JUNE 28, 2007 - Martinelli Family Portrait at the beach. La Jolla Cove, San Diego, CA.
JUNE 23, 2007 - Drake's Family Reunion. Mission Point, San Diego, CA.
MAY 18, 2007 - Clear Mortgage Headshot Session. Bonita, CA.
MAY 15, 2007 - Capoeira Brasil. San Diego, CA.
APRIL 28, 2007 - Waddle's Engagement Pictures. Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.
APRIL 13, 2007 - Zia's Soul in-concert and in-studio. Las Cruces, NM.

One of my clients recommended me to Jeff Martinelli when he said he wanted to take a beach portrait of his family. He had siblings and relatives coming from other states for a visit, and that was the perfect opportunity to have professionally taken pictures of the whole bunch. He contacted me and we scheduled the photoshoot. We set the location and time: La Jolla Cove at sunset, one of my preferred locations in San Diego. He just wanted one or two group shots, but since everybody was there, why not to enjoy the afternoon and take several?
We quickly took the main family photo, and then I told them to just enjoy themselves while I would do what I like to do most, register emotions.

Megan Graulich was organizing a family reunion party at Mission Point, San Diego. It was a very important party, reuniting generations of the Drake family, coming from different parts of the US. Such an important event deserved to be properly recorded, and Megan started searching for a photographer for that task. She received proposals from many San Diego photographers, but I lucky enough to be chosen. I believe the main reason was because she was looking for photographers who would capture raw emotions in a photo journalistic style, which is exactly what I like to do most. I enjoyed the opportunity to photograph the reunion, and I could feel the love and hapiness flowing between this family throughout the day.
Here's a few words from Megan after the event:

Javier, a good friend of mine, told me that a group of people from his company Clear Mortgage Solutions needed to produce a few professional head shots for promotional material. I was more than happy to offer my services to them. I set up my mobile studio at their location and started taking their pictures.
I consider headshots and posed portraits in general one of the most difficult type of photography. When you are taking a photograph of a landscape, the quality of your pictures depend only on your creativity and your tecniques, but for portraits, it depends on your subject. So it is the photographer's task to make them feel relaxed and natural, even under the very unnatural scenario with backdrops, umbrellas and strobes. I was very lucky because they were a very friendly bunch and I felt we had a very good bond, essential for natural looking pictures.

Earlier this month a friend of mine sent me a link to a photo contest organized by the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco. The contest is open to all Brazilian photographers living on the west coast of the United States. The theme proposed was "Brazilian Culture in the USA". The winners of the contest will have their art exposed in an Exhibit next September in the San Francisco Public Library.
The first thought that came to my mind was Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that is very typical of the Brazilian Culture and mixes martial arts, dance, music and very powerfull, flexible movements. I called Mindinho from Capoeira Brasil and he couldn't be more helpful. He offered me a full day of photo shooting with his whole group, anywhere in San Diego.
We took a few pictures in Point Loma, and then we went to Coronado. In my mind, a photo of Capoeira players with the Coronado Bridge on the background would be the perfect link between Brazilian culture and one of the greatest American icons. I would also like to thank the guys at Coronado Golf Course for letting us shoot in their course.
I'll post here the results of the contest later, but independently of the results, I had a full day of joy photographing these guys and I was trully amazed at what they can do with their bodies.

Scott and Jael are good friends of mine, and when I knew they would get married, I was more than happy to offer myself to capture some moments from the couple during the months that precede the marriage. They wanted an engagement picture, and I proposed them an outdoor photo shoot somewhere here in San Diego that would provide a beautifull natural backdrop for the photos, and that is something very abundant in our town.
For this photo session, I had the invaluable help of Photographer Assistant Briana G. Baker, and a very nice weather. Among all the beautiful locations in San Diego, we set our first photo session to be held at Balboa Park. At first, they were a little bit nervous, but after a few jokes, they were completely relaxed and natural. It was a joy to photograph them.

Zia's Soul is one of the most promising bands of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Their sound is explendid, with a misture of Jazz and Rock that brings a very unique style to the new bands scenario.
During the month of April of 2007 I was invited by them and by the company responsible to create their press kit to cover a live concert and studio recording. Needless to say that I had a blast on both. After all, it's not everyday that you have the opportunity to work and enjoy great music in a great environment at the same time.
I also had some time to enjoy Las Cruces and surroundings, courtesy of Javier Lujan, the press kit producer. I took some great photos from Mesilla, a historic town near Las Cruces, but that was easy, since it had so many beautiful things to see.
You can check their music and info on http://www.myspace.com/ziassoul
Success guys!