It’s Hi-Times in San Clemente.

 

San Clemente Beaches experienced a 6.37 high tide at 9:11 am on Sunday morning. Two Beachgoers enjoy the drama of an unusually high tide in San Clemente as waves reached public bathrooms at "T" street and the adjoining beach trail.

 

Since the first of the year the southland has had several high tides that seem to be related to two full moons in a normal cycle when we would only have one.  I got a tip to check out the high tide on Sunday morning around 10 am so I gathered up the cameras and headed out to see if I could find anything.  At first it didn’t seem to be anything unusual as I found that ocean water had filled up the Riviera Tunnel beach underpass.  In the winter its not an un-common occurrence and is usually a combination of rain runoff and a high berm where the  ocean that comes in, can’t get out.

I continued on the San Clemente Beach Trail towards the pier and saw that the open dirt area on either side of the railroad tracks was muddy and in some spots had standing water.  It has been a week since our big storm and it seemed that it should be dry by now.

I continued onward to Lost Winds Beach and noticed several spots where the normal bush covered  tundra looking solid berm at the edge of the tracks, the area between the tracks and the sand of the beach, was smooth and had a “washed over” look.  There was ocean flotsam up on the tracks and all around them on both sides.  High tide had occurred at 9:11 and it was now 10 am or so and I could see that a more than a few waves came close to breeching the berm and getting to the tracks.  It appeared that maintenince crews had been working filling in areas with dirt and sand bags where needed as well.  

Beachgoers were witness to the drama of an unusually high tide in San Clemente as waves reached public bathrooms at "T" street and the adjoining beach trail.

 

Further down the trail at “T” street, the public bathrooms had been solidly invaded by waves and sand, although several years ago the city had constructed a sea wall of sorts to prevent it.  Just behind the bathrooms, the beach trail crosses over the tracks and continues on the sandy side between the tracks and the ocean until reaching the pier about a quarter of a mile away.  

An Early morning runner on the San Clemente Beach trail passes by the under railroad drainage lines, between Lausen Beach and "T" street as waves from an unusually high tide pass thru on the inland side of the tracks.

 

Although the tide had receded somewhat from its highest point an hour earlier, several trail users had more of a hustle than expected to escape the surge and keep their feet dry.

Lost Winds looking across Riviera Beach to Cotton's Point.

 

The San Clemente Beach Trail at "T" Street looking north.

How It Was BeFore-Closure.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CA)-Ray Brewer, a HUD field director, led the assembled 400 people or so, in the pledge of allegiance, and it was at that moment that what should have been a Norman Rockwell scene turned into something more like Alice in Wonderland.  The atmosphere had been building up to that time and I wondered what would happen next.  The city of San Juan Capistrano had offered the Community Center to host a foreclosure prevention workshop with the participation of HUD, the FHA, California Home loan Lenders (Wells Fargo, HSBC and Chase) along with various NGO organizations like the OC HOPOC, the NHSOC, and the Orange County Legal Aide Society.

Congressman Ken Calvert (R-44) appeared to greet the attendees and while Calvert’s demeanor was genuinely in awe with the turnout, his presence brought a communal low growling buzz that started when they began the announcement with “Congressman.”  Thankfully, everyone remained calm but just barely so.  Curiously, the organizers were very relaxed and easy to work with although very direct in that they insisted on the utmost respect and consideration for participants.  It wasn’t a point too far away for me as the parent company for The Orange County Register, Freedom Communications, and for whom I was freelancing today, was in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings.  The intimate mechanics of trying to hold onto one’s home was obvious to me and deserved any matter of compassion and understanding I could give.

I did not originally think that there would be that many people at the event.  Foreclosure isn’t something that happens in America, even if national news said it was up, besides, watching it on national news is something that happens to people everywhere else like, snowstorms, tornados and hurricanes. 

Peter Scheldon, a staff reporter, was to write the story and so I waited outside the entrance, looking for a photo angle of the crowd.  My assignment was to shoot interviewees that agreed to have their photo taken for the article.  It didn’t take long for people to notice my cameras and a calm un-easiness carried itself back through the line.  A man walked out from the line seeking an empty bench at the side of the door and exclaimed:

“…Oh look, we can get our picture taken and they’ll put us in the crime blotter…”

 

It was impressive that so many people had brought their children although I wondered if it meant that the current economic downtrend would continue and instinctively, parents had thought to make it a learning experience.

Most people, obviously tense and in different stages of grief and uncertainty, were relieved to get some help and direction; it seemed likely that not everyone expected good news but at least something was being done and they were not alone. 

Scheldon, the reporter, arrived and in the midst of his interviews, I shot their faces as they poured out the months and years of dealing with struggle, stress and wonder.  It occurred to me that the people I saw were a mix of all the people I would usually see at any event I was assigned to shoot.  In fact it was not hard to imagine the people I would shoot this day were overwhelmingly the same people I would see helping out at any other assignment at a church, community or sports event.  This was the middle class and not what anyone would assume to be an “at risk” group of people.

There was one gentleman interviewed that sat silently and patiently waiting for his turn with a counselor.  He was not scared nor afraid but simply concerned and clear in his intention to get some help; this was not a man that was used to having an issue like this and having to share it.  He had been interviewed  by Scheldon and so I asked permission to keep shooting him, which I did.

He sat in the main room, waiting his turn, listening to the speakers that talked about anything from the government’s position on loans, fraud and bankruptcy.  I noticed he was not as talkative as several others that were interviewed but he was an old tree; confident, gracefully proud and sadly curious to what had to be for him, a new experience.

I followed him to where he sat down and spoke with a counselor.  I got a few shots, trying to be as unobtrusive as I could with two huge cameras and a blinding flash.  He held firm, wavering a bit beneath uncomfortable questions from the counselor but answered unblinkingly.  He had my attention and more importantly, my respect; this man is tough I thought as I imagined what it would be, to look across a pile of papers and face the help he needed.

I was done with my shots and I waited to catch his eye.

“Thank you and good luck.” I said, and I meant it.

 

“Thanks!” he said, looking up for a moment before setting his eyes back on the attorney sitting before him and without bothering to look up he added, “I’m going to need it.”

http://www.ocregister.com/news/three-230717-one-months.html

Gradu-lation.

Graduations, for me, are fun to shoot.  

In any given moment or spread of shots there is whatever emotion you might imagine and there are all ages to pick from.  Thankfully, it seems that nowadays, the ceremonies are short and its common that there is a lot of comedy.

The OC Register called with the Dana Hills graduation assignment early in the week and then because of someone getting sick I got the El Toro graduation at the last minute.  The shots for the Dana Hills High School went in the paper and on line but the story I wrote got lost and didn’t make it, lost in the system, so I include it here.

I wrote a story for El Toro as well and I think it went in but will have to check and post it here after 30 days.  I almost didn’t make it as the Dana Hills Graduation was barely over when the El Toro Graduation was just starting.  The event was at The Bren Center on the UCI campus.  Five dollars for the toll road and another seven dollars for parking.  I should have flashed my press pass to see if they would waive the fee but usually it means a phone call, the standard back an forth, and there was just no time.

Last year at The San Clemente Graduation I shot the cap toss with my wide angle and I was anxious to shoot it again at Dana.  I got in position to shoot it and its an okay shot and will look great blown up but caught something I was doing wrong and now I will have to wait an entire year to try it.  I was going to try it at El Toro’s graduation and it would have been great but I got pulled off the floor by the protocol police because “…The Register knows we don’t allow photographers on the floor…”  Whatever. 

 

DANA HILLS GRADUATES 686.

DANA POINT(CA.)-Beaneath a sea of Dolphin blue caps, the Dana Hills High School Class of 2009, 686 smiling faces in all, sat patiently on the football field in the bright Thursday afternoon sun.   Acknowledging the hoots, hollers and shouts of congratulations from family and friends in the stands, one by one, each graduate stood, waiting to receive their hard earned diploma.  A short walk to the podium, a photo and back to their seat, with a diploma was all the time it took if you don’t count the four years it took to get there.

 

Max Kelley, Associated Student Union Vice-President commented that the last four years had been a time of change, highlighting the fact that as freshman there was no FaceBook or even U-tube.  Kelley encouraged his classmates with the idea that with change comes experience and opportunity and together they should look forward to what opportunities the world has.

 

“We can do anything we want…(we have) an unlimited opportunity to make our life meaningful…” Kelley said.

 

Jeremy Chang, as the Dolphin Scholar of Scholars used the movie “Risky Business” with Tom Cruise as a lighthearted example of how to accomplish a goal and at the same time challenged the Class of 2009 to examine and rethink their values.

 

“I encourage everyone to consider the well-being of others…”Chang said.

 

Graduating students, brother and sister, Rory and Megan Weinell, spoke together and brought laughs from students and faculty with props and comments, including a kitchen rolling pin meant to be a scroll of past commencement speeches at elementary and middle schools and one (hopefully) from their presumed future at Yale.  They bemoaned their job opportunities in the light of the present economic crisis.

 

“There is no hope of finding jobs because they’ve all been taken by the Dana alumni…” Megan Weinell said.

 

After the official acceptance of the Class of 2009 by faculty and staff, the students wasted no time to throw their caps into the air accompanied by the release of several dozen white doves.  Family and friends where invited to join the graduates on the field with hugs, handshakes and a lot of photos.

 

Alexis Kubicki will attend Orange Coast College to study illustration in the fall and was surrounded by family and friends, enthusiastically posing for photos in endless combinations.  Kubiki’s mom, Lisa Smith qualified her daughter as the best artist at Dana hills, also commenting that she is beautiful inside and out while her father Marty Aahmes offered her some sage advice.

 

“You must remember to stay young, look for happiness and constant growth…” Aames said

 

The Old Gloom Routine.

Its not even June yet, and the gloom is already here.  Its really been here for more than a week but, like every year, we hope it won’t last if we ignore it.  I shot this looking south from the San Luis Rey  I-5 freeway overpass on Friday evening and an hour later it was raining.  I hope the tourists don’t see this or maybe I do.

Meanwhile, ten minutes inland, in San Juan Capistrano, the sun shines bright and no one is in doubt that summer is just 3 weeks away.

First Annual Cuchessi Memorial Spin to Pulgas.

 

Its been a year since Cuchessi passed and although the initial shock is gone, you still wonder about what happened.  This would be where anyone thinking about how it is that loved ones are taken so young, say whatever it is that means something to them, but to me its just that they are gone.

I have been working on a small narrative about Cuchessi for the last year now and I don’t want to give it away until its done but I want to refer to it in some small way.  How many times we had a week in the shop with some event that had passed the week before and we dissected every possible point of view on what took place.  

Like a Supreme Court Justice, Cuchessi would hear the case with the entrance and testimony of witnesses and those willing to detail their opinion.  Afterwards he would evaluate each fact and filter out the exaggeration and truth for what it meant to our small town.  The theorems and co-theorems would stack up until it was obvious that all the info was in and after it all the final decree would come.

Sometimes it might be a single sentence of fact or a paragraph of Cuchessi truths with some mix of Italian wisdom that only his DNA could deliver.  He would apply  and  cross apply other “cases”, comparing them in some way to the web of small town occurrences that archeologically fell on top of one another and never ended; we had a constant presentation of new facts and information.

Cuchessi was not always right but like most small town characters, he was never confused.  The inevitable news would arrive, providing more details of what might have occurred, and Cuchessi would weigh each morsel; usually, wordlessly, he would glance up from the sales counter to the mechanics bay and smile wisely at the confirmation of his intuition and sometimes commenting with “Too Funny…”,  ”…what’d I tell you?” or  simply stating, the predictable nickname of whomever just left that, with his inflection, indicating disbeleif, astonishment or confirmation.

This was mostly done in the late afternoon, with the Sun Post News spread across the glassed case that held the steel, durex plastic and aluminum jewels from which he made his living.  Cuchessi had memorized the sayings of the cycling greats that stared down at all of us from the posters on the walls; he would sagely quote them in a way that would in some way apply to the case at hand.

“…I accept the challenge!!!(French accent/Jaques Anquetil)…When I am in question I…ATTACK!!!(Belgian accent/Mercyx)…Haa!!!…I scoff at you!!!(italian accent/Felice Gimondi)” or “…alo, baby…(Flemish accent/Freddy Maertens)”

I can imagine that anyone in the shop the last few weeks and talking to Sue, Andrew and the mechanics about what the last year has been like and what it all means, that if you really carefully listened hard you might hear John’s voice above it all.

“…Don’ worrr’ ’bout it!!!(San Clemente accent/John Cuchessi)”

 

I wrote this for the OC Register:

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ride-cuchessi-family-2429848-sunday-john

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hula Hula.

 

 

 

The San Onofre Hawaiian Surf Club sponsored the Polynesian Festival in San Clemente, held at the Community Center this year.  I shot it for the Sun Post News and it seems as though the daily, the OC Register, is going to feature the story with a host of other events going on county wide, this Memorial Day weekend.

It started at 10 am and these things usually start out slow and a little late but when I got there at ten minutes after, they were already in full swing.  They had everything including a chicken bar-b-que rice combo plate that looked really good.  My favorite was the music and the dancing.

Sometimes the music can start to sound the same but they had a good mix and it was all really entertaining, especially with the dancing.  I didn’t see any of the flashy hula type stuff but more of the hand ballet that goes in time with the tune.  They had all ages performing and with different traditional instruments like halved coconut shells and some sort of shredded bamboo wand that made a great sound.  

I got shots of everything including some great looking old time woodys that were really well restored and the best part was from what I saw, it was a real home grown deal with most people I talked to from South Orange County. 

The Hula group “Halau Hula Lani Ola” did most of the performing but there was also a Missions and Bible Study group that went on first and did traditional Hula to Hawaiianized olde time hyms like “A Closer Walk With Thee”, that was really well done.  They were backed up by a full band and with the dance they did that went with it, was just great.  They chose a great spot just between the library and the community center that accentuated the natural aspect of what the Islands can be like.

At one point I saw a gaggle of young performers waiting to go on and sitting all along, on a wall and it made a great shot with San Clemente’s palm trees in the background.  This would be a great event to not miss next year.

Photo Round-Up for Spring 2009

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Life Begins Again.

 

LIFE magazine is online and enjoying it’s first day today…

 

http://www.life.com/

 

 

A big reason…the biggest reason actually, that FiveBlocks takes photographs today, are the hours spent on the living room couch, my dad’s waiting room, the library, my sister’s beach bag, my grandmother’s home, the barbershop, long car trips, the doctor’s office or the dime box at the American Veteran’s Thrift Store in Oceanside, and anyplace else that had a spot big enough to stack a pile of LIFE magazines on top and wondering over the larger than life images that detailed how humans worldwide live their lives.

 

 

In our neighborhood, growing up, I imagined my own everyday pains and struggles embroidered within the images I would see each month.  Even with the images that were taken before I was born; I would look back on the frozen moments in time captured on the oversized page, thinking and comparing what I held in common with the grainy black and white faces I stared into.

 

 

Every possible emotion held up for the world to see and almost in the size of a poster.  It was more than a few times that I contemplated everyone else turning the same pages as I would do and thinking if what they saw, brought forth the same feelings and thoughts.

 

 

How could it be that, at these extreme moments, a photographer could be ready and sane enough to hold the camera forward, frame a photo, control the exposure and freeze time so that everyone could see and arrive at just the smallest understanding of what the moment was actually like.

 

 

Today, we talk and share what we think about that funny  Utube video or that unusual website but do you remember talking about that LIFE photo and imagining through your conversation what it was about and what it must have been like to actually be there.

 

 

 

I so much hope that in our own modern way of seeing things and sharing life on our planet, that we can be in the moment of what its like to live on the edge of our lives where every step is the unknown edge of a new frontier.  LIFE magazine reminds me of that and thats why I am so glad its back.

 

 

 

It occurs to me that with every photo I take, as I take it, I imagine, for an instant,  those bright white letters on a red rectangle in the corner, that spell out “LIFE”.

 

FiveBlocks

You Had Me At Gutentag.

We were thinking of going to see Tom Cruise’s “Valkryie”, but then I saw some previews and I thought it was Jerry McGuire in a Nazi outfit.  I was waiting for a scene with Cruise in a sweet black Mercedes on the audobon, tapping the steering wheel to a tune by Marlene Dietrich, after signing a dozen or so cautious Nazi officers to play on his team against Hitler.

We got into a conversation about Heath Ledger and how good he is in the Batman movie as the Joker.  It seems that just when artists are really doing well, they go for a plane ride they shouldn’t go on or take an unscheduled nap, to never wake up again.

 

Maybe thats why Tom is still around and I think, what’s worse for him, he is going to die of naural causes.

FiveBlocks.

It’s Christmas Time In The City…

 

 

 

Metrolink Holiday toy express 2008

Metrolink began last year a program that stops in various cities on the way to Camp Pendleton and collect toys to take to military families that feel the need for some help.  Fireman collect the toys at each stop, and in addition to military famlies, collect toys for all needy families.

Metrolink has constructed a special set of train cars that support a fun holiday program that characters perform from atop the train at each stop.  Last year it had a “pirate” theme where Santa and his crew were kidnaped and held hostage for toys.  Eventually, of course, Santa is rescued and the pirates are allowed to have toys and take part in Christmas anyway.

This year it was “Santa-Claus” versus “Santa-Hog” who wanted to take all the presents for himself; in the face of Santa’s message Santa-Hog learns not to be a hog and share.

 

Reindeer helpers at The Casa Romantica with Santa.

The Casa Romantica had a program last Saturday for all the kids that featured Santa, games, caroling, snacks, hot drinks, the christmas goose and a talking Christmas tree.  

Nothing compares to any of the events I cover, with how the children respond to Santa.  Although, there are a few that are terrified it’s true, the average little one approaches with awe and barely concealed elation that emotionally is un-measurable.

 

Santa is fun.

 

 

This what Santa is all about.

 

 

Aliso Viejo also had a Christmas gig on Sunday.  They had singing and performances by the high school dance group.  A high school duo sang some Christmas songs and then led the group in caroling.  There was free hot chocolate and then Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up with Frosty the Snowman and lit the  city Christmas tree.  Santa sat for awhile and met all the children that waited for him and checked their lists.

The first little guy that was in-line (see photo) sat down and was all business, as he had several lists and information that he wanted to give Santa.  His parents made an effort to move him along but he was so into it, there was no stopping him.  Santa checked it all and he got a candy cane out of it.  The parents and all the adults nearby could not contain themselves; it was hilarious and everyone was a good sport.

 

 

THE Christmas List.

 

 

Just a little taste of Christmas in the southland.