New Mexico and the VLA

After we finished shooting the movie in Roswell New Mexico, Alec, Fantina and I traveled around the state. We spent some time time in Albuquerque light painting, then we took a road trip to the VLA (Very Large Array) made famous by the movie Contact. But first we stopped by the world famous Old Bar.

Nezbit Blue, A fellow diner in Roswell NM. He really like the earth bread. 

Light-painting Alec in Albuquerque.

Owl Bar 77 US Highway 380 San Antonio NM Known for their Green Chilli Cheese Burgers.

 Very Large Array  (not a very original name)

We look like refugees

To give you a idea of how big these are, at the bottom of the photo is a fence that is about 8 feet high.

Interrogation

When my friend Alec asked me if I wanted to come shoot his movie at the Roswell Film Shootout I didn't even hesitate to say yes. We spent the craziest week producing and wrangling talent with his co director Fantina Becker, I think we got a bout one hour of sleep the entire time we were there. How the shootout works is you have 3 days for shooting 3 days for editing and on the 7th day you submit it for judging and you screen it for the festival. With the help of an amazing crew we made a movie called "Interrogation" starring Dominic Batista, Luce Rains, Bill Sterchi, and Monique Candelaria. The movie ended up winning the Best Director, Best Art Direction, and the Monsters of Filmland Achievement Award.  During the shooting I had to shoot a lot of photo inserts for the movie. They only got about 3 seconds of screen time but I really like the way they turned out.

Matteo BTS

Here is a video shot by my friend Jun Shim showing the behind the scenes of a Matteo photo shoot. By putting the beds on the wall we are able to create a visual style that is instantly recognizable as a Matteo product, while maintaining the bed form. I am really pleased with the way the photos turned out and I am very happy that Matteo was willing to take the risk and shoot their products in a new way. I feel that it has a really great look and I just love the way the fabric hangs, each piece is like a piece of art. Visit the Matteo website to see more shots matteohome.com

New York

I love New York! There was a time when I was thinking of living there. After living in LA for five years now I don't think I could handle the seasons. But I would love to live there for the photography, not only can you soot without a permit but you can take power off the street too. I was there for a couple days in June on my way up to Maine. While I was there i saw photo opportunities around every corner. It is the time of the year when the sun lines up with the streets creating amazing light. I was kicking myself for not organizing a shoot. But then I met Silja Ahonen a Finnish Rhythmic Gymnastics champion in New York for a couple of days. Why she trusted me who knows, what matters is that we got some really great shots. We almost missed the sun, but we got there just in time to get the golden light and long shadows. After we lost the sun we went to Times Square where we did some shots in the crowds. Then we went into the center of Times Square, The scene was Insane! Being in times square at 8:30 pm was really intense we had easily 200 people around us in a tight circle and everyone was taking pictures of us or her rather. So my background was pretty limited, I decide to throw on the 70-200 and work with all of the lights that were there. I am really happy with how they turned out. Considering there was a couple wearing duck camouflage hats, cut off flannel shirts and both with a cheek full of tobacco directly behind her.

Urban Lily Yoga

When Elinore of Urban Lily Yoga (www.urbanlilyyoga.com) came to me and said she wanted to shoot her entire roster of teachers I was excited about the opportunity to shoot so much talent at one time. The theme? Flash dance! Awesome! I thought, a bunch of wet yoga teachers. But that idea was scratched, for obvious reasons, and because there was only one iyengar yoga teacher (they use props like chairs).  We went with a little more realistic scenario.

We kept the dramatic lighting, leggings and attitude. I went with a dark background to emphasize the highlights. A wooden floor without mats because the reflections of color were so nice. The clothes were supplied by Chakras by Didi (http://www.chakrasbydidi.com), a local yoga clothing designed. We shot two nights in a row and everyone showed up on time and were amazing. We did three poses per girl for a total of 5-7 minutes per girl so we were shooting pretty fast. We managed to get everyone shot but we were easily staying till 11pm each night. It was so worth it I had a blast and the girls got some great shots.

Alaska Models

 Finding models, or a least people comfortable in front of a camera in Alaska is hard to do. Before heading up there I tried to find modeling agencies (ha) that might have some decent models, Then I tried craigslist (wow) still nothing. Its not like I was looking for a runway model or anything. I was just looking for some good looking people that look comfortable doing outdoors activities. I didn't know that would be so hard. I kept getting 15 year old girls wanting me to make them a star, and middle age women wanting bondage nude shots. Then I went back to a tried and trusted source from college, model mayhem. Ive used them before but only for test shoots. So I tried, and I got some good results for girls. In Alaska I guess modeling for guys isn't a big thing. who would have known? But I managed to find some good girls that looked athletic. And I decided on a girl named Chantal.

Guys on the other hand were proving a little bit more difficult. I had scheduled a shoot for Saturday and it was already Friday and I still needed a guy. I went into Anchorage to meet up with Chantal to get her fitted for some clothes. I was a little early so I decided to get something to eat at a local sandwich shop. As I ordered my meal a guy walks in with the exact look I want. I sat down and waited for my food he sat near me and we start to talk. He is in town for the summer for an internship with the national parks, he is a nice guy. I tried to steer the conversation towards the fact that I was a photographer and the photo shoot that I was doing tomorrow. Eventually we got to the end of our meals and I, trying not to sound to weird ask Mike if he wanted to come be on the photo shoot. He gave me a tentative maybe. That's all I needed. It was a good sign, he wasn't totally freaked out about the prospect of going up into the isolated mountains with  a complete stranger who he had just met 30 min ago. I will admit I did emphasize the beautiful girl that was going to be alongside him to try and sweeten the whole thing a bit. With just a maybe, I left to go get the Chantal fitted. Counting on Mike coming through I picked him up some clothes and we were ready to shoot, as long as we had a male model the next day. Later that night Mike called me and confirmed. Whew. Now I looked back on it I shouldn't have had any doubts, anyone that comes to Alaska on their own without a place to stay other than hostels, and to work for free, has a sense of adventure. And this photo shoot was just another chapter to add to his Alaska experience. The next day we shot and got some really great stuff. It all came together in the end.

Carlos in Alaska

One of the reasons if not the main reason I am a photographer is because it affords me the opportunity to meet interesting people from all walks of life. As a photographer I get to follow these people and document them and who they are. I am given a glimpse of something or someone that I would never have come across if I had another profession.

In my search for athletic models in Alaska I cam across some very interesting people. one of the most interesting I came across was Carlos Owens. Carlos is a young guy that builds Mechas. A Mecha is a 12ft tall mechanical suit controlled by a pilot inside the body. His Mecha is bipedal with a shoulder mounted nail launcher, and arms mounted with a flame throwers, and hands capable of grasping objects. Carlos spent over 10,000 dollars building his creation. He built  it in his spare time outside  in the dead cold of Alaska winter.

How I found out about Carlos was a total luck. While I was in Wasillia I was reading some articles on the internet when I came across an article on Carlos it was written for an online magazine. It was a short article that talked about Carlos and his activities as a part time inventor. But what struck me the most (besides the fact that he builds giant suits of metal, the article mentioned that Carlos lived in Wasilla Alaska. I am not one to let opportunity and luck pass me by so I did some research and eventually found Carlos' web site. I contacted him expressing my interest to photograph him. After a few hours he called me back and later that day we met up.

I got to see his creations in person, and all I can say is the article hardly did them justice. It was quite a site to see. Carlos showed me his Mechas and his other creations. Besides his mechas he also is in the process of making hoover bikes. Carlos is a man driven by passion he doesn't do the things he does  for money, the only reason he does them is to pursue his own passions.  I only got to spend a couple of hours with Carlos but the time I did spend reminded me of why I love photography. It is a great way to meet people that inspire and remind me why I do photography, not for the money, but for my own passion.