Andrew Oliveros Blog

Not an everyday cupcake...

2010-02-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

The other day I got some coffee after a meeting and was almost ready to leave the area and head home. See, the meeting was at a Starbucks, which isn't uncommon at all. What's special about this particular location is that right around the corner, in the same building, is a cupcake bakery known as My Delight Cupcakery.

This was my second time in visiting this particular cupcake bakery. I wasn't sure what I was going to buy this time. I wanted something that looked interesting because I knew I was going to photograph it. I also wanted something good because, let's face it, I wanted to eat the cupcake when I was done.

After some very kind assistance from the person behind the counter, I had chosen what was a very limited edition cupcake, Pink Champagne. That's what sold me. Most of the other cupcakes would be there upon a future visit, but this one. This pink champagne flavor would not be.

I know I made the right choice because I'm here to tell you, that this one was a delight to not only eat, but to photograph as well. It has a pink champagne flavor and an even better strawberry cream cheese frosting. I just hope my photos capture just how lovely the flavor of the cupcake was.

It was so good I went back for another one the day after.

freelancers...

2010-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Shame on me for neglecting the blog for most of the week. I won't go on about how I had every intention of posting more, but it's been a slow week. One of those weeks.

That being said, there are things I'm sketching out and creating, but for this fine friday I decided it was time to share some photos that I took with some awesome people in Los Angeles one cool brisk sunday morning in December a couple of years ago.

The idea was to round up a bunch of creative people from the LA area that were living the dream. Be it modelling, acting, styling or running their own clothing label these were people who were creative and grabbing their dreams.

This wasn't a project to show off their individual areas of expertise, though I wouldn't have minded that, rather it was an opportunity to come together and create some photos. So we started at one point in downtown LA and worked our way through a few different planned locations as the day progressed. It worked out beautifully. The weather forecast had called for rain, but luck was on our side and not one drop fell until after we'd finished and were packing it up.

I had a lot of fun being a part of this project. Photographing people is one of the more interesting and challenging things for me to do. I do love photographing food, but it's a nice tie between food and people. Ok, maybe people win on that one. It's satisfying and fulfilling in a way that I'm not sure I can describe. So I'll just share them.

I won't be sharing every photo here on the blog, but I have put them up in the portfolio section of the site. Go on. Take a look.

Crab Legs

2010-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

I can't honestly say that this fits the criteria for comfort food. At least, it doesn't for me. But it is a tasty meal. And it's always welcome as far as I'm concerned.

There were a few times, while I was living in the wharf in San Francisco, I would walk the few blocks down to the corner of Taylor and Jefferson to buy a whole crab or two from the cart they had on the sidewalk. To this day, I'm not sure if it was really called Guardino's or not. Didn't matter to me. They had crab and took cash. No questions and it was quick albeit busy most days.

Anytime I have crab that's what I remember. The walk. Weather that I loved. Never really hot, but almost always cool. It made for pleasant walks, except of course for spring, when it'd rain for a month straight.

The other thing I usually remember is having to get used to breaking the shell bare-handed because I was too lazy to walk across the street to the grocery store. I'm certain they had something to crack the shell. Maybe a device to crack the legs of a crab is needed with a particular kind of crab, but it was never needed with what I was buying and eating. At least not once I became accustomed to how it was done.

I didn't take photos of the crabs then. Maybe I was too hungry to take the time to do it. But I made these photos recently. I'm more than glad I did. They don't establish a sense of place, but they do secure some of those memories I have.

PB & J

2010-01-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

So today I thought I'd share some images of what is probably more of a snack than a meal to me. Still, there are few things that are as quick to make as a lovely peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

At almost any time of the day, I can probably be persuaded to make and/or eat one. So long as it's heavy on the peanut butter and the bread is toasted just a tiny bit.

It makes all the difference.

From the Archive: Beer Can Chicken

2010-01-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today I thought I'd share a photo that I took quite a number of years ago. It was made at a dinner party among friends. Since I wasn't the one cooking, that meant I was the one making photos.

This photo feels like an old friend. Or maybe it's the chickens that feel like old friends, I'm not sure. Most of my friends and loved ones have seen this photo perhaps countless times. No one else really has though. I had this photo on a previous website where I showed my work, but who knows how many people saw it then. There's something very comforting and exciting to me about this photo. It seems to always remind me to keep having fun and to keep exploring everything with a camera in my hands.

Comfort Food: Macaroni and Cheese

2010-01-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today's food subject is brought to you by the fine person/people who decided that mixing melted cheese and pasta would be a fine meal.

I'm here to agree with that kind of thinking. I've wanted to do a series of photos that show all the different foods that I really enjoy. Macaroni and cheese is something that I may not be able to eat all of the time because quite frankly I don't think I could run that many hours in the day to keep in shape were I on a macaroni and cheese diet. If anyone remembers, yes I've kept that particular goal going. It's going very well, actually.

Heroic macaroni and cheese. It's one of those meals that never let me down. When I felt that I couldn't stand another bowl of top ramen or was just too lazy to make anything else, macaroni and cheese was there for me. And now, here it is, for you too. Enjoy.

Comfort Food: Pizza

2010-01-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

For many, including myself, pizza is an always welcome comfort food. This particular set of food photos will mark a week of various foods getting in the way front of my camera. All joking aside, I've said it before, I love food photography.

As I stared at this mouth-watering just-cooked pizza, camera in my hands looking to make sure I got the shots that I wanted, it took all of my willpower to keep from reaching out and grabbing it. I almost convinced myself that since crumbs are a good element to include in a food photo, had I eaten some of the pizza first, there would've been plenty of aesthetically pleasing crumbs. But as you can see, I held strong and made the photos I wanted.

Oh and the pizza itself was delicious.

Happy Monday, there's more to come.

Black and White Shoot

2010-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

I did a shoot recently with Vanessa. It was originally to be in color. But after we looked at previews that were rendered in black and white, she knew that black and white was the way to go. Of course I wasn't against it at all. It was just what I wanted given my recent journey into black and white photography.

It was a very simple setup. Two lights and a simple background. A main light off axis and one light for fill, which was on axis. Oh, and a chair for sitting.

There really wasn't a lot that needed to be done after I imported the photos into Adobe Lightroom and then Photoshop. Some simple tweaks and sharpening and I was done. Easy peasy.

Now that the photos are done I realize something. I don't want to stop shooting in black and white. Yes, of course, no one says that I can't shoot in black and white, but this is a direction that really intrigues and fascinates me. So while I begin my search for more subjects to collaborate with on this black and white photo journey, enjoy these photos.

I'll be returning to food photography shortly. Stay tuned for more updates.

Goals. Not Resolutions

2010-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not one for new year resolutions. I'm more of the mindset that any of us can create goals for ourselves at any time of the year. One of my current goals is to do more black and white photography. So far so good.

My first photography class when I first began my photo education was black and white photography. Learning to shoot, develop and print my own black and white film and prints. I remember hours upon hours spent in the darkroom/lab. I'd say hello to the professor in the morning, hear words of encouragement like "shoot more" and "shoot better." Then it was to the next room which was the lab. There really is nothing else like spending an entire day in a darkroom. Tubs of developer, wash baths and archaic film dryers that would eat your film if you even looked at them funny. I went through so many prints in those days. Boxes and boxes of Kodak photo paper that I'd expose with the enlarger and develop only to throw out because one corner wasn't burned right. When I'd finally come out of the lab ready to go home (never tired though) I'd look at the clock and realize it was late evening. The sun had set. A whole day. At the time it was, to me, the best way to spend a day. But there was one thing that bugged me. I was never sure of the aesthetic I was looking for in my black and white photos. Maybe I was impatient, but I just wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go. Of course years later, I'm here writing this and I'm fairly certain I've found what I'm looking for. For me this means I won't need to spend a lot of time trying different filters or processing techniques in Lightroom or Photoshop because I found what excites me about black and white photography. Oh and I'm shooting digital right now. Though I'm hearing the call of black and white film again. Maybe soon.

One of my other current goals that isn't photo related is to run more. Simple, right? If only it were that easy. I enjoy running. Maybe because it gives me time to listen to all the music I love on my ipod or iphone. Maybe it's because I tell myself that by running regularly, I'll be better prepared to chase down the elusive great photograph. I haven't been running regularly though. Which is why I felt the need to officially make it one of my current goals. So I'll run today. And I'll run tomorrow. Beyond that, well we'll just have to see what happens. Stay tuned, there are more black and white photos coming soon. Soon being tomorrow.

Grilled Cheese

2010-01-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

So begins a rainy week in southern California. I've got some things lined up for this week and for the most part should be out of the rain, which sounds very nice to me. I do have this nagging feeling that I should go take a walk in the rain with my camera and see what I can find.

For now, up top is a photo I took for my food portfolio back in 2009. It's a very simple grilled cheese sandwich, a favorite of mine. Yes, butter makes all the difference. I had a lot of fun with this photo and went through a few sandwiches before I had the photo that I was happy with. It was definitely good eating and now I'm actually thinking about making one. Oh food photography, how hungry you make me...

New Portfolio

2010-01-14T16:01:00.000-08:00

Starting today, I've made public my current and ongoing food portfolio. It can be found at

http://www.andrewoliveros.com/portfolio or by clicking on the portfolio link above.

It's a portfolio I plan to expand and continue working on to produce better and better food photos.

Go on.Take a look...

Simple Smoothie: A Follow-Up

2010-01-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

I love smoothies. I love going to the local Jamba Juice or Juice it Up, I won't try to hide that. Even more than those places, I love being able to make my own. They seem to almost parallel my food photography as, with my still work, I like simplicity. Interesting use of strong color coupled with simple strong composition. I might be reaching, but making a smoothie seems very similar; Simple ingredients with strong flavor. I guess it does end there though seeing as how it all goes in the blender and gets the liquefy treatment on the high setting.

I'm not going to talk about why more photographers should be doing more video now or how they should get it done, or even what it means for the industry. There are others more dedicated to that and I'd rather read it from them.

What I wanted to create something that was fun. Simple. I have to admit that I feel very drawn to time lapse photography because doing this video was nothing if not fun. My goal is to find ways to incorporate more things like it into my still photography work. If it doesn't get incorporated into my existing still work though, I'll probably be doing more. As it turns out I'm working on a new one now.

Like always, there's more coming. For now, enjoy.

A Simple Strawberry Banana Smoothie

2010-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Set-up photo from series below.

Last week I was working on a project that has now, for me anyway, become long term. Not long term as in I'm not done with it and can't share anything today, but long term as in there are so many more things that I'll want to try after this.

I've been thinking a lot about what it is I love to make photos of. To start, I absolutely love photos of people, especially artists. Thoughts, ideas and character. What makes people unique is fascinating to me.

But I also love food photography. Color, texture and absolutely delicious food is very exciting to me. What I particularly love about food photography is that I'm able to apply and explore different ideas I have to my food shots. Different ideas about composition and color. That leads me to this series of photos. I got the idea sometime around the holidays and started making a list of what I wanted to see. The image below is the series of photos that are the realization of that initial vision.

I really do enjoy a good smoothie. This was a very simple strawberry and banana smoothie. There are so many different ways to show the progression of it being made, but I felt that these four images captured and isolated it very well.

Oh and there's one more piece to share from this shoot. I'll put that up in the coming days as soon as it's ready. There's definitely more to come.

Out and about...

2010-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm putting the finishing touches on a project that I hope to share in the coming days. It's been fun to shoot, fun to problem solve and fun to see it all come together. I didn't have anything planned to post for today as I'll be out and about enjoying fine coffee and then lovely scenery, but I decided that I'd share a black and white photo I took yesterday.

I can't say that this is one of my favorite photos but I can say I like the feel of the black and white interpretation. I haven't been able to find my old yellow lens filter for black and white photography, but after a little in-camera adjusting, I was able to create this lovely jpeg. There was something very satisfying about not needing to shoot this image in raw and process it myself through any additional software. This doesn't mean I don't or won't shoot in a raw format for my other work, but it does mean that on the occasion that I want to have fun and remind myself to stay spontaneous and creative, I'll probably set the camera to jpeg only.

Photos from the Archive

2010-01-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

It used to be that I'd finish a shoot, do the post production and deliver the files to the client. Afterwards I'd go through the series of photos, select any that I might use for my portfolio and that'd be that. When I thought about making sure to share my work I'd let myself believe that I was too busy to take the time to write about the photos and share them on the blog.

So now I'm taking the time to write more about my work. For those times when I'm still working on any current projects and don't have something new ready, I think I'll talk a bit about past work.

This particular set of photos is from a shoot I did with local make-up artist Christina Wagner. It was scheduled fairly quickly if I remember right and all went down without any problems. We were in Laguna Beach, just behind the busy town area on a Sunday.

What I'm sharing are a few of the photos that, truth be told, we pulled off very quick at the end of the shoot. This is a small alley just off the street that looked promising as we were walking around searching for the right location to work. Being a Sunday is probably what also helped as there weren't a lot of people walking around.

Without going into too much detail, I'll say that we used only two lights for this shoot, one for each model. For the first photo, I was positioned up on the raised area, where the models would be in the other two photos.

I wanted to distinguish each model by their personality and by keeping them at opposite ends with different qualities of light on either to create some sort of contrast between the two. I'm happy with both photos. Everyone was great to work with and professional all the way. My only concern now is that I prefer the defined shadow in the third photo, but enjoy the composition of the models in the second one. There's nothing wrong with liking both though, so don't worry, it's fine with me if you enjoy them all.

A Building, A Reflection and A Silhouette

2010-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Before I get too far in my journey through black and white photography, I thought I'd show some photos that were from a small set of prints that were exhibited at Cherry on Top in Orange.

This is one of three that were hung in the month of November. I'll show the other two at a later time, but for now I'll focus on this image. We were spending some time meandering in the grassy area outside of the Metreon in San Francisco, waiting for the next showing of The September Issue.

It was while looking up at the building that I noticed the reflection in the glass. It was when I noticed the person standing there though, that I knew I had a picture.

I don't believe there was much post processing that needed to be done to the raw file to get to the image I had in mind when I captured it in camera. Just a little enhancing of the silhouette and the reflection which made all the difference to me.

Currently, there is only one print that was made of this photo, so I'm thinking that makes it a very limited edition print. It's not too small either, a framed 16"x 20". It's since come down from the wall at Cherry on Top, it's gracious first host. Right now it's hanging up above me as I type this, but I haven't decided if I'm the best home for it. Time will tell.

Staying creative

2010-01-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a photo right now. One I hope to be a portfolio piece but won't mind if it's not because it's a fun project so far. It's some minor production, but mostly problem solving with light.

Above is an image that I took during the run to Pink's. I had originally envisioned this image in color, but lately I've felt and mentioned a desire to re-examine black and white photography. This photo just seemed to feel right the way it is above. For some reason though, I love the imperfections in the image, such as the way the dashboard reflected through the windshield.

Earlier I looked through my old film equipment from when I was first learning to shoot and process my own black and white film. I had hoped I would find my old lens filters. I was particularly hoping to find an old yellow filter I used. There's a strong desire to find it and throw it on the front of my lens. I have an idea of the look it'll give, but I don't feel the need to do any big tests with that filter versus any others. That's the one I want.

In the coming days, I'll be doing more with black and white. I'm planning on more portraiture and maybe a few black and white photos from my current project.

I'm feeling excited. Going to black and white for me is reminiscent of when I first learned the basics of photography. I think for that reason alone, it'll always have a special place in my heart. I can't say that I feel more creative while exploring black and white photography, but it does feel refreshing right now.

One of our favorite places: Pink's Hot Dogs, Los Angeles

2010-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

During the holidays or spare time as it's available, Pink's hot dogs in Los Angeles is one of my favorite places to go. Normally, Pink's is the kind of place that is best visited at night, since they're open very late everyday. This time however, we decided to go during the day. With me as passenger, I was able to get some photos of our delicious outing.

Music!

Our destination, Los Angeles, in the distance.

Arrived in Los Angeles. The real waiting will soon begin!

Typical wait time is forty minutes to an hour in line.

For some, the journey to Pink's is worth stopping traffic.

When you can see the menu you're close. Stomach grumbles. Almost there.

Victory!

Tradition for us is four chilli dogs with mustard. No onions. Side of nachos. Coca-cola..

A nice evening. A successful trip to Pink's hot dogs.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

Update: Edited to correct an error

It's a new year. Time for more hard work, more success and more fun doing what I love doing. Photography. I thought I'd start the year off right by posting this image. It was taken a few days ago while in Los Angeles. There'll be another post about that excursion soon, by the way.

I don't normally do any photo walks, but I'd like to do more. It was such a nice day, it was impossible to walk around without a camera in my hands, though admittedly the camera was with me because of another small project I was working on. But it was while walking down a sidewalk that I was directed to this particular spot, the photo above. I really enjoy the hard lines of the pole and the organic quality of the clouds. I'm not sure I remember the camera settings but I was using a wonderful little 17-50 zoom lens. I probably had it at f/8 or f/9 with a fairly fast shutter speed.

Alright, it's time to get to work. I've read that if you wait until Monday to start any of your new year plans or resolutions, you've already lost 1% of the year. With that said, I'm off to make photos. Stay tuned, there's definitely more to come.

Lunch time. Practicing for another series...

2009-12-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

First of a much larger amount eaten for lunch.

It's the holidays so that means lots of tamales. All kinds it seems. There have been delicious chicken and vegetable tamales, spicy or perhaps not so spicy tamales depending on who was doing the eating, and sweet tamales. Still, I feel like I haven't eaten that many this holiday season. But I was sure to make up for that today.

It's a lazy day. That means I'm working on a sketch/outline for a new series of photos I'd like to do. I can't keep adding to the list of photos in my head. Ok, I take that back, I love that I keep adding to it. The problem is getting them done. Enough of that. Instead of keeping tasks separate I decided to do some of my test shooting while heating up today's lunch as seen above. I won't say what part of this small lunch time shoot was the research for the next series, but I do like how this photo turned out. I feel like I'm being drawn to black and white photography. Don't get me wrong, I love color. I love the impact that color can have on anything. I would like to explore more black and white photography in the near future. No, it's not a new years resolution, just something I'd like to do.

This one seems to have mixed a little of both for me. I'm not a huge fan of selective color photos and this photo wasn't done with that intention. But there may be more like this soon.

One from the archive...my worn shoes

2009-12-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

So I got a song stuck in my head earlier today. I was in the mood to listen to a CD that I absolutely enjoy every time I hear it. The soundtrack to the movie, Where the Wild Things Are. I was thinking about what to write at the time and then I got to the song titled, Worried Shoes, and it reminded me of a photo I'd made awhile back.

When I set out to make this photo, I wanted to create an image that documented a pair of shoes that meant something to me. It had to convey just how long I've hung onto this particular pair.

Is it a guy thing? To hang onto a particular pair of shoes or a shirt or any article of clothing well beyond a reasonable amount of time? I have other shoes I wear, but for the longest time, I always made sure to wear this particular pair if I could. They've been through rain and dirt, sand and rocks, not to mention rough asphalt more times than they should have been forced to handle. I've probably worn them at times when a pair of boots would've been more appropriate, but that's neither here nor there.

So to illustrate to a potential audience or viewer that these shoes are worn, I knew I needed to use my off-camera light to create a sense of texture. I also knew that I needed to limit the light to create strong shadows. It's not a beauty shot, so why shoot it like one, right?

I read something that was attributed to Ernest Hemingway. It was an article on Copyblogger about Hemingway's writing tips. One thing attributed to Hemingway was that he said that for every page he writes that is a masterpiece, there are numerous other pages that are crap. It works well when applied to photography. I had another site on which I would display my photography once. I was of the belief that I needed to post everything that I shot. The site, which was great at the time, allowed for a huge amount of photos to be uploaded and displayed online.

I've realized that I don't want to show everything from every shoot. I like the idea of transparency and being able to show how an idea progresses especially throughout a particular photo shoot. Yet, I don't feel it's something I want to do: display every photo, the good and the bad. It takes a lot of hard work to get to the final image, to get from that idea or concept that was in my head to the photo that gets displayed for everyone to see. And that's what is important to me. That final image.

There were other photos of this particular pair of shoes. Some maybe good, others maybe OK. I won't show those anymore. Those were photos that may have started to get close to what I wanted to create, but they weren't the final image. The one above is; my worn shoes.

A Recent Shoot

2009-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've worked with Eddington quite a few times. We always have fun shooting together and this particular photo shoot was done when we only had a limited amount of time. Then again, what photo shoot ever has unlimited time, right?

There wasn't much we had in the way of equipment. I was packed light from a previous assignment earlier in the day but had just enough gear to come up with some cool stuff.

So we had an empty apartment, one quantum q-flash, an sb-28 and some light modifiers. We didn't have a seamless so we just shot against one of the bare walls. Up above is one of our favorite photos from the photo shoot.

The photo above was shot when we were just about done. We went for something different. Are there layers to this one? Maybe. No, not photoshop layers.

Shooting this one was pretty easy. I just threw a small norman octa onto the q-flash and moved the stand it was on to just the right position. All that was left was to get the right expression. Eddington took care of that. I think he did a fine job, if I do say so myself.

There are a couple more good ones from our time spent making photos. In the coming days or weeks I'll try to put more up.

One from the portfolio

2009-12-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Here's one that's been in the portfolio for awhile.

I think it was shot at 1/250s at f-something or other. The technical details and camera settings don't matter so much as the final photo does. This has been, since I made it, one of my favorite photos. It just speaks to me. There's a bigger version of it in the portfolio on the site.

The other night I was trying to sleep but couldn't stop thinking about different compositions for photos I want to make. It got to the point where, since I only had my phone nearby, I used the brushes app to start sketching things out. This morning I looked at everything and can't help but wonder from what depths of my imagination came the sketches. Ok, so maybe they're not that outrageous or crazy, but they're exciting. Time to get to work and make them happen.

A quick shot from a rainy day

2009-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of planning going on for me. New projects and who knows what else. The other day I was at my laptop and looked out the window, noticing the rain coming down. To the best of my recollection I've never done a photo like this. So, I grabbed my camera and pressed it up against a clean area of the window and made a photo. I think the water combined with the window made the tree look interesting. I wasn't really trying for too much, I just wanted to catch that last little bit of fall color.

Lunch time!

2009-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Personal work. I find myself working on a lot of personal projects lately. It's not a bad thing, not by any means. There are a lot of ideas I'm working on that I just have a huge desire to express as photos.

So I got this particular cup of noodles because I wanted to eat but didn't want anything too filling. Somewhere in between pouring in the hot water and eating it I came up with the idea to make a photograph of it. I wanted an exaggerated, grand and maybe silly interpretation of my lunch.

I think I got it.