I’m home now from Reno … after an awful 48-hour flu and missing my first flight because of it. In fact, I just ate for the first time in 2-1/2 days. Not fun. Anyway, so that this post isn’t boring, check out this crazy vintage video I saw the other day …

Loved the music … but to see the looks on this guy’s face, I just had to laugh out loud. Wolverine having an orgasm? Mel Gibson in an alternate universe of drugs & rock’n'roll???

I have a lot to be thankful for … I have amazing friends, and (generally) a great family. I live in Southern California and enjoy near-perfect weather all year, living in in one of the most prosperous places in the world. And, as much as I’ve had ups and downs, I’m happy, healthy, and thankful for each person in my life. Thank you…

Now, enough of the sappy stuff… how about a little of the bittersweet? (It’s probably a more interesting read.) The first bittersweet moment involves a temper-tantrum of a relative — who occasionally reads this. So we won’t discuss that. The second bittersweet moment of Thanksgiving 2006 involves my Grandma. I call her Boubie — and my other grandmother, who passed away about 3 months ago, was Grandma ‘Netta. (Well, it was really Annetta, but I just called her grandma ‘netta.)

My Aunt and Boubie — with a tiny bit of help from the rest of us — cook a fantastic dinner of turkey, stuffing, jello mold, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc … but still my grandmother is a little sad about the missing members of our family. She powers through dinner just fine until, right in the middle of dinner, she looks over at me and says, “So, Jason, how is Grandma ‘Netta doing?”

Yep … you know how you feel that pit in your stomach when you have to tell someone something bad? There was a few heartbeats of silence… that sickening feeling … and then my Aunt says “I’m sorry, Boubie, but Grandma ‘Netta passed away.” Boubie gets up in the middle of dinner and runs out of the room … mad that “none of us told her” and hurt, of course, that my Grandma ‘Netta is gone. And it doesn’t help all that much to tell her that we’d already told her this in the past, and she’d just forgotten. Kind of a no-win situation, no matter how you look at it, huh?

But maybe I’m just an optimist … because that moment was here, and then gone soon enough. And I still had a great meal with family, including a “new” 2nd cousin and her husband who are out, and who I’d never met before this week. My cousin Jake is great (of course, I have to say that, he’s a reader!), although it’s hard with all these other things to spend proper time with him. And I still have the best friends I could ever ask for. So, back to the optimist thing, I’m still happy and having fun, even with a little punctuation of the bittersweet…

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for taking an interest, one way or another, in my life!

I guess it’s a good thing that my grandparents don’t surf the internet. Otherwise I wouldn’t feel 100% comfortable writing this… but they’re just getting old. My grandfather decided that he hated everyone today, and that he was going to walk the 10 miles to the VA Hospital. So I went out… told him I was just “keeping him company.” After 2 miles (probably an hour) of freezing cold walking in 20+ mph winds, we (my cousing Jake came along to help for much of it) … we finally convinced him to come home. Ugghh… it seems like forever when you’re doing it, not knowing if in the end we’ll have to force him into the car, or call the police. Or walk all night until I freeze to death (or he does)… So it wasn’t all that pleasant. This picture seemed to sum up how my grandfather must feel … it’s kind of sad, actually, he’s so unhappy (and unfortunately intent on making everyone else miserable, too.)

And on top of that, my grandmother is starting to get pretty forgetful … I think that since my dad went, they just don’t care as much anymore. (The same thing happened to my other grandma after my grandfather (mom’s dad) died.)

So, Reno is this odd little town … sometimes urban, sometimes rural. For instance, we went to a fairly big meat market today. You gotta love this …

Sunset was beautiful, though …. this is taken from my grandparents’ front yard…

One more thing… I’m having cell phone issues, and not answering/returning most phone calls so far … maybe I’ll do better tomorrow, but no promises…

Have a happy thanksgiving!!

So, I’ve flown — I don’t know — several hundred times? And generally I enjoy the flights with a little bit of turbulence. It makes it seem more like an airplane, less like a bus. But tonight’s flight to Reno was, I think, a bit excessive. From the 6 to 10 foot straight drop, to the lady with the baby by the window filling her “bag” … to the tough high-school kid next to me, who said “I think I need to hug someone when I get off this plane.” … well, the flight was rough.

Most importantly, though, the landing was perfect, if not odd. Usually when it’s a little windy the pilots kind of slam the plane down … this one kept the nose really low, and almost touched all the “points” (back and front wheels) to the ground at the same time. (Anyone have a pilot’s take of this situation?)

Anyway, I’m here in Reno with my grandparents, Aunt Toni and cousin Jake. Sadly, I doubt there will be another thanksgiving like it because my grandarents seemed to have been heading south since my dad passed away a couple of years ago…

But I’m thankful to be here!! And even though I’ll be working sporadically, it will be nice to have some quasi days off… I’ll post some pictures as I take them over the next few days…

I updated the photography site today with a few new photos … if you follow my stuff, you may have seen quite a few of the pix already, but there are some new ones as well. Enjoy!

f8fotos.com - newest gallery

Just found this shot from a few months back. This is Andrea. I was shooting for a makeup artist/friend of mine Tianna, who brought over several of her friends for the shoot. Andrea did really well for someone who isn’t “a model”… I think there are better poses of her, but I liked the lighting and mood on this one.

All the edits from that shoot are in a little web gallery here. Keep in mind they were shot for a makeup artist.

Kudos to one of my favorite photographers to watch, [b]ecker … he shot Corinne’s wedding reception last weekend (if you’ll recall, I was lucky enough to shoot the actual wedding the week before), and did an incredible job. Here’s a bit of his work, with a shot of me and friend Hill even thrown in there:

on the becker blog … a fun place to look once in a while …

Not sure if I ever posted some of these pictures of the triplets from June … enjoy!

Been super-busy consulting and in “calendar season” … but I thought I’d post another halloween photo. This is Evan Rachel Wood, from Thirteen, Running with Scissors, and another 27 or so movies. (I did feel like a dirty-old-man when I realized that she was born when I was a sophmore in High School, though.)

Credit to Pat Rogers (again) for taking the picture. (But could I look worse? I guess the wardrobe doesn’t help…)

One thing I neglected to mention was a few weeks ago I had an AMAZING night in Long Beach seeing Eric Sardinas. He played Blue Cafe, and it was one of the most intense, fun, riveting musical performances I’ve ever seen … I felt like what someone who saw Chuck Berry (or one of the other great innovative talents) must have felt when they saw him in a super small club. (Well, except that Eric Sardinas will probably never get famous like them… but damn, is he talented!).

On the way up there I kept wondering if it was worth the drive, the parking, etc etc … and within 30 seconds of him beginning, it was all worth it right then and there … amazing. If he ever comes to your town, make the effort to go see him … it’s well well worth it.

One of my closest friends, Corinne, got married this past weekend at a very intimate ceremony in Arizona. I was fortunate enough to be chosen to capture the moment — a great responsibility that’s actually a little intimidating. But the wedding, the dinners, the people … everything was incredible. Her husband Matt is fantastic, and we had a chance to chat and hang out some more this past weekend. Congratulations, Corinne & Matt!!

Above is one of my favorite pix of the weekend, taken as we scrambled (late) to get some last-minute pictures before the sun went down.