Dr. Hans Keirstead at the UC Irvine Reeve-Irvine Research Center

Last week I drove down to the UC Irvine campus to photograph Hans Keirstead for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Keirstead and a research partner at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center are superstars in the field of genetic research. The two, in collaboration with the Geron Corporation, a private drug company, have recently developed a method for using human stem cells to regrow myelin, which forms a protective sheath around the spinal cord, and have used it to restore motor function in paralyzed rats. Now the FDA has approved the first-ever trial on humans, which is to be conducted by Geron. It seems like some pretty exciting research that could eventually yield amazing results for people with debilitating spinal injuries. Adding to the relevance of the story, a judge recently overturned the Obama administration’s attempt to loosen the reigns on federal funding of human stem-cell research. The article talks about the research and the advantages of using private funding for this type of research.

For the shoot I was only asked not to come back with a man standing in a lab wearing a white lab coat. When I got there it was a pretty standard looking laboratory, but upon asking for a quick tour prof. Keirstead showed me a separate room out of the way of the main space, which was somewhat bustling with a number of students and lab assistants. The initial draw was a large microscope situated in the middle of the room, but it was still too standard lab to give me  the unique image I was looking for. I briefly considered lighting the room with colored gels, but that’s not so much my style. I prefer to use minimal lighting and better yet, to utilize whatever natural light sources I find in a given space. So when I saw a large magnifying glass with a beautiful, bright light built into it I was immediately drawn to it. As a fail safe I of course had lugged in my entire lighting kit, but ended up keeping them in the case for this one. Then we spent half an hour finding different angles to shoot using only the light of the magnifying glass. To bring the story into the photo he held up a slide of micro-thin slices of rat spinal cord that was used in the research. In the end we produced a shot that’s both eye-catching and relevant to the story, so I’ll count it as a success. Making it all the better was the subject’s patience and willingness to cooperate, due, in addition to his friendly demeanor, to some good experience in front of the camera. He’s previously sat for the likes of Vogue magazine, which, with 4 hours of shooting and a whole team of stylists and assistants, made my little one-man shoot seem like a walk in the park.

Hanging art on Market St.

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

The inaugural Venice Art Crawl launched with a bang last night with a solid crowd showing up to check out the numerous local artists who were showing at pop-up galleries mostly located between the Boardwalk and Pacific Ave. I was showing my own work at Nikki’s alongside artist Scott Simon (check out his work here) and was also working the event as a volunteer, so I didn’t have much time to get out to all the venues, but I did manage a quick lap and took a few photos along the way. It was great seeing so many artists participating in the first event. A good sign that the event will continue to grow in the coming months. After the crawl wrapped up we made our way over to the official afterparty at Video Army, a new production company located on Pacific Ave. It was a fun environment with lots of people dancing and great light for shooting. After the party wound down we hit up a nearby taco truck and made our way home. Really a successful night if you ask me. Looking forward to next month!

Art on display at the 73 Market St. rooftop

Checking out photography by Martin Linss at the Hotel Erwin during the Venice Art Crawl

Live Painting by John Park at the C.A.V.E. Gallery exhibition at James' Beach

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Venice Art Crawl After Party at Video Army

Antonette Co at UC Northridge

Antonette Co at UC Northridge

Here are a couple from a recent assignment for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Antonette Co is one of numerous “super seniors” at UC Northridge who are being asked by the university to move on. The program apparently isn’t unique to this school and is a way that the universities are trying to save money.

A spotlit grunion on Venice Beach

I went out last night to join the Venice Oceanarium‘s Grunion Run Party at the Venice Breakwater. The grunion are apparently abundant in the South Bay and their unique mating ritual brings them up on the beach during full moons on spring and summer nights, allowing them to be easily observed and even picked up. They’re supposed to be good to eat too, though most see it as more trouble than it’s worth to scale so many of them for such little meat. I went out at 11 p.m., when the party was starting and after 20 minutes they started popping up on shore one or two at a time. There they flopped about as they did their thing before being washed back to sea by the next big wave. It was a fun thing to see and the sizable crowd that turned out was very entertained. More can be learned about grunions and the specifics of their spawning practices here.

A member of the Venice Oceanarium holds a grunion on Venice Beach

A crowd gathers for the Grunion Run Party on Venice Beach

Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association

Last week was a busy week of editorial assignments. Always a good thing! On Tuesday I headed out to Riverside, Calif., to photograph Ramogi Huma for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Huma, a former UCLA Rookie of the Year, is the president of the National College Players Association and is a leading advocate for some major changes to levels of transparency in the NCAA’s recruiting process. His focus lately has been on helping athletes understand their university’s policies when it comes to medical reimbursements for scholarship athletes. Apparently it’s often the case that an injured student will get stuck with all of the medical bills should they suffer an injury. There are two laws pending in California and Georgia, which the NCPA supports, that would force universities to be forthcoming on those issues.

This was a tricky portrait assignment, but I’m pretty happy how it turned out. The task was to do an environmental portrait of Huma in his office. The problem was, he had just moved into his office and didn’t even have a nail with which to hang a picture. So the environment was pretty stark, to say the least. Luckily, he had a couple of statues and a desk available and with a little creative framing and lighting I was able to produce something that worked. I was also fortunate enough to have an easy-going subject and Erinn along to assist. I don’t normally put her to work, but she was off that day and wanted to come along, so it worked out for both of us!

Writer Adam Baer at Sunset Junction Organic Medicine in Los Angeles

Adam Baer shows his medical marijuana prescription

The first of a couple assignments I recently shot for the London-based Financial Times Weekend Magazine just published. The story was a first-person account by L.A. writer Adam Baer addressing his experience with medical marijuana following neuromuscular complications that arose several years after a bout with Hodgkin’s disease. His story’s an interesting read and can be found here.

Medical marijuana collectives have sprung up throughout Los Angeles in the past couple of years, growing from around 200 establishments when I moved here a couple years ago, to nearly 1000 citywide. Within 2 blocks of my door I can think of 4 or 5 places to were I to shell out the dough for an easy-to-obtain prescription. They’re about to get a little harder to find, however, as the L.A. City Council just passed an ordinance that will shut down all but 200 or so. Basically, it’ll be going back to the way it was before a 2007 moratorium that was supposed to curb the proliferation, but was pretty much ignored.

Just wanted to announce that I mailed off a check today for the money I raised for Habitat for Humanity’s efforts in Haiti. Big big thank you to all who participated in my little fundraiser!! I hope you all enjoy your prints. When I hear that there’s something in the $11 billion range needed for reconstruction it seems like it’s impossible to make a dent, but every little bit helps. Hopefully I’ll be able to get down there in the next year to report on the progress and keep people’s awareness up so the help keeps coming.

Last week I had the pleasure of photographing the esteemed president of USC, Steven B. Sample, for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Sample will be retiring later this year after nearly two decades of leadership during which time he has been credited with converting the institution from the “University of Second Choice,” to the premier university in Los Angeles. He has also helped the school shake the stigma it has for being located in a rougher part of the city, just three miles south of downtown.
This portrait idea was that of the photo editor, who was inspired by the powerful simplicity of the recent portrait of Roger Ebert for Esquire magazine, which ran last month. There was some concern that Mr. Sample wouldn’t be willing to sit for it because he is battling Parkinson’s disease, a condition he’s had since 2001. However, once I met him and saw the glint in his eye I knew this portrait would be a great way to convey his personality and intelligence and, with only the tiniest bit of convincing, he was happy to sit for me. The rest of the article was about the campus’s relationship with its urban environment. USC was right in the middle of the area most affected by the Rodney King riots in 1992 and, despite being largely unscathed by the destruction, was known for being situated in a dangerous area. I recall this from my own research when considering schools in the mid-90s. UCLA was known for its gorgeous surroundings, and USC was in the ghetto. As I ultimately went to the University of Pittsburgh, it didn’t much affect my decision making, but I can see the obstacle the campus has overcome. To shoot this I spent a good deal of time walking around the campus trying to find angles that show its relationship to the city. Not as easy as it sounds. Like many universities, the school campus is fairly self-contained, so there are only a few angles, at least from ground level, that show the school buildings in relation to its urban surroundings. After several hours of hiking around the campus, I ended up finding this angle from the median of Figueroa Street and was able to show the Galen Center set against part of the downtown skyline.
Oh, and another fun thing that I found out from the accompanying article, was that Sample, who was an electrical engineer, is the guy who invented the keypad that is now on pretty much every microwave in the world. Pretty cool.

Here’s one I shot for the AP a couple weeks back. Robert Park had just returned from a 6-week detainment in a North Korean prison and wasn’t open to making much of a public appearance to talk about his experience or make a statement regarding his cause. His family was allowed to meet him behind closed doors and leave the airport via a private exit. They agreed to drive him by the baggage claim and roll the window down for about 5 seconds so we could see him. At that point his brother hopped out of the car to talk to the media and the car drove off. So this is about as much as anyone got.

U.S. Missionary Robert Park sits in a car with his mother and father following his return to the U.S. at the to the Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010. Park was detained in North Korea after crossing the border from China on Christmas Day. (AP Photo/David Zentz)

I had the opportunity last week, through an assignment for the Chronicle of Higher Education, to spend a little time with Paul Debevec at Light Stage 5 at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) Graphics Lab in Marina Del Rey. Debevec is being honored with an Academy Award for his work in creating the animated faces in Avatar. His research has lead to some pretty significant advances in the realism of digital animation and has been utilized in such films as the Spiderman movies, Hancock, and Benjamin Button. The light stage he’s standing in is comprised of 156 LED lights that enable them to study the way light hits a face from every possible angle and then create a digital representation of it that looks as close as any animation has ever looked to real. It’s also a really fun place to make a portrait. The face in the third photo is “Digital Emily,” an early animation made using the same stage. And the puzzle is made from a photo of Light Stage 6, which is held at another location and is now being used to create full body animations. His research makes me feel like I know absolutely nothing about light, but is really interesting. You can view some samples of his work at www.debevec.org