Hello!  After much consideration I have decided to move to Facebook.  I’ve posted my last 6 projects on FB and it seems to work great.  It’s a more efficient way for me to share my latest weddings and engagement sessions with friends and clients.  And it takes MUCH less time.  Please visit my page at facebook.com/smithphoto.

I could live for some time in the Oak Glen/Yucaipa area. Crisp, clean air. Pine scent of the forest. Hiking trails. Possibly fish-able streams. Only the snow would pose a minor problem.

autumn in apple country + a little bit of Photoshop = vibrant yellows and greens

We ended our day at Oak Glen School Museum, a fascinating one room schoolhouse constructed in 1888. It reminded me of the little country school I attended as a kid.

Jamie and Josh, thanks for choosing such a serene location far, far away from my crowded city. Was I working or on a mini vacation?  And thanks Josh for the prime rib sandwich:) See you guys in May!

I’ve been speaking about this type of shoot for awhile now.  Something more authentic.  With Dana and Malcolm we started shooting in their apartment.  Then we drove around their neck of the woods for a couple of hours.  When they look at these pictures in 20 years they’ll remember their apartment in LA before marriage and kids.  They’ll revisit their old neighborhood (with very limited parking).  I hope that in a small way I’ve documented a part of their history.

We ran into a fence of 40-plus locks at the very end of the session.

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Claire really did her homework and scouted out some great spots in Pedro.  So good in fact that we had to skip one of the warehouses because an episode of Dexter was being filmed there.  By the way, the 3 of us love Dexter.  Doesn’t everyone?

Click on the slideshow to see a lot more pictures.

We ate like kings at Ports O’Call.  Shrimp.  Salmon.  Coconut.  And mariachi.  Oscar treated me to a half dozen oysters.  Mmmmm… I’m getting hungry just writing about them.  Thanks O.

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I showed up to the cove over an hour early so I had some time to kill.  Ended up finding a little hideaway spot called Ruby Street City Park.  The entire park is made up of a few benches and a tiny patio that looks out to ocean.  That’s it.  About the size of the bottom floor of my townhouse.  While sitting on the bench patiently waiting and munching on cookies, I saw that there were writings all over the wooden rails.  You get a glimpse at some of the park art below.  You’ll even find a misspelled word in there if you look hard enough.

Wood’s Cove is an Orange County gem.  It’s a popular place for divers and beach goers alike.  Credit goes to Evelyn for finding it!

Ethan came along and kept us on schedule.

All of us were soaked by the end of the day.  Even my cameras got a few splashes as the tide rose and blocked our exit.

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Music that have helped me make images for the last month and a half:

• new soul 
• imagine
• perhaps perhaps perhaps - this one will stick in your head for hours
• ghetto rock
• quiet dog - live on letterman
• sabali - patience
• get em’ high (a-trak remix)
• i’d rather be with you + closer
• snow angel
• cigarettes and chocolate milk + pretty things
• impossible

At a pool party in the infamous pink apartments.  That’s where they met.  Rothchild went up to Nhi and told her she looked like a popular import model.  Works everytime!

We went back to the scene of the crime.  Pink.  Pool.  UCR.  Sophomore year.  A lot had changed since they were there last.  We even got a little lost running in and out of new buildings.

The day ended with me shooting about 15 shots of Nhi’s Z.  When I see a Z, it’s like seeing an ex gf, okay maybe a long lost friend.

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Christina and Alfred are the perfect clients.  First, they arrived early and actually beat me to Bowers.  I’m usually the early one!  Second, they brought 3 changes of clothes.  That’s more than usual which means that they were really into getting their pictures taken.  They coordinated colors without being twins.  That takes some major effort.  Third, they brought along a prop, Alfred’s guitar.  We didn’t end up using it but it was a great idea further displaying their relentless dedication to photography.  And lastly, they paid for a permit to shoot.  What?!

Looking forward to seeing them again at the end of June for their big day.  Click here for the slideshow.

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Checkitout:

• Everything’s Amazing Nobody’s Happy
• The White Tiger - Winner of the latest Man Booker Prize.  It’s a disgustingly unreserved novel focused on everything bad about India.  Our servant hero, Balram, is Bangalore’s most successful and least well known entrepreneur who must “be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time”.
• Banksy: Wall and Peace + Banksy - English graffiti artist
  • “The people who run our cities don’t understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit.  But if you just value money then your opinion is worthless.”
  • “The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the companies that scrawl their giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff.”
  • “Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience…A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art.  Only a few hundred people in the world have any real say.  When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.”

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An afternoon in the LBC…

Latriece was sinking in the sand.

Regaining balance

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Weekly musings:

• Waltz with Bashir - animated Israeli war documentary
• Man on Wire - won best documentary @ the Oscars
• Kite Runner - nearing the half-way mark
• VII
• James Nachtwey
• Watching kites fly at the beach.