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PERSONAL WORK / LOS ANGELES
Lucian and his Playmates
This year has been a most unusual time for photographers that are accustomed to a busy calendar of sessions that engage human subjects. For me, the slowdown of work gave me space to really witness my three and a half year-old son Lucian.
Being at home for much longer periods of time made me see his energy in a new way, and I wanted to document it somehow. While watching him play, I thought of the old comic strip Family Circus where the sporadic path of a child’s day was marked with a dotted line to show how much ground he covered. I was impressed by the way Lucian occupies his spaces, playing in every inch of whatever place he finds himself. It made me reflect on how sedentary we become as adults unless we’re intentionally partaking in an activity.
I also enjoyed infusing a motion element into this still work, extrapolating a narrative from the confines of a single frame. Often in my commercial work, compositing and stitching together frames is a way to solve problems and fix mistakes. It was nice to approach this series with the purpose of making an entire group portrait of one singular energy; claiming his surroundings and seizing each day.(4 images)
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PERSONAL WORK / LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE
Las Cantantes
Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas, an all-female Mariachi Band led by Maricela Martinez, stands out in a largely male profession. While musicians traditionally gather at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights to land wedding, quinceañera, and other gigs, Martinez’s group relies on social media. The next generation: Martinez’s eight-year-old twin daughters.
(16 images)
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PERSONAL WORK / LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE
The Jockeys of Santa Anita
The racetrack at Santa Anita Park has hosted thoroughbred racing since 1934. Set against a backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains, the spirit of the sport and the adherence to tradition has remained unchanged. The athleticism of the jockeys is often overlooked in comparison to the sheer power that the horses possess, but as I made portraits of these men immediately after their races, I could tell that they had just been through a harrowing and intense few minutes of adrenaline and mental focus.
(17 images)
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PERSONAL WORK / LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE
Marathon Finishers
As part of an ongoing series of personal projects examining the varied tribes of Los Angeles, I photographed runners at the Los Angeles Marathon as they crossed the finish line in Santa Monica.
Regardless of the time in which they finished, all runners complete the race with a totally empty tank, having left all of their effort on the road behind them. After preparing for months if not years, participants are, for that one moment, lost in the surreal state of having completed something which is equal parts challenging and rewarding.
(42 images)
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LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE
Sunday Best at First Baptist Church
Congregants of the Trinity Baptist Church in South Los Angeles bring their personal style to Sunday service. The church dates back to 1917 and sees hundreds of parishioners on Sunday mornings.
As part of Los Angeles Magazine's Pray L.A. portfolio, which showcased a variety of ways in which Angelenos worship, I set up a makeshift studio in the parking lot of the church and photographed over 150 parishioners throughout the morning.(28 images)
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PERSONAL WORK / LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE
Come On Down
The long-running game show The Price Is Right, shot at CBS Television City, is one of L.A.’s most durable icons. The more excited you can be as an audience member, the more outrageous your reactions and wacky your attire, the more likely you are to hear the legendary command to "Come on Down!"
(15 images)
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PERSONAL WORK
The Hill Climbers
All over Southern California, amateur competitive cyclists hit the mountains on weekends for friendly training rides and club races to test their skills and stamina against their friends and teammates.
I made a series of portraits at the end of three such rides, asking the participants to come over to my setup at the summit of the climb as soon as they reached it. The riders had spent the better part of an hour at their maximum heart rate and the pain and love of sport was evident in each exhausted and exhilarated expression.(32 images)
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TEXAS MONTHLY
Homecoming at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Texas transitions some 26,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines each year. On a Friday before Memorial Day, families gathered to welcome back 48 soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, who returned from eastern Afghanistan.
I photographed the soldiers on a backdrop inside the processing center minutes after they we reunited with their families. Some were meeting their children for the first time since they were deployed nine months earlier.
The portfolio of images appeared as a cover story in Texas Monthly.(18 images)
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WIRED MAGAZINE
North Korean Tech Smugglers
North Korean dissidents and defectors have started an activist group that smuggles foreign media such as Western TV shows, books and movies into the country.
One of the founders of the group Jung Kwang-il puts it this way: “For every USB drive I send across, there are perhaps 100 North Koreans who begin to question why they live this way. Why they’ve been put in a jar.”
Wired magazine sent me to Seoul to meet and photograph the dissidents as well as to travel to the DMZ between North and South Korea to document the tense border atmosphere between the countries.(12 images)
