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Just an over a month left of summer and things are going swimmingly. The boys are having a blast this summer and I’m enjoying the lack of alarm clocks.

Another year in the books for this kid. And this time it’s with a sibling! I truly love going to the Villas for our annual pilgrimage to blistering weather.

It’s hard to believe that Miles is already crawling around and getting into everything within reach. I feel like I’m going to blink and they’ll be in high school. I better enjoy every moment I can.

It’s nice to have friends like these.

Boy, time is going quick now. The days are flying by and it seems like Logan is learning something new every hour. From doing “big jumps” off the porch to doing watercolor to helping pull weeds with his tools and wheelbarrow, Logan is active as can be. For spring break, we headed down to Escondido… Read more: Spring Break 2023

Life is busy with multiple children in the picture. If it’s not one thing with one, it’s the other thing with the other. Luckily, I married the right woman and feel like I’m part of a team that’s raising two kids the right way. With love, attention and intentionality form the two of us, I… Read more: Two Boys

Life since having Miles has been a little hectic. I’d say that the majority of people I talked to prior to having a second kid told me that that jump from 1 to 2 kids was nothing compared to the jump from 0-1. For a variety of reasons, I disagree. The simplest way parallel I… Read more: Christmas Is Already in the Rearview

Back in September, Caitlyn bought us Knott’s annual passes for 2023. Part of the deal is that you get the remainder of 2022 for free. They definitely came in clutch for the month of November as we went like 4 or 5 times. The more I go to Knott’s, the more I respect it. Instead… Read more: November Was a Blur

The end of summer was full of fun. A concert in the park, birthday parties in the park, playing…..at the park. Wow. We went to the park a lot.

Well, it’s official. We have a two year old. And what a summer it has been. Lots of climbing, yelling, crying and laughter. His opinions are strong and his mind is maturing at a rapid pace. It’s really insane too see how fast language develops once they start to find their voice. I love this… Read more: Toddler Summer

It’s no secret that I grew up skateboarding and worshipping all my favorite pro skaters. I remember hanging out at United Boardshop for hours when I was a teenager. I was allowed to go behind the cases and help out around the shop. I still remember when Chomp On This came out on VHS. It… Read more: Atiba Comes to Orange

When I told students and colleagues that I was going to Colorado for the weekend, they immediately grinned. But as soon as I said I was going for a funeral, it quickly disappeared. But funerals don’t always have to be a sad affair. This particular person passed away some months ago but weren’t the type… Read more: Future Coloradans

Something that I have been grappling with since Logan was born is the use of my “free time”. It’s very easy to tell people that when you have a kid, none of your time is your own. And for the most part that’s true. But in this day and age of constant connection, it’s much… Read more: Time Is A Construct

When it comes to toys, we’ve been trying to buy Logan less but higher quality items. Once you have a kid and you see the ridiculous amount of stuff to own, you try to cut down where you can. Plus. it keeps things out of the landfill. So for Christmas, we made a short list… Read more: Logan Rides a Bike (kinda)

Spent NYE up in Big Bear with some friends. Cory’s family has a cabin there that we’ve been going to since we were in high school. Looking back, we had some wild times there with all the ragers we threw. I couldn’t imagine reliving those days at this age because now it’s all about going… Read more: Middle Aged NYE

The last time I posted here was in mid-August. It’s been a while since I’ve even thought about this website… well, that’s not true. My hosting plan was about to expire and I just renewed for another three years. So here we are. Let’s recap on everything since then. In-person school has begun again at… Read more: Missing In Action

Caitlyn, Logan, and I headed up to Mammoth to meet up with the rest of the Fry family to do some summer camping. With most of the major campgrounds booked up for the rest of the year, we were able to snag two adjacent sites at Sherwin Creek Campground in the tent camping section. Overall… Read more: Covid Camping in Mammoth

Not a tons of words for this post. I’m too busy chasing after this kid who’s now totally mobile. We took him to Gymboree last week ONCE and now he climbs on everything. He’s a boy of many expressions and desires. We’re having a pretty rad summer.

Many people will tell you that your college years are among the best. I agree. Not because I miss waking up hungover and eating leftover burritos everyday, or having some shitty car that you hope starts every time you get in but because of the friends you make during those formative years. My friends and… Read more: Feels Like Heaven

From spring break to the end of the school year, there were quite a few weekend outings and watching Logan grow. There’s no cohesive story here, just a bunch of fun memories. From Memorial Day at the Fisher Oasis and Brunch with H+J to Caralyn and Leo’s Wedding in Glen Oak, the vaccine sure made… Read more: Nearing the End of the Pandemic

Mikey and Amelie’s wedding was one of the most intimate weddings that I’ve had the pleasure to attend. They found a little venue to say “I do” tucked away on a dirt road in Yucca Valley off Highway 62 and 247. With about 60 people in attendance, it was quaint and styled in the bohemian… Read more: Whole Bunch of Stasiaks

Back when I was a fledgling photographer, I would see older photographers who took tons of photos of their kids and was jealous. I remember so desperately needing people to photograph to make work and develop my style, but I wasn’t having much luck finding people beyond the weirdos on Model Mayhem and Craigslist. Having… Read more: Family Time

As we draw near the close of the pandemic (at least it’s starting to feel that way), I can feel my heart and mind begin to open up to the possibility of letting my guard down just a bit. Both Caitlyn and I are fully vaccinated and it seems that more and more friends and… Read more: Homie Hang For Ashley’s Birthday

Back in November, Caitlyn bought us an annual membership to the Santa Ana Zoo. Now that I have a kid, I totally understand why they are such a magnet for families looking for an outing. Having just been to the zoo in Palm Desert, I had some sense of comparison for the Santa Ana Zoo.… Read more: SAZOO

This Christmas actually felt semi normal. Like most people, we are sick of COVID-19 and all the bullshit that comes along with it. However, not wanting to get sick and have long term effects on our lungs has been a pretty good deterrent from abandoning safety protocols. Since we see Caitlyn’s immediate family so often… Read more: Christmas 2020

On an unassuming block across the street from the Ace Hotel is The Villas where Caitlyn’s family owns a timeshare. The first time I found out about it was many years ago when we bought tickets to Coachella and tried finding a hotel nearby. All the hotels in a fifty mile radius were booked solid… Read more: Quick Drive to Palm Springs

January 2020 started with such promise. Caitlyn was four and a half months pregnant. We headed to Hawaii on a cruise before it was time for me to go back to the second semester of school. Meanwhile, I had just decided to go back to school to get my Art credential and Masters. I took… Read more: 2020 Retrospective

Having a kid is a lot of work. You think you know what that means until you do it. I’ve been meaning to write a post about all the photos I took of Logan and my budding family this summer but grad school and distance learning has got my schedule wrapped up. Instead, I’m just… Read more: Summer Child

On June 3rd, 2020 I became a father to a beautiful baby boy. Before we even knew we were expecting, Caitlyn and I decided that we wanted to keep the gender unknown until the birth of the baby. Our reasoning was that there are very few opportunities for a genuine surprise in today’s world. I… Read more: 6 Weeks With Logan Felix

Man, what an odd time to be alive. I keep having to remind myself that nearly everyone in the country is going through the same situation. This means that we are all in this together. As Caitlyn and I had been conversing through the past week, there are quite a few things on our minds… Read more: Social Distancing

We woke up docked at the port in Hilo. With only a day in town, we decided to keep it real mellow and just check out the nearby city life. As we headed out to the bus depot, we were befriended by a woman and daughter who could not stop talking to us. The woman… Read more: The Big Island and Kauai

The last time I went to Hawai’i, I was maybe 17 or 18 years old. My brother and I went to visit our cousin Andrew who was studying at University of Hawai’i. I don’t really remember much about that trip except a visit to Costco for some alcohol that did not go our way. Andrew… Read more: I Was Wrong About Hawai’i

More and more, I find myself feeling a little older and a little wiser. With the holidays behind us and new year ahead, I’ve had a chance to look back at the year and came up with a few thoughts on life.

This getting older stuff is actually pretty cool. A few years back, I never would have imagined my early 30’s being so great. Back in my day, we got Thursday and Friday off from school but in my district, they give us the whole week off for Thanksgiving. I guess so many families travel for… Read more: Home for The Holidays

We are in the home stretch, ladies and gentlemen. The long journey of Mills Act approval is nearly over. Just a few more things to do before our October 21st deadline. Our good friend Chris Kent (who runs an awesome beer and paint event) is also an experienced landscape designer who specializes in xeriscaping. He… Read more: Emily House Update

I find myself chatting with people about photography at the gym, and I thought it might be cool to lend some insight into what goes on in my mind while I shoot by showing you some good and not so good frames from the last couple of visits.

Not a lot of writing for this one, just some photos from nogi and open mat this past week at Jiu Jitsu League. I’m gonna miss training this often but it’s back to school where I’m probably going to be teaching 8 periods this year…

This summer has been pretty awesome. Between all the side gigs including two weeks at summer camp, training jiu jitsu, surfing with the boys and handling business at home; it’s safe to say that I’ve kept myself pretty busy. One of the biggest and most expensive changes happening at the house is that Caitlyn and… Read more: Handyman Dan (Part 2)

I’m not taking a ton of personal photos at the moment. I thought that summer would offer more free time but as it happens, I picked up a few side gigs to earn some extra coin. I’m still training jiu jitsu when I can which is basically about 1-2 times a week. More often than… Read more: Jiu Jitsu is (Still) Fun

This post really ought to be called photos of Carter, Caitlyn, the snow and strangers. (In that order) Long story short, we headed up to Mammoth Lakes for Caitlyn’s birthday over Memorial weekend. Instead of warm and sunny skies, we were greeted with 50 degree days and a mild snow storm on Sunday. The forecast… Read more: Snow in Late May

In case you didn’t know, I used to be a Director at a YMCA in downtown Long Beach at the Community Development branch. Fun Fact: It was actually the job that made me realize that I wanted to get into teaching and education in general. There’s so much to be said about young people’s needs… Read more: YMCA Skate Fest

Chris Kent, a longtime friend of Caitlyn’s runs a pop up event at local breweries called Craft & Arts. We had been meaning to check it out for some time and yesterday was the day. The premise is pretty straightforward. It’s like a wine and paint night except way cooler. At Chapman Crafted, our group… Read more: Craft + Arts

Buying a house is a commitment. Everyone knows that. But what does it really mean? It means always trying to save a buck everywhere you spend. It means discovering new problems everywhere you look. It means trips to Home Depot. It means another trip to Home Depot to return the thing you just bought to… Read more: Handyman Dan

Finding a good barbershop isn’t hard these days. There’s tons of guys out there who can cut up a nice fade. Go on Yelp and you’ll find a dozen trendy barbershops in your area that overcharge for a simple haircut. A good barber is a cornerstone of proper manhood You can check my other post… Read more: Anaheim District Barbershop

As time goes on, I interact with more and more kids. This is mostly due to the fact that nearly all our friends on Caitlyn’s side are now parents. So now, I get to see small glimpses into parenthood; Usually just the fun stuff like you see here. The night started off slowly with the… Read more: The Dooley Twins

It’s so simple. In your 20’s, you’re indestructible. In your 30’s, you’re not. For President’s weekend, some of the boys headed up to Cory’s cabin for a quick trip up the mountain. With 2 of the 3 roads into Big Bear closed and the wettest winter we’ve seen in decades, the city was eerily empty… Read more: The Boys Hit Big Bear

Note: I meant to write this post within the first two weeks of moving in but instead it’s happening almost six weeks later. I’m kinda happy I waited, it gave me more to think about. During winter break, Caitlyn and I bought a house in Anaheim. While it’s wildly exciting, it’s also one of the… Read more: Going Home

Not a lot of words to accompany this post. Just wanted to share some photos from our family Christmas get together. My brother Frank came into town to join in on all the typical Montero antics. These include things like: Kids running around Smoking Gambling Complaining about the Gift Exchange Uncle Mike being Uncle Mike… Read more: A Montero Christmas

Somewhat selfishly, Caitlyn and I planned a cruise to the Bahamas during the week of Thanksgiving. All it took was a few calls to our families to reschedule the big family get together and we were set for a weeklong getaway. Easy enough. We caught a redeye from LAX to Miami and spent a day… Read more: Bahama Cruising

On 4 hours of sleep with a black coffee in my hand, Caitlyn and I pulled up to Catalina Landing for a fun filled day with the homies on the island. Having gone out the night before, every one else made it just in the nick of time. Except Zaqo Malo, his phone was off… Read more: Cory’s Catalina Bday

A couple of weeks ago, Tony invited me to a good old fashioned boys trip out to San O. With my bag of hurriedly packed clothes from the night before, I set out south as soon as the school bell rang in Orange. With nothing but my duffle and two cases of beer, I pulled… Read more: Boys Trip to San O

My brother moved to Portland over three years ago. He always had a mixed review of living in the city and once my trip was over, I understood everything. There’s something really odd about the “weirdness” of Portland. In short, we are all weird but Frank is the wrong kind of weird for Portland. There… Read more: Bros in Portland

Ian and I met Bob around the same time while training at the jiu jitsu gym. With whom we immediately became embroiled in a three way rivalry. For years, I chased Bob on the mats vowing to one day D’arce him into submission. When he told us that Toyota was moving their North American headquarters… Read more: Summer in Texas

I haven’t really met that many celebrities in my life and Chuck Liddell wasn’t someone who I thought I was gonna geek out over; and I didn’t. However, he was super cool and now I’m his fan. Matt, one of our training partners at the gym is his friend and set up a Sunday open… Read more: Chuck Liddell vs. Mortals

Brawny is one of those guys who’s just genuinely nice. He just has this unique vibe about him; warm and inviting, rough around the edges and cool as hell.  His shop is exactly how you’d imagine it to be. Eclectic tunes were pumping the entire time from a small speaker on a shelf. As soon… Read more: Brawny Built

I must have met Masai three or four years ago when he first showed up at the jiu jitsu gym after moving to Long Beach. For me, it was one of those things where I felt a connection almost immediately. From our hard and fast rolls on the mats to talking shit in the locker… Read more: Masai McDougall, Esq.

In life, you’re always learning from someone who’s come before you. In that same respect, you often find yourself teaching someone else where you’ve been. I like to think about it like this. You have two hands, one for pulling yourself upward and another to help your fellow man climb with you. As a professor… Read more: André Galvão Visits J2L

Back at Angela’s birthday party, I asked if I could photograph her at her new location before it opens to the public. For years, Salud has been selling juice on 4th and Cherry just a few spots down from the intersection. In a very short time, they are going to move to the much larger… Read more: Angela Almaguer | Salud

Last weekend, Cory threw a bday party for Angela at his smash pad on Dawson. It had all the makings of a good time. The booze was flowing, the mariachis were loud and the tacos were fire. Instead of getting a car when she turned 16, her Dad made her wait until 31. He cruised… Read more: Almaguer Fiesta

After Zion National Park, there’s a plethora of parks to visit within a hundred mile radius. At the advice of some guy on the shuttle back from the Narrows, we decided to cut our trip in Bryce Canyon short and make the rest of the ride a proper road trip. This meant cruising on State… Read more: SR 12 & 7 Magic Mountains

I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to visit a place so beautiful and relatively close. Just a few hours beyond the heat of the Las Vegas desert lies Zion National Park. In all honesty, it was a bit more developed and built out than I expected. The town of Springdale has hotels… Read more: Zion National Park

For years, Las Vegas has been a location I’ve been very tepid about. The shallow allure of the Strip is what most people imagine but I got to know the city outside the strip a bit better during the trips I took at my last job seeing every library in the city. I must have… Read more: Hike through Red Rock Canyon

Almost every summer since we’ve met, Caitlyn and I camp at Twin Lakes campground. We love visiting Mammoth Lakes for all it’s small town charm. There are a bunch of kitschy places to visit that make it feel like home. Even the Vons that supplies the town has a vibe from before the 2000’s. There’s… Read more: Hike to Twin Falls | Mammoth Lakes

Somehow, we always end up doing something fun for Charles’ birthday. Never for Zaq, Cory, John, Rolo, Miguel, Peter, Caitlyn, Jill, Marianne, Abby, Jen, mine or anyone else. Only Charles. Now that I think of it, it might be because he actually plans it way in advance. I oughta try that. Anyways, Charles wanted us… Read more: Bae Bday at K1 Speedway

Jack used to cut my hair but once I started getting my part cut in, I realized that edging up with a straight razor wasn’t his strongest suit. Then I switched over to Ivan for a bit but after he left, I started to book with Raymond. I like chatting with him about his life… Read more: Back at the Barbershop

It’s been a while since I’ve had an outing for photography and visiting the Antique Swap Meet in Long Beach was the perfect venue to shake the cobwebs. Couple of things that I learned from today, either I’m not as sneaky as I think or my appearance is sketchy. Almost every keeper from today involves… Read more: Long Beach Antique Market

This post is coming a little late. Sure I had 3 weeks off from work but the holidays just fly by. And keep in mind that I had some serious lesson planning to do. Either way, we ended up in Big Bear for New Year’s Eve last week. Past years have been host to some… Read more: NYE in Big Bear

Caitlyn and I wanted to get in one last 2017 vacation and thankfully we had some leftover airline points to score tickets to Cabo San Lucas. The weather was fantastic. Most days were partly cloudy and the town seemed like it was operating at 1/5 capacity. This offered some unique shooting opportunities. As far as… Read more: Cabo San Lucas

A few weeks ago I took Carter over to meet Cory’s new dog Rocco for the first time. Back when Cory still had Schwoops, Carter was the annoying puppy who didn’t know when to quit. Fast forward to today and Rocco has taken that spot pushing Carter into the role of the grumpy older dog.… Read more: Cory and Angela

It’s been a month since Rome and I’m still finding gems in my catalog. This will be my last post for Rome since I’ve got a lot of other stuff going on this winter break. It’s really hard to explain just how incredible this city is without experiencing it yourself. Armed with a camera and… Read more: Roman Holiday | Part 4

I never realized just how important walkability can be in a city. Living in the suburbs gets you used to driving all the time. It’s very rare that I walk anywhere aside from the taco shop on the corner. Stores just aren’t that close by. However, in a city like Rome, everywhere is walking distance… Read more: Roman Holiday | Part 3

Caitlyn and I were invited by her sister to check out The Broad in LA today. Since our friends Charles and Marianne live nearby, we decided to grab breakfast with them beforehand. Turned out that Miguel and Jen were free too. We ate at a place called Forage right on Sunset Blvd. Pretty tasty. Afterwards, we… Read more: The Broad Museum in LA

When you start dating someone long enough, eventually you’ll meet their group of friends. Since Caitlyn introduced me to her close circle I’ve never looked back. Every year Brett and Laura host a Friendsgiving as a way to get together and enjoy the holidays. Since I’ve been going, things have changed quite a bit. Of… Read more: Friendsgiving 2017

“This is the best birthday ever”, I heard my Dad say a few times throughout the evening. Although he was only half joking, it gave me the chills thinking about how lucky I am to be blessed with the parents that I got. Growing up I had birthday parties and get togethers every year. I… Read more: Birthday Bowling

As we walked the streets of Rome, I took it upon myself to be a little more forward with my street shooting. A lot of stuff was shot from the hip, especially on the bus where I couldn’t get away from my subject quickly. However, I had been working on a few techniques of distraction… Read more: Roman Holiday | Part 2

For years, my wife Caitlyn has been talking about Rome. We finally got the chance to visit this past week for an anniversary trip. Being my first trip to Europe, I was astounded. Literally, 90% of the walkways are made of paver stones. I can’t imagine how many of these little stones are on the… Read more: Roman Holiday | Part 1

Every time I go to the gym, I get to see where I stand among my peers. Am I gonna submit so-and-so today? I better watch out for such-and-such. He’s on a terror lately. Admittedly, I’m not a very competitive person but somehow a modicum of this line of thinking always creeps back into my… Read more: Place in the Pecking Order

I have a love/hate relationship with surfing. Sometimes it’s the best thing in the world but most of the time, it’s frustrating as hell. What I like most is that it’s a time to get away from the tech. Just you and the boys. Today was a good one. Caught a couple long rights and… Read more: Paddle Out at Huntington

It took me a while to finally find my barber shop. After years of searching and regretfully going to Supercuts a few times, I landed in a barber shop that has all the grit and charm that’s only seen in movies. It’s name is simply “A Barber”. The first time I went there, Jack cut… Read more: A Barber | Piece of the Past

Unfortunately, I’m taking a month off from jiu jitsu. Between empty pocket syndrome and a lack of time, November is gonna be a month away from the mats. At class last night, I brought my camera (as I’ve been known to do) and decided to shoot the last two rolls of the class. As it… Read more: What Happens When You Don’t Tap

I’ve had the urge recently to go through some of my old travel photos. I found so many photos that didn’t make the cut back then. It’s interesting to find new meaning in old photos a few years later. I really enjoyed this trip, Vietnam in particular. There’s a certain ruggedness that we found there… Read more: Cần Thơ, Vietnam

After getting married, I inherited 3 nieces and a nephew. I really like hanging out with them and it’s been far too long. 9 months is a long time to not see kids. It’s crazy to watch how fast kids grow up. 

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary last night. Ended up at a cool little spot called “Plunge” on Ocean Ave. After that, we ended up meeting with our friends J Paul and Heather who were in our neck of the woods. Heather was our officiant, so it was a real treat to spend time with… Read more: 1st Anniversary Night Out

My good friend Cory had a B Day Bash at his new place a while back. He had a taco guy, live DJ, newly built mini ramp and a ton of cold CL’s. All the homies made it out and it was really nice to spend time with a lot of good people I don’t… Read more: Cory’s B Day Extravaganza

I do a lot of photo and video work for my day job but it’s getting more and more rare that I shoot for myself. A while back I invested in a BEASTGRIP PRO which acts as a modular mount for my phone. I can add all sorts of gizmos and microphones to this thing. I… Read more: Jiu Jitsu is Best Enjoyed with Friends