West Coast School

Terry and I spent the past week on the beautiful campus of the Universty of San Diego, where we were instructors for a course on basic photography for the professional. We had 16 students learning everything from F-stops to posing a group of people to business planning. It was early mornings and late nights, working lunches, and lots of shop talk. It was FUN!

To demonstrate working with children, the school arranges for "models" (usually the parents are friends of someone at the school). Our first few models went into hyper-mode when they saw a room full of adults watching them, and everyone with a camera. Just as I was beginning to wonder if we'd be able to pull off a really good shoot, one of our students asked if we'd like to photograph her husband and daughter. They weren't part of the school, they were locals in San Diego, and if we wanted to, they could come tomorrow for class. Oh, and by the way, she says, her husband is a Marine recently back from Iraq. With a baby daughter. A Marine in dress blues with a little girl. Oh my gosh! Are you kidding me? Get them over here, stat!!! So the next day, walking onto campus comes this handsome Marine, with an 18 month old with blonde curly hair. Thank you, God! Here are a few of the photos I got. Could you just scoop them both up with a spoon?