Lights, Camera, Action

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I received my income tax return last week and went ahead and finally bought myself some strobes. I was on the fence with exactly what I wanted to buy. I've been doing some good research and was stuck between buying a monolight kit or buying a couple of Canon 580EX II speedlights. Both types of strobes were very attractive to me and have their respective pros and cons. While I was at Calumet in Hollywood discussing my options with the sales person, I decided to buy the Calumet Travelite 750R kit and I'm quite happy with my purchase. The kit comes with two 750ws monolight heads that are radio capable using Pocket Wizards sync cards, two umbrellas, two stands and a carry luggage with wheels which is a great thing. Basically the entire kit looks like this:



Pros:

The entire kit set me back about $1200 dollars which is a fairly good price considering the other kits from other manufacturers I was looking at such as Elinchrome and Dynalite that had the same amount of power these lights have. Even though they are branded Calumet, the lights themselves are made by Bowens which is a pretty good brand. The ability to use these lights at any given location are probably what attracted me to them. With the separate purchase of a portable Bowens battery pack, I can readily shoot outdoors or any other location without an AC power source. The carry luggage nicely fits the entire kit with room for other stuff such as extra memory cards, cables & cords and possibly softboxes and such. The carry luggage with wheels would make lugging the kit all that more easier. 750ws is more than enough power for any photographer to need and that extra power can come in handy.

Cons:

The dials controlling the power output of the strobes are a bit flimsy and if I were to have any problems with these lights (they're pretty reliable from my research), it would be with the dials.

Weight is also a problem. Even though they're named "Travelite", they're far from it. Each unit weighs in at a pretty weighty 7lbs and considering the total weight of the carry luggage, the cables, umbrellas and the rest of the extras, you're looking at a total weight of 17lbs and that's excluding a portable battery pack should you own one so they're not so light even though they are portable. This can become problematic if your shoot is outdoors and consists of some hiking. Carrying 14 some odd pounds through rugged terrain (and possible a hill or two) will be a mission and a half.

I haven't really properly tested out the unit with a shoot. When I purchased the set, all I did was plug in each unit and fired off a couple of flashes and tested the consistency of the lights which were good although I don't have any examples to show at this moment. I expect to properly break these bad boys in in the next couple of months. I still need to purchase another sync card for one of the units and I intend to purchase a softbox as well.

I also intend to purchase many another set of these lights but lower power like the 350R but haven't really decided. Maybe to complete my portable studio set. However, I do also plan to buy a couple of Canon 580EX IIs later this year in order to make my set more portable. That way, I can decide to take one of my 750R and a whatever 580s I'll own for an outdoor shoot. Carrying 14lbs everytime I intend to shoot outdoors is just too much. Oh, I also need to buy some lenses but that's a whole nother story...

So...who wants to play hmm?

10 Inches of Love

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Late in 2009, after being tired of the mohawk I was sporting at the time, I shaved off my hair and began with a clean slate. With nothing in mind as to how I'd like my next hair style to be, I let my hair grow and grow ever since. At some point in time, I'd say mid 2010, I've had enough of my hair growing long and was about to head to Rudy's barbershop in Silverlake to have it shortened. I normally like my hair short, neat and clean a la Mad Men to paint a picture. At this point, my hair has been the longest it has been since I was...I don't know, 8? Long time. Anyway, my hair length was around 5 inches give or take.

While driving on the way to Rudy's, an interesting thought came to mind. Because it has been so long since my hair was this long, to cut it now would be a waste let alone a vain thing. I remembered someone talking about donating hair for the purpose of making hair pieces for kids afflicted with cancer and the like which really had me going. So, driving, I thought "hey, why not go ahead and do it? you're halfway there!". At that moment, I exited the freeway and drove back home with the intention and dedication, to grow my hair out further to donate.

I really didn't think much of the process of growing out my hair. The current 5 inches didn't bother me even though I wasn't used to such a length. Another 5 inches wouldn't be so bad. Well, it isn't (really) but it got a little tough for me along the way. I've lost a couple of nights sleep because hair kept covering my face which could've been avoided as been told, if I had put my hair in a tail prior to sleeping but I didn't do that. The initial comparison to Gallagher by a friend bothered me at first but I took it as a badge of honor later and even went along with the joke. The combing of the hair was probably my main problem. I have wavy hair but I didn't know how thick my hair was until I grew it all out so having to deal with the brushing of it after a shower or what not was a chore and a half for me. I don't know how people with long hair do it.

By the time your read this, my hair would already be gone or at least shortened, and said hair would probably be on its way to the charity of my choice. Locks of Love or Pantene's (which I forget its name), I haven't decided yet. Good chance I'll miss the mane. I've grown accustomed to having it. I'll miss the Gallagher nods. It was fun. One comparison no one has made was Scar, Mufasa's lion brother in Lion King. Some of my friends may get it (me and him being thin in appearance with the lion's mane of hair and all...). I'll probably get that next time as I do plan on growing out my hair again for this very same purpose later in life. Maybe much sooner like later this year. Who knows? Before my hair is still full of black as some friends have pointed out the long strands of maverick white hair. That was another thing that was hard for me...

I asked a friend to take photos of my hair prior to my chopping to...I don't know...commemorate the dedication? For posterity.



Big thank you to my friend Juliyadi Prabowo for snapping the photos.

Power To The People

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The middle east region is in a bit of an upheaval at the moment. A couple of weeks ago, the people of Tunisia revolted against and overthrew its government and since then, the people of Algeria, Jordan and namely Egypt decided to get in on the revolution game and seek out some regime change. The biggest story so far is Egypt as protestors, both pro and anti Mubarak, have been going at it recently and rather violently to what started as peaceful demonstrations.

My political leanings have me siding with the people who seek to see an end to Mubarak's 30 year rule over Egypt so I decided to attend a pro-democracy rally at the Federal Building in Los Angeles to show my support and do some minor photojournalism by documenting the rally. These are just some of my favorite shots from the demonstration. If you'd like to see the entire set, have a look-see at my Flickr account.






Store Updates: January

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Hey everyone! Happy new year! I trust you had a capital time partying on nye. I myself had a pretty chill night celebrating with a few friends that consisted of a lot of drinking (given) and board game shenanigans (left field).

I'm in the process of revamping my etsy store at the moment but I've added some new stuff and wanted to give a heads up on what's new for January...



Dancing With The Wind 11x14 Machine Print in Glossy: $30



Memories Of Spring 8x10 Giclee Print on Hahnemuhle FineArt Pearl paper: $60

Also, some of my work has been featured on a couple of treasuries that I think you should check out. These treasuries feature artists/sellers that take a portion of their sales and give out to charities and there are a couple of great stuff that you might be interested in. These treasuries are "Be The Change You Want To See In The World" and "Beauty In Charity II".

One last thing, I'm offering a 15% discount on the items in my store. Just enter "NEWYEAR" in the coupon code entry upon checkout and the discount is as good as yours. Remember that 25% of each sale made will go towards UNICEF's US general fund!

Here's to 2011!

End Of The Year Round Up

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I've pretty much retired the camera for the rest of the year so there isn't much for me to post as far as new photography stuff is concerned. However, I have added a few items in my Etsy shop for sale and I'd also like to put up an update for my UNICEF project as well. Here are the new prints I've added to my shop:



Delicate 8x10 Lambda print $50



Urban Growth 5x7 Machine print $8



Lone Honda 11x14 Machine print $30



The Steps 8x10 Ilford print $20



Urban Angel 11x14 Machine print $30



Two Pinks 5x7 Machine print $8

I've also got a promotion going on through the month of December. Use coupon code "Birthday" at checkout and take 10% off your final order. Also remember that 25% of the proceeds of each print sold will go towards a donation to UNICEF's US General Fund. With that said, let me update you on how that project is going...

Through the month of December, I've sold 1 print via a private sale which was:

Over The City Lies The City Of Angels: 16x20 print $40

UNICEF received $10 from that sale.

As it stands:

December: $10
YTD 2010: $15.75
Since project inception: $15.75

2010, you went by quickly...

Favorite shot of 2010

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The year is coming to a close and I don't think I'll be taking any more photos that would make my favorites list as far as can I see. I haven't really gone out to shoot on my own desire since just before Thanksgiving so my camera is currently collecting some dust. So I've pretty much retired for the year and waiting for 2011!

I think I had a pretty good year with my photography. Met a good number of great photographers. Did a lot of street work, went to a protest or two and clocked a number of shutter clicks since I purchased my camera. I picked up the camera right around March and to date, I've logged over 7500 clicks so I put my camera to work this year. I went through all the photos I took this year and went through the short list of favorite photos. It was quite difficult to pick out just one favorite from this year but after a number of hours late last night/ early this morning, I've come up with one.



May of 2010. Me and a couple of friends decided to head out to DTLA to check out and photograph the May Day rally. This was my first experience in attending a large scale protest event. I've been to other protests which numbered in the couple of hundreds to close to/over a thousand but I've never been, nor seen something that ranged in the couple of thousands. Not sure of how many actually attended but I'd say it easily broke 10k and I'm being conservative with that number.

When I snapped this photo, the march was already well under way. This photo was taken about 3/4 of the way to the end of the march which eventually stopped at city hall. There was a large number of people supporting the passing of the Dream Act so this contingent of people were mainly (high school) students. They had a small drum line leading the pack which I thought was cool. The stuff they were playing had a good rhythm so people in and around the immediate area were getting down. Not necessarily dancing all that much but the rhythm set the mood. Out of nowhere, this woman stepped out of nowhere and started dancing and getting down which amped everyone up, took over and eventually lead the group.

This photo ended up being my favorite because of two things. First, the photographic style of photojournalism is my favorite to shoot. Raw, and nothing set up or posed. A lot of my favorites are usually this kind of photography which is why I love to go out and shoot street photography more than anything else. Catching the essence of a moment like these are what I search for which leads to reason number two: the context of this photo. This was a protest. Everyone here was fighting and supporting a reason or cause. Although this particular event was big, there were many causes and fights that people were supporting but we were all like minded people (left of center). Not that many people were..."festive" with respect to the fights but this group of students fighting for the dream act were and this woman especially. Dance as a form of protest isn't anything new, weird or out of the blue. I've seen it before at many events and seeing it is always a refreshing sight. In a way, her raw and passionate dance was kind of a big "fuck you" to anyone working against the passing of the Dream Act. I really enjoyed watching that and lucky enough to snap this shot up. I took a short video shot of this that can be seen here.

2011 is going to be another great year for me. Got some ambitious plans. Looking to pick up some new gear. Maybe a new film camera by way of medium format. Maybe a new DSLR. A couple of lenses and some lighting maybe. Also looking to venture out of town more. No specific areas just yet but for the moment, my eyes are set north. More of central California and definitely northern California. San Francisco is in my crosshairs. Anyway, I hope all you shooters had a great year in photography. Here's to next year. I look forward to what I can push myself to create and look forward to seeing all the great photos from you and other photographers!

-Q

UNICEF Update / Etsy Update / Etc.

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Just an update about the UNICEF project:

Through the month of November I've sold two photographic prints via my Etsy store which were:

Say No To H8: $15
6th Street Bridge: $8

For a grand total of $23 to which UNICEF gets $5.75

As it stands:

November: $5.75
YTD: $5.75
Since project inception: $5.75

Not much really but it's going somewhere. I haven't made the donation to UNICEF yet as I don't think they'll accept such a small amount and I don't plan on doing the donation until the end of this year and every quarter.

As far as Etsy is concerned, I've just added a 10% discount on all my prints through the month of December since it's my birthday month. Etsy recently added the option for sellers to offer coupons which I think is very cool. Anyway, just enter the code "Birthday" in the coupon code box (actually, I don't know where exactly you enter the code but I'm sure it's somewhere near the end of checkout...) when you check out and that 10% discount is as good as yours.

Also, I've switched up and changed the songs playing on this blog. Decided to throw on some songs that I grew up on earlier (elementary/jrhs) years. Hope you digs!

Hola Gato!

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Back in my earlier years I used to love all things Sanrio. It wasn't so much the characters that initially made me a fan of the store but rather WHAT they sold at their stores. I was a pretty nerdy kid. Still am (a little bit). I used to love stationary products. Pens, pencils, erasers etc. Sanrio had some of the best stationary products around. There was never a time when I entered that store in my pre-teen years that I didn't walk away without a nifty looking pen or mechanical pencil. Thinking about this particular past now, I fondly remember their super cool pencil cases with various compartments and buttons that ejected either a pencil sharpener or eraser compartment!

I lost my interest in Sanrio sometime around my freshman year in high school but I pretty much grew up on Sanrio. At the very least, Sanrio resides in a special place in my heart. When I heard about Sanrio's 50th Anniversary festival that went down in Santa Monica Airport a week back, I just had to go to and check it out.

The event took place within the confines of a hanger and there was a massive amount of people there. Not surprised at all. What I found so special about this event were the many families that attended. I'd say that a good amount of the parents there were about my age and it's probably safe to say that these parents grew up on Sanrio just like I did and now being that Sanrio is still just as popular as it was when I was growing up, these parents are fondly remembering their past Sanrio experience, and sharing this festival experience with their kids!

As a kid, I never thought, nor did it ever occur to me that Sanrio was a massive thing. An influence if you will. It wasn't until I rekindled my past love for the company, being older, that I can see and acknowledge that Sanrio has had such a big impact and influence on a great deal of people. All the festival attendees, all the artists that contributed their Sanrio inspired art for the event...I found that realization to be quite striking.

I really hope Sanrio continues to be relevant in the years to come. It'd be a pretty cool thing to come back to a 75th anniversary festival and bring along my family and regale my kids about what Sanrio was to me when I was their age...

For more photos from the festival, visit my 17thletter Photography fan page on Facebook!