From Sonoma With Love

For the 15th Sonoma International Film Festival, the delightful Kevin McNeely (exec director) and Claudia Mendoza-Carruth (programming/PR) asked me to photograph/film this year's festival while also lending a hand to managing the pipeline of incoming photo/video media from other shooters. 

I love telling the festival's story afterwards by marrying the reams of captured photographs and video to a glove-fitting soundtrack.  A highlights video.

The festival is renowned for its friendly and fun vibe, scenic surroundings, good eats and fine wine (no surprise there!). Actors are refreshingly at ease and approachable, while the filmmakers become your friends by the end of the five days. 

The filmmakers and their stories inspire everyone and it seems the whole town of Sonoma lends a hand in and around the quaint tree-lined city-center square to help them in any way – from a cup of coffee to a complimentary guesthouse. Close to my heart are these quiet filmmakers, yearning for their films to speak to a larger audience. I tried to pay homage to four of them with a few extra seconds of slow-pan screen time.

And the parties … oh the parties.  You’ll see.  Enjoy.

Best of Sonoma International Film Festival 2015 video.

Special thanks go to contributing photographers Cristian Isbrandtsen and Kevin Carruth.

The Black & White of FYF Fest 2014

In the beginning, there was Black & White ... and it was good.

Claire Bouchard as Grimes

These days, we are very lucky. We can effortlessly convert any image to Black & White.  A Black & White treatment can be rich and dramatic, forcing the eyes to see form and composition ...

Thomas Mars of Phoenix.

... or it can disinfect an image suffering from ugly stage lighting ...

Julian Casablancas + The Voidz

... or it can simply be a welcome change from the ordinary (and expected) world of color.

Carlos Dengler of  Interpol

Curious to see the color originals of these Black & Whites from FYF Fest 2014? Just click the image. And let me know which version you like best ... you might be surprised. I'd love to hear your feedback.

Matt Mondanile, Real Estate

Saul Hudson, better known as Slash

Slash

Saul Hudson, better known as Slash, photographed during a fundraising event to raise money for free instruments and recording studios for kids. The stage was packed with talent – another good story for another time. What struck me was this stoic presence. Slash was born in Hampstead, London. His mother was a costume designer whose clients included David Bowie; and his father an English artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. He came to Los Angeles, taught himself guitar, and went on to be the lead guitarist for “Guns N’ Roses” and later “Velvet Revolver”. 

In a 2011 interview Slash revealed he's a cat lover, a pinball machine collector, 7 years clean & sober, doesn’t eat anything from the sea, has a pet anaconda named Sam, and has flat-lined 3 times (he has an implanted defibrillator).