Of all the different types of people that I’ve photographed over the years, babies and toddlers can present the most challenges. Not only do they have a mind of their own but hey can be very energetic and uncooperative at any given moment. Toddlers can be even more challenging when you have a very distinct idea of what you would like the picture to look like. Add two toddlers into the mix, and you are really in for a challenging photo shoot.

My twin boys and I recently celebrated their 3rd birthday and I decided to gift them an image they would cherish for a lifetime. My only dilemma was I knew it would be impossible to capture all the elements of the image I had in my mind, with one single frame. So I decided to break the whole concept down into baby steps (no pun intended) and tie it all together in photoshop.

First and foremost, I had to get some images of them smiling and having fun. It just so happened that one of the twins was in a great mood and gave me plenty of great expressions. The other twin however, was a bit on the cranky side that day and he really made me work for it. When one twin was smiling and looking at the camera, the other twin was looking off and not cooperating. I did finally manage to get a few good shots of each.


The next part of the image I wanted to incorporate was the birthday cake lit with candles. I decided to photograph the cake before the boys got their hands and mouths all over it. The other challenge was the exposure I needed to get for the cake and the exposure I needed to get the flame on candles, were two very different exposures. So I decided to take two shots. One that exposed the cake properly and another that exposed the flame well enough to be seen.


Another challenge I faced while photographing the twins, was that they did not want to have anything to do with the party hats. As soon as I put their party hats on, they were ripping them off. I decided to photograph the party hats on a doll head as they were better able to hold still and not talk back to me.

With the boys real eager to open presents, I decided to photograph the presents separately as I wanted to have the control later to move them around and fit them into the image as I see fit.


It was important to me to have confetti falling down in the image and knew it would be extremely difficult to time the falling of the confetti with fun expressions I could use in the final image. Again, I decided to take a few images of confetti falling just by itself.

Last but not least, I found an image of a sparkler on the web that worked perfectly in the final picture.
Once I established the cake, table, and confetti falling in photoshop, I was able to make multiple images of the boys giving different expressions.
I think the most challenging photoshop aspect of working on composites like this is the blending part. It’s one thing to cut multiple images out and past them together, but it’s another thing to blend it and make it look real. That’s probably where I spent most my time in the post work.
With an incredible amount of time invested into this project, I was very happy with the final image as it looked even better than how I had originally imagined.

Happy Birthday Boys! I’m your biggest fan!!!

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I want to extend a huge congratulations to one of my favorite hairdressers, Adrina from Lukaro Salon in Beverly Hills, for being a finalist in Sebastian’s What’s Next Awards. What’s Next is a hair and photography contest sponsored by Sebastian every year. We were just informed this week that the pictures we produced and submitted made the top five finalists, with the winner being announced some time later this month. Top 5 is not bad at all when you consider there were over 3,000 entries. Of course, none of this could have happened without our amazing model Rosie who was our focal point and tied it all together. Great job team!

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As the end of the world was being prophesied on the day of our photo shoot, I couldn’t think of a better place to be than at the beach in Malibu with my good friend Stacia. We started off the day working on some headshots and studio images for her modeling and acting portfolio. The most challenging time of the shoot came at dusk when I asked her to get in the water and act as if the water wasn’t cold and she wasn’t freezing to death (which she was). She was a good sport about it and did a great job on one of her first (but definitely not last) professional photo shoots.

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This year I was involved with photographing the Paul Mitchell Schools’ Annual Magic of Memories Fundraising Event. With Dolly Parton, Leeza Gibbons, Donny and Marie Osmond, Betty White, Winn Claybaugh, and John Paul DeJora all in attendance, the evening was truly one to remember. Throughout this last year, Paul Mitchell the School future professionals raised an astonishing $1.6 million dollars for various non profit charity organizations such as Andrew Gomez Dream Foundation, Childrens Miracle Network, Morris Animal Foundation, Imagination Library, Food 4 Africa, Cancer Schmancer Foundation, and Leeza Gibbons Foundation. All great causes that are very grateful for the “fun-raising” efforts of the Paul Mitchell Schools throughout the country. Learn more at paulmitchellschoolsfunraising.org

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One of the more memorable moments came when Donny Osmond left the stage to serenade Betty White with the song “Puppy Love”

This is a different angle I captured with my still camera in one hand and my iphone recording video in the other hand.

Before the actual event, I along with four other photographers, had the mammoth task of photographing all the attendees with the celebrities. With about an hour to take around 1,000 pictures, Im happy to say everything went very smooth and no glitches. It’s during demanding times like this where being prepared and having your gear working properly makes all the difference. It’s a pressure-filled time that separates the pros from the novices. The following photographers were assigned to photograph the attendees with the following celebrities:

John Paul DeJora & Winn Claybaugh – photographed by Dazzo
Donny and Marie Osmond – photographed by Beth Tolle
Dolly Parton – photographed by Allison Cotton
Betty White – photographed by Richard Cotton
Leeza – photographed by Ed Olen

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For the last 10 years, I have had the pleasure of working with Salons and Paul Mitchell Schools throughout the country. My images have won awards, have been published in books, magazines, posters etc. If you have a photo contest you’d like to enter or would just like to have some images for your salon or school. Please feel free to contact me for more information on setting up a photo shoot.

One of the things I enjoy most about Southern California are the amazing sunsets and it’s always a treat to capture one. I recently was commissioned to photograph the newly constructed Paul Mitchell the School in Costa Mesa, California. While people photography has been the brunt of what I have done over the last 14 years, I’ve been doing more and more architecture photography for the last five years. Architecture photography takes a completely different approach and mentality. The equipment is different from portraits and over the last few years I have managed to develop a deep love and respect for good architecture images. The biggest advantage to architecture photography is you don’t have to worry about your subject giving you any grief or talking back to you. Again, I was able to dive into the HDR world and produce images that would make Ansel Adams proud. For those who haven’t read my previous posts, the beauty of HDR is you are able to capture printable detail in both the highlights and shadows. HDR is how the human eye sees it and doesn’t fall susceptible to the the four stop range of conventional film exposures. The whole post process is very enjoyable to me (in a nerdy kind of way) and Im not sure if I like photographing or working in photoshop better. In the slideshow below, you’ll see what the images look like coming straight out of the camera and what they look like after they’ve received some photoshop love. The best example of the power of HDR is the exterior shot. This particular client wanted two exterior versions -one with a sign on the left and one without. In photoshop, anything and everything is possible if you know what you are doing.

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