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Zoom Tessa Downtown Shoot on Flickr.Urban portrait session for Tessa.  She needed something for her website.  We shot at 3 different locations around downtown L.A..   Single softbox with2 speedlights (1 ghetto rigged with hair rubberbands).  Here is the hero shot for her site.

Tessa Downtown Shoot on Flickr.

Urban portrait session for Tessa. She needed something for her website. We shot at 3 different locations around downtown L.A.. Single softbox with2 speedlights (1 ghetto rigged with hair rubberbands). Here is the hero shot for her site.

08.22.11 2
Zoom Ryder Bean Bag Chair on Flickr.Last one for today… This is Ryder from last week.  2 light set up.  Overhead studio strobe shot through a softbox, and a speedlight barebulb negative 45 degrees to the back right.

Ryder Bean Bag Chair on Flickr.

Last one for today… This is Ryder from last week. 2 light set up. Overhead studio strobe shot through a softbox, and a speedlight barebulb negative 45 degrees to the back right.

08.19.11 12
Zoom Smashley on Flickr.I just learned that I can post to my Tumblr straight from Bandcamp and from Flickr!!  
In addition to a little bit of music, I’ve been doing a LOT of photography.  Heavy on lighting setups and starting to get heavier into photoshop.  I really want to extend beyond great captures or photos and move into creating art.  
This picture of my niece Ashley is a step in the right direction…

Smashley on Flickr.

I just learned that I can post to my Tumblr straight from Bandcamp and from Flickr!!

In addition to a little bit of music, I’ve been doing a LOT of photography. Heavy on lighting setups and starting to get heavier into photoshop. I really want to extend beyond great captures or photos and move into creating art.

This picture of my niece Ashley is a step in the right direction…

08.19.11 0

Finally, a new Stereotype track!  This one has been a long time coming.  The last songs we finished were last December, but I guess Ryder has been keeping me busy.

We actually finished this track weeks and weeks ago.  This song almost ended up as two different songs.  We had almost different grooves worked out, and finally found a way to put them together into a single song.  We brought in my friend & co-worker, Mary, to come in lay down the female vocals.  I was so impressed that she was able to come in cold in a room full of other guys she didn’t know and just sing.  And she was graceful despite my crazy direction.

Finally, Tad and my old buddy from Helio, Leo, was in town from Korea.  He’s a talented electronic musician.  He came by the house and sat down and mixed our whole track while tad and I gawked.  He added some great little details like the whispers, cleaned up the vocals, etc.  It made a huge difference.  It was great to watch.  I learned a shit load.

Anyways, here is Stereotype- Disappoint.  Enjoy.

08.19.11 0
Artist: Jason Kwong
Song: I dont give a FORK
Plays: 0
audio
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

I hope you all love this one.  Burst of inspiration.  Most of it was written in my head before I sat down.  Kel’s first musical debut ever.  And she totally makes the track.  Thanks to Tad for laying down a killer solo.  2 mins of fury.  Enjoy.

02.26.11 0
Mia Portrait Session: Take 2

2nd Session with Mia last Saturday.  This time with heavy use of the Speedlite shot through an umbrella.  I don’t end up getting labeled as a “baby photographer”.  Hahaha.  That would really suck.  The rest of the set here.  Sorry they’re all grouped in there with the first set.

01.12.11 0
My Tongue Weighs a Ton

Imagine your tongue was so long that it didn’t fit back in your mouth.  And when you lay your head down to sleep, it would fold like an accordion.

01.05.11 0
Ryder with flash

I got some studio lighting over the holidays.  Looking forward to doing more portrait work.  And I just ordered 2 books on using a Speedlite.  Should be fun.  Lighting seems to be a whole new experient and challenge.  It opens a whole new world of possibilities, but it seems so difficult to control and use tastefully.  

If anyone wants to model or have portraits or head shots taken.  Let me know.  I am down to start playing with light.

So here is an early experiment.  First pic: Ryder taken with a my Canon 7D, 50mm 1/125 @ f/2.8, ISO 100, with my Speedlite set up on a tripod shooting through an umbrella like a soft box.  2nd pic: Speedlite on camera and bounced off the ceiling.  50mm 1/125 @ f/1.8, ISO 100

01.04.11 1
Artist: Stereotype
Song: Cover Me
Plays: 0
audio
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

I know many of you probably already saw or heard this through my post on Facebook, but I’m pretty excited about the latest Stereotype.  We actually wrote most of this before we even started writing Keep Calm.    I love this track.  It’s just under 3 minutes of fury.  Dirty rock guitars and an driving electro beat.  Still not easily filed within a specific genre.

3 interesting things to note about the track:

1) We originally used real sounding drums, and per Tad’s suggestion, we decided Stereotype was really about the electronic beats, so I reprogrammed most of the beats in an afternoon.  And it definitely changed the feel.

2)  I learned a production trick called “ducking” used side-chain compression.  It’s all technical mumbo jumbo, but it’s a technique heavily used by French House producers to give that pumping sound.  You can hear it on the main synth as it “ducks’ out of the way of the kick.  

3) If you noticed the vocals have a different gritty quality to it, it’s cuz we ran it through is modeled amp with heavy gain.

Anyways, sorry for rambling, but I hope you enjoy!  Expect more in 2011.

01.03.11 0
Merry Christmas everyone!!

12.25.10 0