christmas

well here it is, Christmas. i feel like there is so much build up for this one single day and when its here it just doesnt live up to the expectations and hype that we've built up for it. maybe thats just me... its also gotten way too consumer based with all the gift giving. oh well. ce la vie i guess. i guess the fact that im sitting here on my laptop and watching the sandlot and st. elmo's fire on christmas morning doesnt help much. whatever. happy holidays to you. enjoy the time you have with your friends and families.

Portfolio Images

a friend of mine and fellow photo student wanted to see the images i had put together for my portfolio presentation last week. rather than having to coordinate next time he is in town to show him the prints, i figured i'd just put the blog to work for me.

here you go Ian,

there we go. this one worked and you can still see the idea im going for with the bmx lifestyle conflicting with the school lifestyle. dont mind the ridiculous amounts of gray tones.

this image just says 'road trip' to me. it really makes me want to be a travel photographer or to just document everywhere i go. i've tried to document my trips, but it doesnt really end up how i planned. either i get too busy with whatever the trip is actually for or something goes wrong. i've tried the photo-a-day thing too. that fell apart after about 42 days though. i really liked the idea, life just got in the way.

here is one of the images i have for my final project. i didnt get a chance to rescan the image so it still looks like garbage. the negative is actually really well exposed. truth be told, i really didnt have much interest in doing this project. i was planning on having another project going on on the side and only presenting this one as a cover. unfortunately, i came to the realization that with the time commitments of the end of the semester that i would not be able to pull off that project. i'll save it for digital photo next semester.

....maybe not. i guess the file is corrupted. i'll see if i can get another one of the images up for your viewing pleasure.

i really like this image. no clue why. i guess it just feels so free. it makes me feel like i should go accomplish something. the lack of details makes it seem so attainable. yea, i do want to fly. where to, i dont know. but i know that this does make me want to "fly" somewhere.

also, here's some photos i took a while back just for fun.

i dont think i've ever done any work with diptychs. i came across these from stumble upon and i really liked the idea. i guess my shooting style doesnt really lend itself to being conducive to a diptych. rarely do i use a tripod except for long exposures. i recently got myself a mamiya rb67 which i have been using for my final project. due to the size of the camera i have had to use the tripod every time. i'd like to take the opportunity to do some works like this. i think that a diptych can be a useful tool in the composition of an image as the two photos become one.

so for this post i decided to do something a little different. i wasnt quite sure what to do so i decided to have my roommate help me. i pulled out my bag and had him pick one piece of equipment randomly and i would go from there. he chose my fisheye lens. so i decided that i would only use images that i took with that lens for this post. i dont use it a whole lot as it is fully manual and doesnt communicate with my camera to provide a meter reading, but i make due.

i found this image on a website that asks "why do you do what you do?" I thought it was an interesting question and it made me stop and think a bit. i thought of it on a smaller scale. things like why did i choose chipotle tonight for dinner rather than something else? its these small things that eventually add up into the bigger answers and ultimately makes us each a unique individual.

Its been a while since i spent some time shooting bmx racing. Since thats what i feel like i will be doing in the future i've decided that this post is going to be about that sort of thing. so here it goes...

When i get bored on the internet i tend to find my way to stumbleupon.com. i love that website. more often than not, i find it giving me inspiration to either experiment in a new way with my own photos or to take a closer look at some of the work that i've already done. i recently stumbled across a list of "amazing" photos taken by microscopes. most of them turned out to be disgusting looking surfaces of stuff we generally wouldnt think of. it did get me thinking about some of the close up shots that i have taken and while the stuff i've shot for the archaeology lab is more documentary the other images kinda creep me out. except for timmy, he was a cool pet. its pretty much just the one of the spider that creeps me out.

having presented my photo portfolio last week, i did a lot of thinking about what it is that inspires my work. i came to the realization that much of what i do is a reflection of what i enjoy in my life and my images are representations of those memories. here are a few of my favorite photos and memories from my portfolio. hope you enjoy them.


this one is from a photo shoot my friend riley and i did for supercrossbmx.com. the shoot was nothing spectacular but it was a lot of fun and good times.



the night i shot this one i was driving home, realized it was storming and decided to go out shooting for this type of image. my parents went with me and we all just sat around talking and watching the storm from the top of the parking garage while i shot this.

It seems the more time i spend working on projects and papers that I know aren't really relevant to the direction my life is going to take the less motivation i have and the more i just want to get up and go outside. I just spent all day sitting in my room working on a paper for my philosophy class. ....the class that doesnt fulfill my core requirement. the class that literally counts for nothing other than destroying my GPA. it did help me learn something though, it reassured me that the more that i realize what i enjoy in life the more i need to make sure that is what i end up following in this crazy path im on. Right now, i really want to travel. Not sure where to but i just want to get up and go somewhere new. I want to experience something different. Here are a few photos from my travels in the past few years.

somewhere between phoenix and texas:



california/mexico border:



pismo:

current inspiration

as of late i've been focusing on training for my next race. with just under a month to go before the biggest race of the year, i figure some attention should be given to ensure that i am ready for it. aside from the usual physical preparation and getting a hotel room or getting my flights, i've also checked the schedule of events. upon doing so, i remembered that as a pre-race/crowd pleaser the "pro spectacular" race will be held. basically, its just like any other pro race. the only differenence is that its hyped up quite a bit more, its got one of the largest purses of the year, and everyone has been awaiting it since last years pro spectacular. considering this is my first year as a pro and i will actually be able to participate i am pretty excited about it. i'm looking forward to having a good race and good times with friends from all over the country. not sure that it's directly related to my usual posts about photography, but i feel that my interests in photography originally stemmed from bmx and inspiration for one usually motivates the other as well.

Long Exposures

I've always liked doing long exposures and my photo class' upcoming long exposure assignment has gotten me thinking about what sort of experimentation I should try out this time. Here are a few found images that make me want to go out and shoot:


A lot of my first long exposures we're of streets capturing the lights of cars passing by. I guess this one reminds me of some of my first attempts ...just a lot better.


I've always wanted to try a star trail shot like this one but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Living in LA makes it a little harder to get a clear shot at the stars.



And here are a few of my long exposure shots that I enjoy:


For this one I had my camera on a timer and just as it the shutter opened a police officer pulled up to tell me to get off the construction equipment. He didn't seem too bothered by the fact that the flash went off in his face. This is one of my favorite shots.


I got the idea to shoot from the top of this parking garage a while before I actually got this shot. One night on the way home it started storming and this immediately came to mind. So I grabbed my bag and tripod and set out to get the shot.



Over the summer I spent a week in Dallas for my cousin's wedding. We were playing horseshoes in their backyard when I lined up this shot. Additional lighting used was a Vivitar 285HV at grass level and a hand held SB-600.

found inspiration

i found an ad similar to this one on a flight to reno a couple weeks back. it really resonated with me as i often feel the same way except instead of music, for me its bmx.

Found images.

I was going through some of my old negatives from my photo class and came across these. The assignment was for an alter ego. Here are a few of my favorites.