December 2004

November 28, 2004

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I spent it with my neighbors this year. My family had an early Thanksgiving.

I ended up going with my family to drop my brother off at the airport. It was an awkward and heart wrenching experience. How do you let your brother go off to fight a war that you feel in your heart is so wrong and misguided?

The last few days I saw him he had a real sense of false bravado. He wouldn't let me in. I think he finally broke down at the airport. When he hugged my mom goodbye he got teary eyed and for the first time, I felt that he let down his guard.

I'm printing the photos from that day. It's a little frustrating looking at my contact sheets. I see all my mistakes. How I should have moved back when I was too close, how I could have better composed a scene, how I was on the wrong side of the light, how I wasn't quick enough. I've finally learned the value of a contact sheet. With digital, you never retrace your steps. You delete as you go and only keep what you think is good. With contact sheets, I see the work in progress. I see how my mind was trying to pull elements into a picture. I see interesting mistakes that could lead to better future photos.

I still don't know when I'll be able to pay for a digital camera. Sometimes, I feel I should just stick with film. Buying a digital camera won't make me a better photographer. However, it would open up avenues of experimentation. The debate continues, primarily because of a shortage of funds, rather than a lack of interest.

November 23, 2004

I had a strange weekend. My brother is being deployed to Iraq and is scheduled to leave today, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. My family decided to have Thanksgiving this past Saturday. I shot a few rolls of film and 7 sheets of 4x5 (only 5 came out). The picture below is one of the five I liked. It was tough to shoot just because the subject matter is so close to me, but I think in some ways the camera helped me cope with the situation. Otherwise, I would have just sat in the corner twidling my thumbs or getting depressed.

The hunt for a digital camera still continues. It will have to wait a while though as the funds just aren't there. I'm trying to free up a credit card before I go for the purchase. I also have some gear on sale at Terry's that I'm hoping will help fund the jump.

Thanksgiving 2004, Los Angeles, CA

Before Basic Training

Graduation Day, Fort Benning, GA

November 20, 2004

The week has been busy. I'm working on my first written article for the Gazette. It's about the Hip is Here campaign here in Long Beach that is meant to promote small businesses. In theory, it's an excellent and much needed program. The execution, however, is a bit lacking. So the week has been full of interviews and trying to get in touch with city people and writing and re-writing.

I haven't written in an impossibly long time so I feel a little rusty and lacking in confidence. I'm planning to try to edit down the article. As it stands, it's 1300 words long and should be more around 700.

In other news, I'm trying to get more involved in city planning. Specifically, the issue of affordable housing. I'm making an ok salary but there is no way I can buy a place. The mean price for a home in California is $400,000. If you're unmarried and have only a single income that is not six-figures, you're not going to be able to buy a place.

November 16, 2004

Well...I turned 27 on Saturday. It didn't feel like much of a birthday. I was running around all day taking photos, taking the bus back and forth between a couple of locations. I shot a project for FLOOD, a local art collective in Long Beach, that had me traipsing across the city. I also shot a few rolls at the ArtWalk (drying some prints as I write....)

I've done plenty of research and I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I will purchase, in the hopefully not so far future, a Canon 20D and 16-35 2.8 L lens. I still plan to shoot black and white for low light and will primarily use the 20D for color and quick jobs, such as shooting for the Gazette. The decision to get a digital camera has come after many weeks of deliberation. Color is much cheaper with digital. I do plan to keep my Leica's handy. Some shots are just easier with a smaller camera like a Leica. Of course, at the moment, I don't have the $3500 necessary to make the digital investment, so I'll have to wait a while. I don't feel comfortable floating that large of a balance on any of my credit cards, so I'll try to save so I can atleast pay half up front.

Times are a changing....

November 11, 2004

Some portraits I shot for the Gazette. Kai (sp?) , the owner of Garden of Pan, a coffee shop that's opening this Saturday at the ArtWalk.

November 10, 2004

Well...it's my birthday this Saturday and I'm busy as all heck. I dropped off my 3 Stranger pics at the frame store and they are mounting and framing it to the tune of $300. Ugh. I really can't afford it but I keep telling myself it's an investment and that these pictures deserved to be framed well. I spent months dreaming up the project so it's nice to see it finally done.

In addition to having the three prints hanging at OPEN , I'll also be selling a limited edition of contact prints from the negatives. 25 contact prints of each image with my signature and the title hand scrawled onto the print. I'm hoping some of these sell to offset the cost of the framing. I sent out a short email to some friends with a scan from the contact print.

I bought a really cool contact printer today, so I'm going to be putting it to work in a few minutes. In other news, I'm going digital. Partially. I'm on the waiting list for a 20D. I'm going to use it primarily for color work for the newspaper and some quick turn around stuff. I still fully intend to shoot and print black and white, as I have yet to see digital prints that have really impressed me, especially black and white digital prints. yeck.

November 7, 2004

Busy weekend. I took photos this morning for my Stranger project. Took about 2 hours and 15 sheets of Polaroid 55, but it's finished.

I also took photos at All Tommorrow's Party music festival at the Queen Mary. I'll develop the film tommorrow and make a few prints. Till then..enjoy.

November 4, 2004

Some pics from Koos' 10x10. It was a tough lighting situation. I was using Fuji Press 800 and NPZ 800. I'm still trying to get the feeling of the latitude of color film.

November 3, 2004

What a dark day. It feels like a wake. It's not the end though, just the start of something even larger...

I shot my first assignment for the Gazette tonight. The 10x10 at Koos, where ten artists perform for ten minutes. I also took some pics for a photo project I'm doing, a photo interpretation on Camus' The Stranger.

November 2, 2004

To digi or not to digi....that, apparently is the question. I'll be honest, I've been feeling the bug. There are positives to digital photography, namely speed and instant feedback. Flash and strobe work is always tricky, and it's nice to know that you have your lighting set up correctly. I just still haven't seen a print from a digital camera that I really liked. I've been asking friends to show me their best digital print, just so I can see for myself. If I do end up doing assignments for the Gazette, I think I'll probably invest in a digital camera.

November 1, 2004

2 more color shots from this weekend. I like the colors of film as oppose to what comes out of the box with a digital camera.

November 1, 2004

November 1st! Day before THE election! 12 days before my birthday :) I want a new president for my birthday.

Just got some color prints back....my faves..i'm pretty pleased with the colors of the Fuji Superia. I thought that it was going to be a lot cooler, but it gets some nice warm colors. I'm also pretty excited about the flash pics. Part of this weekend was testing out my new Nikon SB-20 flash. I held the flash over my head and off to the left to try to avoid the deer in headlights look. I don't usually trust anything automatic, but it worked pretty well.

October 2004

September 2004

August 2004
July 2004