MINI SPRING BREAK

It's currently Demi's spring break; and to start it off, we went down to the 757 to visit her family. We were down there from Friday until Tuesday. It was a much needed mini-vacation. It was nice seeing everyone down there especially since I don't get much human interaction haha.

One of the highlights was taking a photography workshop headed by Glenn Fajota. Glenn really knows his stuff. I can't believe how much some photographers get paid. Wow. For this particular workshop, we concentrated on headshots. Our model, Courtney, was absolutely amazing. Makeup done by Sarah Rillon was flawless. This was my first time shooting any kind of headshot photography, but I definitely have some keepers I want to put in my portfolio. What was really dope though, was that I won the grand prize! At the end of the workshop, Glenn asked for volunteers to see who could create the best headshot of him. I pretty much used Sean's lighting but tweaked it a little. So thanks, Sean. Haha.

Besides the workshop, didn't really do much but galavant (lmao) around the 757. We ate a lot. It was a lot of fun and I wish it didn't end so soon. COAAAAAACHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

If anyone knows who Coach is from the Route 58 Delicatessen, let me know 😂

































































































































































IZZY OCEAN IN ONE LOUDOUN

Today was kind of a test roll. Different film and a different camera. I shot Kodak UltraMax with my Contax T3 today. It's more of a budget film and I was pretty pleased with the results. This one was 24 exposures instead of the usual 36.

Demi and I were trying to decide where to eat today and it took forever. We ended up picking Elevation Burger down the street in One Loudoun so we could eat outside. The weather was amazing. I like it when we're just a tad bit on the cooler side.

We didn't spend much time out since Izzy has an early bedtime, but she got to enjoy herself.



















































I ALWAYS END UP IN DC FOR SOME REASON.

On this roll, the first few shots were taken in Georgetown after my photoshoot with Paul and Arlene. I wish I could have spent more time walking around, but we had to get home. There was a group of cyclists taking a break at Dean & DeLuca. Most of them were riding Cannondales, but my favorite one, was an S-Works. That was pretty dope. I thought it was cool that the local bike shop had an RVA sticker for the UCI Championships last year. 

On the second trip to DC, I went to have lunch with Rasha and Garret. After being secluded on your side of town, it's nice to meet up with old friends. Rasha can't keep her eyes open for some reason. Haha.

Of course in between, I took some photos enjoying the warm weather outside my parent's place.





































































TIGER WOODS, Y'ALL.

This past Friday, we decided to go to Topgolf. It's pretty convenient that we live pretty much down the street from it.

Shit was wild. Some dude crossed the yellow line and accidentally got hit in the face with a club. Dude's face was swollen and bleeding. On top of it, dude admitted he was at fault and that he was sorry, but the person who hit him got mad for some reason and they almost got into a fight. More than likely, race was involved, but I'll spare you the details.

Funny story; Caleb ordered a junior cheeseburger. When he got it, it had no cheese. Mohana told the server that Caleb's burger didn't have cheese. The server went to the back and when she came back, it went like this.

Server: Sorry, we ran out of cheese.

Mohana (who ordered a cheeseburger and did in fact get cheese on her burger.): My burger came with cheese. So yo do have cheese, correct?

Server: We do, but we ran out of cheese in that size (junior.)                      

We were thinking, can't you just slice the regular sized cheese to the size of the junior burger?! Mohana asked her to still get the cheese and when the server came back, she said they can't give single slices of cheese... After a few more words back and forth, the server came back with a nice cold piece of cheese for Caleb's burger. Like I mean, come on. You can't warm it up for the boy?!

Besides golfing, which was mostly done by Caleb and Izzy (lol), we played shuffle board. I've never played shuffle board in my whole entire life, but man am I hooked. Caleb got two 3's!! How in the hell?! Anyways, Enjoy the photos. I'm still going through a testing phase with the Leica and pushing Portra 400 to 1600.









































































PUSH IT.

I had a roll of HP5 that was in my Nikon F4 since last summer. I only put about 6 shots through it. The cool think about film is that you can just note how many frames you've shot, roll the film up and put it in another camera. Pretty tight. Which is exactly what I did. I put it in my M7 and continued shooting. That's of course after I shot 6 blanks to make up for the 6 frames from the F4.

Anyways, I also pushed the film two stops from ISO 400 to ISO 1600. That's probably gibberish to you, but if you're really curious, Google it! It's pretty cool. I've recently just started to push my film. This is the second roll I've ever pushed. 

This was more of a test roll, so I tried to shoot whatever I could lol.



































































THROWBACK.

I was going through my flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/iingeniouz) and stumbled across some of my old film photos from way back when. Most of these, if not all, were taken 2012-2013.

Can you believe it's already been 4 years since the last Olympics in 2012 in London? I remember when the Olympics ended, they were showing previews or whatever of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and telling myself I was going... IT'S ALREADY 2016. Damn... I ain't going to shit lol.

Anyways, Just wanted to post some (a freaking lot) of throwbacks. My blog has been lacking, so some of you new viewers, here's a glimpse of my life back in 2012-2013.

Really good times. I would have changed nothing. Great times with great people.

Yeah, I could have just linked you to the whole album, but whatever. 

Let it load! Seriously, why the hell did I post all these images. Probably my largest post of all time.



























































































































































































































































BURGERS, BELLA, BARN, BUBBLES.

Just finished developing a roll of Fuji Pro 400h that was in the M7 for a couple weeks. The first few shots were taken a couple of weeks ago. I love cooking with cast iron and we recently got this ceramic pan so we decided to try it out. So far, so good.

The ones of the barn were taken this past weekend. Had a great shoot with my cousin, Rence, and her fiancé, Nick. I can definitely see myself taking more photos over there. It's a very nice location.

Izzy really wanted to play with her bubbles lol.





































































WHAT'S IN MY BAG.

I wanted to update the blog, but didn't know what to update. So, here's what's in my bag lol.

I take this pretty much wherever I go. If I'm going somewhere at least somewhat interesting, I'll take it. It's a Timbuk2 Snoop - XSmall. I definitely recommend the Snoop lineup by Timbuk2. I even have it in medium that doubles as my work bag. If I have to carry a lot or a bigger camera like the Hassy, I'll take it. The XSmall is my go-to, everyday bag.

Anyways, what's in my bag? I love shooting both film and digital, so it's nice to be prepared for either format. I love that his is such a small package. I don't have to carry heavy SLR/DSLRs around. Perfect for street photography. Now only if I actually was able to go out and shoot.

  • Leica M7 w/ 35mm Summicron f/2 ASPH and Lance Camera Strap
  • Fuji X100T w/ Lance Camera Strap
  • GoPro Hero 4 Black w/LCD BacPac
  • Leica SF 20 flash
  • Film case stocked with Portra 400, Portra 160, Fuji Pro 400h, Cinestill 50, Cinestill 800T, Fuji Natura, Ilford HP5 Plus, Ilford Delta 3200, Kodak Tri-X 400 and Kodak T-Max 400.
  • Spare batteries and SD card
  • Dark red filter (for B&W)
  • ND Filter
  • 85B tungsten to daylight filter (w/ 39mm to 52mm step-up ring)
  • Spydero Cat G10 




WHAT A WEEKEND.

This past weekend was all about good company. We went out for Lauren's birthday. Sorry, Lauren. I don't even remember how old you turned. Well, are turning in a couple hours. LOL. 24? Kobe?

Anyways, as usual, it's always dope seeing everyone. Man, I didn't even get to snap a fphotos with a lot of you. We all have graduated and are growing up. It's crazy how far we've come along. Anytime with these people is always a good time.

To start the night, Demi and I went to Masa 14 as a part of DC's Restaurant week. It was fun. We don't have a lot of date nights to ourselves, so when we do get one, we make the most of it.

I'm still trying to get the hang of the rangefinder. It's definitely not like an SLR. You don't see through the lens; rather, through a separate window. You might notice that a lot of the photos (pho/Sno Cream) are black and white. That's not on purpose :( I decided to try a film I've never used before and forgot it was Tungsten balanced. The original photos had a blue cast over everything. It's a film you want to shoot in amber/tungsten light. Oh well. Now I know.

Peep Eazy-E aka Rian ZigZagAllah 1000. Oh yeah, and Mark broke Demi's phone. Hahahaha.









































































































































TWO CAMERAS, ONE ROLL.

This roll of film was pretty interesting. I shot Kodak Ektar 100 which was originally in my Nikon FM2N. All the snow photos were shot with the FM2N. When my lens arrived for my M7, I didn't want to put in a fresh roll leaving the Ektar in the FM2N to never be touched again, so I decided to put the Ektar into the M7. I rolled it up in the FM2N and left enough leader to pull it back out. I Put it in the M7 and all was good. I was 21 frames in, so had make sure to match. As you can see, I messed up and double exposed. Shooting with a rangefinder is much different than an SLR and will take little while to get used to. I'm excited.

All photos scanned with the Pakon F135. OH MY GOD THIS IS A LIFE SAVER.

Also, gotta love trades. THEY ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST.