Abduction finals!

Well I finished this one a while ago, but here are the images! I've been a bit busy buying a new house quitting my job and beginning a career in photography so please excuse the lack of posting!

Abduction Project

So, while I'm still very active over at www.flashrecord.tumblr.com, I've started another project! I always have so many. Anyhow, this one is just a fun photo shoot about being puled up into a space ship old school style. These are some test shots for the official stuff which I'll be doing out in the desert somewhere. I played with some light in my living room to do these:

Stoplight Designs

So here are the final versions of The Stoplight Los Angeles logo that I made for Gabe. The first one is the one I had for final review:

He said he wanted something "from a city". So I tried a stencil font and he enjoyed it. here is the final image:

Tastes are always different from person to person, and I learned a good lesson about designing for someone who isn't me. Either way, I'm pretty happy with the result. There are even some "simple" versions I like. Makes me think that a stencilled whole design might look pretty good on a wall or something:

And one last thing, I did some expirements with putting photos behind the design and I liked a lot of them:

More logo stuff!

So Gabe asked me to make him a logo for his one man event planning venture. (The first show is on Halloween by the way.) He's calling it The Stoplight Los Angeles. I made some sketches and eventually came up with the second one here. The colors are as such because they were the ones in my pen cup. I would also like to hi light the fact that the word "plight" is intentionally sectioned to be its own thing. I feel struggle is important, and I also feel Gabe would agree.

Final version to follow!

Comic update.

So, I'm still working on that comic from a while ago. Here's proof!

www.flashrecord.tumblr.com

That "done" post-it is a bit misleading. That page is done. And even that page has a few minor details to be tewaked. Anyhow, It feels good to be back on this project again.

Holy crap.

XKCD Comic number 1106:

For contex see previous posts.

The News

So, I read the news. And bias really bothers me, so I have to read three different stories to get the full picture sometimes. Most of the time it's not lies or skewed truth. In fact I don't see that very often at all. But what I do see is missing angles.

When there's a story about people vandalising foreclosed homes, it almost invariably focuses on the realtor and the home itself. It is rich in detail as to exactly what happened to the home(s) and focuses on how this activity brings down the value of the home and the other units around it. What you don't see is why this might be happening? Why is a trend of home vandalism even growing? What drives people to do it? These are all very good questions, probably answered somewhere on the net. Just not in the stories I've read about it.

Reflection on Hope

It's easy to say that the youth who voted for Obama are disillusioned. It's infrequent to see an explanation of why we are. I guess the reasons are varied, and perhaps that's why you don't see it spelled out. But I have my own reasons, if anyone cares about them.

I said to everyone who implied it that I wasn't putting Obama on a pedestal. Even in blog posts, deny deny deny. The message I was attached to was "Hope". Quite literally Obama's presidency was literally the only thing that I found that gave me hope for the future. Obama became my hope.

I want to say now that even though I count myself among the disillusioned youth, I believe that Obama has done some real good for America. I believe that he is steering the country in a direction that is good not only for me but for the children I may some day have. The problem is that steering a country isn't like steering a boat. Our boat has thousands of rudders and wheels. Some are larger than others and have more influence, but one man at one wheel does not change the course.

The disappointment stems from the reality that surfaced after the election. Politicians, business leaders, and others in power don't change overnight. The country itself was already running full on into peril.

I guess this is all nonspecific word splatter, but it gives me perspective. The other major theme four years ago was change. And the two themes of hope and change still ring deep in me. Though they're changed somehow.

Instead of a blind hope that one man can do it all, I now have hope that we are changing course.

Fugitive.

So the news follows me sometimes. I don't know that this is interesting to news outlets like that Ben Bridge robbery, but police searched Mercedes-Benz today because they were chasing a fugitive. Here are some photos:

Opening.

So this is just an update on the opening we have scheduled for the 12th of August. I have a pretty sweet panorama of the inside of out art space, but I don't want to post it, because then people might be less inclined to show up. I'm seriously excited about it, so expect a flyer for it very soon.

Gallery Done, Reception Planned

So the room is oficially done, and we are really prout of it. If anyone is interested, we're holding a sort of opening for the gallery on August 12th at Dinosaurs and Roses upstairs in and around Studio #11. I hope to see people there!

The space is active.

I hope you'll check out our new gallery space at Dinosaurs and Roses located at 6029 W. Charleston. This is more of a soft opening as we're not fully operational there yet, but I'd love to hear what some people think. Here are a few photos from the (almost) completed space:

Oh! And I finished the logo, check it out:

Prints are in!

All our prints are in and I'm so excited. I'm going to Dinosaurs and Roses to prepare and organize. Deanna and I will be hanging after she gets off of work. Expect photos of the process. For now here are some of our little prints all sealed up:

Logo Continues, Gallery Coming Along

So here's an update on the logo frontier. The prints for our gallery come in Monday! So expect updates on that front soon.

The dark part is basically what I'll use as the mountains in the final version. The big guy was an attempt at adding a little silhouette to the design. We'll see about that idea.

This is where the room is at right now. We still need to add chair rail and a bit of furniture. Oh and the artwork.

Sierra Photography Logo

Wow, so Wednesday went by and I didn't update. That's not a good start.

However! I have something today. I've been working on a logo design for our revamped pseudobusiness thing "Sierra Photography". What I have I kind of like. I also have a chickenscratch layout of the room we'll be setting up on Saturday. If you know our work well enough you might be able to visualize how this will look.

Art Space in Dinosaurs and Roses

Coming soon is a cooperative display of photography from Deanna and I at a place called Dinosaurs and Roses.

Gabriel helped me take down the nails, staples, fabric, and wood pieces from the inside of the space the other day. Then we covered up the paint. This weekend Deanna and I will be painting and putting work up. So very excited! Here are a few photos of the process so far:

A Return.

(Check back every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for at least something from now on. Lets hope I can hold true to that!)

In the time since I was last frequent here, many things have occurred. Not counting sporadic updates, I was last consistent in the summer of last year. That’s a long time. Especially long if, in that time you get married, go to Jamaica, put offers in on houses, get an offer accepted, start a book, get an iPad, procure art space, sell artwork, and almost adopt a dog.

There’s a lot that happens from year to year, and if you know me in the least, this next part will make sense. Time gets mushy anywhere beyond a month or so back for me. (Facebook’s Timeline was a miracle. Whether Facebook has caused this mushy time is another post entirely.) So the update that follows will be like chasing a thread trough a complex knot:

I was engaged quite some time ago. I don’t know if I told the internet that. There are some really fantastic stories to be told of how I got to marry Deanna. Some of them are on here. But the grand culmination was a wedding. We did rock paper scissors to decided who had to say their vows first, we included a reading from a court case on marriage equality, we had a friend do our vows. Everything I wanted, we had. I only wish we’d had more time. Everyone told me it would be over in a blink. I didn’t believe them. They were right. But. We have photos to remember it. Here are a couple of those. Joey Allen did an amazing job. We got over 1500 photos from him, so there’s a bit of arduousness to it that I wasn’t expecting. I suspect, however, that our assertion that we too are photographers contributed to his offering a substantial bulk of documentation.

After the wedding we went to Jamaica. We were incredibly fortunate to have been able to do that. The experience was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. I feel like I added years to my life for having done it. I recommend it, as it was surprisingly affordable. Here’s a couple photos that were more intentionally created. If you want the point-and-shoot type stuff you can friend me in Social Medialand.

Oh, and I own a gun, a holster, and a belt.

Also:

(Click the links to see the post once I’ve updated.)

I’m writing a book, it’s in process so I’ll update later.

I’m still working on the comic so I’ll update later.

I’m setting up an art space in a gallery so I’ll update later.

I have a super hero collaborative work coming up so expect some words on that.

I’ll end this with the assertion that this will become my more permanent blog. I know I’ve said I was switching like a half dozen times, but it doesn’t work. This blog fits me. Every time I come back to this blog I feel like I’m coming home. So I’ll be here, even if it doesn’t direct traffic to my website.

Renewed Efforts

In an effort to remain active in my photography, I've decided to become more active on this blog again. The one offered by Wix is surprisingly hard to use, so I will be attempting a standard Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting schedule. Let's see how this goes.

Once I get to a full computer expect a life update and maybe even a few images.