CONTACT | Shapour

I sold myself short. At the end of Blackwelder St. Shapour sits outside at 3pm waiting for his driver. Rain or shine, torrid or tepid, he’s always out there. Dressed like a boss. One day I time it right and ask to take his portrait. Weeks go by, I print a few in the darkroom, and hope to give them to him the next time I see him. When I finally do, he asks “How much do I owe you?” What a sweet heart. I tell him nothing, and that it was a pleasure to take his photograph. He smiles and thumbs through the prints, stopping at the last one. It’s my favorite. An artsy little number that doesn’t include his face. “This one’s no good,” he says. I think to myself, “that’ll be $50.”

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Paso Robles

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Diving into the archives for back-to-back birthday posts, this one a few years shy of the ole one-six. If memory serves we spent the long weekend holed up in a killer farm house, eating epic meals, driving back roads, and searching for photo ops. Sounds like any Elliott trip worth taking.

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Vancouver

There’s lots of fun to be had in Vancouver. Walk Stanley park. Visit Granville Island. Watch the Canucks lose to the Kings. Yes, these are cool. But nothing compares to the skill and endurance required to land a penny in the narrow opening of a frozen swill pot. For this memory, and the many attempts at ultimate success, I will be forever grateful.

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Oh Hai!

For Leslie’s 60th birthday the gang surprised her with a long weekend at the Turtle Conservancy in Ojai. Before you ask, it was amazing. Both the celebration and the turtles. We really could have spent a week on the compound, but managed to make ourselves at home in just three short days. In fact, I now consider myself a de facto tour guide after cruising through each and every greenhouse and turtle terrarium on the property. I like turtles.

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The Day After

What did we do? That was the name given to the Sunday BBQ after Lauren and I made it official. While the question was rhetorical, it didn’t really matter as the younger generation wasn’t ready to answer morning after, about the night before. Luckily, there’s no better remedy than pulled pork and shenanigans.

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10.08.16

I don’t often take selfies. But when I do, I get married shortly thereafter. Six months have passed since I took this photo and the emotions are still there. In fact, I had to stop writing this post just to sit in memories (which was a bit awkward as I’m currently on a plane filled with 300 of my closest friends). Now, we’ve all seen the beautiful work that Jean-Laurent captured, so I won’t try to reproduce what some have deemed “the most photographed wedding ever.” What I will do is share the few frames I managed to capture that day, and the thoughts that went through my mind. Hope you enjoy them as much as I still do.

More after the break.

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Women’s March Los Angeles

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I have a confession. I almost didn’t march. Go ahead. Judge me. I’ll wait. In all honestly, I didn’t realize what the marches were about. Yes, I can read, so I knew it was for women. But I was turned off by the idea of protesting for protesting’s sake. Spontaneous rallies had broken out Downtown earlier in the week, and while I supported the cause I hated the goons who used the opportunity to close freeways, scream at cops, and twiddle up their T-Shirts into muggers masks. None of that was experience at the women’s march. Not in the slightest.

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Universal Studios

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I learned three valuable things in my time at Universal Studios. The Holga is awesome. Simulators are not. And the “Front Of The Line Pass” is God’s gift to man.

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Merry Xpan

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Saint Nick done good this year. In addition to everything on the wish list a minty Xpan appeared under the tree. OK, appeared might belittle the gift buying process. Regardless, I am the proud new owner of Hasselblad’s panorama picture making machine. To celebrate I thought I’d post images made with a different version of the same camera from New York (along with the SUPER wide 30mm—thank you Sarah Elliott!) I loved it back then, lusted for it ever since, and can’t wait to put this one through its paces.

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Swing Away

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Now we can’t play ball no more. With the squad on bye week I thought it appropriate to post memories from our first two seasons. Hopefully it’ll encourage some, I’ll say shy, members of the team to get in front of the lens next time. Remember kids. There’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.

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