Go Green Go LEED

"Left, Sharifa Wilson, chair of the East Palo Alto Family YMCA accepts a plaque presented by Lynn N. Simon, of San Francisco. The YMCA held a plaque unveiling for earning the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification on Wednesday. The award marks the first LEED certified building in East Palo Alto and the first for the YMCA in the nation. A LEED certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council in recognition of a building being “green.”"
And finally for my last assignment. It took place at the East Palo Alto "Y". Everything you need to know about this photo can be found in the caption. As soon I was done shooting this it was about 5:20 p.m. when I then rushed out back to the office to get all the images in by 6 p.m. Success!

Tennis

Now for assignment no. 3. It's about 3:30 p.m. and I need to finish up editing and hit up one more place so I can get home before 6:50 p.m. I took about 15min to shoot Tennis then ran to my car to be in East Palo Alto by 4:30.

I pull up to the YMCA in EPA with a bit of time to spare. I grab my lap top and start editing. I got all the photos downloaded and chosen so all I had to do is put in the captions and the photos on the wire.

Mime's Cafe

"Left, Juan R. Jimenez, of Redwood City, serves a piece of roast beef to David Weir, of San Francisco, during an appreciation lunch held at Mime’s Café on Wednesday in Redwood City. Mime’s is scheduled to close their doors on Friday after being open for 13 years serving as a nonprofit culinary training program."
For my second assignment I covered Mime's Cafe... a nonprofit that is closing after 13 years. It is too bad because this place was great.

"Right, culinary instructor Adam Weiner and his daughter, Stephanie, center, mingle with San Mateo County Supervisor (3rd District) Richard Gordon and other guests during an appreciation lunch held at Mime’s Café on Wednesday in Redwood City. "

Woodside Library

"Two-year-old Celeste Cobaugh, of Woodside, peeks over a shelf during a musical story time event held at the Woodside library on Wednesday. The library holds a Baby/Toddler Musical Storytime on Wednesdays through September 24th. For more information visit: www.smcl.org."

Today was interesting. It was my first day as the solo photographer at our paper. I loaded my self with assignments and was trying to be sufficient with getting there, shooting, editing, and writing captions.

"Left, Anjaline Bekx, of Pacifica, and her husband, Mike Eppley, a senior library assistant, “point at something red” while singing a song on Wednesday at the Woodside library. The library holds a Baby/Toddler Musical Storytime on Wednesdays through September 24th. For more information visit: www.smcl.org."

The fist assignment was at the Woodside Library in Woodside, just west of Redwood City. They have a musical story time that seems to be popular in the area.

Gatos, Scotts, Volleyball

Today's match was between Carlmont High School in Belmont and SHP. Though the home team (Carlmont) fell 3 - 0 it was, once again, an exiting game to watch.

Football Portrait

I took this photo last month but wanted to share it with everyone. Photo was taken for a High School football preview. I dont remember kids being this big when I was in high school!?!?!

Family Portraits

After a stressful head shot session I drove up to do a small portrait session with some folks kids who I photographed their wedding a while back.

Her cute little 3 month old did so well!

We ended up going over the Central Park in San Mateo around 6 p.m. and spent some time taking photos around the park.

It's a bit different to take photos of a baby, especially trying to keep her up without falling... difficult... but fun, and not only for me but the parents enjoyed it as well.

Head Shots

Wow I don't think I have ever been so stressed out for a very long time. It didn't help that I have not done a head shot for a very long time, but when the lights you used did not go off correctly then you start to sweat. I set up the lights and everything was looking good. The exposure was a bit off so a bit of adjusting and the normal things where made but as soon as the last test was made... the lights did not go off correctly. The first gentleman made his way in to get his photo done and I felt soooo embarrassed to tell him what happened. He looked a bit upset but I told him that I can fix it and make it work.

There was a large window that allowed a lot of natural light into the room. I scooted the chair used for the portraits closer to the window and grabbed a reflector that I brought with me and got a fairly good result as you can see from the top image.

Chihuahua Racing

"Chloe, a Chihuahua-pug mix, dashes around Menlo Park's Bayfront Park on Wednesday. Chloe, along with her owners Mel and Katrina Soledad of Palo Alto, are participating in the PETCO Unleashed National Chihuahua races in San Diego over the weekend."

As some of you know, a few months back I photographed the Chihuahua races in San Bruno. The winner ended up being Chloe who lives with her owners in Palo Alto.

Naturally our paper would pick up the story and run with it.

Though this fast little pup can run, unfortunately she didn't win the races that took place over the last weekend of August in San Diego.
To read more on Chloe visit: www.paloaltodailynews.com

To check out racing photos from San Bruno visit: KGPhojo.com

Just for Fun

My editor and I went to do report on a story a couple of weeks ago just down the street from the office. The sun was setting as we where about to take off and since he loves his car soooo much I told him to stand in front of his car so I can snap a photo. There is a lot of goofy shots of him but I finally got a decent shot of him and his car.