I have decided to shut down this blog. Not because I have given up on my writing but i have expanded a bit. So my involvement in photography has grown quite a bit since I last updated this blog. Since then, I have expanded my photography portfolio and also been given the opportunity to do some shoots. So this is not farewell.
Please check me out on my new blog:
HDShootsPhotos.com/blog
Death is a funny thing. Your life can be just chugging away and, like a thief in the night, it can creep up and steal your last remaining breath. Its times like this that makes you hug your loved one a little harder and to cherish the moments that you have with people, because, for real, you never know if today may be your last.
Death and I have an ‘acquaintance’ type of relationship, where we have only met on a couple of occasions. Both instances were when a friend lost a parent and to that I cannot even fathom the pain that they may have endured at that time. It may not have been me that lost someone but in both occasions the remnants of lost and anguish thicken the air to the point that all can feel the pain as if it was an immediate lost within their life.
Today, I will say so long to not just a great and caring boss but to a thoughtful friend.
Someone once asked the Dalai Lama what surprised him most about humanity and he answered:
“Man..Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices moment to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never lived."
*Recent shoot I did at Fitzgeralds here in Houston. The band is called Leatherface and opened up for Free Energy and Postelle. I have never heard of any of these bands but it was worth checking out the show.
I have been slacking pretty badly with the blogging, but by no means have I been slacking on my resolutions. Between doing a little snowboarding trip to Utah and trying my best to shoot every day, I have been pretty busy. One thing is for sure, I have been putting away blog ideas away in my head, preparing myself to unleash the contents that I have stored up. So I will slowly try to get them out as best as I can.
The one thing I wanted to address in this blog post is the renewal of photography within my life. Back in January 2008, I bought a DSLR in hopes to document the many adventures along this trek around the world I had planned for myself.I envision taking pictures of all of this amazing places I only saw in the history books and wanted to see them first hand. At the time I was living in Houston and was preparing a road trip back to New York. From there I was to board a flight to fly half way around the world to live in a small city in South Korea. I taking pictures of everything. From the side view mirror as I cruised in and out of states to the wild streets of New Orleans for Fat Tuesdays, the camera was glued to my hand. For the first couple of months after that, I documented every little thing that struck me as beautiful. Flowers. People. The ocean. Everything i thought that needed to be documented there was a snapshot attached to it. Than as always, I began to leave my camera behind when I went out or I was too shy to shoot. It got to the point that I would only whip out my camera for family gatherings and half the time it wasn't me shooting, but rather friends and family who took it upon themselves to play around with my camera. So the camera sat in my bag collecting dust until halfway through 2009 I was wondered what is about photography that made me want to pick it up to begin with. I started to connect the dots, going from my love to capture moments between people to and the culture of music that I wanted to get into concert photography. So from that point on I decided to really learn the ins and outs of what it takes to become a photographer and have been aspiring to become one ever since. Whether it be reading up on technique or learning the various books associated with Adobe Photoshop, I have kept on pushing myself one way or another. So this year I made it a point to take that focus and dedicate myself truly in this passion. I'm talking about trying to shadow fellow photographers to going to random shows to get use to shooting in that type of environment. I am trying to do anything that will help me develop myself as much as I can. That is why this New Years resolution is important to me. After reading the book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I realize that the only way to truly be an expert on anything is to accumulate 10,000 hours in experience in that particular topic, whether it be through reading or hands on experience.
So that is my goal.
10K hours in experience.
Whether it be a year or 10, I will make sure that this is something that I finish.
* Trying to get myself together on this Sunday evening.
Now that we have finished up on the first month of the new year, I felt there was a need to do a little run down of the progression of my new year's resolution.
Photography – No I haven’t creeped anyone out with camera in hand but I have slowly started making plans towards my goals in progressing as a photographer, especially reaching out to a local photographer in order to shadowed him and pick up on some useful techniques. Also, I decided that for me to become a better concert photographer, I need to start going to shows again to develop myself. So, soon enough, there will be plenty of random photos of various artists on the site.
Writing – As you can see my there have been a few more post this month. I have written as many post this month (3) than I did last year (4). I would say that is progress. I feel that this year, there will be a lot more post coming from me. I have a wedding to look forward in October and I will definitely be documenting the experience.
Patience/Passion – This is the one area that has been tricky. So I have been patient in my work life but everywhere else I have let the lack of it get the best of me. I know it won’t happen overnight. I will continue to practice patience and not give up too quickly. Lets hope for the best.
1 month down and 11 more months to go. I have notice that my focus is getting clearer and I know what I need to do. That is after only 1 month of dedication. I have slowly realize what needs to be done by me to push me in developing myself and maintaining these resolutions.
Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Acoustic Version)
I have a thing for British singers. First it started with Corinne Bailey Rae and the way she left me in a trance as I hung by every word of each of her songs. Her melodic voice just kept me in peace. But then came Adele and the way she carried herself in her music.
Man was I stuck..
It was like she was singing every emotion I felt over the past year. The power. The elegance of every note.
"19" was one of my favorite albums of the past year. In less than a month her sophomore album will be release, "21", and judging off her lead single, she is nowhere close to slacking. Enjoy!
I’m on my 2nd post of the year and I think I’m on a roll!
So, over the past two days the weather in Houston has been warm for me and I could honestly say that it is making me completely forget the frigid cold weather of the North. My body is not reacting to it well and my thought process has been completely off. Take today for example, where like every day when I don’t get a good night sleep, I wake up and go on autopilot with my morning routine which may include a shower but always allows time to brush my teeth. Knowing in my head that its January and associating brick cold weather outside, I layered up assuming that I am about to get a rude awakening by the brisk cold air once I step out my door. But instead of the refreshing cool air that I always expect, I was met with the humid heat, which was a bit of a combination of last night garbage collection and the damp air produced from the overnight rainfall. It has been a steady 65° over the past couple days but the high lows that the weatherman predicts just shows me that any moron with a ‘made for TV’ voice can do their job. Today is supposed to be a high/low of 71°/35° and I’m out with three layers of clothes bracing for cold when people are around walking in shorts. But it’s all a part of living in the south. This brings me to an article I read in the Houston Press that really got me really feeling the racial divide here in the South.
(I will try to minimize my use of SUPPOSEDLY as much as I can) To sum the story up as best as I can, a group of affluent African American professionals threw a private party at the Hudson Lounge, which is supposedly the new hip place to go to for the young, rich, and the ones with the most plastic (surgery that is). Everything was planned and meetings were set well before the scheduled party but on the night of the party, the owner shows up at and takes one look at the crowd and orders his general manager to close down the bar, supposedly because there was way above capacity. But conflicting reports show that rather than the amount of people that were in attendance it was what caught the owner’s eyes, and in this case, which was the color of skin of the attendees. The reason why I wanted to bring this topic up is that this seems to be an underlying issue here in Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the US. There is an unspoken racist agreement amongst many of the posh clubs and bars, specifically in this area of Houston known as Rice Village, and it is embedded into Houston’s nightlife. I don’t want to say that it’s at every club/bar/lounge in the city but since I have been here, there has been way too many talks about how this club is for this race and that club is for that race. I encountered a similar situation at a bar in the same area as Hudson Lounge. I was with a diverse group of people and was basically told that we were not welcome there. I mean I wasn't trying to cause a large commotion, but I did let the bouncer know what I thought about his selection of people, but it always seems like it’s a losing battle. Going club/bar hopping down here, I realized that there were places associated to just one set of race and that mixing and mingling isn't welcome unless you really know people. Being from NY, I was accustomed to being around a diverse crowd and go to parties that reflected it so. Coming here I have never felt more placed within a specific race. It’s crazy that even in 2011, bigotry may not be as visible and out in the open as it once was before, but it still remains a prevalent topic of discussion.
