APhotoContributor

It's been a crazy week...

So after a lot of speculation and online forum nonsense, the Leica M9 was announced last Wednesday. It could not have arrived at a better time and ever since that day I've been putting it through the paces all over New York, L.A. and Miami. 

As I am not a gear reviewer, I'll just tell you that the latest incarnation of the legendary M line will not disappoint and will be a great addition to those of us still burning film through the fantastic MP or those holding out for a digital FF M... 

Of course, the expert wall testers and technical fanatics clamoring for live view, AF and other SLR-type features that should never make it into the basic yet perfect M design will continue clogging the various online forums providing their insight into how a company like Leica should be run. :-)     

 

Not much to do on a 5 hour flight but to sleep and make whatever images I can see... 

-riccis

ah ... yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

ya' know ... this isn't the entry i ever really wanted to write.  back in september of last year ... my friend's plane didn't make it off the runway.

sadly, he didn't make it off that runway either.  i mean he lived.  four others didn't. 

from that point last september ... to this august ... i know things were very different for him.  i remember the first time i saw him after the crash last year, "so good to see you my brother."

"no, it's really good to see you.  i mean ... it's really good to see you."

and now.  well now sucks to be quite honest.  i'll never look down at my phone and see his name again. 

i'll never go to some fancy party and see my friend on the decks.  i'll never look at the decks at a few clubs the same.  haven't seen the dj booth at the place we spent so much time together.  i've been kind of dreading seeing that booth to be quite honest.

although i was listening to some daft punk, perhaps if you don't know adam's work ... please go here and download one of the sets he was most proud.  i would have never shared that in the past but now ... well ... now ... i hope ... whatever. i hope you enjoy it.  i know i have.

i could always tell him i was going on a long-haul trip or a roadtrip and he'd send me a link to some new set.

still don't believe he's gone.  most ... don't believe it either.

guess i don't want to believe such a kind-hearted sweet person ... had to go through everything he had to go through ...

at his memorial ... some of the people who talked ... talked about how he ... when introducing you to a new person ... would immediately tell the other person something totally embarrassing about you.  i remember that vividly when he formally introduced me to travis. 

i was like ... um ... okay.  cool.  happy they all know that about me now.

thanks, bro.

no, i'm not gonna say what that is/was.

as embarrassing as it was ... i still smile when i think about it. 

that and thinking that the little short black dude wasn't the guy from gnarls barkley but mr. janet jackson.  watching homeboy shoot a sumicron in almost no light with the m8 was ... well ... funny to me.

since that friday ... at the end of august ... sitting with j and my friend flipo in hollywood having lunch ... and getting the barrage of texts ...

a day hasn't gone by without ... well ... suffice it to say ... just a heavy feeling of sadness.

i don't think ... in my adult life ... the real adult life ... as my prior life ... doesn't seem real ... someone i've known this well has passed.

how about some photos?

this night we were both bored.  i was making it look like i was working; he was making a mix for the drive home.  ringtones were louder than the music as the police almost shut down the party for lack of a permit.  he liked this photo.

i can't tell you how many hours i spent in that booth after i was "done with work."  that booth will always seem a bit empty to me now.

no idea where this was.  i could look at the iptc but ... whatever.

i don't think i've seen steve as somber i saw him at the memorial.

and when i think about the memorial i think about ... people papping the attendees.  i know it's closer when it's personal but i was still surprised by which "services" had staffers there.

apropos.

adam loved photography.  and his cat, mugsy.

among a lot of other things.

like doing what he does.  he said "my mom always said 'find out what you love to do and would do it for free then find someone to pay you."

i couldn't fucking agree more.

there really isn't anything like watching a dj of his caliber whip a crowd into a frenzy.

perhaps there was some vodka/patron shots involved.  won't confirm nor deny.

not sure if was just "dragging the shutter" here.

funny motherfucker. for sure.

and so good at that.

so fucking good.  honestly, a lot ended with adam.

he sent that to me last summer. no idea who shot it. dunno if it matters now.

he loved performing with travis.  i saw countless performances and it never got old for me.

and i wish i could say what happened right before this but ... i won't.

i will say it was fun to give him shit about putting wilson phillips into mixes.

and that he'd text me and say ... listen.

right.

now.

and it was either a certain genre he associated with me.

or wilson-fucking-phillips.

or sometimes metallica.

adam spans several gigabytes over the local and remote 9tb.

how he had no idea i snuck up on him and texted him "your shirt looks fucking fem" ... and ... papped his ass ... dunno.

i know he liked this photo.

that's the first flight out on a saturday morning back to lax.  06:00.

he taught me why one should always get in as late as possible ... work ... don't sleep ... do whatever ... and get on the earliest flight home.

and sleep.

that routine is not for the faint-hearted.  i'd be on the freeway and feel ... dunno ... almost like i was starved for food but different. 

Live at Elton John's Party - Disc 3

love that part of the set.  just fyi.

as bummed i am the world was robbed of such a talented and kind person ... i get to sit here in my little studio and blast his mixes.  i have tens of hours of his mixes.  for me ... he created the urge to air-scratch.

i miss you so much, homey.

i miss shooting film, too, actually.

not like i miss my friend, though.

there were so many more things we were talking about ... doing.

another reason to just fucking do things now.

besides his friendship ... he gave me another gift ... a gift of pause.

pause to my life.

what that lead to is personal but ... suffice to say ...

well ... that's personal, too.

the set that night was so fucking sick.

so well-timed with his drumming partner.

and then i look at this next set ... and i just remember ... seeing that poor guy sitting by himself up in the corner of the seats above the backstage area at the avalon.  i honestly don't wish what i know he was feeling at that moment on anyone. 

even forum-posting old men with less photographic talent than my dog.

©2009 Murphy

i told you.  amazing on so many levels.

the welcome home dj a.m. evening last year was so amazing ... and i guarantee everyone in the following photos ... is still in disbelief we all had to say goodbye ...

if you ever get the chance to see mix master mike spin, do it.

seriously, one of the most amazing nights of music i've ever experienced.

and as much as it "should have been" something different that happened this past augus ... i'm a much better person having gotten to know adam.  i'm beyond sad.

and what's odd is that i know that if he knew how his loss has affected everyone else ... it would have just killed him.

that's how i remember my friend.  i also remember we were both "there for the paycheck" but ... we still got to hang.

fuck i miss you, homey.  i'm so sorry you had to experience what you experienced.  i can't imagine how dark that spot was. 

you were amazing.  on so many fucking levels.  i hope whatever that noise was isn't there any longer.

but i still want that 20% of my hearing back you took.

actually, no i don't.

it was worth the loss getting to know one of the best people on this planet.

perhaps b's learning sign language is foreshadowing.

perhaps.

-chris

p.s., thanks, niko ... the slideshow and video were amazing.  so were your words.

p.p.s., if you are the author of that crowd-surfing video, let me know and i'll credit you.

experimental firmware.

feel kinda bad i couldn't tell some of my friends the complete truth about a certain camera that i was shooting the last couple of months ... but ...i signed an nda so ... i had to wait until the rest of the world was told about it.

i'm gonna do a full report on the leica m9 in due time.  i made a lot of photos with that camera and couldn't really do anything with them except share them with people who i was able to share them with.  sounds cryptic but ... well ... ya' know.

i just noticed that moving a 600mb+ file, streaming another video to check it and ftp'ing really f*ck with one's connection.

let me tell you how funny it's been watching all of the "leica rumors" flying around over the past few months.  certain of us were laughing ... wholeheartedly.  a canon sensor.  a full-frame could not fit in an m8 body.  puhlease. ;)

oh, shit i just pissed off the "forum boys."

not that i care.

just so you know ... the photos from the last blog ... at the end ... were all m9 ...at the time the m9 had a codename.  very stealthy.  i just had to strip the exif info. ;)  sneaky.  i know.

honestly, without giving away from the m9 mega-post i'll do soon ... this camera ... is beyond exciting.  i mean ... unless you're my lab.  :(  poor lab.  sorry, guys. 

um ... what else ... well ...

besides doing whatever it is that i did in that project ... with the help of some friends ... i made a little video:

Street Photography: Documenting the Human Condition - Part One of Three from Chris Weeks on Vimeo

Street Photography: Documenting the Human Condition - Part Two of Three from Chris Weeks on Vimeo.

Street Photography: Documenting the Human Condition - Part Three of Three from Chris Weeks on Vimeo.

had to break it up into three parts.  tell ya' what ... video ... as pretty as it is ... is a bitch.

had fun, though, shooting with this ...

i couldn't have done the video alone.  well.  i could have ... i guess.  but i didn't.  although i've already thanked my friends in the video at the end ... couldn't have done this without mario, laith, patrick, hossein, frank, the incomparable sev, richard, j ... 

that was human part ... the equipment part ... i have to thank cinevate and smallhd.  you guys rock. i guess cavision, too.  seriously, the rest of the "players" in that market are so over-hyped it's not even funny.  flashy videos don't really mean shit; how shit works means everything.

another thing i just laughed out loud .. i don't like LOL ... was this cough-cough-cough-image-gallery.  jesus-h-christ.  um, really?

i have no idea what h stands for, though.  holy?  i tried to look at every photo but got too damn bored.

do you have any idea how happy i am that the docu-project is done?

um ... i'm very happy.

that was way more work ... than i ever thought.  the project with transcoded video and original video files ... is 400mb+.  i need a render farm.  like 2 8-core mac pros!  doing this project on the most recent mbp was ... not as daunting as i thought ... but ... wouldn't want to do a 120 minute feature.  this was only 42 mins ... and ... well ... rendering ... you just basically set it up and walk away.

or go to sleep.

i wanted to do my dj am tribute blog ... but ... every time i look at his photos i get ...

well ...

um ...

sad is one word but it doesn't even come close to how those events made me feel. 

miss you, homie.

he would have loved the m9.

how about some photos?

that's the napoli-biyatch taking a break from "taking complete creative license" during some shooting.  when we do the "out takes" and "making of" you'll see and hear me call him "taliban."  i know.  not politically friendly.  i thought it was funny.

and that's all that counts. ;)

was walking 'round with sev in vegas when i made this.  i think the exif has a different name for my new full-frame-friend. ;)

i just don't get the fascination with mj.  i mean i know his music but ... seeing hollywood turn into a giant mj shrine was a bit much.

i love the looks on all of the people's faces. 

pretty little chi-chi.  the dog show we went to before ... we were with sev.  i think he should have gone to this one as well ... alas he was back in vienna.  think he would have enjoyed shooting some more with the 1.4/24.

um ... i just saw that wank posted an m9 review.  wtf?  i guarantee he's never had it in his hands. ya' know he's like a forum-f*cking-troll that posts opinions never having used anything he's posting about.  such a wank.  when i saw that it immediately made me think "wtf was canon thinking when the gave the 5dm2 to the luminous landscape guy?"  he's sure to be an ace-dp. ace.

the internet is wonderful.

when i was out shooting with frank ... i was doing video with the 5dm2 wondercamera ... we saw many pretty things ... i mean ... photos ...

i love that the colours are so different than the canons.  grazie a dio.

i haven't used the b/w mode much as ... i kinda think that shooting colour files is the way to go and process them in either aperture or ps for b/w later.  

frank tells me he's seen homeboy before.

i like that frame.

that one, too.

went to the beach as well.  don't "go to the westside" but this summer was a bit hot.

cannot believe how long they've had this memorial up.  and the crosses and stars of david ... just keep growing and growing...

even clown guys get off work.

used the m9 on a red carpet as well.

this guy works a lot. 

took a walk with my friend flipo around hollywood. 

nhat, too.

'

homeboy got himself a leica, too.

:)

mj's death has spawned a cottage industry of people selling unlicensed stuff. 

we saw some nice lounge singing at an open mike night.  this was not planned.  just happened.

so did the heartburn.

so did the.

i'll leave that at that.

with the nocti this time.  it's homage to my friend frank. his work is amazing. 

our little friend quincy -- who's on his way to london to be with his moviemaking parents -- enjoyed posing as well.

not really, actually.

love love love the old 2.0/35 gandy got me a while back.  think it's ver. 3.  yes, ver. 3.

okay ... it's shower/leaving time.

hope you guys enjoyed the ride.

i know i enjoyed it.

more to come about the m9. :)

cheers from a mildly temperate los angeles!

-chris

swine cold.

dunno what it is really, though.  if i did ever get the swine flu, i'd get so much shit from certain people.

whatever.

as much as the mucous-laden sleep was fun i really think this cough is rad.  love-love-love it. 

seems as though -- after looking at lotsa scans and other photos in aperture -- that i walked around a lot in the last few weeks.

even though the clown was "cool" clowns are still as creepy as someone selling ice cream close to an elementary school who looks like someone you could swear was on megan's list.  fact.

olvera street is such a trip.  i honestly wonder how much of the curios are actually made in mexico.

mp/nocti/apx 25.

was down there doing a job for a publicist.  it had to do with bullfighting.  swear.

j loves papping marionettes with the toy camera app.  actually, i love it, too.

not papping marionettes, though.

just the app.

homeboy was really into his harp.  i'd never seen a harp down there, though.  mariachis? hells-yeah but harps?  not so much.

not sure which frame i like more, though.

whatever.  it's my column i can do whatever the fuck i want. ;)

oh, yeah, congrats to my little friend cha-cha on becoming a street gd at dA.  have fun with the notes concerning amazing wolves with human faces playing some odd game. ;)

more of the creepy clown but now he has friends.  wish everyone could see these photos big-big-big but this is the internet so ... no.  and no ... you fake-vignetters on flickr ... that vignetting is the natural vignetting one gets with fast glass during the day.

fast means one-four, not two-eight.

unless you're a frustrated nat-geo motherfucker.

more on that later. ;)

this dude stands out there every saturday.  not sure how a mouse head, which may be a purloined chuck e. cheese rat head, has anything to do with a flea market.

but j found some stuff to look at.  pretty sure she bought the one on the left. :)

i just thought this one was funny.  shot through the window of a second-hand furniture place.

my friend laith came back to los angeles as well!  :)

off topic:  i really don't understand why 60,000 would wait to see the fucking lakers with another 80,000+ waiting for them at the coliseum.  think the lakers really care?

i don't.

quiet contemplation yet i don't think he was waiting for a bus if memory serves.

i think this may be my favourite frame.

a nice afternoon kiss.

not quite a kiss.  i like the fact the spotlight is perfectly focused on the rearview mirror and lighting the fuck out of homeboy's face.

our neighborhood is very interesting.  not sure what she was going through but she didn't see me.  then again, my camera is pretty damn quiet.

love shooting at night with fast glass and film.

this little guy was rescued by a couple in west hollywood.  he was found roaming the streets of las vegas.  poor little thing.  this is not a breed that likes to be without their guardians.  happy he's happy now.  he doesn't like other dogs much, which is not very breed standard.  i think he should get to know other cav's.  they have a very specific energy which is cav-centric.

yes, i like cav's.

not the team.

i don't like basketball.

it's a fucking waste of time.

almost like suburban golf.

no, she didn't make the putt.

that's mario with his "personal camera," an fm2 with the zeiss 50/1.4 zf.  yes, it used to be mine but when he borrowed it he didn't want to give it back.  fine by me.  i like to see a nice camera in capable hands. :)

he won the stoicism award for the day.  for sure.

not sure why they were pointing. happy little guy.

elevators are fun.

so is a suburban sandwich place.

whist watching faux-news aka fox news. ;)

seen a lot of that action lately.

scratcher madness.

and i think the juxtaposition of these frames is odd...

scratcher. cash.  hmm.

she's got an amazing taco stand, though.

corners are pretty amazing places.  i think.

fuji neopan.  dunno.  i kinda think i like delta 400 more.

i like this frame as well but i'm unsure why i like it. 

now that i think about it -- and having been reminded, of course -- there's a bunch of b/w stuff i shot up in portland.  hmm...

there are already 50+ selects for this entry, perhaps they will have their own.  perhaps.

although i almost took the m8.2 and the 24/1.4 summilux to mexico, i opted not to.  probably could have but i didn't.  in fact, i didn't even take my beloved mp down there, i opted for the m6 ttl.  i still took the 24 summilux, though. ;)

ex-pats enjoying the Caribbean!

coconut harvest so gringo guests don't get concussions.

i still think he should have shimmied up the tree without the aid of a ladder.

 

they still fish with nets.  who knew.

tulum was really pretty.  besides the bugs ... had a great time.

he wasn't very happy.  the lighting was a surefire flashlight. ;)

i shot almost an entire wedding with the 45/2.8 TS lens.  i loved hearing "i can do the same thing in light room."

ok.

this said by someone who was shooting a 70-200/2.8 on a tripod in the dark ... in a wedding reception.

even though i wasn't the official photographer i was tired of seeing "the official guy" miss moment after important moment ... so ... i stepped up. ;)

i asked "wanna use a faster lens?"

"what's a stop gonna do for me?"

"two stops, bro.  2.8.  2.0.  1.4.  two stops."

i move my monitor over to him and say "it could probably do this for you."

he didn't talk to me again.

not that i cared.

future brides:  do not hire a stock photographer or nat geo guy to shoot your wedding.  fact.

;)

there's a huge difference between "waiting around" for a lion to come into frame and anticipating when moments happen.

you're much better served hiring a photojournalist.

a real one.

landscape guys shoot wedding like this. ;)

i think flickr's deal with getty and the micro stock sites have really cut into traditional stock shooter's work. 

not that wank could even get repped by "dollar-per-usage" agencies.

enough spitting of venom.

although i've been to roman ruins, never seen any -- besides some chumash ones -- on my own continent.  actually, they were pretty damn impressive.

i know he wishes he was big enough to eat "those little humans."  what a view to sun yourself by, though, right?  lucky lizard.

they made killer pepitas or tortas.  dunno the difference.  i know i like them though,  they're like mexican philly cheese steaks.

sleepy town of tulum.  mexico lost to el salvador that night and i saw no form of rioting.

stupid l.a. basketball fans.

was amazed how much i was actually able to shoot unnoticed with the big 5dm2.

converted in aperture to monochrome.

didn't convert this one. 

or this one.

j liked "the colours."  she was right.

she also wants to be the next "croc hunter" of sorts.

when she's not having a woman-monkey experience, of course...

i love the zeiss-for-canon glass ... absolutely kicks the shit out of mostly-dogshit canon glass. ;)

seriously, if you haven't been to tulum -- you can skip cancun -- you have to see it.  the food is great and not expensive.  there's tons of tequila and beer.  the people are amazing.

you appreciate it when you get back to the "capital of douchebags" which is los angeles.  actually, it's only the capital when the calabasas and orange county residents come here on the weekends to shop. ;)

you can always tell:  who the fuck drives hummers?

m8.2 with 24/1.4 summilux.  i like that expensive piece of glass.  and ... it's perfect -- for me, at least -- for someone who likes to shoot with 35mm lenses due to the 1.3 crop factor.

like that frame.

but not as much as this one. ;)

welcome to silver lake.

last time i was using the m8 (not the m8.2) was with a 28/2.0 summicron and it just didn't have the field of view i liked from my uncropped mp with the 35/1.4 summilux.

we're dog-sitting for a friend. 

he doesn't mind except for his free-feeding schedule is off.

poor spaniel.

you can tell he's very upset.  75/2.0 summicron. 

making human condition photos digitally is such a different feeling.  honestly, though, i'm kind of liking it.

happy that the 24 is so damn fast! 

i could have shot this with a tripod and the 70-200/2.8, though, right?

i mean if wank said that's how he shot a wedding i'm sure there'd be a bevy of wannabe-wanks doing the same thing. ;)

we didn't wait around for "his set" as we were done eating.  we've actually had to sit through his set before and ... well ... my ears hurt.

not the same kind of hurt that dj a.m. puts my ears through.  just wanna be clear.

mexican elvis never makes my ears hurt but the restaurant where he plays has played a part in making my stomach hurt like a motherfucker.

okay ... gotta get some lunch.  then i gotta shoot.  shoot tomorrow as well.  and ... doing some b-roll for the follow-up to the street thing i did back in the day.

hope you're all well.

cheers from the now-sunny and typical l.a., l.a.!

-chris

computers are stupid.

i mean unless they're made by apple, of course.  or unless they're programmed by the numbnuts engineers at acquine.  i was happy to get an email reminding me of how bad these dumb motherf****** are.  last week i'm sure j was tired of hearing me sigh heavily and curse at these people.  they say they have a program which grades aesthetical quality of photos.  so f****** stupid.  i put in slew of photos by hcb.  he averaged like 23 or some shit.  i then put in some nice erwitts.  he didn't fare much better.  i put in some steven maisels.  yeah, 'bout the same.

the only people this comes close to impressing are the landscape-dreamers who jerk off on their hoardes of equipment when they think of "their mind's eye" shooting landscapes in denali.  they also probably read wank and the onlinephotowannabe.

thanks for reminding me karsten.  your letter to the head douchebag was ace.

what else?  besides canon ...

i'll backtrack.  i don't use canon service; they're too slow; i have plenty of backup gear.  my guy says "what the fuck is that oily shit on the sensors of your mark 3's?"

"fuck if i know."

it's not like i shoot on porno sets.

not that if you did you'd get fucking oily residue anywhere but your face, right?

anyway ... canon comes out and says their mirror tend to squirt oil.

great job guys!

you fucked up auto-focusing with the mark 3's ...

and a lot of people switched to nikon!

well-played.

they actually did do something i knew was coming ... we can now control aspects that are kind of important for shooting video!!!!  very happy about that. i was gonna buy the fd adapter so i could force aperture.  now ... i don't have to.

when's the 24p firmware option coming?  i know at least one person who claims to have been granted a camera that can do it.  dunno.

had a very nice coffee with my friends justin and frank the other afternoon.  we sat and papped normal people on the street.  guess that could also be called street photography. ;)

looking forward to laith coming to l.a. for a nice extended period of time.

we can work on our "visual summer project." 

won't say what that will be.  i will say that canon has made it much easier to shoot with the upcoming firmware! :)

get to hang with sev this july, too.

still can't believe those jackasses thought a computer could judge aesthetics.  i'll bet the only high marks are for those "test photos" done by the jackass who thinks he can shoot but doesn't show many of his own photos.  yeah, mr. online, you know who you are. ;)

i just love the fucking people on the web who think their opinions are the holy-fucking-grail when if they really knew their shit they'd be repped, syndicated or getting assignments.  don't think online-guy could say that nor the wank, even though he claims to spend a lot of time in "his studio."

no doubt shooting poor kids and puppies with f/22 light.  of course.

i mean ... who wouldn't, right?

also ... kinda liking fuji neopan 400.  not bad at all.  scans up nice, too.  i mean ... that's a good thing because i actually print like less than 1% of what i shoot on film. 

guess a roll got shot halfway-through and then shelved and then shot again.  the look on that girl's face is fucking priceless. 

the two dudes in the center said "did you take a picture of me?"

"ché? io?  ché cosa scemo?"

yeah ... i yell back at people in italian.

i was shooting the kid in the backpack.

whilst ... i went out for a stroll with spyed...

he's on some world tour.  looks like it's going well.  good for him.

if you could see it on the big apple cinema screen, you could see a photographer looking at her phone across the street on the red carpet.  that was her looking at my text. ;)

taxi-fucking-drivers and tourists freak me out.

lonely hollywood boulevard at magic hour ...

unless you're a grip and you call it "tragic hour." ;)

one of my favourite quotes by one of my favourite people.

wider-than-usual, eh?  yep.  it's that new rangefinder-coupled voigtlander 15/4.5.  usually gandy lets me keep shit for a month or so.  the last lenses shade met a wall and i think he got pissed off. ;)

sorry, man.

working photographers bang their shit.

masturbating-web-writers think about working as a photographer and then reality hits them in the face because they have as much talent as the bag i pick up my dog's shit with.  fucking prepositions.  hate ending with them but ... whatever.

at least i put a link to gandy's site even though he doesn't have an affiliate program ... unlike other people.  inside joke there.

all kidding aside .. that lens is very nice.  really nice.

leaned in, too.

with a whisper-quiet m -- unlike you dslr-street-guys -- you don't need a long lens to really shoot. ;)

that and homeboy was deaf.

or some shit.

my subie mechanic hard at fucking work. ;)

my car needed a motul change.

i don't say oil.

motul kicks ass.

that motherfucker is cagey.  i've tried to get a shot of this guy and his fruit stand for years.

finally.

i'd rather no one knew i was making a photo.

unlike those who shoot dslrs and call themselves street guys. ;)

i love getting the defensive emails when i write shit like that.  it makes me laugh.

almost as much as the ones i get from the people who say "so what if you're repped."

if you have to ask, you just don't know. ;)

go sell to shutterstock.com; i'm sure you'll make a fuckload of €'s.

then again, i think i've seen better than what you do on shutterstock. ;)

dunno why but i really like photos of people selecting food.

not as much as bald heads on planes but ... well ... ya' know.

i really feel for blind people, too.  yes, i actually feel.  swear.

could you imagine what it must be like to have to relearn so many things should you become blind later in life?  damn.

chi-chi's eye popped out this past weekend.

no, we don't have a pirate-patch-wearing-chihuahua; she's fine.

fucking horror show.

that background tripped me out.

fucking, eh i have a lot of photos in airports goddamnit.

and of vegas for that matter.  such a trip that place.  if you haven't been, you have to see it one time in your life.

where the boobs are large ...

and ed hardy shirts reign.

speaking of ed hardy and douchebags.  he used to be a model believe it or not. ;)

sorry, brother, couldn't resist. ;)

homeboy was deep-in-thought.

i think he had yellow-fever and was thinking about the 20-something hostess.

people can't get enough of these fuckers.

i have a secret machine.  it's like an atm.  truth.

i hope the pilot isn't texting "fuck, i'm so fucking depressed today."

that would suck.

j was meditating.

;)

i think the hanging clothes were hungry.

we took a walk down one of the douche-y-est streets in one of the douche-y-est parts of l.a., which is the westside but doesn't include venice. ;)

body language is everything.

an unfinished tower at caesars.  i hear they skinned it so it looks completed even though they won't be completing it any time soon.

funny that people don't want to throw money away on $500 tables and buy $1000 bottles of vodka you can buy at bevmo for $20. 

funny how the economy works.

i think she thought there was food at the top of the stairs.

for sure.

she's so beautiful.  and ... she's like bff with m ...




both such attentive sitters. ;)

i mean it's not like there was a treat hanging out on the lens shade of the zeiss 85/1.4.  canon glass is such dogshit compared to the zeiss glass.  wish i didn't have to ever use one of their shitty zooms again.  ;)

how about one more photo of a sweet spaniel? 



wanna see the setup?  okay ... two, then...

some nice super soft bead board on a pair of lips.  had some nice roscoe 216 on the windows with a nice china silk 24x48 scrim.

fuck that strobist bullshit.  go buy some good grip gear and learn about "wrapping light" instead of jerking off on your little specular fucking flash gear. ;)

but i'm sure some nice alien bees look just as cool. ;)

i love dogs.

then again, most of you know that.

i just thought that shoe looked so small as compared to the sidewalk.

and ... there really is more gum on sidewalks than i would have ever thought.  never really looked. ;)

pissed off wank one more time:  check.
pissed off the onlinewannabe:  check.
made fun of that stupid-ass-aesthetic checker:  check.
pissed off the strobists: check.
pissed off those who aren't repped:  check.

yeah, my job is done here.

hope you're all very well.

cheers from the too-good-to-be-true-weather l.a.!

p.s., i kinda miss snarky tags.

i heart pork.

i do.  whether they're little pets or bacon or prosciutto or pancetta.  i'm so friggin' tired of hearing about swine flu.  like the last post that kinda went under the radar.  would have posted that video on my fb but i didn't want to get banned by fb.  honestly, i think it's odd the timing of the g8 and then the "outbreak."  i think someone's trying to send the mexican govt a message.  i think it sucks.  i feel bad for my friends in mexico city.

mexico should be able to fucking sue the mainstream media (MSM) outlets for their INFO-DEMIC.

was trying to think -- besides the bullshit-swine-fucking-flu -- what i wanted to rant about.  dunno.  guess nothing.

how about a cute gf and a friendly spaniel?

she's kinda smiling.

you'd think she'd be used to being in front of myriad cameras, right?

spaniel is.  for damn sure.

easter bunnies have always freaked me out.  this one ... is no different.  the things americans spend money on freak me out.

i wonder what it must be like for chinese slaves workers ... seeing crazy surfing santas, dog salt and pepper shakers or big black jelly dongs with a mr. t head.  odd.

that ebunny photo on a 30" monitor is pretty cool.

the 12 square foot or 11,148 sq. centimeter print i just did of a giant chihuahua head was pretty cool, too.  the lab did an amazing job.  best lab in the world.  i mean that.

"right-to-lifers" who are also by-and-large also supporters of republicans and wars ... i suspect are only pro-birth because they routinely support people who support warmongering and ... sending people to death row. 

there's nothing pro-life about that shit.

fucking hypo-fucking-crites.  they disgust me.

spaniels don't though.  ;)

nor do puppies...

i love that photo.  dunno why.  the out-of-focus mom makes me smile. 

malls don't make me smile, though.  the indoor-only ones really don't make me smile.

don't think they make homeboy smile either.

look at the connection between mom and spaniel.  it's palpable.  even ... when you're supposed to be blowing out candles. ;)

love making photos of our spaniel.  the chihuahua, too, but the spaniel is just "a natural." ;)

trying out some of that fuji 400 b/w neopan-shit.

don't mind it.

this was the 120 variety shot with the contax 645.  seriously, the best medium format camera ever.  when i think medium i think big.  i know people like that mamiya rangefinder camera but ... i prefer zeiss glass.

spaniels really are the best.  especially ... the cavailier king charles variety. :)

not that i'm biased what-so-fucking-ever. ;)

this is our frieng g.  not our neighbor g but our vege-oil-mercedes-mechanic.  he's austrian royalty.  and ... the best mechanic on the planet.

not that you can tell by his office.

and before j says something about my fucking office:  no, you can't tell the quality of someone by looking at their office. ;)

looking forward to hanging out with some other "austrian royalty" in july ... in vegas ... and ... if we're lucky ... l.a. as well! 

seen a lot of "dog photos," besides those with m ... as of late ...

followed by ...

kinda looks like he's doing the goosestep, right?

kind of like the "hail mary" of photography.  then again, i know my framelines pretty well by now.

there are so many dogs in l.a.

hipsters, too.

dogs smell better.

wonder what happened to the dog whose collar this was. 

don't actually like thinking about that.

i wish all dogs had a great home.

i mean ... they all deserve a good and loving home.

m had a "spa day" which means we were too lazy to bathe his hairy ass.

seen lotsa waiting lately, too...

i love the fact they almost never see the leica m making the sneeky photograph.  seriously, you think you can do that with a d-slr?  hmm...

this is some "sneaky waiting" on the part of e waiting for our friend d to give her a piece of the yummy pizza.

this place is amazing for both food and photos.  i took my little french friend here for lunch when she visited last summer.  :)  congrats, love, on your recent success in the photoworld. :)

so happy for her.

homeboy is almost always on this corner.

always reading.

i think he's an undercover cop, actually.

that's my friend frank.  we hung out a couple weeks ago at the brewery during their art walk.

frank's a leica shooter.

:)

and hasselblad but i don't have to talk about hasselblad. ;)

the doll was part of some artist's "dead baby" exhibit.  fucking creepy as hell but the baby nailed to the upside down cross would have been mine if it weren't for the us$5K price. ;)

even when i'm pumping diesel in the bio-benz ... i have my camera.  then again, i won't leave it on the front seat ever ...

there's almost always someone sitting there in some kind of drug-addled gaze.

the same kind of gaze garnered by readers of wank or that online photo buffoon. ;)

been in a few airports, too.

then again, i'm always either going or having come back from ... airports.

always nice moments in airports.

between the moments when most travelers are so fucking nervous they leave their brains at home.

i can be "this close" and they still never see me.

and, no, i don't do all that many hip-shots.

not too many.

gotta go explore the fabric district more often.  i think there are a lot more photos there.

we have a lot of palm trees here.

i don't think they're indigenous, tho.

is anything really indigenous here?

i mean ... nothing is really from here ... save some coyotes and snakes.

by snakes i don't mean caa, icm, endeavor...

 

not indigenous.  definitely not.

the vignetting is normal on a nocti.  this isn't some bullshit-vignette photoshop philter.

even though i've talked shit about dA i don't hate the place.  and ... i definitely don't hate on the cee-e-oh, angelo.  we're still friends.  we still hang out periodically.  the other day we went out so that i could give him some pointers in the "human condition" photography arena.  i won't say street.  street is a puerile name for a genre the donkeys don't quite get.  they only get it when you describe it as "human condition."

yes, in a couple different contexts i care what those people think.

there's something that creeps me out about that frame.

fucking hollywood and highland ... there are more tourist than ... well ... not more than disneyland (#1) or venice beach (#2) ... it's ... i dunno.

they're everywhere.  and ... i wanna know what they think they're going to see.  "talent" does not go there unless they're contractually required to go to.

these quebequois were video'ing ... the sidewalk.

i could tell they were from quebec by the way they said oui.

ask j. 

it's uncanny what i can detect by accent.

and scent. ;)

there's even an obama imposter ... to go along with spidey ... jack ... um ... spongebob ...

wonder if obama "hits the pipe" like his counterparts do?

hmm.

dunno.

i made the above photo ... and angelo made this one.  :)

was a fun couple of hours.  he tells me there are going to be a lot of good things happening with/on dA.

i'll finish with my favourite dog/human/condition photograph ... not favourite-favourite but favourite-for-now ...

not quite sure why she's running.

was funny as shit.

happy someone else was driving!

so ... yeah ... that's my past couple weeks.  got lotsa traveling coming up.  lotsa shooting.  ya' know.

good stuff.

i know people ask why i make fun of friggin' wank and that onlinephotowank ... well ... this is the thing.  because i can.  i make a living making photos.  neither of them make any money making photos.  when one does that in the context of how i make photos -- and how many of my friends make photos -- i think your opinion is a bit more "real world" than some old white guy sitting in front of a computer SURMISING what it's like to "make photos in the real world."  the honorable genre of test photos notwithstanding, of course.  ;)

i could just post photos and not really have a commentary ... but ... it's my entitled right ... to say anything i fucking want to.  just so you know.

hope everyone is making nice photos and enjoying nice weather!

cheers from the "is-there-anywhere-better-than-here-weather" la.

-chris

2 weeks.

so we went from like close to a hundred Fahrenheit to the mid-sixties in the course of a couple days.  it was hot in the valleys, in the basin and at the beach.  april?  odd.  and thank God i turned down every request for coachella.

um, paul-fucking-mccartney?  leonard-fucking-cohen?  i mean i know the over-forty-set has more money than hipsters but ... yeah ... great line-up.  no, i don't need to see the killers, who i think are just bad interpol rip-offs.  guess the cure would have been alright but ... i think i've seen them before.

every time i've gone to that hell-hole in the desert i've returned sick.  well ... i didn't go this year but ... got a cold or allergies or something. 

coachella ... went to a site i know which usually has good music festival coverage but there was so much fucking pap-work i skipped it.  okay ... actually found the hidden thumbnails in between fucking octo-mom and miley sightings but ... mario's coverage was way-way-way better.  funny to me that one dude can kick the collective-coverage's ass ... of like four people. ;)

not funny, actually, it's just sad.  and really not that amazing, really.

and coachella somehow still managed to give me a cold or something.  dirty bitch.

what else.  not sure if an-almost-sixteen-hour-day was also a cause for getting a cold.  perhaps.  wish i could share some of the photos but ... no.  i think i can in june some time.  got to work with an amazing director, though.  Jonas Akerlund's "smack your bitch up" video is one of the best i've ever seen.  i can't find it but if you can find it, watch it.  amazingly well done.

j says it's like 4 pages in on youtube.

since i started this it went from overcast and grey to ... nice and partly sunny.

cold is still there but a bit better.

and just so you know making the perfect pate a choux is a pain in the fucking ass.

someone sent a comment in about "what do you mean by 'thin'?" in the context of that danish shooter's frames.  thin means underexposed.  simple. 

remember when you want to get something right "in camera" in the context of digital ... treat it like shooting chrome.

oh wait, most reading that won't even know what that means.

i cut my teeth on thousands of rolls of velvia in 35, medium and sheet film.  a well-exposed frame of that stuff is beautiful.  when i was an assistant i remember waiting until 03:00 to judge snip-tests.  those would determine if things were to be processed a third over, a third under ... whatever it took to make sure the ad agency was happy.

which ... actually i don't know if any of those people are ever TOTALLY happy.

my point being is that when you learn film you really learn how to expose properly.

photoshop has turned a lot of graphic designers into "photographers." ;)

sorry ... photo-illustrators. ;)

thank you guys for so many great comments last time 'round.  of the ones i didn't post i'm wondering:  have you ever really "worked" in photography?  on a deadline?  getting a shoot done in the morning for PHYSICAL delivery -- not electronic -- of the work either by messenger or fedex?  have you ever had your workflow selected, edited, captioned and moved by someone other than yourself or your mom?

if you haven't, you have no clue. 

yes, mate, i'm sure you have a great online following and the flickr-dudes or da'ers love-love-love you.

does that mean you're really a "real photographer," though?

guess it's different when in real life you both do photography for a living and almost every single one of your friends is a photographer.

online ... seriously ... i've met some really cool people.  great photographers.  photographers i always thought should be repped or shoot for wires.  some of them are now and i'm stoked for them.  half of those have gone to school for it, half have not.  no matter ... i'm so very very happy for them and wish them continued success.  then again, they know exactly who they are.

there are also those i suspect have gone to school, think they know what the fuck is up, yet just lack a certain something.  worse yet are those who perhaps haven't even gotten "a following" online yet think "i'm fucking amazing.  my shit's as good as joeyl."

at least your mom tells you that, i trust.

then again, you could just be enamoured with photography because you think it gets you laid. ;)

as funny as i think that shit is ... i think even funnier ... is the "t.o.p.'s top 10 list" of cameras.  and i finally found some online references of homeboy's work.  the photo in that last link ... could those two people in the front be any more bored with with they're listening to?  i mean, really.  beyond the terrible-yet-noble "test shots" he does ... i knew that's what his work would look like. ;)

at least wank posts his work, i mean, even if it's f/32 of a sleeping baby. ;)  he's been very quiet lately.  must be on some rad photo safari.

the cold is much better.  besides the garderners around the corner ... sleep was very nice.

it's still gonna make a short flight suck, though.

whatever.  won't be the first time.

so ... been posting photos again ... but this time on flickr.  i think looking at photos is a bit clunky but ... the people seem really nice.  i'm sure there are assholes but i've yet to get comments by them ... yet.  seems to be relatively spam-free as well.

i think ... that the order of the scans i'm looking at in the photobucket window ... i think they're chronological.  that rarely happens.

this is a friend's pug-dog...

she and murphy go on missions.  i think they enjoy the missions.

people really do walk in l.a.  in certain parts for sure ... not everywhere ... but ... yes ... people walk here.

they also sit and think about their food.  perhaps he's quietly saying "grace."  perhaps.

i doubt he cares that i shot it slow enough to make the fan blur.  dunno.

i just noticed that the first few selects -- of which i think there were thirty and i remember the folder for this set of scans was like a hundred -- were verts.  odd.

lotsa introspection going on this day ... at this sandwich place.

i love shooting the mp and the 35-lux.

been experimenting with some fuji b/w, too.  i like their instant stuff so ... i mean ... i used to shoot velvia like mad ... but ... dunno ... thought i'd give their b/w a shot.

love hollywood.

probably won't see this line again as we've finally gotten rid of the last of our recently-ripped cd's.  they all exist on a harddrive and that library claims we have ... 1.4 years of continuous music.  the buyers at amoeba are a strange lot.  just fyi.

outlet malls are another odd place.

i dunno if murph was feeling the shoe shopping.

murph met a new friend.  actually, murph meets lotsa friends.

i just wonder exactly how many people stop their car at this corner ... or just walk by and say "i have to have one of those friggin' dog-bubble-blower-things."

we didn't see him sell one.

love papping j.  she loves it so much.

ninth and something is fabric ridiculousness.  you gotta see it.  such a trip.

it's right next to the wholesale flower sellers, too.

if the zoo didn't like to eat plants, we'd have plants.  flowers for that matter.  but ... a certain feline freeloader likes to ... eat anything mildly resembling a plant or flower.

the plane of focus was intended to be on the churro.  just so you know.

olvera street is a trip.  honestly, we go there for one restaurant and one churro-dude.  we have plenty of virgin mary shopping backs and mexican wrestler masks.  promise.

what some people will do to deter you from letting your dog take a dump in their yard.  "pick up your shit."  don't think the 650 pixel-wide photo will let you see exactly what it says.

it's fucking april: who the fuck finally puts this "out" with the trash?  then again, this same wall tends to attract ... um ... couches and mattresses as well.

as well as the dogshit in the lower right corner.

actually, that's the inner-donkey making a statement about refuse.

i really like emilíana torrini.

honestly can't resist the steam-from-the-ass-skunk at little stinkers.  so happy someone thought-up this shit and put it in a bar for me to enjoy.

they could turn down the volume a bit ... then again ... like a chef's deadened palate ... i think all dj's are deaf.

how fucking terrified does that poor little guy look?

that photo makes me laugh.

in a nice way.

almost can't resist making frames at bus stops.

 

this dude puts up some new sign every damn day.

made one frame with the new 24/1.4 whilst visiting some friends...

i also got to see the new noctilux.  not that i'll ever own one.  i think my old one from the 80's purchased from a dentist, of course, will suffice.

i really like the shot of the old man's ears, actually.  ;)

good ol' century city.  it's the home of the annenberg space.   took my daughter there a few days after i covered the opening of it.

and i walked out and saw some kid with a camera taking a picture of a bag.  reminded me of ... um ... american beauty somehow.

ran into some friends when we went to an adjacent mall to eat.  the one on the right needed a sugar high.

i like sniping in bars. 

you occassionally see the inevitable sharpie warmer. ;)

"christian" on the right said "that's a cool camera."

we talked about it and i asked to make a photo.  we have a print we have to get him...

so ... i just figured out that you guys have seen all of the things that caught my eye -- besides work -- in the two weeks this set represented.

odd.

hope you're all well.  thank you for the comments the last time 'round.  there were quite a few.  most even got posted. ;)

the sun's breaking through the clouds finally.

the cold is almost a memory.

cheers from the now-partly-sunny-la!

"good luck with that."

best quote i've heard all night.
 

i just saw this photo again when i logged into photobucket ...

it's the gift which keeps on giving i think.

dunno.  when i saw that photo it immediately made me think of wank and his two pocket shuffle. ;)  (seriously, that last wank-link is priceless).

i'll keep the fanny pack, mate.  and mine's not even made for photo; it's just a random north face one.

and i think this has gone from a semi-regular blog to a bi-weekly column to ... whenever i feel it which is once or twice a month ... irregularly, of course.

besides ... status updates are essentially a "mini-blog" anyway.  i don't mean fucking tweets, though.  twitter is abso-fuckingly-lutely one of the most annoying "things" i've ever seen.

"i just made coffee."

"um ... it's good."

"now i have to take a shit."

jesus.

really?

i just wrote that and looked up and saw oprah.

coincidence?

let's see ... lately ... been shooting a lot.  and in all actuality ... i've been shooting a lot of personal work as well.

got to talk to douglas kirkland for quite a while a couple weeks ago which was nice.  i was shooting for the annenberg foundation of the opening of their space for photography here in los angeles -- the only one of it's kind in the world i may add.  although i worked the event with jeff, i went back a couple days later with j and b.  m wasn't welcome:  strict anti-spaniel laws are enforced there. ;)

i know that they had to be rather political when selecting work but ... baldisari ... jesus.  fucking donkey alert.  you have to have an mfa to like that ... or run a website and use your skill as a writer overshadow the fact you can't shoot.  gorman was represented as well.  like some of his stuff.  thing is, though, you can look at it and think "this was the 80's."  the latimes shooters had nice galleries.  who else dammit.  oh yeah.  tim street-porter.  architecture stuff.  and mr. shulman ... architecture as well.  sorry but i kinda think shulman "fell into" it all.  lotsa uneven horizons and terrible glares.

not just because i spoke with him but ... what's interesting to me ... forgot someone ... greenfield.  i mean ... honestly ... i know a hundred people as talented as she is.  there's just nothing really spectacular about her work.  it's good.  whatever.

but ... when one looks at something douglas does ... it looks as if it could have been done today even though we know the subject is either old now or long-dead.  what he really gets ... is life and the real subject in his work.  not only that .. he's the most modest amazing person one could get to meet.  if you're in l.a., you should check out the space.

wait ... there was someone else who was there who when you see their work you say "what the fuck?"  oh yeah ... opie.  jesus-friggin'-christ.  really?  i'm sure an mfa can tell us all why they're amazing.  i'm sure.  perhaps even a phd.

from two squirrels screwing to this diatribe.  hmm.

i've been doing a lot of portraits with the 4x5 and have been really loving it.  dunno why but landscape, which i know it does well, just doesn't do it for me.   seems too easy.

guess that's why the wank-and-file love it so much. ;)

what else?  i was on a cruise ship last week! ;)  i was on this crazy old-people cruise ship in norway but this one took the fucking prize.  amazing. 

shot my friend trevor recently...

contax 645 with the 80/2.0 zeiss.  kodak porta 400.  hensel pro-mini with a beauty dish on a redwing boom.  ambient light as well.

that's my friend hope having her makeup applied.

hope is kind of cute.

same setup as trevor's photo except a bit more ambient floating around.

except the first of her in makeup was with the leica mp and the 1.4/35 'lux.

like this one ...

apple boxes have many uses.

primarily for sitting but still.

love shooting the leica gear in between "the other photographs."  then again, i even use it for "the other photographs" as well...

and, no, those vignetting corners are caused by using f/1.0 with the nocti.  they are NOT the favoured filter or whatever mainstream flickr shooters do to their photographs.  in-camera or go the fuck home. ;)

i don't mind a bit of vignetting as long as it's real. ;)

had the opportunity to walk around los angeles as well ... i always enjoy that ...

barkeep has the trippiest window displays.

and i'm still fascinated by surveillance cameras...

didn't have to walk far to see that not every worker believes in O.S.H.A.

i guess it's one way of getting the job done.

i really think it's time for "the hills" to go away.

fyi.

i mean ... i really like lauren as a person but ... i think it's time they go.

how about a friendly spaniel?

his "throne-away-from-home."  he always gravitates to that thing.

actually, believe it or not some listerine-drinking nightmare called the police on j and i because he was upset a dog was in his presence.  seriously, he was drinking listerine.  and, yes, the cops actually showed up to the "vicious dog report at the swimming pool."

fucking suburban tools.

you should have heard j get in this motherfucker's face.  all those years in entertainment have served her well. ;)

i hear that people with SEVERE drinking problems drink listerine.  26.9% alcohol content.  a glass of wine has 14%.  who-the-fuck-knew.

poor spaniel.

i really like this on a thirty inch monitor.  dunno how it plays at 6.5 inches, though.

that is a fake skunk .. found at stinker's.

if you're eastside, check it.  if you tip well enough, the bartender will pull either of two handles:  one is for a set of air horns and another is for five or six skunks to shoot steam out of their asses.

l.a.

love.

it.

long story.

mario just sent me this.  my heart goes out to the victims, survivors and displaced in italy. 

love the fact "they never see me shoot" when i use a leica rangefinder. ;)

dunno ... i just love finding the random elements i find in the street.

i like random, though.

and, fyi, did another blurb book for myself but i made it available to anyone who wants one ... e.u. 01.

fucking post office.

i think it's universal what a piece of shit these places are.

oh, sorry, did i offend a postal carrier?  sorry. ;)

usually i just offend photo students who have no idea what it's like in the real world. ;)  perhaps they'll be good enough to actually make it. perhaps they won't be good enough.  perhaps they'll find themselves as assistants shooting for a furniture maker.  dunno.

not that i really care.

i love how many things and how many worlds can exist in one frame.  in one 1/500th of a second.

god dammit we have nice weather here. ;)

i was driving with mario on our way to some protest against A.I.G.

and people actually mow grass.

had no idea.

but they do.

i'm sure even if it's for a job, it's probably more honest than having zero talent and reviewing photo gear, right?

love this area. there's always something interesting.

and further down the street to the right if you're a fucking pap ... you've got a lot of subject matter to shoot (e.g., robertson's trendy shopping area).

yo, nhat ... i think they have some shoes you'd like. ;)

unless, of course, you're more interesting in a fake mustache.

or you like to pose with film canisters. ;)

yes, that's 4x5 film being dropped off for processing.  portraits with a 4x5 are so much fun.  wide open as usual. 

see ... i hardly have time to scan for myself.  4x5 lab scans are too expensive.  yes, i have the epson v700.  yes, i make scans sometimes.  no, i don't usually.

it's a time issue.  same reason i don't process my own film.

i make photographs; i don't process them.

of the working photographers i know less than 10 percent of them shoot even ANY film.  and ... none of them save one dude i just met ... process their own work.

people with a lot of time on their hands can do that.

yes, i know you think you know everything.  but you don't.

;)

took another walk and was amazed how many four-legged friends i met ...

i think he wanted to see if it was a nice day.

it was.

homie was one of the nicest pitties i've ever met.  i think his name was tank.

i think a lot of pitties are named tank, though.

love frenchies.  they're so friggin' cute.

when they're really socialized well they're such amazing little dogs.

even though the cavalier is my favourite of all breeds ...

sir winston was a rescue.  when you buy a dog from a pet store they buy from breeders who think this breed -- and others to be fair -- are commodities.  sir winston's developed the heart problem which plagues this friendly breed ...

and he doesn't have much time left.

how could someone treat something that only wants to love you ... as a commodity?

seriously, makes me sick.

so ... yeah ... pick up the new overhead frame tomorrow!  didn't like the big bulky rental ones made of big round or box tube.  so funny even though matthews makes the bulky ones, they're strong.  they're also heavy.  and ... they fly overhead the subject for the most part unless you put a reflective rag on it. when you fly something overhead ... you can seriously hurt whatever's beneath it.  i checked out the scrimjim line and found them fucking flimsy as shit.  not only ... the rags velcro on.  no thanks.  not only but they're like us$500.  there's also the the sun scrim by sunbounce but ... they have that flimsy feeling as well.  not only that but they're expensive.  honestly, it's really nice having grip-friends who turn you on to the best, lightest and strongest equipment out there.  honestly, everything else other than matthews is kind of shit.

i prefer using available light. 

we have nice weather here.

:)

so, yeah, been busy ... but i wanted to share some of the random stuff of late or at least the last few weeks.

honestly, i can't keep up with digital.  there's just so much. 

hope you all find yourselves well.

cheers from the so-fucking-temperate-los angeles-it's-ridiculous. ;)

so, yeah ...

i know ... been quiet ... i mean unless you count status updates as micro-blogs.  still don't like twitter, though.  been quiet because i'm friggin' busy as hell.

had lotsa oscar-related stuff this past week.  think i did vegas the weekend before.  think so.

'bout to go hang out with the nyc-guys.

shot the independent spirit awards today!  it's not really the job, the shooting beautiful people ... it's the hanging out with your friends at something called "work."  work!  makes me laugh.  doesn't seem like work most of the time.

i mean ... i'm still excited to look at "my take" even though the editors have gone through it already and sent it out. 

seriously, the thought of doing a select process in photo mechanic, copying to a folder so that originals aren't fucked up, opening those in ps cs3, doing the normal adjustments, resaving, etc., etc., sucks ass.

importing, selecting, doing some adjustments and then copying those adjustments and pasting them on my selects in aperture and then exporting ... ah ... so nice.  so so so nice.

dunno if it was 7 minutes but ... it was pretty damn quick.

made 2500 frames or so.

but like i said ... it's nice to work/hang with your friends...

the flowing haired greek is d.k.  google dimitrios kambouris sometime. ;)  he makes great photos!

this is jamie mccarthy ... so stoked we were able to hang out so much over the past few days.

actresses in a box?  i thought it was funny.

i wonder what would think if they saw their photos on a "cheat sheet."

dunno why i thought this hipshot was funny. 

as you can see we had a nice overcast day (e.g., god-given scrim). :)

so funny to me that you're expected to get to certain awards shows at some ungodly hour, then wait, and wait ... and then shoot for a couple hours.  once i'd gotten some of the requisite "atmosphere" done ... went to do some red carpet work ...

thought that photo was funny.  and this one...

odd reaction to champagne.  i think, at least.

she was kinda full of reactions that day ...

in case you're in europe and don't know who she is ... teri hatcher. 

actually, there are several people i still have no idea who they are.  happens.  there are just so many pretty faces in this town no one ... ok i'm sure some ... could be expected to identity...

and, yes, as per usual when "big names" show there were at least a hundred press line photographers.  just so you know ... THEY ARE NOT PAPARAZZI.  sure, i'm sure one or two have to be from x17 or some pap-agency ... but in general ... PRESS LINE ARE NOT PAPS...

and, yes, this post does, in fact, have a few photos made with the 24-70/2.8L -- the entertainment workhorse -- but most were made with the zeiss ze 85/1.4.  don't think i broke out the zeiss 50/1.4 save a couple times.  love love love the zeiss ze 85/1.4.

honestly, i think that i get more "goods" (read:  in focus) than i did with the 85/1.2's rather slow autofocus.  yes, i like the zeiss ze 85/1.4 so much ... i sold the 85/1.2.

the dudes standing at the event's edge are paps.  anyone who takes a picture -- i say take a picture because they know nothing about "making photos" -- without authorization ... they're paps in the context of celebrity.

in the context of the human condition ... you're just doing "street." ;)

not that i'm biased or unbiased toward one or the other. ;)

still think it's funny my friend brad said "paps are the modern day HCB's."

pardon me, brad, if i disagree with you.

would be interesting to give a group of paps 30 leicas, though. ;)

that would be totally better than giving wank a leica, though. 

the paps would probably get better photos ... and i'm sure ... they're ALL better-published than the wank.

i'm perplexed why wank is so "pro-leica" now when he previously thought they were for "rich amateurs."

no, ken, just because you try and impress your workshop attendees with your leica-toting ... doesn't mean you can make a photo. ;)  enjoy your audience of rich old white guys ... that's about the only success you'll have in the photoworld. ;) 

my boy, granitz, google steve granitz sometime ... he ... and mean we ... get called paparazzi by the likes of wank ... that onlinefailedphotographerguy ... that failed photographertechreporterguy ... just so funny.  google and see what granitz started.  he REVOLUTIONIZED -- and a few others, of course -- how photos are distributed.  smart mo-fo for sure.

not a pap.

whereas it pisses j off when the uninitiated call people like me ... my friends ... other entertainment shooters paps ... it doesn't really bother me as much because a) i know they suck as photographers and b) they have no fucking clue what they're talking about.

what i love about this is that tyler boye ... is just chillin ... knowing he got the photos he needed.  hilarious.  most others wasted a whole 4gb card on mary kate.  for sure.

see all those friggin' lenses and shooters and gear?  well ... guarantee that 99% of the shooters will have more success in any area of photography than 99% of those in photo school either here ... or in central europe. ;)

just sayin.

just sayin' that mickey rourke is ... fucking rad.  he just doesn't care.

and how do i make the distinction between what's colour and what's monochrome?  well ... usually it's when i know i made the same photo with one of the leica's.  and yesterday ... i shot apx 25 +1 all day. :)

cannot wait to see the take when i get it back from the lab!  in the context of entertainment the leica mp comes out when ... there's gonna be something really good to shoot.

yes, i know ... if you process yourself ... you're much cooler than i and have a much deeper appreciation of film.  especially if you live in central europe, of course, as well. ;)

last time i did a cost-per-frame analysis it was us$00.52 per frame of scanned processed film.  that ain't cheap.  i think with all of the labs closing the remaining labs jacked their prices.  guess i should do another cost-per-frame calculation again. hmm...

good for mickey rourke!  for so many reasons.  handed him a glass of champagne.  he downed it.  he went to sign some autographs for fans.  was walking back and i said "yo, mickey ... another glass?"

funny mo-fo.

loved it when the talent were far enough away so that i could "go wide" with my 85.  i know ... i should have been "banging out headshots" with the 70-200/2.8L.

but no.

see ... i knew they'd make their way down ... and i could get those as well.

see that detail around mickey's neck?  i think that's so cool he has that there.  his beloved dog died. :(  makes me sad for him just thinking about it.  poor little buddy.

if you ever feel bad about where you are in life, find out about mickey's life, man.  you can tell he's so appreciative of what happened with this last film aronofsky directed him in.

wonder if he's more appreciative than mary kate?

remember when i was saying the zeiss ze 85/1.4 manual focus lens was easier to nail than the canon 85/1.2?  reminded me of this photo when i was doing selects...

yes, i get out-of-focus shots.  this one ... fucking hurts my eyes.  dunno why.

just does.

penelope doesn't, though. ;)

definitely doesn't.  funny because some of the line-shooters are FUCKING LOUD.  i mean ... i blame a couple of them for making marlee matlin deaf. 

it's amazing that a smile from 20 feet away sometimes works way fucking better than some anonymous person among 75 other screamers ... gets a better result. ;)

every time i've shot her she's been so incredibly nice.  the first time i ever shot her i said "next to the funny looking guy with the funny accent."

she said "i have a funny accent."

"yeah ... but you're hot ... he's ... um ... old and not."

not nice.  i know.

i caught lots of happy accidental light.  that happens when the idiot isn't shooting at f-fucking-eight, though.   happy other shoot at f/5.6 and below with their flashes. ;)

makes for happy accidental light.

i like "other photographs" as well ... ones that i'm sure most shooters on the carpet wouldn't care to make ...

looks like ellen grew up.  think she went a bit heavy on the eye makeup, though. ;)

yeah, i'll be referencing photos i made in the past with links to flickr.  not dA.  community first.  art second. ;)  at least they do know community, though, right?

eliza dushku was there.  but i think i like the photo i made thurday better.

FUCK-ING-LOVE THE ZEISS ZE 85/1.4.  LOVE.

darren was right about it. and, bro, seriously, i'm so sorry about boogie.  i looked at his photos again and felt a huge lump in my throat. 

in general compared to dogs ... people suck big fucking time.

i think it's funny that jamie-fucking-mccarthy had to say to me "language, bro, language." ;)

mary kate laughed though.

can't tell you what she laughed at, though.

sorry.

there are so many stories i could tell ... but ... i probably never will.

i can share them with my friends; they usually have some of the same.

malkovich was there...

anne was there, too...

don't think she likes the carpet much.  seems stiff usually.

jessica alba's not stiff on the carpet.  she likes it.

i don't think michelle williams likes being on the carpet much either.

i liked the reflection in mariah's glasses...

got a chance to talk to elizabeth banks the other night at the women in film party.  very nice.

shot zooey's luncheon the other day as well...

so much hotter than the one dimensional katy perry. ;)

and so much prettier.

and way less full of herself than ...

it's like "dude you're an actor; you're not curing fucking cancer."

fucking love the out-of-focus areas of the zeiss ze 85/1.4.

kinda feel sorry for actresses ... they get kinda groped sometimes.  or faux-groped.  but ... that's a whole other story. 

wasn't a red carpet moment, either.  this was backstage.

so yeah ... my oscar-related duties are done.  today's a nice relaxing overcast sunday!

what else?  oh, yeah, j put together my etsy store! :)  there will be more and more added.  promise.

and ... i have a huge backlog of "material" which ... may or may not make it to the blog.  kinda hope it does.  hope to blog a bit more coming up ... hope.

so ... hope you guys are all well!!!!!

cheers from the gloomy-yet-nice l.a.!

-chris

Gold Records

by Nhat Nguyen

I ran out to Marina Del Rey to shoot this story on Jewel Box Platinum. They are the folks who make all the award gold and platinum framed records when an album reaches sales in the millions. Fun place. Small and discreet, you'd never know it driving by. In fact, I have ridden by this place for years thinking it was just a paint shop or a auto parts chroming plant

Photos...

Front door: Phil Collins keeps away unwanted visitors.

This pretty much sums up what they do.

Meet "H", yes he goes by the just the single letter as his name. He wouldn't tell me what it stood for. H is the solo designer here and has been for years.  

One of the prototypes for Dr. Dre's "The Chronic"

The most expensive one to date is 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" at over $5000 each (built-in LCD screen and media player)

The back area where it all happens.  I want that giant wide bed inkjet printer in the background.

This is Jeff the manager in the back, he handles all the production. Matt is shooting the video interview with him.

Pedro silk screens in the back. He's working on something for Bon Jovi.

The archive of silk screen masters

Funny seeing Celine Dion's name next to Dem Franchize Boyz & The Dead Kennedys

One my fav bands.  Saw them out at Coachella a couple years back. Great show.

Finished and ready to go. 

That's it for now. I have alot more photos to post and share. I shot T.I. recently, I'll get to posting those soon, especially since he's going to start his jail sentance next month.  I am working on putting together a book of my music photography from the past 5 years, going to self publish that on Blurb. I saw the dog books that Chris printed and they look great. Planning a trip out to the Salton Sea and might be flying out to Austin to shoot SXSW.  Life after Uber has been a rollercoaster ride in the competitive LA world of freelance photography. 

My new site is up. I went with Drip Book as a host. 

I was almost hit by a car while out on my bike last nite. He came close to hitting me head on, he wasn't paying attention and veared onto the wrong side of the road. He pulled over and said sorry and we shook hands and parted ways.  

Hope everyone is doing good and shooting away. 

- Nhat