LA trip, pt. 2

so  I was sent down to LA to shoot attorney Carina Castaneda.  Not the most organized assignment I've ever had.  The instructions were....shoot attorney Carina Castaneda.  Didn't know if the image was gonna be used in a hard news piece, or a B1 personality piece, or for an ad, or column, etc. etc.  I didn't even know that the guy writing the piece was scheduled to be there at the same time, OR that he'd brought his OWN photographer.  Good job, there, lol.  Got to shoot in the courthouse, which was cool, wish i'd had more time for composition and to play around, but i got what i needed, i think.  it was also a good opportunity under pressure to figure out what little i know about using my speedlight, lol.  i honestly need more opportunities like this to keep me motivated and learning.  Nothin worse than screwin up AND lookin bad, ya know?

too much Photoshop

So I photographed my friend Jamie last year.  Like most of my projects,the image was already done in my head, but it's taken me this long to get around to working on it.  I denno why I had the idea of doing an ethereal, ghostlike quality to the image, but here we are.

This thing has PS all over it. 

did I mention

that she's 48? yeahhh, baby!!!!:P

LA!!!

hmmmm, ideally I should load a picture I shot of Attorney Carina Castaneda first, since I did shoot her first, and she was the whole reason for me being sent to LA.

But, uh, I've been working on pictures of Debbie K, my Saturday morning shoot, so that's what ya get at the moment.  Plus, I got to do these great, non-high concept natural light shots of her, so you have no idea how that made my day.  The chance to just sit somebody in front of an open window and just snap away as we talked, was highly rewarding.

Which is good, considering how unrewarding the majority of the trip turned out to be.  Of three models scheduled (and supposedly excited) as of the previous night to shoot at Megafunk's place canceled on me.  I've got a lot I'm holdin in to say about that, but hey, all you other people who I didn't schedule with this time....you can blame them.

thinking out loud.

Rest in Peace, Bettie Page. 
As a kid and huge comic book fan growin up in the eighties, i had no idea who Bettie Page was.  I just remember these amazing illustrations by this guy named Dave Stevens, comic books about a guy with a jetpack and his girlfriend, Bettie.  I remember finding out that this comic book ideal was based on a real person, a real pinup legend, in fact. I remember her being this huge underground secret...if you knew who Bettie Page was, and you were under a certain age, it was almost a lock that you first saw her in the pages of the Rocketeer.  So, unlike all these other famous models at the time, she seemed like 'our' pinup girl.  Seeing her little magnets and stickers and what have you at the record store years later just affirmed what i already knew, that she was representative of something apart from the mainstream...the subcultures, the weirdos, the geeks...and that the mainstream was finally embracing aspects of those things.  I felt strangely proud...like, hey, i was there for her second coming, lol. 
The story about Dave Stevens being the first person to actually take her into a Tower Records to show her a Bettie Page display, to make her realize how iconic her image had become, and how hard he fought to make sure that she got her fair share from all of that, always made me smile.  Inside I'd be screaming, "see?  Some comic book guy, some guy with a pen, some paper, and some imagination....." 
When I got older and started seeing more and more of Bettie's work....it was like buried treasure.  The whole innocence/ sexuality dichotomy.  The campiness and playfulness of her photos. A complete revelation to me.  
Earlier this year, Dave passed away.  His body of work was so relatively thin, that I scour bookstores and pore over the few items that I do have, wishing that an artist that good had been more prolific. 
And now, months later, Bettie herself has passed.  What must it have been like, I wonder, living in quiet obscurity, then to find out a whole world is in love with you, and credit you for inspiring them and setting them off on their own little journeys. 
Dave Stevens and Bettie Page.  Artist and muse. 
I like to think that Dave was up in heaven months ago, churning out these great stories and beautiful drawings.  And that somebody picked up a page and saw this angelic/devilish looking girl and asked 'heyyyy, who's this?' 
"You'll find out," says Dave (in my head).  "You'll find out.....but you won't be ready."

need to shave my head.

so we had baby powder

As these things go, the one time I was finally able to shoot Afua, we just kept throwing whatever ideas we could at the wall to see what would stick.   Practically the last one , which I think I need to rework a bit, was the idea of covering her in baby powder.  I don't do nudes, generally speaking.  Since a lot of my favorite imagery is story driven, doing photos on a purely aesthetic basis, in this case, the beauty of the human body, is a different direction for me. 

 I think my bias is that I'm basically chronicling someone else's handiwork.  My input in the overall image seems more like a technical matter than anything else.  It's like life drawing class, where you're learning the fundamentals, in order to express yourself better.

But, like a lot of my preconceived notions, I'm finding more and more that I don't want to overanaylze things.  That I want to do things (shoot things? draw things?)  just because I enjoy it.  Pictures of my friends, pictures of my family.   Uhm, pictures of a nude goddess of a woman covered in baby powder.  The images don't require any more explanation than they make me happy.

It's been a long time since I've though about photography, or anything, that way.  

Mmm, Halloween

Happy Goth Christmas everybody.   If any lil kids are reading this, I hope you're going over your haul with your folks right now, finding out which candies you can chomp on tonight.   If any of you are in SoCal, I hear Kimberly Tia has pop rocks.

I was hoping to spend the day shooting portraits of kids in costumes, but bad weather combined with my laziness nixed that idea.

Above is a photo from my Ghost Story essay, with Austin and Mitsukai.  Shot outdoors, two alien bees and two octaboxes, and a white reflector just to the left and out of camera view.

I should've posted something about my old haunted apartment, but those stories have been heard by just bout everybody.  Anyone reading this want to tell me one of their personal ghost stories?

BW

Going through the RAW files for my shoot with Afua several months back.  We did maybe five looks? in the short period of time.  The trick is that there are so many good shots from each look, I'm having trouble going through them all and weeding out the shots I want to work on.  Don't be surprised if my next few posts are of a familiar face.

Rome and Tito

These two are a perfect match. Both in looks and personality. Rome is the facilitator. the middle man. You come to him with a situation, and he connects all the dots necessary to make it happen. So when an opportunity arose to hang out at his house for a weekend, barbecue and shoot whateve walked through the door, I couldn't pass it up.

Tito is a new addition. Amazing freaking dog. Attentive, independent, affectionate.

Such a positive environment:)

editing away

nothing special to say here. Just slowly working my way through a bunch of editing. Jada Cheng.

Maria and Ordie

After lil Oliver's birthday party (I still owe that kid a present), I grabbed these two for some photos. They're so comfortable together, so relaxed. I've known Ordie for years and years, now. And Maria just fit right in.

I think I'm burnt out a little bit. I'm finding shots like this, and the shots of my niece and nephew, incredibly satisfying. Just grabbing my camera, no lights, no reflectors, and just shooting.

Maybe it's the need to try different styles and refresh my batteries again. But it's interesting that my normal stuff is so relatively complex, and what I'm wanting to do is go back and improve the basics. Like I should have gotten this out of my system years ago.

On the other hand, i was never much of a photographer...

Jaunty hat.

My brother wanted to name his son after Filipino revolutionary leader and Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio.    

While watching Heroes, his wife saw the name James Kyson Lee and Kyson won out.  

So i give you Kyson Andres Mendoza:)

He has such an easy smile.   

Malaya avec Capri Sun

My brother showed me some photos earlier of my niece.  He let her play with his digital camera, and there's a sequence of like ten photos where she's taking self portraits, each with a different facial expression.

While celebrating my brother in law's birthday at his place, we spent a lot of time in the backyard, enjoying the day.   Which of course gave me the opportunity to take some photos.

Here is my lil niece, acting EXACTLY the way my lil niece acts.  She's so much fun.  I was sitting shotgun on the 2hr. drive home and every time I thought I'd fall asleep, she'd ask "Uncle!!!! do you wanna play dress up in my room?"

NO title for this post.

Actually, a title was suggested to me, but we won't be using it.

I spent the weekend at my buddy Rome's house. Essentially an entire weekend of eating, drinking, and occasionally picking up the camera. It was a lot of fun, plus Joe got to shoot after a huge break, while i fell back into the supervisory position. It was nice. I got to take the few shots i wanted, when the idea hit me, without the pressure of being the primary photography.

The model here is Sherrein, during a break from a set with Joe. Joe had the great idea of using the Christmas lights that were up in the spot, and i spent a minute trying to figure out the best way to capture them.

Jada Cheng and Westblock

not finished with this, actually. Changes planned include reshooting Dave and putting goggles on him, and adding a bunch of those Nerf bullets to the grassy area. jada is an utter dynamo, lol.

Cheryl

I remember that my friends met Cheryl before i did, at a car show. They were utterly captivated by her, and with good reason. I didn't actually meet her til years later, in LA. We've only shot a handful of times, and I still haven't taken that definitive image of her....but pretty much anybody that works with her can tell you, there's never a bad shot with Cheryl.

ha!!! coolie

www.olivermendoza.com

hey, Jess, look what i found!!!

In no particular order....

Projects in my cue, projects on my mind......

New Orleans Labor Day weekend....shooting team of fitness models, possibly working on a Manilatown photo essay?

Gallery Show...Five Deadly Venoms with Blaze in LA

CalTrain and SamTrans annual report photos, July deadline.

Playboy PI casting. Maxim PI shoots.

San Diego shoots Comicon weekend? Timeline?

August LA shoots.

Jeska edits. Maya edits. Cantria edits needs imagery.

Gallery updates.

July and August scheduling.

Review LA makeup artists.

update Jess's illustration.

C'mon, it's a classic

Yes, yes, old photo. Not much to say bout it, unless someone has questions. The model is Angelica. the comic book pages on the wall are 70s reprints of 60s comic books, worth bout a quarter apiece so don't stress. the comics on the floor are part of my reading library and no, i'm not one to worry about keeping comic books in mint. Post production obviously on the lighting elements, as well as the cool color cast to the right of the image. The hot light was actually on, so the color to the left is fairly accurate, tho toned down a bit.

*there's a pretty damn big version of this photo linked. But it's worth a peek, i think.

Jeff Biancalana. Sooooper Geeeeenius.

Jeff is either displaying various storyboard images from Horton Hears a Who, a part of his gallery show at the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose....or gleefully unveiling his plans for world domination.

stuck.

this is the result of having run out of ideas in a roomful of props. We picked out of the mess a machete and a coolie hat (which I picked up in chinatown. one of those little tourist gift shop dealies.)

Anyway, I denno what to do with this. I'm open to suggestion.

Work Hard, Play Hard

....that's my boy Geoff's motto, lol. I've known this guy forever, since the Darqcyde days of college and the Great America airbrush crew. Tho we've never been close, we've always been buddies, so it was an honor and a rare opportunity when he asked me to shoot his and Angela's engagement photos. The shot above is from the first attempt, and we're probably going to run around and shoot a few more times just to get a nice variety of fun photos.

Engagement photos are generally fun, just for the fact that you can be sillier, more intimate, less formal, essentially than conventional wedding photos. Any idea I can think of gets thrown to the wall to see if it sticks.

There's a set that I had Mike shoot, with the two of them pillowfighting on the bed, that should yield some amazing stuff as well.

tough job.

behind the scenes, it's not all gorgeous women, tiny outfits, drugs and alcohol. I mean, it's mostly that, but not all.

No pictures.

Just wanted to make sure I didn't forget about last night. 

At the Playground, you KNOWWWWWW

So this was back when I first discovered Dave Hill, Dragan, and all their spawn. I like the style....bold color, dramatic, over the top imagery. Not for everything of course, but it lends itself well to a lot of the cartoon violence type of imagery that's always in my head.

So for this shoot, Cantria flew in to shoot with me and the weather in the Bay was its usual winter gloom. So we shot entirely indoors, with a gray backdrop I believe . (and yeah, both subjects are CANTRIA. I think I was going for a boys vs. girls on the playground theme. Or maybe some kind of cool dualism of man's nature theme. Hard to say, this was back in December, and silly ideas flow in and out of me like crazy. Anyhow, the ideas required Cantria to reeeeally overact, and she was pretty badass at it. It was a lot of fun.

Jerome was assisting. Shoots with Jerome are always fun. He's got this utterly engaging and funny personality, that keeps models and crew comfortable and relaxed. And it lets me participate in that vibe, but be able to pull back and just do what I do. I can be the quiet one for a bit, and concentrate on the image.

Technical notes, lessee......ring light, and one fill light, camera left i believe. 20mm prime Nikkor lens attached to my trusty ole d70

The playground backdrop was lifted from the StockXchange stock photo site.

PS notes, some level adjustment, dodging and burning, nothing crazy.

leftovers

this was essentially an attempt to exorcise a few weeks worth of reading computer arts and design magazines. The main image is from a shoot i did in Vegas with Marylou at Nerio's place (good times. Darkside reunion). And the sketch and design elements above it are just random little bits to fill space. Scans of a camera lens' leaf shutter sequence scattered to good effect. At the bottom a sketch of giant japanese robot rampaging through a major metropolitan area.

Essentially this image has a couple of things I really like. Cute girl. Meaningless symbolism, and giant robots.

"here sheepy sheepy!!!"

at my cousin's house/ ranch/ several acres in Petaluma. This shot of my niece, Malaya, was a two man venture, as my brother in law Brandon and I alternated holding the camera and coaxing my niece into feeding the adorable farm animals.

I'm not sure what to write about my niece, except that she constantly makes me smile. She alternates between cute and heartwarming to nonstop crazy in the blink of an eye. On this particular day, 'bout five seconds after her dad told me she was afraid of the sheep, she grabbed my hand and dragged me back, intent on feeding them (and by feeding, i mean throwing food on the floor in front of em).

Hm, and while I'm at it, did i mention my nephew can almost walk on his own???? he gets about fiiiive steps, with the proper momentum.

Serious photography-type stuff next post, i swear.

Parting shot

after all the time prepping. Coming up with ideas, composing images and stories in your head, finding props, and getting things just so...it's those sudden flashes of silliness that seem to create some of the most memorable images. It's both frustrating and gratifying. Sometimes I think moments like that are as close to real joy as it gets.

Mars Attacksploitation!!!!

...told Robert I'd get this up tonight:) From Sunday's shoot with Afua. Can't show you the balls out over the top image yet, cuz I haven't figured out what to do with it. But this one is pretty iconic and a lot of fun:) Afua's wearing a great wig, her sunglasses, a bikini that's too small for her, and cocoa butter, i think. In her hand the Mars Attacks Brain Disintegrator Ray Gun that flashes lights and makes THREE DIFFERENT SOUNDS!!!!

I knew Afua was an amazing physical specimen, but the fact that she was willing to jump whole heartedly into my silliness made her a rare pleasure to shoot.

Lessee, one AB800 to her left, pointed at the backdrop, and one just above and behind the camera, shooting through a white umbrella:)

Afua

Amazing shoot. Went in with a jumble of half conceived ideas, and came out with so much. Afua's energy and personally galvanized me. Going on a couple of days with no sleep and high activity, I wasn't expecting to be able to knock out so much goodness. All thanks to Afua and Jerome. We just kept throwing out crazy ideas and characters and Afua would jump right in and completely OWN those roles. Here's a quick peek.

i'm tired.

basically haven't slept since Thursday.  Rob got married on Saturday, and (finally) got a chance to work with Afua on Sunday.  As much of a total goddess as she appears in pictures, she is a superhuman ball of energy to work with.  Combined with Jerome's own enthusiasm, and my ability to press a button, it was an amazing time.

But more on that later.

Sex is bad. Violence is good.

this shot's proven to be pretty popular. it was taken last December at my boy Megafunk's warehouse/studio in LA. Lotta fun. the two in combat, Gizel and Jessica Rabbitt (i kid you not) were in town from NY and asked if i'd be interested in flying out to shoot with em.

Got to hang out with Megablaze and small talk, meet with a new friend, Gaylord of Raw-R Photography, who graciously let me abuse his lighting gear, and go some great photos.

Not much to tell bout this shoot...once I'd been informed of all the people involved, I pitched a quick idea, and everybody came through. The guys totally threw themselves into their roles. And the ladies complemented each other well. What I thought was gonna be an interesting yet not particularly creative shoot, ended up being a pretty strong image and a totally enjoyable experience.

First Rule, on your first night, you gotta fight

I think at the Gallery show, i had one of these images up, and someone commented on my misogynistic tendencies. AWESOME!!!! Nah, it was interesting. What I'd always viewed as two warriors battling it out, was quickly reduced to some kind of domestic violence display. Context is everything.

Fun shoot. I'm not sure how well each image would stand up individually tho. I ended up adding and subtracting images where I could to pace it out a lil better, without going overboard.

Bonus: Which picture was taken in a completely different area, then PS'd.

Which body has a whole new head?

More Marie (yayyyyy)

I really really really like this image of Marie.

lazy ass updates

Will Springfield is a good cat. He's already an amazingly accomplished photographer AND a model. He's also one of the first people on Model Mayhem that took a shine to my work, and had me considering doing different things....applying my ideas to different subjects etc.

He's also one of the first people to trust in my craziness, ahahah. I remember two years ago saying that I had an image in my head of him TPing a house. And here we are, two years later. Mike Lapid assisted with the lighting...actually he helped me out the entire long weekend of shooting. Totally invaluable...just the opportunity to think out loud about what i want helps the entire process.

Been getting some positive feedback on the image. But I'm thinking this is just the initial run at it. Will actually suggested he wear a shoot, but it was muuuch too late by that time to accomodate.

Marie

There's something very rockstar about these kinds of pulled back, peek behind the curtain images. Of course it doesn't hurt to have a model like Marie. Utterly wonderful person and friend, and just a smoking hot gaze, lol. This one was shot at Gossip, at 401 E. 3rd in San Mateo. Jerome, part of the social monstrosity that is Jerome, Augustus and Me, came through with the hook ups, via his friend, Mike.

Place was great, huge windows, just begging for the natural light treatment (which is evident in other photos, not this particular one, ahahah.)

Hmmmm, don't have any photographic insight on this one, except to say wow, these minimal concept shoots, with high energy models hitting a million poses, is definitely a change of pace for me. A lot of fun in the actual shooting process..the rapport with the model, the observation of her beauty and attitude, capturing that on film. As opposed to shoots that are more artificial, more set, where your concerned about getting each detail just so....

feelin the burn.

Lack of energy. Frustration.  Impotence.  I know I shouldn't be worrying about what I haven't accomplished, but it's weighing on me lately.   I've had this constant need to recharge my batteries, to change things up, etc. etc.  But for some reason I can't seem to make that leap.

I used to feel the same way when I used to draw constantly....adrift.   

I think I'm going to need to spend more time finding new influences, or exploring old influences.   There's a spark of inspiration in there somewhere.

Austin (not Texas)

so my boy and sometimes boss Donny needed a male model for this campaign, and he naturally gravitated towards Austin. Austin, from over in Sacramento, is a freaking master of disguise. Only worked with him the one time but i think we did three looks. Each one a radically different concept, and each one Austin melted into and embraced like Silly Putty. Having a model that can act, that is willing to trust in whatever silly, minute vision that you have is so gratifying. Thought it'd be worth a quick post to look at a couple images I got from Austin that night .

ugh.

such a great testament to my laziness.

Lookie, here's another photo to distract you.

let's play catch up

so yes, i need to catch up a little bit. From what I can figure, my laptop is fine, it's just the crappy monitor at work that I'm having problems with.

Today's subject is Fuji. These shots were taken a few days ago. The Photo Friends in action!!! A total group shoot. Three photographers, or one photographer and two assistants, three models. Lots of hooka smoke. some drinks. A lot of fun, no doubt.

testing testing

So 've come to realize that either my macbook pro is calibrated pretty damn bright, or that all the other computers around me are pretty damn dark. soooo i'm posting this photo up just to see what happens.

Here we have Jerome and Nikki. Totally unedited and unfinished, this Conan the Barbarian -inspired piece will probably look completely different down the line. Nikki's a rockstar. One of my images of her was on the cover of Tattoo Life magazine. rock.

no brainer

it's nice to just take pictures some time. This latest one ws from a Konscious Klothing catalog shoot I did months ago. Show up, screw around, take lots of pictures. It helps when people are down to have fun:)

it's an ACTION FIGURE!!!!

Lobster Johnson, from the Hellboy comic book/ toy line. This was fun, I really need to ge back to shooting toys and playing around more. Not much to say bout this one, except that I should probably go back and blur out the background more. I do however like the shadows.

Playing catch up

k, didn't shoot today, but did spend a few hours editing some stuff. No particular direction, I just wanted to see what I could do. This particular image, of model Maya Lei, was mostly a product of me not being interested in the environment she was originally in. The perspective's off, the shadow's wonky, and I'm probably gonna swap out that sword. This is still a WIP, fyi.

LAST DAY!!! LAST DAY!!!!

...or first post, actually. I told myself I'd start a daily photoblog eventually, and i figured after the gallery show would be as good a time as any. So keep your eyes peeled:) and feel free to tap my shoulder if i slack.

If you missed it, here's the gallery show images, minus one.

Sooner or later on here I'll go over the images in more detail.

Keep your fingers crossed, let's see if i can keep this goin.