This past week I found myself spending Valentine’s Day in a basement bar called the Stowaway for JT Presents. The bands were Elijah Fox and T.NAVA. I had seen them and possibly photographed them while working at Jam In The Van, but when you’ve photographed over 800 bands in 4 years they all start to blend together. I will say the show was amazing. I am always impressed with how talented musicians can just vibe off and add to each others music. It’s truly beautiful. The space I was shooting in was pretty tight, but I had talked to all the artists and they did not care how close I got (which is always a blessing). So with a fixed 24mm, 70-200mm, and a high ISO I navigated this tight space to try and show the energy of what was going on. Hope you enjoy. Stay classy world.
CREEPIN AT CREEPY GALS
Drop a blog post every Sunday they said, it will be easy they said. These are the thoughts going through my head when trying to figure out what should go in these posts. Did I shoot enough random shit? Should I show some more of my assignments? What is life? Should I sell my camera and go to med school? These are all things that run through my brain at times when I’m out and about. After these thoughts quite down and I get back to business I realize how grateful I am for photography. Photography has helped me grow in so many ways and I can say it has made me a better person. Last Saturday I found myself at Superchief Gallery in DTLA. The show was a Valentine's Day themed exhibit by local artist Creepy Gals aka Linda Chen. The show was a mix of performance art, meets sculpture, meets Valentine’s Day photo ops. It was super cute and I feel like Linda did an amazing job of combining all theses aspects into a unique experience. There was a costume contest, so my plan was to make photographs of anyone who looked interesting. I’ve been trying to navigate the world of documenting events, but in a way that is more historical than just popping a flash in someones face and having them smile. This is the third art show I’ve been to this year, and it was one of the best. If you’re in LA you should check it out! Buenos Tardes.
Rainy Days And A Busted Lens
Last week was pretty slow photographically. Since I had to ship my 24-70mm lens off to canon and California was being hit by a hurricane I didn’t mind. Thanks to my homie Mario Gorman who lent me a fixed 24mm I was able to make some pictures over the weekend. My first assignment was a fun event called the “Taste of San Juan”. About 40 restaurants gather to compete for voters choice awards, I got to show up and eat a bunch of free food while listening to a country house band. It was not too bad of a time, and I would suggest anyone trying the local cuisine that San Juan Capistrano has to offer. The next day I found myself with a full day driving from the east side of Los Angeles all the way to Santa Monica for an Improv theatre called “Drunk Theatre”. When it’s a slow week I find myself listening to these amazing photography podcasts:
I got to spend part of Saturday working on the new project I started in DTLA. It was a gorgeous day, while I don’t think I made a single portrait. I did work on catching the vibe of the area. Have a great week ya’ll.
Third Posts A Charm
I set a goal this year to go out and make some pictures for myself. So with the power of my press pass (having an official email has it’s perks) I found myself spending an afternoon at the X3 Expo in Hollywood. The event is the conference for adult content creators. There are booths, contests, give aways, and fans can meet their favorite creators. I went in with an open mind of what to experience and what kind of images I wanted to make. Once I got into the conference I was pretty overwhelmed at first and had to do a lap without making any photographs. Once I caught my bearings I proceeded to navigate the crowded auditorium looking for moments that had some energy to them. I just bought a Profoto A10 and I was figuring it out. I usually shoot all my events at high ISO’s so I can just be quick with the trigger, so it took a little bit of trial and error on where to handhold the flash (next time I’m bringing an assistant). Overall I feel like I got some interesting images and it just felt good to get out and do something that wasn’t for work. Hope everyone has a great week. Ciao!
What Do We Say To The God Of Death? Not Today.
Clips of Game of Thrones kept coming up on my TikTok and it inspired me to give it a rewatch. Needless to say a week went by and I have finished Game of Thrones for the third time. I feel like this time was the best. I was familiar with all the characters so it allowed me to connect with the story in a completely different way. I bring this up because I just started a project in DTLA. It’s the first time that I am revisiting a place on the regular and like GOT I am excited to see how the story evolves as I become more familiar with the characters. On a side note, it was raining a ton in LA this week and I have to say, there is nothing like shooting after a rain storm. Peace out.
Better Late Than Never
I was a little late, but like they say better late than never. Last week I had a nice Variety of assignments. I made my way down to San Capistrano in the OC to photograph the mayor. The rest of the week had me in Pasadena photographing some restaurants and the 2nd annual Neighbors Day. During my drives I finished up my second book of the year “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I highly recommend it if you are just getting into the idea of how finances work. While driving all over Los Angeles county I have a ton of time to think, and this week I was thinking about how light inspires photography. I Hope everyone is having a great week.