LA Trip

Sights and Sounds of Venice Beach, CA:


After the long day of preparing for our Grand Opening I could have used the entire next day to sleep. Instead, I was up at 4:00 am to make a flight to Los Angeles for a video shoot with some of my favorite clients at STACK Magazine. Josh from STACK was there as well as Danny Vega and his assistant Brian to handle the photography. We met up with Ben Snowden, BMX trickster currently in the Dew Tour and Fabiola De Sliva, inline skater. The shoot went very well and we got some awesome images. I also got my first parking ticket in Santa Ana. Gotta' love that. A big "thank you" goes out to the hard working men and women of the Santa Ana parking patrol who diligently patrol every street and alleyway. No citation is too small and they never take "no" for an answer. For that matter they don't take, "I'm a member of the media.", "I'm literally moving my car right now." or "Please don't give me that ticket! "


The next day we headed to Thousand Oaks, CA for a shoot with Reggie Bush at Elite Athletics. Reggie was great and showed us some amazing workout routines. The entire staff at Elite Athletics was great and I highly recommend any athlete living in the Thousand Oaks area to check them out. You will be able to see all these videos when we finish editing them at http://www.stack.com/.


When the Reggie Bush shoot was finished we drove back to our hotel. Josh, Danny and Brian took naps or checked email. I decided to make a trip through the hills of Malibu. I made my way through the curvy, narrow mountain roads until I found a small pull-off area with a steep trail to a plateau. I grabbed my camera and tripod and climbed to the top. Slipping on loose gravel the entire way, out of breath I made it to the top to reveal a breathtaking view of the mountainous California countryside. I set up my camera, opened the lens hood and then realized I forgot to grab a battery. Needless to say I did not try to climb the trail again. Instead I made my way back to the hotel to catch a ride with the guys back into L.A. where we visited Venice Beach and had some fresh seafood.


At Venice Beach I did manage to bring my camera and my battery and grabbed a few fun shots of the surfers, setting sun and Venice Beach artwork (check out the video clip below). It was a fitting end to a great trip. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast and spent the next 8 hours in airports and airplanes as I made my way back home. I got a good night sleep and was up the next day for another perfect wedding!

Grand Opening

Well, we finally did it. We opened our doors! We spent all weekend painting, staining, cleaning, installing lights and purchasing equipment for our new studio space. Our friends, Melanie and Tim, from Washington D.C. even drove all day to help us that afternoon with the preparations. Carla worked diligently to prepare food and drinks for all of our expected guests. Then, as the hour of our ribbon cutting approached, a very large storm rolled into northeast Ohio. Despite the storm, 25 of our closest family, friends, clients and colleagues stopped by to show their support.

The Painesville Area Chamber of Commerce helped us by providing a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony and we were greeted warmly by Fairport's Mayor, Frank Sarosy and council member Tim Manross. Lots of people made the trip from Euclid and Cleveland. Tom Forrest and Andrew Jordan made a harrowing journey through the storm from Hudson to show their support.

We know there were many others who wished they could have made it out and sent emails to show their support. We could never thank you all by name but we want you all to know how much we appreciate your friendship and kind words of encouragement.

A huge THANK YOU goes out to my father who has spent more time and energy in building our studio than anyone else. While I was busy editing and shooting video to keep up with our workload, Dad was working long hours hanging drywall, painting and custom building all the wonderful woodwork in our studio. If anything else, you should all get a chance to stop in just to see the beautiful windows he built and the front desk that he and my grandfather created for us. Thanks Dad, I love you very much.

We enjoyed spending time with everyone. And when the day was over, Carla and I took a deep breath and a sigh of relief. We took a step back and looked at what we had accomplished and smiled thinking about what is yet to come.