Greece is the word

… is the word, is the word… Please excuse my digression. I can’t help myself. Let’s see who gets the reference. Am I dating myself?

Having my photo titled, “Innocence of Youth” in the Chania International Photography Festival in July 2025 in Greece brought back a lot of memories.

Related: Going down memory lane

We shot this a number of years ago in the blustery month of December in Pasadena. It was a lot of fun working with model Elena Diaz and her boyfriend at the time, Ivan. Assisting me was Lorraine DuRocher.

Related: After party interview

The biggest hassle we had to deal with were all the other people shooting at the location. Pasadena City Hall is a very popular place to shoot since the architecture is beautiful and there are so many terrific spots giving different looks to shoot at.

The photo was pretty much a candid shot. We were in the street in the front of City Hall and getting ready for the next set up when Elena was looking away and I called out her name. As soon as she turned to look at me I took the shot.

The photo in the banner of this post with Elena and Ivan is also one of my all time favorites that never would have happened if it were not for Lorraine’s quick thinking. While we were shooting in the corridor, she called out to Ivan, “do it like you’re going to kick his ass” and we got the shot!

You can see all the photos in the exhibit here.