Fuji Velvia 100F

Kodak Plus-X 125

Canon 5DMk.II

I think this desert scene is a good test/comparison of the film and the digital look. It's hard everything to tell from the images this size, but it's clear to me that the film offers a better "look" straight off the bat. The colors are more lush and true to life, while the black and white has the epic grain structure and timeless look that I have never seen replicated digitally. The Canon file has one advantage over the others however; it simply resolves more detail. You can "zoom in" much further into the digital file then you can into the film, and it is simply a sharper image. There is lots of information on the film, but there are fewer ways to get that information into the digital realm (or printed or viewed even) then there were even 5 years ago. Scanning and developing is expensive and slow, and a digital file can be published online before a film photograph has even finished winding back into it's canister. Digital will replace film (in cinema as well), that's inevitable. I just hope that the next generation of sensors pushes the look of digital images further towards that of film.

More from Coachella, this time from the DSLR. I was still limited to the lenses I could sneak in and the only show I was close enough to shoot was Ratatat; through a lucky break I got into the VIP section of the audience. Lindsey Lohan was there in the crowd behind me. I  started to point my camera at her but before I could expose anything she made eye contact with me and shook her head "no." It was a sad, drunk kind of movement, and it caught me off guard for the second it took her entourage to surround her and block her from view. I don't think I'm cut out to be a paparazzo, I'd rather take pictures of the sunset.

Home Row

Tyler, the Creator OFWGKTA

Skywriting

Don't run from the Yellow Shirts

Coachella. Security was a way big deal there, and "professional cameras" were not allowed. What defined a professional camera was at the discretion of the guard. Somedays I was able to get a DSLR in, but a lot of the time I only had my iPhone 3Gs running the hipstamatic app. I don't know why anybody would deal with the  real holga after using this app. Film is expensive and never turns out this good. I feel like I was left out of an inside joke because of how long I resisted it.

So this is a photo of grass. I don't usually shoot photos like this, but the light was good and I had my camera... I've been working with 16mm film a lot lately, shooting or assisting on some of the films getting shot for the Reel Loud festival that is something like kinda a big deal out here at UCSB. I'm gonna try something different with this one. People have told me that this looks a lot like a photo for a desktop or screensaver. So here's a link to one that will fit perfectly into your MacBook's (or MacBook Pro's) screen just fine.

http://www.filedropper.com/rgb-13apr2011-grass-1

Leave me a comment if you think I should post more like this.

Fish

The roommate.

Went out to the beach north of Sands today to scout a possible location for another shoot and took some new gear to play with. Something to do when the waves are flat. I don't know if long exposures are my thing but they're fun. Gear talk: Canon 16-35/2.8 @19mm w/ Hoya 400x ND filter. 3.2 seconds @ f/22.

It got pointed out to me that those rocks (in another picture) looks like a turtle. It changed what I see in the pic now.

Grumpy

I met Grumpy while shooting a photo essay on the homeless in Isla Vista for an unnamed student publication. The nature of the project was changed by editorial staff away from the direction I was taking it in, so this photo never saw the light of day. I was shooting some really expired (like maybe 10 years old) Fuji NGH800II film out of my Hasselblad 500c. This was the only frame out of the 5 rolls that I shot that didn't have major issues with the color or grain structure because of the old film. It's also the only one where Grumpy wasn't self-conscious about the camera. In the next 8 frames he hams it up for the camera with his tickets, all from open container or drunk-in-publics. I saw him about a week ago with a jail hair cut (shaved head). He looked about this pissed.

Winning

I guess the thing that Charlie Sheen taught us all is that you don't really need to be playing against another team to win. You can simply win by not losing, which if you're not faced with an opponent, is quite easy. Still, the small personal victories are the stuff that build character and legend.

La Jolla really is a beautiful place. The pelicans were flying one or two at a time, I was taking photos, got bored, and let my camera drop to my side. Then all of a sudden they bum-rushed the place. My camera jumped back up to my eye in a natural motion, my hand finding the focus ring, snapping it into place as I made the shot. I don't want to go off on a rant about how manual focus is better, but it just is. It makes you feel like a real photographer when you can compose an image the way you want and not just focus for the center of the frame like the camera wants.

Off I-8

Tucson

Desert

Mission San Xavier 

The Parent's Old Trailer

So I ran out of space on my laptop while I was on the road so I had to hold off on uploading images. Conclusions based on these images: 1. I'm starting to get obsessed with roads and side roads. 2. Tuscon is a beautiful place with great weather in the springtime. Not sure if I could handle the summer. 3. I now understand why my parents moved to where they did. Their house, and the environment that surround it is the exact complete opposite of where they used to live.

Palm Springs. Where old people go to die.

Arizona. Where old people go to wave flags

Another road pic. 

Wal-Mart Truck

Worlds Largest Nuclear Power Plant

Snake

Welcome to AZ

Trailer Park Gas Station

Sunset

Road Trips Kick Ass.

Word Magazine staff photos from winter 2010, Michael Gruetzmacher getting hit with some water. It's raining right now in IV and this is what it feels like

Sometimes it takes more then one picture to tell the story. It's always interesting to see how people react to the camera.

Life's a beach, dig it. Also it's saint patrick's day, so swag that green out.

Today I finished up the color grading on the student short I've been working on called '12 Minutes Until The End Of The World.' Afterwards I went surfing. Then I went back to take photos of surfing. The last thing I have to do on campus is go to the premiere of of my student film on friday, then my career as a student is over.  

The taxi ranks downtown. The real city center.