This blog is a journal of Long Beach, California, through the lens of Jeff Gritchen. It will be updated frequently with the pictures, photo tips and musings from the various assignments he covers as a staff photographer for the Press-Telegram.
Gritchen has been documenting the diverse city of Long Beach since 1998. He covers everything from the Cambodian community to prep sports to gang ridden neighborhoods to the annual running of the Long Beach Grand Prix. He covered destruction Hurricane Katrina brought to Long Beach, Mississippi and traveled to Southeast Asia to document a rural Cambodian girl's as she traveled to the U.S. for life-altering heart surgery. He has won numerous state and national awards, including an international NPPA Best of Photojournalism award in 2003. He can be contacted at
jeff.gritchen@presstelegram.com
WILMINGTON - Victor Garcia, the father of Sgt. Israel "Ira" Garcia, hangs his head during his funeral in Wilmington, Calif. Garcia, 24, was among nine soldiers killed in combat in Afghanistan. He and his fellow soldiers were fatally injured when their outpost was attacked by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from enemy forces in the Wanat area, according to the Department of Defense. See more photos>>