Celebrating Earth Day, Returning to My Roots

from my Sea and Sand – double exposure series

Self Portrait, by the Pacific Ocean, Malibu, CA

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate! Earth Day is today!

I truly do celebrate Earth Day, and am thankful a holiday was created to remind us all to care for this amazing place right under our feet.

At age 10, Fontana Elementary, Wisconsin, taught me a lot about what the earth has to offer. It had a long tradition of environmental education. I learned about ecosystems in the arboretum, hiked woods to learn about deciduous vs. evergreen, and researched the local water sources. The program was (and is still is) called Outdoor Ed.

I came out of that Outdoor Ed experience awed, awakened to the interconnectedness of our world, and with the special “Salt of the Earth Award”. To this day, that award remains the one I hold most dear. I still remember the deep smile on my face as it passed to my hands, and the thrill in my chest when I was asked back as a high school mentor.

Thrive Images, the name of my company, holds a few meanings for me, not least of which resonates back to my roots, learning about environmentalism.

Whatever you can do to learn about, help and celebrate environmentalism here on our Earth please keep doing it. It will not only help you thrive, it will also help all the other pieces of the ecosystem that support you!

List of some of my favorite environmental causes:

Surfrider

Save Trestles

Friends of Ballona Wetlands

NAAEE – North American Association for Environmental Education

Muse School

Guadalupe Nipomo Dunes

New Work – Vans Shoe Designer – SanDisk Feature Story

Have loved #Vans since I was 13.  Still do! …which made for a great evening when I photographed Vans shoe designer Lindsay White Funk at her favorite running trail (Veteran’s Park, Manhattan Beach).  @SanDisk posted a feature story at this link which includes text of the process of the shoot.  Thank you Lindsay for a fantastic night running & photographing!  http://stories.sandisk.com/content/step-trendsetter

My LA with Vans shoe designer Lindsay White Funk

Last night continued my “My LA” series photographing Vans shoe designer Lindsay White Funk in her favorite SoCal location: Veteran’s Parkway running trail. She was game for anything! I told her she probably wanted to be careful with that statement as I might ask her to jump out of a plane with me.

Emmy Winner – Miguel Contreras

I don’t ride the bus enough in LA.  I don’t.  Miguel Contreras does.  He rides it all over the city, he rides it to work ! and the man’s an Emmy Award winner for BEST INFORMATION SEGMENT (HARD NEWS/INVEST. REPORTING) as an Associate Producer.  Not a bad thing to have on your resume, and a great subject for my My LA Portrait series.   Glad I could ride along with him.   Click on this link to read the story that won him an Emmy + stay tuned for the final image of him.

Chef Douglas Rankin : My LA Portrait

8/2/2012

On Tuesday Chef Doug Rankin, known for his time at Michael Voltaggio’s Ink. and Jose Andres’ SLS (among others), took me to his favorite LA spot for the My LA series I’ve been doing.  Of course I don’t want to reveal his special spot yet, until the final picture edit but here’s a little cropped piece of the puzzle.

Chef Doug Rankin

Pro Skateboarder Samarria Brevard

5/7/2012

Oh yeah!  Pro skateboarder Samarria Brevard @Samarria Brevard (recently signed to @hooplaskate boards and 18 years old as of this writing)  agreed to be a part of my My LA portrait series.  She really jams!  And so much more so because she was the ONLY GIRL skating the park last Friday where there were over 50 guys.  The ONLY girl.  I approached her for my project after I caught her win at the Supergirl Am Jam competition in Venice last summer.   There was no way I could do a tribute to LA without including a skateboarder, and given my impassioned work publicizing great women and girls it had to be a girl.   She said yes, and  met me out at her favorite LA park, Stoner Skate Park on Stoner Ave in West LA.    Here’s an outtake image from our shoot : the final selected image will be displayed alongside the other subjects of the project.  Thank you Samarria for coming out and adding great energy to the project!

Dot Hacker / Drummer Eric Gardner played the Troubadour

3/21/2012

I met drummer Eric Gardner the other year.   Then, after hearing about so many great shows he’d played with great California musicians, I wanted to photograph him for my portrait series entitled “My LA”.   And I really wanted to hear his band, Dot Hacker, share their stuff.

Last Wednesday, 3/14, Dot Hacker played the Troubadour in LA (with the band Them Hills opening) and I went to listen … and then was wowed by the sound.

The music of Dot Hacker is the collaboration of friends and founding members, Josh Klinghoffer (lead vocalist/guitar/keyboards, also currently plays guitar in The Red Hot Chili Peppers), Clint Walsh (backing vocals/guitar/synthesizer), Eric Gardner on drums and Jonathan Hischke (Bass Guitar).  Before forming Dot Hacker the four were already established musicians, recording and touring with an impressive list of respected artists including: Beck, Gnarls Barkley, PJ Harvey, Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Butthole Surfers and Broken Bells amongst many others. The band plans to play shows in 2012 to support the release of their full length debut album Inhibition which is set to be released on May 1st, 2012.

My portrait of him … and some images from Dot Hacker’s Wednesday’s show below.   PS.  Eric is a showman, I love it; it’s rare you hear the drummer step out from behind his kit and address the crowd before exiting the stage like Eric did.  Way to engage the audience!  We appreciated it !

You can listen to + purchase a few songs here – so worth it:  http://www.orgmusic.com/artists/dot-hacker/

 

 

 

Premiering Tonight – Daniel Musto on NBC’s Fashion Star

Hi everybody !   Tonight NBC’s show Fashion Star is premiering 9:30-11pm EST.   I photographed Daniel Musto (the show’s on-camera wardrobe stylist) just the other month for my “My LA” photo series.   He was great fun and I look forward to seeing him appear on the show!   The host of the show is legendary model Elle Macpherson, with judges: designer John Varvatos (whose LA store I photographed in earlier this month), Jessica Simpson, and Nicole Richie.  Take a look at Daniel here in one of his favorite LA spots:  Barneys and be sure to watch him tonight + upcoming Tuesday nights on NBC Fashion Star!

Daniel Musto. The on-camera wardrobe stylist for NBC's Fashion Star.

Beach Strobes ! Mobile paradise with Impact brand Transmitters / Receivers

Beach Strobe (Canon 580EX IIs) syncs with an Impact receiver

Ahhhh, paradise.  Well, very close (anyway) for a photographer.  What else do you call it when you get to combine shooting on the beach in So Cal with using an incredibly effective and light-weight transmitter / receiver system that you can use with any camera and any flash system?  I’m telling you, paradise!   Otherwise known as the Impact Power Sync 16 Radio Slave System (which retails on B&H for $149.00 for the pair).

I used Impact and the following gear for my personal project that  I started photographing back in May ’11 (images to start being shared before the end of the year).

Gear:

Canon 7D

Canon 580EXIIs

Impact brand Transmitter + Receivers

Battery Pack = Lumedyne

Cards = SanDisk Extreme Pro 16gb, 90mbps

Thanks to @LightenUpShoot who were talking about the Impact Brand.  Not only do these radio slaves do the job so well but at a fraction of the cost of their competitors … and with very handy on/off switches on both devices (like extra fruit in the tropical drink you ordered).  See you at the bar after we wrap.