joshua tree

a couple weeks ago, i had an assignment to take a picture of a tree. uh....what? and not just any tree, but a tree with feeling. the happiest tree i've ever seen, or the most melancholy, or the most inspiring. I was at a complete loss-- where should i even begin? this was by far the most challenging assignment i've ever had to wrap my little mind around. mostly because i am not a nature photographer. and i don't particularly like landscapes. i rarely think landscape photos are interesting-- at least the landscape photos i take, anyway. so this was a big problem. how do i take an meaningful picture of a tree?

luckily, it dawned on me that this would be the perfect time to visit joshua tree national park, something i've been wanting to do since moving to southern california. if i couldn't take an interesting photo of a tree, gosh darnit at the very least i'd have a photo of an interesting tree. so, i rounded up the troops-- my buddy tas and his gorgeous wife jamie-- and we headed out to the desert.



after all my complaining, i have to admit that i was very pleasantly surprised. joshua tree is an amazing place, full of strange landscapes and a strikingly beautiful desolation. i've never seen anything like it. i want to go back and camp, wake up early for the sunrise, and spend the day among the yuccas. maybe go rock climbing, or do some hiking through the desert forests.





the cactus is making babies!



a cactus baby stuck on jamie's finger.



spring was on its way... pretty wildflowers everywhere and flowering yuccas:




gorgeous:

East LA Mariachis

A couple weeks ago my friend David and I went out to East LA to see what we could find. We stumbled upon this group of very friendly, jovial mariachis. They played a little for us, and though I don't know much Espanol (at all!) they were so nice to me. I wish I knew their names so I could go back and give them copies of these pics!

True Blue Tattoo

I know, I know. I've been slacking. So much for the New Years resolution, right? Well, hopefully this excuse will suffice-- I was bedridden for almost a week with the flu. Now that I'm all better, expect a flurry of photos. The documentary class kicked my butt, but I have tons of new pictures to show for it. Hopefully you like them as much as I do!

Here are a couple of my favorites from a shoot I did at True Blue Tattoo on Hollywood Blvd-- right across the street from Sweeney Todd's. Told you this was a cool little area!

Landon and the folks at True Blue are awesome. Landon is probably the biggest Dodgers fan you'll ever meet-- so much so that if you get a Dodgers tattoo, it's some ridiculous price... $8 I think? And free tats for anyone on the team. If your a huge LA fan, it's kind of hard to beat that deal! Anyway, here are the pictures. Go say hi to Landon and Chris and Vanessa. They're awesome and do really great work!


True Blue Tattoo
4648 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90027
(323) 924-2369

Sweeney Todd's Barbershop, Los Feliz CA

Every night as I drive home from work I pass an unassuming strip of Hollywood Blvd. that is quietly growing into one of the coolest little parts of LA. While these two or three blocks may often be passed over in favor of Los Feliz’s more established hipster heaven, Vermont Ave., around the corner there are a few shops that are worth a stop out of your way.

My favorite of the bunch is Sweeny Todd’s Barbershop. I know, I know. I’m a girl. I don’t need a barber. But my always-dapper partner in crime does, and I’m so jealous he has a place like this to go to get his hair(s) cut. In fact, he wishes his hair grew faster so he could go more than every other week! Sweeney Todd’s is a man’s barbershop. There are no $40 shampoos. There is no whiny hipster music playing on loop from sleek speakers above. No cell phones allowed. Just Todd and Danny in their white barber’s smocks and long scissors, snipping away while vintage tunes play in the background. There’s a rack of old Playboy magazines across from a glass case of curios—almost-rusty keychains, vintage combs, and other nicknacks. The walls are sparse with the exception of black and white headshots of famous leading men of yesteryear and a couple of aged posters advertising the “latest” in hair cut, care and style.

I’ve always wanted to photograph the shop so when I got the assignment to shoot “someone at work,” this was the only place I wanted to go. Todd was nice enough to let me crash the boys’ club for a little while and I had a great time talking to the various clients waiting for their turn in the chair. One gentleman, Mike, had been going to Danny for his haircuts for over 45 years!

If you’re a guy and you want a great haircut, go to Todd’s. Tell him I sent you!

Sweeny Todd’s Barbershop
4639 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

class act

hello, friendly blogland!

just wanted to give a short intro to the next couple posts i'll be adding. on a whim, i decided to take a documentary photography class. i love taking these kinds of classes because they challenge me both technically and creatively, and i feel like you can never, ever do too much learning. plus, i like that i can write everything off as 'education' come tax time! :)

this class is one of the best i've ever taken. our teacher, anthony friedkin is an incredible photographer who's done the kind of work i would love to do someday. honestly, the guy is an artist and journalist rolled into one, very enthusiastic fountain of knowledge. he grew up in california and is a peer of stacy peralta (writer/director of the amazing film dogtown and z boys) and does really stunning ocean photography. as a hawaii girl, seeing those pictures makes me feel like i'm a little closer to home. in addition, he's worked for magnum photos. if i could accomplish just one thing in my lifetime, i would love to work for magnum. not easy to do... but boy, wouldn't that be amazing!

anyway, i'm learning tons and will be posting the results from each assignment here so that they don't get lost in my ever-growing archives, never to see the light of day...

enjoy looking and i hope to hear what you think!

Simone

I'll be the first to say that I've had my fair share of weird roommate situations (including renting a room from a "massage therapist" in San Jose, though that's a whole blog entry unto itself.) However, I've also been lucky enough to meet some really amazing people like Simone Shin. Simone and I both rented a room in this funny little yellow house with a red door in South Pasadena. We bonded over the weirdness of our other roommate, who kept squirreled away in her room during the day and was a smelly food-eating, crazy club-going party animal at night. One of the first times I talked with Simone, we were discussing getting internet for the house. I was tired, so I looked around her room and found a chair to plop down in. And plop I did. See, Simone is an artist. And the chair was not really a chair, but a sculpture of a chair made out of cardboard and fabric. When I sat down, I crushed her sculpture. I felt TERRIBLE. I ruined ART! But Simone was gracious and made a joke and I knew then that I liked her more than any other roommate I'd had in recent history.

Even though I moved out of that house soon after Simone moved in, we've tried to keep in touch as much as our busy schedules will allow. I was so, so thrilled when, out of the blue, she contacted me last week because she'd been nominated for a prestigious illustration award and needed a photo to submit in case she was selected. I was like, OF COURSE! I mean, if anything else, it was a way to work off some of my destroyed-chair-sculpture karma. And, more importantly, it meant we'd finally meet up like we'd talking about for ages. Anyway, long story longer, we did the shoot, she won the award and we finally got to hang out. What more could I ask for?





If you have time, stop by Simone's website and blog. She's amazing!

holga

in the 1980's, the medium format holga toy camera was introduced as a way to bring affordable photography to the masses in mainland china. the camera body is made entirely of plastic, with only a little metal spring to open and close the shutter. over twenty-five years later, this little guy is still going strong with few-- if any-- changes to the original design. people love it for its ease of use and often unpredictable and surrealistic, dreamlike images. i bought my lil holga about three weeks ago because, though i love the instant gratification of digital, i was craving something less perfect and more tactile-- something i adore about film. with digital, you pretty much know what you're getting when you take the photo. with holga, it's a surprise. little light leaks in the plastic camera body create flashes of pink or orange on your film... the focus is guesswork, and even the exposure-- or double exposure-- is almost as much skill as it is plain luck. i'm hoping to get a little better at interpreting the simple-yet-oh-so-complicated settings (of which there are six: sunny or cloudy, and close, sort of close, far, or super-far) but here are a few that i liked from my very first roll:








probably the thing i love most about my holga is how light-weight it is (it's made of cheapy plastic, after all!) and i've been carrying it with me everywhere. i always feel a little off when i don't have a camera on me at all times, like the moment i don't have my camera, there'll be the shot of a lifetime-- and now i can feel secure that i won't miss a great picture without breaking my back. i still have lots to learn about holga's little quirks and i'll be sure to post my latest attempts here, for all to see! :)