Random Double Date

As I was driving home from church I saw two lovely young ladies run across the street in front of me and jump in Rich's car. I asked where they were going and they said they were going to Filoli. We decided to make it a double date.


And a lovely double date it was.


Surrounded by such beauty, Rich felt like quite the man...in spite of all the flowers.


I basked in the light of such beauty, and took full advantage of...


...the ballroom.


Remember that girls always love flowers.

Thurl Bailey

Again I had the privilege of photographing Thurl Bailey. This evening he spoke at the East Bay Interstake Center.

He shared some profound experiences of where he has been in life, how these have brought him to this point and shaped where he is headed. He spoke of his dad teaching him how to play basketball and to always keep his knees bent, that way he would always be ready to jump. He then shared what it was like to be cut two years in a row trying out for basketball in junior high. And still trying out the third year so that he would never have to wonder what might have been if he had not. And even then being pulled every game after winning the tip off.

After much perseverance and a memorable showing at North Carolina State he was drafted to the NBA by the Utah Jazz where he described what it was like...


...tipping off against Dr. J


...getting fallen on by Shaq


...getting dunked on by Michael Jordan

His most profound experiences however seem to be meeting his wife and joining the LDS church. These seem to shape most where he is now headed. It shows in how he talks proudly of his family and how graciously he interacts with anyone he comes into contact with. He is grateful for the gifts The Lord has blessed him with and genuinely wishes to use his talents to help bless others lives.

After speaking for an hour he happily spent an hour and a half signing autographs and talking to each person...


...young


...short


...or tall

LDS Night At The Warriors

I was asked by the LDS church’s regional public relations group to photograph LDS night at the Warriors vs. Jazz game. Thurl Bailey, LDS convert and retired professional basketball player with the Jazz, was at tonight's game to present a framed family history to Alvin Attles, retired professional basketball player and former Warriors head coach, and give a chalk talk to LDS fans after the game.



Image #35,000

LDS Missionaries from the California Oakland Mission sang the national anthem. The usher, who escorted them back to their dressing room, commented that he has heard the national anthem many times and this was one of the better performances.


The twins first basketball game. Clearly Zorea was not as impressed as Declan was with the whole experience.


Thurl Bailey and I after the game. This guy knows how to dress.

Baylands Walk

With the power out and such nice weather it was a perfect day for a walk at the baylands. My mom, Bryan, Tauna, their twins, their dog and I headed out to the trail on the east side of the Palo Alto Airport runway for some bird watching and to see how PG&E was doing with repairs on the broken power line tower. Thankfully power was restored shortly after 6PM just as it was getting dark.

Plane Crash & Power Outage

A small two engine plane crashed in an East Palo neighborhood shortly before 8AM this morning. The plane clipped a power line tower cutting power to most of Palo Alto and parts of surrounding communities. After clipping the tower, pieces of the plane crashed into several cars and two houses on Beech Street. No one on the ground was hurt but all three occupants of the plane were killed; The houses were destroyed by the resulting fires


photo credit: Andy Lillian

My friend Andy lives across the street from one of the houses and heard what sounded like an explosion. My brother, also named Andy, lived in the same room as Andy less than a year ago.

My brother Steve called me at 9AM to see if I wanted to go check it out and try to get some pictures. Back in the day when I was shooting for a newspaper I would have been a lot more aggressive about getting closer shots. But now I figure I've seen enough news stories close up and watched enough bystanders clog up a situation.

Random Quotes

Michelle [to me]: "If I ever pro-create you're totally taking pictures of my offspring."

Caisa & Adrian & One In The Oven

A quick and fun little photoshoot done while dodging the day's only 20 minutes of precipitation. As quick as we started Adrian had to run off for minor surgery to remove a chunk of coral from his knee and I to meet my high school prom date for lunch.