a son's loss

steve esdale's father, murray cohen, married a gal 25 years younger than him. several years ago cohen's wife made a call to 911 saying that she found him dead at home, claiming he passed in his sleep. according to esdale and several audio experts (i have not heard the tape yet) when you listen to an original copy of the 911 call you can hear cohen pleading with his wife to get him an ambulance. as the tape plays on cohen says that she was not gonna get away with killing him. the police say there is no evidence of foul play (esdale believes his father was poisoned) an autopsy was never performed and cohen's former wife is fighting him on exhumation.

just a sad sad story all around.

another day.....

.....another hippie

i love that i get to met new people every day. this guy is related (through marriage) to joan rivers and he was the personal interior designer for the bee gees. he also was a part of haight-ashbury. among other things, was not allowed to attend his graduation from high school because of his long hair. the man was really keeping him down, he has the articles to back it up.

he had a ton of stories to tell. too bad i didn't have enough time to stay a listen to the rest of them.

way cool

great advice

pay attention to my individuality. that is the advice i got while making a portrait of an astrologer today. the story is on what has happened to "hippies" as they have grown up, and i got to admit i was expecting to meet some crazy patchouli wearing gal with a crystal ball today. instead i met barbara hamilton. she was everything that i didn't expect. really professional, sweet, and gave great advice.

barbara, if you are listening thanks for making my day, and helping me to see that i have the power to affect who i am.

tough shoot

shot this one for stern a while back. it ended up being one of the tougher shoots i have had in a while due to crazy miami hotel rules and the subject being really nervous about his image.

stern was happy with this, and on that day that was all i could ask for.

peace and love

where do hippies go when they grow up? well if your ina lee you run a travel magazine in south florida.

i was assigned to take her portrait for a "where are they now" kinda story on hippies and the summer of love.

i know i know

i may have gone a little overboard with the feet/fish shots as of late. but hey i was having fun, and i foresee a page of feet-n-fish in my "upcoming" book.

ok so this should take care of my foot fetish for now.

i promise to have bodies from the ankles up tomorrow

feet x's 3

just another one i liked from yesterday.
i shot a bunch more today, but alas we spent all day on the beach and i didn't get a chance to get the film (yeah that's right i said film) processed. that will happen tomorrow, so there may be yet another underwater posting.

go figure. me posting an underwater image. who would have thought.

footies

the warm currents of the atlantic put my dad in a loving sort of mood. several times i overheard him begging for some love making. he had to settle for some footsies as the fish looked on.

THANK GOD!!!!!

can't take the redneck out of barry

"i have to go to the bathroom" he tells his girlfriend as the watch the marlins take on the twins. an hour later she goes looking for my dad worried that something may have happened to him. she made her way through the crowd only to find the dirty old truck driver with both of his arms around some busty dancers getting his picture taken.

why does all the really freaking funny stuff happen when i am not around?

you can take the man out of pennsyltucky but you can't take the pennsyltucky out of the man.

i love my dad

great way to start a morning

started out the sweltering morning by shooting a portrait for a story on college kids coming home to live with mom and dad for the summer. she was good looking and easy going which made a difficult situation, her dad refusing to be in the picture, into a blast

off to shoot the marlins. who knows maybe i will post a second image tonight.

play ball!!!

she asked for it.....

.....so here it is.
after i made sure my pops was ok in the water (he has breathing issues and needs a double hip replacement) i brought the camera out in to the water. by that time he needed to get out so we stuck him on the raft. he said he was having fun, but his face said otherwise.

touche miss lyttle touche

first time for everything

he spit in his goggles, pulled the strap tight around his head, put the snorkles mouth piece in his mouth, and promptly swallowed a mouth full of water when he stuck his end beneath the surface. my old man went snorkeling for the first time today and man did he have a hard time getting used to it. he kept getting water in his mask and and drinking more salt water than an 80 year old pirate. fun to have him here and in the water.

more to come tomorrow.

nothing new

i wish i had something new to post but today was all about picking up my dad for his first trip to south florida, and assiting john loomis on a shoot for time magazine. tomorrow i see a trip to red reef park in our future so hopefully there will be so underwater goodness posted.

woo hoo here's to dad's in the ocean

bigger, better, faster

in lieu of shooting today i sat my but down start building the supernova foto newsletter 2.0. sat in front of the screen way to long today, but i think i am close to a newsletter that not only looks clean, but will including useful information.

what a concept.

i am always adding clients and friends to the newsletter mailing list. if you would like to be added send a note to josh@photojosh.com letting me know to add you

enjoy!

8:59 am

the covers were nice and warm. the pillow fluffed just the way i liked, and then that evil sound the sound that we all dread....THE ALARM. i dragged my half alive body into the living room to kill the beast that had awoken me from my slumber only to see that i had had two phones calls an hour or so earlier.it's now 9 am and as i listen to the frantic voicemail i learn that i am needed stat for a 10 am shoot. making some phone calls, you know the kind where your voice is about 10 octaves lower than normal due to the fact that your vocal cords are still clinging to their dream state, i find out that i will be shooting a managing partner at a law firm for a business assignment. i jump in the shower, load up the mini and motor on over to the firm.

i ended up with this shot. not amazing but pretty ok considering i had not woken up yet.

and yes the line bugs me too.....hind sight.

more tomorrow

for dad

i didn't shoot anything new again today, so in honor or father's day i thought i would post portraits i shot of the girls for the father-in-law.

happy dad's day

fun with light

i never got around to shooting anything today, so......

a couple of days ago i had the pleasure of spending way too many hours in a miami hotel waiting to shoot the u.s. attorney general at some nuclear terrorism conference. except for the photographers and this early morning beam of light, it was all pretty boring.

thanks god for decent light to pass the time away

girls just wanna have fun

country music, sometimes it's good, and other times i would rather shoot myself in the head. i thought tonight was gonna be one of those "other nights". i went to the first of a summer long outdoor concert series, something that we all have shot a billion and one times before, featuring a country band. i thought this was gonna pan out to be a bunch of seniors sitting in their chairs barely doing anything while a band played off in the distance. thank god that families brought their kids and they played the night away or it could have gotten boring real quick.

these girls gave me that sitting on the front porch drinking a lemonade in the sweltering heat kinda feeling.

god i love the summer

bad ass

i feel like i am starting to turn the corner on this slump thing. there will always be room for improvement, but i am feeling a lot better about the work i am doing right now. woo hoo thank you blog spot for helping me to see again.

so today i got a some what last minute call to go out an shoot a swimmer training for the pan-am games. had some bad directions, and was running late to begin with which had me a bit frustrated when i got to the pool. after shooting a bunch of action shots both underwater, the film has not been processed yet, and above, i was able to talk him into playing around for a portrait. i had a fellow swimmer hold a hose attached to a pole above his head as a thunder storm was rolling in cutting my time really short. a pretty funny scene if you ask me.

wish the background was a bit darker, but all in all i was happy with the way this one turned out.

thank god for subjects that get it!!!!

magic bubbles

i was "forced" to shoot kids playing with bubbles today at a day care for a story on what kids are doing instead of playing with water due to water restrictions. it was so bloody hot today that when i got there the kids could have cared less about being outside, and only one of them was doing any with the bubbles (and she could have cared less). i was ready to give up, but then i calmed myself down and said get something for you. the kids must have heard me because they all started playing with the bubbles.

some days are just fun

all flash, and huge boobs

yes that's right pamela freakin anderson.

she came into town to promote peta and celebrate her 40th at a local vegan restaurant. i now know why i don't do red carpet stuff. holy crap it got crazy.

how weird is my job. i mean pamela freakin anderson.

crazy, just plain crazy.

bed time shannagans

gotta love it when you get to take pictures of your mother-in-law getting picked on at bed time. my sister-in-law thought snapping her straps was the best thing since sliced bread.

family is fun.

thanks mr. diaz

i was shooting the marlins vs. devil rays game tonight when my d200 broke down (what a surprise) yet again. i spent about three innings or so trying to get the damn thing to work, and ended up leaving the photo pit to go into the trailer to see if i could think a little clearer out of the scorching heat. i never got it working, but i did get my d70 working enough to shoot the rest of the game so i went back out to do what i could with what was left. i plopped myself down on the bench next to al diaz and he asked if i was having "issues" with my gear. i told him about all my woes, and i guess he could see that i was just a little more that pissed about everything. with a wise smirk on his face he said don't worry about it. your shooting aren't you? as long as you have a camera in your hands your ok. it's one of those moments in life that i will never forget.

i need to follow that advice everyday.

here's to mr. diaz.

thanks for showing me what i had forgotten.

tiny bubbles

i love the way the water makes me feel. it's almost like it allows me to be a kid again. and when i am a kid i can feel free to explore to my heart's content.

i gotta find a way to make that carry over to dry land.

i almost puked....

...but i stuck it out!!!!

i got a really cool, so i thought, assignment to go cover a 12 mile outrigger canoe race along fort lauderdale beach today. i was all stoked to get up in the semi early (9 am) light and shoot some ocean goodness. i got there a little early and talked to one of the team captains about getting out on a boat to shoot the race, and was extremely happy to hear that it would all work out, well almost. so i shot the set up stuff on the beach for about 15 minutes and then was told it was time to head out to sea to meet up to the chase boat. all of my gear got suited up in a garbage bag, and i jumped in the canoe, so we could do an open water transfer in to the chase boat. with in ten minutes of the transfer i knew i made a huge mistake. the 8 year kid on the boat was puking and i was not far behind him. the seas were about 4 feet with alot of chop in between the swells and my butt was firmly planted in a 30 foot boat that was taking me straight to hell. i shot what i could of the start of the race (focusing and composing in seas like that wasn't easy) and the fought for the rest of the 3 hours (longest 3 hours of my life thus far) to keep my coffee firmly planted in my stomach. at this point making images of any kind let alone good ones was the furthest thing from my mind. i wanted off satan's tug boat and now. an hour into the race i was seriously (and by seriously i am dead serious, no joking, and speaking quite literally) considering swimming 250 yards to shore, but i wised up knowing that i would be fish bait if i tried it. so i stayed on the boat till the bitter end, but i did get off with out my gear fearing that in my state of queasyness that i would not be able to hand over my cameras with out them ending up in davie jones' hands. the captain was nice enough to meet me at a boat ramp where i could get my stuff with both of my feet firmly planted on dry ground.

needless to say this image is not what i had hoped, and i am still not feeling like my old self even as i typed this.

all in all i will chalk this one up to a decent story to tell and a day when i got paid to spend half a day on the beach and on the water. good images or not that is a pretty damn good day.

AND I DIDN'T PUKE!!!!!!

too good to pass up

little photo booth fun with succo.

just had to post it

day at the beach

the water seems to have a calming effect on me. sometimes i come away with images that i can't believe i made and sometimes they are just snaps that will soon be forgotten.

today was so so

storm over the glades

sometimes, lately, i feel like there is a perpetual storm over me professionally. seems like it can be hard to break out of a slump and see the sun through the clouds. on the way back from billies swamp safari with the in-laws i kinda could relate to the palms as they stood alone in the everglades.

the best part about this job is that there is always tomorrow and your next best image is just a click away.

here's to tomorrow.

the inlaws are coming, the inlaws are coming

so my mother and sister inlaw got here today for a weeks vacation. photo booth kept them busy for about an hour.

atleast i am being productive

photoshelter finally approved my merchant account, so while i haven't shot anything yet today i did post two galleries of my underwater stuff.

strike one

after spending the morning talking to agencies about future projects, and helping a friend learn dreamweaver, i made my way out to my new playground. to my dismay the doggies don't come out to play until their people get home from work. i hope to get back out there tonight or tomorrow during magic hour.

keep your fingers crossed for me

practicing what i preach

while this image was shot about a week ago, i am hoping it will inspire me to go out and kick some ass today.

melissa, dory, and emma came down for a visit over memorial day and we ended up at the dog park. having spent a couple hours with them in the water i decided then and there that this would be one of my new places to play visually.

barring any last minute calls from clients, i plan on going over there today to have my face licked and my camera splashed while i attempt to make a better image than the one posted above.

stay tuned.....

by my boot straps

after months of feeling unsatisfied with my work i have decided to give this blog thing a try. the theory is that if i force myself to shoot one new image every day for my 30 percent that i will be able to pull myself up from the sludge of mediocrity that i find myself in. at the the very least it will force me to think beyond what my clients want and allow me to start seeing for me again.

enjoy