An Accident in the Neighborhood

This is another set of photos from the first roll I processed myself.

I was sitting at a coffee shop, my friends and I were telling stories when all of a sudden, a “THUMP.” The sound was startling, we all looked over. I stood up and saw a silver car with a dent in the hood. The driver's face was pale with disbelief and expressed such shock. Her eyes were wide with terror. I could only imagine what she was thinking, “did I just hit someone?!” She did.

I loaded my Mamiya RB67, took out my light meter and began taking pictures.

Shortly after the accident, the police, fire department, and an ambulance arrived. The kid laid there with his eyes closed, unconscious. They were trying to get his attention.

Then in a moment, his eyes opened... Sudden consciousness came upon him. “Do you know where you are? Do you know what happened? You were hit by a car...”

Less than twenty minutes before these photos were taken, this boy was darting through the alley way. A car was slowly passing though the street, safely, approaching the stoplight. The boy darted through the alley way and was hit by the car. He bounced off the hood like a ham on a tin roof.

Eventually he was okay.

NJ&NY 2011

A view from Hoboken New Jersey into New York

Some people swear by the places they live. Where they grew up, where they've spent their lives. I've been to many cities and experienced many different cultures here in America. To me, there seems to be a pattern in the way people interact with each other. That if the population density is thicker, people tend to be more welcoming or friendly (depending on the context of the area, but I'm speaking in more possible innaccurate generalities). This is what I loved about New York. The people.

A few months ago, I flew to NYC to see my cousin get married. I grew up with him and I was able to spend a decent amount of time with my cousins while I was there. The day after the wedding, Kristine, took me into the glorious city and it was a thrilling experience. I wasn't able to take many photos because of the snow and the constant worry that my camera is bound to break soon. These are some of the photos I took on that trip.

Speaking of which, it snowed in NY while I was there.

The snow was cold. I had this great idea of lining my shoes with a plastic bag to prevent water from seeping in... it eventually did but I was so enthralled to be in snowfall that I forgot that it was cold at times.

We rode the NYC subway system.

We went to a Moraccan restautant. It was great.

That was Bryan

Brittany

Kristine

We took the subway back then walked again through the snow. Wet shoes and pants.

I had so much fun with my cousins. Thanks Bryan and Kristine for taking me out to see part of the city. Come to California!

I met Haylee McFarland

After walking out the coffee shop. Jared and I were somewhat dumbfounded because we saw another famous person. We walked passed her and close to the corner. I guess I was still elated as to my encounter with Danny Pudi, that I jumped at the opportunity to get a photo of her. I didn't want to "stalkishly" take her photo like the paparazzi. So I walked toward her and her mom.

I met Haylee McFarland and her mom. She looks really young, and I felt somewhat like a creepy person approaching them and saying, "hello." They looked at me with a startled gaze and I almost froze up. I realized so much at that second how I appreciated the way she portrayed her character in the T.V. show "Lie to Me" alongside Cal(Tim Roth), as his daughter Emily. I guess it was kinda creepy to approach a mother and daughter to ask if I could take a picture of her. Under the context of "famous," I guess it was somewhat more tolerable... understandable for a stranger to ask for permission to take a photo of her.

Not even a second after that gaze and a stream of nervousness, I asked her as a precaution, "Are you that little girl in that T.V. show... umm... 'Lie to Me'?" I didn't know her real name but I knew her character's name, but I just forgot at that moment because I realized that she is actually really cute in real life, not just in the show. She seemed down to earth and said, "Sure!" Then her mother offered to take the picture with me in it... I hessitantly said, "yes." (but didn't show it, tried to play it cool.) After briefly showing her mom how to use the camera, she gave it a try and took a shot. She said, "Oh, it came out blurry." I just replied, "ah yes, it's a tricky camera to use." Then I just asked if I could take a photo of her daughter alone. Hayley replied, "Sure, what do you want me to do?" I really didn't know what to say to that so I just replied, "Just stand right there." I smiled and she smiled right back, I took two shots, and thanked her.

It was definitely an awkward situation.

I shook her hand and introduced myself, and she introduced herself. Thanks again Hayley. :-)

I met Danny Pudi

I met Danny Pudi today, he is part of the main cast of Community, a T.V. comedy that revolves around a study group within a community college. He plays Abed, who, on the surface seems to be a person with an affinity for T.V. and Movies. Danny has such great comedic timing with this character that he's such a quotable character within the show. Actually, after evaluating who my favorite character would be... I'm realizing more and more that I really like Abed, followed by Troy, Britta, Pierce, Jeff, Shirley, and Anne. (Actually, this list gets refactored based on the episode, but Abed and Troy remain my favorite characters on the show.)

So I asked him if I could take a photo of him, actually, I've never really met a celebrity before him. Moreover, an actor who I actually appreciate in their art. My friends and I were at a coffee shop and he was there on his computer with his headphones on. After ordering our coffee and hanging out there for a few moments, I told my friends, "I'm going to ask if I could take his picture." They replied immediately, "Wait till we leave." I think that implied that they did not want to be embarassed by me, asking for a photo. Asking a stranger for a photo is quite an awkward situation in itself, but asking a celebrity is on a whole different level. My friends finished their coffee and left me. I thought to myself, as I was sipping on my cup, "why do I want to do this?" I realized immediately that I was just a guy who appreciated this man's work. I wanted to show my appreciation to him, but also ask him a few things...

I stood up, returned my finished cup on the bar counter, stood next to him. He was sitting intently, watching something on his laptop. After a few moments, I waved into his peripheral to catch his attention and said, "hi." He responded with a smile and shook my hand. It felt like an awkward situation to be in but also somewhat normal... as there seemed to me, to be no other alternative to get his attention. If he didn't want to respond and have a small conversation, he could have waved and ignored me. He didn't and I really appreciated his willingness to indulge my curiousity of him.

I immediately asked him if I could take a photo of him. He said, "Yeah, it's okay." I also mentioned that I had a few questions...

I asked him, "how does it feel to be on an amazing show?" Danny just smiled and enthusiastically replied, "It's great!" I asked him, "...about your character's development, Abed to me started off as a one dimentional character, through the past two seasons, he's been getting more depth. Did you talk to the screen writers about this?" He mentioned that it was the screenwriters that developed the character; "Having eight main characters to develop is tough when you have only so much time. With the introduction of Abed's father and some situations, they've (screen writers) definitely built up my character." Then I was curious about his comedic partner Troy, played by Donald Glover, "About Donald..." Danny: "Yes?" ..."you two have such great comedic timing... where does that come from, how does that happen?" He smiled and said, "It's the job." I laughed and I appreciated such a straight-forward answer. He's a professional that's courteous, and welcoming. I really appreciated the conversation we had. I stood up and gestured my arm into a hand shake and upon recieving the grasp of his palm, introduced myself, so did he. I think he thought I didn't know his name, I just didn't want to say "Abed" over "Danny." I didn't want to assume what to call him, because I didn't know him as a person all.

I lifted my camera and my friend Jared was there and he shook Danny's hand and said, "I'm a big fan of your work." Then Danny asked if I wanted to be in the picture, so Jared offered to take the picture.

That's the photo you see up there.

Then I asked Danny if I could take his photo alone. He said, "sure." So I did. I wish I was a little more calm to take that picture in that low light.

Thanks Danny for being a great guy and engaging in an awkward moment. I really wish this portrait came out better, it doesn't do him justice.

Grand Canyon

It's amazing how deep this canyon can be. I remember coming there and realizing that I am so small compared to this world. These photos were taken at the Grand Canyon in 2007.

I caught myself breath taken, seeing such beauty. I've seen that beauty before. Right now I find myself thinking of how I interact or relate to beauty. I think man¹ longs for a relationship with something beautiful. To me God is beautiful. I've been in a relationship with Him and it's overwhelming, the love and grace I feel from such a person. I believe aesthetically, beauty provokes emotion, an object² can be just beautiful. As an object isn't necessarily beautiful intrinsicly, but it's beautiful based on preference; however, that preference for beauty, I believe, is measured in relation to a more purer form of beauty.

This, my friends, to me... is beautiful.

I believe that a person is beautiful based on the depth of their character in relation to a purer form. As I've encountered such depth and such beauty in my life, I found myself blessed.

¹ "Man", as mankind.

² Object, as subject

Waiting

I remember taking a series of self portraits on February 14, 2009 thinking about love and what God was doing in my life at the time. I was praying that He would move my heart in some way. God did, God has, and God is continuing to move my heart to Him.

One of my First Shots

I want to start things off with one of the first photos I've ever taken with a 35mm film camera. My first camera was a Canon Canonet QL17 I purchased from a 1hr photo place in Fullerton for around $40. You're probably wondering... "$40, for that?!" Well... at the time (2007), I didn't quite know what I was getting into with photography. I thought of it as a hobby I could just pick up, and my rational for getting this $40 grandapa for a camera was that I wanted to learn how to shoot carefully and learn photography with a more unforgiving device. At the time, to heed myself from spending too much money, I swore off anything digital, and I decided to purely shoot with film. This continued on for another year and a half before I bought my first digital SLR, which I still own and use today. This post is a bit sentimental (as I'm imagining, many of the future post might be this way).

Subject is Alain, my brother. He's in his old room playing a video game. I remember a time when my brother and I would just sit and he would play games as I acted as a spectator player... I would watch him play his games and cheer him on and suggest how to play the games. I'm really glad he was so patient with me. I always remembered that those times were fun, moreover in the conversations I had with him at those times.

Well, as it turns out, photography became something I wasn't just interested in, it was something I breathed. As I was playing around and experimenting with my aperture and shutterspeed, I began to understand what those things meant. I'm really glad that I was priveledged enough to have such an amazing experience with that camera.