Well, I finally got me some disposable income! Smugmug cut a check for my profits I had earned from client purchases on my business’ online store (a year’s worth of income) and I also shot a wedding over the weekend. I decided to do two things: 1. pay off my Discover Card (finally!) and 2. buy Toon Boom Studio and get serious about the animations that are burning a hole in my creativity. So that’s what I did: both of those. Awesome stuff, indeed.
Exactly what it sounds like. Nothing really happens, though. Continue reading »
So I get up this morning and the power is still out, the water is barely running and the phones are all dead. My iPhone was charged because I plugged it into an AC/DC battery pack I use for powering my studio photography lights for a few minutes. There were gusts of wind howling through my partially opened window and rain drops were splashing onto me. Last night I had put a towel on the window sill to help govern the amount of water that may have come in during the night as I tried to keep cool in my dark, hot house. The refrigerator has been dead for at least eleven hours and I really don’t want to open it until power is restored. It was so hot in my room I couldn’t stand it. I was laying on another towel I had placed under my upper back and shoulders to absorb the sweat and body grease I was going to excrete during the humid, hot night. I had to keep my knees bent and up in the air just to catch a bit of wind from the window to help cool off the rest of my body. I don’t know when I managed to fall asleep but the sun was shining behind an overcast, drizzling sky. I could hear people outside somewhere in the neighborhood. There was no sense getting up and going to an obviously closed office so I tried to sleep some more.
I probably got a few more hours of sleep in when one of my models text messaged me about the status of her photos, waking me. I replied they were looking great until the hurricane wiped out the power. It was already about 3pm so I decided to get up. I inspected the house with a flashlight application on my iPhone and attempted to restart the house by playing with the fuse box. Nothing happened so I figured power was still out in the neighborhood. Monday evening I had filled up two five gallon jugs of drinking water and I used half of one to bathe in and brush my teeth with, old west style. I got dressed, took a few photos of the flooding and damage around my house, made sure the trash bin was still secure in the alcove of my front door, removed a tree branch that was stuck under my car which I had run over during the night and, sweating, got into my car and turned the air conditioner on full. It felt so good, you have no idea.
I drove through the city of San Juan, where I live, and the power was absolutely gone. The whole city was dark, not a street lamp, not anything. All the businesses I could see that didn’t have backup generators were closed. I traveled into the neighboring city of Pharr where a lone taco place called El Pato was open. I went to the drive through and ordered but when I got to the window they weren’t able to accept credit cards. So I drove to the nearest bank branch I could find that had power, got a mad $20 and went back to the diner. I was able to eat there and headed over to the office. It was already 4:30pm and the only cars in front belonged to the news personnel. The air conditioning in the office felt so good, you have no idea.
So now I’m in the office escaping from my dark, hot house and the spoiled food in my refrigerator, praying that freezers really do stay frozen for two days. I hope power, water and phone lines are restored tonight. If nothing else, I could probably just stay at the station. At least there’s television and working internet.
Update: About 10pm I checked on the house and power and water had indeed been restored. I made sure everything was alright, smelled the rotten-out contents of the fridge and turned on the air conditioner so the house would be nice and cool when I got back later this evening. I also got a quick bite to eat at Stars where burgers are $1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mental note: don’t drink the milk when I get home.
So this thing Dolly became a category two hurricane last night and began pummeling the gulf coast earlier today. So now the eye of the now category one hurricane is over land just about an hour north of my location. Here at the TV station all hell is breaking loose. We’re actually doing an early live newscast and the power fluctuated several times, knocking our weather station offline. So now our live newscast about the weather doesn’t have a weather station. Sucks, huh? So here we are…
…and it’s now a tropical storm as of 10pm tonight. The power is out where I live and I’m pretty much done with the television graphics. I wonder if power is back where I live. There’s only one way to find out…
…so I’m laying in bed in my dark house, it’s a little warm but not completely uncomfortable. I’m online via iPhone and I’m going to use my Vagabond II battery to charge it during the time right before I fall asleep. I think we have to work tomorrow.
It’s My Birthday! I’m 29! I’ve survived another year…somehow! Woot!
Update (10:57pm): The guys took me to Willie B’s BBQ in Edinburg and then we head to the park to take some really stupid pictures. The rest of the day I’m gettin’ hugs from all the work hotties and handshakes and man-hugs from all the dudes. So everything’s groovy. Tomorrow we’re having a barbecue party and over the weekend I’ll be heading to the beach with a bevy of hot babes. Life is good.
iPhone users click here to watch the video.
In 1994 I was introduced to 35mm single lens reflex cameras with the Pentax K-1000, an inexpensive amateur device that required no batteries unless you wanted to take advantage of the exposure meter in the viewfinder. The K-1000 was assigned to me in journalism class during my sophomore year in high school. Before then I had used a little plastic point and shoot 110 film camera whose brand and designation I can no longer recall. It may have been a Kodak 104 Instamatic, but I’m not too sure about that. Regardless, I had never used an SLR until high school and the little bugger changed my life.
The next year, I was asked to take over the photography department while the journalism supervisor dealt with the reporters. I was then responsible for teaching use of the cameras, dark room technique and basic photography etiquette to my peers and upperclassmen students alike. And I was good at it. The kids learned a lot and their photographs got better as the semester trolled along.
My senior year, the school upgraded to Canon EOS Rebels. Gone were the days of K-mount fully manual, heavy metal cameras. Now, you could have a fully automatic experience with little photographic insight in a plastic, lightweight camera with an on board flash. These new auto focus cameras needed batteries and the consumer-class zoom kit lenses weren’t as sharp, fast or precise as the Pentax’s 50mm primes, but the Rebel did auto forward the film.
After graduation, I signed up for a Discover Card on my way out of an English class my first semester of college. One of the first things I ever purchased on a credit card was a Canon Rebel XS-II kit along with a Canon case from Best Buy. The setup worked fine for several years until one day the curtain stopped working. I never sent it in for repair and because of my hectic work schedule, I silently walked away from photography.
In 2002, after shooting some short films and getting my schedule in order, I decided to pick up a Canon PowerShot G3. I figured digital was the way to go for an uninterested consumer like myself and that’s because years ago I swore that I’d never go digital anyway. But that was also when I swore I’d never leave photography.
The G3 worked great as I started to feel the pull back to photography. In 2003, I figured I would stay digital and move up toward the SLRs again: this time I got the Canon 300D Digital Rebel. The Rebel worked great until I dropped it after one of my first model shoots (in fact, I think it was my second model shoot ever) in 2004. The damage to my Rebel was an excuse to upgrade to the Canon EOS 20D which I still use in 2008.
I have no idea how many shutter cycles I’ve actuated on my 20D. Considering it’s four years old, it may have something around 40,000 cycles on it. Regardless, it’s a great little camera and I love it to death. Even when I upgrade to the 5D or 5D Mark II in the fall I’ll still keep my little 20D around as a backup body. In fact, the 20D has been so good to me, I haven’t been concerned with camera bodies at all for years, focusing instead on purchasing awesome Canon L lenses. Because remember: a camera body is just a light-tight box with a hole in it. Image quality and control is all about the glass in front of the body.
This year, however, I’ve decided to apply what I’ve learned about photography back into 35mm film. One of those “if only I knew then what I know now” paradoxes. Except this time, I’m going completely old school and am currently bidding on Canon FD-mount manual cameras and lenses on ebay. If all goes well, I should have two Canon AT-1 bodies and two fast Canon FD prime lenses, a Vivitar flash and some JC Penney 80-200mm zoom…all for about $120 after shipping.
Then I’m going to pick up all this unused Kodak T-Max 400 film (I somehow forgot to give back to the school in 1997) and some newer consumer snapshot film and…see what develops. It also helps that I now own a Sekonic light meter which will definitely come in handy.
So, that’s a little history of my photographic journey. I can’t wait to see what happens and share it with you. But right now, I have to get ready for another model shoot. Cheers!
Today is the recognized birthday of the United States of America, the country which I am a member and working participant of. Today, families and couples and loners head to the beaches and to the public parks, waiting until dusk for the annual fireworks each respective town and city throughout the country will display. As for me: I have nowhere to go, no one to hang out with and nothing to do so I’m blogging.
I went to McDonalds yesterday and got enough food to last me the weekend. I have a nice collection of cold Landshark beer and half of a Little Caesars hot-n-ready pizza in the fridge, so I’m pretty much covered as far as food is concerned. I also bought a gallon of whole milk which will also tide me over. So basically, I don’t have to go out for anything this weekend. That means money stays in my bank account.
Tomorrow afternoon is a rock concert shin-dig happening at South Padre Island called Bandtango On The Bay: Rockfest 2008 that I’d like to photograph for the Rock Station, but it’s almost a full tank of gas, round trip, and I just filled up at $40 so by the time I come back early Sunday morning I will have spent $80 just on fuel. I’m debating whether or not this expense is worth the price considering the main band will be Alien Ant Farm. And like I always say, “if it’s not Led Zeppelin, I don’t care”. And on Sunday is another concert thingy for Tejano artists called Gran Concierto Gratis which is happening in the much, much closer town of Donna. But I have tons of concert shots. But I can also get in free and be surrounded by hot chicks. Hmm. Decisions, decisions.
Over the weekend I’m supposed to have some models come over: Ellie on Saturday and Rebecca on Sunday. I’m pretty sure that going to Bandtango and Concierto will upset that so that’s another reason not to get out this weekend. Plus, I need to do laundry and wash the dishes. The trash is out, so that’s done…I guess I have everything covered. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone on Saturday and shoot Ellie at the beach and then have her assist me at Bandtango. Whatev’a. I guess we’ll see what happens.
I finished up an impromptu probono photoshoot with Regina this evening. I missed Battlestar Galactica, however I’m catching the repeat right now with a Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready pizza and some Landshark beer. I just saw Adama and Tigh beat the living shit out of each other…which was cool…and I’m glowing over the first-time use of my new gear: a new Photoflex ProDuty backdrop system and a Sekonic L-358 light meter. Everything worked great and I’m greatly anticipating going over the photos tomorrow before I run off to shoot some more Edinburg Landsharks football. Speaking of Landsharks: ssssip!
Returning to the celebration last night I set up a single monolight off in the corner to be my “flash” during the presentation and father-daughter dance. It worked well, however I am quite sick of that song “Butterfly Kisses” and its use at an event other than a wedding. Whatever; I got some great shots of the little chick cryiing so, woo-hoo.
Asthe night went on I noticed a woman dancing by herself. I would look over and make eye contact with her a few times as she smiled back. Eventually she sat down to rest and we continued to eye each other. When she got up again she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the dance floor.
“Let’s dance,” she said. And dance we did, camera sheathed below my arm as I led her across the dance floor.
“Are you married,” she asked.
“No. Are you?”
“I’m divorced. Two years.”
It turns out she’s 36, her 15 year old daughter and the birthday girl are best friends and that’s how she wound up being at the event. When I started making her dizzy with all the spinning I confessed I didn’t do a lot of dancing at social occasions. She said I was getting better. By the end of the night my camera gear was back in my car and I was on the dance floor with her for three more songs. She likes the booming, rapping, gettin’ jiggy wit it music. And I was more than fine with her gettin’ jiggy wit me. Before we went our separate ways I got her phone number and formally introduced myself to her.
Her name is Cindy and I think I’ll give her a call sometime.
I got a nice compliment from two people in a conversation that had nothing to do with me until I walked by. Eric, one of the master control operators, was in a discussion with Donnie, the master control chief, about how he felt like he didn’t have much in the way of creativity and was basically stuck doing jobs consisting of menial labor. Donnie was countering the point in her normal girlie way when I walked by to grab a clipboard and Eric said “not like Jason. He’s gifted. He shouldn’t even be down here. He needs to get out of the Valley and go to some market somewhere that will appreciate him.”
I paused and awaited a barrage of cynical laughter when Donnie chimed in: “I agree. Jason has so much talent that it practically oozes out of him. Like he’s gonna slip on it and fall down.”
I just stood there. I didn’t know how to respond so, after a moment of them staring at me I said, “I guess that’s why I’m The Guy.” I paused. “I’d normally have something funny to say right now, but I don’t.” With that I sheepishly walked back to my desk.
Tomorrow I have a news promo to shoot and edit, another Havana spot to produce and my regular daily chores along with a model shoot after work with a petite Ukrainian hottie named Anna who reallyreallyreally wants to work with me. Also, next week I begin work on my book project. I have the models in play and I’m ready. Should be fun.
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