Blog

About a year ago, my wife and I joined David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman’s workshop “Within The Frame” and went to Kenya to explore the Maasai Mara. It was my second organized trip where someone else was doing all the planning for me. The first one in Spitzbergen was not a success so I was unsure about what to expect. This time we were looking for an organized photo safari with a lot of freedom to take pictures of the wildlife, especially not being timed and be able to go early in the morning and late in the evening...

I have been enjoying the Winter break with family and friends in Tahoe. We have always been very lucky as each time we’ve been spending a week in Tahoe, we always ended up with at least one major storm, and sometimes more. This year after the storm, we got between 12 and 18 inches of fresh snow. Even with snowshoes, it was a workout to get through deep powder snow. Houses were buried and the only way out was snowshoes or nordic ski. This image was taken two years ago, when the Lake Tahoe area got a record amount of snow. I wish you the...

With only a couple of days left in 2012, it’s time to look back and sort out the best images of 2012. It’s clear that my January trip to Kenya was a big event. My 2012  project to take more pictures of  San Francisco is also made obvious in my final choice.

Another installment of my San Francisco Photo spot series; this time it is about Treasure Island. I love Treasure Island because it has one of the nicest views of the Financial District. That’s from where I get some of my favorite images of the city at night. Especially at this time of the year where all of the Embarcadero buildings are illuminated for the Holidays. In addition on Treasure Island (TI), there is the gigantesque statue Bliss Dance made of lights and also the spot called forbidden access. Now, I personally like taking...

After reading the book Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller, I became fascinated by the production of olive oil. I met Paul Piccirillo (from Athena’s gift) who is an olive grower in Gustine, CA. Each year, he organizes the “first day of harvest” where friends come and help him to start the harvest of his trees. After a quick training, we went to the grove to pick olives. I stopped for a couple of minutes to capture the process. Olive trees seem to mature at very different times....

A few weekends ago, I went exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and its surroundings including Tomales Bay, Point Reyes Station and went all the way to Bodega Bay. It’s possible to do it in a day but we stayed overnight at a local bed and breakfast. I have included in the map all the stops where I took the images posted here, as well as all the stops we made for food and coffee. I have a saying: “no coffee no turbo” and for me, it’s really true. As for my wife, she needs her chocolate treat, so I need to find...

Happy holidays! I will be doing one Holidays fair this year and I have decided to do a special price for this fair. Why? because it’s the Holidays! I’m offering the same price to everyone who is reading my blog. The starting price on some prints is $49. Already printed images I’m selling prints I have already printed, which means: There is only one. Once it’s sold, it’s gone. It is on first come, first serve basis. I will update this page as the prints get sold. The print size is specified. If you want a...

Angel Island is one of the largest islands in the San Francisco Bay. It used to be an immigration center from 1910 to 1940 and a missile base from 1950 to 1962. The immigration center was modeled after Ellis Island in New York. Angel Island is now a California State Park and the buildings of the old army bases and the immigration station (more info) can be visited. My interest in Angel Island, beside the historical significance, is the incredible views of San Francisco. The best way to explore the island is to use a bike. You can bring your...

A couple of months ago, I had a call from SRI International looking for hiring a photographer for their new website. SRI is a not-for-profit research center in Menlo Park, CA and they are responsible for some amazing inventions including the mouse, HDTV, and recently SIRI. SRI was building a new website to present the different research projects and they wanted to have one image per project. Each image had to encapsulate the vision and the goal of what the project was about. I was assigned to work with the Artificial Intelligence Center (the...

The second round of America’s cup World Series was held in San Francisco from October 2nd to October 7th 2012. This is not the official America’s cup (or even the Louis Vuitton’s cup) but a new way for sailors to get trained while they wait for their boats to be built. This was the round 2 of the series, with an impressive win in both categories (match racing and fleet racing) by Jimmy Spithill on Oracle Team USA Spithill. It’s true his crew trains all the time on the bay, but Ben Ainslie (on JP Morgan Team), who was...