Thanks, Steve Jobs…

A Visionary

My experiences with Apple started with the Apple II.  My parents bought an Apple III way back when… Then, my brothers and my Dad started a small company we registered as “InterOcean Technologies” to develop dive computers (scuba diving) and in the process, became official Apple developers.  (That is an entirely different story for another time…)

We purchased a bunch of Mac computers, and along with an Apple Lisa (with the so expensive 5M external hard drive or as Apple called it – “Profile”)!  That was 1984.  What a magical piece of ‘simple’ technology.  The family and I have been using Apple computers ever since.

Thank you Steve Jobs for the innovative, thoughtful, useful and darn it, just plain FUN products.  May you rest in peace.

Boots On The Road

These Boots Are Made For Walking

This summer, I had the opportunity to meet many good people and take many different photos.  I will be posting more as the days get rainy… and shorter.  This is one of my favorites.  I’ve ordered one for the studio walls, so I thought I would share it here as well.

Roads rolling off in to the distance have always appealed to me on many different levels.  I am not sure if it comes from some unresolved wanderlust or vestiges of long ago family’s vacations when I was a boy. Either way or for whatever reason, it often serves as a artistic draw to me… as it did in this photo.

No matter where we’ve come from or where we end up, the journey on our own road is what we make of it.  Sure we have to deal with obstacles, storms, and even a jerk or two along the way… but if we pick our way with care, we can chose a path of our own making, help (and perhaps receive help) from others along the way, and end up in a place from which we can help our own children take their first steps.

Enjoy.

Lacey and Cruz

I really like this life as a photographer. Great pay, great travel and great clients!  OK… maybe I am fibbing about the first two.  I do really enjoy working with families, meeting everyone, learning about what they do, and mostly, capturing their lives’ fleeting moments as images the family can keep forever.  As a father of two early twenty year olds, I cannot believe how quickly children grow up, move out and start their own lives.  I believe photographing young families helps me keep ‘young’… or at least feel young.

So it was with great pleasure I was able to photograph Lacey and her son, Cruz, earlier this summer.  We chose the Olympia waterfront and Farmer’s Market as the location. On a Saturday.  Insanity with a 9 month old? No. Not at all!

Lacey

Now, I am not a seafaring person and asking me about the tide makes me immediately think about the clothes washer, so I was at first concerned when we got onsite and the tide (on Puget Sound/Budd Inlet) was out. I mean… WAY out.  No sweat.  We made it a feature.

Lacey & Cruz

Next stop was the Farmer’s market.  I love this location for photographs. There is lots of colors, movement, shadows, textures and light.  All of it different and all of it constantly changing.  It is the kind of place that photographers like David Hobby or Joe McNally would just eat up with their bazillion cameras and strobe units.  (OK… I tend to exaggerate a bit. A ‘bazillion’ only describes McNally…. Hobby appears to travel with less luggage…).

Cruz

Cruz’s Grandpa calls him the ‘world’s cutest grandchild’. Now, until I have my own, (NOT a hint, Amanda & Ethan. I can wait!!!) I might have to agree.  I will tell you though, I am happy to provide him the photographs he can show to brag on his daughter and grandchild.

Gotta love a job like that!

(PS… Thank you Lacey and Cruz for a wonderful afternoon!)

– Jeff

Rob Pincus – Shooting a Shootist

I recently took a weekend of training at the Firearms Academy of Seattle (FAS) taught by Rob Pincus, from I.C.E Training.  Rob has developed and taught defensive shooting techniques for Military, Law Enforcement and security personnel, called Combat Focused Shooting.  As Rob explains it, Combat Focus Shooting “…is an intuitive shooting program designed to work efficiently with the body’s natural reactions during a dynamic critical incident.”  It is pretty intense training.  But fun.

 Rob is working on a new series of defensive DVD’s.  While at FAS, he filmed a series of scenes about training for responding to an ambush.  He was looking for volunteers and I was able to make it one of the days and brought my camera.  Why not mix a little fun into the action?

I got there late and the ‘cast and crew’ had already been at it for most the day.  During the few hours I was there, they were training to defend against a car attack or hijack.  In reality, the training was also a good exercise to prepare for defensive action while seated at a table or any chair for that matter.

So, in the first selection of photos to the right, the student realizes the threat, draws straight up the side of his body, roles the pistol sideways, keeping it close to his body while directing the business end of the pistol towards the ‘threat’, leans back and shoots.  Easy as that… sort of.

Handguns and shooting is very serious business and to do it right (and safely) one should start with an experienced and competent instructor.  I found Pincus both as well as a very thorough and focused instructor.  He took interest in every student and watched everyone pushing them to perform at their best.

Shooting seated from a car is not so easy – or at least as easy as Hollywood would have you believe.  To do it right and safely takes practice and training.  Pincus ran the class through the exercise  from his ‘mobile classroom’ – a Toyota Cruiser.  He first demonstrated then had each student shoot through the driver’s (opened) window and the passenger’s window.  Shooting through a car’s window is nerve wracking enough, but the thought of accidentally  shooting low and into Pincus’ car door added a bit more pressure to the exercise.  Fortunately, no one had to buy Pincus a new door.  In fact there was no evidence that anyone ever hit the door, ceiling or dash.  However, I would bet that more than one piece of brass is rattling around in the duct work of that Cruiser.

I am not sure how Pincus’ DVD came out, but I know I enjoyed the training as well as taking the photos, some of which I have posted here.

Thanks to Rob Pincus, the class, FAS, ICE and all the others for the great evening of… “shooting” fun.

________________________

The new Nikon D700 performed flawlessly.  I love its low light capability of its 12MB FX sensor.  I used my Nikon 80-200 AFS f2.8 lens and it too performed wonderfully. I am sure Joe McNally and David Hobby would have found a way to use a flash in the photos, I decided not to interrupt the shoot (I am talking DVD now) to set up my shot.  :)

Enjoy.

– Jeff

Memorial Day 2011

I had the pleasure to photograph a Rucksack Run that left from the Military Family sculpture on Memorial Day.  The run left the sculpture on the SE corner of Marvin Rd and Quinault Dr. to the “kite sculpture” on Sleater Kinney Road just south of I-5.  All in all it was about a 10 mile run.  There were nearly 50 JBLM soldiers who ran or walked the route in honor of Memorial Day and the Wounded Warrior project. Not only did the soldiers participate, but so did some family members (even those four footed family members!)

It is always something special for me to be asked to photograph an event held for the military and their families.  They provide so much. They sacrifice so much.

Of special note, the run was organized by SSG Juan C Lugo and his wife, Toni.  Toni said that organizing this event was important to her and her husband – even so that she was expecting at any moment and still saw that the run took place.  Good thing she did not put off the event any longer, as her water broke shortly after the run started.  Being the strong and capable Army wife that she is, Toni stayed at the Military Family sculpture until Juan returned from the run.  They left immediately for the hospital!  I haven’t heard when their baby boy was delivered, but I expect all is fine in the Lugo household.

May we all be blessed with the strength of these families.