Wednesday, October 31, 2012

First Ink.

When coming up with an idea for a tattoo, there's a lot to consider. For me, I've been considering a few tattoo ideas for awhile now. One being the word "smile" across the inside of my right index finger. This way when I take photos or video, my subject will be able to see the text. Not an original idea, but something I think is very clever. The other idea is a bit more unique. There's a caricature of the Michelin man that one of my favorite artists KAWS designed. This is one I would get on the inside of my upper arm. I've never seen anyone else with this design on their bodies.

Nick, one of my friends from work, asked me if I wanted to go with him to get his next tattoo. Of course. I would never pass down an opportunity to be part of a big event like that. I figured if Nick was going to get a tattoo, maybe this would be a good opportunity for my to get my first piece. I called the tattoo shop Lucky Stars and they said they could fit me in right after Nick.

The day came and there were lots of feelings floating around my head. Nervousness. Fear. Excitement. I got to watch Nick get his tattoo first. This was helpful because I could see the entire process from start to finish. Nick's took about an hour total and turned out absolutely amazing. He got a piece done by local Bay Area artist Huck Gee.

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Next was my turn. I was ready. After going back and forth between the two ideas I had, I finally decided on the KAWS tattoo. The tattoo artist said the inner arm would hurt less than the finger.

To say it didn't hurt would be a lie. It is painful, but it's a bearable pain. After a few minutes, your arm just gets numb. An hour later I was all done and they wrapped it up. The artist Joe did a great job.

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Chummy

When people say tattoos are addictive I see why. I would love to get another one. Not any time soon, but when I have another good idea for one I'll be ready. For now, I'll enjoy the one I have.

Photo Adventure.

Got the opportunity to take some photos with Jenny and the pugs.

Rainy Day with the Pugs.

Accessorize.

Negative Space.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Little Big.

The well known tech blog Gizmodo hosted a photo challenge in which the assignment was to take something small and make it look big. When I saw this, I knew I had to give it a shot. I figured with all the toys I had around, I could easily make this happen.

There's an old meat sign by my house that I've always wanted to photograph. I figured I would take one of my my food-themed toys and get a shot by said sign. I used a fisheye lens shooting at a low angle to make the character appear much larger than 8". I also took one image exposed for the toy and one exposed for the sky and merged them in Photoshop.

It didn't end up placing in the contest, but it did get me to go out and get a photo I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Check it out below.

Sausages?

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Johnny Cupcakes Coffin Tour 2012

One of my buddies from work invited me to a shirt event in the city yesterday. I had heard of Johnny Cupcakes before, but had never done too much research on the guy. After a few google searches, I quickly learned why this guy and his company were so popular. Clever designs mixed with an impeccable attention to detail.



Daniel and his girlfriend Nisouri picked me up at my place and we headed up to the city. We were pretty hungry so we stopped at Tacolicious, a local favorite, for some grub. Beyond delicious.

Tacolicious.

After food, we headed over to Super 7 on Haight where the event was set to take place. We saw the line and quickly figured we should have come much earlier. We were easily 300-400 people back in the line.

Cakebones.

Johnny Cupcakes Coffin Tour 2012 // San Francisco

Super 7.

As day turned into night, the line began to slowly creep towards the entrance of the store. Three hours had already passed, and we had only made it to the halfway mark. Battling the cold, tiredness, and carpel tunnel, we slowly trudged on.

What's on the Menu? Daniel.

Selfie.

At the four hour mark we were finally at the entrance of the store. It felt good. Inside they had five shirts to choose from as well as a nice assortment of other goodies. I ended up getting one of the shirts with all the different masks on it. They also threw in a lot of other cool things with my purchase. That was the least the could've done consider how long we waited.

SF Mummy Boy.

Johnny Cupcakes.

Johnny Cupcakes Coffin Tour 2012 Shirts.

Swag.

Boyce.

After we paid, we wanted to meet the man in the flesh. Johnny was hanging out just outside the store meeting and chatting with his fans.

Mr. Cupcakes

It was really cool to hear him talk. Very inspiring. He is also quite the comedian. Very quick on his feet to crack jokes.

Bag.

It's awesome when you can actually meet the face of a brand. Johnny makes it a huge point to take the time and connect with his fans. All evidence why his brand and company are so popular. That along with the exclusivity of the shirts make Johnny and his shirts a hot commodity for the average consumer.

Yesterday I bought my first Johnny Cupcake shirt, but I can tell you it will not be my last.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Five.

I was due for an upgrade so I figured no time better than now to make the jump. iPhone 5 is a pretty awesome phone. I find myself just turning it on to swipe through my pages of apps and marvel at the design and craftsmanship (weird I know). I wasn't sure how I would feel about the longer screen, but it's pretty great. Unless your holding it next to it's predecessor it really doesn't feel that big. In short, I'm pretty excited.

Five.

So me being the video guy I am, I wanted to push this phone's camera. Sure there are a bunch of test videos online, but nothing that looked very cinematic. I talked to a few friends about my idea and we decided to do a test of our own.

Fort Ord Pool Hall.

We wound up at one of my favorite filming locations, Fort Ord. This place gets more awesome every time I visit. More garbage, more graffiti, and more character. We almost got the boot from a cop, but we were stealthy about getting in and out without being too obvious.

BTS: iPhone 5 Video Test

I mounted the iPhone on my camera slider to get those slow tracking shots we all see in the movies. All in all, we shot for an hour or so before calling it a day. We could have easily shot for another few hours, but we didn't want to risk it.

Here is the final product.

Shuttefly.

Funny how things happen sometimes.

Someone reached out to me on Instagram because they saw some of my work and were interested in collaborating. Turns out they work for Shutterfly and they live in the same condo complex as me. One thing led to another and I found myself pitching our production company to the PR people of Shutterfly.

We were set to do one marketing video and edit their upcoming quarter's "Sizzle Reel," a mix of print and video vignettes that featured the company. To say we were excited was an understatement. This was a huge opportunity for our small production company.

We had a lot of fun working with the team over at Shutterfly to create some awesome videos. We are in talks to work on a few more videos from them so stay tuned.

Here is the main page of their "Storytelling" section on their site with one of our images on it.

Shutterfly

Check out the final video.