Tofino, B.C.

Far from the desert in this post. Tofino is truly "end of the road", in spirit, as well as physically as far west as you can drive across Canada before falling off into the Pacific and presumably ending up in Japan. At least that's the punch line of a joke by the local surfers. Home to great surf, commercial Salmon fishers, black bear, cougar and a variety of deadbeats and aging hippies who call this place home. I feel right at home with my peers here. This is our third job here in about as many years and the attraction hasn't worn off. Reminds me of Monterey in Steinbeck's day, or at least as I imagine it. We had to cram a lot in during our time here because we arrived two days late after I fell sick thanks to some contaminated chicken at a fast food place in Victoria, the closest international airport, a 6 hour drive away. I spent two days in a local hotel thinking I was going to die, but that was okay, because I really wanted to!Anyway, e coli notwithstanding, everything went well, the weather was as as great as the people and the only Black Bear I saw was as I zoomed by doing about 70. Because of its hippie-haven past and surfer mecca present, Tofino is very Eco friendly and with the plushest resorts to be found on all of Vancouver Island, you can graduate to Eco chic for a mere several hundred dollars a night. Although this little town almost shuts down over the winter, the resorts claim that there is no off season. Winter time with its brutal rain and wind becomes Storm Watching Season and as the heavy weather coming down from the Bering Sea pummels the coast. I'm sure it's spectacular to watch - from the comfort of your ocean view room complete with fireplace, lots of glass and piped-in Sarah McLachlan. The last comment is true, I quite enjoyed it.

Rodeo Drive

I'm normally not one for social commentary, I'll leave that to much more talented people like Sebastio Salgado. I couldn't resist this though. In behind the designer stores on Rodeo Drive is an alley for deliveries and such. This is where the little people deliver merchandise, pick up garbage - all out of site of the shoppers and tourists. This is also where the glue sniffers and the winos go, but we Photoshopped them out - respect their privacy and all - as we also blurred the plates on the cars and the name on the van. Happy shopping.

Edris House, Palm Springs

The Edris House was built in 1953 by E. Stuart Williams, who also designed and built The Sinatra House,and is a wonderful example of Modernism and the Palm Springs lifestyle. Our thanks to JR, the current owner and careful curator of this masterpiece.

Hyatt Palm Springs sunrise

It's dawn at Starbucks on Palm Canyon and I'm sitting with Larry, Darren, Tim et al, and working out the day's shooting schedule when I see them out of the corner of my eye.

A sixtyish couple: she, tall and thin, very elegant looking in linen slacks, plain silk blouse and a discreet pearl choker. He is about five foot four, two hundred and seventy pounds plus, wearing a muscle style T shirt and the loudest Hawaiian shorts I have ever seen.

How do people as different as them even know each other, I think? What brought them together in the first place? Was he a silver-tongued smooth talker, while she was painfully shy? Is that too obvious and simplistic? Probably.

I'm engrossed in them, projecting all kinds of scenarios about their initial meeting. "What do you think?" Huh? "Are you even listening? What do you think?" About what? "We're were thinking of not working today and just goofing off." Very funny guys, I'm not in that much of a fog, let's go.

As we stood up and left, I realized that I actually was in that much of a fog so I went inside and ordered another coffee to go. As we walked up the street, past the T shirt shops and for lease signs that are so familiar on this section of Palm Canyon, I couldn't help but wonder what Palm Springs is all about. I certainly don't get it. It's okay, but no big deal in my mind - unlike Beverly Hills where we had just left after a couple of days and I think is one of the most mindless places I've ever been.

Back in my room, packed for the day and looking out from my balcony, I took this shot. It will always remind me of my mystery couple.

Las Vegas resorts

Back in the desert again last month, this time in Sin City.

Again, not my usual thing, I'm used to beaches, ocean and humidity, but this assignment came directly from the shot of the W in Scottsdale I posted a little while back. Not too often that things like that happen, but when it does it feels that all is right with the world.

November in Las Vegas isn't warm, especially hanging off a terrace 25 floors up on a windy evening. The noise, crowds and hookers are all way down below. all I can hear is the sound of Stan Getz playing Bossa Nova from the room and Astrid Gilberto's sweet voice accompanying him. Perfect music to be shooting the Bellagio fountains to. We also did a number of stitched panoramas from this terrace that turned out quite well, although we were way off the twelve shot panos that Peter Lik did from an adjacent location with a Red Epic. But, that's Peter for you.

The new(ish) City Center is the largest private construction project ever undertaken in the U.S., and it is mighty impressive - hotels,casinos,shopping,entertainment and residences all rolled into one massive development.You could spend a month shooting the place and still have missed something, it's just that big - and worthy. Although I must admit that the Veer Towers gave me the willies - twin towers leaning in the opposite direction to each other. Reminds me of a hotel we did in Atlanta that didn't have one right angle in the whole place. Just doesn't feel right somehow.

A special thanks to the guys at the Sony Store in the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace for coming through when we had a technical issue. Not too often we find service that good anymore and more's the pity.

Cape Cod in the Fall

It's been over twenty years since I've had a job on Cape Cod. In the meantime, we actually owned a summer place in Hyannisport for a number of years. So, I've shot a lot here, but this is only the second time that I'm getting paid to do so.


These two shots are typical Cape in mid-September. One glorious sunrise and one dreary cloudy day that was also very interesting, but unusable for commercial purposes. I didn't even notice the cloudy scene because I was facing the other way toward the resort and the ocean and muttering about the crappy weather.

Deciding to call it quits and pack up for the day I looked over my shoulder across the saltwater inlet and marsh behind me and voila! Nice little scene and very Cape Cod like.

It's unusual for us to be working outside of the Sunbelt and the tropics, but it's not for lack of interest on my part. It just rarely happens that way, and when it does, I can't think of a place I love to be more than this.

Summer in Scottsdale

This is a personal shot and an unusual one for me because I usuually don't work in urban surroundings.

It was taken during a break on a resort shoot in Scottsdale, AZ. I decided to go downtown and explore the air-conditioned cocoons called shopping malls. Sitting at a traffic light, I saw the newly opened W Hotel out of the corner of my eye, on the cross street. I zipped over and parked on a side street and watched the scores of twentysomethings come and go from the W. They all seemed to be dressed in baggy surfer shorts and garish T shirts, proclaiming "Acapulco Beer Champ", and the like.

Starwood like to brand the W as a hip brand but I doubt that this is what they had in mind. Must be happy hour, I thought, as the music blared from the rooftop pool deck and I could see the silhouettes of their bodies milling around against the setting sun.

I quickly and somewhat absent mindedly shot off about a dozen frames and didn't bother to go inside because it looked like a zoo. Besides, I was on a mission and going shopping before we started to set-up for the evening's shoot.

Later that night, I started to process the day's take and when this shot popped up on the screen I became dissapointed that I hadn't spent more time or given it more thought. I liked it and wished that I had more to choose from.

All that I can say is that I blame it on the heat. It was 115 degrees for seven days in a row and even the usual cool night air of the desert didn't materialize. The first day, I just thought that the heat was a little crispy. The second day, I started muttering, "son of a bitch", but by the third day, I was going mental. Even the cameras and lens barrels were hot to the touch and when a gust of super-heated wind hit my face, it just sucked the breath from my mouth.

I've worked in the desert before; here in Scottsdale, as well as Las Vegas and in Cabo San Lucas, Baja, a number of times, but I have never been as debilitated as this. My usual stomping ground is the Caribbean and Mexico and I rarely work north of Miami. Not only do I have no problem with the heat, I love tropical weather and feel that I was born for it. All I can say is that it's a good job I've been doing the Cancun shuttle lately and my skin is already well tanned, because I would have fried otherwise.

The day after I left, Phoenix and Scottsdale were hit by a massive sandstorm, hundreds of feet high, driven by searingly hot winds, that pummeled the city and brought it to a standstill. Whew. Close one.