I've been insanely busy trying to finish all of my shoots for school before the Christmas break and my internet went down for a few days, so I haven't been able to update for awhile. But fear not!! I'm still alive and kicking. In fact, I've got some photos to upload. But alas, now that my internet is up and running again, I need to head out for another shoot. Don't fret though, I'll have those shots up in no time... I hope.

Last Monday I was lucky enough to hang out with the talented musician, Jonathan McEuen, and some of his musical cohorts during an after hours jam session at Zoey's Coffee Loft in Ventura, Calif. I was there to shoot a portrait of Jonathan for a school assignment, which required film. So, I shot the assignment on Kodak TriX 400, but I also took some digital outtakes; which I've uploaded here for your viewing pleasure. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated, enjoy!

It's all about La Guitarra!

Here Jonathan ponders the meaning of it all, while some friends cover a few Johnny Cash tunes in the background.

I don't know exactly why I like this shot, but there's something that seems to work in there.

Jonathan looks a little evil in this photo, but I liked it anyway. It's amazing how subtle changes in lighting can affect the mood of a picture!

Jonathan McEuen and few friends during an after hours jam session at Zoey's Coffee Loft in Ventura, Calif. last Monday.

I was going to upload this photo yesterday, but I got a little side tracked by the large brush fire that decided to burn it's way towards my neighborhood for most of the day. This is outtake number two from my shoot with Yeni. She looks a little less pissed off in this one. ;-) I decided not to sepia tone it like I did the other one because I liked the way this look fit with the attitude in the shot. I shot some great chromes of her too, but ya'll will just have to wait until I get a chance to do some scanning to see those photos.

I went to sleep pretty early on Thursday, with the idea that I would get up early on Friday and do some much needed house cleaning and negative filing. Instead, I awoke to a yellow sky and an aprtment that smelled like I'd had a camp fire in it the night before! So, I threw on some clothes and headed outside to see if the apocalypse was finally upon us. Well, fortunately the world was still in one piece, but there was a pretty big brush fire tearing through the hillside about a block away from my apartment! These are photos of that fire around the Kalorama Street area in Ventura. It was definitely a crazy day here in SoCal.

A helicopter from the Ventura County Fire Department drops water on a brush fire near the hillside apartments across from Kalorama Street in Ventura, Calif. on Friday, Nov. 18, 2005. Firefighters worked throughout the day to protect several communities that were threatened by the blaze as it moved through the hills above the city. Fueled by Santa Ana winds, the fire quickly grew from 500 acres early Friday morning to more than 2000 acres that evening.

A Ventura County Fire Department helicopter drops water on a "spot fire" that flared up after hot embers from the approaching brush fire traveled on gusting Santa Ana winds across a fire break and landed in a patch of dry brush just below the apartment building across from Kalorama Street in Ventura, Calif.

Firefighters from the Ventura County Fire Department return to Kalorama Street after cutting a fire break in the brush to prevent the the fire from spreading to an apartment building atop the nearby ridge.

I've really gotten into post-camera manipulation lately. Not in a crazy-900-image-collage or an unbelievably blemish-free, smooth-skin kinda way, but in more of a trying to recreate traditional looking photos with digital equipment kinda way. I think this recent desire stems from the realization that the world of professional photography is rapidly moving towards everything digital. I'm not one of those hard core, anti-digital traditionalists, but I hate the idea that I may never have the oppurtunity to work with some of the emulsions, developers, papers, etc. that most of the pros used to create the images that sparked my interest in photography. Don't get me wrong, I love the flexibility and creativity that digital photography offers. But, I think there's something to be said about doing things the "hard" way to really become a master of your craft. Plus, working with some of those old school film products can be a lot of fun! I know that film will still be around for a long time, even if only as a niche market (mainly fine art), but what upsets me is that some great films will disappear before I ever get the chance to experiment with them. On the bright side, I know that when these "classic" films finally depart, a new crop of films will pop up to fill the previously mentioned niche left vacant by the old ones. This means there will be uncharted areas just waiting for my generation of creatives to explore and transform into our own artistic rebellion against the age of technology. Okay. Now that I'm down off my soapbox and done rambling, I should point out that the photo above is actually just a digital outtake from a shoot I did on Saturday for an assignment that required me to shoot an outdoor portrait in open shade. I shot Yeni with my Nikon D70 set to RAW quality and then worked on the shot in Photoshop CS to give it that Old World feel. It's not exactly the greatest shot I've ever taken, but it definitely wasn't the worst either, especially for a quick digital outtake.

I actually forgot about this guy. I took this shot a few weeks back, but it wasn't for any class assignments, so I just downloaded it and moved on to something that had a deadline. I really like the simplicity of this photo. I also found it a little ironic that the center of interest is marked with an X. I'm a big fan of minimalist photography. I can't remember who said it, but someone (read: someone wiser than I) once said "Photography isn't about what you include in the frame, it's what you leave out that makes the difference." I think this statement is pure genious! And, in the words of Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that."

Just paying homage to one of my daily necessities! Up until I was about 18 years old, I hated coffee and thought it tasted like crap. But then, (pause for effect) I joined the Navy... Need I say more? I didn't think so.

The previous few posts are from downtown L. A. on Friday. I went down with a friend to help her shoot an assignment for school. The area we decided to shoot in turned out to be pretty shady, so I spent most of my time watching her back so she could work on her assignment. Naturally, I didn't get too much shooting done for myself, but I thought I'd post a few shots from the days take anyway. Nothing too special, just a few random shots, enjoy.

The Engine 23 Truck Company building just south of downtown Los Angeles.



This is a friend of mine, Joanne, caught in the act, in front of the Engine 23 Truck Company building just south of downtown Los Angeles.

Marcus... I met him on a street corner just south of downtown Los Angeles, Calif. After "representin" for this quick portrait he told me to "be careful with that nice camera around here." Then, he turned the corner and walked off. My camera and I made it back to Ventura without incident. Marcus was pretty chill about having his picture taken, he actually asked me, but that was definitely not the norm for the day. Unfortunately, most of the people I saw or spoke to were very suspicious of me, my camera, and my intentions. Thus, I didn't get many opportunities to photograph anyone else.

Just a sign on a building, south of downtown Los Angeles.

Joanne flipping through a copy of National Geographic's 100 greatest pictures magazine at Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica, Calif.

Well here it is. I've finally surrendered and joined the bloggers of the world. I can't believe we've reached a point in our "gobal" culture where writing on paper is just too time consuming for the average person. Good bye old fashioned leather bound diary, hello Cathode-Ray Tube (or, if your extra hip, Liquid Crystal Display). I'm currently working on a project to organize and catalog about 5 years worth of digital photographs. This doesn't include the 3 to 4 years of film shots prior to going digital or any of the film shots I've taken since. So, between that project and shooting for school, which requires film, I'm going to be pretty busy over the next few months. Hopefully, I'll still have enough time to keep up with this little experiment... we'll see how it works out. This is supposed to be a photo blog, but I don't know how often I'll be updating it. I'll try to do it as often as I can... but I make no promises. For the record, I've never been any good at keeping any kind of diary or log. So, this may end up as nothing more than an exercise in futility. Oh well, if I didn't try it I'd never know. It's worth a shot right?

Too late! I should be sleeping, but instead I'm here working on this damn thing. Well, hopefully it works so that all my laboring is not in vain.