Thursday, March 28, 2013

The So Called "No Filter"

I can't remember the last time I uploaded any photos I took without the editing make up. Its been such a while since I did that.

With that being said, here are some random photographs I took in the San Fernando Valley yesterday while driving around all day like I've been doing everyday. I average about 140 miles per day and spend about 30 to 40 dollars in fuel. Multiply that by seven days and you get the idea how much my credit card has been working out at the gasoline stations. (I push in a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria taxicab with a V8 engine that does about 17 to 20 MPG if that matters). I'm still into photography, but the taxicab stuff is just something on the side. Read my last two posts about why I took that driving job. Anyway here are some unedited photos I captured.


Sherman Way and Woodley. Go get 'er. 



Suburban Mexican pride. 



The following two photos were taken at Richie Palmer's Mulberry Street Pizzeria, a pizza joint that I just started checking out right next to Primitive on Ventura Boulevard in Encino. Their pizza is very delicious. Here's their website  Mulberry Street Pizzeria





Finally I end the day by taking some rush hour sunset shots at the Sepulveda Dam on Burbank Boulevard, near the 405 Freeway.



All about that Valley life. I'll try to update this blogsite frequently with more photos (despite me saying that all the time) so keep check back on here frequently, otherwise, just remind me to make a new blogpsot. Thanks for your time reading and looking at this.










Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Baby Talkin' to Strangers

Yeah, still driving around the Valley picking up all kinds of humans to get from point A to point B. Been doing it everyday, but I managed to get some time off this weekend to cover my good friend Katie Galvez's baby shower party on Saturday, as well as her brother Elvis' band Aftergloam performing in the West Valley later that night.

Like I typed on my recent status on Facebook, I was trying to upload some teaser photos from the baby shower because I was planning to spend about about half a month editing these along with the photoshoot I did of my cousin and his BMW last December, which I still haven't worked on. But for some weird, wild, reason, Facebook won't even proceed with uploading at least one of my pictures on my timeline. Honestly, I really hate that site and its founder, yet, I'm only on there just to show off my photographs for business purposes, otherwise, I'd be going to different bars every weekend trying just hitting on women twice my age. Also, another reason is that the whole world and their grandmothers have a Facebook account nowadays.

So until I can try to get the photos working on there, here are some of the preview pictures from Katie's baby shower. Feel free to copy and paste these to your instagram or whatever.





Also, I read that T-Mobile is getting rid of the contracts plans and that they'll be switching to prepaid plans for any of their new customers. They said that they might be finally announcing the iPhone for their company as well. Should be interesting. 

Anyway, thanks for your time reading this. 



Friday, March 15, 2013

Hanging Over the Balance Inquiries

For some weird reason, I always tend to slack off from updating this site around March every year. Maybe it must be some hidden "senoritis" type birthday hangover that's preventing me from typing.( I just turned 25 ten days ago, if that matters)

But anyway, I've been very busy as of recent. You've been very busy as of recent as well. Its kinda been like that since Barack was sworn in to the White House back in 2009, when the economy just started to suck. Everyone is more focused on their own priorities, yet they sometimes find a way to go clubbing on a fuckin' Thursday night and post drunk photos of themselves all over Facebook. Hell, even the bars will be packed with non-Irish blokes this upcoming Sunday night as they raise their Blood Alcohol Content to the point where their too fucked up to not have to go to class or work the next day or two.

Shit, I don't even have time to go out nowadays. I even missed Primitive's Pain of Beauty premiere at the Arclight in Hollywood on Wednesday night cause I had to be at a mandatory last-minute hearing that night in Downtown Los Angeles.

What was the hearing for? Well, right now I'm currently and just recently employed as a driver in the Los Angeles Department of Transportation in their Taxicab division. I didn't really ask for it, but it was given to me. I been driving their cabs every day for a month so far, with only one day off on my 25th birthday so far. The hearing was for 2 complaints that some of the customers I picked up had snitch on me to the company that I drive for (United Independent San Fernando Valley). But I told them I just got started, and it was settled by having to pay them a $2.00 fine in Money Order.

Surprised that I'm now driving cabs around the Valley? Well, you're supposed to be. Surprises are part of life, from finding out that your first crush in elementary school is getting married for the third time on Facebook, or learning that one of your parents is dating somebody 15 years younger than them. My moms just called me this past week and we had our usual arguments. At the end of the conversation, she told me that I'll be 30 in 5 years, which surprised me as I though of it. Honestly, I really wish that I had one single legit job aside from my photography for the past six years instead of having several different ones. Since 2007, I was a cashier, a sale associate, a stock keeper, a security guard, a paparazzi photographer, a family portrait studio photographer, a paid volunteer at Providence Tarzana Medical Center, a car washer at Galpin Ford, and a warehouse supplier last year which I didn't mention that much on this blog. Hell, I even sold junk food and snacks at a small commissary there for the employees there with a deaf person in his 50s that was my supervisor there. I didn't know sign language, but despite the challenge, we somehow manage to communicate and get along very well while selling Coke Zeros and Frito-Lay products.

I'm only in this taxicab business just so that I can pay bills and shit like that and then later on in a few years I can start focusing on what I really want to do. I had to spend about $500 that I don't have to start and get all the permits and pay the exam fees and drug testing to drive cabs around the Valley, and its paying off well so far. If I never drove my drunk friends to their house in the past or if I never grew up in the 818 and knew every street by heart, then I wouldn't have interest in this job. To me, its just a regular job. Nothing to get excited about since most other better places to work at is very hard to get nowadays. I'm at the banks all the time and I work almost everyday for an average of 12 hours, so you'll rarely see any updates on here or on Facebook. But if you're on instagram, feel free to bother me at @justforsneaks07 so that you can see some photos that you won't see on Facebook.

Even though I missed the Pain Is Beauty invite only premiere on Wednesday night, you can check out the film right here on The Berrics, which is a website that post videos of all things skateboarding. The Berrics also have several other videos of Skateboarder/Primitive co-founder Paul Rodriguez from his web-reality series Life: Paul Rodriguez and a excellent feature on his partner Andy Netkin with his sneaker collection. Check it out. Pain is Beauty link

Anyway, I end this post right here. I'll have some photography and other stuff that I've been working on and will be working on that I'll share with y'all in the coming months, so keep a lookout for that. Anyway, thanks for your time reading this.