone has to run the light meter! Hehehehe!

I am a child of the USA. I know fast food, managed health care, 401K plans, and the G I Bill.  I used to have money in the bank until the markets crashed. I have a house, a beautiful wife, a loving dog and a big HDTV on which to watch sports to the chagrin of the beautiful wife (the loving dog remains ambivalent).  Compared to the residents of Ocoroni, I have it all. But they have something I find in short supply.

~ Joy ~

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I have now had the honor of shooting Miss Vanity a handful of times.

She is a very strong, creative, intelligent young woman. And she was a Suicide Girl.

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Regardless of our methods and techniques, we’re all striving to create a soul in our images.  So it would seem to be an easy task to shoot a town filled with souls.  It would seem…

California is filled with millions of souls and personalities.  Most of the world only hears about the fruits, flakes and nuts that make up the Granola State.  I would like all of you to know that there are heroes who live here, too. They don’t get headlines. In fact, I couldn’t get these pictures or this story published by the one major newspaper or the two local magazines in Fresno. Anti-heroes get press, the story of these volunteers wasn’t considered news.

The souls I refer to are the pilots, doctors, nurses, translators and volunteers of an organization called the Flying Doctors of Mercy. I was fortunate to fly with the Fresno chapter. The short version of their story is that the first weekend of almost every month, private pilots fly their own planes filled with volunteers and supplies to impoverished towns in Mexico.  Planes fly from San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno and other cities to adopted towns deep inside Mexico … far from prosperity and medical expertise.

We departed on a Friday morning before dawn.  It took most of the day to fly to Guasave.  After numerous stops for fuel and after passing through Customs, we landed at a remote airstrip outside of town guarded by the Mexican army. It was important that we landed before sunset because, as we were reminded numerous times, anything flying after sunset would be shot down as a suspected drug runner.

Welcome to Mexico.

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