I never pass on an opportunity to shoot something big. Over the years I’ve amassed a pretty good collection of performance shots by some big name DJ’s and artists. I’m lucky that i’ve popped these hot shots and I consider myself even luckier that I’ve gotten away with my hearing.

Its quite an experience to get to hang out with LMFAO or run into Mickey Avalon backstage getting ready for their performance.
One of my favorite times happened about 3 years ago before LMFAO got really popular; they were having a show at the Ivy and they just strolled into the lobby and Redfoo had a brand new DSLR camera strapped to his hard. He was in the photozone and when he noticed my big ol’ rig, he came over and we chatted a bit on some acceptable indoor camera setting and he was on his way. I got a little shout out that night inbetween songs and then I got drenched in champagne – One of the three times I’ve lost my flash to a shower.

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My phone rang one morning and on the other end of the line was my buddy Pete Ulatan. The man who brought you the images to the most excellent ninja party that I had last year to celebrate my 29th birthday.

Pete was doing a shoot and needed some direction with shooting for a timepiece line called Meister. They had the one and only TIm Lincecum, star pitches for the San Francisco Giants on their roster of celebrity personalities and he was going to be doing photos for the company. The shoot went very smoothly and Pete killed it. I was able to shoot as well and got some hot shots of Tim showing off these cool timepieces.

This shoot is a direct contrast to the Mike Tyson shoot in several ways; for one, the shoot and the opportunity showed me that I just need to stay consistent with my shooting, with a commitment to staying busy, delivering great photos, developing new goals and keeping it positive. I’ll endeavor  to work hard and trust myself and continue to enjoy moments like this – great things will come and I know I can handle the hard stuff.

Thanks Timmy and thanks Pete!

Let’s face it – some weird behavior happens at truck stops. This is no different.

Keep on truckin” and bring me the horizon.

This shoot was supposed to be HUGE. Shooting Mike Tyson in a portrait session was something I had thought about for a long time, and knew it would be a big step up. If I had the ability to work with him for more than 2 minutes, I was confident that I could get some great shots and make it a great experience.

I called for assistants, rented a 3 pack of profoto heads and light modifiers, and set aside my entire day for a call from a friend saying that he was going to be with Mike Tyson at a signing near the Comic Convention in San Diego. That was all i needed. I set up in an outdoor location and waited for 9AM. That passed and I wanted for 11AM. Turns out his car broke down and he wouldnt be free until after 2PM.

I envisioned a scenario were I had his attention and cooperation and what I got something much, much different. As Tyson exited the signing, a gaggle of nearly 300 people screaming for his attention followed. My rented lights were trampled, a beauty dish went missing and melee ensued. Tyson’s bodyguards were yelling at me and I knew this wasn’t what I prepped for. But after some deliberation, I worked my way towards Mike, and found a guy who wanted to go home and didn’t want to take any photos. His manager yelled that he had to do one – so what i got was a half smile, half fuck you look. “should I smile, should i frown?” type of thing.

My mantra is to make the best of it -and although i’m not proud of the situation or outcome – it is what it is. At least I got his side with the tattoo, maybe my tune would be different if I didn’t get that iconic ink.

Let’s face it. Guys like to blow stuff up. My brother and I are no exception.

Kaboom.

Hyena is a indie electroband that I encountered when I visited my buddy Chris Martin at The Griffin in San Diego a few months ago. I was there to help support the grand opening of the space and brought the camera along to document the festivities.

They rocked so hard – I had to put down the camera after I got these shots below.
In the words of one of my friends: “Musicians are sexy”

What do you think?

Being on location affords me some interesting opportunities.

Recently I’ve had the extreme luck and pleasure of shooting the guys from Team AlphaMale during their intense training sessions as they prepare for battle. Urijah Faber, TJ Dillishaw, Joesph Benavidez, Justin Buchholz, Chad Mendes, Danny Castillo and Master Thong (do we include Sweaty Eddie??) make up this winning combination that train together and have each others back 100%. Getting this close means that I try out different shots and I do my best to stay out of the way, but sometimes Master Thong will utter an unintelligible string of guttural grunts and my only recourse is to move my feet and get out of the way.

Here are a few shots from thousands of photos that I’ve amassed during their sessions – I’ve got a special delivery of a series of images for these gentlemen and I’m looking forward to delivering on Christmas.

Here are the guys doing their thing:

Urijah Faber

Joseph Benavidez

TJ

Master Thong

AlphaMale

Here are a few shots from my shoot with Mark Miller – just months after his open heart surgery and comeback to training. Early 2010

I did a shoot with Mark “Fightshark” Miller accompanied by Ryan Loco a few years ago, that at the time started out as an idea for Loco and I to have some fun and hang out with a cool dude on a Sunday afternoon. Little did I know that this would actually be a shoot that would influence the direction of my future in many ways. Mark was an interesting subject because he is a dedicated fighter who was making his come back after a career as a kickboxer. His comeback came in the form of overcoming/surviving open heart surgery with dreams of fighting in the UFC and to competitively kickbox again. This was a big step up from shooting local guys at my gym and somewhat of a challenge.

Up to this point, I had shot a lot of fighters from my local gym and training facilites all over the city, but nothing as big as driving up to LA for a dedicated shoot.

I have always been a big fan of MMA and the UFC, including its supporting martial arts like Brazilian Ju Jitsu and Muay Thai; I can’t wrestle to save my life so I stuck to the things that I was sort of good at. I did BJJ at Roy Harris academy for about 2 years until I found my love for muay thai and I’ve been practicing ever since, as much as I could. I’ve had 2 muay thai smokers and would love to start training hard again…. I’ve been bitten by the bug again and I’ve got Ryan Loco to thank. He’s in my ear every other day making me jealous as we discuss his training sessions with he and Tyrone Spong’s striking coach Henri Hooft.

After the shoot with Mark, I got on the hustle and started shooting more and more fighters and it wasn’t long after that I got my chance to shoot a Strikeforce and UFC event – something that i had always dreamt of doing, but never thought it would happen. I consider myself lucky – and crazy enough to make it work.

As a bonus – here is the video from my first fight. G’head laugh it up! Thats why Im behind the camera and not in front of it!

Chuck Liddell Faces off one last time.

Here is one of my favorite shots of Chuck Liddell at a fan signing recently, a young lil dude had his hair and outfit done totally and even had tattoo on his head lil the big iceman. I love this shot because they both look so seriously intense. I don’t think I could have held a straight face if I was in the little guys shoes.

Mixed Martial Arts is still a new sport but it’s growth and popularity worldwide means that it still got a lot left, with new faces and surprises in the future. Little dudes like this are the future, and positive experiences like this will keep guys like him pumped up and give him something to smile about, and maybe put up on his facebook when he’s old enough to have one.

In the spirit of continuing to show you Brazil – We ventured up to Corcovado, otherwise known as Christ the Redeemer (statue). We went with friends and familiar faces. I never thought I’d be in Brazil with Royce Gracie at the top of a Rio’s most famous landmark, but I was and it was amazing.

Here are some snaps from the morning.