AEPi 25th Anniversary Gala

AEPi at UC Berkeley just turned 25! Congratulations!

(p.s. Bet you didn't know I'm available to shoot events for student groups.... ) 

Fox Theater on a Rainy Night

Fox Theater, Oakland. The night Yoko Ono played. Despite my awesome press pass, they wouldn't let me in. Some ridiculous adminisitrative issues. I was super disappointed. And then I shot some images anyways; when I got home I wasn't so disappointed anymore. Expect these to be printed and hanging on  my wall. 

Favoritest photo everrr.

Worth Reading: Lens, New York Times Photo Blog

The New York Times rocks. The epitome of good journalism is, of course, no less stellar in their photojournalism department. If you enjoy high quality images and love to read a story through the picture, there is nothing more outstanding that the New York Times Photo Blog, Lens. Check it out. DOOO ITTT. :D

Screen shot of today's photo of the day. What an awesome image. Seriously. 

(Check it: You can see the shells from the gunshots.  Daaaayum, what perfect timing!)

 Image shown: Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

Inspiration: Amazing Photographs from Haiti

This is what happens when you take an amazing photographer and put them somewhere just bursting to tell a story: Amazing amazing photographs from Haiti's front lines.  Justin Lyon's photos from this trip astound me, as does his story. The images are equal parts storytelling and art. Even if you just flip through the images he captured you'll be experiencing something that touches your soul.

All out of words, check out the slideshow here.

He has a lot of images of people that just completely drew me in. So personal. So intimate. So difficult to draw your eyes away.

Something about this photo just touches me. And plus I'm always a sucker for black and white images.

I very highly recommend this photographer and this blog post. Go Go Go. Words do not suffice.

Featured! Well. Kinda. Bare Magazine Blog.

I shot the PlayGREEN festival last Friday for UC Berkeley's premier fashion magazine, Bare Magazine. They're awesome. It was an awesome event. I had lotsa fun. And, on top of that, they published some of my photos on their blog as they talked about the event. 

p.s. I did push ups at the Cal ROTC booth and actually made the record board for the women! Yee! They had my name up there as the "Title Holder" until I left. I don't think I got the most for the whole event in the end (there were another two hours after that for somebody--or multiple somebodies--to beat my record), but it still felt good. And my arms could feel all FORTY SEVEN push-ups the next three days. Ha ha. I'll work on those push-ups and just blow them out of the water next time their little booth is set up somewhere. (:

Angelique Kidjo: World Music at Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley

Last week (maybe longer ago...) I had the wonderful pleasure of heading to Zellerbach to shoot Angelique Kidjo, world music extraordinaire. And, let me tell you, I had the best experience ever!

 Cool things that happened: 

1.  She is AMAZING. She can command the room like no other. She can dance like nothing you've ever seen. Her voice leaves you speechless. You know, just another day at the theater. 
2. The photog usher appreciated my appreciation of World Music and gave me her  unreleased CD. As a gift. Yipee!
3. I had to leave early (one of the sad things about a press pass is having to leave fifteen minutes into the show. Buuut somebody outside saw me leave and offered me a free $46 Orchestra ticket. I promptly went back inside and enjoyed the rest of the show. 

 FABULOUS. I love my job. (:

Very cool lighting at the Zellerbach. (:

The star performer herself. My new heroine. Amazing. Seriously.

The way this woman moves is mesmerizing. As is the way she commands an audience. Daaang. 

And then she invited everybody to come on stage and dance with her. Talk about breaking boundaries. 

And they went crazy.

And then she got individual people to dance. In the spotlight. On their own. In front of all of the hundreds of people who filled Zellerbach. And, let me tell you, these crazy people went ALL OUT. It was fabulous. 

Click on this image too see her facial expression up close. Well, bigger anyways. Ha ha. She's so outrageous with her expressions. Awesome. 

And this dynamic woman can really really rock out. Fantastic. I wish I had her moves.

This is how she picked people to dance in the spotlight. :D

She had a way of picking the people who could really move. Either that or her presence brought it out of them. Either way, it rocked.

And, of course, she was all about the future. Power to the young people and so on. (;

Accompanying article expertly written by fellow journalist Justin Bolois, Contributing Writer to The Daily Californian. 

For my images online at The Daily Cal's website, please see here. Please see the slideshow highlighting the best images from the event here. You can find the full news article online here. 

All images in this post ©The Daily Californian. Please contact them for information regarding reproduction, printing, purchasing or reposting images. For reprint information you should visit the reprints site here. Thank you!

Featured! Daily Cal Photo Blog

Soooo, the most exciting of things happened yesterday. I got to shoot the Cal Men's Basketball Game!!! Yeee!

Usually this is a special assignment that only the old time photographers get to shoot, but I was in the right place at the right time and I just got super lucky. The second photographer happened to, last minute, not be able to make the game and so, just as I was leaving the office, my editor (the very talented and very awesome Miss Anne Marie Schuler) asked, "Want to shoot the game with me?" My answer?! "Yipeeeee!" Of course. :D

Anyways, the game was AH-maaazing. Let me just say.

Some of the things that happened/I learned at yesterday's game:

1.  It was an overall very exciting game. Clearly.
2. I have decided that I loooveeee basketball. I want to go to every game next season. Hopefully I'll get to shoot some of them. But that might be asking for too much. (:
3. Sitting on the court is the best way everrr to watch a basketball game. Celebrities know what's up.
4. Press passes rock. Really really really.
5. When you sit on the court next to the drums, you should wear earplugs. Or prepare to lose hearing. Also, you may get hit by flying drumsticks.
6. I could actually do this for a job. yee.
7. WE WON THE PAC-10!!! (for the first time in fifty years!!! yikes...)

I'll post my favorites from the event later, but for now, check out my photo on the Daily Cal Photo Blog! yee. :D

Image ©The Daily Californian. Well, not the screen shot, but the image. Clearly. (: