Playful Engagement at Balboa Park

Now sure, couples in love are always infectious and fun to photograph but honestly this couple was a blast. I knew Morgan and Rockwell were going to be creative with their choices but I wasn’t expecting such a refreshingly healthy dose of playfulness. This couple met me at Balboa Park with an easel, art supplies, a beautiful chess set and a croquet set! As always here are some of my favorites on film (Kodak Gold) and digital.

Congrats on your engagement Morgan and Rockwell.

Pre-Wedding stroll through Balboa Park

First off, congratulations to the happy couple, Madison and Tony, who tied the knot last Thursday! We started off our session in the parking lot, I sat up the black back drop because Madsion had requested double exposures! My heart swelled. So I loaded the Canon IIe with Kodak Gold for the film shots and for digital I used the 6D as always. I was so excited they included their pup, who was an absolute treat to work with. As always I’m just sharing some of my personal faves from our hybrid wedding session. Really needed this kick of romance after the LONG forced hiatus. So much love between the two.

Mother's Day on Portra 800

The night before Mothers Day I put out a call on our neighborhood FB page to anyone open to having a free portrait. I’ve been seeing all these posts by photographers for “porch-traits” and well in our military duplexes we don’t really have porches. So I thought if people were willing to come out to their driveways or side walks, I’d hop on my bike, throw on a mask and snag some family portraits for folks in my hood. Plus I had a roll of Portra 800 burning a hole in my pocket.

As I started I only anticipated taking a quick two shots of each family, but as I had a few participants drop out last minute toward the end I had may more spare frames than I planned for which in the end was okay because the last couple of families had something up their sleeves.

And for the finale, two moms whose kids didn’t see this coming.

And lastly, thank you to Becky who snagged a couple shots of my crew minus the husband. Mothers Day was weird but not bad, could be coming around to the new normal.

Thank you to those families who shared your mothers day with me.

Photo info:

Portra 800 (35mm) on Nikon F100, most shot a 3.3-4

Images were shot on cloudy evening between 6:30-7:30pm

Dev/Scan: Safelight Labs (medium resolution)

I Shoot Film Series by Hugo Meza Soto

A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to be a subject in my friend Hugo’s film series called “ I Shoot Film!” In his series he interviews different film photographers with varied styles and philosophies here in Southern California. You can find the series on IGTV and Youtube. For our shoot, we shot some in studio stuff at Safelight Labs with model, Amanda Lusso. For the shoot I used a Nikon F100 with Portra 400 and Lomo 100. Below the video I will share some of my favorite images from the shoot.

Taiten - Balboa Park

I know, I know. I haven’t been sharing my work or peoples stories as of late. I been busy and greedy with my images but that’s changing today. I will TRY my best to start sharing once a week, starting with this senior session of a lovely young woman, Taiten. Taiten is a senior graduating early, already sworn in into the USAF and just a really kind presence. We are particularly fond of her because she also happens to babysit my kiddos while I work. I chose Balboa Park as the backdrop for our session because we don’t really have fall here in San Diego, so the park offered a bunch of different pops of color, while also offering a wide array of “sets.”

Senior sessions starting at $250, as always 50% off for enlisted military families!

San Diego Womens March 2019- Ilford Pan F 50

The six you like…

So this was my first time shooting Pan F, this roll has probably been sitting in a shoe box for 3-5 years. I just didn’t know what to use it for or when. I figure the harsh light could make for nice shadows. Shooting marches in midday sun is already a challenge, trying to find natural reflectors or shooting with moderate back light. Its really easy to not get the exposure right especially in the heat of a moment with constant changes. The slow down method isn’t really always an option. I’ve included “my six” above, but also included a variety of other images, some poor composition and less great metering for range purposes. See also: journalism purposes

Camera: Nikon F100

Developed: The Darkroom

Scans: @nictone

Event: San Diego Women’s March

Ektachrome Xpro with Samantha - Cabrillo

So… shooting my first roll of Ektachrome in a while and I messed it up. Honestly this year I’ve made a lot of rookie mistakes. I would like to blame it on shooting digital more and being careless but it honestly just the latter. I felt like I had royally over exposed my slide and was reading all the pushing and pulling debates when my friend over at Old School Photo Lab suggested that I cross process it. I hadn’t cross processed anything in a long time, I remember using Crossbird and not caring for the results.

That being said, I drop my roll of at my local lab that generally does one-hour C-41 service… and while waiting I was pretty damn nervous but over all I was surprisingly happy with the results.

I was honestly expecting unusable images, wacky colors, warm tones, etc (cool tones are generally my jam). And while its true, those are the results, I feel it wasn’t too overwhelming to “ruin” the images. As one of my IG buddies stated its very “hipster” which may be both offensive and true. Still not mad.

So I did bring these into LR to straighten some of the horizons and make the files smaller for site and something I never do but was curious about was how they convert to BNW, and we are talking simple conversions no teaks or pre-sets, but the tones and contrasts actually convert really well. Which makes me think if I were to do this gain, say for a campaign or something I may very well do the thing I hate and “edit my film”, still waiting for one of you to @me with a JUST SHOOT BLACK AND WHITE… *shrug emoji*

Lomochrome Purple Holidaze with Emilia

and Fuji Superia, too.

Left: Fuji Superia 400 shot on Canon K2.

Right: Lomochrome Purple on Nikon F100

Last December I invited my friend Emilia up to Frederick, MD for some quirky holiday themed images for testing my first roll of Lomochrome Purple. I didn’t get my film scans back until it was practically too late to share. So I figure Id share some of my favorite images and show you the color difference. I’ll start off with the Fuji.

The two frames were taking back to back and I couldn’t tell you what I did to get the inconsistency in color other than changing the aperture.

Looking back I see a few things I would do differently, mostly the backdrop, I have seen beautiful results outside among the greenery and getting the fun color shift. I do however like the near blood reds the film produces, if I were into gore or horror type work, this would be a fun film to experiment with. Also can we just take a moment and appreciate the under appreciated Fuji Superia 400. One of the easiest films to come by ( I think I snagged these at a Walmart in Alabama for $2.50/roll) and sure there is some warmth to the skin tones during low natural light; it looks really great with on-camera flash.

Conclusion here is mostly that I have these images on my computer and I needed to share them somewhere other than instagram.

Happy Holidays fam.

Burlesque Boogie Nights- TMAX P3200

A couple of months ago I was gifted a roll of TMax P3200. I had been wanting to shoot this film for a while and honestly after getting a roll I didn’t know what to do with it. I go to Sycamore Den in San Diego basically every month for Burlesque Boogie nights and when I first moved here I brought my DSLR as one does and ended up with photos like this.

So I knew the lighting of the venue was tricky both in color and black and white. However reflecting back I know the lights don’t move; they are all spotlights. Honestly know knowing what I know and looking at my past digital images and the TMAX results I maybe should have metered for the highlights instead of midtones. Was honestly just winging it.

I shot this roll on the Nikon F100 for the most part I shot at 3200 at 2.8 and probably started at 125 and changed shutter speed at need when I had time if at all.

Developing and low-res scans via The Darkroom.

I definitely learned a lot from this roll and well with this venue too. I’ll have another shot this coming Thursday as Burlesque Boogie Nights celebrates its second anniversary. Right now the plan is to some behind the scenes stuff with disposable but I may bring a couple cameras. We shall see.Just keep following on IG and you’ll see.

Garner Wedding - Silt, Co.

Recently I had the pleasure to be a part of a wedding that not only was a testament of love and family but also afforded me with a lot of new experiences. David and Lanette were married on a family ranch in the high desert of Silt, Colorado. After an odd morning of rain, the clouds and sky cleared for a bright and sunny, field ceremony followed by a flatbed ride over to the barn where the real celebration was to be had.

Friends and family all pitched in on the little details to ensure that the Garner wedding was special and went smoothly. Most people will tell you a DIY wedding is no small feat, but when you have an army it certainly helps.

The midday sun beamed down after heavy morning showers. The mud dried before the high desert ceremony. Friends and family gathered in the field to watch the union of love and commitment.

As a photographer and generally fun loving person, the reception is always my favorite part. After the ceremony we head down to the barn, where friends and family have worked together to cover the cake, catering, decorating and entertainment. Now to say this is one of the most fun and interesting wedding I’ve attended would be an understatement. At some point in the evening, I may have been coaxed into dancing and barreling riding. I failed at both with a hilarious quickness and am thankful the photos of that reside soundly on my personal phone.

Thank you so much to the Garner family for letting me be a part of their celebration of love. Congratulations to the happy couple.