I’ve been bowling twice this year! I bowled a 124 and a 149 — pretty typical, for me. Good times.

Happy birthday, Dave! It was great to see you today.

in the sunset district

I’ve had three girls staying at my place (for varying periods of time) this week: Hitomi is in town for a wedding, Vienna is pseudo-homeless as she bounces from place to place on tour, and Wendy would never have missed a visit from Hitomi.

It’s been fun to have so many people around. Normally, i’m a bit isolated because I work at home all the time… (read more »)

Bringing s’mores to the Dutch

Ever roasted s’mores inside? Neither had I. Thanks, Antoni, for hosting! (read more »)

I met Lachy in French Polynesia in 2005 when he was just a teenager. It wasn’t until this past January that I had the pleasure of seeing him again at his family’s house in Sydney.

He and Katie were in San Francisco for a few days last week, and although I was pretty busy with the chamber music seminar at Stanford, I managed to get away to have a single meal with them at Chez Panisse cafe. Hope to get to see them again sometime soon! (read more »)

Michaela Brockstedt, Laurel Stewart, Adam Lau, Jane Call, Eli & Courtney Woolery and me

Michaela hosted a Wetpixel Quarterly dinner in Oakland last week, which was a lot of fun! We all work so hard on the magazine while working other jobs. It’s good to socialize every once in awhile — it reminds us of the things that actually matter in life!

Cindy and her daughter at the Silver Phoenix book signing

Congratulations to Cindy Pon for the release of her new book, Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia! P and I went to her San Francisco book signing, which was at Books Inc. in Laurel Heights. (read more »)

Steve Drogin’s family and a couple hundred of his closest friends congregated today at the Robert Paine Scripps Forum at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to celebrate his life. The afternoon air was clean, brisk, and full of tears and laughter; it was the perfect celebration for a man whose friendship and generosity touched so many people all over the world. (read more »)

breakfast with Lucien @ the Westin in Union Square

My dear friend Lucien had an overnight stopover in San Francisco last week. Luckily, I spotted his arrival by happening upon his Facebook status update, and we were able to meet for breakfast before he headed off to the airport.

Dinner with IMAX / underwater video legends Howard and Michele Hall

Pam and I stopped by to see Howard and Michele Hall on the way to the airport this afternoon. We only had three hours to catch up; it flew by way too quickly, and I was left wanting more…

“Needle in a Haystack,” the first episode of season 1 of Whale Wars, is available as a free download on iTunes.

(From Sea Shepherd website) At long last, the Sea Shepherd 2007/2008 campaign to defend whales at the bottom of the world will hit the air waves tonight on Animal Planet across all the fifty U.S. States at 9:00P.M. It will air in Canada on Sunday, November 9th at 8:00 P.M. (read more »)

Last night, I watched Alissa Everett in the War Photographers episode of In Harm’s Way. The show is available on Hulu now. I’ve embedded it here, for convenience. (read more »)

Jack leaves for his first time trick or treating

I spent Halloween with Geoff, Livia and Jack down at Stanford. Jack was dressed as a bunny (so cute!), and ran around Peter Coutts for an hour saying “more candy” over and over again. When doors on random houses opened (and candy was inside), he would immediately walk inside, forcing us to dash in to extract him. Luckily, we were inside the Stanford bubble, where everyone is nice — at least, superficially.

After trick or treating, we left Jack at home with a babysitter and went to St. Michael’s Alley for dinner with Rob Kapilow, Sharon, and Scott. Rob is doing a What Makes it Great at Stanford on Sunday with the Stanford Chamber Strings, who will be playing Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. I always enjoy Rob’s visits — he’s got a lot of energy, and is fun to hang out with.

Congratulations to my friend, Andy Biggs, who won this year’s Wild Places category of the 2008 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest! (read more »)

More of my friends are making it into reality TV! Alissa is going to be featured in a new series on the CW called In Harm’s Way.

Me ‘n alissa, self portrait in San Francisco

Alissa will be in the “War Photographers” episode:

They may not be soldiers, but war photographers risk their lives each time they set out to grab the headline-making shots that chronicle military conflict. In this episode, Hunter Ellis takes viewers into battle with two war photographers on the job in Israel’s West Bank and Gaza Strip, as they cover the region’s tense and tumultuous events.

UPDATE: The episode is on Hulu.

Pat and me

She’s like a bobble head, but faster. Photos by Dave Patchen.