Santa Barbara International Film Festival Feb. 2017

The 1st two weeks in Feb. 2017 I had the privilege of covering the SBIFF on the red carpet at our historic Arlington Theatre, working for Bonnie Carroll's www.lifebitesnews.com .  As a lover of film and observer of pop culture, it's great fun to see it up close.

Denzel Washington Tribute and award was my 1st night shooting. He seemed to be a great guy. He spent quite a long time out front of the theatre with the fans and doing interviews. He seemed tired by the time he got to me..no smiles, but he stopped next to me for an interview with the H.S. kids. Inside the theatre he was very open responding to the questions from the interviewer, Leonard Maltin. We all enjoyed film clips of his huge body of work over the years. "Training Day" and "Fences" are my two favorites.

I came away respecting him more than ever, as a man, and for his acting abilities.

His excellent co-star in Fences. Nominated for academy award this year,

Stephen McKinley Henderson, presented the Maltin Modern Masters Award to Denzel on stage.

My next coverage was Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck, academy award nominated stars of the movie Manchester By the Sea.  I got some great shots and Michelle gave me a nice smile when I told her she looked beautiful, which she did! Casey stopped next to me and spent quite a few minutes talking the SB middle school interviewer and videographer. Inside I learned more about each of them through the interviews and many film clips. I enjoyed Michelle in "My Week With Marilyn"

and "Brokeback Mountain"

(long hair and beard for another movie he says)

The Cinema Vangard Award presented by Kenneth Lonergan, writer and Director of

"Manchester By the Sea"

The Executive Director of SBIFF, Roger Durling, Has done a great job of bring academy award caliber actors and films to Santa Barbara in the past several years.  He's very present at all the events and gives the stars a warm welcome.

On Feb. 9th I shot the Jeff Bridges tribute.  He received the American Riviera Award, presented by  his co-star in" Hell or Highwater" Gil Montgomery.  Jeff was accompanied by his wife Sue and his daughter and son-in-law.

                                         Jeff's handsome co-star in "Hell or Highwater" Gil Montgomery:

 During the 2 hour interview and view of his film clips Jeff shared many stories. He said he had so many memories that he had trouble deciding which story to tell us. He did talk about meeting his wife on set, 30 years ago and he talked very lovingly of her. I was surprised this 'easy going' man told us each film and play has brought fear and insecurities with it..fear of forgeting his lines or not doing a good acting job. He said doing the play "the Iceman Cometh" as a young man, along with seasoned actors, was a turning point for him when he realized they all still had the same fears he did after all their years and experience.  It allowed him to be able to "make peace with" the anxiety and fears and continue on with his acting career.

I enjoyed seeing clips from "Starman",  "The Fabulous Baker Boys", Crazy Heart" and many more.  He talked about how he enjoys, between breaks in films, using his creative side in painting, photography or making music. He lives locally in the Santa Barbara area and has been generous with his time, helping in many different fundraisers.

Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, CA Dec.,2016

We visited here on a field trip with Docents from SB Botanic Gardens in December. Lovely place to visit.  A large percentage of the over 2,000 acre preserve are protected along the coast here.  The sand dunes were being eroded by folks on racing off road vehicles. Now there is a small designated area for this sport.

 We traveled on a long boardwalk across a Oso Flaco Lake to reach the dunes. I saw a couple cinnamon teal ducks and a couple swimming raccoons in that area. We saw snowy plover in the beach area.

From Wikipedia:
"The wildlife refuge was established to protect the breeding habitat for the endangered California least tern and the threatened Western snowy plover. The refuge also provides Coastal sage scrub habitat for other endangered species, including the California tiger salamander (recently listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act), California red-legged frog, Morro blue butterfly, IUCN Critically Endangered Morro shoulderband dune snail (Helminthoglypta walkeriana), and also 16 rare or endangered plant species.^[2]
Other recovering endangered species that use the refuge include large flocks of brown pelicans and a pair of peregrine falcons. The refuge contains healthy populations of mule deer, bobcat, and mountain lion, as well as large flocks of wintering shore birds and waterfowl.^[2]"

Raccoon swimming across water to reach the other one.

They had apparently gotten separated. They were calling out to each other before the one on the right braved the deep water to swim over to the other, who had walked out onto a log to be closer. (sorry bad pics)

Raccoon behind the rushes, crying out to the other separated animal

The Dunes