Thursday, June 12, 2008

I love LA!


What can I do. I mean, I love the skyline and finding new spots all the times. I never get tired of it. To me is like looking at the waves of the ocean or the flames of the fire place, I can do it for hours. So, lately I've been browsing around searching for locations for my personal project about dance and I found a few nice spots that I've never seen before.

The photos down here aren't anything special, I know, but if you put together a good subject with a nice background and a good sunset, well, there is the potential for a good shot. Here I'm just missing the subject...and the nice sunset!


This one was taken from the top of a hill off the I-110 close to Ave 26th. I ended up there just to see how the view looked like. I liked it but wasn't impressed. So I moved on and went up the hill above the Police Academy, behind the Dodger Stadium and from there it looked a lot better, I think.


Finally I went downtown and found the spot where eventually I shot Caitlyn. I really like those fountains and that's so far one of the best views of downtown LA I ever seen.


I'm planning to use one of these spots soon for another shoot. Hopefully, I'll be showing something here pretty soon.

First time here?


Ok, so, you ended up on this blog and maybe you are wondering why? Well, to see some cool photos, that's why, right?! I mean....right?!

So, I'm a photographer, actually I'm learning, but let's assume I really am a photographer. What you'll find on my blog in a nutshell are some good photos, I hope, with a description of how I got them and the story behind those photos. Some will come from my professional work, some others from shooting my family and friends, it doesn't really matter. What matters to me is Photography as a medium to tell a story, strong stories, but even funny stories, anything that one way or another ends up in front of my lens. And beware, I can spend hours shooting lichens on the bark of a tree!

I started casually with a digital point and shoot camera and eventually I moved to professional digital SLR's bodies. I always loved the capability of capturing the moment with a still frame and yet let it live forever.

Marta and I were fortunate enough to attend once a class about street photography held by John Free and his son Scott. They eventually became our friends and even shot our wedding. They taught me about seeing, not just looking, and that's really important for ... a photographer.

Since my background is in electronic engineering (I'm a geek, I know) then I started experimenting with anything I could (photographically) until I found out the power of light. Just give a look at what Joe McNally and the Strobist are capable of doing with a few (read bunch of...) speedlights to understand what I mean. To me it's just outstanding. Oh, and no, they don't pay me for this, I just admire them, really!

The very same idea that with just a few speedlights you can light essentially anything you want and, most of all, remotely, to me is just great. Then, you know, between doing a great job and just wasting your time...it takes some skills. But the fact that you don't need super expensive professional gear to do this...it's priceless.

So, to cut the story short, the purpose of this blog is to show what you can do with some basic gear and a little bit of patience...

Enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your comments about how I wast... hem... invest my spare time!