Longboarding

Image #38,000 on the Canon 40D


Trying out the bumper mounted GoPro® HD Camera*


Kambria gets her longboard on!


Jen agrees to do a solo run for "the shot"


Rich makes it look easy



A perfect Saturday for Robert's Random Adventure Tours

* Check out this link for some serious fun with this little gem and stay tuned for future Random Adventures with this baby!

Random E-mail

I never knew there were so many ways to "transcend the boundaries of horizontality." - Until I found this in my inbox:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

As someone who has purchased or rated Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills (Mountaineers Outdoor Expert) by Craig Luebben or other books in the Mountaineering > Instructional category, you might like to know that Armitage's Vines and Climbers: A Gardener's Guide to the Best Vertical Plants will be released on April 7, 2010.

Product Description
Climbing plants are a largely untapped resource for today's gardeners... By following Armitage's sage advice, gardeners and designers will be well equipped to create dazzling gardens that transcend the boundaries of horizontality.

We hope you found this message to be useful.

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.

Good Friday

I learned to ski at Homewood when I was 12. It was good to be back again. The top 10 reasons this place rocks:
10. The rental shop manager comped me a binding adjustment to match my $8.99 boots to my $14.99 skis.
9. Anna at the ticket booth was seriously cute!
8. The parking lot is approximately 20ft. from the main lift.
7. Some of the cheapest lift tickets in Tahoe.
6. You can always find fresh tracks somewhere on the mountain.
5. There is hardly anybody here.
4. It's big enough to explore new runs most of the day.
3. It's small enough to never feel lost.
2. The waffle hut.
1. The view of the lake from the main chair up The Face is like nothing else in the world!

North Shore Nightlife

Big Photo #2

I had showed the Brand's big family photo to Dick Peery before delivering it and he said, "Order me one just like it of our family."

The Wright Family

Seeing as how it's been five years since I've seen Bonnie and Will's kids it's understandable that Bracken thought I only looked kind of familiar. Five years was too long. I love this family! Bonnie and Will have been good friends since I met them at church shortly after my mission. I've had many fun memories with them, from photographing their wedding, to hanging out with Will as he putted golf balls in his living room trying to wrap his head around being a dad for the first time, to dodging flash floods in Capital Reef National Park, and many more. Countless times they would happily let me crash on their couch for days or weeks at a time either in between random adventures in Utah or just to hang out with them and their kids.

Random Quote

Bracken [regarding yours truly]: "Hey dad there's some guy upstairs that looks kinda familiar."
Will [working in the basement]: "Ask him if his name is Robert."
Bracken: "Uh, can you just come upstairs."

Some Of My Family & Friends

My dad George



My grandpa Sir Robert


My nephew Radley and niece Demsey


My friends Britney, Los and their son Stone

Drive To Utah

Driving through the Sierras with Andy and Joanna to meet up with family in Utah.

Random Quote

Hillary [handing me her bottle of ginger ale]: "Can you open this?...I have sensitive hands."

Late Night Teeth Brushing Inspiration

...produced this photo:


You've never heard of the Millenium Falcon?
It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.

Steve Young

Joanna's english class is reading some book about football, so she cornered Steve Young at church and asked him to come talk to her students.


He signed a bunch of autographs too. Some kids brought footballs and were a tad shy. Most kids just had him sign the back of their cell phone.


Steve was great with the kids. He gathered them around for a quick group photo before running off to get his family a Christmas tree.


I figured since this was the third time I had showed up at the school I should get my photo taken with him. The previous two times he had to cancel to do live sports broadcasts or something.


The school wanted my autograph too.

Annual Bradshaw Family Christmas Tree Cutting

It was a little cold and wet this year.




So I mostly stayed with the twins in the car while the rest of the family went tree hunting.


Then bundled them up for pictures with mom and dad.


And put in a little saw time.

Image #34,000

One of several hundred nativity scenes displayed at the 21st annual Creche Exhibit sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The North Face Endurance Challenge

Today I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon for the second year in a row. I had been getting more and more stressed and anxious about this race the past week. But I managed to let go of all that and get psyched up this morning after hitting the snooze button a time or two. I told myself I had already done it last year and had nothing to prove (except to beat last years time). I decided I would run if I felt like it or just walk if I felt so inclined. Turns out I ran a one minute faster pace than last year and had a much stronger finish.



For most of the run I kept pace with my new friend Kris from Richmond. She got comments all along the trail about her pink tutu. I got a comment about the sign she had pinned to her back that read "I heart Nick". Nick, her husband with recent foot surgery, and their dog paced us as we went by the aid station. At one point on the trail Kris and I passed Dean Karnazes and he never caught up with us after. So now I can say I beat Dean Karnazes in a half marathon. Although he was stopped to check on some runners who turned down the wrong trail and to make sure no one else did the same. Kris pulled away on the last downhill and finished a minute ahead of me. I think the pink tutu gave her extra energy and I am now contemplating what crazy accessory I should wear next year.