Hello Nicholas,

Wow, I can't believe March is already here. I'm not sure what the rest of 2023 will bring, but I do know that I'm off to a pretty good start and I'm thankful for that. There are assignments on my calendar, which is always a good thing. Plus there are occasional Press Enterprise assignments that keep me busy as well. And that's not to mention a growing list of personal photo projects that never ends.

All of that tends to make these newsletters kinda long each quarter. They go out to a lot of people and I'm adding folks all the time, but if they are no longer relevant to you, it won't hurt my feelings if you unsubscribe. I still feel that it's the best way to stay in touch as well as share recent work.

I'm a year into rekindling my freelance business here in SoCal and I have to say things have gone much better than expected. I think the jumpstart from my friends at The Orange County Register along with resuming these quarterly newsletters are the key components for this success so far. It's been pretty exciting I have to say.

You know it's a passion when you've been doing this as long as I have and still get excited for each assignment. Check out the latest and let me know what you think. It's always great to hear back from people receiving these email blasts.

Enjoy!

UCI Lunar New Year 2023

I knew going in that this was going to be a fun and very colorful event ahead of time and it certainly did not disappoint. The event was organized by my friends at Upon Request Events and held at the Barclay Theater at UC Irvine.

It wasn't that long ago I photographed Katherine McPhee and her family performing at the Barclay Theater ... it was great to be back at this venue so soon. And there were so many awesome performances on stage this day, not to mention so much more going on in the foyer and outside.

There isn't enough space here to show everything, but here is a sampling of this very fun and colorful event ...

Press Enterprise assignments

When I was working as a Photo Editor at The Orange County Register, I was one of the people calling freelance photographers in the evening. I was calling mostly for sports assignments but also finishing up assigning the next day's daily assignments.

Now in a role reversal, I'm one of those freelancers getting a call (or text) now and again. It's pretty exciting work when I get it, and nowadays it usually works out pretty well around my other freelance gigs and family activities.

Here's some of my work from the PE this last quarter ...

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My last High School football game of the season last December was a playoff game. It was a CIF division III-AA regional championship game between San Jacinto HS and University City HS and it was a thriller with San Jacinto winning in the last minute of the game. (Web only images but it also made it onto the ocregister.com website)

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This is my 3rd unexpected A1 cover for the Press Enterprise. I was covering a controversial issue at the Temecula unified board meeting. There were new members to the board and a lot of folks wanted their voices to be heard. CLICK HERE to read the story and see the slideshow.

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This was a fun shoot. It was my first time shooting a game at Mt. San Jacinto College. Newspapers are smaller these days and not everything gets to print. These were web only sports photos for the Press Enterprise, but I added some images below that are in the online slideshow.

This was a very exciting Water Polo game. It was Murrieta Valley High School vs. Millilkan High School in a CIF State Division II regional seminal match with Murrieta Valley winning by just one goal. Online only so I added a few images from the slide show.

I was looking at the Press Enterprise website the other day and came across this story by Cathy Thomas that was published recently. Cathy and I spent many years shooting food for The Orange County Register.

Food photography is timeless and it's fun to see our work used time and time again. Since the Press Enterprise and OC Register are sister papers (part of the Southern California News Group), it's not uncommon to see stories like this on several of the SCNG newspaper websites. CLICK HERE to go to the story and see more photos.

And to get to Cathy's 'cathythomascooks' website, CLICK HERE

In addition, Cathy and I also worked together on two cook books for Melissa's produce. Those are two projects that I'm very proud of. The whole process of working with Wiley Publishing and Melissa's where we spent close to a year on each book was truly an amazing experience. 'The Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce' was on Emeril Lagasse's top ten cookbook list for the summer when it came out.

Speaking at Ramona High School

I was invited to talk about my photography career to a class of advanced and beginning photography students at Ramona High School in Riverside this past January. Their photography teacher found me on the sidelines of a football game that I was shooting for the Press Enterprise and asked if i'd be interested.

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not the best at public speaking, but I do feel that if you want to improve at something, you need to put yourself in those situations when they come up even if it makes you a little uncomfortable. In this case, talking photography comes pretty easy for me, so once I'm going ... well, it's hard to stop me.

I do have a little experience in this since I was a mentor for Newport Harbor High School in Orange County for a few years. That was when I was working at The Register and I could show students what I did at the paper as well as take them out on assignment now and again. Very rewarding I must say. A couple of them receive this newsletter (Like I said, a great way to keep in touch).

I spent the first part talking about College, my studio internship, working at The Register and my freelance business. I hope that part wasn't too boring, but I feel there are a lot of lessons that I learned through those years that are definitely relevant and useful today.

There is never enough time ... and in this case, 45 minutes wasn't nearly enough time to scratch the surface of this photographer's career. I was using my website to show images and tell a few stories from them, but could have used a lot more time. We finished up with questions and there were quite a few excellent one's. Definitely a sharp group of kids. A few of the students hung out afterwards outside to talk for a bit ... that made me feel pretty good.

Trojan League of OC

This was a new event, new client for me. It most likely was a one time assignment because their primary photographer couldn't shoot it that day. That happens sometimes ... in fact sometimes I need to refer photographers I know when I can't shoot something for clients of mine. In. I had to do that just recently, but fortunately I know a lot of very talented photographers in the area. That said, this was an outstanding evening and so much fun to shoot.

This evening was a scholarship benefit for the Trojan League of Orange County. It was called 'Game Day by the Bay' ... and it was in fact by the bay since it was at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. It was held in the upstairs area of the club with a beautiful view of the harbor from an outside deck. Inside was literally a sea of Cardinal and Gold as the room was filled with excited USC alumni.

There was a Spirit of Troy Marching Band & Song Leader performance followed by USC's Athletic Director Mike Bohn speaking to the group of Alumni as well as answering questions. After that was a Live Auction and Opportunity Drawing to help raise funds.

This 3 hour event was a little more condensed than most fundraisers I normally shoot, but there was certainly no shortage of energy in the room.

From the Archives - Male Performers

I've been going through my archives both for organizational purposes as well as looking for images to send to Zuma Press for potential sales.

A couple of newsletters ago I included a gallery of some of the female performers that I have photographed through the years. Here are some of the male performers that I have had the privilege to photograph that I recently unearthed from my archives. This is always a fun thing for me to do because it always brings back memories from each performance as well as circumstances around the shoots. There are stories behind every one of these images.

Here's one example ... this first image of Kenny G performing at the Rene and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. That was the evening that the folks putting on the show moved the entire group of press and paparazzi photographers down the red carpet making room for me front and center to shoot what I needed. That never happens, but after all, I was their shooter that evening.

And it gets better ... when I was shooting the VIP meet and greet after the show in a small room backstage, Rebecca Black, her mom and agent happened to be in that same small room waiting for Kenny G. Apparently they know each other and wanted a photo together. That was unexpected as was the high five Kenny G gave me afterwards while he thanked me for making those grip and grins quick and painless. I kept my cool and said I was just doing my job, but when I got home, I told my wife that I couldn't wash my right hand ever again (haha). There are a lot more performing arts assignments to share ... I'll share them later as I unearth them :)

Parting Shot

Peace Arch - Washington State/Canada border

This may not be too exciting, but i still think it's pretty cool. I never knew this monument was in Washington state until a recent trip there last December for my father in law's 90th birthday. The US-Canada border crossing is in the background. We lived in Washington state for four years, but there are still so many places we have yet to visit. Beautiful country in the PNW.

The Peace Arch is a monument situated near the westernmost point of the Canada–United States border in the contiguous United States, between the communities of Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia. Wikipedia

Lastly...

Well, that's it for this Q1 newsletter ... hopefully you made it this far. And there's already much on deck for next time. As you can see, there's always something photography related happening with me ... I can't help it. It's a passion of mine and my hope is that what I share shows that as well as fuels interest in photography with everyone receiving these.

Feel free to share them with folks you think might enjoy them or may be looking for a photographer. Contact info is below or I can also be reached through my website at www.nicholaskoonphotography.com.

More next time ... but in the meantime, stay in touch.

Take Care,

Nick

Nick Koon

Nicholas Koon Photography

www.nicholaskoonphotography.com

nkphoto@aol.com

714.932.1714

714.932.1714