Reyelisa - Fashion Editorial, Pt. 4 of 4

Fashion Layout – Details – Part 4 of 4

Final shoot! With the prestige of San Diego’s Balboa park, you would think this would be a haven for anyone with a camera… and in a way, it was… the moment we got to the pavilion that was the target of our shoot, we spotted 4 other people with dSLRs and a wedding party doing a shoot on the other side… yup – the quintessential shoot location… but as we were shooting, we had the hardest time getting anything that was really interesting! I mean the place is a bit flat when it comes to color, and the place is only really full of repeating patterns – you could take a picture of a bunch of columns only so many ways… well tell me what you think of this one… and remember – you are reading in reverse order, if you want to read forward, skip to part 1 of 4 and progress to here…

Here is part/location 4 of 4…. Theme - Cinderella... Enjoy =)

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Mark M. | Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

| Organ Pavillion | Balboa Park | San Diego, CA |

The entire four part shoot was a lot of fun to do and the post processing was just as fun… Thank you to Reyelisa for allowing us all to partake in the project… Thanks to Mark and Cha for all your shooting inspiration throughout the day… Thanks to Tep for coming along for the ride and being a great model…

Special thanks to the Corner House Café off of Sorrento Valley road near Mira Mesa as well as Café Noir in downtown SD for allowing us to shoot directly on location… Thanks to the county of San Diego for having the Organ Pavillion and to the Salk Institute for not sending out the snipers to the roof… =)

Reyelisa - Fashion Editorial, Pt. 3 of 4

Featured Shoot 2 - Fashion Layout, Details – Part/Location 3 of 4

Definitely my favorite location of the day…

Part/location 3 of 4…. Theme – The Evil Step Sisters… Enjoy =)

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

| Cafe Noir | Downtown | San Diego, CA |

This location started immediately as a disappointment… but eventually resulted as the winner of my favorite location… we were going there intending to find a dark, evil location so that we could shoot right out front and get it done… As we drove by it, all the dark character was there – but, it was conveniently highlighted by some spunky neon colored lanterns placed smack in the middle of the entire layout for the purposes of a “grand-opening”… we walked closer, sad faces and camera gear in hand, trying to save the scene in our heads… “maybe we can photoshop it? Or maybe we can keep those happy-time lanterns out of the image?”… then the owner pops out and says “Come on in! We have a photographer’s paradise in the back-lounge!!”…

Wow – this guy wasn’t kidding – I probably could have spent another hour there, but we were on a time crunch… He went on giving us a tour of what turned out to be a quaint little place in the middle of downtown condo-mania… It was a historical landmark apparently, required to be untouched by the city… but this hip and modern place had more charm then the front door lets on… he explained the history of the building and went on about the changes and visions of the little plot of land went through over the years… a true storyteller, you can see the passion that he had for this place in his eyes… He still saw even greater growth and changes coming for a place that he said started humbly, from the ground up – he laid out plans and showed us sketches of the future... this guy could not be stopped…

How fitting… (Read Part 1 of 4 and you will know what I mean)…

Reyelisa - Fashion Editorial, Pt. 2 of 4

Featured Shoot 2 - Fashion Layout, Details – Part/Location 2 of 4

I just realized – that because I am posting in the chronologically forward direction – you the reader will be seeing all the images from END to BEGINNING… haha… well, if you want the full intended effect – scroll down as fast as you can – and start at part 1 of 4… I think I’ll have to post this in front of each new one of this 4 part series… oh well… live and learn..

Although, not as dynamic in the way of tonal ranges as the first location, geometric shapes and leading lines were the practice piece of this location’s shoot… Very challenging, but still fun… the theme and storyboards of all the shoots will be covered in a future post of all of Mark’s work on the project – the photographic visionary and Primary Shooter of this project… He came up with some great concepts to go with the overall design and direction provided by Reyelisa (who received an A+ for all her efforts!) The final fashion portion covered my Mark pulled out some HDR (High Dynamic Range) work and resulted in some incredible images… We worked together to get the final color mapping and filters on the shot and voila – Herra Bomb work. We had a heck of team for this whole project… really, really, fun…

Part/location 2 of 4…. Theme - Fairy godmother, Juxtaposition of Nature and Man... Enjoy =)

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

| Salk Institute | La Jolla, CA |

As we were shooting here, security came out to check up on us… They said we were alright, but we could swear that there is some secret underground spaceship from the planet Zerton under this place.. It was probably more guarded than Area 51… This place had cameras on every rooftop corner, long drops, steel bars at every stairwell into the compound, a moat (yes, like the kind in medieval times), and I am fully convinced that automatic 100 rounds/second guns pop out of ALL of those little evenly dispersed and well placed holes in the concrete walls… But, that’s just my theory…

Reyelisa - Fashion Editorial, Pt. 1 of 4

Featured Shoot 2 - Fashion Layout, Details – Part/Location 1 of 4

So I woke up on Saturday morning at 6am, earlier than I really ever wake up during the week… I woke up feeling excited about the shoot – I showered thinking of the angles of the places I need to capture, brushed my teeth thinking of the number of shots I would need… I ate breakfast downstairs, reviewing design/storyboards, and googling locations of the shoot so I could get a better feel for the location and vibe – I was studying… My assignment – 2nd shooter, focus on the details…

Part/location 1 of 4…. Theme - Cindy, Today's strong working woman... Enjoy =)

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Mark M. | Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Mark M. Tep C. | Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

| Corner House Cafe | San Diego, CA |

After the 4 part location shoot was over, and the editing was done, and my energy completely gone – I opened my eyes after the flurry… I was always told -however repetitive - that in working – whatever I do – I need to follow my dreams and passions… pursue those things I love and do something where I wake up in the morning and say, “I can’t wait to work today”… The rational part of me will begin to reason with my heart and say, "but I can’t do EVERYTHING I want, there’s sacrifices to be made, I gotta get serious…" It kinda stings for a minute, but I get over it and begin to make what I do, fit… There is nothing wrong with working to take care of business, cuz you gotta eat, right? This isn't some "be everything that you ever wished you could be cuz you can just do it" speeches... cuz, if that were true - we would have a disproportional amount of rockstars and blog readers in this world... not every occupation is performed as a result of a deep rooted life passion - it just doesn't work that way... we need people who toil over the soil, technology, utilities, public services, food service (fo sho!), and all occupations listed in Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs... and those jobs are done with love because of the means to an end... But, you can't just COMPLETELY DROP what you DO love...

There was something that I was born with that made me never want to give up the things I love… I always fought for everything that I had a passion for (friendships, family, livelihood)… and this morning I woke up (figuratively and literally) and found that something was slowly being taken from me… I was being required to compromise… My young and impressionable mind began to be comfortable – satisfied that where I am is the beginning of everything life has to offer… but today was different… I woke up with the feeling that I couldn’t wait for the day to start – a feeling I haven’t felt for a few years… this isn’t because I hate my life or because I have a really bad situation – not at all, in fact I am EXTREMELY grateful for what I have in the way of where I work and what God has blessed me with – but, I haven’t felt this way in a few years because I slowed my hopes and ambitions for the speed of the working world… well… it’s time to get back into the fast lane…

God keeps placing deeper and deeper into my heart that this is where I should be... Photography... 80% of things that do get placed on our hearts as passions never get accomplished simply because of fear... whether it be lack of faith that God will come through, fear of rejection, past experiences - it all plays a part in that trick gets played in our heads... the one that convinces us that it is ultimately too much effort, or not worth it, or maybe just only available to those who have talent and luck... Something that I have learned from people who are where I would like to go is - they went after it... not tried it, but pursued it - almost with a healthy obsession (if that's even possible)... and only stopped to smell the proverbial roses until they were at the destination that they were running towards... I found that after they arrived, they weren't more greedy, or more dissatisfied, but instead, incredibly grateful and at peace (dissatisfied, greedy, and ungrateful often only came because of disingenuous motives)... they are all that much better for it... I reviewed my experiences and most cherished memories and accomplishments and they had that same theme - I went after it, didn't stop 'til i got there - and finished/continued much better because of it...

Well thanks for reading so far... and sorry for the long post... sometimes I can't stop writing/talking when it comes to things I'm passionate about... But hey, it's a blog right?! That's what these things are for... kinda...

Enjoy the rest of the shoot in parts 2 thru 4! Cuz I know I did!

Under the Overpass

San Diego’s roadways…

A simple shoot on a photowalk I went on recently revealed to me a few things I should take into account before I go on a shoot of this nature… Low-light shooting is hard enough when you are at a place where you don’t have any firm footing, you are worried about dropping a lens you just switched out, and you have to deal with on-coming traffic! This is easily something I wouldn't advise anyone to do to get a good angle – no matter how buttery the composition is…

| The Winking Bus | Old Town | San Diego, CA |

I sat there trying to capture some long dof-friendly shots and traffic blows right by me at what had to be a million miles an hour or something… I QUICKLY jumped back behind the “safety” of the rail guard – but in my defense – I was standing on a legal sidewalk... I just don't think it is a good idea to have your face stuffed in a viewfinder while traffic is blowing by you five feet from your back…

| Public Utilities Port | Old Town | San Diego, CA |

I am a natural light enthusiast – which proves to be a challenge when you are shooting nearly a half an hour after sunset… At any rate…I like what the last shot and the next shot caught…

| Post Sunset Parking Lot | Old Town | San Diego, CA |

Capturing that was difficult to do with my kit 18-70 3.5 glass, but I still believe that my work with the simple equipment will lead me to a more rich experience WHEN I do pick up the right body and all the appropriate glass for every situation…

| Under the Overpass | Old Town | San Diego, CA |

I struggled for a while with this last picture in color… and then I finally hit myself in the head and said – there are a ton of different lighting tones in it – go back to your roots fool! I flipped the switch and it appeared almost exactly how I wanted it… okay, maybe the foreground is suffering from a bit of over exposure, but I like it…I could have set up the tripod, bracketed, and then blended with photoshop… and we can talk for days about all the technical rules that I break, but hey, at the end of the day – the question really is – did you capture what you wanted to capture? My photographic goal in the shot - less is more, simple is best, flaws are actually character in disguise, and go with what you got…

Turntable-ism

My other art…

I was so excited after I graduated from college, I dove head-first into both digi-photo AND DJing at the same time… The art of the turntable was one that was unfamiliar to me, but something that I was completely passionate about learning… I don’t think I would have been able to jump into it if I didn’t move into Flanders directly after graduation (the house of DJs David, Mark, and Tone). I was most definitely blessed to have not only encouraging DJ figures surrounding and guiding me, but also learning and knowledgeable ones as well! I think because of that, I was able to become gig ready extremely fast and full of more resources than I can handle. Here is the entire set…

| DJ ChemE Set | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

The very first piece of the entire set I picked up was the right turntable. Mark spotted it for me on Craigslist for a total steal and it was the Technics SL-1200MK5 – the beast of the DJ world. So I HAD to get a matching table – Ebay to the rescue, and directly behind that was the mixer via Ebay as well… Closer up on the mixer…

| Vestax Mixer | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

I picked it up based on suggestions by both my housemates Mark and Tone. Definitely a solid pick up. Photographically, it has a bunch of interesting angles and subject matter making for an easy shoot – for example…

| Vestax Mixer | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

Then the Decision to go with Serato… like Digital SLRs, it is a revolutionary technology that rewrote the entire industry. Like DJing with Serato where you are given the ability to digitally manipulate your music in ways that were impossible before, photography with Digital SLRs has a whole new artistic realm in the Digital Darkroom of Photoshop… Incredible powers – if used wisely and for good Young Skywalker…

I resisted for a long while, the use of Photoshop to alter or touch-up my digital photos… mostly because I just didn’t believe in its use for photos – and because, well, we just couldn’t do all that with film before! But, I realized that I had already stepped across that line in DJing… I conceded and admitted that Photoshop is the industry standard and has become a commonplace part of a photographer’s complete workflow… so as a novice with Photoshop, I decided to go with the approach ‘less is more’… as I learn it, hopefully I will be able to accomplish this in my photos… although now I don’t mind stylization too much every now and then…