Smile :)

Not everybody trusts paintings but people believe photographs. - Ansel Adams

The old woman is my Step Grandmother and the shot was taken right before she realized she was the subject of my photograph.

Jumping To New Heights

Pretty much all my studio photography has been shot at my friend's dad's photo studio. I used to intern for him; he pretty much taught me most of what I know about shooting in a studio, shooting art, and shooting architecture. So he is pretty cool with letting me use the studio. But this shot is special, because it was taken right in my room against one of my walls. My friend Lora is the model in this shot. She is vary energetic and motivated.

Darling Just One More Cigarette

I am not sure if this person is a man or woman but either way, he or she is a homeless person in Santa Monica, CA. As I was leaving the 3rd Street Promenade I found my eyes drifting towards this person and I just had to take the picture. The look on the persons face is absolutely mesmerizing; age marks are unforgiving and so is knowledge. I wish i knew exactly what was going through his or her mind at the time. Whatever it was, it was a lot deeper then the average depth of a persons conscious.

Drunk Jumping, Jrunk Dumping

One day my friend Emily and I went on a little photo excursion down highway 1: better known as the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped at a few places where we photographed lots of nature and architecture, but none of the shots compared to the one I got right here. Emily and I climbed down a small set of rocks that led to the beach, where lots of people had fishing poles with lines sunk into the ocean. On my way down, two hispanic guys were laughing and having a good time with a 24 canned case of Budwiser. I smiled at them and they began to talk to me. They both were vary eager to have their picture taken and published. I said I will take their picture, but the only shots I publish are the ones that are out of the ordinary. We caught attention on a fishermen trying to catch fish off a vary tall cliff, that seemed to reach about 20 feet high. One of the two hispanic guys volunteered the other to jump off the cliff and into the ocean. The one who was volunteered concurred and said he has done it before. I was completely hesitant to ask this most likely drunk man to jump off a 20 foot cliff right in to the ocean where there could be rocks right where he lands. They both assured be that it is completely safe. I told the hispanic man who wanted to jump: I am not asking you to, but if you happen to jump off that cliff I will be here with my camera taking a picture.

Blistered

Here is a shot that I took at Venice Beach, California. Every weekend, and maybe other weekdays, a group of people, who bring their own percussion instruments, gather around in a circle and start tapping and banging their drums in syncopation. One man really caught my attention; he looked like he was in his mid 50's and reeked of marijuana and cigarettes. What was most interesting about the man, was his passion for playing music. It seemed as if his tired life was filled with energy and youthfulness when he was dancing and hitting that drum. The bandages covering the mans blisters, as depicted in the photograph, show that he is a seasoned veteran at the Venice Beach drum circle.