Featured: Advanced Photoshop magazine

I had to pinch myself till I bled. Is Adam Smith, Senior Staff Writer for Advanced Photoshop magazine emailing me for a feature in their magazine?!? I instantly google’d his name and email address to verify if this was real, and sure enough it was! Let me try to put this in perspective… This is THE magazine I genuinely gladly pay $15 to take home and read. Oversized pages, spot-uv covers, high quality paper stock.. so nice I’ve never thrown away a single issue. Dare I say the only magazine I buy? (American publishers can learn a thing or two from Imagine Publishing.)

Aiming at the Sun: Venice Beach, CA

For Luke Munnell’s birthday we randomly took a trip to Venice Beach, CA to see all the crazies. Even though the winds were gusting up to what felt like a Cat 4 hurricane sandblasting a layer of skin off our top layer, there were TONS of people walking the strip. Drum circles, men walking in nothing but silver briefs, crack heads, men dressed up as women, women dressed up as men, and marijuana doctors filled the strip… so naturally I tended to aim more UP at the sun, birds and unpopulated beach. If you enjoy people watching, this is ground zero for you!

Urban Racer Formula D Official Fan Guide

Shortly after finishing up a shoot in the Malibu canyons I get a call from Jackie Ling, Director of Urban Racer. He wanted me to throw together this year’s Official Formula Drift fan guide. Heck ya! I love drifting, and my previous experience working within the magazine industry made me an obvious fit. The deadline was super tight, but after a hurricane of emails, pdfs, and corrections, this spot-uv’d, sleek looking fan guide was approved and ready in less than 5 days.

Meet Bogart, my foster dog

Introducing Bogart, the foster dog. I’ve signed up for a foster program through www.dogswithoutborders.org to save dogs from euthanasia. Bogart is my first foster dog. He’s super gentle, rarely barks, loves to play with other dogs, chases anything you throw, and is overall a very good doggie. I think he’s half beagle, half corgi. Hopefully he gets a loving home, but not too soon! 🙂

Team Bahati photoshoot

My alarm goes off at 5:05am in the morning… The streets are clear, the sun is still hours away from peeking through the skyscrapers… “where in the hell am I?” were the first words out of my mouth. Then a few groggy milliseconds later I remembered I had to get up early to do a group shoot for the Bahati Foundation pro cycling team. More specifically the Bahati Foundation is a program that helps inspire youth in inner-city and underserved communities.

M.O.E. Space Jams

Flashy cars, even flashier chains, Michael Jordan Space Jams, and the lifestyle of Money Ova Everything. Maybe one day I’ll be rollin’ in an S-Class Benz or Range Rover on 30’s, but till then I’m fine snapping pictures of my future possessions… Well maybe I can deal without the flashy chains lol. For this shoot I was contacted to do a car scene, group shot, and club scenes of M.O.E. from Compton. This was my time to go all out on urban gritty compositions.

The Top Eagle

When I heard my high school baseball coach was awarded the 2010 National Coach of the Year, I wasn’t shocked. Coach Dean Jones has been a mentor for every player in a Chesnee Eagles uniform for the past 47 years of being head coach. Count that, 47 years. Not only was coaching his job, it was his way of life. With that kind of history, a kid being coached doesn’t even think of questioning his logic. Simply put, Coach Jones could coach a team just by putting his arms on his hips.

Trail Blazing with Rudy Napolitano

If you know me decently, you should know I’m a road bike enthusiast. So it was about time that I did a serious shoot with a local professional biker. Rudy Napolitano of Team Helen’s was my first victim. He suggested a local Malibu road for the shoot, and it was amazing to say the least. Remote, twisty, breath-taking views, and 1-way traffic. Perfect. The original pics came out great, but you know me, I had to take them over the top with some photoshop love. This is my take on road bike photography: