Some photographers are taking pictures at age 5, in the darkroom at age 7, framing at age 9.
I was not.

Growing up, I  never was an artist; I was too busy playing basketball. At Bernardo Yorba Junior High School, in Mr Garner’s 7th grade art class, they laughed at my crude stick figures. Mr Garner also laughed. I guess they just didn’t appreciate primitive art.
Still, I don’t hold a grudge, really.

It wasn’t until college, the summer before my junior year, when I borrowed my dad’s Pentax K1000 camera, modern with it’s built in metering, and borrowed my dad’s 1976 Honda Gold Wing, yellow as a Beatle’s submarine, and headed north, up PCH into Oregon and Washington, and then back inland, through the Cascades, Mt. Lassen, and Yosemite, stopping at campgrounds when the mood struck, occasionally staying with friends, and always calling home - mom was very worried - that I started my photography.

I still have my Dad’s Pentax K1000; I miss the Gold Wing; I miss my dad more, much more.

Someday, when the kids are grown, I’m going to buy a Gold Wing, yellow as Mr Garner’s paint.

Then, after the trip, about 5 years later, while working at California Lutheran University, after watching my dad run his own business and listening to his advice “find something you’re passionate about and go with it,” I decided to follow my dream; I just needed one.

My NBA dreams had died a painful death years ago and my golf dreams perished  about the same time, but what about photography. That was fun, more than fun; that was a blast. Maybe photography was the dream.

Now, 20 years later, I’m still living my dream, creating emotional photographs of the most important people in my client’s lives, helping them appreciate their family and friends, helping them appreciate each family moment, even the chaos, and helping them create their own priceless family art.

It’s better than basketball, better than golf, even better than a Gold Wing.

Now that you know a bit about who we serve and who we are, you can read my fascinating, award winning (my mom thinks I should win an award anyway) blog, check out our Ventura County and Santa Barbara Wedding Photography, Ventura County and Santa Barbara Wedding Videography, Ventura County and Santa Barbara Portraits, or our fix old photographs.