Analog Love Letter: Casa De Cadillac

When the temperatures get warm enough, I like to venture out into the night and do a bit of night shooting. It's one of my favorite pastimes. Sometimes during the summer, it can get pretty hot in Los Angeles, especially the San Fernando Valley, and I don't even bother going out but during those hot summer nights, the evening temperature can get into the 70s and 80s which is quite lovely.

This time around, I was testing a camera and hit my friend Jasson up to do some night shooting in Van Nuys, Calif. when I took this photo of Casa De Cadillac which is a Cadillac dealership on Ventura Blvd. What I really love about this dealership, other than the caddies they sell (I love cars), is the font they use for the sign. I'm no font nerd but I do know a bit of history to this place. It opened up sometime in the '50s and has been in business ever since. The font reminds me of the "futuristic" styling and outlook of American industry in that era. America had just won World War II and the middle class was on the up and up and everyone was focused on the optimism of tomorrow.

There's a bit of a light leak in this image but it's in a good place where it isn't totally distracting and it gives the photo a bit of character.

"Casa De Cadillac" / 35mm Fuji Provia 400X / July 2014

Analog Love Letter: Salt In Her Veins

I don't think I've met someone so drawn to the ocean as my friend Genna. Before meeting her, I rarely went to the beach. It just wasn't my sort of thing but after meeting her, I found myself being at the beach more since she would invite me to come. It's a good place to spend the day to escape the scorching summer temperatures of the valley which is when we would always go.

There is this rock on a beach (that will be unnamed because it's her favorite "secret" beach and I swore not to give out) and we both climbed it when I took this photo of her as she was looking out towards the ocean. 

It's a lovely beach and it's quite secluded which is what I enjoy about it. I apologize for not divulging its whereabouts.

"Genna's rock" / 35mm Cinestill 800t / June 2014

Analog Love Letter: Los Angeles Living

Some people say that Los Angeles has no distinct weather pattern. No real winter or fall. Just sun and more sun. Contrary to popular belief, it does rain sometimes. It hasn't in a while which is sad because we need it. Having said that, I love sun. Warm is good. So are palm trees.

"Two sticks and a clear sky" / 35mm Kodak Portra 160VC / April 2011

Analog Love Letter: Awake

Sometimes all it takes is good timing.

I used to frequent my friend's house quite often. Most of the time I come unannounced. I'm almost like the Kimmie Gibbler (from Full House fame) of my group of friends.

My friend Flor was babysitting while the parents worked and this photo was taken just as my friend's son was waking up from a nap and his mother had just come from work to pick him up. As she was feeding him, he looked towards me and gave this curious look.

Me and kids are weird. I love kids but sometimes kids are stranger danger with me which is fine. Some take to me well from the start while others I just need more time so I can grow on them.

"Wrong side of a nap" / 35mm Kodak Portra 160VC / April 2011

Analog Love Letter: Co-workers

I took this photo of co-workers at Frankie's Italian Kitchen on my Fuji Instax 210 camera and I love the faded look of the images produce. It looks like I took this photo in the '70s or '80s when in fact I took it sometime last year. It's no Polaroid but it's a much more inexpensive option to Impossible Film. 

I also love how the red rendered in her hair. Kind of reminds me of a waitress in a proper diner.

"Jorge and Carol" / Fuji Instax 210 instant film / Circa 2014

Analog Love Letter: Legal Brew

I remember when I first turned 21. It was great being able to drink alcohol legally. Not that I drank before turning 21. I was never really a drinker. I've seen friends drink before and seeing them turned me off a bit because they drank to get drunk but as I grew into legal age, I imbibe to enjoy and rarely do I get drunk.

I took this photo of my friend Genna at Outside Lands last year and while she has been to previous Outside Lands, this was the time when she was able to finally buy her own beer legally. I'm sure it felt great to walk into Beer Lands, order her drink and show her wristband to the bartender. My first alcoholic drink was a wine cooler so it wasn't much, but it was great.

"Finally legal" / 35mm Adox CHS 100 / August 2014

Analog Love Letter: Another Moment In My Life

The moment I pick up a new camera to add to my collection, I instantly shoot a frame or two to experience how the camera handles in my hand. It's also a moment in which I officially make a camera mine apart from its previous owner.

For the longest time, I wanted a Hasselblad 500 in my collection and I was able to purchase one at a very good price compared to the market rates on eBay. The previous owner no longer shot film so I made him an offer for the camera body and 3 lenses. He even threw in a couple of 220 pro packs of Kodak Portra film which is always awesome.

Hasselblad build their cameras like tanks. This particular model felt great in my hands and the shutter barn doors made a pretty loud "clonk" sound whenever you depressed the shutter button. It sounded official. This was a proud day for me and my collection and I took a self portrait as my first frame.

"Self portrait with a Hasselblad" / 6x6 medium format Ilford FP4+ / May 2012

Analog Love Letter: Turn On The Bright Lights

Interpol is one of my favorite bands of all times (probably second to The Smiths) and their first full length album, Turn On The Bright Lights, had a huge impact in my life. The comparison to Joy Division was there when they first came out but they had a much different sound in my opinion.

I wanted to do start a project that is inspired by TOTBL which is what you see here. I used a Holga CFN to shoot this photo during one of my birthdays many moons ago. A Holga CFN is essentially a Holga but with a flash that had 4 filters built in, the other colors being yellow, blue and clear.

This photo has a strong red cast due to the slide film I used. You wouldn't get this strong of a color cast if you used color negative film. My guess being because slide film is "positive," it'll take the strongest light source more easily and blow out the shadows if you can't control the amount of light being produced. Holga's are simple toy cameras so there's no control over anything on it really which is what I love about lomography.

As with all my other photo projects, this series will be released when I feel like I've finished it so who knows when that'll be.

"Michael pours Guinness" / 6x6 medium format Fuji Astia 100F / December 2011

Analog Love Letter: One Of Many

Every now and then I find myself in front of a mirror and I'm compelled to take a self portrait. I make the distinction of using the term self portrait instead of a "selfie" because I'm used to taking photos with an actual camera instead of a camera phone or any other small handheld digital camera such as a point and shoot and also grew up in a time where the only way to take a self portrait is using a film camera such as the one in this photo and attaching it to a tripod, compose my photo and then clicking the shutter button. Either with a (D)SLR or camera phone, the objective is the same.

Just me in a moment of time in my life. This particular moment was during the first look through at a venue for a wedding. I dug the ambient lighting.

"Untitled self portrait" / 35mm Fuji Pro400H / August 2014

Analog Love Letter: First Taste of Journalism

First: This is a crap photo. Second: This was my first taste of photojournalism.

I documented my first protest in 2009 during the time Israel was performing, at the time, one of the greatest offensive show of force against Palestinians using a campaign of airstrikes. The protest took place at the Los Angeles Federal Building in Westwood, Calif. Many of the major protests that occur here in Los Angeles either happen here, or in downtown.

I remember getting there and felt a rush of excitement at the amount of people there. There were a lot more people who were there to support the Palestinian "cause" (probably because the organizers were pro-Palestinian) than there were people who showed support for the Israeli "cause" (probably because the day before, a big protest of pro-Israel supporters occurred in the same location). 

At some point in day, I found myself in the middle of a small...skirmish, if you will, where one small area was filled with people from both sides of the argument. Most of the day, one side kept to one area of the corner while the other side were, well, on the other side of the street. I tried to photograph this moment with the best of my green and ignorant knowledge of photojournalism and this is what I got. It's crap.

Knowing what I know now, I can tell you so many things wrong with this photo. It's filled with the back sides of people. There are far too many straight lines by way of the light poles and the sides of corporate offices/buildings. Just composed horribly. I was afraid to really get into the thick of it, to go on the street with little regard to my safety so I can get close and get the emotions on the faces of these two sides. If the me of today were to shoot this photo again, it would be TOTALLY different. Night and day as they say.

But from all the excitement in the emotions that were in the air, and the newness of the experience, I wanted more and I felt like this is what I finally wanted to do with my photography. So in the years to follow, I covered more protests and news type events. I sought to take journalism classes, which I did at Los Angeles Pierce College and I've grown and learned SO much since this photo. With the tutelage of some of the best journalism advisers, I've become a much better photographer and reporter. With that being said, my writing needs a bit more refining.

"Brand new world" / 35mm Fuji Pro 160S / January 2009