Capturing Life Photography

Whitney Shay on stage with Kori Gillis.

Gator By The Bay San Diego Blues

I really enjoy street photography but I seldom post any of the photos. This one was taken in downtown La Mesa, CA. The guy in the reflection was walking across the street on his way to the bank. I took a photo of him in the reflection of the window of that bank. I like the combination of what is seen outside as well as some of what is in the bank.

TOMMY CASTRO rocking the crowd at the 2015 Baja Blues Fest in Rosarito, Baja Norte. This event has unfortunately been discontinued as has many in the southwest region. It was sure fun while it lasted!

Once again, I was fortunate to be asked to shoot the Gator By The Bay last month. The 4-day festival includes cajun, zydeco, blues, and other music, food, entertainment, etc. Such a great event. If you have not been to it yet, please consider it next May. You won't be sorry!
Check out some photos on my site.

Gator by the Bay - 2024 - Jeff Beeler - "Capturing Life" Photography I love to photograph blues music and travel but I will shoot most anything that interests me. I hope you enjoy my work and that it creates a bit of joy and facination.

Some of my photos made it on the Backpage of the San Diego Troubadour this month.

Photos | San Diego Troubadour alternative country, Americana, roots, folk, blues, gospel, jazz and bluegrass music news

I was happy to see that one of my photos was used in an article in the San Diego Union Tribune about the Gator By The Bay.

Gator by the Bay's rousing tribute to zydeco-music giant Clifton Chenier a night to remember The dance-happy performance capped off the second day of the homegrown, 21-year-old festival, which continues through Sunday night at Spanish Landing Park with dozens of roots-music bands performing on multiple outdoor and tented stages.

I was pleased to learn that I had one of my photos accepted out of hundreds of entries to be displayed at an online gallery showing. Take a look at Aztec Warrior.

CPA 4th Annual Digital Show — Cary Photographic Artists CPA 4th Annual Digital “Juried” Exhibition - 2024All images are copyrighted by their respective makers. All rights reserved. Images may not be copied, reproduced, or distributed by any means without the express permission of their owners. View fullsize Best in Show - Jellyfish - Andrew Trenholm....

This amazing moth was nice enough to pose for me.

I shot this red and yellow mum at the San Diego County Fair in 2022. The flower exhibit has some amazing examples of nature's beauty.

In October of 2023, I was part of a crew of people who joined marine artist, Wyland, on a trip to Havana, Cuba. Wyland was asked to go there to paint a wall of a national marine park. He wanted some of the people he knows to join him so, there I went.
Here are some photos of the trip.

Havana, Cuba - Jeff Beeler - "Capturing Life" Photography I traveled to Havana as part of a 20-person team in support of the marine artist Wyland as he painted a wall at the national marine park.

Played around with this shot I took today in Earl, CA.

Remembering the now gone San Diego Blues Fest. This is a shot of Taj Mahal in 2019. I remember how he is always surrounded by a many of stringed instruments, and he plays them all.

I had the pleasure of photographing DK Harrell and his band earlier in February. We also had a local favorite The Fremonts start the night. This show was part of the Gourmet Blues Series put on by Wicked Harem Productions. It was a great night of music and friends. Tim Mattox did an intimate interview of DK Harrell between sets.

To see more photos: https://www.capturinglifephotography.org/Galleries/Blues-Events/DK-Harrell-at-Humphreys

I had a great night shooting Bobby Rush on Wednesday night. I got the photo pass a couple of weeks ago and then, right before the show, he won a Grammy for the Traditional Blues Music Album. He is an awesome bluesman and quite a character.

The flight path for the airport in San Diego runs near Balboa Park and the Air and Space museum. I caught this airline midair above.

Sheri and I just finished our 8-mile hiking experience to The Wave. The whole area is such an amazing geological expression. We were the first one there at 25 degrees but it was worth it.7

Getting ready to photograph the amazing Mr. Sipp and his band. Nathan James and the Rhythm Scatchers will star things out tonight. It’ll be a great show!

This woman was enjoying the sunrise on the malecon.

Michele Lundeen and Blues Streak took the stage on December 16th before headliner, Sugaray Rayford performed. Michele, with her powerful vocals, lit up the stage. She and the band put out some great energy to start the night off.

This was such a great show on Saturday, December 16th. The show was part of the Gourmet Blues Series being put on by Wicked Harem Productions. Sugaray Rayford and his band brought the whole package, and it was powerful. I have seen him at festivals before but it's so much better in a setting like Humphrey's Backstage. A seated, intimate experience.
The icing on the cake was the on-stage interview done by Tim Mattox. We all got to learn so much we didn't know about Sugaray. Did you know he did some acting in theater?
You might was to consider going to the upcoming shows with this series. Mr. Sipp is slated to deliver gospel flavored blues. On February we have an upcoming powerhouse, DK Harrell and on March 9th is John Primer with his Chicago style blues.

I am shooting a show tonight. One of my favorites…SugaRay Rayford. I brought him a Cohiba to smoke before the show. Gonna be a great show!

I was shooting the celebrations of Dia de los Mu***os in Old Town San Diego in 2022 when I saw these two women near the mission. They spent over an hour on their costume and face painting.

I was very fortunate to be asked to photograph the Wyland Foundation Gala last Sunday evening. It was an amazing fundraiser set in an aloha fashion. There was an island band, Hawaiian dancers, great food and drink, as well as seeing Wyland paint a turtle painting for auction. The live and silent auction brought in some much needed funds for the organization.
Check out my photos of the event.

Wyland Foundation Gala 2023 - Jeff Beeler - "Capturing Life" Photography I love to photograph blues music and travel but I will shoot most anything that interests me. I hope you enjoy my work and that it creates a bit of joy and facination.

San Diego's own Bill Magee playing at Humphrey's Backstage. A local legend for sure!

The old buildings and old classic U.S. cars are part of what makes Havana so interesting.

A cool display of license plates at an artists neighborhood.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days with a group of musicians in the process of forming a band. Johnny King and Friends is the name of the band and they plan to start their west coast tour in San Diego next February. They jammed at Humphreys Backstage, The North Bar (Escondido), Jose's (La Jolla), and Patrick's in hopes of finding some musicians to tour with. The other leader of the band is Tony Coleman who played drums for BB King for over 31 years.
I was brought in to photograph some of it all.

For all my blues peeps. Tonight at 8 pm will be an epic jam at the North Bar on North El Norte Parkway in Escondido. Johnny King, Kenny Beaumont, and Tony “TC” Coleman (31 year drummer for BB King) will be playing with their new band as they prepare for their 2024 West coast tour. Two drummers, many horns, keyboard, and more.
You will be sorry to miss this for sure!

I had the pleasure of spending some time last night with some amazing blues men. Tony Coleman is an incredible drummer and was with BB King for many years.
The second photo is with Johnny King who does his magic on the guitar. He is working with Tony to put a band together for a west coast tour.
I will be with them, and a host of others, all day today as they work out some of the details. We will do a photo shoot and then a jam with Bill Magee down at Humphreys Backstage tonight. Come on down and enjoy some amazing blues.