Oriental Twist

I really love Japanese and Chinese food. I'm a very picky eater, but there's nothing like some spicy chicken/beef and steamed rice. As of yet I haven't gained enough of a collection of food photos to share, but here are some photos I have taken recently. Thanks for stopping by!

Soldier Standing Watch

Hot Tea

Incendio

Don't Label Me

Buying a camera makes you a camera owner. By that same logic, owning a photography business doesn't make you a photographer, it makes you a business owner. You can label anything, but a photographer isn't defined solely by the depth of their portfolio, but by their passion for creating. Writers write, photographers make photos, and bloggers blog. None have to make money or gain notoriety for their accomplishments to be any of those things.

Labeling people into how deserving they are of your time and knowledge makes you a photography fan-boy. There are many people getting paid to make photos that, in my opinion, are ugly or over-processed. But SOMEONE out there likes it. And as long as there’s a market for people to enjoy their taste in photos, a girl/guy with even a GF1 (which I love 'borrowing' from my wife) can create works of art despite not knowing the technical stuff or having an 8×10 camera.

The camera doesn't make the photographer, but as a TOOL, it can inspire you to create. View camera vs 35mm rangefinder, TLR vs SLR; every tool is suited to a person's needs. Sometimes people just click (pun intended) with their camera and all the technical stuff melts away. I would like to be a full-time paid photographer at some point, but I’d be proud at being a part-time photo-maker if it means that at least a handful of people are moved by my images. And that’s what photography is: capturing light, capturing stories, capturing people’s hearts.

Try to label that.

Party Time

Went to a party with my wife and got some cool shots. The atmosphere was a mix of revved up fun and laid back; everyone was just enjoying themselves!

Ortiz Family

I'm going to include a couple more photos from the photo shoot now, and then come back to them in a little while. I love these three because they have a dreamy, nostalgic quality to them. Enjoy!

Ortiz Family Photo Session

A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of making photos for the Ortiz's. They are a fun-loving family and photogenenic to no end! We started downtown and made our way over to the Riverwalk. Once there, the sun slowly started to set. These are three of the photos they kept; three of my favorite photos as well. I'll be posting more soon!

Camera Testing

Another couple of test photos with color film to make sure the camera was working properly. 

The girl was kind enough to strike a pose for me! 

Cool Kid Swag

As usual, feel free to live a comment or say hey!

An Opportunity (Long Story)

My wife and I get out of the car at Wal-Mart, just another day. I look up and see an awesome classic car sitting all by itself. I have my film camera with Tri-X, the perfect pair to capture this fine automobile. I walk up, inspect the best angle with a nice, clean background. I set my guess for the exposure, bring the camera up, and click up the metering button. With a gentle "snick" I cock the film lever and press down the shutter. To my everlasting dismay, the mirror came up and did not come down. This shot was ruined. Snick.. nothing. Snick.. nothing. No luck. We walk around the store and I'm on my phone searching the internet for what the problem could be.

Once we get home, on exposure 30 of 36, I have to remove the film. I mess with the camera and it manages to starting 'firing' correctly. So, I used this opportunity to start fresh with a color roll to make sure the camera is still working. With this in mind, I decided that I would shoot the roll as fast as I could (versus a couple of months of being super selective). And because of this, I got photos I would never have gotten but wanted to try something different just to get the photos made.

I'll be posting a photo every couple of days showing what I ended up with, so make sure to check in to see what's new!