Went to the zoo a few weeks back to try my hand at some different type of subjects for my photography. It was definitely a challenge and I learned quite a few things out their, one being PATIENCE. I swear zoo animals are use to having nothing to do all day and it shows through all the inactivity I saw out there. I mean get in a fight, make love, roll over, wiggle the big toe, do something! Without a doubt it’s a waiting game with wild animals and I for one didn’t have time for that foolishness. I can’t lie, at first I was a little disappointed with my performance out there when I got back my negatives, but when I really took some time to evaluate my shots, I realized the shoot wasn’t as bad as my mind made it out to be. Sometimes you can be your own worse enemy, which is not totally a bad thing, but I have to learn to balance my criticism so it doesn’t get the best of me and have me questioning my own skill. All in all though, I’m pleased and I can’t wait to take what I learned at the zoo and apply it to the next shoot! I still have more pics to upload BTW.

Epson R1900. Going for about $550 give or take. I’m having a Kanye moment right now cause everything I want man it seems so serious!

What can I say, I don’t want to let the film era go. To be honest, it’s probably more of me not being able to afford the digital camera that I want than me being stubborn and not wanting to let film die. I think that being forced to learn film first actually made me a better photographer though. I shoot everything 100% manual so it was a necessity for me to really understand the ins and outs of a camera thoroughly, from shutter speed to aperture to everything in between. I honestly think that people who jump straight to digital without ever touching film miss some very important lessons regarding the craft as a whole. But eh, that’s just my opinion. Maybe that’s why I still buy vinyl to DJ with instead of CD’s or Mp3’s. Maybe I’m nostalgic. Maybe I like to show respect and appreciation to every craft that I choose to pursue. Or maybe I just need to get a grip and catch up with the times. At ant rate, my Canon has taken some magnificent photos for me and it’s going to be a sad day when it becomes my backup instead of my primary camera. I still want a few more lenses for it though so hopefully that’ll be motivation to keep using it. It also gives a look that I don’t think can never be duplicated no matter how good digital gets. It also feels good to brag when I think I took a picture with film better than a person did with a 5K digital camera. Ahh the joy! No matter what camera I chose to use in the future I always got to remember Sam Abell’s quote “It matters little how much equipment we use; it matters much that we be masters of all we do use”. At any rate D300 here I come!

If you’re a bike enthusiast check out www.choppersinc.com or click on the Billy Lane link in the “My Links” section of this blog page. He’s one of the best in the business and previously had his own show on Discovery Channel. Check out “The Chopper Diaries” for great “How To” videos and other fun stuff. Ya boy does the video editing for that section Great guy.

I’m already biased cause I love black and white photography and I’m a Kanye fan as well. But I love how some images are superimposed and matted over each other. Brings some originality to the piece so it’s not just another typical black n white “hood” video.

This was one of the first pictures that I took that embodied the statement that I wanted to make as a photographer. My goal was never to be a fashion photographer or a vixen photographer if you will, or even to be labeled as a “photographer” at all. I always just wanted to capture what I thought was beautiful to me instead of following the mass thinking of what is typically defined as beautiful in life and in art. Beauty and art is relative like most things in life, so I thought it would be a denial of who I am as a person to turn my back on the environment that made me who I am today. Not to say that I won’t ever shoot a model or some clothing apparel or whatever, but if i don’t, I’m pretty sure that the pages of King Magazine won’t suddenly become void of half naked ladies. What I’m saying is that it’s plenty of photogarphers for that area of photog, which is fine, but I’ll rather try my hand at representing the poor, the black, the urban, the misrepresented. Wealthy people already have a voice. Models already have a voice. The suburbs already have a voice. I just want my pictures to resonate with the same loudness and respect as them.