Sunday, February 8, 2009

I &hearts my new lense...

I have a lot of photos to sort through, but as I do, I will be posting photos here and there from the East Coast / Inauguration trip.

I started shooting with a new lens that I am absolutlely in love with. I always shot with my 16-35 2.8... but I am not too fond of the distortion of my images or how huge it is. So if anyone is interested in buying it, let me know.... but I'm quite involved with the canon 28 1.8.... its not the greatest lens, but its ideal for me right now. Oh camera talk....gotta love it.

So here are a couple of shots with my new lens.

New York Subway...





Portraits of Friends...









Photos, like music, have a power to sway your emotions and invoke memories... Thoughts like this cross my mind especially when I'm looking through photos while listening to music.

Gosh, I got a bunch of stuff to do, but I distract myself by blogging... haha...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Patience

So one of the things that I constantly hear from photographers that look at my work is: be more patient. As my friend Christian said, "Find a scene with characters you like and work it to death, trying everything you can think of." I need to pound those wise words into my head...

One morning, while waiting for my friend April, I stood at a corner for about 10 minutes, just watching people walk by. I didn't exactly work it to death, but I observed with patience. Which photo do you like best?







While waiting for a seat at Cafe Habana (AMAZING CUBAN FOOD!!!!!!), I stood at a corner and took these photos. Which one do you like?







Patience is a virtue. Not just in photography, but applying patience to everyday life.

After being on the road for the past three weeks, I'm back at home. Once again, digesting and reflecting. I got a bunch of things to catch up on and work on, and decisions to make that sometimes--in my own mind--- can get overwhelming.

A timeless book that I recommend to everybody is called, "The Prophet," by a philosopher and poet, Khalil Gibran. I have the book buried somewhere under all my other books, but it came upon my hands today while wandering in San Jose. The book is divided into different chapters like "Love" "Work" "Joy and Sorrow," and I found the one I was looking for "Reason and Passion."

And the priestess spoke again and said: "Speak to us of Reason and Passion."

And he answered saying:

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against passion and your appetite.
.......

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or our rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.


For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

.......
rest in reason and move in passion.


There's a lot more to that quote, but I recommend you picking up the book.

2009....it has been an eventful year already... There is more to come, it's all about being patient.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A piece I made of MLK day...

For the third year in the row, I'm on the road when it is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. Two years ago I was in New Orleans...unforgettable. Last year I was in the Philippines, working on my documentary. And this year, I was in Washington, D.C. It has been an amazing experience...I havn't had the time to write as much as I want to, but here's a piece I produced.

And the trip comes to an end..

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Behind the Scenes

Its been a crazy, busy, emotional trip.... Students are blogging, photographing, and producing video/multi-media packages for CNN, KTVU, etc... Here's a short piece I produced with the talented SJSU student photographers Derek Sijder and Carlos Moreno. Stay updated on CNN's ireport.com

Monday, January 12, 2009

Stay posted....



http://sjsuinauguration.wordpress.com/

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Ten Days to the Inauguration...

For the next ten days, I will assist and help document a San Jose State University project called, "44 Years to the 44th President: Connecting Our Civil Rights Past with America's Historic Future." I am currently in Memphis, Tennessee, where our ten day road trip will begin--going thru Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and ending at in Washington, D.C.

Tomorrow we will go the Jackson, Mississippi, where Emmett Till was tortured and murdered.

So many emotions...but the students just got in... update later..