Archive for June, 2009

Recently I shot a wedding with one of my favorite photographers- Erik Hyler of EHGPhoto. I love Eric, love shooting with him. He’s extremely talented, we work well together and he’s always ready to play. This last wedding was no exception.

Our couple- April and Ken. They’re gorgeous, fun, flexible (their dancers), crazy about each other, oh and they’re gorgeous. They have dated and danced their way through many years together, as well as many countries. Eric and I adored these two, could have shot them for days and still would have had new ideas. We loved their charm, we loved their care-free spunk, and we loved their spontineity.

April and Ken, here’s to many more years together and oh so many countries . . .

Ah gay pride. Twas my first time experiencing it, in all it?s colorful glory. Can you believe that I?ve been an Angeleno since birth and had never experienced the gay pride parade? Sad but true. So my friends and I set out, last Sunday, for this royal west-side adventure, in order to celebrate the rainbow within all of us.

Meet Robin and Activate.

Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has now jumped into the race for governor, taking the first steps toward succeeding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010. The next race for govenor is predicted to be a highly competitive one but as you can see, votes for Newsom will not be a problem within this community- they love him.

So here’s a little history- The Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade, founded in 1970, was created in an effort to mark the anniversary of the ?Stonewall riots,? a drag-queen led rebellion that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Why was there a rebellion? Well, because ?American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries.”-Wikipedia For example: “An adult convicted of the crime of having sex with another consenting adult in the privacy of his or her home could get anywhere from a light fine to five, ten, or twenty years?or even life?in prison. In 1971, twenty states had ‘sex psychopath’ laws that permitted the detaining of homosexuals for that reason alone. In Pennsylvania and California sex offenders could be locked in a mental institution for life, and in seven states they could be castrated. ?-Wikipedia.

So in 1969, when police decided to raid and interrogate everyone at Stonewall for no good reason other than the fact that its patrons were gay, many from within the gay community had finally found their voice. They stood up proud and decided to fight back. They’ve been celebrated ever since.

And I was excited to stand up with them; to be part of this history, part of the pride, and part of the fun! And this hood, definitely knows how to throw a good party!

This is one of my favorite pics from the day.

An appropriate drink for this party- 3 shots of Petron with a naked twist.

After our shots, we danced

And danced.

We had a blast.

I leave you with this quote from “The Onion-”
(it still makes me giggle)

“I’d always thought gays were regular people, just like you and me, and that the stereotype of homosexuals as hedonistic, sex-crazed deviants was just a destructive myth,” said mother of four Hannah Jarrett, 41, mortified at the sight of 17 tanned and oiled boys cavorting in jock straps to a throbbing techno beat on a float shaped like an enormous phallus. “Boy, oh, boy, was I wrong.”

Well Hannah may not be returning but I will . . . I wouldn’t miss it for the world.