To Start Again

So, going back on my word…

Three years ago, I crossed the Florida state line while flipping it off and muttering “I will never come back”… So now, I’m swallowing my words while I prepare to go back in a week, and relocate myself in Miami. I decided to document the trip (as I tried to do the first time around), with my 35mm cameras (I’m gonna be traveling during the day only, so yay for me), I guess we will see what comes out of that (other than the need to re-acquire a nice scanner).

 

In the meantime, I am going to (try to), take some portraits of my local friends before I leave, nothing to elaborate, but definitively will shoot for some well lit portraits.

I will update further as the week goes by.

Picture by Patty Pinies

 

Posted with Blogsy

Want better pictures? Then, go away…

I’ve noticed that I have a hard time coming up with good pictures when I’m home. I come back with the same old pictures, same framing, same “safe” shots… it’s, to say the least, frustrating. In direct contrast, I get pictures I’m much happier with, when I go out of town (and to a lesser extend, when people from out of town come to shoot with me). So forget about the new lens/camera/strap/gizmo, and invest on a plane ticket (it doesn’t have to be Tibet, I’ve been going to Miami), it will do great things to your photography.

       

I recently ordered a set of cheap ND Filters, and inspired by other photographer’s use of them, I started mixed them with off camera flash for portraits. This 3 are my first try at them, so I will have to play a bit more with them before I can say if it will be something I want to continue doing or if it was just a nice try, and move on. I will however say, the neutral part of the “Neutral Density” is a lie, there’s a purpleish color cast added to the pictures, it isn’t so bad (and easy fix in Lightroom/Camera RAW), but it is very evident when opening the pictures straight out of camera (not trying to discourage you from buying them, as I am, so far, reasonably happy with them. However, be aware of the problems).

And that’s it for now, I will be back in Florida next week, and I will take some more portraits, until then, here are some pictures

 

             

Thank you very much

 

Andres Trujillo
NOVA Photographer

The love of discovery (also, heads up, I curse on this one)

Miranda 35mm camera with three lenses, Canon AE-1, and Polaroid. My three classics

I love my two 35mm cameras, I just LOOOOOVE them. And I like that as many pictures as I take, I tend to wait a while before developing the film, I love rediscovering/remembering and bringing up the memories of the thought process that went into taking a particular frame. It is like Christmas morning when I open that pack of pictures. Full disclosure, I enjoyed this feeling before, but I wasn’t able to put it into words (be it because I wasn’t aware I was doing it, or didn’t have the words for it), but I’ve been reading and watching “People Pictures” by Chris Orwig, and he explains this feeling/phenomena in a more eloquent way that I could ever do.

At the moment, I do not have access to my scanner, but believe me, the new pictures are better than this picture

Anyway, I’ll try to not rant too much today about my (lack of) mental health (that’s an uphill battle that just likes to keep getting interesting), instead I’ll rant about Flickr.


For a while now I’ve been very vocal (in my circles) about my hatred of Flickr (Flickr is dead to me), fuckers took my pictures hostage (I hate you Flickr), and unless I renew my account (Flickr, you’re an asshole), I won’t be able to see them again (I will punch Flickr in the roof of its mouth)… this was, to say the least, a bit annoying for me (“what’s that? I only have a limited upload amount per month? I can live with that… what’s this? I can’t see my old pictures?... I WILL WAIT FOR FLICKR TO TAKE HUMAN FORM AND KILL IT!!!!). That, summed to the number of firings done by Yahoo on their Flickr department (and their shitty UI, I mean, really? It is 2012 Flickr, why do you look like a geocities website? Also, your mobile site SUCKS and your momma is fat), made me very vocal against Flickr (as many of my photographer friends can attest… also, die, Flickr, die) and made me see Flickr as a big dumb dying beast (what I’m trying to say is “Fuck Flickr”), but there seems to be light at the end of the fuckery tunnel (GIVE BACK MY IMAGES, YOU ASSHATS).
As many might already know, Marissa Mayer got wooed and took over Yahoo as the new CEO, and as soon as that happened, thousands of photographers took to the internet to plead for a revamping of Flickr. I was one of them, and I will put my money where my mouth is, I will soon renew my Flickr account (if only to get my pictures back…. Fucking assholes), and I will start posting there again. I am, however, not leaving 500px, as they already rock and I will purchase an account with them too (but, as I’ve been doing now, I will only post a limited number of pictures there).


In other news, Johnny “Jet” D. just bought his first DSLR, so I will be giving him classes on shooting, lighting, and post processing… because I guess I’m the more capable of us two to give him those classes, because by no means is because I’m qualify to be teaching anything (“And here little Johnny, here’s how you fly by the sit of your pants/pull out something out of your ass”). We have a photoshoot this weekend with a model, and I’ve been creating lighting diagrams and coming with ideas for locations… but I’m so very aware that when it comes to lighting, form follows function. I can plan all I want, but chances are that I will have to tweak my plans to adjust for different environmental issues (the pain of not shooting in a controlled setting… AKA studio), but I’m pretty confident that we all be happy with the results.

I know it is a repeat, but this is still one of my favorite images of the year

OK, a lil’ bit of an unrelated rant… My cell phone carrier is charging me more to upgrade my phone (and thus, stay with them for at least another 2 years), than to terminate my contract. So I will pay less money to cancel, switch, and get a new phone, than to stay with the company I’ve been for the past 5 years… how does punishing loyalty makes any sense? I hate Apple, but I will end up with a brand new iPhone 4…. Why? Because as much as I love Android (and I do), it seems like the manufacturers are more concerned with outdoing each other than to go after the iPhone, there’s no standard, so an app that might work on my phone model, might not work on yours (and vice versa) (I’ll give you an example, I have an LG phone, I have Skype installed in it, it took Skype 1 year to release an update where it will recognize the front facing camera on my phone…. then they released a new update, and now the camera works at random intervals), until they get their shit together and standardize a little bit better (or until next time I switch carriers), I will go with Apple’s iPhone, because as much as I hate them (oh boy, do I), if I put an app on their platform, it will work as advertise… also, T-Mobile, I hold you now in the same regard as I used to hold Flickr (and again, is because customer service).

I don’t think I can be honest to myself regarding my work, I’m too close and too attached to it, so I will be sending my portfolio to a photographer I admire for a critique… I think it is time I get a honest, raw, and blunt review of my work, will post more details once I put the portfolio together and send it out for review… and once I stop crying, I will post the review.

Thank you for making it this far, will post more soon

Ranting and Healing (now with pictures)

I feel like I need to go back to Florida, for a little bit, and photograph some Judo action.
I haven’t been with the pack since last summer (I actually went for much more important reasons), and stayed with a good friend and coach in Boca Raton, I was supposed to take some pictures for them:


but somebody else showed with a camera and I only got a couple of test shots before I realized that I rather do Judo (Above is Bill Hudson Sensei, at Delray Judo Club), but I really want to go back and take another shot at them.

Street photography is another thing that I’ve been missing since I stopped working in the district, I really need to get my ass in gear and take some more shots, here are some of my favorites:























I just got done going thru most of my images from last year, and I will be archiving them (and not looking at them for a while), so as to force myself to take new pictures (as opposed to relying on older ones when I need an image for the blog).

I’ve spent some time feeling down on my photography, guess it happens to us all, but after a couple of jobs last year (that didn’t go the way I was planning), and after putting so much time on networking, to get basically nothing in return, I guess I felt that my idea of becoming a “pro” was never gonna come to fruition… and it sucks, but recently I have become a little more aware of something I’ve known for a long time… I will be taking pictures one way or another, and whether I get pay for it or not, it doesn’t change that I’ve been doing this since day fucking one for the love of the craft, and to become better at it. Getting published/paid for what I love to do would be great, but it won’t be defining of who I am as a photographer.

On a positive note, I did do a couple of free portrait sessions with two performers last year (a comedian and a musician), that I was fairly happy with the end result, and it taught me the value of planning ahead for a session.

First off, Mike Smith (go to his “Home” page and watch the video of his performance in Baltimore)





and now, Johnny “Jet” Del Rosario





And here are a couple of shots from the The IPI (International Psychotherapy Institute) dinner gala (thanks to Darin Del Rosario who is an excellent photographer in his own right (and taught me a lot about event photography), and his wife,Fran Bilotta):





I will continue to take this little “jobs” to further my photography technique, and to try and learn new things, on a setting that offers little to no risk.

Also, my favorite person in the world, Pat started her new blog, it is in Spanish, but you can go and see the pictures (and she speaks English, so go ahead and ask her shit). Also, she bought a new lens and had it delivered to me until she gets here in a couple of weeks (Canon 70-300 IS), and I gotta say, I love that lens. I miss the Macro capabilities of my shitty Tamron (that will get replace this year), but between the IS, and the sharpness, I’m loving this lens (although, just like the Tamron, it is pretty soft on the far end of the zoom [and, just like the Tamron, I gotta stop it down to at least F/8 to get usable shots]). I will be posting some shots taken with the new lens soon.

If you made it this far, thank you, I know it was a long rant, here are the rest of my favorite shots from last year (in no particular order):
 













And here’s to a better year in photography (6 months into it)…
Andres Trujillo
”Photographer”