Celebrating 30 years of Trader Joe’s in Pacific Grove!
The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce is really good at celebrating businesses in our community with ribbon cuttings, be they for a grand openings or major milestones like the one Trader Joe’s celebrated — 30 years of being in Pacific Grove! I learned the mural painted on the front of Trader Joe’s, 30 years ago, was to show other things for people to check out in Pacific Grove and give them a reason to stay in town longer, as this was the first Trader Joe’s in the area. PG beat out Seaside to get it largely because it had a better building available for it to move into. It’s so interesting how things like that happen and change how a small town changes because of it.
Write Invite pops up in The Quill in Pacific Grove
Huge turnout for this ribbon cuttingevent to celebrate the opening of Write Invite in The Quill right in downtown Pacific Grove put on by the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce. The community really turned out to celebrate Marian and even the mayor of Pacific Grove helped cut the ribbon! It was truly standing room only. If you like to feel the paper, then Write Invite is the only place around you can come in person to do so in the area for invitations and cards for the holidays, for your wedding, for just saying thank you.
Inside the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting I was able to begin a day of event photography at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque by photographing Mayor Tim Keller giving a live press conference. I have photographed the mayor perhaps a dozen times in the past, but this was the first time to photograph him at a press conference. It was pretty cool! From there, everyone went in to the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque for the formal part of the Greater ABQ Chamber’s annual meeting festivities where the mayor then gave a lengthy speech addressing mostly the issue of homelessness in the city. Being a professional event photographer has always taken me inside worlds I would otherwise never be privy to.
I have photographed a lot of high profile governmentevents and officials, like when the U.S. Surgeon General attended a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, this 2-day conference I photographed for the Department of Energy brought together every major political figure in New Mexico and Albuquerque on one stage! It was a great privilege to work for the Department of Energy as the official photographer for their DOE Summer ‘19 New Mexico Small Business Expo. Not only did I get to photograph Mayor Tim Keller for about the 10th time, and Governor Lujan Grisham for about the 5th time, and Senator Heinrich for the second time, and Representative Deb Haaland for the second time, but also many other leaders in the DOE looking to help grow small business in New Mexico by awarding contracts to a wide range of small businesses.
A Gala with the Governor, Mayor, and Chevel Shepherd!
What is the La Noche Encantada - Calavera? It is a gala and the biggest event of the year for the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. 2019 featured no less than Chevel Shepherd winner of The Voice in December 2018. Newly elected governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham spoke, as did Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. I am a chamber member, but was at the event in an official capacity as a photographer, along with Jessica assisting. My job was to first make 200+ red carpet photos of people arriving! Then on to the dinner banquet, and finally to the Kiva Auditorium for the musical performances. Not many nights have I had such a diverse range of photography assignments! It was a very exciting event to photograph and experience through the lens.
It is not every day one gets to photography the New York City Police Commissioner, the Albuquerque Chief of Police and the Mayor of Albuquerque! However, that was exactly what I got to do in photographing my second signature event for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. The NYPD commish spoke to a packed ballroom on the theme of Lessons in Crime-Fighting From One of the Safest Big Cities in the World. Before that there were roundtable discussions with Q&A sessions. I was busy covering it all at the beautiful Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North!
I have had the opportunity to photograph Albuquerque, New Mexico Mayor Tim Keller many times, including making his official portrait for when he played arena football! The latest time to photograph the mayor was at the 4th anniversary 1 Million Cups ABQ event at Fat Pipe. 1 Million Cups ABQ is a fantastic weekly event every Wednesday morning at 9am where an entrepreneur speaks about her/his business and asks the audience for input. This Wednesday was extra special as not only did we get to hear from Kerry Brennan Bertram of Stride Inc., and not only did we have great cake, but also we got to hear Mayor Tim Keller's plans for increasing volunteerism in the city and more about the One Albuquerque concept. Even though there will not be cake nor the mayor next week, I hope you still join us for the next 1 Million Cups!
