RANDOM SHOTS 6

Twenty-Six Candles

2014-03-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, I'll be twenty-six tomorrow.

Secondly, I really hate to say this, but I'll be discontinuing posting on here for the time being.

Judging from the length and lack of updates, I no longer have the time to be wiring on here anymore courtesy of this taxicab gig and everything else important in my agendas. Also, the blogging trend isn't as hot as it was 8 years ago when I first started blogging. Somehow, my ever constant schedule decreased my desire and interest to write on here.

As I said before, I work at least an average of 12 hours a day, getting six to eight hours of sleep, and the rest of the time, I'm either doing stuff with my family, hanging out at Primitive Shoes and Apparel, feasting at Pizza Rev or In-N-Out, making graphics on Illustrator to escape from stress and/or spending some hours on the phone with the little brother and some close female friends of mine. My time is always occupied, and that shit goes so fucking quick.

I'm supposed to be at Los Angeles International Airport right now picking up people, but I just woke up from over sleeping for three hours since I pulled in extra hours in the middle of the night and I still feel tired. But I have to be there despite the fact that I really hate driving down there and dealing with the headache and the simple-minded ass security down there at the terminals. That place is always corrupt when it comes to going from one terminal to another. And the worst part is the freeways of course. I'm there every five days.

I don't plan on doing this job for a long time. Its something to do on the side until I start getting more relevant in terms of financial stability. Its decent at sometimes and the rest of it is just whatever. That type of shit is like that with every basic ass job. I honestly think not everyone enjoys being at an office desk job wearing a necktie and trying not to get fired from eye-fucking at the young, sexy, female secretary every morning. No disrespect, they're probably working this just to make ends meet for their family, or for themselves until they make enough revenue to venture into investing in their own business of interest. That's what I'm doing with my photograph business. Its not big and hyped out yet, but I'm taking my time to have that happen.

I will say this though. If you don't feel uncomfortable in your work environment, just fucking walkout and find something else to do. Yes, not alot of places are hiring, but you're better off doing something you really like than to have your parents place you somewhere where you make decent money at a place you've never pursued in before. Or better yet, just have some patience while your making money. I've had several jobs in the past 10 years where my co-workers and bosses are just assholes you wanna spit on. That's one of the many challenges in the adult life, and with myself turning twenty-six tomorrow, I have a lot of challenges up ahead later in life.

Another thing is that I'll will be deactivating my Facebook profile after today. Despite the fact that my initial purpose was to showcase my photography work on there, the site just lost its taste. I liked it when I first joined back in 2007 as an alternative to MySpace at the time, but now its totally over-commercialized and the founder of the social network site was on the cover of Time magazine, has more revenue than most of the States in this country and he's not even reached 30 yet. Facebook just sucks now.

If you want to contact me up or send me an unnecessary birthday shoutout, just hit me up on Twitter @justforsneaks or my instagram @justforsneaks07, cause I'm on those two applications alot more everyday on my iPhone 5. Better yet, just send me a text message or give me a call anytime of the day for business inquiries or whatever (if I don't answer, its because I might be driving on the freeway or handling business, so just leave a voice message). My number is 818-736-2986. I might be back on Facebook in the future, not too sure yet. Again, I've been busy alot (real busy, not fake busy) and I really wish I can continue blogging on here every other day, but as I'm getting older to better myself, I just don't have the time to cause typing up one regular blogpost take forever. MY favorite blogger/celebrity jeweler Ben Baller said that he had to stop blogging last year cause he's now focused on his family, his work and his second kid on the way, respectively, so now I know how that is.

Well, for those who have been reading this site since 2009, thanks for your time. I'll leave this active so that y'all can check out the previous blogposts that have been archived for the past five years. (You might want to bookmark this site) Again, if you want photos taken or anything, feel free to contact me. Finally, I just want to leave this Catholic-type saying that I just made up yesterday while driving on Victory and White Oak in Encino:

Save One And Others,
For Ever Given.

Thank you. Blessings.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2014 lineup

2014-01-09T13:14:00.001-08:00

Honestly, they should've have Pharrell's name as the headlining act on the poster instead of Arcade Fire again, which would've been more appealing. Oh, and they're still doing that two weekend thing that falls on April 20th.

New Years Re-Evaluation

2014-01-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

First blogpost of 2014. Barely a week into the new year.

I enjoyed making that end-of year recap list from the previous update. The only things I left out on the list were self flushing urinals and ride-sharing companies such as lyft and Uber, which both got so much play in 2013. I'm curious and unsurprised to see which asshole will get his or her fifteen minutes of hype and vanish away from fame this year (previous notables include Nadya Suleman, Ted Williams, Christopher Dorner, Jon and Kate Gosslin among others). However, I'm glad that the New Years Day frenzy is over already so that we can move forward with our busy-ass lives. Every person I've talked to this past week has been telling me that they didn't much on New Years Eve. Some of them just stayed home and kept it low key as opposed to going to a club with a group of friends just to watch a countdown while getting shit-wasted in mini-skirts and black ties. On weeks prior, I didn't even know what I was planning on doing for New Years Eve, until I actually did something useful.

I visited the moms on Christmas Day and that was my first time seeing her since my 25th birthday back in March. She said that she got these non-refundable tickets to a New Years Eve party down in Coronado Island next to San Diego and that she also booked a suite which she claims that it was hard to get while every other room was booked for that week. In the past few years, my moms has been telling me about Coronado Island and that how she and my siblings always goes there every so often. I've never been there before, but I decided to tag along since she went through a lot to always take advantage of the finer opportunities in life for myself (she even brought that up during the drive down there). Plus the other reason I went is just to escape Los Angeles for a bit.

So it was me, the moms, and one of the little sisters that traveled down south of California on the I-5 freeway while my other two siblings went to my uncle's new crib on New Years Eve. The fog became totally thick as we approached Oceanside and then it cleared up later when we got to downtown San Diego. We then crossed the San Diego-Coronado bridge which I always see whenever I used to visit San Diego and but it looked kinda cool at night. After we crossed the bridge to Coronado, that's when the fog started to kick in. The town was very quiet and empty as we drove around, and this was about 7:30PM when we arrived.

We then got to this hotel we were gonna stay at. The moms went to go check in and told us that the suite we were gonna crash at had already been taken, but they did give us a small room with a kitchen and a refrigerator, so we went with that anyways. There was no reception at Coronado but they did have free wi-fi at the hotel which was a bonus. As we got to our room, my mother said that we have to go to the New Years Eve party that she told me about. So I changed into my black Primitive Apparel crew neck sweatshirt and took my Nikon SLR with me as we left.

I thought the New Years Eve party was gonna be at some ballroom filled with several well-doing adults in their forties and fifties since Coronado is an affluent community, but instead, the party was at a bowling alley filled with conservative families and their kids. Its was so PG rated. When we got to the bowling alley, I thought the moms was gonna see some bowling schedules or something since bowling is one of her hobbies, but she told me that this was the party she mentioned. Now if this event took place around 6 years ago, the 19-year-old me would've been very pissed and upset for traveling a hundred miles just to go to a party like that, but the present day me just decided to make use of it. The cosmic bowling New Years Eve party consisted of unlimited bowling and free food and endless fountain drink refills. Also, they were playing tons of 80's and alternative 90's music videos on a screen throughout the night. Most of the videos they played were songs I haven't heard in forever. They also had, of course, Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve with Ryan Seacrest televised on one of bowling score video monitors. We had to bowl with this young couple and their kid because the party had this social aspect to meet new and different people. These were families that looked like they came straight from the Reagan presidency era in the mid 1980's. I'm talkin' collared-sweatshirt, station wagon driving, Sunday School going, "learning valuable lessons at the end of the episode" type families that you rarely see in the Valley, and it was slightly diverse with different races there.

We bowled for 5 straight hours and the moms continued for another hours as me and my sister looked back in our childhood from watching the music videos that were being played. Obviously, they did the obligatory countdown and drank Sparkling Cider (the party was PG rated) as the families pulled down the balloons hanging above the lanes to ring in 2014. I actually enjoyed it for once, despite it being family oriented. When we finished, the fog had already kicked in when we got back to my sisters car and safely drove back to the hotel.

On the morning of New Years Day, we woke up very late and then started packing up to drive back to Los Angeles. I was researching Coronado Island on my iPhone 5 to see what's there to do in that place. Then I read about the Hotel Del Coronado, which is a famous, historic, hotel that every US President and actors from Hollywood's golden age stayed at since it was built. I then told my mother about it and she agreed to drive down there for a bit. The Hotel Del Coronado island was right next to a beach and me and the little sister went to go check it out as the moms slept in the car. The beach is quite awesome and there were alot of people there. The temperature was at 70 degrees that afternoon. I spent my time there taking photos and some video of the beach and the exterior of Hotel Del Coronado. My biggest regret was not going inside to check it out cause I forgot to look for the entrance. Later on, we drove around Coronado for a bit and that place looks similar to Marina Del Rey. Then we gassed the car up and headed back to reality in Los Angeles. It was a good trip, yet I spent it with family which I haven't done in a while.

Here are some of the images I took down there

The New Years Eve traffic south on the 405 Freeway (also known as the San Diego Freeway). Riding shotgun in the Air Jordan 1 retro "Black Toes". I didn't drive throughout the whole trip, which was rare and good.

Downtown San Diego while crossing the San Diego-Coronado bridge.

Cosmic Bowling lanes in full effect.

The families and setup for the New Years Eve party.

We made strikes and spares (and some gutters) for 5 straight hours. That's a long ass time.

This photograph, to me, has this Space Mountain/Club MTV style atmosphere.

Ultraviolet Black Lights among the lanes.

Glasses of Sparkling Cider. If this wasn't family oriented, these would've been champagne.

The thick ass fog as we approach my sister's car.

Checking out Coronado in the daytime.

New Years Revelation written in sand.

This is Bill Pavlacka in the white cap and t-shirt building a sandcastle with these two girls. I didn't talk to him that day cause he was busy showing kids how to build sandcastles, but I learned that this bloke builds them at the beach near Hotel Del Coronado either for a living or for fun, or both. I was amazed to see his creativity in building these large sand castles. Here's his website The SandCastle Man

The legendary Hotel Del Coronado.

The horizon, and Mexico is less than 20 minutes from there.

Anyway, that was my New Years Day recap. I also did another long drive last Sunday down to Palm Springs for some business. I've been to that area before (Coachella, Tamale festival) but this was my first time driving down there instead of carpooling. I actually enjoyed the 2 and a half hour drive there, which took place at night. I would like to do more of those cause once in a while, escaping LA for a bit is pleasing. I need to learn how to take vacations alot more.

Thanks for your time reading this, and have a blessed, fun Twenty-Fourteen.

2013 Year in Review: Final Thoughts

2013-12-31T12:43:00.002-08:00

So it comes down to this again. Another New Years Eve today and another year in review recap..

I really don't know if I'll ever see myself blogging again like I used to when I started dong this seven years ago (four years on this site). I honestly do not have the time anymore. Everyday, I'm always either driving around The Valley and the city of Los Angeles for 12 hours a day, doing a photosession and editing the images for several hours, and/or setting time aside to just helping out with my family when they need it. I'm also finding myself getting 4 to 5 hours a sleep every other night and its getting really tough to wake up in the morning. I was told the adult life gets more harder and challenging as you get older, and I started to realized that a lot more this past year from my everyday agendas I just mentioned. I bring this up alot because is damn true.

However, I still like to type stuff like this on here. There were many good bloggers in the past that I used to read their thoughts until they stopped cause they have moved on forward to other important matters in their lives. Another thing I noticed this past year is that time GOES BY SO MOTHERFUCKING QUICK. I'm serious. It felt like a few minutes ago until you realize that its just happened seven hours ago. Maybe its how the mind processes or something. This past year was obviously a lot different than any other years I've experienced. I guess were supposed to work and grind alot in our twenties just to make a decent living for future years. In 2012 I was working, but not as much as this year. Probably three times the work ethic than last year. Moving from Sylmar after living there for two years back to my pops house fits in as one of the occurrences of 2013.

December has always been a busy ass month, including this December that's ending today. There were a lot of fantastic events I would be very excited to type about, such as my Christmas day, The Hundreds & V/SUAL by Van Styles Street Meet photowalk I went to a few weeks ago, and a Quinceanera that I covered two weeks ago with my ex-photography boss up in Lancaster, but again, I didn't have the time to write about it. If this happened in 2009, then I would've typed it the following day after the events. But that was back when I was always at home. Now I'm always doing something. As I'm typing this, I'm doing laundry at my pops house and I'm waiting for the moms to come pick me up cause she wants me to accompany her and the little sister to San Diego for New Years Eve later today. Then again, its always better to do something and stay active, just don't over do it.

As far as the year 2013, it was quite a unique, interesting year full of unpredictability and more-than-average moments. Just like i did in the 2011 recap, I'll just bring up some one-liners recapping this past year, in no particular order.

- that Christopher Dorner manhunt

- Five-panel hats

- Samsung Galaxy S4 and two new iPhone that always looked the same

- Playstation 4 over the Xbox One

- Tesla Model S for rich people

- North West

- Bubblehead billboards

- Kevin Hart is the undisputed, unstoppable stand-up comedian

- Snapchat explodes

- Vine= Six seconds of weird, entertaining talent

- Ariana Grande tho....

- the black out during Super Bowl XLVII

- Lebron James gets a second NBA championship

- Kanye West and the People's Republic of China made Jimmy Kimmel apologize in public

- contract-less mobile phone plans

- This bloke George Zimmerman....

- pictures of Grand Theft Auto V video game covers flooding on everybody's instagram feed

- Miley twerkin'-ass Cyrus (she became legal to drink tho...)

- Breaking Bad and Dexter series finales was more important than everything you were taught from your Sunday School teacher

- Gravity = two A-list actors throughout the whole entire film (probably the best cinema I've ever watched in my life) No extras, no bullshit.

- Magna Carta Holy Grail

- Electric car driving, Silver Lake residing Eric Garcetti as the new mayor of Los Angeles

- Vaping pens, Vape lounges, and everything "Vape life"

- everybody creating a t-shirt line with a fine ass (literally and figuratively) model and Adobe Illustrator

- Dr. Jerry Buss and Nelson Mandela's passing

- The Weeknd's debut album Kissland

- Shutdown of the Government

- 15 seconds of video selfies on instagram

- iOS 7

- George Lucas sells his Star Wars franchise to The Walt Disney Company

- Original programming on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon

That's all I can think of for now. Again, it was a unique, blessed year in 2013. Even though New Years Day celebrations looks overhyped to me with all the crazy drunk shit, it also shows as a reminder that you can toss away the stuff from last year and renew yourself in the new year differently. Thanks again for your time reading this. Blessings.

Sam Martin Photography

2013-12-20T19:25:00.001-08:00

One week ago, my two inspirational photographers/bloggers, Van Styles and Bobby Hundreds of The Hundreds, put together this photo walk event in Santa Monica called The Hundreds and V/SUAL by Van Styles Street Meet. I'll discuss that more in the next blog update, but for this one, I just want to show support to one of the photographers I met there.

The photographer's name is Sam Martin, and his work is excellent. His photos that he took at last weeks Street Meet caught my attention and interest. Hell, he even took two candid shots of myself that were brilliant. Again, I'll post my images from the Street Meet in the next update, yet for now, here are some samples of his work and show some courtesy and feedback by checking out his websites in the links below.

Website: http://expandingmindsproject.wordpress.com/

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/111584216@N05/

Annamarie Rhyne's Graduation Party images, October 19, 2013

2013-12-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

I'm very late on uploading this, so blame my crazy schedule runs.

I had the privilege to attend my friend Annamarie's graduation party back in October. She completed a Nursing program that she's been taking and I went to congratulate and show support for her culmination. While being there, I was talking to her friends and her family members and having great conversations with them, and they also served Tamales that were delicious. Here are some of the few images I took with my Nikon 35mm film SLR. Must respect and thanks to Annamarie.

Growing and Going So Fast

2013-12-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

Obviously, I don't like deaths. I don't like to hear about celebrities in the news that much more. I don't even like hearing about celebrity deaths.

But Paul Walker's death last Saturday was tragic. His life abruptly ended from a car accident at Santa Clarita that he was riding. The worst part was that he was riding shotgun instead of behind the wheel. I do not know him personally and I've never met or seen him in person, yet, that dude was in several well known films, as well as the Fast and Furious franchise for the past 12 years.

I vividly remember the first ever Fast and Furious movie that dropped when I was in 7th grade (going on to 8th grade) back in 2001. I didn't watch it until two years later during my sophomore year in high school. My homeboy Cory was planning to bring a brick of DVDs to class on this one Friday in homeroom when we weren't scheduled to read books on that day. However, there was no DVD player in the classroom, so I volunteered to provide my brother's Playstation 2 to be used as the DVD Player. The following week, just as I disconnected the Playstation 2 to take to school, both of my parents got very heated and started going off about viewing movies in school, especially at the part when I told them that my homeroom teacher wanted me to bring a DVD player since there was none in the classroom. So my parents made me take the DVD player from the big screen TV instead so that my brother's console wouldn't get jacked or something. That shit was heavy.

So I brought the unit to class and Cory selected the first Fast and Furious video to watch in the class. Again, that was my first time watching this film and already, it got me entertained. We only saw the first 20 minutes of it cause that's how long homeroom lasted. After school, I went back to my homeroom to pick up my family's heavy-ass DVD player to take back home. I had to walk home by carrying that shit. I placed the unit and connected it back to the big screen TV as I got home later. Then afterwards that evening, my pops called me and found Cory's Fast and Furious DVD that was left in there. I thought that he was gonna flip when he saw that, but he just gave it to me without saying a thing. I had to wait till Monday to give it back to Cory, so I figured I watch the rest of the movie during the weekend until them. I thought that was a cool ass movie, with alot of street racing action coming from Paul Walker and Vin Diesel's characters in the film.

I didn't think that this film would keep having countless sequels later throughout the forthcoming years. I watched the Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift which was just fucking shit. To me, I kept thinking that the producers should quit making these Fast and Furious films since its showing that Hollywood is out of creative ideas and just turning hit movies into brands and franchises as financial gain. Again, it was very sad to hear about what happened to Paul Walker. They were still in the middle of production and Principal photography for the seventh Fast and Furious film which is scheduled to be released sometime next year. My guess is that they will have to continue production by alternating the script which "writes off" Paul Walker's character from the movie or just re-shoot the entire seventh movie again. From a filmmaker's perspective, that shit is alot of money and time to re-shoot a film. Very emotional to many just from hearing this. Hope the best for Paul Walker's family and the Fast and Furious cast and production crew.

That, along with hearing about motherfuckers getting jumped and ran over for a $75 big screen TV set at various stores during Black Friday, was the only downfall of that Thanksgiving weekend. The rest of that weekend was mostly positive.

During Thanksgiving, I mostly spent it with the family, just the pops and the siblings. I picked up the little brother from LAX, with my step-mom's Benz instead of the Taxicab, since he was visiting for the weekend from his University in the east coast. Haven't seen him since he left back in August. It was great catching up with him again. I was planning on going to my homegirl Amber's house for Thanksgiving again this year, but my pop's wife is out of the country for now, so I stayed home to keep my pops company for Thanksgiving. We had the usual blessing and Thanksgiving dinner in the dining table. Its been forever since we've done that. The next day on Friday, I worked at the airport and it was fucking slow. Spent hours in the taxicab holding lot waiting to be sent to a terminal. I picked up a few trips from LAX that entire Friday which was alright.

On Saturday, I went to the bank, the car wash for the Prius since it rained the previous day, and then to Primitive Shoes and Apparel to pick up some t-shirts. I was there the Saturday before for the release of their collaboration pack that the did with DJ Clark Kent and Nike SB. I originally was gonna pick up some of Primitive's Holiday '13 gear that Saturday, but I figured I'd give it a shot to try out for obtaining those Nike SB's. After standing in line for an hour, I went in only to find out that all the large sizes (I'm a size 12) were sold. The only had a 11.5 left which was the biggest. I tried it on, in which it fits. The disadvantage was that the show was too damn tight and a bit light for my feet. Instead, I just copped a t-shirt and a Primitive X New Era that goes with those shoes. Not to be confused, I got the hat and t-shirt two Saturdays ago, and I was at Primitive the recent Saturday just to some more shirts. I'm always there.

The line from the DJ Clark Kent X Nike SB X Primitive 112 collab release. I showed up late which is why I wasn't able to get my size.

Like I said, instead of those shoes, I picked up a Primitive X New Era fitted with a 3M reflective bill and one of Primitive Apparel's new t-shirts from the Holiday '13 line, featuring the "Paint Splatter" design.

Another Primitive Apparel t-shirt that I purchased two days ago. This is the "Lazy Sunday" t-shirt. I decided to get this in the Sea Foam color since I have several black t-shirts featuring Primitive's sexy models.

After that I stopped by Mulberry Street Pizzeria to get a quick slice of Pizza and then I drove off to Pacoima to my highschool classmate Marissa's place for her oldest daughter's birthday party. Before I landed there, I stopped at Target to get some coloring books and crayons for her kid, as well as some balloons for the other kids that were gonna attend. This was my second time being there. I was there two months earlier for her other twin daughter's birthday party. But this one for her oldest daughter was great. Had some conversations with Marissa's family members and ate alot of the food they provided. I didn't take too many photos there, but here's one of them:

Marissa getting a pretend glitter tattoo by her daughter during the birthday party.

Later that night, I went to my friend Natasha's crib, another old high school classmate of mine, at the other side of the Valley. I brought my copy of the Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Blu-Ray video to watch with her since she's never watched it. I also hooked her up with the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides movie poster that I got from the private World Premiere viewing at the El Capitan Theater a week before it officially came out two years ago and I lent her the DVD version of the film since the video is a Blu-Ray/DVD combination pack. Also in attendance was her boyfriend and her daughter. Its was great catching up with them again. Thank's again Natasha for inviting me.

I'll end this post here. I'll got another tight week ahead of me in this last month of the year. I'll update this blogsite whenever I have some fresh extra time. Thanks for your time reading this.

Weekday Update

2013-11-19T14:41:00.001-08:00

As of right now, I'm currently in the middle of a packed agenda for today. I just came back from the YMCA in Porter Ranch, courtesy of the 1 week free guest pass, and now I have to drive over the hill to pick up customers at LAX Airport for the rest of this Tuesday. I haven't been into the Y (as they now call it) in 12 years. I went to take advantage of their gym by lifting weights and running on their treadmills, cause I don't want to build up calories by sitting on my ass in a Prius for about 12 hours a day, so I'm only doing this just to keep the body active. The uninteresting part is that I have to stay away from fast food joints and Mulberry Street Pizza for a while and focus on a consuming healthier stuff and drinking lots of water.

I thought that I would take the time to keep this blog relevant and update y'all on some quick things. I have been very busy as usual for the past several days. I just got a new printer/scanner/copier at the new Wal-Mart in Simi Valley, which is across from the Walgreens that I used to do security at 4 years ago when it was being built. I was actually coming from Ventura Country to escape the Valley for a bit and then I chilled at the San Buenaventura State Beach as I was there. Man, I used to go there all the time when I lived in Oxnard back in the Summer of 2006. Before I went to the 805 (Ventura County's area code), I was in Malibu, and then I was planning on taking the Pacific Coast Highway all the way up to Ventura County, but the tires on the Prius were almost and I didn't feel comfortable driving on the PCH in that condition, so I just stayed on the 101 Freeway to get to Ventura. After that on my way back home, I took the 23 Freeway to the 118 Freeway and then that when I decided to cop the printer. It's kinda unusual for Simi Valley to have two Wal-Marts within a 2 mile radius, but to each is their own.

As far as the new printer, I really like it. Its extremely fast in printing Microsoft Word documents and scanning the images is alot clearer than my old printer/scanner. I got it for $60. They had one for about 40 dollars I think, but I wanted a printer with a bit more performance. I could've got that same model for a lower price during Wal-Mart's "Black Friday" sales next week, but I don't feel like staying in a long ass line and risk getting ran over by some mothers who only live off their ex-husband's credit cards once the doors open. Plus, nowadays, the stores now open on Thanksgiving Day instead of the following Friday morning at 6AM. Well, all I can say is that the economy for the past few years has done some interesting shit in corporate businesses. Now that I got a decent printer, my schedule is gonna be more compressed than before.

Here are a few images I photographed from that day..

Stopped at Malibu for a bit while driving on the PCH from Santa Monica.

The Pacific Ocean along with the sunset from San Buenaventura State Beach

An Ansel Adams-ish type image of two women strollin' along the coast

Seagulls just flyin' and chillin' as usual

The HP Deskjet 2542 printer/scanner/copier and some I picked up after coming from Ventura, along with some photopaper (which I got from the Target behind the Wal-Mart) and regular printing paper.

Some of the images I tested out printing of some friends I photographed.

I also copped a desk lamp from Wal-Mart as well.

Here's a video I took demonstrating the printer by printing out a high resolution image I took of Miley Cyrus at the Bolt red carpet premiere I covered 5 years ago, back when I doing paparazzi work.

Speaking of which, here's another video of I took on the red carpet covering the Bolt world premiere. Damn, already 5 years ago this week. Time fucking flies.

Anyway, like I said, just wanted to give a brief update so far. I still have several photographs I'm working on. Just halfway there finishing up on Allegra Figueroa's's baby shower which I'm currently touching up, then to scan and touch up two birthday parties I photographed this summer, and finally to develop and process my friend's kids Halloween parade photos and a my friend's daughters birthday party I took pictures at. So much work, but it gots to be done. If you're not doing something, do anything. Thanks for your time reading this.

Tim Middleton Lifestyle Photosession

2013-11-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

Recently, a few weeks ago, I did a photoshoot of my friend Tim in around Encino and Lake Balboa. I met him on Twitter around two years ago and then in person a year later at Primitive Shoes and Apparel, which we both have the same interest there among other things like women and sneakers. Its been a while since I did a legit photosession.

The only difference with this session and my previous ones is that these photos were taken with my iPhone 5, because due to my busy schedule, I didn't have time to drive down to Samy's Camera or any other photography store to by some rolls of film for my Nikon N70 camera, which I was originally going to use for this. Anyway, the photos turned out great and it was also great working with Tim on capturing these images of him.

Support and follow up on Tim at these links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tim_818

Instagram: http://instagram.com/tim818

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tim818

Tumblr: http://freshavenue.tumblr.com/

Those That Unlikes The Rest

2013-11-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

As unsurprisingly always, I haven't been updating this blogsite for almost the past month. October has been such a packed month that I haven't had at least 2 full days of rest. My sleeping pattern had gotten fucked up and also I find myself still averaging 110 miles a day while driving. Fuel consumption wise, I know that's nothing since I drive a Prius, but shit, I'm somewhere stuck in traffic everyday. Also I'm at LAX picking up people every five days and that is one of the busiest days for me. Its weird cause everytime my assigned airport day approaches, it felt like I was just at the Airport the previous day. In this taxicab job, time goes by VERY quick. Again, I'm only doing this as a side job for now while I'm still focused on photography.

Speaking of LAX, there was shooting incident that just happened over there a few hours ago today as they reported a TSA employee was shot dead at the Virgin America terminal inside the airport. Then all kinds of shit broke lose as the FAA had to ground arriving flights and evacuate passengers who were about to board on their flights to start their weekend vacation or whatever business travels they have to do. I had to mention this cause again, I'm always at that airport every week picking up people (or dropping them off sometimes) and I even typed about my dispute with one of the security there last year.

The Los Angeles International Airport is one the biggest and most important airports in this country, if not the world. Its a gateway entry to the United States for those coming from various countries around the world. In the eight and a half months of picking up customers from there, I got more appreciated at LAX as much as I use to dislike going there before I started driving taxicabs. I've met all kinds of different people from many different states and countries. Hell, I've driven people who have never been to the United States before and I'm one of the first people that they encounter in this country. I've had some who don't even speak a word of English which was very challenging. But to have an incident like the one that just happened there earlier is the very last headline you do not want to hear. From reading the updated news (from various different sources), they said that the bloke just started firing at the security checkpoint and as I'm typing this, the announced that the shooter himself was killed.

It really sucks to hear and discuss about this. Everywhere you go, there's always some type of person that unexpectedly crashes the party and destroys the fun for no unanswered reason. There's all kinds of different people out there, with different personalities. Some desperately want attention while there are some that do not want to be bothered. I was planning on creating a blogpost this past week, but this shit just unexpectedly happened and I wanted to bring it up. Thankfully, I'm not working at the Airport today, yet, that shit blows if I was assigned to work there today.

Aside from all that, I haven't been writing or uploading photos on Facebook too much. I still have hundreds of images that I planned to share on there, but it just that I need to find the right time to work on them due to my crazy schedule. Working on photos to scan, retouch, process, edit and upload takes up so much time. There are time when it even takes me a full day just to work on one event. So keep a lookout for those photographs. I'm also mostly on Instagram and Twitter alot more, so stay in touch with me on those two social networks and please leave some supportive feedback, which is great.

Twitter: @justforsneaks
Instagram: @justforsneaks07

I'm planning on creating two more instagram profiles and a possibility of returning to Tumblr again just to showcase and promote my work. Stay tuned for that as I discuss that later this month. Since its now November, there's gonna be at least 3 different birthdays everyday and corporate companies are gonna push the shit out of manipulating.... I mean promoting and flooding everyone with the "holiday spirit". I don't even wanna talk about the holidays right now, cause as seriously dull as it sounds, I have work that needs to be finished so that I can take my own holiday break.

I'll end this post here. I have to go take the little brother's Ford Taurus to get it serviced right now. Thanks for your time reading this and have a fun, safe November.

That Holy Water Thirst...

2013-10-07T18:53:00.001-07:00

Wow. No comment.

Speaking of films, I saw Gravity last night. I'll discuss it along with the rest of the weekend recap tomorrow or Wednesday.

That Was The Same

2013-09-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

After this past weekend, Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook is all like: "These fucks bought the same phone... AGAIN!"

Apparently, the new iPhones, the 5s and the 5c models, were released last Friday. Both of them replaced the iPhone 5, which is the current mobile device that I have. I watched the keynote presentation that introduced the devices and to be realistic, there wasn't that much of surprises.

Most of the features on the phone were already mentioned and leaked out by the Apple rumor sites since the iPhone 5 was introduced a year ago. They were spilling out stuff like Apple is supposedly making a cheap plastic version of the iPhone, which incase is the iPhone 5c. Then they also said other stuff such as the next flagship iPhone is gonna come in gold. I didn't believe that part at first, but apparently, Apple did released a gold version of the iPhone 5s. In other words, about at aleast 80% of the information on the rumor sites are legit nowadays. I remember back when the late Steve Jobs was around and back during my days working at the Apple Store 5 years ago, rumor sites were just rumor sites. At that time, if they did leak something from Apple that was legitimate, then they would have to scrap that design prototye and start on a new one. It mostly coincides with their notebooks and iPods, but with their cell phones, they have to show the actual products months in advance so that the Federal Communications Commission and the government have to approve it before it sells.

I checked out both iPhones the day after it was released and to me, they were pretty much the same as my current iPhone 5. I think the difference makes more sense if you're into fast graphics First Person Shooting games on the device now that it comes with the new A7 processor, but other than that, its still the same device. The only new feature that got me interested was the ability to shoot slow motion video on the camera app thanks to its ability to shoot video footage in 120 frames per second. That shit was tight.

The iPhone 5c in person does look like a kids toy, and it also looks like an iPod Touch with a big ass case. I really don't see too many people using the iPhone 5c. I think they should've released that phone to lower end, affordable no-contract providers like Metro PCS or Virgin Mobile, so that it can really distinct itself from the high end, rich-looking iPhone 5s. I think what they also should've done is make the Gold color only exclusive to one cell phone company like AT&T, who were the original providers for the iPhone since day one. Yet, that won't happen cause according to Tim Cook, he and the company wants that device to be accessible and used by more people thank before. In other words, he just wants to kick Samsung's ass alot in sales and numbers now that Samsung is significantly popular and releasing a different device every other week or some shit like that. Finally, the Touch ID feature is very suspect. Imagine being passed out and your girl takes your thumb like a detective and uses it to unlock your phone, just to see all the half naked chicks that you liked on your instagram profile. It can be done.

Would I purchase the iPhone 5s? Not right now. I'm still cool with my iPhone 5. The only think that fucked up the interest were the predictable leaks and the lack of features on the 5s. I really don't anyone should jump ship from the 5 to the 5s (or the 5c of course). Hell, the 4s is still a good ass phone, but to each it own for those who want to stay on top of technology nowadays. Time to get used to seeing alot of fake looking rich women holding the Gold iPhone 5s as if it were some fashion accessory.

So what else happened this month?

-The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the National League West to become the division champions. Then they went adult swimming at the swimming pool in Chase Field after defeating division rival Arizona Diamondbacks to clinch the title that day. Why the hell would Chase Field have a swimming pool at a baseball field? For those rich fucks who aren't interested in watching the sport?

-Miley Cyrus still making headlines by dressing up as a methamphetamine experiment gone wrong from an episode of Breaking Bad during one of her live performances and photoshoots. Her pops seems cool with it, I assume.

- The video game Grand Theft Auto V released last week, which made a billion dollars just three days after it dropped. Not into video games that much anymore, but I'd rather have that game be launched at the same time as the upcoming Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 to make it more special. Now fools will be delaying homework assignments and date nights in exchange for pretending to hi-jack numerous cars by driving them off the cliffs and rivers.

-Drake's Nothing Was the Same record came out today. Like the iPhone 5s , that album was leaked weeks before it dropped. I was playing as I typed it, and it was really decent. I liked the progression and creativity of the beats and rhythms more than the lyrics that will be re-quoted more times than the transcript of The Big Lebowski. His crew had opened up a pop up shop on Fairfax last week to promote the album, by giving away free t-shirts. I didn't plan on attending this, but I had to drop off somebody in Hollywood and I thought I check it out just for the hell of it. When I got there at around 3, the time that it was scheduled to be opened, I knew there was gonna be a long line, but NOT A LINE THAT WAS EXTENDED AROUND AN ENTIRE BLOCK.That shit was like camping out for a pair of Supreme Vans down the street or something. Majority of the kids in line came from Fairfax High School across the street. After wasting two hours with the line slowing moving, we were all informed that the t-shirts were sold out. Later on, we also learned that Drake himself made a brief appearance and everyone started going to the back and chasing the black Chevy Suburban that he hopped on with his posse. I didn't see him that day, and like I said, I wasn't planning on seeing him that day. A brilliant marketing publicity stunt pulled off well.

Anyway, thanks for your time reading this. Enjoy the rest of Autumn.

The Wedding Ceremony of Eric Jackson and Jessica Torres, May 25, 2013

2013-09-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, about some 30 years ago, photography wasn't for everyone. There were many people that had cameras to take pictures of their families and vacations and whatnot, but there were few that exercised the craft to capture and create perfect looking images. In fact, these said images were so attractive, that the photographers who produced them were recognized as professionally, skilled artists. Professionally skilled artists that regular people can turn to, whether they want to hire them to cover an event, or to learn from them so that they to can become as good as the professional photographer. Keep in mind, this was back in the days of 35mm Film and fully manual operated SLR cameras.

Fast forward to the present. With the current modern technology nowadays, about everyone now can instantly established themselves as a photographer by their own discretion, courtesy of the simple-to-use capture devices. Mobile devices like the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 have cameras built in that are far more advanced than a regular camera, and DSLRs are now becoming affordable. Apps like instagram are making the OG photographers, who have been doing this craft since the 1970's and before, getting upset about how simple it is to had a filter over an image without spending at least 5 minutes in a darkroom like they used to. The thing about time and life is that as it goes by, newer ideas are being put on board and newer generations are adapting to the changes that the current generation is going through and getting used to.

One minute were all a bunch of juveniles living off our parents and seeing the same peers 5 days straight every week from September to the middle of June the following year. The next minute, these same people that we were accustomed to since Freshman Year of high school have moved on to continue building their lives for the better. Some have gotten married to a significant other outside of the circle of your mutual friends, some have produced children of their own to start a family, and there are some that moved out of state, or out of the country at least, so that they can pursue their career that they dreamed and studied their asses off for. As they move forward in maintaining their lives, they can always look back at something inspirational to remind themselves what started them to get to where they're currently at. That is one of the main reasons why I like to take photographs.

I wasn't hired to cover the wedding ceremony of my friend Eric Jackson and his fiance Jessica Torres back in May. I went not only as a guest to support them, but as a guest who likes to take photos. The ceremony took place outdoors at Franklin Canyon Park, up in the mountains between Sherman Oaks and Beverly Hills near Mulholland Drive. It was a very good ceremony, but unfortunately, I didn't stay for the reception since I had to do something later that day, but still a very good ceremony. I took some photos using the Kodak 400TX Black and White 35mm film, and I was very pleased on how well they came out. The flash on the camera was hardly used as most of the indoor images contained plenty of natural light. So far, this was one of my best work I've done this year, and to me, I really think every engaged couple would have their wedding day recorded on film, despite digital photography being the default mainstream medium right now. To paraphrase the first paragraph, not everyone shoots in film nowadays. There are many people that have cameras to take photographs digitally, but it's nowhere the same feeling as taking photographs on film.

Many special thanks to Eric and Jessica for inviting me to witness your marriage and for letting me capture and share this precious occasion I photographed. I wanted to upload these last Monday, but so much with the taxican gig and everything else (such as taking photos at Jane Lynch's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony last week for example) had gotten in the way, and I really didn't have enough time. Now I can finally share these images cause like I said, this is by far one of my finest photo essays that I've done.
Enjoy the photos as if you're reading a story instead of looking at them as just wedding photos.

1993 'Til Forever: Photosession of Ikenna Nwachuku

2013-08-29T16:55:00.001-07:00

As some of a few of y'all know, I did a photoshoot of my cousin back in December 2012 at his place in Los Angeles. I told him that I was gonna get it done by February, but at that time I just received my Taxicab Permit and I was starting on that job at that time, which didn't give me time to work on editing this photoshoot. Now after several months, I managed to proceed working on this, and I figured its best that I share it on the day of his 20th birthday.

I swear, back when he was born in 1993, alot has happened in that year. I started kindergarten, Michael Jordan walked out of the NBA at the peak of his career after winning his third title, as well of the death of his father that summer, the nation was started embracing democratic ideals and policies with Bill Clinton as President of the United States in his first year in office, Jurassic Park was THE hottest movie of the Summer, Universal Citywalk opened, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Beavis and Butthead got alot of kids in trouble at the school playground, the Dallas Cowboys were killing shit in Super Bowl XXVII at Pasadena and the entire NFL, The Simpsons and Seinfeld on Thursday Nights after Cheers and A Different World finished that year, David Letterman joins CBS to start Late Show With David Letterman (which will be 20 years ago tomorrow), Fred Savage's The Wonder Years ends as his little brother Ben Savage's Boy Meets World starts on television among other events. Pretty much an leaf-turning opening to understanding society for myself even though I was very young.

Anyway, here's are the images of my cousin Ikenna and his ride: the BMW 328i sedan. Used alot of though into it and took my time to make it interesting. I'm so glad and blessed that he and his siblings have been a part for majority of my childhood. Thanks for your time reading this.

Primitive Shoes and Apparel's Five Year Anniversary

2013-08-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Where the hell were you five years ago? I tell you where I was.

I was always finding myself in the Beverly Hills/West Hollywood area almost every day that summer, running around with an Olympus E-1 DSLR camera trying to capture a famous celebrity or an infamous personality, so that I can not only earn some quick cash, but to also make my friends jealous on MySpace with these images I got of famous people. I was unemployed that time since the recession got to me a few months prior from working at the Apple Store. They actually let me go, despite my explanation to them about why I have been missing a few days of work and my disinterest of the new teal shirts that all the sales associates had to wear from the start of the second retail quarter. I assume they didn't wanna waste anytime, so they just threw me out and got someone else that can dance and enjoy amusement park rides as much as I did.

It really was a start of a long tough rest of the year. Most of my friends from high school at the time had no time of hanging out that summer, by using the excessive excuse "It's cause of the economy." Somehow, without making a decent income aside from the paparazzi gig, I still had a car and I managed to go to a few parties, but just to only take photos of drunk people grinding into Lil Wayne's The Carter III and semi-thick girls caked out in makeup.

However, I was still into sneakers back then. This was a time when the so-called "shoe game" started to turn around and made some, if not, most of the OG collectors either sell their collection due to the recession or they just stopped collecting period. Nike's Jordan Brand did something different that entire year. Once a month through out 2008, they released a pack of two different pairs of retro Air Jordans entitled "The Countdown Pack" because the 23rd edition of the Air Jordan sneaker was released that year. The part that sucks about the pack was that they went for $310 and no other Jordan retros were released separately that year, aside from the affordable Team Jordan sneakers.

Towards the end of the year and around the time of the election, I heard about professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez opening up a skateshop/sneaker boutique somewhere in Encino called Primitive. I was like "All right, P-Rod owns a sneaker store. Giving back to the community. That's cool.", yet I never had the time to check it out and that was when my earnings were getting smaller and smaller. What interested me about Primitive at the time was that they were one of the few places in the Valley that has a Nike SB account. Previously, I would get my SBs at the Active Ride Shop in Burbank, Val Surf in Valley Village and sometimes Flight Club LA in Fairfax. Before that, I remember getting my first pair of Nike SBs at the Chapter II skateshop in Granada Hills (which was formerly 118 Boardshop) and when the Nike SB line were starting up, that was one of the only places in the Valley were you can get them at the time

Fast forward two years later, and I finally got a chance to check out Primitive after a old friend that I knew told me about it since she worked across from there. I already blogged about my first trip to Primitive a few times in the past, so it's best to read that rather than just re-telling it again. Primitive Two Year anniversary recap . After that, I was hooked into that place and I started going there more frequently. Then my find myself wearing Primitive Apparel like is the only thing I have.

As many of y'all know, I spent my whole entire life in the San Fernando Valley. The place is known for its multiple suburban communities, adult clubs, independent auto dealerships, locations for television and movie scenes, shopping malls, and its extremely hot temperature summers among other things. I'm used to all that for the past 25 years of my life. The guys who run and skate for Primitive have also spent majority of their lives in the Valley as well, and the store represents the lifestyle of the 818, especially the culture of the state of California. They just had their 5th anniversary celebration at the shop last week, and I was there of course.

Actually I was at the shop since 5:30 in the morning to line up for the Air Jordan 3 Retro "Fire Reds" that were dropping that day. I haven't lined up for a pair of Air Jordans since the White/Cement IV retro release last year at the Panorama Mall (which sold out very quickly) and its been forever since I purchased a pair of Jordans in retail price. The campout line experience was actually dope. I talked to several blokes in line, including this one woman who's around my age that's lining up just to get some Nike SB's (Civilist Dunk Hi's were also released that day) for her husband. I asked her why doesn't he get in the line? She then said that he's a doctor with an insane sneaker collection and that he had to be a work since he can't lineup for them. Then I said that's real supportive love and trust right there. Now I thought that I wasn't gonna get a pair, but fortunately I did, and I was like the 10th person in line. Already a week and I still haven't worn them yet, but but these shoes are nice. Those 3's, especially that particular pair, are quite significant to me because Michael wore these at the 1988 Slam Dunk contest, which was less than a month before I was born (birth day is on the fifth of March). Also, the Jumpman logo debuted that year, and it one of the most well know logos in the world.

After I got my pair, I went back home to trim my beard and change into my red Iesha Marie Van Styles/Primitive t-shirt and some Khaki Shorts from American Eagle Outfitters. I could've worn the Fire Red 3's to match, but I rocked the Black Toes Jordan 1's that came out earlier this year, which I purchased at The Holy Grail in downtown Los Angeles earlier this summer. Then I went back to Primitive for the anniversary party. It wasn't as big as the previous anniversary parties cause there weren't too many kids that attended and Paul didn't show up since he was at the X-Games in Downtown that day. But nonetheless, the anniversary was great, probably as great as the other ones. Ran into several people that I haven't seen since the 4 year anniversary party and met some new people as well. Unlike the other anniversary parties, I didn't go crazy with the photography. Hell, I didn't even bring a Nikon SLR with me, yet I did manage to capture some images through my iPhone 5. I think those few pictures I took are just as good as taking 300 pictures of the same event. Here are the photos that I captured on that Saturday.

Taken at 5:30 in the morning, just as the sun was about to set.

Cashier's desk inside the store.

Ashley in the Air Jordan XIII retro "He Got Game" and Nicky Newcastle in a pair of Vans.

Tim Middleton throwin' up the dubs in Primitive's dressing room.

Primitive Apparel co-founder Andy Netkin in the center of attention.

DJ Butch and 2 Deep

Irene, Ashley and Nicky.

Headshot of Tatiana Javosrsky

Portrait of professional skateboarder Terrell Robinson from the Primitive skate team.

Primitive Apparel's 5th anniversary t-shirts were given to those who attended.

Finally got to meet my favorite inspirational photographer, Van Styles. The camera he's using is the Sony Cybershot RX100M2 that he just got that day, and behind him are my favorite models Christine Mendoza, Justene Jaro, Nikki Sotelo, and Dawn Jaro. Here's is his recap of the 5 year anniversary party Visual by Van Styles

Andy Netkin reflecting with his daughter, Bari.

Elisabetta with her and Andy's daughter, Bari, both wearing the Primitive "Signature Script" shirts.

Andy with his lady, Elisabetta.

"First lady of Primitive" Elisabetta conducting the group photo.

Original Red Cup Crew.

Closeup of the Primitive 5 year anniversary t-shirts (one in black, the other in navy)

The Air Jordan "Fire Red" IIIs I purchased from there, along with some of the Fall '13 t-shirts and my Primitive 5th Anniversary t-shirts.

That was one of the greatest days I've had this summer. Looking forward to more anniversary parties at Primitive. Thanks for your time reading this.

Grand opening of The Vaping Section Valley- June 9, 2013

2013-07-31T04:03:00.003-07:00

The Vaping Section Valley

17654 Chatsworth Street

Granada Hills, CA 91344

818-217-4949

Dreaming to Catch Wishes

2013-07-26T09:11:00.003-07:00

Weird. I spent most of last night researching on the background of the Cold War just for the fuck of it (to many of you, that seems like a boring-ass waste of time, but I'm a fan of history), then later on I looked into some information about lucid dreaming and out of body experiences and how it gets processed during sleep. I've had several of those in the past, yet many of them are a trip. Some of them seem very real, which caused me to flinch on some occasions. I just had this dream that I'm going to share with y'all. It pretty much involved some occurrences and events that are happening in my life.

So I have a cousin who will become legal next week in real life. In the dream, I found myself in front of her house and it took place on her birthday. Both of us were looking at her new car that she got as a gift. I think its either a third generation Lexus GS 400 or a Mazda 6. The car inside was dressed up in all kinds of accessories: from seat covers to steering wheel covers to some kind of Hawaiian necklace hanging on the rear view mirror. Anyway, we went for a spin in it with me driving and her riding shotgun. I noticed that the car had very low gasoline. I asked her if anybody else was using it earlier and she said that she was given the car like that. I told her that the dealership usually fills up your car after its sold and I said that we have to go there so that they can put gasoline it. She then says that the dealership that the car came from is in Mission Viejo, which is too far to drive and it kinda made sense on why the car is low.

We stopped at a 76 gas station and I filled up with car. The gas station attended gave me two free Dodger tickets based off the promotion that 76 is doing in real life (you have to get 4 fillups to get the Dodger tickets). After that, she then starts driving it and I rode in the passenger seat. I told her if she could take me home to the Valley and she agreed. As we were going home, I then told her if she can drop me off at this small warehouse in Chatsworth since they have alot of warehouses in reality. After she dropped me off, I saw these two guys unloading boxes from a truck and cutting them up. I then realized that I was in front of a Zumiez outlet. I went inside to check it out and to my surprise, this outlet didn't look like any other Zumiez. Now originally, that store sells skateboarding apparel and streetwear and the store looks kinda darker, but this Zumiez outlet was a lot brighter like I was inside an old school Montgomery Ward department store. I asked one of the staff there if they have any Primitive apparel t-shirts and she told me that they don't carry it since Primitive Apparel is one of many Zumiez's brands that they carry. They outlet had a light selection of brands that I never heard of. I saw a small limited collection of Diamond Supply Co. t-shrits that they were selling cause that is one of Zumiez's biggest seller. Afterwards, I left and I still see the two blokes outside with the boxes and there was a third guy sweeping the floor.

I went to the other side of the store only to see an outdoor mall with other stores. Not really a big area and they didn't have that many stores with a few of them having liquidation sales and shit. I kept walking and then I saw a bunch of people who looked like filmmakers walking. I started to follow them to get their attention and then I went into this one building with them which is part of the outlet shopping area. Then I saw a security guard as I entered and I asked her what is this place. The security guard then told me that this is a school for post-production for filmmakers, graphic designers and photographers. I then asked her is this place part of the Art Institute of California campuses and she said that this is separate from it and that this school is one of their competitors. She then asked me what do I do for a living and then I told her that I'm a photographer. Then without hesitation, she then dragged me to one of the post production photography classes there. I thought that you had to sign a bunch of papers and pay tuition and all of that shit, but I didn't say anything.

I went inside the classroom and it had a lot of iMacs in each desk. The class was already going on and I sat in front of a empty desk without an iMac in front of me. Then there were these two spoiled looking chicks on my right and they were gossiping softly and laughing, with their iPhones in hand. The instructor told them to go sit outside and then he goes to their iMacs, only to see that they were on Facebook and Tumblr instead of Adobe Photoshop like everybody else. Now I can see how I got into that class for free otherwise if I had to pay for it, then those girls wouldn't be wasting their time and money gossiping and being on social networking sites during class.

So that's were the dream ended. Just thought I'd share it since that type of stuff is always interesting. Also a birthday shoutout to my homegirl Emelly Hernandez today. I wish you the best in life and many more. Thanks for your time reading this.

Just Like The Movies

2013-07-22T21:44:00.001-07:00

So Kate Middleton gives birth to a boy (overhyped without disrespect) and Dennis Farina dies at the same day (with all due respect).

Just wanted to get that out of the way. Again another busy ass month of July for myself. Today was one of the many rare day offs from work I had after a half-decent weekend which I'll explain later. I really wish that I didn't have to share my day off with my pops today, out of all the other days of the week. Here's a PSA message kids: stay in school, get your degree, land a job and move out of your parents' crib once you start receiving those paychexs.

Never thought that I would land myself in a heated dispute with the man of the house yesterday morning for some small unnecessary petty reason. That shit got me riled up, and I haven't event drank my Iced Coffee yet. In the 25 years I endured Sunday mornings without the NFL season, that one had to be the lowest of the lowest. Eventually, it took me a while to get over it through out the day thanks to some group of Russians that I picked up from Universal Citywalk and took them all the way to a hotel in Torrance. That long drive started to ease off the mood. The Del Amo Fashoin Center was right across from the hotel, and so I went there to check it out since I've never been there, as well as to get something to eat.

That place is large and it looks outdated, although they are doing some renovation near the Macy's wing. Hell, even the food court looks boring. Maybe is cause I'm already used to the nicer, remodeled ones at The Topanga Mall and the Fox Hills Mall. They had a lot of stores and an AMC movie theater. The only thing I did there was I just ate a late lunch at the Sbarro pizza. I almost copped a Kelly Kapowski T-shirt at this big ass Urban Outfitters there next to the AMC Theater before I left, but I'll keep that in mind next time.

I didn't really want to bring up about that dispute from that Sunday Morning on here. I remember talking about that type of shit four years ago when my pops got re-married and the constant arguments between us around late 2008 - early 2009. Remember, I was unemployed for a brief time until I got that security gig later that summer and the recession was at its peak with very high unemployment rates plus constant layoffs and hiring freezes. I lived away from home to a place in Sylmar from late 2010 until just last May, and I moved out because of the taxicab gig I was doing and also there were alot of shady politics between the housemates at my old place in Sylmar. Once I makeup some decent cash, I'll try to find a place of my home without any assistance and shit. Again, I really didn't want to express all of that stuff. Its normal in several families and it shows that while you're at your best in your life, you can expect the worse scenarios from out of nowhere.

Alright, now that I got that shit out of the way, let's get into some tight stuff. First off, I got me a new taxicab. Now, originally, I was driving a Ford Crown Victoria when I first started this job back in February. I liked it at first since it was the same whip that the LAPD drives (mines isn't the Police Interceptor version) but I got really bored and tired of it. That car had so many fucking problems while I was driving it: from getting one of the rear tires blown off in the 405 southbound freeway to the car stopping all of a sudden while in motion every so often and the endless trips to the mechanic's shop every week for it. It was alot of hell with the Crown Victoria, until I finally was able to get it exchanged last week for a Toyota Prius as my new taxicab.

This car right here... just fucking, damn. Its smooth, very chill and it REALLY does save on gas as everyone has been saying. Now before this, I was in a Toyota Prius twice (both the second and third generation) The last time I was in one was when I was test driving the third generation versions in Valencia back in 2010 (one of the worst test drive events that I've ever been to) and I got a fucking free movie ticket for driving that shit. I can't complain, it a really good car. So many people in Los Angeles is driving a Prius every now and then. Here's a photo of the Crown Victoria manual from my old cab.

and here a photo of the Toyota Prius manual for the new taxicab, along with the key.

Already a week since I first got it and I'm used to it so far. I had to take it to Keyes Toyota in Van Nuys Boulevard last Wednesday for them to change the water pumps in the Prius. While they were doing that, they asked if I can stay in the waiting room for three hours or that I can have a shuttle take me somewhere and bring me back. I didn't want to wait with a bunch of strangers for three hours and the farthest I can go with a shuttle express is at the most 7 miles and I don't like riding in shuttles anymore. So I asked if its possible if they have a loaner car I could use for a while and they told me that only Keyes Lexus does that next door, but I have an option to rent from Enterprise. The sales manager then called a representative from Enterprise to come pick me up and take them to their offices not to far from the Toyota dealership.

I thought that I was gonna be declined or rejected or unqualified to rent a car since I've never rented one before, but fortunately, after they ran my credit card, I was approved. Then the rep and I went to the lot to see which car I would like to choose. I then saw a 2012 Nissan Altima Coupe in front of the office and I asked if it was available to rent or if it belongs to one of their employers. She then told me that the Altima Coupe is available to rent and without hesitation, I WENT FOR IT. That was the only good car that was in their inventory since the rest were all Fords, Kias, and Chryslers. After they gave me the keys, I went nuts with it for the next three hours.

The last time I drove a Nissan Altima Coupe was back in 2009 when I was doing security at a Walgreens in Newbury Park. On my way home I stopped by the Nissan dealership in Thousand Oaks just for the hell of it and they let me test drive a top of the line, full package Nissan Altima Coupe, with the Navigation, BOSE speakers, leather seats and a V6 engine among other things (the one I was renting had an inline-4 cylinder engine). Since that day, I always wanted to experience that car without a dealer in the passenger seat trying to sell this to me, and I was 21 at the time with no fucking credit and shit. I had a lot of fun with the Altima Coupe that I rented. I drove it to the bank first near Universal City, then I dipped all the way to Amoeba Music in Hollywood to buy some CDs to play in this whip and then the climax of being in this ride was cruising it on Mulholland Drive, which was just awesome. Finally, with more time remaining, I went to this Starbucks in Beverly Glen and Mulholland and that my first time going there. This hidden lowkey Starbucks was the same place where Britney Spears used to go to every morning during her bi-polar conceited days in 2007 and the paparazzi would be on her ass constantly from there all the way to her then residence at The Summit gated community just east on Muholland Drive. Probably one of the quieter Starbucks that I've gone to so far. A few minutes later, the dealership called me and told me that the taxicab is ready to be picked up. So I went back to Enterprise to return the Altima Coupe and then the Enterprise representative who helped me earlier took me back to Keyes Toyota with her driving the Altima Coupe. Here's a quick startup video of the Altima coupe I took at Mulholland Drive, with some Ultraista playing in the background.

As for the rest of the week, I managed to the best use of it aside from working. I'm still enjoying the photography off the iPhone 5. There are some recent photos I took using that camera.

Some roses in the Knollwood Country Club

Patiently waiting for some pizza at Pizza Antica in the Santa Monica Place

The 2012 Nissan Altima Coupe that I rented with Universal CIty and the east San Fernando Valley in the background.

Full moon over the Pacific Ocean on midnight at Hermosa Beach

A little makeshift memorial for journalist Michael Hastings.

A 100 Miles and still a lot of gasoline running (that was an NWA reference)

My friends from Aftergloam putting on a hell of a performance in North Hollywood on Saturday Night.

I even got some video of their performance. Super great, especially that instrumental piece that they did. I'm glad that I went that night.

There's alot more stuff that I wanted to blog on here, but I'll save it for the next post. Thanks for your time reading this.

Photographs of Loyola Marymount University

2013-07-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago, I decided to make a visit to my cousin's University in Playa Vista next to LAX Airport. He attends Loyola Marymount University and he just completed his second year there. I was working at LAX that day and since I was in the area, I figured I paid him a visit since I've never been inside there before.

It took me a while to find a parking spot there. Then later I met up with him and he showed me around the campus. This place is very nice. Its just as big as UCLA and it all the way on top of a hill over looking Mairna Del Rey and Playa Del Rey, in the same sense as Dodger Stadium is at the top of Chavez Ravine. Also, the university is high tech. My cousin told me that you have to enter your phone number at the parking lot ticket machine so that you'll be sent a text message telling you about the remaining time left at the parking lot that you paid for. I've never seen that before.

I spent only about a hour there and he was showing me majority of the campus. I checked out his dorm room and his roomates in there, and then he showed me the library which was MASSIVE. It had like four or five floors. The place is really up to date with its buildings and its landscaping. Here are some of the photos I took at LMU:

Here's also a panoramic photo I took from the iPhone which shows most of Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey further upwards.

Just wanted to make this quick post to keep this site relevant. I'm glad Fourth Of July weekend is already in the past. Went to my homegirl Amber's place and just chilled there with her family on that day, which was the only part I liked on Independence Day. I didn't see any fucking fireworks show, and not to sound cynical, but every year there's always a mishap or something gone wrong in every fireworks show. There was an awful one that just happened in Simi Valley last Thursday, and then there was a major fireworks show that went bad in San Diego last year. Hell, the last fireworks show I was at during Independence Day was 7 years ago in Nevada, and that shit ended early cause there explosives were malfunctioning. The part that sucked was that all the family who came to have a good time didn't get to see the fireworks on that day. Like I always say, I fucking hate holidays. Next one is Labor Day which is one of the only few holidays that makes sense to certain people that bust their ass every day making some sort of income. Thanks for your time reading this.

ALSO, HERE ARE SOME SHAMLESS PLUGS TO STAY ON TOP OF MY PHOTOGRAPHY WORK. I got several photos I'm still currently working on and they'll be uploaded on here and my Facebook later this summer.

instagram: @justforsneaks07
Twitter: @justforsneaks
Vine: N/F'n/A (not fucking available)
website: JUSTFORSNEAKS ENT. PHOTGRAPHY AND SERVICES

Also, while viewing photos, please: less likes, more comments. Thanks again.

Just As For Reals As It Gets

2013-07-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Photos taken by Ezekiel Cho at The Vaping Section in Granada Hills.

Also, this is the new sixth version of the blogsite. I always like to redesign it every First of July cause that when I launched this back on July 1, 2009. I decided to make this layout and template of this more liberal-arts stylish and a bit diverse, so now you can view the posts in different styles by clicking on one of the viewing modes below the Title on the top. Coincidentally, as I always bring up every year, I joined Facebook back on July 1, 2007 and this was back when it was only for university students. Way before high school students and their teachers and their parents were granted access to join the social network scene. It was honestly a much better environment on Facebook back then and alot cleaner than MySpace which was very major at the time.

They'll be alot of great interesting photographs I'm currently working on that I'll be posting on here and many more in the future. To those who constantly read and view this, thanks as always. Already in the mid-point of 2013 so far and we have another half to go in the year. Thanks again or reading this and a nice summer.

Shoot Happens

2013-06-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was something else, but I'll get to that shit later. Right now, I'm gonna recap the last two weeks so far.

About two Saturdays ago, I went with my uncle and his family to Fullerton to help him cover a wedding that was taking place at the Howard Johnson Hotel next to the 91 Freeway. At that point, I was just at a wedding for my homies Eric and Jessica's ceremony a few weeks prior to that. I went as a guest instead of a hired wedding photographer, even though I did take a few photos that day. Yet, its been a damn while since I helped out my uncle in his photography business. He was originally going to rent a mini van since his Xterra that we'd always roll in got crushed last year, but there wasn't any available at the car rental places in his area in the Antelope Valley, so we all managed in his wife's Toyota Yaris on the way there.

When we got there, I got kinda disappointed at the scene where the ceremony was taking place outside the hotel. They held it at a small ass patio right next to the swimming pool, which was occupied of kids swimming and some couples making out on the poolside. It was even hard to move around and to try to get some decent photos since it was a small space. Honestly, they could've held the event inside the banquet hall where the reception was about to take place. After the ceremony was the worst part. All the invited guests was getting in the way taking photos of the wedding party with their mobile devices and iPads. Also, we didn't even get to take personal photos of the bride and groom by themselves together. Same thing happened at the reception. Everyone was going nuts trying to get a snapshot of the Newlyweds and part that pissed me off the most was that they were CHARGING FOR DRINKS! What the fuck?! Even for a bottle of water was like 2 or 3 bucks.

I wouldn't call this the worst wedding I've worked at, cause I've seen worse managed ceremonies in the past. I got 80 bucks for it, but I didn't give a fuck. Wasn't really to amused of it even if I was a guest instead.

The next day I went to this place about 5 to 10 minutes from my house called The Vaping Section. Its a vendor shop where they sell vapors, which is tobacco-free Electronic cigarettes that's becoming popular so far this year. Inside, they have a lounge with a mounted flat screen TV where you can chill and "vape" as they say. They held a grand opening and I went there to not to vape and not only cover it, but to finally get to meet Filipina import model Christine Mendoza, who was gonna make an appearance there along with a another model. The Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce was also there to do a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Vaping Section so that it can be "official". I met another photographer there and most of the staff that works there and they'll all young twenty-somethings who look like very close siblings, but they're all chill nice as hell. However, when Christine showed up....

WOW, JUST..... FUCKING DAMN!

I met alot of models in the past few years, but Christine was on another level. Her looks in body in person is fantastic, but her personality and voice is even WAY MORE FANTASTIC. I admit, she's an Angel. The comments she writes on her instagram photos are legit and on point all the time. This was similar to when I met Justene Jaro at my first trip to Primitive three years back, but the only difference between the two events was that I didn't know that Justene was gonna be at Primitive since I only went to see Paul Rodriguez, but I knew that Christine was gonna be there. Damn, she was nice and sweet. I took as many photos as I can of her, which I think every photographer would want to do of course. That was a tight moment right there. Thanks again to Christine Mendoza, The Vaping Section staff, the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce and photographer Ezekiel Choi for being cool on that day. Here's a photo of my and the sexy Christine Mendoza taken by Ezekiel Choi. I was wearing Primitive Apparel's "Exhale" t-shirt with her on it.

Later on that week, it was mostly working the night shifts, getting pulled over for the first time in 4 years for not making a complete stop and also watching the WorldWide Developers Conference that Apple actually livestreamed for once. Out of all the past WWDC conferences I've seen, this one was quite decent above average. The company is naming their next operating system of OS X after California landmarks instead of the "Big Cats" that they've been doing for the past 11 years, with its next release called "OS X Mavericks". They showed off some new features but I won't get into that until it drops. Then they showed a quick teaser of the new updated and upcoming Mac Pro. That shit is little, way shorter than the current Mac Pro tower. Finally, they got to the new iOS 7 update for the iPhones and iPad (as well as the iPod touch) and this motherfucker got some plastic surgery done. The interface looks COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, kinda like a preschooler's Samsung play tablet or something soft. Might as well have to get used to the new look on my phone once the updates comes in the fall. Hell, iOS 7 even features Siri has an option to speak in a dude's voice. Weird.

Then on the following Sunday, I had to go to my ex-boss's studio in the Burbank Town Center to help take some Father's day family portraits. The last time I was there was back in October of last year. It was steady throughout the day. We had about 10 families that came in to get their photos taken. Got 100 bucks for that day, so it was no big deal. Its fucking crazy how just exactly a year ago I got hired and started to work at my ex-boss's former kiosk at the Topanga mall, which only lasted until Labor day that fall. After that, he calls me occasionally as a back up, but not all the time. I went to the Hooters across the street after work for dinner, but the place was full and the waitresses and servers are fine, unlike the staff at the one in Hollywood that I wet to in the past. But what fucked up the mood of Hooters nowadays, especially when I went to that Burbank location on that day, was that there were several families there. I know its because of Fathers Day, but not to be offensive, people taking their grandmothers and kids there doesn't make sense. That's just me. After a 2 minutes waiting, I dipped and went to the In-N-Out across the street, and that place was also full. Then I looked at the Baja Fresh right behind there. Its been forever since I ate there, so I walked over there and that place was empty with a few people. There was a family there feasting and one of their kids was shouting offensive comments to a group of foreign women that walked in and the family got the fuck out of Baja Fresh with embarrassment after the women looked at them. That was fucked up, especially on Father's Day.

I'm not a fan of holidays. I mean, I'm cool with my pops and all, but I don't know. Whenever I think of Father's Day, immediately, I start imaging people who never had a father in their lives, or those who've had fathers that walk out later in their lives, or those who's pops have that deadbeat asshole stereotype personality. I guess that's why they let school out before Father's day so that they wouldn't recognize it in the classrooms like they do with Mother's Day in May, cause at least there's 1 or 2 kids in a classroom who don't always see their pops. Or maybe I'm wrong on that estimate. I think everyday should be Mothers Day and Fathers Day, without the Hallmark business bullshit. When I got home that Sunday night, my pops and I had some little dispute, but it wasn't heated or serious. I didn't even get a chance to say Happy Father's Day to him on that day. Its just another day. Again, that's just me. However, I appreciate the real Fathers out there working and grinding their asses off everyday for their families, for reals. I care about my parents and all, and I thank them for everything and I keep them in my mind every second, but I just fucking hate holidays.

Now on to yesterday.

I started out by driving around the West San Fernando Valley. I picked up my first customers from the Macy's at the Topanga Mall and as I got there, Volkswagen was holding a test drive event at the parking lot there. Its been a year since I last did one of those, with the Cadillac XTS at The Grove back last June. After I took care of my customers, I came back at check out the VDubs that they had to try out. I haven't driven a Volkswagen in a while, so it never hurts to experience something different. I first drove the 2013 Volkswagen GTI. I wanted to record the startup of the GTI through Instagram's new video capturing feature that was just released on that day, but that shit confused me for a bit, so I just recorded the startup on my iPhone's regular video camera. The car is very sporty and quick. Makes me feel like I wasn't driving a Volkswagen at all. They made me go around the Topanga mall,, so it pretty much lasted about less than 4 minutes. I also tried out the new Volkswagen Passat mid-size and went the same route. At the end, they gave me a American Express gift card as a small reward and I went inside the mall to cop some stuff for a while. I even checked out the new American Apparel they had inside, and that place is smaller than the other ones I've been to. I used to wear a grip of American Apparel t-shirts back in 2008 when it was cool at the time. I wanna check out their factory in downtown Los Angeles one of these days since I go past it every now and then.

Later that night, I went to the DLT's to watch game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. There were a lot of close games through out the series, but in this particular game, the scoring difference was tighter than some bloke's ex-girlfriend in Apple Bottom jeans. It was really addicting. Got me hooked and focus throughout the whole time. I knew Miami was gonna win the finals, but that game looked like they weren't since the Spurs were balling out of control in the American Airlines Arena that night.
At the end the Heat won their second straight title and alot of pissed off fools on Twitter were going angry and upset over Miami's win. Again, I wasn't surprised of the Heat's win and now that 30 something win streak will make the season much more relevant, but regardless, out of all the finals I've seen, including the Lakers finals, this series was what world championship games are supposed to be displayed. I actually enjoyed it for once. Hell, there's even a film coming out next week called The Heat starring Sandra Bullock ad Melissa McCarthy, which has nothing to do with the team. Even those who don't give a fuck about both teams seemed to enjoyed the basketball athleticism throughout the finals. Thanks again to the De La Torre family for inviting me again and thanks to Marlene for the Barbecued Ribs that night.

Finally, as I was watching the NBA Finals post-press conferences, I learned while browsing through my phone that Kim's newborn is named North West. FOR REALS?! NORTH WEST?! No offense, but what kind of hipster-ass Illuminati type name is North West? Seriously, North West? I don't even.... North West though? At least the media is having a good time with this just like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and the rest of their teammates celebrating and clubbing the previous night after the game. That family is gonna be relevant for the next 18 to 21 years.

Instagram For Video shitting on Vine, Miami Heat's repeat, spending 50 bucks on two pairs of shorts at American Eagle Outfitters, getting paid to drive German vehicles, and North West. One of the strangest and unusual Thursdays I've experienced, all on the official first day of Summer. Thanks for your time reading this. Stay cool this summer.

Playing House On Sunday

2013-06-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Alright, this week went by so fuckin' quick.

It felt like I was just at the House Of Blues in West Hollywood 2 days ago to support and photograph my homies William and Ginger Galvez's daughters and other elementary school kids performing there on behalf of the Rockstar Music Education program that was running the event there. Well, it actually took place this past Sunday morning. William and Ginger have been inviting me for the past two years to attend this annual event that being held every June, yet, I was never available during those times. But since they told me that it was their oldest daughter's final performance with the Rockstar Music Education since she's going to middle school in the fall, I had to cancel everything just so that I can finally check it out.

Prior to this, I have never stepped inside the House of Blues. I've passed by there all the time and have heard so much about the venue. So I carpooled with the Galvez family to the place and when we got there, I saw a grip of kids and their families waiting in line and paying admission fees to get inside. I even saw some kids getting their hair sprayed with different colors for that "rock star" appeal. When I got inside (there was a dude at the door rockin' the Google Glass eyewear piece. Looks futuristic) I though the House of Blues was gonna be a large-scale venue with seats, but without disrespect, the place looks like a club to me. It was also packed with parents screaming and cheering on the kids that were performing on House of Blues stage. Majority of them photographing and taking videos of the show with DSLR cameras and their iPads. The theme of the place reminded me of the old Wild Bills venue that used to be in Buena Park back in the 1990's, but without the western stuff.

Watching the little kids performing and covering rock songs that came out back in the day was very awesome to witness. There were no intermissions since there was a different group of kids going up on stage every four to five minutes per set. They had real instruments and several of them can actually play, including the drummers for each set. THESE KIDS CAN PLAY THE DRUMS. They can even sing too. I can assume these youngsters have been on every talent show since birth, or one of them must've been on TV or something. Speaking of which, one of the blokes from the Disney Channel show Shake It Up was one of the three or four guest judges of the event that day. I wouldn't picture this event from a competitive standpoint, it just a bunch of talented young kids having fun on stage and enjoying their parents. I wish I didn't have to miss out on this for the past two years, and as those kids got older, they look back in their lives and tell their kids that they performed at the House Of Blues stage in Hollywood.

After the show, we went to Cabo Cantina on Hollywood Boulevard for lunch and stayed there for a bit. I had their Quesadillas and it was unique cause I ate some Quesos earlier that day for breakfast at the Denny's next to the Burbank Airport. The Quesos at Cabo Cantina were much larger than the ones I had earlier. Then afterwards, we went back to their place and chilled for a few minutes. The homie Ginger even showed me this Hammock they had that came straight from Honduras. I tired it out since I've never been on a Hammock and damn, it was it was comfortable. I wanted to take an instagram photo of myself resting on it, but my phone was out of power by then. I can't wait till I get the Morphie Juice battery pack later on in future, which gives my iPhone more extra power like battery pack on DSLRs. Many thanks again to the Galvez family for making that Sunday like how every Sunday should be. Here's some of the pictures from that day taken from my mobile device.

The Quesos and pancakes I had for breakfast that Sunday at Denny's.

First time ever at the House Of Blues. Alot of great acts were on that stage: past, present and future.

One of the many young, talent kids putting on some shows.

My friend's WIlliam and Ginger's daughter on center stage. Who else do you know that can be at that fortunate position?

Interior of Cabo Cantina in Hollywood.

The most legit Beer Pong table I've ever seen.

These Quesadillas are for reals.

Here are some more random-ass iPhone 5 photos from this past week that you've might've seen on my instagram, but without the filters. (@justforsneaks07)

Brunch at The Habit in Glendale.

My latest purchase of Primitive Apparel's Summer '13 collection (thanks Ashley and Nicky)

One of my customers gave me this as a tip, but he paid the fare though.

Just like In-N-Out, The Habit also has a truck for events as well. A potential future birthday party idea.

This channel is meaningless until the Kobe Bryant returns to the court.

Yesterday's traffic on the 405 freeway at 12PM since the President made an unnanounced visit to Santa Monica for three hours.

THESE. ARE. EVERYWHERE.

My life everyday for the past four months, including the Starbucks.

Anyway, that's it for now. I have a wedding to cover today in Fullerton and Christine Mendoza is making a rare Valley appearance in my town tomorrow. I can't miss that. Thanks for your time reading this.

That Was Yesterday

2013-05-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today is almost over, including the month of May heading into June. Since is almost tomorrow as I'm typing this on May 31, I'll talk about what I did yesterday since I feel like sharing it... in one liners.

- that Thursday started with a phone call from one of my good friends as I woke up (thanks Carol)

-I never ever like to discuss about the people I pick up and give lifts to, but I had a interesting talk, with a Jewish doctor that I picked up, about how everything has changed in certain parts of the Valley and some of the businesses that got affected by the recession.

-Took a customer from Sherman Oaks to Santa Ana, which was the most expensive ride I've ever gotten so far in the three months I've been doing this... and the bloke paid in cash.

-Drove a few miles to Newport Beach and had a basic, interesting lunch at the Yardhouse in Fashion Island for the second time since December 2011.

-Went to the Apple Store at the same mall (which has a very high ceiling) and copped me a Belkin anti-glare screen protector and a Nike case for my iPhone 5.

-Cruised on the Pacific Coast Highway (speed limit was 60 MPH) and stopped at one of the beaches in Huntington Beach to take some quick photos.

-took the 710 Freeway straight up to Alhambra from Long Beach with some stop and go traffic every now and then.

-Since I was in that area, I drove up Fair Oaks Ave and decided to check out the Phil Jackson Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success book signing that was taking place at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, which isn't that far.

-Found a open parking space next to the Target on Colorado and Oak Knoll Avenue (which is uncommonly rare in downtown Pasadena) and its just very close to the bookstore

-I though the books were sold out when I got there 30 minutes after Phil Jackson started signing, but the store had several in stock, and I bought one since they said that I can still get it signed.

-The line was long, but that shit moved VERY QUICKLY. The whole experience and meeting the Zen Master was short and fast as he signed my book.

-The store originally prohibited photography of Phil Jackson signing his book, but at the last minute, Vroman's Bookstore management were loose and cool about it, so I took only three photographs of Coach Jackson and left.

-Jetted onto the 210 Freeway back home to find that my sisters came over to spend a few days at my pops' house, which is not bad.

-Had a deep discussion with the siblings and reflected on how far we gotten so far in our lives.

-Made some phone calls to catch up on some of my other homegirls who I haven't heard from in a while to finish up the day.

-and I didn't even have to use an AK.

I wish everyday was like this all the time, but time eventually moves on. Tomorrow, my cousin graduates from Loyola High School, and he is the youngest in my immediate family. I remember when it was at least 5 years ago that him and my other cousins and siblings were starting high school, but they are all now almost half way through with their under graduate college life. Show how fast time has gone through. Another thing tomorrow (or today if you're just reading this after having another overrated hangover from the night before) is that Primitive will be launching not only their Summer '13 collection , but they also have a brand new website with focuses on the Primitive Apparel brand and lifestyle. Going to be interesting to see what surprises that they have this summer, as always. Here's the link Primitive Apparel

Thanks for your time reading this and have a great month of June without the gloom.

Memorable Days

2013-05-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

It's 3:30 AM on Monday morning as I'm typing this. Damn, as I look back the past three years, she really did made an impact on my life.

If it wasn't for her, I would've been a basic ass black dude being remotely bored with his life. If it wasn't for her, then 90% of y'all would've never gotten professional quality photos being taken by me. And because of her, my photography has improved and increased in terms of business and networking. One of the reasons I stayed in touch with her is cause she also has a similar interest in taking photos as well, in both film and digital. Hell, I even saw her rocking two Canon SLRs (each film and digital) at her twin's second birthday party. Once I saw that, I knew she was legit.

That day, August 13, 2010, pretty much started the whole thing. I already discussed it on this site a week after it happened, but fuck it, I'll tell it again since it was one of my most memorable days of 2010.

The day of my brother's 18th birthday, I first met her at the Robert Frost Middle School class reunion at the Sugar Suite bar in Granada Hills. She was one of the few people that hosted the event. I know there's high school reunions but I would never think there would be one for 8th graders who graduated in 2002. So I went since I was one of the well known people from my middle school who got into fights there and got sent to the office several times for hitting on girls. That school was in a affluent area of Granada Hills and the people there looked like rich private school students since we had to wear uniforms. I was the skinny black kid with the cheap Payless shoes and fucked up haircuts done by my moms with uneven line-ups. But back to the reunion, as I got there, there were several people that I recognized and haven't seen in 8 years. We reminisced about all the crazy shit that happen at Frost and all the teachers we used to piss off. Then later, she came, and not to be disrespectful, but out of everyone that attended, she was the only one that I don't remember from junior high. Everybody else I did remember, pretty much the whole entire graduating class, but not her for some weird reason. She was also well known at Frost. I took photos of the reunion and posted them up on Facebook the next day, and I don't know if I sent her a friend request or if she sent me one, but regardless, she sent me an invite for attending her twin's birthday party taking place a week after that. My photography was increasing that summer just from doing multiple photoshoots and working with my uncle every week, so to gain more confidence, I asked her if I can take photographs of her kids birthday party and she said yes. I was thinking of charging her at that point, but since I offered to do it, I just did it for no charge.

Now as I was about get ready to go to her kid's birthday party on that Saturday, I learned at the last minute that Paul Rodriguez Jr. was doing a meet and greet at Primitive, the skating boutique that he owns in Encino, for the store's two year anniversary. Prior to this, I heard of Primitive a few times but I never stepped inside there and also that year, I was still into photographing celebrities and famous people, so I figured why not just add Paul Rodriguez, one of most popular professional skateboarders ever, into the list.

The thing was that the anniversary party happened around the same time that her twin's birhtday party started. I stayed there for a short bit and took about 20 pictures of the store, the people who attended, Paul Rodriguez, and the rest of the photos were of Filipina model Justene Jaro, who fucking shocked me by surprise when she came out looking tight and sexy by wearing the Infrared Nike Air Max 90s that got re-released that summer. Reason I took very little photos was because I didn't want to take up battery life and storage space for the birthday party I was going to attend later on that day. After I left Primitive, I never thought that I would return to that store unless if there was an exclusive Nike SB Dunk that was released, but a several months later, I ran into Harry Kim, one of the staff at Primitive, at a Thai festival in Hollywood. He was wearing a dope ass greyscale Primitive t-shirt with the Los Angeles skyline on it. I asked him about it and he told me that I should stop by at the shop to pick it up, which I did. Since then, I never stopped going to Primitive and I kept supporting them, just like what I was about to do with her.

When I got to her kids party, I didn't know what to expect. At first, it started out just eating some BBQ that was provided. Then later on, her kids showed up and that was when the show began. I just went all over the place snapping photos like I was at one of the events my uncle and I would cover during that summer. When the party was almost over, I told her that I would make a slideshow DVD of it as I left. I spent the next two weeks on my uncle's iMac working on editing the photos and placing them on iDVD. I made like a few copies so that she can give it to her family members. Here's the video slideshow I made form that party.

A month later after I presented her the photos from her kids party, she then invited me to attend another party to take photos of, but this time it was for two of her friends Annamarie Rhyne and Cristina Campa. It took place at her house on a Saturday Night. There were originally gonna be three bands performing that night, but it went down to two since the last band backed out at the last minute. The performers were Aftergloam and Darger De Milo, and this was the first of many performances that I witnessed and photographed of them. I was even surprised when she was gonna perform with Darger De Milo during that party. That night was were I met so many people who I would be somewhat involved with their lives for the next three years. It was one of the many greatest night ever.

As the months went on, I started going to several different gathering and meet-ups every week. Whether it was a show, a birthday party, or a last minute kickback, I was there just to take photos. Not only that, I kept meeting more people and their families and developed good relationships with them. If it wasn't for that night, I would've never met the homie Elvis and his awesome extended family. I was fortunate to go to the NBA All Star weekend with his brother and brother-in-law at the Convention Center the following year, something that I thought I wouldn't ever experience (thank you William Galvez). But in all seriousness, I really got a hard hit on life since I started hanging out and going around Los Angeles with her and a her friends, from a diverse perspective. I saw the reality of life, meeting different people and listening to the different opinions the spit out. All the late night shows in downtown, and hanging out with her friends family members was like a spinoff of a television series. Fuck, I really enjoyed it.

I really couldn't imagine what my life for the last three years would've been if I never met her. I learned so much about the different aspect of life through her than I would've throughout my entire lifetime.Through her I experience about the joys and the mindsets of children through her friends' kids, newborns in life (such as seeing Katie Galvez's daughter Marilyn at one day old), experiencing losing life partners (RIP Ashley Davidson), the responsibilities and lives of young and old parents, giving respect to talented musicians and watching them craft their work behind the scenes during their practice sessions, having conversations with other photographers who have doing this longer than I have, staying up late at night till sunrise, driving her friend's cars since they were too intoxicated to go behind the wheel, spending Christmas Day with her family, hanging out at the DLT's, running into Nikolai Frature of The Strokes at the Five Star Bar right after he performed at Coachella that weekend, and witnessing the homeboy Eric Jackson getting married to Jessica Torres this past weekend at Franklin Canyon park, which was a great event. I wanted to stay longer for the reception, but I had to leave early due to work issues. If I never got to experience all of these, I seriously would've been some un-social vocational school student living with my moms and I would've had that one-dimension mentality thinking that too many people having kids is negative and that everyone was too lazy to clean themselves up and get a job. Shit, I would've lost interest in photography if I never met her, cause she was a major part of expanding my portfolio and the main reason why I started blogging a lot more.

Its not everyday that you would run into a blonde hair girl with tattoos and a serious infatuation with BMWs (she named her son after one of them) who would all of a sudden quietly put some kind of a dent in your life. I'm returning all of this by not only writing this long ass piece on her 25th birthday, as well as Memorial Day today, but by saying thanks to her for giving me a boost forward in expecting and looking out for life's challenges and social obstacles. I write all this cause I really do love her, just like the Thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of her friends on her Facebook page. Even though I haven't seen her that much aside from seeing her at Eric and Jessica's wedding last Saturday (sorry that I didn't stay to watch your Disc Jockey talents) I'm very blessed to have her as a part in my life and hopefully it will continue for a very long time, and that she'll do the same impact she has done to me back in the summer of 2010 to others out there who don't have an true idea with social direction their going.

Happy 25th years of life, Nicole Stetter.

Movin' Around

2013-05-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I was supposed to make this following blog post two months ago, but obviously, work and other personal shit got in the way. So now I can finally put this up.

I've known the homeboy Jesse Valencia since 2005. We went to the same high school and I had a few classes with him. Dude is one the chillest persons I've known. After graduation, I haven't seen him since. A year later, whenever I would pick up my little brother from school during his Freshman year at Kennedy High, I would see his sister there and she told me that Jesse worked at a tire shop n Sun Valley (Anthony's Tire Center). Since I had a car at the time, I was thinking of dropping by that place to visit and to see if they check the tires on my car, but I never had the chance and the time to go over there, especially after I sold the car two years ago.

After I joined instagram a year ago, he then added me on there and its great to see how he's been doing with his life just from looking through his photos. Then I saw that he's opening up his own tire shop in my old stomping grounds of North Hollywood. I have always been driving around that community alot more since I started driving taxicabs, so one day I decided to drop by and visit him and support as well.

We caught up with each others lives and just chilled at his shop for a bit. He even showed me his Dodge Challenger SRT that he drives. I forgot what used to be there but, the place looks completely brand new, and they have a alot of new equipment and tires in stock. If you're in the east part of the San Fernando Valley, I suggest that y'all should stop by there for any tire rotation or is you need new tires for your car. The name of the shop is NOHO Tires and Wheels. Its on the corner of Lankershim Boulevard and Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood. And say hi to Jesse while your there. Here are some of the photos I took at his shop.

NOHO Tires & Wheels. 5615 Lankershim Boulevard. North Hollywood, CA.

Also, one other thing. I moved out of Sylmar after spending three years staying there. For those who haven't been following up on my updates, I originally moved out for my pops house cause we weren't in sync with each other and other reasons. Now everything is cool and since I've been staying over there more than my place at Sylmar, whom I shared with a Filipino family that my moms knew from a medical personnel she knew. Yesterday was my final night sleeping over there. Here's a link to a short video I took of my room with the iPhone 5 just minutes before I left. Last Day living in Sylmar

It was such an trip living there and experiencing a dose of independence, but then again, they built a school across the street from my place and after school, the block becomes a scene with several kids hanging around and the street gets filled with parents picking them up. But then again, as I learned and get reminded ever year in the month of may: life moves on.

Speaking of which, my friend Eric Jackson and his fiancee Jessica Torres are getting married today. I'm not the official wedding photographer for the event, but regardless, I'm gonna attempt to capture some moments using black and white Kodak Tri-X 35mm film, which is something you don't see most wedding photographers shoot with anymore. I'll upload them in about a month or so, so keep a lookout for those. Thanks for your time reading this.