Ciao, Marco Panini

Marco Panini, thank you for your relentless wit and passion for life. I learned a lot about myself as a photographer and person by following you around downtown Carpinteria.

Richard Hardeman - Carpinteria Bus Driver

I am fortunate enough to freelance for a weekly newspaper in Carpinteria, California called the Coastal View News. They will publish a six month long series of monthly picture stories I will produce about residents in their town who give it the small-town character. The idea for this series was inspired when I audited a picture story class at the Ventura Campus of Brooks Institute this fall. In my class we discussed how the news is overrun with violent and freakish stories often in order to gain readership. These stories are so prevalent, publications lose track of everyday people who work hard and lead "normal" lives. His challenge to show our readers "normal life" in an interesting way. The series I am shooting for Coastal View News is both a tribute to locals who make Carpinteria tick year-round and also an exercise for me in creating interesting picture stories about everyday people who are often overlooked. So far it has been a fun, rewarding and good learning experience.
I typically shoot journalistic projects with a Nikon D200 or D700. I use autofocus a lot. I purposely shot this entire assignment with a Leica M8 and mostly with a 50mm f/1 lens. The Leica, although it is digital, has limited settings, it is very basic, and does not offer autofocus. This forced me to slow down while shooting this assignment think about composition and framing and shoot more deliberately. It also produced more dreamlike, ethereal photos than the Nikon because of the narrow depth of field of the 50 mm f/1.

Event Samples - Lea & Anthony Wedding

Portraits

Joe de la Cruz, boxing trainer - Westpark Community Center, Ventura, CA

La Barge and Diamondville, Wyoming

The light was so nice when I drove through La Barge on my way home to Bondurant, WY and when I was driving back to Ventura through Diamondville, WY, I had to stop and take some photos. The gentleman next to the green truck helped me attach my new Wyoming license plates to my car. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos in Bondurant, Pinedale or on Jakes rig on the Pinedale Anticline. It was a short visit to Wyoming.

Club America v. Chivas Guadalajara soccer game party, near Ventura Avenue