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…

San Francisco

My hometown...

This series of photos has got to be my favorite set of work so far… If you remember from previous posts, a primary observation of my photos from others is that who I am shows very easily through each shot. This is especially true in this series of shots from my hometown. These shots are actually a few collected over a bunch of different photowalks and have varying characteristics – simple, colorful, high activity, unique points of view. More than likely you’re gonna see another blog entry of a San Francisco photowalk sometime down the line…

| MLK Waterfall | Yurba Buena Gardens | San Francisco, CA |

The textures in the MLK tunnel make for a ton of photographic interest. Walking through there was also very humbling and artistic… There is actually a waterfall to the right and whole lot of visual appeal…

This next shot was on Union Square…

| News Stands - Powell Street | Union Square | San Francisco, CA |

We get bombarded by common media and marketing campaigns so much that it becomes ingrained in our mind… Quite honestly, I virtually walked past this set of stands several times before realizing they were free… The word has become stuck in my mental muscle memory and no longer evokes thoughts of opportunity of gain without cost – FREE doesn’t really register… I suppose it is crazy to realize, but we see so many bits of advertising on our TVs and in the streets that it is no longer a thought process but a subliminal message… I guess you pay a lot more attention when you have a camera in your hands...

Further on the observation of the writing on the walls, I saw this on the way down in to the Powell Street Muni/BART Station…

| No Graffiti | Powell Street Muni/BART Station | San Francisco, CA |

I really couldn’t help but take this shot… and part of me found it kinda comical – I don’t know why though…

This next one is also directly outside of that station…

| Street Show Tap Dance | Powell Street Cable Car Turn-around | San Francisco, CA |

I really love the colors and the depth of the composition – I really wish I was able to capture action in this one though…

The next picture is one that I get some surprising reactions from…

| Bart Ticket Dispenser | Powell Steet Muni/BART Station | San Francisco, CA |

A lot of people who have seen this shot actually really like this shot – for a lot of different reasons… Maybe because of the depth and cleanliness of the shot… There aren’t too many distractions and all the people are at each ticket station… For me – I tend to think it’s because of the Muni/BART sign at the top – but that’s just me.

The next shot was taken when Vaness and I took the ferry over to Sausalito!

| SF Skyline | SF Bay , Sausalito Blue & Gold Ferry | San Francisco, CA |

It’s a classic and typical shot taken a hundred times over, but hey… it's a necessary part of the portfolio… I figure I might as well take one that isn’t too common… And with the added effects, I think it turns out to be a pretty good one overall – I kinda like the natural lens flare too..

This next one wasn’t on my cut list initially, but after a little bit of evaluation, I ended up liking it a lot!

| Bay Bridge, Pier 4 | San Francisco Embarcadero | San Francisco, CA |

Right after I took this shot I felt a bit discouraged because I got shots of the Bay Bridge, but nothing really all that spectacular. Even after the previous shot, I still didn’t feel all that satisfied…

Until I stepped back into the car to leave…

| Bay Bridge, Pier 4 | San Francisco Embarcadero | San Francisco, CA |

I always get asked if I was driving or parked when I took this shot… I was parked… but, I do suppose I could say I was driving – just for the extra mystery to the story! Hmm… Anyways… It is my favorite of the whole set and for me will probably be a piece I take with me everywhere…

I really love and miss the city a lot and maybe someday I will be able to live there… but for now… I’m glad to be in sunny San Diego…

Jesse G.

My baby brother… the ham… he just loves the camera…

This kid is seriously something else… He is absolutely nothing like me and Tristan and has such a different demeanor, it’s hard to figure if he is actually related to us… He definitely has all the bratty qualities of a little 6 year old, but really does have a warm heart and a cuteness about him that you can’t deny… You can’t deny him ice cream, french fries, chicken nuggets, and chocolate milk…

I really did wish I could be there during his early years – cuz God knows all the cuteness credits he has stored up will begin to fade away as he grows up into a little elementary school kid… one thing I think may never go away though - this guy really loves him some playtime at the park…

| Jesse G. | PC Tot Lot | San Francisco, CA |

Jesse and I spent about an hour diggin little tunnels in the sand so that the autobots would have a home base to battle the decepticons… Then after we were done… he jumped all over our work…

| Jesse G. | PC Tot Lot | San Francisco, CA |

Getting him to pose is just way too easy…Every time I would pull up the camera he had a different little pose for me…

| Jesse G. | PC Tot Lot | San Francisco, CA |

Here is Jesse goin’ against the grain!

| Jesse G. | Children’s Playground | San Francisco, CA |

Now that’s the right direction!

| Jesse G. | Children’s Playground | San Francisco, CA |

This one has a lot of distractions all throughout the photo… but still a fun shot anyways…

| Jesse G. | Children’s Playground | San Francisco, CA |

| Jesse G. | Children’s Playground | San Francisco, CA |

| Jesse G. | ARHS Erskine Field | San Francisco, CA |

Jesse has the sort of character that just attracts… He just has that way about him... It’s gonna be interesting to watch him grow over the years… and hopefully soon someday I will be back in the bay to see all that happen…

Don’t those last two pictures scream “I love the camera”?? Another classic example of how easy it was to take a shoot of this whole set and another example of what you can do too! Be a “Featured” subject soon! Email me will ya?!

R-I-O-R-D-A-N!!!

My youth’s character building… Football…

This shoot is of the ARHS 2006 Football team. They had just hired a new coach to return the program to its competitive stature and I was able to attend and see a lot of alumni on one of the first games of the year. Here is a shot of one of their starting running backs waiting to get in…

| Riordan RB | ARHS Erskine Field | San Francisco, CA |

Rob Jones, pictured next, was actually one of the Riordan sports stars, starting at TE and DE, but was best known for his basketball game… Riordan is very well known for the Basketball program and really their sports program in general…

| Rob Jones | ARHS Erskine Field | San Francisco, CA |

I like this next shot of the Defensive huddle – a really simple and easy shot to capture, but something that has a bunch of character to it.

| Riordan Defense | ARHS Erskine Field | San Francisco, CA |

It is my goal in life to spend my “retirement” as a high school teacher and football coach. Retirement in quotes because to me, retirement isn’t sitting around and doing nothing – in fact – I don’t believe we are called to just sit around and do nothing in retirement – I really feel we are called to activity for our whole lives and what better way to serve then to go back and serve where I was served – because I was fortunate to have great coaching influences through my entire football experience (Coach P, Coach Nuila, Coach Diaz, Coach Herning)...

| Coaches and the O-line | ARHS Erskine Field | San Francisco, CA |

I love that picture because it just captures so much – my coaching goals, intensity, trust, teamwork, respect…

This sport has a pretty particular place in my growing up and so does the High School that I played it at… Football was the growth experience that not too many people get the privilege of having in their high school life. In my freshman year at ARHS I decided right away that I would try out for the football team… I look back at myself now on film and would probably consider myself a bit awkward in my young football life (I think that all freshman are actually – haha)… During tryouts, close to a hundred kids are shootin for 60 spots - so it was reasonably competitive. But, at the time, I didn’t realize how competitive. On the final day of cuts I still had not been selected to make the team. There were probably about 30 students left for 15 spots. I remember the night before, I was so frustrated – and all I remember my dad saying was, “just show ‘em what you can do, and that’s all you can do – don’t worry about it”… I ended up being in the last batch that made the cut and finally received my jersey number and football pads. I picked 56, the only really good number that I liked that was left.

I am convinced that because I made the team the way I did, it shaped a large part of the fighting and appreciative character I possess now. I appreciated what I had and took nothing for granted. I ended up starting 3 ways as a freshman and became a captain – I almost never left the field as a left guard, middle linebacker, and special teamer… My final varsity year as the starting left guard ended up like a movie story… we won WCAL (the most competitive athletic league in the entire bay area) – a feat never accomplished by ARHS in a league dominated by 2 other teams for 25 years…we then went to the finals in State Sectionals and lost by 3 in an intense and close game ending the year 11-2...

Perseverance and life learning from beginning to end – I have a lot of reasons to thank God for the chance given to me to grow in this experience.

M319

My first photo shoot..

Back in my second year in college I had the privilege of living with the best roommates on the face of this planet (at least next to the roomies that I have now of course!)… David, Victor, Cat, and April – M319… Towards the end of the year I was just getting into the whole photography thing and basically strong-armed everyone into doing a photoshoot for memory’s sake… It turned out to be fun and unforgettable…

More shout outs to photography assistants… my ‘dawta’ Chatess actually helped out with this one… What I did to get the right compositions was just like how you would when everyone is trying to get into the family picture – you set up the pose, leave a space for yourself, set the timer, and run into the frame!... Same concept except Chatess acted as my camera stand – I framed the shot and then told her to look in the viewfinder and made her follow points of reference in the shot… There are more photos from this shoot that I do want to add on here, but I need to track down some of the pictures for scanning… here are 2 out of my 6 favorite shots…

| M319 Roomies | Regents Road | SCAN of 35mm | La Jolla, CA |

| M319 Roomies | Regents Road |SCAN of 35mm | La Jolla, CA |

This was a whole lot of fun for me and my roomies at the time and something that I envision YOU, yes YOU the reader having as well! Under the left menu bar is a title called Featured… that explains everything… I’m sure there is someone out there that is looking for an opportunity for a free photo-op like this one… Don’t delay!

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…

KP PCC 2004 - 'Story'

My first attempt at event photography...

Dianne, Ginet, and Sheryl's PCC in 2004 was a wonderfully intense experience. A beautifully told story and a great concept - it was probably one of my favorite PCCs or PCNs that I have ever seen... In my third year of college, I decided to sit it out PCC (a decision that proved to be continued on for the rest of my years) and as it turned out, I was exactly where I needed to be. I do not believe an entire UCSD KP PCC performance was ever covered photographically, and in fact, I’m not even so sure that it ever was done again in the same way this one was… 

Before I go on further – I have to give credit to my lovely Vaness who actually has an undercover talent for photography as well! She was my 2nd shooter at this stage event and actually turned out some amazing photos… At this point I don’t remember which one’s are hers, but they will be noted in the photo footer if I am sure it is hers… also – remember – these are scans of pictures (cuz digi-SLR wasn’t quite completely mainstream yet)…   There were literally hundreds of pictures that me and Vaness took... here are some of the better ones... Enjoy!

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA | Taken by Vaness C. |

Here is the view from my point of view... It is kinda cool to see two views of the same situation!  This is actually one of my most favorite shots because of its candid qualities.  And I didn't pose them - they are actually doing an acting warm up.

| Cast & Crew | KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA | Taken by Vaness C. |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA |

| KP PCC | Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD | La Jolla, CA | Taken by Vaness C.|

This entire photography experience was really fun. It actually was the first time that I was asked to do event photography – and I would say that it was my first semi-pro assignment! Thanks DQ, G, and ading for that chance! It felt really pro - running to all sorts of locations, having tri-pods pre-positioned, over 20 rolls of film, back-up batteries… it all drove the kind of adrenaline that I love about assignments like this… Imagine doing an indoor, dark, stage performance shoot with a D300! For now, I can only imagine...

Evolution of a Photographer

More documentation of my first work…

The first here is with David – my roommate at the time.. I asked him if he could help me with a photo assignment I had… He said – what did you want me to do.. I said.. uh.. I have no clue??? Yah, for me photo class was always a struggle because it forced me to follow prompts and assignments – now I see that it could have only helped me.. But, then – I was scraping for any kind of creative epiphany.

| David R. | UCSD, CCC | La Jolla, CA | Scan of 35mm | Nikon N50 |

Interesting composition – in fact it was voted as the most interesting in my flickr (I have no idea how they determine that metric... This other one from San Francisco is the view from a spot very close to my house. It's at UCSF and is a place not too many people know about…

| UCSF | San Francisco, CA | Scan of 35mm | Nikon N50 |

If you look closely, the right third of the entire photo is out of focus… no it wasn’t intentional, and no it was not a function of my camera or even a shooting mistake … and it isn’t a function of my scanning either… it was a mistake I made in the darkroom – I placed my paper down and got ready to expose, and had some goofy object resting underneath the right corner of my exposure plate… that effectively slanted the paper slightly and thus the result…

Over the years I’ve found that the best pictures that I end up composing are not a function of my vision… Sometimes – you just walk and you find it… Actually, a lot of times that’s the case… since then, I kinda stopped trying to ‘make’ a specific picture and let my surroundings show me what to take… from that it has evolved into… (ha… I can’t believe this is the phrase I came up with) an art.

April's Album Cover

My very first piece... the signature piece...

I guess it would be appropriate for me to start from the start. My name is Daniel and I am an aspiring professional photographer. I have been taking pictures since I was in high school and have really never taken it seriously as an art until I was in college. I was that guy in the group that always had a disposable camera (remember those?) and was always fascinated and appreciative of artful photography… I’m originally from San Francisco and as is so cliché – I have undoubtedly left my heart in that city. I have been told that the heart that I have for my hometown easily shows in my photography. I suppose when this observation was made is when I recognized that this is the art that God has called me to explore. Because ‘ME’ is so easily seen in these pictures, it was hard for me to deny photography’s place in my life…

I don’t claim to have all the knowledge or technical understanding of the craft, but I do have the passion and calling for it. I may make a ton of rookie technical mistakes this early in my career – but that technical expertise that will come… Fact of the matter is, composition is the key… and the composition of my first shot is something that has become a sort of hallmark for me as a photographer.

| April L. | Regents Apts | La Jolla, CA | SCAN of 35mm | Nikon N50 |

Every single time I mention the word photography to anyone who has known me for at least 5 years – and knows I take pictures – says something like this…. “Yah! You know, every time I think of your photography, I think of that one picture… It’s a black and white picture of April and her guitar in front of that wall! It’s like… her album cover… if she had an album…” That picture’s composition is so simple and very much the style of my photography… Album cover worthy??? Well, my own harshest critic (me) would say, “its nice, a bit out of focus, maybe could have been reframed, a more textured wall could have helped, and there is that distracting little black block on the top left.” But, in truth – it is a wonderful picture – maybe not perfect, but what really is?

Since then, I have grown exponentially and have shifted to digital SLRs a year and a half ago. I am just starting to learn all the ins-and-outs, but it has been crazy. Beware - a few of the early posts on this blog will be SCANS of some of my old 35mm work (look for the tag on the bottom right) so picture quality isn’t great by any stretch…

I’m doing the blog thing 1st as a means for exposure, but also just to share and document my walk as a photographer. I really do believe in sharing art so… don’t be afraid to leave comments and please do follow along! And of course, if you need a photographer, I need the portfolio, so…

So here is to my first portrait shot… on my first post… on my first photoblog… on the revival and continuance of my photographic career… which God promises me to be a rewarding, blessed, and amazing ride… Startin’ from the start…