Three Siblings

Siblings: Cathy, 95, Eleanore, 90, Bob 88

I've always thought that one of the great opportunities photography presents for us is to record history. Not just the big events, but the small ones that become bigger over time, especially when we consider them in context. This was one of those times. I had helped my mother (the woman in the center) take a trip to upstate New York to visit her relatives. At 90, she doesn't drive and has a little trouble navigating airports. So we flew into JFK, picked up her brother Bob (the guy on the right) and drove to Lake Luzerne. I had brought a soft box and light stand just for this portrait, which I shot at Cathy's 95th birthday party. They are the last of 10 children and I truly wish I could have gotten portraits of them and their other siblings years ago. That's another thing about photography: a missed picture is forever.

Documenting the Passage of Years

Another blog for SleekLens, this time about a project I've been working on for several years where I do quickie portraits of everyone who attends our Christmas party. One of these days it will become a book. One of these days . . .

The Baby Diptych

This is the third time I've done the baby diptych and I really enjoy them. It tells a story of sorts: here's a family that's grown by one. The family in this case is Matt and Eden Jacobson along with their four sons. I shot them in two places at a park in La Canada-Flintridge, a small town near Pasadena in Southern California. My first idea was to put them on a bus stop bench as if they're waiting for the bus and along comes the baby. They all wore the same clothes for each photoshoot which were separated by about six months. The second possibly worked out better because the baby in question, Sebastian, is more obvious. Shot that at a gazebo just behind them. I also lucked out because the day of the first photoshoot was rainy and overcast. And the morning we took the second half of the diptych was overcast with June gloom. Worked out perfect.

Party Portraits

I have a lot of fun at family parties getting pictures of the people doing whatever they do and without mugging the camera. This was Cole's pirate birthday (he turned 3 today) and I would like to think I got the kinds of expressions and details from the attendees that are unique.

Hey, sandals are an expression.

Cole Jacobson

Howard & Bente Bennett

One of my greatest privileges as a journalist was to research and write the story of Howard Bennett and his campaign in 1985 to force Los Angeles to clean up Santa Monica Bay. The result was the book, Dirty Water: One Man's Fight to Clean Up One of the World's Most Polluted Bays (University of California Press, 2010).

For the book's cover, I photographed Howard neck-deep in the bay in 2009. It's still one of my favorite portraits. I chose the surf location because for years Howard used to swim in the ocean, nearly every morning, for a half mile or more before he went to work as a teacher at Culver City High School. Logically, that's how he got involved in the fight to force the city to stop dumping millions of gallons of partially treated sewage in the bay everyday.

My wife and I recently visited Howard and his wife, Bente, at their Playa del Rey home. Howard still swims but now in a special pool they build in their backyard which abuts the Playa del Rey beach. Howard is still feisty at 85, but a little slower in other ways. While we were talking, I pulled out my camera and photographed both of them by the light coming through the windows overlooking the beach. They tolerated me without saying a word.

Two of my favorite people.