Last Post Of The Year Is Playing Catch Up Pt. II

In before the new year!  Well, another year has gone and I can honestly say that this past year was better than before.  With that said, I give to you the final post of 2012 which consists of catching up on film scans that I took some time during the year.  I can only hope that in 2013, I can find more time to work on photos as there are still plenty of images I need catching up on.  Also, things are looking grand for 2013 and I hope it stays that way so I can keep the streak of better years to come going.  I wish you all the best.  May 2013 be better for you than 2012 was!

First Steps

I'm taking the next step in film development.  After having some experience developing b&w film, the next logical step is to do C-41 Color/E-6 Color Slide films.  In the past, I've heard from many people that  have said that developing color films at home is "much" harder but after watching a couple of youtube clips, it really isn't all that much different than developing b&w.  Granted, with zero experience with color film devs, I'll be expecting my first roll or two to (maybe) be bust but I'm confident with my b&w experience, going into color dev should go off without a hitch.  Today I purchased a Rollei Digibase C-41 home kit and I'll have to go back to Freestyle Photographic Supplies to pickup another batch since one kit is only good for a 250ml solution and with my tank, I'll need a 1000ml working solution.  I'll also need to get the required measuring cylinders each for C-41 and E-6 processes and 2 more tanks for each type of dev.  I probably won't start development until early next year but I can't wait.  I have 20 rolls of undeveloped film waiting...

In A Nutshell

My classes are coming to a close.  As far as I can tell at the moment, when the semester ends, and class is over, so will my darkroom time.  No longer will I be able to be annoyed and at the same time, feel joy in seeing my photographs come to life by printing and this makes me sad.  Considering this is was my first experience in print making, through it all, I've come to terms to have the courage to say that I'm happy when I create.  I wish my words were more poignant as I want to give this immense feeling of happiness for having been able to experience print making and sadness for it ending so soon so I'll leave it to this video and hopefully this simple post would hold more weight.

Kay x Cahill Wedding

With my classes winding down to a close, things have been a little bit hectic for me.  A final project to contemplate on and then execute plus the assignments that'll be coming as the few remaining weeks pass, I'm finding little time to work on the photo gigs I've shot these past couple of months.  However, with the time I do find, they're all slowly coming together.  Here are a couple of photos I've decided to release from the Kay x Cahill wedding in October that I shot with Pamela Masters.  Tons of photos from that wedding and there were alot to choose from that were good but these are the ones that stood out the most to me.

I still have one more wedding to complete and it's nearly there but I can't promise when I'll release those photos.  Plus I still have ALOT of film photos that I intend on releasing but those will have to done later.  Possibly before the year ends or early next year.

One To Look Out For

Last night, I was listening to Raul Campos's show on KCRW and I heard one of the loveliest songs I've heard in a while.  It was Rhye's "Last Dance" and I did a search for it on youtube but I couldn't find it.  It's set to be released early next year on their debut LP but as I was searching, I browsed through whatever Rhye had released on youtube and came across this other gem of a song.  Lovely video I must say.  I can't stop playing it or viewing it.  Really bittersweet, honest and lovely.  Speaks to my heart.  Another great song/video I suggest looking up is for their song "Open" but be warned, it's a little bit NSFW.

Playing Catch Up

God, I've been so terribly busy.  I thought trying to juggle school, my photography (both gigs and personal projects) and life happenings wasn't going to be difficult have proved naive as I've been getting my ass kicked and it's been taking its toll.  I didn't think school would take up so much of my time but it has.  My thirst for more photographic knowledge and experience has lead to me spending an insane amount of time inside the school's darkroom and it really has been an exciting time for me but it's wearing me out and I'm near exhaustion.  I'm really late in releasing the last two wedding gigs I did a couple of months ago and I'm near completion so eventually soon, they'll be released so with that said, this entry will show none of those.  This entry will consist of some of my film work (none of which are school related) that were developed months ago that I've just gotten around to scanning.  I know, really late right?  Normally they would've been done a week or two after they've been developed but when these particular rolls from which these photos come from, came before I started school and picked up the gigs that came to me in that time, that they're just now coming out.  Anyway, there's a bit of an arduous process I go through whenever I bring analog photos and take them through their digital process.  That normally entails scanning each roll, then taking each frame and going through them carefully inch by inch, and remove every artifact (dust particles and other things that shouldn't belong on images) with photoshop using the spot healing brush, and then doing minor adjustments for color and what not (that normally doesn't happen thankfully since I'm the kind of person that likes his analog images to stay analog as much as possible).

The wedding stuff is coming soon followed by a shitload of more analog photos since I went mad and decided to just take all the b&w film rolls that were waiting in a bag to be developed, and developed them at school.  At one point I was behind in my actual school work because there were so many rolls.  So that's that.  This post also serves as an update.  I'm still here.  I'm still learning and getting better.  I'm still busy.

Holga CFN w/Red Filter Flash :: Fuji Astia 100F

DeLacy Photoshoot :: Holga CFN :: Fuji Astia 100F

Sausage Bus :: Hasselblad 500C :: Fuji Reala 100

Stepping Off :: Hasselblad 500C :: Fuji Reala 100

Junkyard :: Diana Mini :: Ilford Delta 400

Mamiya C330 :: Ilford Pan F 50

Hollywood Harley :: Mamiya C330 :: Ilford Pan F 50

Bartender Style :: Mamiya C330 :: Ilford Pan F 50

2 Down, 2 More To Go! A Catalina Wedding

I know that I had promised this post for a while now and I apologize that this is coming a bit late.  I've been REALLY busy lately as I've gone back to school and have started my classes.  I'm taking a couple of photography classes with the eventual plan of getting myself into the realm of photojournalism.  The classes I'm taking so far are, for the most part, review given my experience level in photography but it's also exciting.  One class deals with film photography and although I've shot film most of my life, and prefer to choose film over digital personally, I've always used labs to develop my film for convenience and lack of darkroom experience.  So with that said, I've taken any free time that I do have and using that by spending time in the dark room to gain more experience with film and print development and it's been SUPER FUN!  But that's another story...

I would like to give this particular entry its' deserving details but unfortunately all the time I've spent in school, dark room time and all, it's catching up to me and I'm really worn out so I'll keep it brief.  As I've said in my previous entry, this was my first time in Catalina and I loved every minute of it.  Shooting this wedding with my friend Pamela was an honor and a joy, as it is always, and the wedding itself was really grand.  It took place in the theater of the Casino, followed by the reception in the ballroom of the upper level.  The theme of the wedding was really cool.  It had this old 30s-40s jazzy theme that I adored and given the history and architecture of the Casino itself, it really worked well.  Outside of what was going on outside of the venue, it really felt like I was taken back in time to Catalina circa 1930.  The ballroom was breathtakingly beautiful with its' chandelier hanging in the middle of the ballroom as its' centerpiece.  Jazz was being played during the reception courtesy of the big band jazz band that was hired to play that was rather lovely.  The last time I heard a big band jazz group was many years ago in Santa Barbara and it's always great to hear that music.

Fun was had by all.  I had the chance to work another wedding, a very beautiful and romantic one I have to add, got to work with my friend and a favorite photographer of mine again, Pamela Masters, got to visit Catalina for my first time and even had a ghostly encounter.  That story was promised but I'll refrain from posting it.  If you want to hear it, you'll have to ask me when we meet (for those of you readers who actually know me).

There were many great photos to look over and I still haven't completed the editing process.  They're mainly from the reception and maybe I'll post those at a later date but I just wanted to go ahead and throw some photos out there since I promised a couple weeks ago that I would.  I generally like to keep things simple so I went in with that in mind when going into this particular edit process.

The Island Nation of Catalina

Avalon Harbor

This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of going to Catalina Island and working with my dear friend, and one of my favorite photographers to work with, Pamela Masters, for a wedding.  This was my first time visiting the island and although I'd like to post about my work on the wedding, this is going to be about my experience of my time there.  The actual wedding work should be posted either the end of this week or sometime next weekend.

Introduction

For those that either don't know about Catalina or have never been, Catalina, sadly, is not a foreign island nation but it sure felt like it and I think it should be!  I took the ferry out of Downtown Long Beach and having not slept much the night before, I took a nap on the hour long ride to the island.  Upon landing, and being a bit dazed and tired, from the first sight of the multiple boats and yachts parked and docked on the water and how the buildings were laid out in the town of Avalon, I was immediately reminded of various pictures of scenic beach towns somewhere in the mediterranean and it becomes more apparent once you set out towards higher ground and overlook the bay to get the real visual much like in the first image above.  Beautiful it looks and one could assume that Avalon and Catalina is a quiet town based upon that, but it's not all that quiet as it is fairly busy.  Mostly filled with weekend vacationers and a mix of locals, you find yourself having to dodge the multiple gas powered golf carts running around the streets, bicycle riders, and a few "slightly" inebriated people.  After having said that, you're suddenly reminded that Catalina is a part of LA County, has an area code of 310, and is 26 miles from Long Beach.  This may appear as a shot at the town and the island itself, but it isn't.  Not totally at least.  If you're looking to get away for the weekend to look for something romantic and quiet, you'll find it here.  If you're getting away for a different kind of excitement, you'll also find it here.  Avalon/Catalina isn't a "this place" or "that place" but it's a place where someone can find what they're looking for.  

Activities

So what's there to do on the island?  Well, there's a multitude of activities one can do and find there.  I wasn't able to do much as I was there mainly for business but I did some research for the next time I visit again (and I DO plan on coming back someday soon).  One could go out and do a bit of parasailing which looked pretty fun from the balcony of the hotel I was staying for one night, but they REALLY take you up high.  You can also do some nature conservation tours where you can see Catalina's famous buffalos amongst other flora and fauna.  Zip lining across the hills of the island is also available.  You can also do some snorkeling and scuba diving if that's your thing and they also provide guided tours of it.  I hear it's rather beautiful and there are plenty of protected reef and kelp reserves on the island.  Descanso Beach is where the day partying happens.  Want to soak in the sun, have a few drinks, while having cheesy pop/dance music blaring in the background?  This is the place.  Ibiza West if you will.  Just not as many drugs and not that many beautiful balearic people there.  The nightlife is a bit lacking.  There are many restaurants and bars around town but nothing to dance to other than Chi Chi Club.  Probably the only velvet rope dance club on the island only there is no velvet rope.  Just cheesy club music you would find in the various velvet rope clubs suffocating Hollywood.  There's also the Casino which I fell in love with upon entering it.  Now, this isn't a casino where gambling takes place.  As I was there for the wedding rehearsal, I had an interesting exchange by an elderly tourist lady just outside the doors of the Casino.  It went like this:

Old tourist lady:  Where's the casino?
Me: You're looking at it.
Old tourist lady:  *perplexed look* Ok.  So where are the slot machines?!"
Me: Oh I'm sorry.  This isn't a casino where gambling takes place.  The word casino means a place of gathering.  *points to sign on window noting it isn't a gambling casino* This is actually a theater and there's a ballroom upstairs.
Old tourist lady:  *annoyed look* *walks away*
Me: Oooook.

So, if you're looking for gambling, the Casino doesn't have it which is weird right?  I mean an island 26 miles off the coast of California SHOULD have some sort of gambling but Catalina isn't Monaco.  That's why I think Catalina should be annexed, and turned into the Island Nation of Catalina!  All joking aside, what you will find at the Casino is a theater where they show movies at 6pm and they do have guided tours AND a ghost tour because apparently, the Casino is haunted and I had a paranormal experience there working the reception and I wasn't the only one.  More on that in the next blog...

Casino Interior

Casino Interior 2

Casino Ballroom All of these various activities can be reserved at the Catalina Express landings prior to visiting the island, or on the island itself.  You can also bring some fishing gear and fish on the island if you're into that sort of thing.  Although there is one pier (that I know of) on the island, you can probably book a private boat to take you out and fish in deeper waters.  You can also rent a golf cart for $40 an hour and drive around the island along the scenic route, dangerously if you want as we sort of did on our final day, which is a fun experience. Wait...buffalos you say?! So...funny story.  Let me take you back to the Great Buffalo Debate of 2007.  In December of 2007, I decided to celebrate my birthday in San Francisco and me and my friends took the road trip to one of my favorite cities.  As we were on the 101 just before Santa Barbara, if I remember correctly, the details are a bit hazy, but the topic of Catalina AND/OR buffalos came up and I said something along the lines of "That's impossible because they're extinct.  We hunted them out of existence." My friend Alex said that they aren't extinct and that there are buffalos on Catalina.  I was felt sure I was right or else I wouldn't have said it.  Apparently I say alot of things that I think are right but end up being wrong.  They're known as "Q facts".  These days I am guilty of "Q facts" but not as much as before as I do my best to curb that.  Anyway, I digress, so we each got out our iPhones and started Googling it.  Obviously, in the end, I was wrong and what I once thought was fact, ended up being another Q fact.  Being that this was my first time being on Catalina, it would be great for me to see these actual beasts in person.  I had this funny thought of going out on one of the tours, taking a photo of the buffalo, and texting the picture back to some friends with txt saying "Q facts".  Sadly, that never happened as when I did have the free time on my last day there to do something, we went out on our little crazy and fun golf cart ride around the island.  The only buffalo I did see was this guy: Hanging on the wall of Antonio's Pizzaria.  Apparently there's two Antonio's and for the sake of definition, this is Antonio's I (as the other Antonio's, Antonio's II on the main road, I did not visit). In Closing... I was really pleased with my experience on Catalina and I've become rather smitten by the Island.  If you've never been to the Island, I highly recommend going to get away from town.  It's close enough that you can find your bit of peace AND a bit of excitement and not have to travel far out like San Francisco or the many national parks within this great state of California.  I'm quite sure that upon your first visit, you'd join me in my thought and idea of annexing Catalina so it can be the great island nation it could be!

This Is Why I Like Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

“And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can — we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems." - Bill Nye on evolution deniers

Oh and this too...

Nice little nod to Morrissey.

Untitled Project

Every now and then, I come up with various photo ideas.  Some come to fruition, while others get scrapped.  Most of the time, those that come to fruition, go into a sort of test phase where I have a preliminary go at it to see if execution will do my idea/project justice and this happens to be one of them.  This project of mine has been brewing for some time now and I started work on it a couple of months back and am now just getting around to seeing the work and I have mixed feelings about them. It's not that I don't like them.  Quite the contrary.  Many of the photos came out pretty good.  It's just that at this particular go, it doesn't meet the original idea I had.  A good part of it was execution.  I gave it some thought before shooting but not enough to get the details down right and that's where I went wrong.  I'm not going to go into details of the idea/project but it is something that I will continue to work on in the (near) future.  Not sure if I want to redo this one particular shoot.  Maybe I will, maybe I won't.  I just may very well keep it for reference.  A big thank you to my friend Vanessa M. for helping me out and being my subject for the day.  All photos shot on my Hasselblad using Fuji Reala 100.  Suggestions/critiques are always greatly appreciated.