At 1:30 on 1/30

Mike and Patty were joined together in holy matrimony at the San Diego County Courthouse on a beautiful, bright winter day. Patty's parents witnessed the union in nearly the same location (the courthouse relocated) as their own wedding was held, 50 years earlier.



A young couple joined Patty and Mike at the same time for their ceremony. Patty gave the young bride her bouquet as a gift.

The Feucht Family

Krystina and Josh Feucht are good friends who live here in San Diego. They first found Emma (right) on the side of the road, then adopted Sallie (left) to keep her company. Last summer they adopted Dre (middle) from a neglectful home and they completed their happy family.

Keith and Cindy plus 2 furry creatures

Keith and Cindy met me down in Balboa Park. We had about 20 minutes of pretty sunset lighting. Their little pooches are adorable, but were not really into the idea of staying still for photos. There were too many people and other dogs around! Too many things to sniff and say hello to. The Wyshak family is lovely to photograph, no matter what the circumstances.

Another Visit to North County

Note to self: doing a shoot with little kids the morning after Halloween is not the best idea. These little cuties were good sports, but they were not excited to be photographed at 9 am. I suspect they had a lot of candy the night before and had their photo taken numerous times. The good part is that with the little ones being a bit on the grumpy side, that enabled Mom and Dad to be more interactive, thus creating some more interesting behavior to photograph. All in all, it was a gorgeous day and the people were wonderful.

A few more photos from the Vista Community Clinic. I'll be shooting more people too. This is kind of an ongoing project.

Vista Community Clinic

I'm working on a project with good friend and Vista Community Clinic employee, Spencer Gooch. The clinic is constructing a new building and the idea is to have an installation of photos and stories for a wall in the new building. It would illustrate through photos and written word how the clinic has helped real people heal both physically and emotionally. Here are photos of a few people who's lives have been positively changed by the staff and support from the clinic.

Voting for Change

I have been a Democrat since I was in junior high grade and my mom gave me a "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Repubican" tshirt and watched eagerly as Bill Clinton took office the first time. One of my homework assignments was to color in each state red or blue as the results came in that night. It makes me sad to see how low John McCain has fallen. Literally selling out everything he believes in to win the election. I believe that Obama is a real leader, focused and brilliant. Although he's leading in the polls right now we all remember how Al Gore won the popular vote but still lost the election. We need a landslide at the polls this year.

TOP 5 REASONS OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOULDN'T REST EASY

1. The polls may be wrong. This is an unprecedented election. No one knows how racism may affect what voters tell pollsters—or what they do in the voting booth. And the polls are narrowing anyway. In the last few days, John McCain has gained ground in most national polls, as his campaign has gone even more negative.

2. Dirty tricks. Republicans are already illegally purging voters from the rolls in some states. They're whipping up hysteria over ACORN to justify more challenges to new voters. Misleading flyers about the voting process have started appearing in black neighborhoods. And of course, many counties still use unsecure voting machines.

3. October surprise. In politics, 15 days is a long time. The next McCain smear could dominate the news for a week. There could be a crisis with Iran, or Bin Laden could release another tape, or worse.

4. Those who forget history... In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote after trailing by seven points in the final days of the race. In 1980, Reagan was eight points down in the polls in late October and came back to win. Races can shift—fast!

5. Landslide. Even with Barack Obama in the White House, passing universal health care and a new clean-energy policy is going to be hard. Insurance, drug and oil companies will fight us every step of the way. We need the kind of landslide that will give Barack a huge mandate.