SACRAMENTO, CA – MAY. 14, 2022 – BANS OFF OUR BODIES MARCH On Saturday, I headed down to shoot the Bans off our Bodies March & Rally. It was organized by Planned Parenthood in response to the release of the U.S. Supreme Court draft. If the decision is finalized, it will overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic 1973 case legalizing abortion across the U.S. Because I had another event later in the day, I could only witness the first part […]
NASHVILLE, TN – JAN. 2022 – U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS What a trip out to the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships! It was 2018 when I headed to San Jose to shoot Adam Rippon and other greats at the U.S. World Championships. This year, I booked for Nashville and looked forward to some great live music and Southern grub. However, I ended up flying into the worst snowstorm of the winter, with the roads barely open. After a no-show shuttle […]
AUBURN, CA – DEC. 4, 2021 – FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS PARADE It turns out I just can’t get enough of these holiday events! Last night’s Festival of Lights event in Auburn was amazing! For such a small town, this was a super well-done event, with nearly 100 entries. Here was some of the information the Auburn Journal (Gold Country Media) shared about the event, that I’ve modified for today: Auburn’s Festival of Lights Parade always featuresa number of unique and […]
SACRAMENTO, CA – DECEMBER 2, 2021 – CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING After a year’s hiatus, Governor Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom hosted the 90th Annual California State Capitol Tree Lighting Ceremony last week. This year’s 65’ white fir is decorated with approximately 500 hand-crafted ornaments made by children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The event came just one day after Newsom’s announcement that the state had detected the country’s first omicron case. The celebration’s emphasis on […]
SACRAMENTO, CA – NOV. 3, 2021 Last week, the 84-foot white fir nicknamed “Sugar Bear” made a stop downtown on its cross-country trip to the nation’s capital. This was only the fifth time since the tradition began in 1954 that the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree has come from a California forest, in this case Six Rivers. The tree was harvested from the Mad River Ranger District in Trinity County. Just last year, a little over 50 percent of the total district […]
KAMLOOPS INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL, B.C., CANADA – OCT. 30, 2021 I could not visit the North Shuswap area in British Columbia without seeing the Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS). Last summer, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (the Salish Indian band) announced that ground-penetrating-radar was used to locate the human remains of over 200 children. The remains were detected in the orchard area of the campus, south of the main buildings. The revelation rocked the country, and shook many out of their apathy […]
AUBURN, CA, U.S.A. – OCTOBER 17, 2021 What a treat! A fundraiser for the Sierra Native Alliance, today’s Big Time Pow Wow was a special experience. I was only able to stay for a few hours, but what a rich cultural experience it was. Razzle Dazzle The event began around 10am, with California Native Dancing and M.C. Razzle Dazzle. “A ho!” he told the crowd, is the only way to show appreciation for California Indians – no clapping allowed! In […]
SACRAMENTO, CA, U.S.A. – OCTOBER 9, 2021 On Saturday, October 9, 2021 Sacramento celebrated National Trans Visibility Day at Crocker Park. The first-ever event included a march around the park and a program with a variety of community leaders, activists and organizers. Why Sacramento? For the first time since the March started in 2019, the event was held outside of Washington D.C. The organization chose Orlando as the primary host city this year, but also added several satellite cities. Those […]
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau visited Kanata just a week after winning won enough seats in Canada’s general election to form another minority government. I had checked the PM’s official itinerary the day before and saw that there was an open media call at the Eva James Community Centre in Kanata. I wrote to the Press Secretary and the next morning we were on our way to Kanata. Welcome to Kanata The press corps waited, a much larger group than they had expected. After visiting the […]
Pride (in Northern California) is happening! Over the past few weeks, I\’ve visited three Pride celebrations. Silicon Valley Pride was a full week of activities, with the night festival on Saturday, August 28, and the parade on August 29. Next up was Oakland Pride, BUT it got cancelled because of COVID. Then I drove down to Merced on Saturday, September 18 to see their second annual Pride. It had been cancelled too, but I did get to see the nascent […]