Sunset 26 April 2019

Don’t really have much to say. Kinda just wanted to write a blog. Its about 12:30am right now. I have a few other blogs that I have drafts for. I didn’t really have an idea for what I was going to write for 2 of them anyways. I really just wanted to post the photos I have saved in them. I feel like despite my various social media accounts, my photos aren’t posted the way I want them to be. They lack a bit of insight on them. Of course I really don’t have much to say about these anyways.

I took these photos after just wanting to go out for sunset. I drove over to the spot, hiked up to nice place and just sat down to enjoy the sunset. It ended up being a lot coder than I was expecting it to be. The cold ended up being the reason I left (also the sun wasn’t able to make it to the horizon because of the clouds). The photos ended up better than I expected.

I haven’t written a blog in a while, even longer a blog with actual thoughts in it not just photos. It ended up being a lot more difficult to keep one going than I thought it would when I made my website. My initial thoughts were that I took a lot of photos, so I should be able to post a lot of blogs. The reality is I don’t have that many thoughts to keep one going. I can talk non stop about photography but that would get boring. An a lot of these locations really have no significant importance to me other than me wanting to drive to them to take photos. I also visit these places a lot. Its not really an expansion of my thoughts from my other posts, since those don’t have much anyways.

Lately Instagram hasn’t been the same for me. That might explain why I chose to write something on here. Its just been a bit empty. Don’t get me wrong, I really do like seeing all the content my peers add or posts my friends make, but there’s an empty feeling when I post. In the past, it was fun to post things and see how they did. That feeling isn’t really there anymore. I’ve actually thought about deactivating it multiple times. I don’t know if I could get rid of it permanently because of how much work I’ve put into it. But I do want to see how it would feel to not have it for a while.

But I can’t bring myself to do it. I find the only form of contact I have with a lot of people is through Instagram. I would also miss sending and receiving memes. And despite me wanting to not care about how my posts do, I know leaving the page would not have a positive effect on my engagement. It puts me somewhere in between not wanting to care about my engagement because it really doesn’t matter to what I post and wanting my page to grow and expand to show that my photos are really doing something.

As I’m writing this I also have another window open with a video on building a shipping container home. This is the 3rd video in the series and 3rd home I’ve watched on these houses. The location for this one is out in the desert.

On my second instagram I always post photos with a small caption with only a few words. I hardly ever go out and try to find words to use for the captions. Most of the time its a small part of a line of lyrics for a song that catches my attention. I cant remember what half of the captions are referring to. I like the idea of writing captions that I don’t remember what I was referring to. Almost like writing a letter then burning it. I’ve had the idea of doing that with one of my art journals. To make some art that only exists for me. But I haven’t been able to make one that I would want to burn. Kinda like my Instagram I guess. Spend so much time on something that you grow attached and don’t want to destroy it. But that didn’t stop me with other accounts that I made in the past.

I guess even if I did get rid of it there’s always a lot of new people to find with a new account. And there will always be more photos to take and share. This sunset ended up being worth skipping class for. I didn’t take the shots I was hoping for, but I did take some I really liked.

My 2018 in 5 Photos

2018 was really a strong year of growth for me as a photographer and creative. In 2017 I really built up a strong foundation in portrait photography that helped me expand and build my own style in 2018. I really meant to make this post a lot sooner but didn’t because of personal reasons. These are photos that were major milestones in my photography career. Each one defined my photography at that point or the direction that I was moving towards.

1: Nicole in Berkeley

This first one was the first and honestly last real viral photo I took in 2018. This shot was taken in Berkeley. Like many of my shoots at this point, I didn’t plan it out as much as I should have. This shot was just a vague idea at this point. I wanted to do a reaching out photo in the middle of the road. I feel like part of the reason this blew up as much as it did was the two-tone black and yellow pallets along with the reaching out. I remember being so excited for to post this shot, I edited and posted it on the same day that I took it. The reaching out was trendy at this point, and also something people were starting to know me for.

Although this photo was not my personal favorite from this shoot, it did leave the biggest impression. It basically set the bar for me for most of the remainder of the year. It also threw me off my game once again, like the photo of Nicole did from the past year. I did not want to do something similar after this. This was really the peak and the end of the reach photos for me. After this one, I tried not to take photos of it anymore. I didn’t want to be the guy who took the reach photos, even though I was for some already.

2: Hanging with Renette

Following the reach, I wanted to move into a different direction. I wanted to shift my focus to doing full body shots. I didn’t want to limit my photos to just hands and faces. By doing full body shots, I was able to add a dynamic to my photos that they didn’t have before. This shoot was almost just this photo. Prior to this photo, there was an actual shoot that did have more models to them. I wasn’t expecting to take this photo that day, but here outfit was perfect, and I didn’t want to pass it up.

I can’t remember where the idea to have her hanging came from. It might have come from someone hanging from a basketball hoop, but I can’t remember exactly. The lines in this shot set up a great amount of depth. The lights on the right did add the right amount of color spit as well. It set me up to take more low angle shots for the rest of the year.

3: Santa Monica with Rae

This one is both about this shot and this trip. I had a great time in LA taking photos. Spending so much time shooting with friends really grew my love fo the craft. To spend time shooting taking a break then heading to another shoot at new locations was fun. I got a lot of amazing shots that I could’ve added hear as well. This trip alone was one of the top shoots of the year.

I chose this single photo because on top of being an amazing photo, it was another case where I got to meet someone in person after knowing them for a long time online. I had known Rae for a long time before this, around 4 years. Although it was a simple portrait, it came out amazingly vibrant and colorful. It’s a good summary of how this whole trip went.

4: SF with Mimoza

This one was the next milestone that I hit in my photography. This was one was the one that set the bar after it. I had already been working on my full body portraits but none of them really had the impact that I was hoping for them to have. Don’t get me wrong, there were some really good ones, but not exactly what I wanted. My idea was to move towards more fashion-based shoots with creative posing to them. I didn’t want them to be overdone either. I felt as if a lot of my shots were coming out more dramatic than I wanted them to.

This shot was subtle enough but came together perfectly enough to make an impact. I really do feel like Mimoza styling and posing made this shot. A successful photo isn’t made by the photographer or the model alone but their ability to come together to create something. And I really do feel like her ability to take my vision and put herself in it was on point for this shoot. It’s a shot that left an impact on my page and really set the direction for what was to come in the future.

5: SF with Justine

This last one was the last milestone that I hit in 2018. The shot that was a an accumulation of everything that I had built on over the past year. I really do feel like this was also the last real shoot I had in 2018 because of school. After this shoot, I had to shift my focus away from photography and towards school. It was the Monday before starting my fall semester and I had set up a few shoots to end my summer. Although I did keep on shooting a handful of times during my semester, I wasn’t able to focus or put the same amount of commitment that I had put in before.

This one had a simple idea of having her step on the lens. Out of the frame I was holding up her boot with my hand. The shot was not easy to frame the way I wanted to. The location was perfect for the outfit and the pallets that I would eventually be using. It broke any other number milestone I had on my page. It also was an amazing example of my low angle shots and new posing that I was working on. This shoot also had 3 additional locations to it which I also got amazing shots from.

It was a great way to end my photography for the year, 3 months before the year even ended. I had planned to get back into it during my winter break but wasn’t really able to put myself back together to do it, on top of other reasons. Looking back at these shots was a real reminder as to what I want to accomplish this year. I want the 5 from this year to show the same amount of success that these had from 2018.

Models:

Nicole

Renette

Rae

Mimoza

Justine

Small Life Update (September 2018)

Its sort of a weird feeling catching up to my following through the blog. I haven’t really kept up with it as I thought I would’ve when I started it. I was expecting to make a short post for all the small trips I take. I normally take my camera, which would make it easy to have photos to post on here. But the realization that each post was going to take my work than I had thought quickly made me fall behind.

For starters, Im back in school. This is the main reason I feel like there’s been a large disconnect with my account. I don’t post as often, leaving me with long periods of time without interacting with everyone i’ve connected with through instagram. I spent the better part of a year working on my portrait taking photography skills and my instagram account. I managed to get a lot further than I was expecting over the time I had set.

Mt Umunhum

Even though photography has taken a backseat in my life, I do still try to get out when I can. I’ve found that taking breaks in between long periods of school work helps to refresh my mind. When you go for too long focusing on one thing, you tend to lose sight of the bigger picture. They way I like to see it as is putting water in a jar. If you try to fill it up quickly, a lot of the water jumps out. When you slow down and allow it to calmly fill up, you retain more overall. These drives and small trips may not hold a lot of monetary value or productivity but they do help me out mentally and allow me to keep up my photography skills.

Russian Ridge Open Space

But this isn’t really an end to my portrait or overall photography. I still plan shoots when they fall into my schedule nicely(currently doing about 1 or less a week). I also have ideas for future shoots for when I have more time at the end of my semester. My summer ended up not being as productive as I had imagined it would be, leaving me with a small list of unused shoot ideas.

Pescadero Creek Road

This time has been good for reflecting and re-evaluating my photography as a whole and what it means to me. At first I thought that I would miss going out the most to shoot. But lately i’ve realized that the one thing I’ve missed the most are the people that I got to shoot with. The models and other photographers. I can go out and shoot on my own, which I have been, but I miss the interactions that Ive had with others. Talking about photography, cameras, social media or other topics with other creatives that shared the same interests is what i’ve missed the most.

Alviso Marina County Park

Skyline Boulevard

Sorry for this poorly written blog, I wrote it over a week without planning it out like usual. It started out as me just wanting to share some pretty photos LOL