Last week I got to spend my Sunday afternoon with Matt and Shannon. We traveled up to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and had a great time shooting some engagement photographs for the two of them. They will be married next summer in the same venue and I can tell you for sure that the wedding will be beautiful! These guys totally made my job easy! Of course its easy to make great photographs when you are taking pictures of two gorgeous people who are completely in love with each other. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Enjoy.

While the temperature was a little on the low side, the weather was very nice. When the sun came out the light was perfect!

Im pretty sure these two could have a lucrative career in modeling if they wanted to.

I usually dont choose favorites…but if I did…

Working it!

I probably could have stayed there another hour, but my lovely photo assistant/sherpa/wife gave me the signal that it was time to let the lovely couple get back to the warmth. Thanks Matt and Shannon for the great time, and for making my job so easy!

Hello everyone!

I have pretty much neglected my blog for the last half of the year. Shame on me! My poor blog has fallen to the spammers of the internet. I just spent the last 1.5 hours emptying my comments in box. I don’t know how they find me or what they expect but they are persistent. 1,256 spam comments later and I feel better about myself and my blog. If only I could devote that amount of time everyday to keeping up with this site. Im sure I would have more then the one or two readers I have now. For those of you that have come to check in on JDP in the hopes of some new photographs, Im sorry to have disappointed you for so long. I promise that this upcoming year will have more posts, with more consistency….my fingers may be crossed.

This year was a busy year for Rebecca and I. We moved all the way across the country to Virginia Beach, and we bought a new house. I changed jobs, and she is busy with opening a Bikram Yoga studio in the local area! Needles to say this put a small slump into my photography. Now that things have settled I can finally dust off the ol’ Nikon and try to remember how the shutter button works. Just before Thanksgiving we had a chance to head up to Washington DC. We stopped at the Air and Space Museum and I was able to capture some pretty cool pictures. Seeing how I love aviation, I thought I would share these first.

But stay tuned cause I have some great posts coming up!

Enjoy the pictures.

This first one is of the SR-71 Blackbird, I dreamed about flying this plane all the time as a little boy! I still think it would be awesome to take it up for a ride.

This is a WWII Navy fighter/bomber…Go Navy!

A bunch of model airplanes sitting in a display case off in one of the corners. Easy to get a good shot when there is no crowd.

Epic shot of the space shuttle!

The hanger is HUGE! I made good use of my 14-24mm wide angle lens.

In the near future I will post some Thanksgiving pics, some Christmas prints, and even a few Portrait sessions.

I know its been to long since I have updated. I have been busy. We currently are working on all sorts of things. Like closing on a new house! Buying furniture for said house. Figuring out whats what and where is where in Virginia Beach…blah blah blah excuses excuses excuses. So with that being said here are a few pictures from my last days on the Island of Oahu. After eight years Im sure there are things I will miss. I just cant think of any of them right now. Enjoy.

I spent my last three days in Hawaii just like a tourist. Down in Waikiki with all the other people. Here is a series of three shots from sunset to moonrise. After eight years these are my only pictures of the famous Waikiki beach.

This is right before the sun set. I really liked how it lit the clouds up over Diamond Head.

This is after the sunset, but there was still enough light to get a blue sky as long as you had a tripod and a long shutter exposure. The 30 second exposure made the beach look empty and the water nice and smooth.

And this is just before the full moon rose up over diamond head. I had been waiting for about 45 min for this shot and just could not wait any longer so I never got one with the moon in view…I was hungry.

Here is a shot of some fishermen, taken before the sun went down. Only in Hawaii.

This last one is of the view I had everyday for eight years, either driving to or from work. Its not the best shot in the world, but it will always bring up a memory for me.

A big Mahalo to all my ohana on Hawaii, A hui hou kaki!

I have been flying on the mighty P-3C Orion “Papa Chuck” for those in the know, for just over 12 years. Chuck is one of the oldest aircraft in the US inventory. Soon he will be phased out and replaced by a shiny new Boeing 737 called the P-8 Poseidon. I shed a tear every time I think about it.

The Navy has been flying aircraft for 100 years. During that time Chuck has been around for 51 years. Chuck may not have movies made after him, like “Top Gun” and “Iron Eagle.” But he has made a guest appearance in the hit movie Transformers 2.

I have more than 3,000 hours flying in Papa Chuck, and have been working with the P-3 pretty much since I joined the Navy 13 years ago. I will miss Chuck when they finally send him to the bone yard, it will be a sad day among all Flight Engineers past and present especially since there is no job for Flight Engineers on the new P-8.

Here are a few pictures taken from the windows of Papa Chuck this last deployment. A little tip for those of you trying to get good pictures from an airplane window; get your lens as close to the window as possible without touching the window. If you have a lens hood then use it. Lastly but now always try to include a part of the airplane for reference.

Here is a cool picture I captured while in Guam. This is the B-52 Bomber, another plane that has been in the American Inventory for about as long as the Mighty P-3C.

I took this by sticking my 14-24 wide angle right in the front windscreen. I like it cause you can see the nose of the aircraft.

I have a ton of cloud pictures. One day I will do a coffee table book of just clouds.

Next up my last days in Hawaii. Thanks for taking a look.

Been a busy couple of weeks. I got some downtime this week though so I can get caught up on the blog. So as promised here are the pictures of the hotel we stayed at while in Singapore. This is by far the nicest hotel I have stayed at on the Navy’s dime.

Here is the view from my room all the way up on the 12th floor. Nothing spectacular but it still made a cool picture.

Austin Martin parked out front. Must have been Burt Reynolds.

Not a bad place to wait for an elevator.

The lobby.

Entrance to one of the three restaurants. I didn’t eat at any of them, but they looked really good.

This is a cool exposure of the staircase that leads from the third floor down to the lobby. I also like how the movement of the elevator was captured in this shot.

Coming up the last of Japan, and then some final shots of Hawaii.

Im getting closer and closer to the end of this deployment. The end can be counted in days now, instead of weeks. My shooting has slowed as work has picked up. But I still have a back log of pics to get on the blog so no worries. A few weeks back I made a trip to Singapore. This place is pretty nice! Before we left we had briefs on all the things that we’re not supposed to do while there. No smoking in public, no chewing gum, don’t touch people, no cussing…if we did any of these things we would be caned! Typical overreaction but we prepared for the worst. Turns out Singapore is not as ultra conservative as we thought. You can smoke in public, they have places for it just like every other country. The people are friendly and almost everyone speaks english. Not sure about what happens if you chew gum we didn’t chance it. But we did find out that a caning is rare, usually offenders are ordered to pay fines. However, if you are found dealing drugs you are sentenced to death! For some reason they don’t have near the drug problem the US does. The first night there we had a chance to venture out and explore the city. Enjoy the photos.

We decided to hit up the Singapore Flyer. Its a giant ferris wheel that has awesome views of the city and bay.

They have it set up like an airport and as you walk through to board they have little exhibits in each room. I thought this wall was pretty cool so did these girls.

This is the inside of the pod we went around on, and a view of the city.

After our ride around the flyer we decided to get a few shots of the city. I can tell you that this shot is not original. I counted at least 30 other people with DSLR cameras taking pictures of the same views…it is photo worthy.

One last shot of the Marina Bay resort, and the walking bridge.

In order to really do Singapore justice I need about three to four days of free time, so Im putting it on my list of countries to visit with my wife. Next up is some images of the Hotel we stayed in. The nicest hotel I have ever stayed in for free!

To enlist in any branch of the U.S. Military service says a lot about ones character. The people that serve our country make sacrifices that are hard to fathom. Who in their right mind would volunteer to leave their friends and family behind for months at a time for the chance of getting killed in some foreign land? Granted not everyone in the Military is on the front line, but everyone in the Military makes some sacrifice for their Country. I am proud to serve with these people and when I get the chance to capture a fellow sailors re-enlistment I get excited. Its my pleasure to provide the memories for a comrades continued sacrifice to our Country.

I have been lucky enough to shoot re-enlistments on two epic sites of American history. Early last year I did a re-enlistment on the USS Arizona memorial, and a re-enlistment on the USS Missouri. Obviously both of these sites are steeped with WWII history. The attack on Pearl Harbor and sinking of the Arizona is the reason we entered the War, and the Mighty Mo is where the Japanese formally surrendered.

A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure to be able to shoot a re-enlistment on top of Mt Suribachi! For those of you that don’t know what mountain that is and if you are American…shame on you! For my international readers…I have few. Mt Suribachi is the highest point above the island of Iwo To, aka Iwo Jima. For those of you that are still confused, Im sure you have at least heard of or seen the famous pulitzer prize winning picture from Joe Rosenthal “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.” If not then you have probably seen one of the many statues made of its likeness. Just Google it if you are still not with me.

The opportunity to be able to visit such a rare piece of American and Japanese history was not taken lightly. Special permission had to be obtained from the Japanese Govt. just to let us land and hike the Island. We had a small time frame to land, hike up the Mountain, re-enlist the Sailors, then hike back and take off. The overall distance hiked that day was just over ten miles. We did it in Uniform and some of us had 30-45lbs of camera gear. It was tough going. But It was 1000% worth the effort. Not one person complained about the trip, and I think not one person would have even thought about complaining considering when we did it, we were not being shot at, and we had a paved trail to walk on. Unlike the Marines that did the same hike back in 1945!

Before the pictures, here are a few facts about the battle of Iwo Jima.
The Japanese had 22,785 soldiers on the Island of them only 216 were captured. The rest either died fighting or by ritual suicide.
The American invasion force was 70,000. 6,812 of the 26,038 American casualties where KIA’s. This is the only battle in American history where the winning force suffered more casualties then the losing force.
The Island is only 8 square miles in size. 4 miles long, and 2 miles wide. Thats roughly 3500 dead soldiers per square mile!
The battle for Iwo was 36 days long, and started on Feb 19, 1945.
27 Medal of Honors were won during the battle, more than any other battle in American History. 13 were awarded posthumously.
The USS Cole was named after one of the MOH winners. Sgt Darrell Cole posthumously awarded.
One third of the Marines killed during WWII died at Iwo Jima.

This trip is easily the most memorable experience of my Navy career. Here are some of the pictures from that day.

This is a picture of a wrecked B-29 prop. After the invasion the Island served as an emergency landing point for American Bombers returning from missions over mainland Japan.

A view of Mt Suribachi from the invasion beach.

The top of Mt Suribachi the American memorial. A lot of previous visitors have left their dog tags or other personal items at the top of the hill. It is really a somber place packed with history.

All of us who made the trip.

Next up Singapore.

One of the many missions of the P-3C Orion is “SAR” thats Search and Rescue for the laymen. Three days ago I was assuming the “Ready-2″ a watch set up incase something important happens. If something important does happen they can call the Ready-2 and we can have our plane “off deck” and flying within two hours. Normally the Ready-2 is a day to get laundry done and rest, but occasionally it does get launched.

I got the call in the late afternoon that we would be launching that evening for a SAR mission South of Guam. The plan was to leave Japan in the middle of the night get to Guam at the crack of dawn re-fuel and go out and try to find a person that was last seen 30 hours ago in his 10 foot outrigger canoe fishing of the coast of a small island in Micronesia. It was going to be a long day!

We managed to get to Guam as the sun was coming up, we got a brief from the Coast Guard, and took on as much gas as we could carry and took off out of Anderson AFB, in search of a man in a 10 foot canoe. The normal Coast Guard C-130 was broken so thats why we got the call. They gave is a roughly 30×60 nautical mile box of ocean to search in, based off of the currents in the area for the last 30 hours. The guys chance of being found was roughly 38%. That first day we searched the box they gave us, and some small atolls, but we did not find our man. So we headed back to Guam to stay the night and try again first thing the next day.

The next day we where given a new box to search, and we also got some help. Overnight a Coast Guard C-130 from Hawaii flew in, and a CG Cutter from Guam had steamed to the op area. On the second day the guys chances of being found had dropped to 28%. We searched for as long as we could but our luck was not with us. Our flight profile had us at 500 feet, and from that altitude you can see a lot of things. We found all sorts of flotsam, from palm trees, to floating metal tanks, to small orange squares. We saw dolphins, and plenty of birds, but no man on a canoe.

The third day was planned to be our last day. So we fueled up and headed out in hopes of finding this guy. Again the C-130 and cutter where out on station with us. We all had our own boxes to search, and the guys probability of being found had dropped to 8%. I have a few recommendations for anyone that plans to go out to sea on a personal water craft. The bigger your boat is, and the more colorful it is the easier it will be to find! If you can bring a mirror or some other signaling device please do it. It is not hard to see an object as big as a canoe in the water, the problem is once you fly over it at 200kts, you have to turn around and find it again. There where numerous times where we would fly over a object that might have been a canoe and then could not find it again. So please if you plan on being lost at sea where bright colors, and have a big boat.

The guy we were looking for is probably one of the luckiest guys on earth. He was lucky enough to be spotted by the C-130 late in the afternoon on the third day of searching and the sixth day of him being lost at sea. He ended up being found on a small island out in the middle of the ocean. An Island that we had looked at on the first day. Although I don’t know for sure I would guess that the guy landed on it late the second day, or on the third day.

What amazes me is the response to a missing person out in the middle of the ocean. Its good to know that if Im ever lost at sea, there will be some people looking for me. People that don’t know me, but have a job to do, and will do it even when the odds are not in there favor. I will just hope the currents carry me to an island, and Im on a boat that is big enough to be spotted from 500 feet. The Coast Guard are experts at there jobs and take it very seriously. For us SAR is not our primary mission, but I can speak for all of my crew on board when I say we took this mission very seriously and Im proud to know that even though we were tired on the third day and our chances of finding the guy were slim, every person on that plane had there eyes out the windows and searching as best they could!

Here are a few pictures from our trip. These were all taken on the last day after we got word that he was found. Before that it was all business.

Clouds at 500 feet.

A shipwreck out in the middle of the ocean.

My future vacation spot. Very remote!

From the air at 10,000 feet and 5 miles this atoll looks pretty easy to spot. From ocean surface at 5 miles it would be almost impossible.

A parting sunset shot!

One of the great things about the Navy, and the military in general is the constant change. Every three to four years we move to a new Command, every six to twelve months we change jobs within the command, and every couple of weeks, a few old people leave and a few new people check in. It really takes a certain type of personality to get used to the massive amounts of change we go through in the Military. I would hazard a guess that most people who get out after their first tour just could not adapt to the change. I for one LOVE it. I hate doing the same thing day in and day out. So I always look forward to the change.

Coming to Japan after spending four months in Isa was a nice change. A change in scenery, a change in people, and a change in mission. The past six weeks have been pretty busy with a lot of awesome things. I recently returned from a trip to Singapore, and a trip to Mt Suribachi on the Island of Iwo To aka “Iwo Jima”. So stay tuned for some great pictures. But for now, here are some great pictures of everyday life for a Deployed Flight Engineer in Japan.

This picture is one of my favorites so far for 2011! It is a picture of a FE’s hand as he gets ready to start the #2 Engine on the Mighty P-3C Orion…This is my job and it is awesome!

The Navy is celebrating its 100th anniversary for winged flight this year. The P-3 has been around for 51 years of it! Im pretty sure thats a record!

A great sunset shot of the Hanger

Even if you are not into Aviation this is a pretty cool picture. This was a 30 second exposure timed just right so that the plane would come to a stop while the shutter was still open allowing it to burn into the picture.

Thanks for stopping by, and stay classy, but mostly thanks for stopping by

During the last few weeks of my ISA visit we were pretty much on lock down. That means we could not leave the compound. I did however, get a lucky break when I was selected to go pick up an airplane from Sigonela Italy, and bring it back to ISA. The trip was only two days but it was a nice break. The final three days in ISA we got lucky with some really cool sunsets. Enjoy. And stay tuned for Japan.

We only got to spend about 18 hours on the ground in Italy. Of those 18 about 12 were in the dark. So the morning we were leaving I got up with the sun and captured a few shots of the area.

This is Mt Etna, in the morning the sky had no clouds, but by the afternoon when we took off, the clouds had moved in. Luckily I was on Papa Chuck so I could get above the clouds and capture this view of Etna as well.

The last three Sunsets in ISA. Dont get it twisted this place still sucked!

That ends my pictures of the first four months of deployment. I can say that in the last three weeks, I have really captured some Awesome photographs so stay tuned for those.