Four completed screenplays -- "The Thief of Dubai" was the No.1 most requested script on Virtual Pitch Fest in November while "May September" was the No.1 most requested script in October. "Box Canyon," was No.2 in October AND September. "Lost Causes" was No.1 in January.

Three scripts have a "recommend" from Script Reader Pro while "May September" has a "strong consider".

I have THREE scripts in the VPF top 20 most requested scripts for 2022 -- https://www.virtualpitchfest.com/the-vpf-20/.

We hit three of the big five national parks in Utah. "The Mighty Five."

Alex's dances at Soiree for the recital using the new Canon EOS R3 in low light. It worked superbly!

It's a rooftop aerie in NoHo and the couple is styling and gorgeous - need I say more?

While we waited for the main deal out came a short montage.

It's postseason invitationals and junior Olympic time for our California Comets Cross Country runners and even the howling wind can't slow these runners down! This was at Central Park in Santa Clarita on a Canon EOS 5D Mk IV with a 24-105 F 4.0.

Sebby gets a first place at the Oak Park Cross Country meet and overall divisional champion! The Sebanator! Simi Valley Running Rebels. And yes, the Canon EOS 5D Mk 4 did fine in the damp mist. It actually almost rained egad!

The Simi Valley Running Rebels Cross Country season 2021 - The Highlight Reel.

Rolling Stones No Filters concert at SoFi Stadium, October 17, 2021

Sebby wins the Bantams race at the Free Spirit Invitational XC race. Using the Canon 5D Mk. IV with 24mm-105mm F4.0

Sebby storms home to win his race in the opening Cross Country meet of the season. I was trying to get a lot of footage for the end-of-season banquet.

Mark, Jen, and Sebby at the beach after some tasty breakfast grub at Paradise Cove Cafe on Labor Day, 2021. Some beach photography with the always trusty GoPro.

We hit the ocean and check out the reef (visibility was low) but the rum and reggae beat was great fun.

It may be 14 miles but the kids take it in their stride, the GoPro is running and we get plenty of landscape photographs and videos. The photography weather was perfect, misty in the morning and bright later.

Alex and the team get down in Downey for a competition.

Disneyland isn't quite open but we did "A Taste of Disney..." Nothing can keep us from taking photographs and videos at Disneyland!

We visit the San Diego Air & Space Museum - and have dinner with Nan & Collie, Kyla, and Booty at Tocaya Organica!

Spring Break 2021 at Rancho Bernardo Inn Hotel

It was platypus and Elephant time. We check out the animal action and get close to the giraffes at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Alex is on a sleepover with a friend so we hit take on the arroyo on our bikes with a touch of GoPro Time Lapse.

March 10, 2010 Kentisbury Mill, Devon - Exmoor trip with Alex

We hit Frazier Park and Pine Mountain and find there's still some snow!

Bembridge School 1966 - a Britten-Norman Islander lands and whisks children away to the beach for some fun.

We hit Pine Mountain for Valentine's Weekend, and the croissants are huge, the bear claws are fresh!

Alex and Mommy make some amazing sugar cookies and cheesecake bites.

Sebby turns 9!

It's Covid-19 and socially distanced running but once more Grace Brethren Elementary raises money and gets the kids active but in a very safe Covid-19, socially distanced way. Go kids!

Running Rogue Cross Country at the AAU Regional Championships, North Las Vegas, November 14, 2020

We visit Legoland and get some ghostly Lego treats!

Spooks, goblings, skellies and scarecrows, we've got it all!

Running Rogue at Santa Clarita Oct 10, 2020 - Cross country sports photography and videography.

Central Park at Santa Clarita Running Rogue Oct 3, 2020 - hot and smokey running videography but we made it!

We hit the beach with Navid and his fiance

We stage a casual fun run and Run Rogue for a fun 5k at. Corriganville.

Some TimeLapse photography of us playing Hungry Hippos.

We find our quad again and have a cooldown swim with the underwater rockets! Oh yeah, and enjoy it while it lasts but I convinced Jen to wear her cute bikini once more.

We hit Atlanta, Savannah and Hilton Head, South Carolina for some boogie boarding, sports photography and pool fun with the GoPro and Canon 5D MK IV

We cool off in our quadrant at Rancho Simi Pool.

From our Pokemon catching at Rancho Simi Rec Center, we head off around the soccer park.

Thank goodness for the local public swimming pool when there's a heatwave.

Mexican jumping beans (also known as frijoles saltarines in Spanish) are seed pods that have been inhabited by the larva of a small moth (Cydia deshaisiana) and are native to Mexico. The "bean" is usually tan to brown in color. It "jumps" when mildly heated. They are from the shrub Sebastiania pavoniana, often also referred to as "jumping bean". However, they are not related to actual beans (legume plants), but rather to spurges. The beans are considered non-toxic but are not generally eaten.

After the moth-laid egg on the plant hatches, the larva eats away the inside of the bean...

The Laing and Piehl families go looking for Savannah, boogie boarding, and southern hospitality.

The Coastal Discovery Museum is one of the most memorable destinations on Hilton Head Island. Explore natural history and cultural heritage on the 68 acre Honey Horn property. The Museum’s trails, gardens, live oaks, butterfly enclosure, and horses are just a few of the fun experiences you will encounter during your visit. Mon. - Sat. 9-4:30 and Sun. 11-3.

Overland Ave to Home via Yogurtland on June 13, 2020, Timelapse photography

Rancho Simi Community Swimming Pool opens during the pandemic but you have to stay in your box! We were lucky since no-one else arrived and we got to use the whole section!

Beach fun day with Mrs. Olayne at Harbor Cove Beach Fun June 18, 2020

Alex and Sebby get the squirt gun and hose to cool off!

We attend a Black Lives Matter protest in our own Simi Valley and find that people, finally are getting moving.

Las Llajashike in search of mine May 31, 2020

Real moms share heart-wrenching stories about their families and discuss how professional photographers helped them preserve their memories.

We take a Coronavirus19 break and hike on a perfect day in Challenger Park, Simi Valley

We finally make it to Castle Rock in Big Bear for a great hike on Mother's Day.

Alex dances high with some great ballet leaps.

We went to a local beach in Ventura and practiced social distancing and we got away to the beach in Ventura (South Jetty Beach near Surfer's Knoll) on the first weekend it was allowed. You couldn't sunbathe or loll but you could keep active! I had fun with the GoPro and also the Canon 5D Mk IV.

We find a secret maze by the railway tracks in Corriganville and discover a new hike which leads to Santa Susana Pass in Simi Valley

The Laing family hikes, rides, walks and does workout exercises to stay busy!

I have all these great digital photos - and an amazing printer. C'mon parents, come and get e'm!

Hummingbird Nest Hike March 28, 2020

We're keeping fit and healthy and here's a few pix.

Game two and probably the last for a while but the Black Panthers can now go down as being undefeated!

Track and Field season is back and the Running Rebels get warmed up with a mock track meet at Royal High School.

It's Baseball Season starts and the Grace Brethren Black Panthers roar away!

The Venice High School Gondoliers take on all comers at an all-day tournament at Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, CA.

We bounce, the camera bounces, the GoPro stays with it for some moving action photography at SkyZone.

Danielle and Mitch get married at a cool olde Hollywood lodge in Calabasas which survived the deadly Malibu fires last year. It may have been a cool-ish winter's night but this duo certainly heated up the proceedings! Winter wedding photography at its best.

Alex and Sebby try out our new toboggan and Frazier Park near Mt. Pinos. It's only an hour or so away so we skipped the DSLR and took the GoPro instead.

Lots of lovely fresh snow and Santa's Village

It's Christmas, I'm shooting ALL the kid's school videos but keeping my sanity. Kid's Christmas videos? Does anyone care any more? Not sure.

Simi Covenant Church does an amazing Christmas Shoppe for local families in need.

The White Eagles vs. the Green Galaxies Nov 23, 2019

Back to Central Park in Santa Clarita, showing respect to Saugus High School with blue ribbons

The USATF cross country warms ups in Santa Clarita. The kids wore blue ribbons in honor of the Saugus High School shootings. Some of the boys fell but they finished the race. A good life lesson.

I took the photos for Kids in The Spotlight again this year (thanks for Michelle Amor for introducing me to this great organization!) but the talent all came from the kids themselves. Check it out - "To train and develop future filmmakers, ages 12-22, in foster care facilities and other underserved youth to create, write, cast and star in their own 10-minute short films which culminates into an annual film festival competition where we present "Movies by kids, for Kids"." I'm astonished by the quality of the movies produced with the help of their caring mentors, folks in the industry. @kidsinthespotlight

https://www.kitsinc.org/post/kits-10th-anniversary-presentation-packs-punch-at-paramount

La Reina Oct 26 but not goats this time. Just guts. It's cross country photography and videography time!

They're personal trainers, triathletes, marathon runners and coaches so yeah, they are a good looking fit bunch. https://www.epicfitnessnow.com/

The Simi Valley Running Rebels at Central Park Oct 12, 2019

Grace Brethren School's annual fund-raiser with some added sports for the kids to keep them moving. A great opportunity for family photos and sports photography too. https://myapexevent.com/

The Simi Valley Running Rebels hit the hills near the College of the Canyons for some amazing photo finishes.

Sebby drops a shoe at the starting line of his cross country race but won't stop for anything! Great photo by Eric Leonard.

On the beach in Oxnard after shooting the lovely Jacobsen family portraits. We waded through the tar - ek! It was sun, sea and seaweed battles.

The gorgeous Jacobsen clan light up the beach in Oxnard. I was invited to stay for the barbeque with these wonderful folks and it was VERY hard not to accept! Family photography with the best light. However, there WAS a bunch of tar on the beach maybe from the oil rigs?

I shot these photos for a book cover for Honey Butler Bryant back in 2012 and was so sorry to hear that Clarion had passed away. Here are some photos of them together. Love in action.

https://www.amazon.com/Wait-Your-Father-Knows-Best/dp/1624196012

The essence of this book is based on the author's relationship with God. She speaks about the Fatherhood of God and shares her journey into the heart of Abba Father. She also shares her relentless faith in God during turbulent times, yet she remained a faithful servant to God as she served in ministry. As a young woman she had hopes and dreams to one day marry. As she reached her senior years in life, it appeared as if marriage had passed her by. And when the season of singlehood was over, God in his infinite wisdom and his timing blessed her to meet the love of her life and married at age sixty-five. This is a testimonial to the unmarried, proving that marriage can be beautiful at any age. Honey Butler-Bryant knows the true meaning of waiting...

Alex and Sebby go back to school. And your favorite LA Professional photographer is there to catch the fun.

Levente and Pamela glam it up at the ultimate beach spot - Gladstones.

A boy's best friend...is his mom. For Jennifer Laing, the best mom I ever met.

Jen gets in the top 1,000 finishers, top 500 of women and your best wedding photographer gets some sports pix for fun!

10k Peachtree Road Race - the 50th anniversary and boy was it muggy. I did take some good running photos and I did get a Caribou coffee.

The Laings and Piehl grandparents try and stay cool taking photographs in Hotlanta. We saw the braves, We enjoyed a small town 4th of July parade. Superb. We visited the excellent Civil Rights Museum, Coca-Cola World and Kennesaw Mountain.

https://www.nps.gov/kemo/index.htm

https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/

https://www.civilandhumanrights.org/

https://www.mlb.com/braves/ballpark

Dance Creations Dance Studio in Simi Valley Recital evenings - we get to see ALL the competition stuff! And your favorite Los Angeles Wedding Photographer gets to shoot from the cheap seats too. Dance Photography - you gotta love it.

Dance Creations - Our Greatest Show 2019 - Anaheim. To me, this was all magic. Unbelievable stuff and I couldn't even take photos. The stills from Showstoppers were "OK". The video was great.

The Simi Valley Running Rebels 2019 Photography Season highlights with stills and video. There are three longer reels too.

We made it to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and saw great characters.

1919-2019 Bembridge School - the Montage

My old school closed down several years ago. It was based in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, south of Portmouth in England. Here are a few pix.

The Simi Valley Running Rebels get serious. I'm taking more video this time so we're a little light on the sports photography photos but I managed to get a few track and field photos but it's mostly video this time.

Baseball season is fully underway as Sebby's team takes on the Grace Brethren Reds.

Track Season - running, jumping, sprinting sports photography stuff.

My big boy Kalen helps out the Venice High School Gondoliers at a tournament in Sylmar. I've never really shot volleyball before so this was definitely a learning experience. The good news: you're not out getting scorched by the sunshine - the bad news: the indoor strip lighting is pretty nasty. And there's no room to shoot. We're in a gymnasium so sports photographers must have figured this one out. I'm learning on the fly. And you have to have your wits about you. Taking photographs at a high school volleyball tournament means dodging the ball yourself.

The Simi Valley Running Rebels are back! https://svrebels.wordpress.com/ . We're in Westlake and the sports photography weather couldn't be better. My third camera, the 7D kept overheating on video so maybe I should have bought my 5D 3 or 4? Who knows? The kids were great!

Sebby joins the Grey Wolves at Grace Brethren for some spring baseball.

I saw the full dance at a show in Upland last week and was mesmerized. Alas no outside photography - the local crew had that rice bowl. But I HAD to try and capture some of this magic. My daughter, Alexandra, attends this great dance school. The choreography and dancers at Dance Creations are among the best I've ever seen - at any level. http://dancecreations.com/

From those friendly folks at snappr: https://www.snappr.co/best-photographers/oxnard-ca

• The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the late 80s. Home of Daniel Day-Lewis, Mark Strong, Jeremy Irons et al.

I made a short photo book which is available to all:

http://www.blurb.com/b/8789140-the-bristol-old-vic-theatre-school-1985-1987

We came, we saw, we conked out (some of the time), we bowed and scraped, did voice and movement classes, and thanks to Rudi Shelley, we squeezed our lemons until we were real thespians and stage technicians. Ready to take on the acting world.

Yes, I need to update my Los Angeles Acting headshots portfolio and acting sites.

Daniel turns 40 and we're at the Lincoln In Santa Monica. I shot their wedding way back in 2012 and they're as cute, and in love as ever!

There's a great link here: https://modernhiker.com/hike/hike-lost-horse-mine-in-joshua-tree-national-park/ . to a description of Lost Horse Mine Trail and I really can't do any better. I did however get some great landscape photos of the Joshua Trees (not one is the same) and the creosote plants and wonderful desert scenery. Divine. The light for landscape photography wasn't amazing-amazing to be honest (we started out at midday) so I converted a lot of the photos (taken in the largest RAW resolution) to Black and White photos and I think I prefer them to the washed out high noon colors.

Getting back into acting - it's time for some new "glossies" baby sister...LA Casting, Casting Frontier, Actors Access, Eco-cast and now it's ALL gonna be done online. Get comfortable in front of your laptop because soon we may not have to drive around town to auditions quite so much. And that's a good thing for actors and the freeways. Good headshots are always going to be in demand so I think I have a few years left... :)

Sebby goes national for the USATF youth Cross Country Championships in Reno. It was snowy and icy!

http://www.usatf.org/

We stayed at the Silver Legacy Hotel in Reno, the biggest little city in the world.

The volcano burst and catastrophe followed. Some very moving exhibits.

I visited Naples and Pompeei shortly after the 198 earthquake and was amazed at the prersvaton of this amazing Roman City. I never got to see the Naples museum - https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/ - however but the stuff at the Regan Library - https://www.reaganfoundation.org

https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/en/

My friends Annemarie and Chris Penny had this amazing place in Malibu overlooking the beach. It just burned down in the Woolsey Fire. Here are some happier memories...

Some family photography for last week's Halloween

Michelle and Jeff's wedding(s) at St John Eudes for a small family service and on to the Skirball Cultural Center for another amazing wedding - this second one was the whole enchilada! Wedding Photography and video by yours truly with some help from Debra Morrison and her cousin Ron Eber doing video.

Sometimes you just have to move...

Sometimes with sports photography you just gotta slow down. Someone else usually does the sports videography but I like to practice and definitely feel I can help out the kids by doing some youth, high school and gremlins sports photography. LA Reina High School is the last of our regular season and Sebastian, my son, made it into the post season finals.

We had the church ceremony and then we had another wedding at the Skirball Cultural Center - twice the fun!

The Simi Valley Running Rebels Quick and Gritty Invitational 2018 at Huntington Beach

Sponsoring a orphan in Haiti

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake

This is Christine and some pix the kids are sending to her. I figure it's a start and a small way to make one child's life better. She speaks Haitian Creole and lives in an orphanage cared for by Pastor Timothy.

The Simi Valley Running Rebels train in the sand at Zuma Beach, no less.

Booty and me hit San Diego in search of Steve McQueen's legendary Husqvarna, the Elsinore Honda dirt bike and the Sea Shepherd.

Ragged Point Inn for Meagan and Jacob's amazing wedding provides a great chance for a weekend break with the kids. And this wedding photographer HAS to check out the amazing elephant seals.

It's Ragged Point Inn up by Big Sur and your photographer and second photographer are having trouble holding it together as they witness the most beautiful vows from a couple who have been in love since 8th Grade. Magical.

Big Bear Lake photography, Joshua Tree, Lake Arrowhead - family photography is here!

I finally got around to some personal work - here is Monument Valley.

I had to share this one from Time Magazine:

"It took a unique combination of ingenuity and curiosity to produce the first known photograph, so it’s fitting that the man who made it was an inventor and not an artist. In the 1820s, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce had become fascinated with the printing method of lithography, in which images drawn on stone could be reproduced using oil-based ink. Searching for other ways to produce images, Niépce set up a device called a camera obscura, which captured and projected scenes illuminated by sunlight, and trained it on the view outside his studio window in eastern France. The scene was cast on a treated pewter plate that, after many hours, retained a crude copy of the buildings and rooftops outside. The result was the first known permanent photograph.

It is no overstatement to say that Niépce’s achievement laid the groundwork for the development of photography. Later, he worked with artist Louis Daguerre, whose sharper daguerreotype images marked photography’s next major advancement."

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, circa...

The drive was insane! Next time I'll break the trip up with a stopover but it was worth every one of the 650 miles from LA. More pix to come I promise.

Kyla's Graduation from Venice High, 2018

Yes, even Wedding Photographers sometimes get married.

Simi valley Running Rebels - some video from the 2018 season

The Laing family visits London for Spring Break 2018

It's always fun to shoot babies - even when they're not my own!

Ahh for the days of film and my beloved Canon A1. I'm doing a major scanning archiving project and you can see I'm going crazy. Did I really have so many "bad" photos in those days?

The film results from the labs look murky and grey. I used to think maybe six out of 36 shots in a roll was usable but looking back I think I was being optimistic.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Film-Camera-50mm-Lens/dp/B00B5OK12M

And a history on Wikipedia here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_A-1

http://www.ppa.com/ppa-today-blog/copyright/new-copyright-small-claims-bil.php

By Professional Photographers of America (PPA) on October 12, 2017 9:05 AM | Permalink

By James Yates

This is the moment we have all been waiting for!

Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Representative Tom Marino (R-PA) have introduced HR 3945, a small claims bill entitled Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Act of 2017, or "CASE".

This bill will enable photographers to pursue copyright infringement in a more cost effective and timely manner!

Many of you remember December 2016, when Representative Chu (D-CA) and Representative Smith (R-TX) introduced the Fairness for...

Carlsbad State Beach for a Meet and Greet before Meagan and Jacob attend a friend's wedding!

As a father of six, (four of them girls) I've been horrified, to say the least, as I watched the story of Larry Nassar unfold over the last few weeks. It's important to listen to our children and it's very important for photographers, often placed in the most intimate of surroundings with their clients to always behave professionally, create a safe environment and NEVER imagine for one minute that just because a lady is wearing skimpies, doing a boudoir shoot or getting ready for a wedding that somehow we as photographers can take advantage of this. The gal is there for a shoot, she's partially clothed (sometimes) because she wants those photos for herself or boyfriend\husband. She hasn't suddenly taken a fancy to YOU. Respect woman at all times, always listen to your children, always create a safe space for great photos for women AND men. I've been re-evaluating my studio's policies and practices to make sure we never cross any lines and always treat clients with the utmost respect. #Ibelievethewomen #metoo

...

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/ . What a great little app. May put my pricey Epson scanner I just bought to sleep for a while. I imagine Google picked up this technology while scanning all those books but it's a great piece of kit for quickly scanning old photos. Now, how about a slide \ negative version please Google??

When it's summer you update your site and make new sizzle reels!