My dad is the best!

We had some pretty cool clouds late this afternoon so I ran out the door to get some shots of the sunset and my dad came along. I just can't stand it... my dad is just way too cool! Check him out in his Maui Jim hat, sunglasses and even a Maui Jim neck strap that has "Got Aloha" written on it. I even got a picture of him rockin the iPhone! hahhaha He's just too stinkin cute!

Humpback Whales 101

How about a little Humpback whale 101? These are such amazing creatures! How cool that I was able to catch these pictures from my room? This little guy was probably a calf, he wasn't that big. You could also see his mom close by and she was huge, enjoy!

Pec Slap

The humpback's pectoral fin is longer than that of all other species of whales, measuring one-third the whale's body length, or approximately twelve to fifteen feet. Humpbacks will often roll onto their side or back and slowly slap the water's surface with one fin or both fins simultaneously. The slapping of fins may serve as a communication signal to other whales.


Tail Slap

A tail slap consists of a whale raising its tail flukes out of water and slapping them forcefully on the surface of the water. When the flukes hit the water, a loud resonant noise can be heard for miles. Humpback whales are known to repeat this behavior over and over. This behavior may serve as a warning to others in the vicinity.


Fun dolphin pics

I say that dolphins jump in the air because they can and because it's fun! This guy was motoring all over the place. He'd pop up on one side of the beach, then a few hundred yards away and then back over to the other side, what fun!

Photography Fun

Just having some fun late last night on my balcony. Besides the moon, it was pitch black out there. Almost looks like daytime, no?

Make: Canon
Shutter Speed: 30 sec
Exposure Program: Manual
F-Stop: f/9.0
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 13mm
Lens: 10.0mm-17.0mm

Maui humpback whales are here!

So I get up this morning and walk out onto the balcony to look at the ocean and there was this awesome rainbow out over the water... but this one was different. It was spread out over the ocean like fog, pretty cool, never saw a rainbow like this before. Anyway, as I was watching the rain over the ocean clear up, I saw a few humpback whales swimming by! Now this was way cool!

I've been on whale watching cruises before and they say that in order to spot one, you have to look out for the spouts over the horizon, so sure enough, here they are spraying all over the place. People have told me that the whales just got into town and that I should be able to see them pretty easily. Hopefully I'll get a picture of one breaching, how cool would that be?

Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii - Front Street

I spent the night down on Front Street in Lahaina. It's kinda the main drag/downtown of Lahaina. I love it here, the smells, the town itself and especially the people. Everyone is so laid back and friendly. It doesn't seem as if anyone that lives here has a care in the world!

Front street is great, shops everywhere, restaurants and bars. You walk down the street and hear Van Morrison being sung by some dude with a ukulele on a bar balcony... awesome! Here are some pics.

Grand Wailea Keiki Holiday Party

I'm here in Maui staying with some good friends at their house in Kula. So I'm working on my computer and I look out the window..... Wow, what a view of the island! I don't know if I could get anything done around here. Kula is almost to the top of Haleakela so the views are amazing.

Bart, Jane and Patricio live here in Kula and Bart is an exec at the Grand Wailea Hotel. We went to their Keiki Holiday party at the hotel today and it was so much fun. There were roughly 2000 people there! The party was pretty amazing, huge jumping structures, fair games, entertainment, FOOD!, tons of activities like frame making and cookie decorating, play areas, popcorn machines, elves running around everywhere and even miniature tables about a foot off the ground. Santa was even there and as you can see in the picture, poor little Patricio didn't really approve of Santa.

After we went to the bar for some adult fun and had some drinks and sashimi (awesome!)

PUG Christmas party at David Jays Freedom House

I didn't think I had these images with me to blog about them but I did! Just before I left, Kacie Jean and David Jay had a PUG/Christmas party and it was held at David Jay's house. It was way too much fun! Thank you DJ for having us all at your new home. Lots of good food, drinks, heated competition on the Nintendo Wii and most of all, people. I saw friends I haven't seen in a while and also made some great new friends.

Here's a little collage of fun pics from the party!

Lahaina Sunset

The sunset here is nothing short of beautiful! I was walking around Front Street here in Lahaina when I noticed that everything started to have that beautiful golden hue to it. I looked out to the ocean and this is what I saw. What's awesome here is that even the locals that live in this paradise take the time to stop, walk out of their stores and watch the sun set.

I was watching the sun set and then realized that I was surrounded by all these people. I now have all of these business cards from the people around me wanting me to send them sunset pictures! haha. I want to blog more but for some reason, I find myself laying on the beach instead? :)

Holiday Card Fun For Everyone!

Sit back and have a drink, it may take a minute to load :)
After it's done loading, hit play and enjoy!

Cast:

In Order of Appearance:

Dia Rao
Katie Moos
Me!
Nick Moos
Tim Halberg
Santa Claus

Sarah's Girl Scout Graduation at Alice Keck Park

My niece, Sarah had her Girl Scout graduation this past weekend at Alice Keck Park in Santa Barbara. I didn't realize how large of an organization the Girl Scouts was until this weekend. Since Sarah has lived in Europe for the past 4 years, she's participated in the Girl Scouts over seas so she has some badges that the other girls don't have.

When they graduate, they call it bridging so they all walked over the bride at the park to signify their accomplishments! I had to look all of this up online! haha

They all sang their songs and when Sarah walked across the bridge, she had to recite the Girl Scout Promise and Law. She's such a rockstar, I was so proud of her.

Jordan was a little rockstar too. Here he is, the little brother at his sisters Girl Scout Ceremony surrounded by what else.... girls! haha He kept himself busy with his scooter doing jumps the whole time!

Here are some pics.

Holiday Portraits for Abigail in Santa Barbara

It's holiday season and it's time for portraits! Little Abigail is growing up so fast! Here are a few favs from todays shoot.

Alegria by Design Holiday Party!

I had the privilege of attending a Holiday party put together by Armando Martinez, the man behind Alegria by Design. The Santa Barbara Club was all decked out and the place looked pretty amazing! The lighting, the rooms, the food, the mock ceremony setup by Wesflora Inc.... all awesome. Scott Topper was the DJ for the night and kept everyone partying.

I had a ton of fun and met some really great people. Here are some pictures from the night with Dia, Katie and Nick, Armando bustin a move, and Melissa Musgrove who's probably going to kill me for blogging a picture of her dancing! haha

It's all about how you advertise something, right?

Ok, so my brother had a garage sale this past weekend and this is one of the signs he put up down the street! Even though he's a genius when it comes to marketing, I say he put this sign up the way he did because he's super goofy!

Anyway... so many people commented on how they just couldn't miss the sign as they were driving by and how it was so great! Everyone's first thought was "OMG! I wonder what happened to that car?". He explained that the excessive use of tape was due to it being so windy..... ummmmmmm sure!

Thanksgiving with family and friends

Thanksgiving was spent this year with my brother and his family at my parents house in Henderson, NV. It's always good times when we all get together. We ate too much, laughed too much, didn't sleep enough and left way too early.

We also had some visitors from North Carolina come and have dinner with us one night. My good friends Jeff, Lori, his dad Larry and Anne were in town and it was so great to see them.

I have so many things to be thankful for and one of the biggest things are the people in my life, family and friends.


This one is for Jeff's mom... See! Jeff actually got up from dinner and started doing dishes!

Houdini Mansion Wedding - Spooky Dan and Tammy

I have the honor of shooting with Karen and Craig for probably the most unique wedding I've seen yet. This is going to be such a fun wedding and the bride and groom are so awesome! Spooky Dan and Tammy are the sweetest couple from North Hollywood and they're getting married at the Houdini Mansion in Los Angeles.

We were in North Hollywood this past weekend to meet with them and to shoot some engagement photos. The details of this Goth wedding are amazing and so is the setting in which it will be held but I won't go into the details right now so you'll just have to wait and see on their wedding blog post!

Check out the wicked awesome tattoo on Tammy's leg in the last picture!

Here are some of my favs!