Star Lee Magazine Cover

On Friday night I attended the launch party of Star Lee Magazine. It was a magnificent gathering of all the people who helped to create the magazine. I was honored to shoot the inaugural cover for them. The cover shot is a play on "Rosie the Riveter", the WW II icon representing female empowerment. It is a fitting symbol for the first issue of this magazine intended for the female entrepreneur who is, in their words, "seeking a work-life balance while remaining true to their values."

For Every Event There is a Time (and a tie, a black tie usually)

I wonder if there is any scientific research on the quality of photos based on whether the photographer is wearing a tie or not. Well if there isn't yet, let me be the first to volunteer. Here are some of my would be submissions for the "wearing a tie" portion of the of the contest. Images are from the 2008 Hispanic Business Entrepreneur of the Year and Woman of the Year Award ceremonies.

Dropping Names

Name dropping, I'm not above it! Besides, if I don't do it then who will? There were a number of times at HB I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes and rub elbows with the rich and famous. These were two of them. First there was the aforementioned Mayor Villaraigosa. Then there was Oscar de la Hoya. I shot him at the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach just days before his last fight with Manny Pacquiao. On meeting him I was surprised that he was about my size. Of course, as my friend so eloquently put it, "his 135lbs is much different from your 135lbs". Well said my friend, well said.

Scotch Nearly as Old as I am (or was)

As long as I'm taking a trip down memory lane I thought I would take it all the way back to the first spread I did for Hispanic Business. This was the first time they set me, as an intern, loose to "see what I could do". It went well and they were very happy with the images, much to my relief. So, historically and personally, these were pretty important images because from then on out I was given a lot more photo work which eventually led to my being hired officially by HB after I graduated. They even created a new position for me. Something called a Digital Imaging Specialist, which is sort of a fancy term for an "Image Manager" or better yet, "Image Beautician" which is a pretty fancy term in itself.

The Covers

In my relatively short time as a working photographer I have been honored with four magazine covers to date. 3 for Hispanic Business Magazine for whom I worked two and a half years. Thanks to them I had the pleasure to go some pretty interesting places and meet some pretty interesting people.

My first cover was of a great blues musician from Colorado named John-Alex Mason. He was very kind to let me follow him around for a couple of days back in 2007 during the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in Helena, AR. If it weren't for him I'd still be lost on the back roads of Arkansas and Mississippi!

My first cover for Hispanic Business was of the top influential politicians and business people of 2008, one being Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa. Talk about pressure! I think I completely sweated through my suit that day.

Venoco

Many times photography can lead to unexpected adventures. I've shot politicians, sports stars, and musicians from the front row of concerts. These are some images of my biggest adventure to date. They are of an off-shore oil rig I shot this past summer. I was working for a magazine at the time and they were doing a story on a company that operates oil rigs just off the Santa Barbara coast. I gave them a call to see if I could come down and take some pictures. It just so happened that later that week they were giving a tour of one of their rigs as well as doing some aerial photography, so I asked if I could come along. They said yes. So, a few days later I found myself riding in a boat at 5 am and then hanging out of a helicopter taking photographs. This was both my first time taking a boat out on the ocean and riding in a helicopter. I thought there was a possibility that everything could go terribly and I might just wind up being sick the whole time. Luckily, that was not the case. I wound up getting the cover shot and the images were featured on the magazine's web site.

Hawaii in B&W

Some images from my recent trip to Oahu. More images at Osmosis Online.