Monday, December 28, 2009

oldies.

I took these photos a few years back. My friend Angelo was going down to Tijuana to pick up some car parts his lo-lo ('68 Impala). I decided to cruise with because I thought it would be cool to roll and it's always fun just to sit back and snap photos on a drive. We were also going to stop and get some tacos so I definitely wanted to go and get my grub on.


This pic I snapped as we were driving through a part of Tijuana that was extremely run down. It is so sad to know that people live in conditions like these. These shacks are barely standing.
unfortunate housing.
unfortunate housing.



Angelo.
Angelo driving in Tijuana.



agua.
agua.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

One mic.

17A
keep passin' me by.

15A
all I need.

18A
rep to the death of it.

16A
let it go.

I met this guy last night. I was walking down G street in downtown and I heard him playing his guitar and singing. I am not going to lie, I actually thought he had a very good voice. I went back to my car and grabbed my camera. I came back and motioned to him if I could snap some photos, to which he gave the universal nod of acceptance. As I snapped the pics, people walked by and watched. A couple passing by cheered him on, offering words of encouragement. They tossed a couple of bucks into his guitar case, which sat open as if saying "show me some love" on this cold night. I took a couple of more pics and people looked over as they passed him sitting on the cold bricks outside the theater. I started talking to him, introducing myself. His name is Brennan. Hailing from Michigan, he decided to travel around with friends some time ago, eventually landing in America's finest city. The last 4 1/2 years of playing the guitar, he now plays for those who will listen as they walk the streets of downtown.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Recent article about Levi's exhibit

Another article about the Levi's exhibit in San Francisco. Check it out and enjoy.
http://www.corduroymag.com/fashion/jay-carrolls-one-trip-pass
Still cannot say how honored I am to have a photograph included as a part of the exhibit.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Introducing, Oleg Gladkoff

Oleg Gladkoff
Mr. Oleg Gladkoff

ABC Piano Co.
ABC Piano Co.

I met this man a few days ago. His name is Oleg Gladkoff. He runs ABC Piano Co. in North Park on El Cajon Blvd. I guess you could say that I have met him before, but that was in passing. I remember going into his store months ago, after driving by it, to browse around and check out pianos. Not that I actually have the money to buy a piano, let alone the space for it, but I have always had a fascination with those black and white keys. A few years back I took some piano lessons and enjoyed it, but not having an actual piano to practice on, quickly derailed that experiment. I remember going into ABC Piano Co. and asking the price about a couple of the ivory-keyed beasts and perusing for a few minutes at most.

piano.
pianos.


incomplete.
keys.

What made me return to that store? Do I have the money or space for a piano? Negative. You see, I get ideas for paintings and photographs from out of nowhere usually. The other night I was watching television, and for no reason really, an idea popped into my head. I started to get ideas to shoot a piano. While I was thinking about the different shots I could get, I remembered that store. Then I started thinking about how it would be interesting to not only get shots of different pianos, but also possibly shooting some of the owner and hopefully getting him to play the piano.

Nickelodeon 2.
Nickelodeon piano.


bare all.
bare all.

I drove there not really knowing what to expect. I walked in with my camera in hand and an extra roll of black and white film. I was looking around as the older gentleman, Mr. Gladkoff, walked out. He gave me his sales pitch on a couple of pianos, explaining to me that these pianos were built to last. He showed me the difference between a real wooden piano and one made with particleboard. A Baldwin piano, he assured me, was the piano for me. I was astonished at how low he was selling them. As I looked at the writing on the outside of the window, he is currently having a clearance sale. Unfortunately, the ABC Piano Co. is closing. He came to reveal to me that he recently had a stroke and is therefore selling his store. No longer able enough to work on all of the pianos himself and put them back together again; he must get rid of them. While talking to him, he tells me he has to use “those spring things” to help build back the muscles in his hands. As I ask him whether he is still able to play he tells me he does because it helps work the muscles in his forearms, and sits down to play. I quickly and politely ask if I may take some photos to which he agrees. I was only able to snap a few of him while he tickled the ivories.

Mr. Oleg Gladkoff playing the piano
Play.

playing the keys.
Baldwin.

As we continued to talk he showed me a picture that was taken of him in his twenties, which was published in The New York Times. Originally from Ukraine, he came to make his way to the United States. He told me about serving in the Army for a few years, how he lived and played the piano in New York and Boston, before coming out to San Diego.

inside the piano.
felt covered hammers.

grand piano.
Grand Piano.

“If it wasn’t for the piano”, Oleg Gladkoff said, “I would not be alive today.” He told me a story about the day Nazis raided his home. As they went through his house, they asked him to play the piano. He obliged. What ensued was the magic of music. The notes he played hit a chord within those men. The soldiers went from pointing their guns at him, to shaking his hand and thanking him for the music he had just played. As Mr. Gladkoff said to me, “Music has a way of getting into your soul.”


strings.
soul.


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Coming soon....

So I have like 7 rolls of film that I need to develop, and soon. They are mostly color but I have a couple of rolls of b&w that I am SOOOOO anxious to see how the pics come out. If they come out how I envisioned them, they will be SICK. Some of the b&w's are from an idea I got one night and the next day went out and shot it. The other pics are of an author that needed some photos taken so he can put one in his next book. As soon as they are developed I will post some on here.

Oh and the color rolls are from about a weeks worth of going out and shooting sunsets at different beaches. That's for a commissioned project and requests for sunsets. I'm excited for these too.

Friday, November 20, 2009

randomness.part.2.

So here are a few more pics from the night I went out and shot some pics around town. These were in North Park. Check it.

n.p.t.
N.P.T.



5 on it.
5 on it.



north
North.



vine.
vine.



to the left.
to the left. to the left.



intersection.
inter.

Monday, November 16, 2009

art show.

So the art show came and went. It was a lot of fun to be a part of. I got a chance to meet a bunch of people who really liked my paintings and photographs, I even sold a painting. People were also diggin my business cards. The band Four Minutes Til Midnight was awesome. Unfortunately, the lead singer was ill and was unable to sing, but they jammed out and it sounded amazing. I especially enjoyed their version of 'Miserlou'. Along with the band I met a few other businesses that were promoting their products. One of these was Sea of Blossoms Floral Designs. They specialize in weddings and events throughout Southern California and I have to say that they do AMAZING work. I was able to network a good amount and I might even be commissioned for a photography project. I snapped a few photographs of the night and here they are:

wall o'photos
wall o'photos


hibiki
paintings on the wall.


show of art
mirror mirror.


FMTM.3
Four Minutes Til Midnight.


FMTM
bass.


Four Minutes Til Midnight.
shred.


sing.
Kenta.





There should be more pictures popping up soon so I will update it with them when they become available.

random photo mission. part1.

So I went out a few weeks ago on a photography mission with a couple of newly found photography friends. One of them, Ivan, drove us out to a couple of different spots around town to shoot. I don't shoot much at night due to the fact that I like using natural light, don't use a flash, use a film camera and therefore night shots are a whole lot trickier since I have no idea whether it came even close to what I envisioned, and have not been much of a tripod user. The times I have shot at night, I shot at spots where I knew there was a good amount of bright, artificial light. All in all it was a good experience, got to shoot a couple rolls of film, ate some Thai food afterward, and got to know a couple of cool people. Just like every time I shoot a roll, I use it as a learning experience.

valley.
valley.


tree.top.
sit 90 degrees underneath palm trees.


static.
dj scribble.


np
np.


luz.
luz.


bumpy.
bumps in the trunk.


light.rain.
light.rain. (is it just me or can you see a face on the left side, facing left)


I have 1 more roll of film from that night that needs to be developed, so there will be a part 2 to this blog posting. It should be up sometime soon.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Art Show Saturday Nov. 14th

I am going to have some art and photographs displayed at an event this Saturday November 14th from 4-8pm at 8050 Armour St. Unit B San Diego, Ca 92111 (Kearny Mesa area) Next to Bayside Auto.

show flyer.1.

show flyer.2.

Come check it out if you can, please.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

being humble is a hard quality.

This video was just released for 'Hoochie Coo' with The Black Keys, Mos Def, and Jim Jones. I cannot wait for this album, only a few weeks left (Nov. 27th).

Monday, November 2, 2009

Valet Mag "Stars and Stripes" exhibit love

(2nd post in less than in an hour. I think that's a record for me.)
More love being given to the exhibit up in San Fran. Here is another link to a piece on Jay Carroll who is behind the Americana infused exhibit and how it came to be. Check it out at:
http://www.valetmag.com/the-mix/103009.php/

The GQ Eye: GQ.com

Finally getting a chance to get back on here. So I don't have too much to say right now except for an article being brought to my attention. I came to find out that there is an article in GQ about the "Stars and Stripes" exhibit in the Levi's Store in SF. It's a pretty cool article about the ad campaign and the guys who put the exhibit together. There aren't any shots of photo's from mine or the other photographers, but it is awesome anyway to say that I am a part of this exhibit. Feel free to check it out at: The GQ Eye The GQ Eye: GQ.com


(Photo is from the article.)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

SF.CA



I'm baaaaaacccck. For those of you who don't know, I was in San Francisco this weekend for the Levi's "Stars and Stripes" exhibit at their Union Square store. My photograph, "No Worries" was selected to be 1 of 5 on display. They told us Monday that our photographs were selected out of over 3,000 submissions. I am actually still in shock my photograph was one of the five. As a part of the "New American" ad campaign, Levi's held a contest through their website, which asked for photographs and writings to help tell the story of "today's America."



The weekend was soooooo much fun. We got there on Saturday afternoon and returned late Monday night. I cannot begin to say enough good things about Levi's and how good they treated us. First off, they paid for the airfare and hotel for the weekend, at a very very nice hotel I might add. That right there would have been enough for me, but as I checked in at the hotel the concierge gave me an envelope with a letter from Levi's congratulating me on winning and $500 in spending money. I could not believe it. I am not a professional photographer and don't have much experience with these sorts of things so for them just to send me and a guest up there was an amazing thing to me. So the spending money was such an awesome surprise.







The next day I had a chance to walk around half of San Fran with my friend Sheena who lives up in Fairfield. She was such a great little tour guide with baby feet (she literally has like 4 inch feet). We ended up going to Fisherman's Wharf, rode a cable car, hit up Chinatown, Little Italy, and North Beach. As I came to find San Francisco isn't as big as I first thought. We came to find that out when we took the trolley back to the hotel and accidentally got off a couple of stops before we should have. As we walked up the street we thought would get us back to the hotel, we ended up at the beginning of Chinatown for the second time in a matter of 2 hours. When we figured it out, we realized that our hotel (The Clift) was actually only 4 blocks away.


Who are you, Seal?


Kind Eyes.


Chinatown.


Corner.

Monday came around and it was time to go to the private unveiling of the exhibit at the store. It was such an honor to have my photograph displayed at the Levi's store. I got a chance to meet some of the higher-ups from Levi's and the 4 other photographers who won. They were a pleasure to meet, they came from Los Angeles, Dallas, New Jersey, and New York. They were all so nice and also great photographers. As if it were to end there, Levi's then gave us each a $500 gift certificate for the store and an hour to shop before the store opened. I really could not believe this was happening to me. I felt like a little kid at a candy store. I stocked up on a bunch of jeans and a jacket. Also, the entire staff at the Union Square were extremely helpful to all of us.


At the opening.


Window display.


Listing.


Photographs.

After we left the store we had to check out of the hotel and have them store our baggage so we could continue our trek around the city. We ended up walking around, down Market St, up Haight St, and somehow found ourselves right in front of the "Full House" house. Sitting in front of the "Full House" house was a dream come true. I was waiting for Kimmy Gibler to walk by so I could hit on her, but unfortunately she did not appear. Haight St. was amazing. So many cool spots up and down that street. I had a chance to stop by the "Upper Playground" store and was amazed at their selection. So many sick t-shirts and artwork going across the top of the store. They had a copy of Retna and El Mac's book "Alianza", which I still have on back-order from Borders. I also got to see a painting by El Mac right outside the store. Check out his work online by clicking the link on the right side of my blog ----> He is an amazing artist.


El Mac.


Full House. House.

Unfortunately, the rain caught up to us on Monday as we were walking around and we got soaked. We had to go back to the hotel and change, but it was not a big deal at all because NOTHING could ruin this weekend. I can honestly say that I will always remember this weekend for the rest of my life.


Blame it on the rain.


Because.

Thank you Levi's!