Elvira Troger photo shoot BTS

Here's a behind the scenes look at our photo shoot with Elvira Troger. I shot the video, that's why I'm not in it, but I edited and the final images are taken and edited by me. I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think.

StreetMeetLA August 2016

This past Sunday I had a chance to go to a group shoot organized by StreetMeetLA. The location happened to be the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena. I had never been there nor it seemed I would ever end up there if it weren't for this event. It turned out to be pretty cool and I managed to get a few decent pictures. See what you think.



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UPDATE

It's amazing to me how one can have every intention of keeping something (i.e. a blog) up to date but some way or another time just "slips" by so quickly, you don't realize just how bad, until a year or so has gone by. WHAT?!!! Incredible.
I'm sure it has something to do with bad habits and such. Still working on it.
Anyway...
Creatively, I'm afraid I've managed to create a GIANT backlog for myself. I've been wanting to do many things and have managed to do a few, but then I haven't been able to manage my time effectively to finish them.
There are a couple of photoshoots that I've yet to process. I have managed to sit and work on one image of the last photoshoot I did.

I had the pleasure of working with beautiful Elvira Troger. She was so much fun and had such a bright personality, I can't wait to get another chance to work with her again.
There was another model I shot before Elvira, but the images from that shoot will come later.
And the shoot before the afore mentioned, I did manage to work on a couple of the images. This is Olga. And like Elvira, Olga was amazing.

I feel I'm making a bit of progress regarding my photography skills, but it's discipline and diligence that I also need to work on.

Been a while

Wow! It really HAS been a while since I've posted anything here. For shame! Chalk it up to "life" and not prioritizing posting as much as I should. This will NOT be a post where I catch everyone up with everything that's happened in the past few months. I have created a few new images, one of which I'll share now. It was taken with my kit lens 18-55mm but it was reversed with the help of a very inexpensive adapter. What this does, when you turn your lens 180 degrees, is it makes the lens behave as a macro lens. So, I grabbed my lens and camera and asked my daughter to sit by the couch and stare out the window. This is was I was able to create. I hope you like it.

Amanecer (Dawn)

DARKNESS

Sometimes you gotta face your fears, no matter how terrible.

FLIGHT

Sometimes if you wish hard enough...

My first pinup

My first crack at it.

Thanks to iDiivil for the killer pose!

Different worlds, same crap

This could be anywhere in the world... you'd find it's got stories you're already familiar with.

Tonight I was talking with my Thai masseuse. Normally I don't like to speak while I'm getting a massage; I don't seem to be able to relax if I have to listen to what someone is saying. But for some reason, I didn't mind talking tonight. It turns out, I'm familiar with a lot of her story.
She told me her Thai name is Na (this is how I'M going to spell it). I asked, but she didn't tell me if it meant anything. She's almost 39 (or like she said, almost 40). She's a mother of two; a 14 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. They live in Thailand still. Na's parents are taking care of them. Na's been here for at least a year and a half.
As a parent myself, I can now understand what it means to leave your children behind. Or at least, I can imagine. I can imagine how hard and heart wrenching it must be and it's something I don't wish to experience first hand. Ever.
My mother is, however, familiar with this story. Due to a number of circumstances, she had to make that choice many years ago when I was still a kid. I was eight.
My father had travelled to the US back in 1979. Pursuing the promise of a better a life, not just for himself, but for the rest of us, he set out to try his luck. Lady luck proved to be hard to attain.
In 1984, my mother made the same journey, but try as she might, she was only able to get a travel visa for herself. As gut wrenching as the choice was, she had to endure it in order to survive.
I recall the day she left, not with fondness, of course; it still makes my hear sink. Literally.
As a man, I wager that women are, in fact, stronger than men. I say this because I can't imagine doing what my mother and Na did. The thought of leaving my two kids behind while I travel to a far off land for an uncertain amount of time kills me inside. It really does. I couldn't do it. I simply could not do it.
As Na was telling me her story tonight, I shared with her that my mother had had to make the same sacrifice years before. I  knew that what my mother had had to do was nothing unique to her. It's something that happens everyday around the world. Unfortunately.
It's just one more proof that try as we might, we're all more similar than we are different and we often share similar fates and experiences.
I told Na not to give up. She's working to help her family back in Thailand and save a bit to start her own little business here in the US. She has a good attitude. She said she talks with her kids over the phone and through Skype sometimes, but it saddens her. I can only imagine.
It sucks that we live in a world where sometimes, being far away from your flesh and blood is often the best solution to help provide for them. Just think of all that both parties are missing! A mom missing all the little milestones in a child's everyday life and a child living without his/her mom nearby.
May God watch over both mothers and their children all over the world. May He grant them the strength not to give up and not let this world get the better of them.

2014 500px Photo Walk in Culver City

If you've never visited 500px.com then do yourself a favor; stop reading here and go there now.
There... feel better now? 500px is a cool site. It gives photographers a sort of social outlet for their photographs. You post your pictures, they pop up in public and the public gets to "vote" on your images. The more likes or votes your image gets, the more exposure it gets. It's a cool way to gauge whether your image strikes a chord with the masses.
500px holds annual "photo walks" (well, two so far.) Yesterday was the latest. I suggested one for Culver City but was not able to lead it. Someone else stepped up and came up with a path through downtown Culver City. It was cool. Though I only made it through the first half of the walk, I was able to come up with some cool images. If you want to see the images, which were shot in cities around the world, search 500px for #WeAre500px and/or #500pxCulverCity.
Shot with my 5D mkIII and a Canon 50mm 1.8.

40

Today I turned 40.
Man, what a trip. I don't know exactly what to think of this, except that I'm fortunate I've made it this far. I hope I'm at no more, at least, than halfway through my journey. I'm blessed to have such a beautiful wife and kids and the rest of my family. I'm thankful for the life I have and hope I don't screw it up. I'm far from perfect and I hope to take the necessary steps to become the man I want to be. I pray I can make my life count.
Here's to another 40.