Voting Begins In California

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cast his ballot near his Brentwood home this morning. Hundreds of Angeleno's are expected to do the same today as the mid-term elections begin.

Photo by Ted Soqui © 2010

Women's Conference in The LBC

First Lady Maria Shriver.

Meg, Arny, and Jerry.

Victoria!

Eve Ensler.

Diane Sawyer with Chief Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Conner.

Jane Goodall.

Laura Bush with bobble-head likeness.

Deepak Chopra.

The Women's Conference held at the Long Beach Convention Center was hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Plenty of stars and fireworks at today's opening session. Matt Lauer called on both gubernatorial candidates to pull their negative TV ads form the air. Jerry Brown agreed as long as Meg Whitman would follow suit.

Eve Ensler gave the crowd of 15 thousand a moving reading about her battles with cancer.

Chief Justices Sandra Day O'Conner and Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke about their experiences during the their tenures at the Supreme Court.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2010

Ted Soqui Photography Honored at 52nd L.A. Press Club Journalism Awards

I was honored with a first place award for 2009 single topic photo essay at this year's 52nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Press Club.

The photo essay was about Lancaster Prison, and was photographed for Los Angeles Magazine. Photo editor Kathleen Clark hired me for the shoot and cultivated the images into a powerful photo expose' for the magazine.

The awards presentation was held at the glamorous Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Anderson Cooper of CNN, and Sean Penn attended the gala affair.

Thank you Los Angeles Press Club.

Photograph by Ted Soqui © 2010

Governor Schwarzenegger's Brioni

Governor Schwarzenegger was in Los Angeles yesterday to help launch the new solar panels atop the Staples Center. The Governor showed up wearing an amazing tieless Brioni suit. Brioni are among the world's most expensive suit makers. Each hand sewn made suit can take up to 18 hours to make and can cost up to 10 thousand US dollars each. Brioni also created the suits for the James Bond films 1995-2006. Brioni is based in Abruzzo, Italy. Other notable Brioni suit owners, Al Pacino, Robert Kennedy, John Wayne, Jim Belushi, George Bush, John Gotti, and Clark Gable.

Photos by Ted Soqui c 2008

Freedom of the Press?

Michael Roth, VP of AEG and Staples, attempts to stop photojournalist Ted Soqui from taking photos at an open press event. Roth put his hands and stood in front of Ted Soqui's camera, then grabbed his LAPD credentials and read his name aloud in an attempt to intimidate him. Wonder what would of happened if he aggressively grabbed and pulled on a TV journalist credential, or if Ted Soqui grabbed Roth's credential? Ted Soqui was the only photographer not permitted to photograph CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger standing and posing for the press in the middle of a solar panel field over 50 yards away. Several other photojournalist clicked away while Ted Soqui was stopped. All of the press, including Ted Soqui, were cleared and had to wear a bright orange band around their wrist. The Governor has his own body guards and CHP escorts. Last time we checked, Roth was not employed as a body guard or official escort for the state of California or Governor. Ted Soqui has photographed several US Presidents, Senators, Governors, Members of Congress, and hundreds of VIP's and has never had a press person stop him from doing his job. 

Photos of Ted Soqui courtesy of Eric Leonard c 2008

Photo of Schwarzengger by Ted Soqui c 2008