You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Sacramento’ category.
There were a lot of things I heard about in college, from students and professors, that does me no good at all. I took classes that were a waste of time, listened to advice that is pretty much worthless now, and even got a bit of a smug smile from thinking, “I’ll never need this, ever.” Some of these things I don’t care to even mention because, frankly, I was right. What does get to me are the things I was told and knew were important but didn’t give the necessary attention to. Right now, specifically, I’m talking about networking.
It makes perfect sense. Be nice, meet people, leave a good impression. You never know when people will talk about you and what may come of it. This is when you want people to talk about you behind your back. I’ve been a little amazed over the past two weeks at how many connections have come to light. Let’s break it down: Andri, an amazing networker, knew Adam. I knew Andri from college and somehow my name came up since Adam was looking for someone to shoot some photos for a VHCLE article. I went and did that last Saturday and while talking with Adam I found out that he is old friends with a guy named Robbie. The only reason this is interesting is that I know Robbie as a coworker at the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Adam even used to play with Robbie in a sweet Sacramento band, The New Humans.
And then, on Tuesday, I got a smaller dose of this same thing when I went to this amazing shop near my office called Le Petite Paris. I was speaking to Nicole, the owner, and she noticed that I had a lunch meeting with Adam on Monday (we were trying to get my photos to his hard drive, which was another issue all together). I knew that he really liked that place so it wouldn’t surprise me if they had met. I came to find out that Nicole’s daughter did some program at the YMCA, where Adam works, so there was an extra connection there as well.
One week, multiple connections, and so many good things that came from them. I should have listened more. I should have made more of an effort to get to know and keep in touch with so many of the great people I’ve met at various points in my life. I’ve been lucky enough to see first hand just how great knowing people can be. I’ll be keeping that in mind from now on.
I spent yesterday rolling around Sacramento with Adam Saake from VHCLE. They’re an online magazine covering design that will appeal to anyone who loves good writing, creativity, or art.
So where did I go? What did I shoot? What do the images look like? Well that’s the thing, I wish I could tell you. I’m not sure I can’t exactly, but I don’t want to chance it. Adam is doing a write-up on a Sacramento day trip and I shot photos for 5 locations around the downtown area. I’m still working on getting the images to him, which will hopefully be done tomorrow, but until the article goes up I don’t want to say too much. I just had a pretty good time getting it done and I will throw up some images from it this coming week!
I’m an animal lover. To my core I love animals. I love the young puppies and kittens, the old dogs on porches, the old cats who sleep 23 hours a day. I love them all. I’m still waiting with bated breath for the day that I get to shoot a wedding with some hardcore animal lovers who somehow incorporate their pets into the proceedings. I just can’t get enough of our four-legged friends. With that in mind, today was a little bittersweet.
I told Kellie that this year I would get her a new cat for her birthday/Christmas present. Granted, both of those are in December, but I knew that if I got the okay on this from Rayleen (who owns this house and all the furniture which may or may not be damaged by a cat) that she wouldn’t want to wait. So today we went to the Sacramento SPCA to look at cats. They were ALL cute. All of them. But, being a dog man myself, I was able to resist the urge to take them all home a lot more than Kellie was. Since it was her gift I wanted her to pick one up I knew I had to be there to keep her from taking them all.
We walked through both cat areas for a good long while looking for a cat that meet all of our criteria. Eventually, we were able to narrow it down to a few candidates and while Kellie was looking at the last few to decide between them I took a walk across the hall to the dog area. It may be a little…emotional, but by the time I walked out of the dog area I was almost tearing up. I couldn’t take much more of seeing such wonderful animals in these scary places just waiting for someone who would take them home and love them. I wanted them all, but alas, I was there for just one cat, not a dog. If you were waiting to read why today was bittersweet, that was it. I wish I could help them all but it’s just not realistic. I do what I can, when I can. Today, I know I made a difference in the life of one cat.
We decided to spend some time with a cat named Patches. They took her from her private room and put her with us in a much bigger room where she could roam and crawl around on some cat posts. She was four years old and had been at the shelter for just under a month. Right away she was loud, she was cuddly, she loved to be held, and she was very friendly. Once Kellie picked Patches up and I saw how big her smile was I knew our search was over.
So, tonight, we welcomed a new baby into our home. Welcome, Patches England. We’ve been waiting for you.
Lastly, if you’re wondering what my title is about, check out this video. I must warn you though, it’s damn cute, and damn funny. 
It really started during a class trip to Old Sacramento. The fact that I don’t remember the name of the class or the professor is in no way a reflection on how much I liked the course, which was a lot, but more an example of how bad my memory is. Anyways, it was on this night that I started something personal that is still going on to this day. I was interested in really getting a unique perspective for my my assignment and I knew it wouldn’t be easy with a whole class full of eager students running around the same block. I wanted to shoot something common in a way that was really unique and broke down the subject into basic elements of color and shape. I was in a hurry since my friends were moving on, but I had one slight spark of inspiration. I had one idea that I ran with almost on a whim. I wasn’t sure what would come of it but I’m so very glad I listened to myself. That night, I came up with this:
Do you recognize it? No? It’s the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. For those of you who might read this and aren’t from Sacramento do a quick Google search and you’ll see what I was working with.
I never realized when I shot this image that it would become a series for me. So you can imagine my surprise when I was thinking of what images to throw on here today and I started to notice a connection between some of my wedding work and this series. I could easily picture a lot of my favorite shots from friend’s weddings and it dawned on me that I had been adapting my art ideas and doing wedding work with the same eye. Change the angle, control the focus, concentrate primarily on the colors above all else, all of these things are ideas that I started using years ago with the bridge. Interestingly enough, I hate driving on that damn bridge. I always seem to get all turned around and annoyed when I’m in the area, so I avoid it like the plague. Anyways, don’t take my word for it, take a look at these!
Member!
