Doug Jones, Discovery Deux
A second shot of Doug Jone from the Star Trek: Discovery Red Carpet (blue though it was)- honestly, I’m posting this because the movie he starred in, THE SHAPE OF WATER, just won for Best Picture at the 2018 Academy Awards a few hours ago… And even though he let his hair grow out, seeing him on stage with everyone gave me a shot of joy.
Hells, still tickled I got to work with him before…
Booker T. Word in Profile
One of my father’s fighters, Booker T. Word, has been a staple in my life for as long as I can remember. My father, Gregory, had trained him as a boxer- and while he was not his most consistent fighter, he did his best to help my father outside the ring (especially in his later years). (Sidenote- he also went to the same high school I did, if a few years earlier.)
This snapshot was taken in 2015, and catches a farseeing Booker.
Richard Hatch, Lifetime Achievement
Snapshot of Richard Hatch, long-time actor and surfer (whom I was privileged to be acquainted of) accepting a Lifetime Acheivement Award from the International Television Festival. Sadly, Richard passed away exactly 1 year and 1 day ago. I wanted to post this photo of him as a small homage to someone who embodied caring and genuine class.
Gyv Me That Look from the Runway
From the Always in Fashion event at the Beverly Hilton, (part of the Los Angeles Fashion Week 2017), this photo was taken during the Swim Runway, with the model wearing a stylish new Gyv Me Body creation- and the over the lens look sells it for me.
Doug Jones, Discovered
Continuing on with the Star Trek: Discovery premiere Red (BLUE) Carpet, we have Doug Jones- a fantastic actor who always is in heavy make-up; you’ve probably seen him several times and didn’t know it because, well, you rarely see his face. In Discovery, he plays Lt. Saru- so, again, under the prosthetics. And yet again, he knocks it out of the park.
(Side note- I had the pleasure to work with him in The Guild- friendliest guy, and his hugs are fantastic…)
Fires Over Burbank I
Photograph of the La Tuna Fire in the outskirts of Burbank, California. This photo was taken on Saturday, September 2nd, 2017, when parts of Burbank were under threat (and the full weight of the local Fire Departments was brought to bear on the fire).
Discovery Has Landed – Sasha-Michael
Last Tuesday, the new Star Trek series, Discovery, had a red carpet event at the Arclight in Hollywood. The cast of Star Trek: Discovery was there, as were numerous other ST alums; and yours truly was also on hand to get some shots from a fairly unique vantage, (I know, because there weren’t many people where I was =p)
Let’s start with Sonequa Martin-Green, late of The Walking Dead (remember how Sasha suddenly got a death wish…?), now taking off to the stars…
Dome of the Bisected Hemisphere
On this, the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 that I’m sure every news report will tell us not to forget, and remind us that we haven’t forgotten… I wanted to share this picture of Abdulnasser Gharem’s sculpture, titled “Hemisphere”, which was featured in LACMA earlier this year. It represents the duality of Islam, (or frankly, all religions), between the peaceful and spiritual, (as depicted by the right half, based on the green dome of the Mosque of the Prophet in Media), and the political and violent tendencies, (as depicted by the left half, based on a Persian military helmet). The midpiece that is front and center is models on a noseguard from the helmet, which protects the face while also separating it.
And while we can list this duality in all religions, given the beauty of this work, and the darker responses to the terrorist attack 16 years ago, I wanted to post this – today – to show that beauty can come from all places, and that almost everything has two sides.
(Also, I’m really happy with how the picture came out.)
Twilight Freedom Sculpture
Taken the morning of July 5th, this is a shot of the Freedom Sculpture installed on Independence Day, July 4th, 2017. It took 4 years for the Farhang Foundation, a non-political, non-religious, non-profit Iranian-American cultural organization, to commission, secure city authorization and raise enough money build and install the Freedom Sculpture, a permanent iconic monument celebrating religious freedom, cultural diversity and inclusiveness — the humanitarian ideals or Cyrus the Great that have been enshrined by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution of the United States.
With over a million supporters, from all across America and over 50 countries around the world, the Freedom Sculpture has become the most widely crowd-supported monumental gift in U.S. History. It now stands like a “Statue of Liberty for the West Coast”, in the heart of Los Angeles, one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities, as a permanent symbolic reminder that freedom, inclusiveness and respect for diversity are the foundational values that truly make America great.
The winning design of the Freedom Sculpture was created by renowned artist and architect Cecil Balmond. It is themed on the Cyrus Cylinder from 2,500 years ago, widely considered the first declaration of human rights, whereby Cyrus the Great Persian King originally granted individual and religious freedoms to all within his vast and culturally diverse empire. The large-scale, modern-day sculptural interpretation of the Cyrus Cylinder is made of two finely crafted 100% stainless steel cylinders, one within the other. The interior cylinder is gold, and the outer element is silver – both interacting with each other in an exchange of strength and vulnerability. The two rings are linked internally to form a strong and robust structure.
I do really enjoy this sculpture- and am sure it will make further appearances in this photoblog.
* I would have taken some photographs during the fireworks during the installation celebration, but the organizers decided real cameras were verbotten- such an annoying yet very LA thing…
Jedi Cassy vs Jedi Cindy
Behind the scenes shot from Return of the Threesome, a parody of the old Star Wars commercials… Not counting the ladder crew, we have Rileah Vanderbilt as Jedi Master Cassy and Alison Haislip as Jedi Master Cindy dueling it out with the lights in the background.
I’ll be adding a few more shots from this shoot over the next few months- though there is one Easter Egg shot already up.
Mysidian Moments Photojournal 