A Blast From The Past - Holiday Bowl Flag

Here's a shot from the Holiday Bowl in San Diego from 2007. I usually shoot this game but not this year since I'm in New York and the game is still in San Diego. The Marines look forward to the game because just before kickoff, a giant American flag is unfurled prior to the singing of the national anthem. I always wanted to get the unique view of what's happening UNDER the flag. The light fell just right on the Marine in the middle and I had a shot I really liked. By the way, this year's Holiday Bowl was won by Nebraska 33-0 over Arizona. It was the first shutout in the 32-year history of the normally high-scoring game.

Still Time To Celebrate

The African-American celebration of Kwanzaa began the day after Christmas. This photo was taken in December of 2007 at Los Angeles Valley College where I was a student at the time. I took many different photos, but I saw this one coming and I simply needed to be in the right position to capture the little girl and her mother as they lit one of the seven candles that represent the ideals of Kwanzaa. This photo ended up as the front page, above-the-fold dominant picture for the school newspaper.

It Pays To Look Up

While up on my deck to check on the snow melt after the big storm, I looked up and saw this jet approaching the moon. I've been trying to get a shot of a plane flying past a full moon for years with no luck. Bad timing ... or no camera in my hands. So this is as close as I've gotten to that money shot of the moon and a passing jet.

A Real Big Snow Fall

New York City dwellers are waking up to a lot of snow. 12 to 18 inches of snow fell on the region in the last 12 hours. This is a typical scene no matter the conditions - the dog must be walked even if there's snow on the ground. This is a shot from my bedroom window looking across the street from my Brooklyn home.

It looks like snow is growing from the planter on my deck. That appears to be 10 inches of snow right there.

A close-up shot of the arm rest of the deck chair on my deck follows its contours.

The deck of my apartment has plenty of snow.

How To Kill Time On Broadway ...

Spend a few hours (and get paid) being a "live" window model. This guy was striking various yoga poses for passersby. I think he was in a clothing store window ... but to be truthful, I don't actually know what was being sold inside. This is is a great way to get people to stop and take pictures. I'm not sure it works at getting folks to go inside and buy your wares.

This security guard is passing the time by staring at the store mannequin in an otherwise lightly trafficked afternoon in this clothing store.

But business was brisk on Broadway as the street vendors who are selling the designer knockoff purses, scarves, watches and perfumes had a lot of people stopping to look AND buy.

Mountain View

I think the best mountain views from any airport in America (that I've been to) has to be the vistas seen from the Salt Lake City airport. That's where I was during a layover on my way home to New York after my latest visit to southern California. I'm in the Delta terminal and using a long lens to compress the scene, I was able to join the mountains, the jets and the people waiting to hop on one of those planes into a tight composition.

When In L.A. Shoot Basketball

While out in southern California for an early Christmas celebration with the family, I had a chance to shoot an NBA game: The Clippers hosting the Wizards. These are two of the worst teams in the league, but when you're seeking interesting pictures, the won-loss records don't matter. From my end-of-the-court seat I was looking for make some artful photos with a little edge to them. The cheerleaders' shot came together when the hands of the one on the left meshed nicely with the dancer in the background. The basketball shot might have been a foul by the guy on the right, the Wizards Caron Butler who looks like he's punching the Clippers' Rasual Butler in the mouth. But that's the kind of conflict I was looking for to lift the photo above the ordinary.

A Blast From The Past

I've been shooting pictures of people, places and things for several years and this one dates to July, 2005. This guy was waiting for an in-store performance by a band whose name escapes me at the moment. We were waiting near the stage at the Amoeba record store in Hollywood, California. In an effort to bring in customers, Amoeba - to this day - still stages several live, free shows each month. Needless to say, if I wanted an eye-catching image, all I had to do was point my camera in his direction. Can you imagine the pain he had to endure to look the way he does?

Trimming The Tree With Ornaments

Here's more evidence that New York City is the most unique city in the world. In what other place are cabs such an recognizable part of the scenery that they're sold not only as souvenirs for the millions of visitors to town but also hawked as holiday tree ornaments. Check out the detail on this vehicle: the dusting of snow on the bumper wreath is a nice touch. Our cabs are pretty modern - they all have video monitors facing the back seat. You can touch the screen for a variety of channels and you can also pay for your ride with a credit/debit card.

And So It Snowed

The show went on. The annual Christmas Spectacular staged by the famous Rockettes drew the expected big crowds despite the first snowfall of the season in New York. It was pretty wet and slushy in mid-town but some of the suburbs got up to 8 inches of the white stuff. The Rockettes Christmas shows started in 1933.

Sitting in the 11th row gave me the chance to get some good shots since the stage was so brightly lit. It was a great show highlighted by the use of 3-D for a trip over Manhattan by Santa Claus at the start of the show. Since they put on six shows a day on the weekends, there are two sets of Rockettes to handle the demand from locals and tourists alike.

Empire State Building - 2009

One of my favorite places to photograph is New York's Empire State Building. A trip to the 86th floor observation deck always provides awesome views of the city and the surrounding areas.


During the holiday period, the management at the Empire State Building joins other businesses by putting up special display windows. This is one of four attractive window displays in the lobby of the iconic structure.

One Way To Make Money In New York

This lady is walking up and down Broadway in Manhattan collecting empty soft drink cans. Her timing is perfect because it was a Coke give-a-way night on the street - anybody who walked by giant tubs of ice filled with soft drinks, got a free one. So there were a lot of discarded cans to be collected and she's on the job and soon will be turning in those empties for the deposits. It pays to recycle!

And as usual in New York, what might be an eye-catching sight in many places - goes unnoticed here.

While Out West

While in southern California for the Thanksgiving holiday, I got out and around to photograph some favorite subjects.








Here's a lighthouse at Marina Del Rey. I waited for the birds to fly into the scene to add some interest. I'm a big fan of the color blue, so this worked out just right.

I also photographed my first NFL game: San Diego hosting Kansas City. Here's star Chargers' running back Ladanian Tomlinson scoring a touchdown as he led his team to a one-sided win. It's sunny here, but it was hard to shoot this game because of the big shadow spots covering the field that made getting the right exposure between the bright sun and the shadows very tough. In this case, a nice cloudy day would have been better for getting consistent shots.