Gods love

Sometimes being a member of the media is hard, keeping your own opinions to yourself and covering events without letting your own views get in the way of the stories you are trying to tell. Today was one of those days. I live in a relatively small town called Temecula, sometimes we do have big events, but for the most part its a sleeper community comprised of young family's, retired wine drinkers, and some right wing supporters ( not that being right wing is bad, its just that they tend to be less compassionate to others view points). With those facts the diversity in this town is very meek, so when the Temecula Islamic Center planned to get permits to build their new mosque on land they purchased ten years ago, right next to a baptist church, lets just say it didn't go over to well with all of the less than open minded people who comprise this valley.



So today a group of anti-Islamic protesters set out to ruin the centers Friday prayer services. They attempted to do this by bringing dogs with them, having women dress in reveling clothing and also by having women sing. None of these attempts really came to be for them however. They ended up with two dogs, and maybe about thirty protesters, I was told by one of them "the lack of turn out was do to an Islamic e-mail sabotage that was sent out to trick the protesters into thinking the protest wasn't going to happen".



The low turn out didn't stop them from protesting though, they came out with megaphones, signs, and a few chants. I guess one of them even decided to drive up and down the street shouting profanities at the existing Temecula Islamic Center.
Now I have nothing against protesting, its what makes this country great, you don't like something or someone, grab a badly made cardboard sign and stand on the street corner shouting at other people to let them know how you feel. This group however, was only about one thing, HATE! Hate for a religion they know nothing about. Most of them talked about love, and how much their "God" loved everyone, but really the only true emotion I felt coming from them was hate!



The most interesting thing for me was how on one side of the street there were protesters talking about how evil Islam is, and how all it teaches is how to kill all those who don't believe. Then on the other side of the street were the Islamic supporters sitting very peacefully and then at one point a few of them came over to the anti-Islamic protesters with roses thanking them for coming out to voice their concerns. This is not the image of hate and evil the protesters painted in their signs and words.

After the events of September 11th this country lost a lot, and one of those things we lost was trust, and one of the biggest groups we lost trust in is Islam. However Its been almost ten years, we have destroyed two country's and lost thousands of our own soldiers lives invading countries we have no business being in. Isn't it time to learn from our own mistakes and stop blaming a religion that just so happens to have some fundamentalist who dislike the amount of freedom our country has to offer.
To view more images from this event go to http://bit.ly/9Dh0rb

Nerdfest 2010

So its that time of year again, when super heroes, zombies, and even anime worriers take over down town San Diego, yes my friends its time for Comic Con! Last night was preview night, where the media, exhibitors,and those who bought 4-day-passes got a chance to take over the convention show floor, to see just what the next four days will have to offer. This year was hectic but nowhere near as crowded as last year, due to the fact the good people at Comic Con limited the number of people they allowed to go to preview night.



I covered preview night for three publications, so I didn't get much of a chance to see all the cool things on display this year, but I did get to see a few things, here are a few images from last night, hope you enjoy, and may the force be with you.





To view a few more images go to http://bit.ly/9MrkTK

The King

Last night I covered an Elvis Presley Look-a-like contest at a local casino. Now I am not really the biggest Elvis fan, and I also don't really like the idea of dressing up like a dead celebrity to "honor" them. I think impersonation is not really the biggest form of flattery its more the biggest sign of not having a hobby. But after watching these guys perform I have to say I am a changed man. There were five contestants all vying for a spot to go to the annual tribute contest which will be held in Memphis in August. The winner also got a $2000 check for winning. Not being a big Elvis fan I didn't really know that many of the songs, other then the big hits, but I was blown away by the costumes, actions, and more importantly the voices of these guys. Heres one of my favorite shots and you can go here to view a couple more http://bit.ly/czLcxs

A sad goodbye

Tonight I had a very somber assignment, covering the vigil of 14-year-old Amber Dubois, an Escondido teen who's name was everywhere a little over a year ago when she first went missing February 13 2009, but after a short time the search for her went cold and thoughts in the media turned to the possibility that she was a run away. With the recent abduction and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway, and the arrest of John Albert Gardner III, 30, in that case. New evidence and a new hope came to the Dubois family, who never gave up the search for their daughter. When a phone call came into police Thursday March 4th from the parents of three girls who said their daughters found a plastic bag with hair in it, about nine months earlier at Kit Carson park. So a new search began for Amber and this time they did find her, sadly not alive. After a search of a pond at Kit Carson park in Escondido didn't turn up a body investigators working a lead moved the search to a remote area of the Pala Indian Reservation, and on Saturday March 6th they found skeletal remains that were positively identified as the 14-year-old girl.






So tonight friends, family members, and those who never met Amber but just wanted to say one final goodbye, gathered at her high school, to do so. The attendance was in the thousands, and although many of those in attendance never met the young girl who didn't get a chance to live her life, they lit candles, sang songs, and cried tears for the girl who will be fourteen forever.







I found it very apt that as the mourners started to disperse and the candles started to be put out, a light rain began to fall. This was in no way how anyone wanted this to end. A 14-year-old's life being cut short by a monster of a human being, but at the very least it is the start of some small closure for the family.

Wet weather

Well its been a wild week, with storms coming through the area every day and all of them bringing massive amounts of water I have been a busy bee trying to cover as much of the storms as possible. The biggest thing I have to say about it is Californians are really really really stupid when it comes to driving in the rain. Not only do they drive way too fast on the freeways, but their complete disregard for signs that say " Road Closed" completely amazes me. Every day this week there were swift water rescues do to people seeing a road closed sign, a fast moving roadway of water, and thinking I bet I can make it.




Other than mass of people trying to turn their family-grocery-getter into an aqua-car, there was also an amazing amount of water, and not that many places for it to go. So roads quickly turned into rivers, which turn into lakes. I was really shocked to see some of the roads I normally drive down transformed into huge bodies of water, that could only be navigated by boat.




To view more of my storm images please visit my January Storm Gallery

CIF Football

This Friday and Saturday I covered two CIF final football games, one was between two schools in my area. The other was a local school against a school from out of the area. The first game was between Vista Murrieta and Chaparral, I have covered both of these schools regularly in the past four years and have become very familiar with the players on both teams. So it was really neat to get to see them play each other for the title match.



I covered the Vista Murrieta side of the game and another photographer covered the Chaparral side, to make sure we got the reactions from the winners and the losers at the end of the game. It rained off and on during the game but for the most part it stayed pretty dry, but it did get a little foggy which kinda made it a bit moody. The Chaparral team endded up winning so I had the job of photographing the sad faces of Vista Murrieta, which I never love to do, I mean these kids worked so hard to get this far and I really feel bad for them not winning, but I guess they can't all win.



The following night I covered Linfield Christian a local school play Rio Hondo in Covina. I knew this game was going to be a wet one do to the fact that we had a big winter storm roll through the night of the game. By the time I got to the field there was probably a good inch of water on the it already and the rain didn't seem to show any sign of stopping.



After being on the sidelines for about ten minutes my pants were completely soaked and I was very glad I remembered to bring my water proof jacket. My biggest problem was my cameras, I had made some waterproof coverings for them with plastic bags but the eyepiece on my main camera kept fogging up and by the end of the first quarter it was useless. So I just had to shoot the action by feel, which might sound very zen but when your soaking wet, covered in mud, and freezing cold its very hard to even come close to anything zen like.



The action in the game was great but the fact that Linfield won was even better because I got to photograph the celebrations after the win. And if I thought I was muddy before the end of the game I got a huge surprise because the guys hit the field like it was a mud covered slip-and-slide and then came the apple cider. It was a great time and a great game to cover. To view more images from both the games go to this link http://www.photoshelter.com/c/andrewfoulk/gallery/CIF-Football/G0000Y.KMlokS8Cs/

Salton Sea

Today a fellow photographer and I packed up the car and headed out to the Salton Sea so I could scout locations for an upcoming shoot. The Salton Sea is actually an inland saltwater lake that was formed (in its most recent incarnation) in 1905 when the Colorado River breached its banks and filled the Imperial basin, for a period of almost two years. After awhile it became the playground of the rich, famous, and also just many families trying to escape from L.A. to spend time fishing, boating, or just enjoying the salty brine of the sea.



Unfortunately the good times didn't last for the sea or the people who inhabit the area surrounding it. Due to the fact it has no real water flow with an inlet and outlet, the salinity level in the sea started to rise because of evaporation, causing most fish species to die off. Also with the seas close proximity to the all of the farming in Imperial county pesticides, fertilizer and other chemicals started polluting the water. To make matters worse the New river dumps directly in to the sea, the New river being one of the most polluted rivers in the U.S.A.





All of these factors make this one of the most striking landscapes to photograph in. As soon as you reach the shoreline your hit with the fact that the shore isn't covered in sand its covered in fish scales and bones, and I don't mean just a layer of them above the sand, I mean as far as you can dig you'll be digging through fish bones. The other amazing thing about the area is the amount of abandoned buildings, cars, trucks, and even towns. It really has an otherworldly sense to it. I didn't really get a good amount of time to make images today because most of my time was spent driving looking for locations but here are a few images I made. To view more go to: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/andrewfoulk/gallery/Salton-Sea-Nov09/G0000yn_YwnYN8dI/