SEPTEMBER 21.

A lot has happened since my last post. I suppose the most important thing was that we finally got married! Thanks to the homie, Sean, for taking a lot of these photos. 

One day, Demi and I were trying to come up with a date to get married. What's funny is that all of this was discussed before we even got engaged. I suggested a few different months before we settled on September. Once we agreed on the month, I knew instantly it had to be the 21st just because of this song. Haha. Yep, that's how we chose our date.

RASHA x RVA

I was in Richmond this past weekend at the end of our VB/RVA vacation. I absolutely love the city of Richmond and wanted to shoot. Rasha hit me up and that was that. I enjoy shooting my friends, so volunteers for shoots are always welcome!

First spot was at the Pipeline. I've always seen everyone's photos/snaps but have never actually been myself. It was my first time there and of course it was dope. I ended up taking Izzy and Demi out there later that day. Izzy loved it, Demi didn't. I think she was scared haha.

Next spot was right under the 95/195 overpass. It's a nice secluded open area with a lot of dope places to shoot. I always enjoy coming to that area even if it's not for photos. The vibe is nice and aesthetics (I hate using that word now lol) are on point.

Overall, shoot was fun, but it was hot as hell! It was hard for both of us to not sweat haha. Can't believe we actually had a shoot out in the middle of the day. The shaded spots definitely made for great lighting.

I'm somewhat sad at how the film photos came out. Turns out that my developing chemicals are exhausted and didn't develop properly. A lot of tweaking in Lightroom was done. Gotta get new chemicals before anymore film developing :(

You can check the rest of the photos out on my flickr.

READY FOR THE SUMMER.

A couple weeks ago, I scored a Canon WP-1 off of eBay on the low. It's a nice little waterproof film camera. So far, I absolutely love this thing. I wasn't sure if the gasket would seal properly, but apparently it does! So far I've only used it at the pool so I'm excited to take it to the beach later this month and on our trip to OBX in August. Anybody want to do an underwater photoshoot?! Mohana tried being my model but failed miserably. Haha.

CHANCE THE RAPPER: SPRING TOUR 2017.

What a show. Although I would say this go-round wasn't as good as Magnificent Coloring Word Tour, it was still a great show nonetheless. The only thing I was disappointed about was that he didn't perform Summer Friends. That's def my fave song off the album. 

Special thanks to the homies Lee and Lawrence for hooking it up with the pit tickets. Our original tickets were somewhere in the 100 section but Lee and Lawrence got us into the pit. Much appreciated, homies! It was kind of sad that we were the most hype in the pit raging out in the back haha. Granted, we were pretty inebriated, but we were definitely feelin' the vibes. Demi and I ended up sending our tickets to Erin and Stefan too, so it was a win-win for all of us!

I'm surprised at how these shots came out. I was expecting them to be total crap. Surprisingly, they're just half crap haha. I was shooting Portra 800 pushed to 3200. This is only the second time I've pushed two stops with colored film. Very satisfied at how they turned out. The Contax T3 is a perfect little pocket camera that is actually pretty great for concerts.

LPT: Use binoculars to get better shots with your phone/camera. I've been doing this since I was a kid. I'd stick my little point & shoot camera or phone onto the binoculars to get some pretty cool photos. Was definitely satisfied here.

After the concert, we ended up going to Jade Villa which was one of the best decisions of all life. Before that though, as we were leaving, we saw that someone had got hit by a car. Smh. Dude was probably drunk and jaywalking.

If you haven't seen Chance The Rapper perform live yet, I highly recommend it. I've never seen more white people at a rap/hip-hop concert in my life. Lmao.

Also, if you're in Virginia Beach, do yourself a favor and hit up Jade Villa. Heaven on earth. Bring American Money. (Get my reference? Heh.)

SHOOT IN THE FIELDS.

My homegirl, Rasha, and I did a shoot out in Manassas Battlefield Park. The "shooting" in the fields that day were of photographs and not guns this time haha. HIstory lesson: this was the site of two major Civil War battles.

Anyways, it was a fun shoot. I need to work on a few things as I'm still learning/practicing. I'm looking forward to future shoots with people to try and hone in on my craft.

I shot a couple rolls of expired Kodak Portra 400 VC, some regular Portra 400, and of course digital as well.

You can find the rest of the photos here if you'd like.

ANOTHER TRIP OUT WEST.

Good lord. Did not realize it's been 2 months since my last update. A lot has happened since then, but as usual, I got lazy. Anyways... about a month ago, my cousin flew me out to SF take her maternity photos as well as her brother's family photos. No brainer. Free flight out west? Hell yes.

The trip was just for the weekend, but it was still definitely a lot of fun. Her shoot was one of the best shoots I've ever had as was her brother's which lasted about half an hour and went well considering it was with kids.

After my cousin asked me to fly out to take her photos, I figured why not also visit LA since I'd be out there already. That's exactly what I did. I took a day trip to LA. Day trip even sounds too long. It was literally for a work day (8 hours or so). My short time there fly by with the quickness. It was literally a blur. It was crazy seeing Mark over there doing his thing. It honestly felt surreal.

In addition to seeing Mark, I kicked it with the forever homie, WCBF, Isabel's ninang, Isabel LOL (and also Richard lmao).  Yep, they share the same name. As always, it's great seeing your homies that you haven't seen in forever. Hell, we've been friends for about 11 years now and I think she's honestly my oldest friend. It's also crazy kicking it with two of your best homies from different coasts living int he same area now. Shit is wild. Anyways, I almost missed my flight cause of those three assholes because they kept giving me drinks right before I had to leave for my flight. Son, I was Hurt McGurt. I was this close to missing my flight if I hadn't caught that gate change the last minute.

Also speaking of old friends, it was great seeing Kim after all these years! Lucky Chances is dope. If you're ever in the area, Lucky Chances has some bomb ass food. It's a casino haha.

That is all. I'm rambling. It was way to long ago so the excitement over the trip has expired haha. On to the next one! Might need to let the page load. Way too many photos. You can also find the rest on my flickr.

YAYOI KUSAMA: INFINITY MIRRORS

Finally got to see this exhibit at the Hirshhorn.  I had four tickets for 1015 on Monday. I had PTO that I needed to burn, so why not take off the worst day off the week! I put out on Instagram asking if anyone wanted to come with since I had 4 tickets. My homies, Mac, and Roger said they were free and wanted to go, so why not. I still had one ticket that wasn't used haha.

There was a lot of waiting in line but  went by pretty fast given that you only had 20-30 seconds per room. It was somewhat having all three of us taking photos in that short of a timespan but we were able to manage.

I wasn't too happy with my film shots but I mean, I pushed color film 2 stops so I can't really complain. Film used was CineStill 800T.

WIZ WIN, AGAIN.

On Friday, I went to go see the Wiz take on the Nets at the Verizon Center. It was pretty much a preseason game based on how much the bench played. Can't really complain though, that must mean we're doing well. Can't wait for playoffs. It was wild cause it was the first time I've ever really drank at a basketball game. It was, for the lack of a better term, lit. Haha. Thanks, Gary for the tickets!

202FILMCOLLECTIVE.

This past weekend, 202filmcollective hosted its first ever meet. I was pretty excited since this was where film photographers like myself can get together and geek out about film shit. They'll be hosting monthly meetups/photo-walks in the future. Hell, you don't even need to have a film camera to join. Just the interest in film photography is enough. Interestingly enough, you can get into film photography with just $20 - maybe even less.

For me, film is just more enjoyable to shoot. I hate it when people argue that one is better than the other, because it's not. It's really just preference. If you ever want to learn how to shoot, develop, scan,  or whatever, let me know and I'll be more than happy to help you out! Seriously, let me know. I have a couple of cameras that I wouldn't mind giving away if you really wanted haha.

The meet was began at Union Market in D.C. It was my first time there. It was pretty dope. You could tell they were going for the Chelsea Market vibe in NYC. Food was bomb. We walked around the area snapping photos and talking photog stuff. It was dope meeting new people who share the same interest as me. Can't wait for the next one.

FAREWELL, MARK. HBD, JC.

This weekend was well needed.  We went down to Richmond for Mark’s going away and JC’s birthday. It was a great time all around. It was especially fun, as always, to be around everyone. Mark cut my hair for the last time, got Charm School ice cream two days in a row, had a drunk photoshoot, got my Eatery that I’ve been craving, watched people play the Nintendo switch - couldn’t have really asked for a better time. I thought it was dope that I could still take decent photos while being heavily inebriated haha.

It’s bittersweet seeing one of your best homies move coast to coast but fuck it. Gotta do what you gotta do! Dude is definitely one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. This is well deserved. Just mad I gotta go all the way to SoCal to see his ass. 

Shoutout to Kristal and and Katrina for volunteering themselves to be models for the night haha.