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Redondo Beach
August 26th, 2008
It's been almost a month since my last update and I think that's a shame.
I've been busy, actually haven't shot as much film as I would have liked and haven't developed anything in about a month as well. Work has taken up a lot of my time..
But! This past weekend I rented a 45mm TS lens and had a ton of fun with it. My brother spent a couple days down in Redondo Beach with my uncle. On saturday I went down there with my Mom to pick him up. It was the first time I had been there. All of the photos in this post were with that lens and the vast majority were at f/2.8, which is the only downfall and my mistake. I should have stopped down to at least f/4 for a lot of them.
I'll let the photos speak for themselves. And, if you listen to them, Mogwai is the perfect soundtrack to this post (specifically, I'm listening to Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait).
Smoke from the fire at Griffith Park
This lens was a ton of fun to shoot with. I wasn't quite sure how what I was doing was affecting the images, and I think I only used the tilt part of the lens. I didn't realize what shifting did and, in hindsight, realized I should have shifted rather than tilted in some of them.
All of these thus far were taken from inside my mom's van.
This is my uncle's dog, Rudy. He's getting old. :(
They have a few other dogs, as well.
He (she? not sure), aside from Rudy, was the only one to not continually bark at me when I first walked in (the other two are chihuahua's, not sure if that means anything, though :p).
My brother, fresh from the skate park.
And then I was taken on a tour of the nearby beaches, Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo.
A lot of fishers on the piers.
Sorry for lack of words to these, I'm not sure what else I could say besides that it was absolutely beautiful and.. I can't even think of anything else.
Dream like.
Day was almost gone.
Back home, they were playing badminton while dinner was receiving its finishing touches.
It was quite dark already, maximum aperture of 2.8 hurt me. I shot a couple with my Leica, but I haven't finished that roll yet. Also, focusing on an SLR without any focus assist is quite hard.
My uncle.
Another dog.
Mother and daughter.
And the other dog (I think this one covers them all now).
Outside, about to say goodbye and goodnight.
Back home.
Following morning I had to take a self before I returned the lens. Sad occasion that was and I am definitely going to purchase one in the coming months. Shooting with this one was way too fun, and I didn't even use it to its full potential.
Thank you for viewing.
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I am a coward.
July 24th, 2008
Sometimes, the ones you don't think about end up being quite nice. This is a shot before the first shot. I quickly fired 3 to advance the film to #1 and this appeared. A lovely photo of my mom.
And my sister.
I shot my first event with the help of two friends about a month ago (I should probably try to update my site more often). We checked out the place before the actual event.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to organize any shots on this deck they had.
Neither did we use these trellises they had.
He did video.
I am a coward.
We also didn't use this location either.
Inside.
Outside.
Sometime later that week we had sushi. A place near A&I.
They were having trouble with their TV. Guy whose back you see on the right was trying to fix it, he was being yelled at by the guy on the left. Nothing serious, but it was fun to see them interact.
And this was my lunch.
It's hard to believe that people pay for these bus tours of Hollywood.
Zee moon.
Practicing.
Practicing the day of, just before the party started. It was her 18th birthday, her debut.
Her!
I'm a coward (well, for this one, just slow).
It was beautiful (Velvia 100).
And so it began (these are just the film shots).
Cheers!
In the back, moments before the dance. Funny thing about these is that I developed it as if it was shot at 400 ISO, but I actually shot it at 2500. I was still able to salvage some of the shots, surprisingly. That'll teach me to remember to write what I shot the film at down.
Later that night, on the dance floor.
Can't leave without a self portrait.
Jump forward a couple days and we're at In'n'out.
And then outside my house.
Gotta love the price of gas (and Wall-e).
Don't remember what I was doing at Samy's but apparently I decided to get something at the Jack in the Box across the street. The building next to it looks cool.
And the person two cars in front of me needed a straw.
Back home, the light was nice.
On the road to somewhere.
I was mad that I missed an earlier shot so I decided to take a shot of whatever car we passed next.
Utada!
It's the "stop wasting film on me" pose.
But we all know that isn't happening.
Reading the script I wrote for a short film.
He's (she's?) saying hello.
The things you can capture on film (dare I say, with a rangefinder?) are so different from what digital does. I know that if I had taken this with a huge ass dslr I would not have captured this expression.
One more self.
Stinky! (it's his name)
Annnnnd, my new toy: a beseler 23C II dual dichro head. It's cool how there's so much in one photo. I know it doesn't mean anything to you (the reader) but when I look at this, say, 20 years from now, there's a ton of memories it will recall. The pixel drawing of Snorlax on my wall, lord of the rings poster, my pet snake's cage, the christmas lights I have hanging around my room. I'm sure I could find a couple more things, but yea, I think that's what makes photography worth it. To capture a moment as it is, to remember forever.
And sometimes it seems so insignificant at the time you take the photo. But I'm sure I'll be happy for having hit the shutter at some point in my future.
My mom's childhood friend, who she has known since middle school is moving to northern california. I wasn't able to attend the party they had to say farewell, so my Mom and I went on my day off from work one day (not too long ago).
She didn't want to pose.
One.
Two (managed to hold the camera straight this time).
Three.
And done.
Hope you enjoyed reading and viewing, if you've got this far. :)
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gooo velvia!
June 16th, 2008
I shot some more Velvia (100), took some more portraits on my front porch. Love the light right there. Quite happy with these three.
We went to the book store so that she could read a preview chapter of some book, read the chapter in the store, ended up buying the book anyway.
There was an exit ramp here.
Friend took this one
And I took one of him.
CA weather. One day it's raining. The next it's 100 (otherwise known as, fucking hot).
I underestimated the power of a cell phone LCD screen.
The new-ish parking lot for the local community college.
Oh hey. Ran into one of our neighbors. (yes, i know i failed and framed his head so that there's a pole growing out of it)
And, surprisingly, there's a river/pond thing separating the parking structure from the street.
Walking back home.
This time the cat isn't mine.
The light from the setting sun was perfect.
And, if it's digital, you know they're going to ask "let me see it!"
Brother.
Literal street shot at night.
And a fence.
