Chilly Nights

I took this picture of a palm tree trunk outside my complex the other night.  It had just stopped raining and it was chilly enough you could see your breath when exhaling.  I loved it.  Rowdy and I were just strolling along enjoying our time outside.  I thought about how fun it would be to  have this weather all the time and wondered how Rowdy would do if we lived in New York.  I think he'd love it because there would be so many things for him to smell.  Anyhow, the shadows in the tree trunk caught my attention.  I wanted more crispness to this picture but I'm still happy with the textures that came through.

Banks of love...

Chuck and I were wasting time in Michaels just looking around and I came across these piggy banks for Valentines Day.  I'm not sure what it is but I'm suddenly in love with piggy banks.  Every time I see them I want to take pictures of them.  I think some day when I've acquired enough of piggy bank pictures I will make a book.  It would be the cutest little book ever!  My love for these ceramic little hogs is ironic because I'm the worst at saving my money!


This picture was taken with my camera phone and edited slightly with Picasa.  Hopefully I didn't over process.  ;)  The halo of color on the fronts of them was in the original picture and a result of the opalescent finish they had.

Infiltrating Society...

Today one of the attorneys in my office needed an ad made which will be placed in an a dinner program for the Hispanic Bar Association.  After the encouragement of a friend in the office I used one of my photos.  I was pretty stoked that I was able to create this ad only using WordPerfect (a legal document program) and a picture I took.  I created a tear sheet without even trying.  The fun part is that it will be published in the dinner program for many to see.  I'm sure most people won't take a second glance, but I know that it's my art!  A this particular flower is a Mexican Star Flower so I figured it would represent the culture as well.  I thought about using my sombrero picture but feared it'd be too prosaic.

If you click on it to enlarge it, just keep in mind the font looks better in the original.  I had to change a PDF into a JPEG and some of the quality was lost on the fonts.  It looks better smaller in this version.

Sundays are my favorite...

I love Sundays because they are so very relaxing.  Quality time with the puppyface and the boy.  Good stuff.  Mostly Rowdy and I nap throughout the day but exchange half conscious glances here and there.  The only downside to Sundays is that they are immediately followed by Monday.  :(  But that's alright because 6 days later we're back where we started.  I like this picture a lot because it has so many different textures and I just really like the perspective.  I took it with my camera phone while relaxing on the floor with Rowdy-dog.

So long ago...

I'll never figure out why repetitive lines in mass quantities interests me.  I'm drawn to them like a bug to a zapper. Anyhow, another close encounter of the shopping cart kind this time.  I was in the Home Depot parking lot and it must have looked like I was taking pictures for a potential lawsuit or something.  All the carts lined up just looked like a vortex to me and I couldn't resist!  


Not one of my favorites because it's too snapshotty and not composed well, but I feel that my blog is woefully neglected and needed something new.  Sorry Deborah!  One more week of freedom before back to school with fantastic equipment.

We will all float on...

Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach, New Year's Day

I'm frustrated that I haven't got anything to post recently.  I've been so lost without access to all the beautiful equipment at school.  I have taken one roll on my 35mm camera, but all the pictures are currently living inside the film canister which is STILL residing in my purse.  I will develop soon!!!  

I took this picture New Year's Day.  New Year's Eve Chuck and I watched Travis Pastrana jump his Subaru 260 something feet onto a floating barge.  I must say that it was an impressive thing to witness.  He did walk by us while we were at Gladstones, but it was about 20 feet away and there was K-wall and a lot of fencing between us.  Still an experience I am very fond of regardless.  

It was funny this day because when I was little New Year's used to be one of my most favorite days.  We all used to go over to my Grandma and Grandpa's house and our entire family and their friends would just come and go eating all day long.  The night before me, my  cousins, the aunts and my grandma would cook all night and we'd have Martinelli's at midnight.  The house always smelled so good.  It gave that warm fuzzy feeling inside.  Now New Year's is just another ordinary day.  No special food or people all around.  It's so sad that when you're a kid you don't realize that the moments you enjoy so much are numbered.  Oh well, I will just have to find a new way to make it just as special.

Old World Final

This is the final outcome of the re-print of my Old World from this past semester. For some reason today I felt like cleaning our room. I've torn everything apart. I need some organization to start the year off. During my organization process I came across my re-print which I have not posted until today, so here it is ... TAH DAH!!  This is officially the last version ever posted.  I've kind of saturated my blog with this image, but to be fair it took a lot of research and testing to get it right.  Although I was reluctant to change the area of the print to include more of the negative, I am very happy with the result.  It turned out way better than I thought it would.  Hope everyone is off to a great 2010!


I have a roll I'll be posting from soon.  Stay tuned!!  :)

Games starting now...dun nuh dun nuh

F$@*!!! S#$%>!! Could be heard throughout the house as visions of field goals and touchdowns danced through Chuck's head.  Most Sundays my house is filled with the sound of sports.  There's the given televised noise the game contains and then an added in-person special commentary track which can be heard throughout the entire apartment complex provided by Chuck.  It's always so strange when football ends.  Like a void or an unsettling strange stillness on Sundays.  But then NASCAR starts a week later and football noises are replaced by loud engines and funny southern accents.  It's pretty funny living with a sports fanatic.  I absorb sports information along the way tid bits about certain players and how teams are doing.  Of course, I'd never be so bold as to call myself a true fan -- mostly because the argument that would ensue over what makes a true fan could have the potentiality of requiring waaaaay more energy that I feel is warranted.  So for now I'll continue my status as "occasional viewer of many pieces of many games with an acute knowledge of teams such as the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints."


 Depicted in the Christmas ball is a very tiny Chuck sitting on our couch watching his favorite sport.  I like this picture because of the story it tells with the little bit you can see.

Farewell 180!

Photo by Ricky Frias

It's official!  180 is over!  These are the survivors.  We worked crazy hours, didn't sleep much and spent countless dollars to just get to this point here.  Last night was the last meeting of our class.  It was a great night.  Looked at each others calendars, ate some pizza, laughed, took pictures then went out for a drink to toast to our success.  I was fortunate enough to make life long friends during this class.  Lan, Mau, Ricky, Jerod, Courtney and of course our amazing teacher Agatha Ibranossian all made this tough class one of the best experiences of my life.  I've never enjoyed and been tortured by one single class so much.  It seems like the harder something is the more you get out of it.  I feel proud and privileged to be able to say I successfully made it through 180.  I feel like my skills have been sharpened and elevated to an entirely new level.  Thank you Agatha for knowing your subject so well and sharing so much of your knowledge with us.  You are the gatekeeper of the photography program for a reason.  You have a knack for teaching and we are all better for it.  

Final 187 Day... So sad!!

These pictures of the final class of lab techniques presented by Mr. Chauncey Bayes, photography genius, showed us for my 187 lab class.  We were creating a cyanotype wherein you place objects on a photosensitive material and wait for the light to expose it.  After 10 minutes of direct overhead sun, the material is rinsed in water and hydrogen peroxide.  Finally, a cobalt blue material is produced with white spots where the objects were.  It was so much fun to make!


The class is absolutely one of my most favorite photography classes I think I'll ever take.  Not only did Chauncey teach us an incredible amount of knowledge to help us hone photography as an artisan but he made it fun at the same time.  The passion he conveys while teaching is inspiring.  I loved photography before, but now I am in love with photography and keeping the craftsmanship side of it alive.  I want to honor my new found respect for the field by practicing and passing on the techniques I learned in class.  Chauncey is an amazing teacher!  He helped me understand the zone system, a task I thought impossible.  Even after explaining for 2 hours he did not lose faith that I would comprehend it at some point.  I will be forever grateful for your patience and ability to spread the word of analog!!


Below is Shane, fellow 187er/180er, after our cyanotype was done.  Just thought it was a funny mix of things to be holding/doing.  Hopefully, the lack of model release won't be an issue.  ;) 

Raindrop Explosion

Last night was a marathon to get ready to turn in the calendar project.  Lan, Mau and I finished at the lab around 10 stopped for food then went straight back to my place to try and get our dates printed for our calendars.  A big thank you to Lan for letting us use her equipment to make sure our blacks were black and printed well.  While 2 a.m. is not my favorite time to finish homework, I feel good we accomplished so much.  All my prints are made and my dates are printed.  Now I just need a plan of action for cutting properly and gluing together.  I shall look into getting some type of photo fairy repellent.  Wish me luck!


This image was taken with my camera phone then altered in Picasa.  It was through the windshield of my car after it was done raining this past Monday.  I liked the way all the water spots caught the light.

This little piggy went to Olvera St.

Another little token of Olvera Street. This is one of my most favorite shots I took throughout the semester. I just like how friendly and cute they are!


Taken with film and the Hasselblad camera.

Luke, I am your father...

This is the moment when Gabriel realized he was able to do funny things with his voice by talking into the fan.  We were all at his auntie's house getting our hair done and this is where his boredom led him.  After 30 minutes of talking into the fan he was off to go explore what other ordinary household items he could convert into toys.  


Taken with my camera phone, edited with Picasa.

Aye yay yay

I loved these sombreros and maracas from the moment I spotted them lining the edges of a little booth on Olvera Street. It was my first time exploring down there and it was a blast! So much to see and so many colors everywhere you look. This picture was a little tricky to print. The amount of contrast in the shot was challenging to balance out with the gray tones that had detail. Eventually it all worked out and I'm thrilled with the outcome!


This image was taken with film and a Hasselblad camera.

Xander Baby

I love this picture.  His cute tiny face looking up at your with a sparkle in his eyes.  And there in the background a path of destruction like a mini Godzilla.  This is my friend's little boy, his name is Xander.  He's a hilarious little guy.  Very curious, full of giggles, and unexpected funny business.  Julie once told me she was changing his diaper telling him "you stink, you stink" and he said back to her "I stink" in his baby voice.  Too cute for words!!


This image was taken with my camera phone and then toned with Picasa.

Love is...

...leaving a post-it note on the clock so that the other knows not to panic when getting ready for work.  Chuck  posted this note that read "5 mins ahead" on the bathroom clock and it struck me as incredibly thoughtful and endearing.  It's funny the little everyday things that have the ability to make such a big impact on your heart.


Taken with my camera phone -- and now I wish I had taken it with a better camera because the picture quality is not so good!  Darn!

The Tree is Trimmed!

Taking pictures of Christmas trees is still somewhat of a mystery to me.  On one hand you can take the picture with a flash and get the ornaments in all their glory but the lights don't show up or you can take a picture with no flash but then the ornaments don't show up.  I need to figure out how to get both in one!!  I guess I might need to use a tripod or something for a long exposure.  I chose to take a portion of the tree when there was amazing light hitting it.  What was really cool was that the light bounced off the garland and reflected all over the room.  Magical!  We got our tree at Costco this year.  I am quite pleased that for a mere $45 you can find noble firs that are up to 9-10 feet tall.  We opted for a 7-8 footer -- which was perfect because another foot and our tree would be without the ever important tree topper!  Phew!  The whole experience was a lot of fun!


This picture was taken with my camera phone.

90% Chance of Practice Golfballs

I had forgotten about my digital image from my strobe project.  We had so much fun shooting strobe together.  This image was taken with Maurice's fancy digital camera -- which he kindly set up so that I could just push a button.  (Thanks for being a great assistant Maurice!)  Jerod and Lan were modeling.  I loved every shot I got this day.  It appeared on film like it was as much fun as it was to be there in person.  I knew I wanted to stop motion balls but I didn't know until that day how I was going to combine that with people.  It worked out magically!

Blinded by the Light

I metered for the walls in this picture in order to have the light at the end be blown out and ambiguous.  I really like how the effect turned out.  I think the image can go several different ways -- scary, heavenly or captivating.  For me it is captivating.  I purposely do not want to contextualize this image only because of the various things people could see in it.  I like it when viewers are left with the task of imagining what they are looking at.  Every imagination creates a new story.


This image was taken with film and the Hasselblad camera.

Lights Out!

More love from the Union Station series.  This is the same room that is in my previous digital image that I posted.  However, in this version I used film and metered for the light in the windows rather than the ambient light of the room.  I really liked the results.  The floor was so shiny that the reflections almost look like they are on water.  The room itself is quite breath taking.  This portion of the station is cordoned off to the public.  To the left of this part of the room are ticket booths from yesteryear.  The way the room has been preserved, easily lends itself to envisioning what it must have been like back in the height of it's use.  


Again, this image was taken with the Hasselblad and film.