Braelynn

April 25, 2015

No Housewives Here

Keeping the shoots coming strong in 2015 with my latest collaborator, Braelynn Taylor! Another Instagram connect made this happen. We got together in Central LA this weekend so I could put a few more miles on my new favorite beast, the Pentax 67.

Canon AE-1:

Pentax 67:

Easy to tell how it quickly became my favorite camera.

Anninka, pt. II

April 11, 2015

The Return of the Reluctant Muse

Although I will admit, after falling in love with the results from our first shoot, it was much easier to talk Anninka into shooting again. And of course, once again, I shot some of my favorite pictures to date.

She's quickly becoming a fan favorite among my followers on Instagram as well, and it's easy to see why. Our collaborations give off such a fresh Los Angeles vibe, it's always a welcome contrast to my more NYC-like street sets.

Barany & Burnett

February 16, 2015

Wedding Season

In the magic hour of February 15, 2015, Alexandra Barany and Adam Burnett took each other's hand in marriage after a wonderful Valentine's weekend of love, friendship, family, and beer. Lots of beer. I was honored to be able to bring analogue photography to their wedding, shooting a wide range of film and Polaroid formats.

But first, a little backstory...

It was January of 2013. I had recently quit my job, sold my car, packed up my apartment, and moved to the opposite end of the country to begin the New Year in search of a life of fulfillment. And so began an odyssey that would soon be filled with new inspirations, new opportunities, new friendships, and let’s be honest… a lot of beer.

It was along this journey that I inevitably crossed paths with Adam Burnett and Alexandra Barany, two of the first people I would get to know in the city of Los Angeles. Two of the most wonderful, sincere, and kind people I would get to know in the city of Los Angeles.

I was soon to be invited into their home where I would meet who would become a wonderful group of new friends. Together we’ve shared countless outings, birthday celebrations, holiday potlucks, Adam’s delicious homebrews, and Alex’s unbelievable baking skills, which by the way make Porto’s Bakery look like an Easy Bake playset.

After two years of such a great friendship, I was honored to be in attendance for the union of Adam and Alex, meet their lovely families, and photograph this wonderful occasion of love, friendship, family, and let’s be honest… a lot of beer.

The event took place over Valentine's day weekend, spanning a total of four days of fun, culminating with a beautiful ceremony at the Stone Brewery in Liberty Station, San Diego. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend....

Thursday - The Yacht

Friday - The Brewery Tour

Saturday - The Day Party

Sunday - Wedding Day

Sunday - The Ceremony

Rainer Maria Rilke once said that a good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of their soul. If that’s true, then a great marriage is that in which each appoints the other a glass of 2004 Stone Old Guardian.

Cheers and congratulations Adam and Alex!

The full photo book of the Barany & Burnett Wedding can be purchased here.

"Burn it Down"

November 25, 2014

Yesterday, a friend of mine posed an interesting question on Facebook in reference to the current state of America, and not so far removed from the events in Ferguson. He asked, "If I was a face or leader with what's going on would I ever say 'burn it down?'" This got me thinking...

I absolutely, without hesitation, would say "burn it down." But the "burn it down" solution comes with one key problem, its successful execution. Because how do we get it to all come down at once? Burning little by little, bit by relative bit is a very easy problem to solve overnight and ignore over decades. If it's gonna come down, it's gotta all come down. That's the only way it'll stay down. But we've been asking for it to come down for a while haven't we? Right? When we get on Facebook and tell everybody else on Facebook that when they're faced with injustice they need to stop "saying things" and start "doing things." I'll ignore for a moment that this advice has a usefulness equivalence of telling homeless people to "stop being homeless if you don't wanna be homeless," and reiterate that yes, yes we have been asking for it to come down for a while now. It's that change we've all been talking about since uh... if I had to pick a year... oh, I don't know, 2008? But why hasn't it happened? Why haven't we "burned it down?"

Well, we simply haven't lost enough yet, that's why. In fact, you in particular, yeah you, you haven't lost anything at all. Your life's pretty good. It's still too easy to be comfortable. There are too many alternatives, and we have too many freedoms. It's too easy to just exist. You don't want your rights being taken away? Vote for the other guy. You don't want to get shot by police? Stay home. Problem solved, revolution averted. Existence remains simple. A quick sidebar, I find it pretty funny that we're still fighting for these so called rights, as if preserving them - or achieving them - actually entitles us to a different state of existence. You wanna know what your country really has to say about your rights? Google "Japanese Americans 1942," and see what your country has to say about your rights. About the existence that you are and always will be entitled to. Ha. But I digress...

We simply haven't lost enough yet. It's just too easy to exist. For "burn it down" to work, it has to all come down. For it all coming down to be what we resort to, we'll need to lose more than we ever thought we could. Loss unlike anything our generation has ever seen. Our simple existence in itself, not our imaginary rights, must be what's at stake. Then, we'll be faced with a problem harder to ignore than it will be to fight. Our backs will be to the oceans where we can only push back or drown. Then, "burn it down" becomes a solution worth pursuing. Then, "burn it down" becomes a fire sale where everything must go. Why? Because we won't have any alternatives; we won't have any freedoms. There will be nowhere left to go but up. It has to come down, or we don't survive it.

The evolution, civilization, and industrialization of the human race has earned us, for better or worse, a much longer wait from inception to destruction. We've been conditioned to survive, and for that we are many, many, many years and many, many, many atrocities away from the final solution. But history does and always will repeat itself. And if history has taught us anything, it's that the one thing all governments have in common is that they can and will absolutely fail. Just look at every single government in the history of the world prior to present day. Every government fails, it's just a matter of time.

Which brings us back to today, and what we're supposed to do in the meantime when we're trapped in a system we've outgrown and in whose very essence makes it physically impossible to repair. Well, you might not like the answer, but we wait. After all, it's still pretty easy to just exist isn't it? And kind of pleasant when you think about it. So we wait, and we see how this plays out.

Random thoughts of the day...

JAE

November 17, 2014

Smokin' Hot

Something about the way smoke looks on film is just so fascinating to me, so naturally I was intrigued when Jaelen brought her vaporizer along to our shoot.

It was also a good day to break out the Bronica ETRS. As much as I love this camera, it's not the easiest to shoot with when time is a factor as is common lately. But luckily I was able to take my time here and really get some use out of it. And what an immaculate image it captures...

The Road Home

October 27, 2014

Taking the Long Way

On the way back from Vegas I decided to take my time and explore a bit of the scenery with what was quickly becoming my favorite color film stock, Ektar 100. In was on this drive that I discovered what I hope to one day turn into a type of signature shot of mine, the Portrait Landscape.

"Tranquility" - Somewhere between Vegas and LA, 2014

Something about leaving so much room for the sky in a landscape photo really puts our existence here into perspective. We all like to think we're larger than life, but just look up at the sky next time you need a reminder of exactly what life is. The effect is humbling to say the least. And don't you just love that natural blue gradient? Ektar is an incredible film.

This was a peaceful drive, a nice way to unwind from the crazy birthday weekend at Life is Beautiful and prime myself for getting back into the hustle when I got home. The year's winding down, and 2015 is starting to look particularly promising...

Damn I love that Ektar blue.

Life Is Beautiful

October 26, 2014

It Was A Memorable 26th Birthday To Say The Least...

Something always told me I wouldn't like Coachella very much. I can't quite put my finger on it, but once I figure out what it is I'll let you know. In the meantime, I got all the music festival I could ask for and then some at this year's Life Is Beautiful.

For those of you who haven't heard of it, which I can only imagine is most, Life Is Beautiful is a music, food, and arts festival in Downtown Vegas that's only in it's second year. If you think that means it can't draw the lineup of some of the big boys, you'd be mistaken. Greatly.

Kanye West, Outkast, Foo Fighters, Lionel Richie, The Weeknd, The Roots, Arctic Monkeys, Skrillex (who despite having never heard his music before, puts on one hell of a show), Little Dragon, Phantogram, and the list goes on. Way on. Needless to say, after a rather unspectacular 25th birthday last year, I certainly did 26 right. Wasn't going to make that mistake again. Just as the clock struck 12, Outkast reached the middle of their set.

Now that's a birthday.

Of course, I couldn't leave Vegas or the festival grounds without getting in a few street photo sessions as well. It's actually a great way to spend your time in Vegas if you plan on leaving there with the same amount of money you came with...

DTLA Rooftops

October 10, 2014

Brianna On Film

This week model Brianna Michaela and I had some fun exploring the Downtown LA Rooftops in her first ever shoot on film. I'm really starting to enjoy introducing film shoots to those who are unfamiliar with it. The entire process of the shoot becomes much more freeing and relaxing. Instead of constantly worrying about how they look in camera and wanting to see previews, the models are just able to relax and be themselves, which makes it that much easier for me to really capture their true, natural beauty, and not the overproduced, oversexualized glamour prevalent in the industry today.

Brianna, Abstract - Downtown LA 2014, Bronica ETRS

Summer in the City

July 26, 2014

The time has come for my first writing assignment.

Upper West Side, Self Portrait, Summer 2014

It's been just over a year and a half of grinding and networking in the Los Angeles film industry. With one part preparation, one part talent, and one part being in the right place at the right time (read: luck), I have managed to land my first feature film writing assignment. Never mind that there's no money involved. Hey, we all have to start somewhere. And for the feature film formerly known as The Spanish Harlem Project, my journey started in New York.

My subject: the gentrification of Spanish Harlem. It's the neighborhood I was born in, but knew little to nothing about. As this would be my first time writing (or rather, rewriting) someone else's material, I thought an important part of this process should be immersion in the culture that birthed the story to begin with. I always have some wild tales of what state of mind lead me to write the scripts that I've written, but with this story, it was from someone else's mind. The best I could do was try to understand it by seeing for myself. Next stop, East Harlem.

Walking East Harlem, my goal was to get a feel for the culture whose heart would beat at the center of this story. And more specifically, how this culture was being systematically eradicated in favor of Chase Banks and Domino's Pizzas. "Cleaning up the neighborhood" they called it.

Overall the trip was very successful. I spoke to quite a few people who had lived in the neighborhood for generations to hear their point of view on the recent changes. It all made me rethink photojournalism as a career to be honest, but I soon got back on track.

One thing is for certain, no trip to Spanish Harlem would be complete without a meal at La Fonda Boricua, which also happens to be the backdrop of another one of my favorite photographs to date...

It's the sights you never expect that always seem to stand out the most. I couldn't have tried to go shoot this image, I just had to be there. Be there with a camera in hand. And to that my friends, I say, "Stay strapped."

Now back to LA, I've got work to do.

African Fashion

June 28, 2014

In a collaboration with Fashion Designer Kabeh Ojo and Makeup Artist Vanessa Rene, today I shot four models in hand-made garments from fabrics sent directly from Africa. It just so happens that the offices behind my production headquarters for According to Him & Her give off a heavy island / African vibe. The perfect location for this shoot.

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