Pandemic images
Last Christmas, residents of the El Portal Mobile Home Park near Yosemite were asked to leave there homes with only a few weeks notice and zero compensation even though they owned their homes.
Here are a few images I created during Fresno's shelter-in-place order. I figure I've gone out on assignments maybe once per day and only when I felt it was a worthy story and necessary to get images and video. I've been wearing a mask and staying as distant from people as I can. I don't even mic people up - just using the shotgun mic on camera.
The Chinatown story was pretty cool and allowed me to be especially socially distant, since I shot it with the drone! Also the overhead shot of the boat on Pine Flat Lake. Although I was confronted by security on that one. They say they don't allow drones because of national security concerns but I couldn't find any documentation to show that.
Seems we are getting close to back to normal but I for one will continue to work from home, and wear a mask and stay away from crowds when I'm on assignment. I hope we do get back to normal but until these infection numbers drop, it's not worth taking extra risks.
Chinatown lies in the foreground of this drone image, where high-speed rail contruction creates a barrier between it and downtown Fresno on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Coronavirus orders have affected business in Chinatown already hit hard by high-speed rail construction road closures as well as the ongoing homeless problem.
Participants gather for a rally at 12th Avenue and Lacy Boulevard in Hanford to psh for reopening business and allowing people to go back to work, on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Although Kings County voted to open businesses on Friday, establishments like hair salons and churches remain closed due state orders to combat the coronavirus.
A boat passes by the houseboats at Pine Flat Lake Marina on the first day the marina re-opened to the public, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Facilities at privately-operated marinas like Pine Flat Lake, Lake Kaweah and Success Lake, have been closed since March 26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and state shelter-in-place orders.
Shoppers wait in line socially distant-style to purchase Fresno State-grown corn on the first day of corn sales at the Gibson Farm Market on Monday, May 25, 2020. This year the market had two lines for people who wanted to just buy pre-bagged corn and for those wanting to purchase other items.
Customers file into the entrance at Fashion Fair mall when the doors opened on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, for the first time since late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
White Cattle Ranch
Spring is sure an awesome time to be in the Fresno County foothills. It was also the perfect time to fly my drone over the White Cattle Ranch near Dunlap for Pearson Realty.
Spring is sure an awesome time to be in the Fresno County foothills. It was also the perfect time to fly my drone over the White Cattle Ranch near Dunlap for Pearson Realty a couple of weeks ago.
This place was made for post card images. We were even lucky enough to spot a cowboy and his girlfriend taking a ride on their horses along the ridge. The afternoon light and clear skies added to the beauty.
Check out the video below and you'll see what I mean. This would be an awesome place to build a dream home and retire. Some lucky buyer may just get that chance.
Cowboy and cowgirl taking a leisurely ride along the ridge on the White Cattle Ranch near Dunlap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEc73ShsaWY&t=10s
Nursing homes in the COVID era
I was assigned to shoot photos and video for a Sacramento Bee story that also ran in other McClatchy papers including The Fresno Bee.
I was assigned to shoot photos and video for a Sacramento Bee story that also ran in other McClatchy papers including The Fresno Bee.
The story focused on the future of nursing homes amid the coronavirus pandemic since many have seen high infection rates and death.
My assignment was to meet a woman who has been caring for her father who is suffering from various ailments. She feels that he is at his best when she and his friends can visit him but due to coronavirus concerns, she can only visit via his apartment window and her cell phone.
It was super sad to watch her with what she was dealing with and how she really just wanted to give her dad a hug.
Denise Plank talks on her cell phone with her father, Ed, 84, while visiting him through his nursing home window at the California Armenian Home in Fresno on Friday, April 17, 2020. Ed is suffering from a blood disease but Denise continues to visit him nearly everyday, if only through his nursing home window.
https://youtu.be/fWAyPKooJUY
Minority businesses struggle getting COVID relief
Minority-owned small businesses are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to COVID relief. From the video: “So you have multiple barriers that puts them in the back of the line, if they manage to get into the line at all,” Xiong said.
Minority-owned small businesses are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to COVID relief. From the video: “So you have multiple barriers that puts them in the back of the line, if they manage to get into the line at all,” Xiong said. “You continue to put these small businesses who are the least apt to handle this pandemic in an even worse situation.”
Here's a link to the story: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article242203451.html
Hmong Farmer Zia Thea Xiong looks over the crops on his farm in southeast Fresno during the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, April 22, 2020. Xiong has had to fallow land because he lost his the wholesale buyers for his crops. He's unsure whether he will have buyers for the upcoming season and is contemplating whether he should plant or fallow more land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsoANzgdqnA
A break from weddings and portraits
I suppose that after updating my website, I should probably post something about not doing weddings or portraits at this time.
I suppose that after updating my website, I should probably post something about not doing weddings or portraits at this time. Since I first started my business in 2009 I put weddings on the top of my list of services. I wanted to make sure I had good income should the possibility of getting laid off from my Fresno Bee job came true. At the time newsrooms were slimming down due to industry challenges and it was a real concern.
I feel that after 10 years I got pretty good at weddings and portraits. They were a lot of fun too, but also a little exhausting. Long work days and hours of editing made them quite an effort. But mostly it was taking vacation days from The Bee or using a free weekend to shoot a wedding or portrait session that wore me down. There was just something not right about using a vacation day to do more work.
So after 10 years I still have my staff job at The Bee and it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere just yet. It appears I've weathered the worst of it, at least for now. This is why I decided that I don't need to run myself ragged on weekends (and nights editing) after a long week of work. And now that Carmen and I are together I want to enjoy life and have some fun with her.
I've put all my prior wedding and portrait posts on private at this time and likely won't accept any inquiries for those, at least in the near future.
If the time comes where I do need to make extra income from weddings, I know I'll be ready. But for now, I'm hiking, traveling, relaxing and enjoying my freedom.
https://youtu.be/K-wNA-EGRuk
Here's a video featuring some drone action during the Three Rivers weekend getaway Carmen and I went on. I'm hoping to get away and enjoy my weekends more often now that my wedding and portrait photography is on hiatus for now.
Time to chill in a hammock
Deserted city
This is a recent drone video I did of some landmarks and usually busy areas of Fresno during the first couple of weeks of the coronavirus outbreak. Some parts of the city were busier than others, but I thought seeing downtown Fresno on a Friday afternoon was pretty telling.
This is a recent drone video I did of some landmarks and usually busy areas of Fresno during the first couple of weeks of the coronavirus outbreak. Some parts of the city were busier than others, but I thought seeing downtown Fresno on a Friday afternoon was pretty telling.
California poppy field
Here's a drone video of a California poppy field for your visual enjoyment.
Tool concert
Last week's Tool concert was pretty interesting - and a challenge to photograph! First, I could only be there to shoot one song, except that the one song was 12 minutes long! So that was good. The bad part was that the stage was almost completely dark. Only the video screen in the back part of the stage emitted some funky lighting as well as some flashing spotlights were the only sources of light. I pushed my exposure to 6400 iso and dropped my shutter speed as low as 1/60th of a second!
It was a weird concert, music and everything else. The audience was not allowed to take pictures at all, even with cell phones. There were warnings that phones would be confiscated.
Anyway, fortunately for me, I was able to pull a few frames that worked for the review story.
Lemoore homecoming
Always a treat to see F/A-18 pilots return to base after a long deployment. These pilots were providing air support for the USS Abraham mainly in the Mideast over about 8 months as tensions ran high in the area. Super sweet to see these pilots seeing their families after so long.
Commercial drone photography
I have recently added drone photography and video to my visual services.
Below you can see commercial real estate drone videography at a property for Pearson Realty recently. I am able to do still images as well as fully edited and produced video with music or voice-over for web publishing.
I am Part 107 certified and licensed as a commercial drone pilot and follow all FAA rules for sUAS flight. Send me an email, or call if you'd like to get a quote for your drone photography needs.
Top Dog Gala 2017
For the first time, I covered the Fresno State Alumni Association's Top Dog Alumni Awards Gala at the Save Mart Center, on Oct. 13. Shout out to my buddy Cary for the referral.
This was a super fancy event. A lot of folks were in tuxes as the association honored 14 recipients including Kim Ruiz Beck, of Ruiz Foods, who was named Distinguished Alumna.
It's great to see all the good work local alumni are doing and how they constantly praise what they learned from their educators while attending Fresno State. Kinda makes me wish I went to Fresno State instead of San Jose State for my journalism degree. Wait! Heck no! I'm true blue and gold and proud of it. :)
Enjoy the photos.
Ice Cream and Animals at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo
It was a slightly less hot August night than in past years when the Fresno Chaffee Zoo held its annual Producers Dairy Ice Cream Zoofari earlier this month. As usual, there were tons of different ice cream flavors, toppings and other treats at stations scattered throughout the zoo. On a typical summer night in Fresno, that's a welcome sight.
It looked like the rainbow sherbet, red velvet and cookies and cream were pretty popular, but I really enjoyed the Death by Chocolate and salted caramel flavors myself. I also preferred the cone to the cup - except with the root beer float of course. Yes, it was a bit of a sugar overload.
It was fun to see Parker out there posing for photos along with the cheetahs and lions. Zoo events are such great events as they always include the volunteer docents to talk to folks about animal facts and conservation.
Enjoy the photos while I head to the gym to burn off some of those calories.