The Daily Grind

I think most people would agree with me when I say working sucks! Yeah there are some people who are all like "oh, I love my job, blah blah blah". Whatever!! You know dang well you'd rather be doing something else, I could probably come up with a list of 20 different things I'd rather do in a heart beat. But the problem is we all have bills, well at least the ones not mooching off of someone else. So we all get jobs, hopefully ones we all can at least tolerate most of the time and get paid decently in the process. I'm actually grateful for my job and where I am in my career, but it's always nice to constantly dream of improving your life and think that where you are now is not where you will be in the future; hopefully you'll be somewhere better.

One of the great things about my job are the fun people I work with. They make my day easier and it's good to joke around once in a while as long as the job gets done. My buddy Dan was so gracious to help me out with this photo. We've worked together at two companies since I graduated college and he's always been a fun guy to have around the office.

PS: Thanks to all my friends that I've made from work who attended my night out last Friday in celebration of my on coming birthday this Wednesday, I had a fun time! The morning after was another story, haha.

For the Love of Music

I've always had an interest in music since I was young. Growing up with older siblings, during the 80's I was exposed to all sorts of music ranging anywhere from Madonna, to Def Leppard, to Depeche Mode. It was all great but once they all moved out and I was able to get my own music I started to discover things for myself. I started out buying singles because I was broke and eventually moved on to buying albums. My brother later introduced me to other ways of getting music, but that's a whole other topic.

In middle school since I was around a lot of hoodlums and hood-rats I listened to artists like The Fugees, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and Cypress Hill. In high school I started listening to more alternative rock music and some of my favorites consisted of 311, Incubus, Green Day and Radiohead. Toward my senior year of high school I started listening to trance as well listening to artists like Dj Tiesto, BT, Dj Micro, and Dj Icey. In college I started listening to harder rock music and listened to a lot of Deftones, Korn, Tool, and System of a Down.

While I certainly have gone through phases, I still enjoy all the various artists I've listened to over the years, some more than others but a lot of them have a special place in my heart because of the times they remind me of. Since college I've had growing interests in indie rock, progressive metal and more recently reggae and dub-step. I don't have a favorite album because there are too many that I like to choose just one, but my all time favorite song will always be "High & Dry" by Radiohead.

This photo was actually going to be part of a more elaborate project, however time, skill, and patience are low and so I'll have to pursue my original intentions at a later time.

Burst of Sunshine

I hadn't seen my niece Ava in a while so I thought it would be a good idea to babysit her for a while. With my parents gone to the Philippines there aren't many relatives on our side of the family that she gets to see. She was very shy at first but she warmed up and we had a lot of fun together. Watching her also put things into new perspective and reminded me of what's really important in life. I'm glad my brother decided to have her and I hope one day to have a kid as well.

Ava is a very playful kid who likes to move around a lot so it is definitely a challenge to catch the perfect moment and credit should be given to anyone that can, my brother especially included. I've been wanting to try shooting into the sun and this was a great moment to try it out and I think it worked great.

Moment of My Time

Alright so here is a total spare of the moment post. It's seriously getting challenging finding new things to post every week. It took me no more than an hour to set up, shoot and process this. Sure I have tons of pictures that are old that I could post but that would be lame. Posting a photo of my watch isn't that far from lame but I've had this watch for 10 years come this December. It was a Christmas gift from my mother and it means a lot to me. Thanks mom, it still works great!

My Playstation 3 made for a nice reflective surface to take the photo on which I've started playing again. It probably is the reason for lack of photography time. Super Street Fighter IV is just so awesome!

Pieces of Art

Here is another artistic piece that I've been working on that has to be the most involved use of Photoshop to date. A total of 124 layers were made to create it and at least 8 hours to get it to the point you see here. There are still some things I'd like to tweak and experiment with, but the process is very time consuming and I think it currently looks good enough to post.

I've learned a lot about Photoshop by working on this and I think the skills developed will be evident it future posts. The learning experience has also motivated me to pursue other advanced techniques and given me a lot of confidence in the techniques I already know. The small photo does not do the work involved justice so I included enlarged views as well.

The original photo was taken at a Capoeira demonstration at the Dragon Boat Festival, Denver, CO.