APR 18, 2008 - Portfolio Publication
NOV 17, 2007 - Waddle's Wedding . Coronado, CA.
NOV 04, 2007 - Benjamin Photoshoot . Oceanside, CA.
OCT 07, 2007 - Jael and Scott in Coronado . Coronado, CA.
SEP 29, 2007 - Norma's Surprise Birthday Party. San Diego, CA.
SEP 24, 2007 - Mural Reproduction for San Diegan Artist. San Diego, CA.
SEP 06, 2007 - Photo Exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco, CA.
AUG 09, 2007 - Waddle's Headshot Session. In Studio, San Diego, CA.
AUG 07, 2007 - Chris and Paul's Civil Parnership. Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, CA.
JULY 30, 2007 - Capoeira Photo Published on KPBS. San Diego, CA.

So I've been very busy lately, but a quick notice for you guys. I just published my first portfolio book.
If you want to take a look (and hopefully buy it :-) ) here's a link to it:

portfolio no.1

1988-2007

By Padu Merloti

Finally the great day has arrived. And such a wonderful day it was. I had the priviledge to start the day going to Jael's house, where she was being prepared by her Tia Marta. I mean it is a priviledge because it is fascinating to see the transformation, not only aesthetic, but mainly spiritual that happens when the bride finally realizes that the day has come.
Jael and Scott are very good friends of mine, so I went to their wedding with my "guest" badge, even more because my daughter was her younger flower girl. But even though, I couldn't resist and snapped a couple of pictures from the wedding, including 35mm slides, which we enjoyed watching the projection later on.
The celebration happened outdoors, at the Coronado Community Center, a very special place on the margin of San Diego Bay. The timing couldn't be better for photography as well, right at the "golden hour".
Everything was perfect, the food, the music, beautifull people all around, and more especially, a newlywed couple irradiating happines throughout the dance floor.

There is is nothing more rewarding and challenging at the same time than photographing infants. Rewarding because you get to capture the raw emotion, there's no posing or self consciousness to deal with, but it is challenging becase not always they are in the mood of being photo models. This photoshoot was very nice because Benjamin parents were very cooperative on entertaining him, and he's so cute that even the "crying" photos turn out great.
As a father of a little girl and a boy-to-be in a few months, I know the importance of freezing those moments. It is a magical time that goes away too fast.

A sunny day in one of the most celebrated beaches of Southern California and an adorable couple. With such perfect conditions, it was impossible not to have beautiful pictures of the adorable couple. Also, I'm very proud that they have chosen one of my photos to be their signing picture on their wedding.

I have recently covered a surprise birthday party in the highly sophisticated Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, in Rancho Santa Fe, north of San Diego. Norma, the birthday lady was really surprised and radiant.
The party was perfect, with really good food, a wonderful band playing favorites all night and a very happy family. Norma must be someone really especial to receive such a great demonstration of love!

I have been working for some time now with San Diego's artist Dr. Carmen Quintana. Dr. Quintana has a beautiful mural she painted in a collaborative effort from several members of the community. It is a beautiful piece of art that conveys real stories from the community members.
The reproduction was very challenging, but looking at the final result was rewarding. The original art is a mural of approximatedly 7ft.x7ft. and Carmen wanted a reproduction in a 42in.x42in. canvas.
The challenge of art reproduction lies in several factors, mainly resolution, color management and correct lighting. Most people get frustrated when they try to reproduce a piece of art using regular digital cameras because of the first factor: lack of resolution. With a very simple calculation is easy to see why. A well printed photograph has between 200 and 300 dpi (dots per inch). If the intention is to print a 42x42 in. photo, one needs a digital file that is 12600 pixels long on each dimension, or 158 Megapixels. Today's consumer digital cameras are far from that. The other problem is color fidelity. When you photograph your son or daughter, it rarely matters if the color of the skin is a little bit off or the blue of the sky is deeper than the real sky. For a painter, each color is carefully chosen and must be precisely reproduced. That is only accomplished by careful color management throughout all steps of the process, from image capture to image printing.
For Carmen's mural, I used a large format view camera that with 4x5 inches film. That is 30 times bigger area than a consumer or professional digital camera. These films can be scanned at 400 Megapixels and it can be enlarged as big as 60 inches whithout any resolution degradation. The other advantage of a view camera is its flexible construction. The lens can tilt or shift independently of the film plane, which allows for precise adjustments of perspective. We took several shots using very fine grained chrome film with studio flashes providing perfect illumination.
The film was scanned with a high resolution scanner using a wet process, which increases resolution and richness of detail even more. After extensive post-processing for eliminating defects on the art such as dust and signs of aging, we started the color correction process. We first make sure that the colors seen on a color corrected monitor are identical to the artwork, and then we print several proofs using the final paper (canvas in this case) to make sure the colors were accurate.
At the end, Carmen Quintana had a beautifull reproduction of her mural in stretched canvas, but more importantly, she got a DVD containing the full resolution digital version of her mural. With that file, she can print as many reproductions as she wants, very easily now.

Note: The artwork shown here is copyrighted. Carmen Quintana has all rights reserved. Any type of use or reproduction is expressely prohibited without her written consent. Any attempt to do so is a federal crime.

I received the news that one of my photos (see here) was chosen to participate in an Exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library. Of course I was ecstatic about it.
The photo will be displayed at the Main Library from September 16 thru November 16 of 2007. So if you live near San Francisco or is planning a visit, you could stop by to take a look. Other photographers are participating in the same exhibition with great art works, so it is very worthy!

Continuing covering this adorable couple, we organized a in-studio photo session for Jael and Scott. Needless to say we had a very fun time together, photographing digital and large format.
As their marriage approach, we will intensify the coverage of pre-wedding events. Keep watching.

They came all the way from Washington D.C. to get married and spend their honeymoon on our beautiful beaches. They knew that with the combination of our weather and fantastic Pacific Ocean landscapes their day couldn't be more perfect. Thank you guys for choosing my services!

One of my photos from the Capoeira session was published on the KPBS San Diego web site. I'm very happy to learn that Mindinho and Penelope (owners of Capoeira Brasil in San Diego) are elevating such a nice sport to higher grounds.