Monday, September 27, 2010

Shoreline Village

Another day, another photo shoot. What a life. Capturing the beauty in every moment. Watching for the unexpected, the unique, the anomaly.

Shoreline Village was a break from that.

There was no searching for the right moment.

It was everywhere.

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I had an assignment though, not just an array of photos. I had to compose pictures that had specific guidelines. Balance, texture, and contrast.

It had to have visual tension.

Balance

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Texture

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and contrast

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Of course, I took some that purely caught my eye without thought of the assignment.

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Thursday, September 16, 2010

God bless the hands of the working man

One of the hardest working men I know, John daily gets up at 4 something in the morning to go to work mowing the lawns of houses all up and down LA and her surroundings. When he has a spare moment, you can find him working tirelessly on his own project.


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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Just my opinion


The word, “touch” has become some sort of four letter word in our world today.
“They were touching each other too much.”
“Did he touch you?”
“Don’t touch yourself!”
It has become something so taboo, so twisted from its original, perfect purpose that we have run from the action entirely.  In doing so, we have lost an essential physical connection between us.  We were created to be touched. To be bounced on a knee, to be held when we’re terrified of the dark, to get raspberries on our tummies. We need a physical relationship when we are younger to be able to develop into strong, self-confident adults.  A girl who is deprived of fatherly affection when she is a child will run one of two opposite ways as an adult.  Either she will dress provocatively, begging attention from every corner, throwing herself into the arms of any male, willing or otherwise, or she will cower from the male awareness and contact that she never received in her youth. Both of these roads are terrifying the further you travel down them and knowing the world today of prostitutes, strippers, and drug abusers, the end isn’t exactly a fairy tale.
This isn’t to say that anyone who was inappropriately touched as a child will end up as a hooker, and that every good child-raising will turn a girl into a strong, confident woman who knows she doesn’t need to prove herself in any physical way. The ways of the world are hard. It takes one’s own, genuine choice to take what one has been given and help someone else with it.
The world is filled with people who take their influence over others, be it one child or an entire nation, and use it for their own, perverted, twisted, selfish desires. There will always be these sad excuses of a life, but in their wake, we can fight with perfect innocence.  
If you have a child or know one, you will have some sort of pull in that child’s life. It’s just the way it is. Let them climb on your back and pretend you’re a horse. Be a surfboard in the pool. Wake your daughter by moving the hair from her face and calling her princess. Make sure your son gets the football so you can pick him up and throw him in the air. Theirs will be a better world because of it.


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Saturday, July 31, 2010

LA photoshoot

Once in a while, I like to go a-wandering downtown into areas people hardly ever really see. This one though, was an accident. I was with some of my fellow photographers when, out of the corner of someone's eye, these popped into view. Not exactly abandoned; there were some sleeping bags in a corner and beer (soda for the underage reader) cans scattered about. There is a certain rustic charm to old train cars.

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As we moved further north, we found Olvera St. and China Town. The colors are absolutely in-your-face beautiful.





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I even liked the un-colored areas...

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It's a beautiful place behind all the dirt and smog. The rush of the crowds drowns out the beauty of the fountains and park benches and tiny flowers peaking out through cracks. All in all, I would never want to live there, but I do like the occasional trip.

Greek Festival 2010

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Okay, so it's a few weeks old, but I just loved this day so I wanted to share it.

First, I've never been to a Greek Festival so, as excited as I was, I had no idea what I was going to see.

The Temple was beautiful.

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At one point, they had Greek Dancers. It was so fun with all the different ages.
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There were all ages there,


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And SOME moments just couldn't be missed.

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Costco Memorial Day Football Game

In another round of Us v. Them, we got up early to play a friendly pick-up game at Boyer Park in Lakewood to kick off this year's Memorial Day.

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Although the other team was tough...

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Our game faces, I am sure, invoked fear into the hearts of them...


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They took turns...


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And while they waited...

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Our defense was really good...

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They took the game seriously...

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Ish...

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It was a good game with many sweaty, heated,
full-bodied-aggression-releasing powers...

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While some of us watched from the sidelines...

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But sadly, like all good things, this too had to end.

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We just wish it hadn't ended this way...

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