That Was Yesterday

Today is almost over, including the month of May heading into June. Since is almost tomorrow as I'm typing this on May 31, I'll talk about what I did yesterday since I feel like sharing it... in one liners.

- that Thursday started with a phone call from one of my good friends as I woke up (thanks Carol)

-I never ever like to discuss about the people I pick up and give lifts to, but I had a interesting talk, with a Jewish doctor that I picked up, about how everything has changed in certain parts of the Valley and some of the businesses that got affected by the recession.

-Took a customer from Sherman Oaks to Santa Ana, which was the most expensive ride I've ever gotten so far in the three months I've been doing this... and the bloke paid in cash.

-Drove a few miles to Newport Beach and had a basic, interesting lunch at the Yardhouse in Fashion Island for the second time since December 2011.

-Went to the Apple Store at the same mall (which has a very high ceiling) and copped me a Belkin anti-glare screen protector and a Nike case for my iPhone 5.

-Cruised on the Pacific Coast Highway (speed limit was 60 MPH) and stopped at one of the beaches in Huntington Beach to take some quick photos.

-took the 710 Freeway straight up to Alhambra from Long Beach with some stop and go traffic every now and then.

-Since I was in that area, I drove up Fair Oaks Ave and decided to check out the Phil Jackson Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success book signing that was taking place at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, which isn't that far.

-Found a open parking space next to the Target on Colorado and Oak Knoll Avenue (which is uncommonly rare in downtown Pasadena) and its just very close to the bookstore

-I though the books were sold out when I got there 30 minutes after Phil Jackson started signing, but the store had several in stock, and I bought one since they said that I can still get it signed.

-The line was long, but that shit moved VERY QUICKLY. The whole experience and meeting the Zen Master was short and fast as he signed my book.

-The store originally prohibited photography of Phil Jackson signing his book, but at the last minute, Vroman's Bookstore management were loose and cool about it, so I took only three photographs of Coach Jackson and left.

-Jetted onto the 210 Freeway back home to find that my sisters came over to spend a few days at my pops' house, which is not bad.

-Had a deep discussion with the siblings and reflected on how far we gotten so far in our lives.

-Made some phone calls to catch up on some of my other homegirls who I haven't heard from in a while to finish up the day.

-and I didn't even have to use an AK.


I wish everyday was like this all the time, but time eventually moves on. Tomorrow, my cousin graduates from Loyola High School, and he is the youngest in my immediate family. I remember when it was at least 5 years ago that him and my other cousins and siblings were starting high school, but they are all now almost half way through with their under graduate college life. Show how fast time has gone through. Another thing tomorrow (or today if you're just reading this after having another overrated hangover from the night before) is that Primitive will be launching not only their Summer '13 collection , but they also have a brand new website with focuses on the Primitive Apparel brand and lifestyle. Going to be interesting to see what surprises that they have this summer, as always. Here's the link Primitive Apparel

Thanks for your time reading this and have a great month of June without the gloom.

Memorable Days

It's 3:30 AM on Monday morning as I'm typing this. Damn, as I look back the past three years, she really did made an impact on my life.

If it wasn't for her, I would've been a basic ass black dude being remotely bored with his life. If it wasn't for her, then 90% of y'all would've never gotten professional quality photos being taken by me. And because of her, my photography has improved and increased in terms of business and networking. One of the reasons I stayed in touch with her is cause she also has a similar interest in taking photos as well, in both film and digital. Hell, I even saw her rocking two Canon SLRs (each film and digital) at her twin's second birthday party. Once I saw that, I knew she was legit.

That day, August 13, 2010, pretty much started the whole thing. I already discussed it on this site a week after it happened, but fuck it, I'll tell it again since it was one of my most memorable days of 2010.

The day of my brother's 18th birthday, I first met her at the Robert Frost Middle School class reunion at the Sugar Suite bar in Granada Hills. She was one of the few people that hosted the event. I know there's high school reunions but I would never think there would be one for 8th graders who graduated in 2002. So I went since I was one of the well known people from my middle school who got into fights there and got sent to the office several times for hitting on girls. That school was in a affluent area of Granada Hills and the people there looked like rich private school students since we had to wear uniforms. I was the skinny black kid with the cheap Payless shoes and fucked up haircuts done by my moms with uneven line-ups. But back to the reunion, as I got there, there were several people that I recognized and haven't seen in 8 years. We reminisced about all the crazy shit that happen at Frost and all the teachers we used to piss off. Then later, she came, and not to be disrespectful, but out of everyone that attended, she was the only one that I don't remember from junior high. Everybody else I did remember, pretty much the whole entire graduating class, but not her for some weird reason. She was also well known at Frost. I took photos of the reunion and posted them up on Facebook the next day, and I don't know if I sent her a friend request or if she sent me one, but regardless, she sent me an invite for attending her twin's birthday party taking place a week after that. My photography was increasing that summer just from doing multiple photoshoots and working with my uncle every week, so to gain more confidence, I asked her if I can take photographs of her kids birthday party and she said yes. I was thinking of charging her at that point, but since I offered to do it, I just did it for no charge.

Now as I was about get ready to go to her kid's birthday party on that Saturday, I learned at the last minute that Paul Rodriguez Jr. was doing a meet and greet at Primitive, the skating boutique that he owns in Encino, for the store's two year anniversary. Prior to this, I heard of Primitive a few times but I never stepped inside there and also that year, I was still into photographing celebrities and famous people, so I figured why not just add Paul Rodriguez, one of most popular professional skateboarders ever, into the list.

The thing was that the anniversary party happened around the same time that her twin's birhtday party started. I stayed there for a short bit and took about 20 pictures of the store, the people who attended, Paul Rodriguez, and the rest of the photos were of Filipina model Justene Jaro, who fucking shocked me by surprise when she came out looking tight and sexy by wearing the Infrared Nike Air Max 90s that got re-released that summer. Reason I took very little photos was because I didn't want to take up battery life and storage space for the birthday party I was going to attend later on that day. After I left Primitive, I never thought that I would return to that store unless if there was an exclusive Nike SB Dunk that was released, but a several months later, I ran into Harry Kim, one of the staff at Primitive, at a Thai festival in Hollywood. He was wearing a dope ass greyscale Primitive t-shirt with the Los Angeles skyline on it. I asked him about it and he told me that I should stop by at the shop to pick it up, which I did. Since then, I never stopped going to Primitive and I kept supporting them, just like what I was about to do with her.

When I got to her kids party, I didn't know what to expect. At first, it started out just eating some BBQ that was provided. Then later on, her kids showed up and that was when the show began. I just went all over the place snapping photos like I was at one of the events my uncle and I would cover during that summer. When the party was almost over, I told her that I would make a slideshow DVD of it as I left. I spent the next two weeks on my uncle's iMac working on editing the photos and placing them on iDVD. I made like a few copies so that she can give it to her family members. Here's the video slideshow I made form that party.

A month later after I presented her the photos from her kids party, she then invited me to attend another party to take photos of, but this time it was for two of her friends Annamarie Rhyne and Cristina Campa. It took place at her house on a Saturday Night. There were originally gonna be three bands performing that night, but it went down to two since the last band backed out at the last minute. The performers were Aftergloam and Darger De Milo, and this was the first of many performances that I witnessed and photographed of them. I was even surprised when she was gonna perform with Darger De Milo during that party. That night was were I met so many people who I would be somewhat involved with their lives for the next three years. It was one of the many greatest night ever.

As the months went on, I started going to several different gathering and meet-ups every week. Whether it was a show, a birthday party, or a last minute kickback, I was there just to take photos. Not only that, I kept meeting more people and their families and developed good relationships with them. If it wasn't for that night, I would've never met the homie Elvis and his awesome extended family. I was fortunate to go to the NBA All Star weekend with his brother and brother-in-law at the Convention Center the following year, something that I thought I wouldn't ever experience (thank you William Galvez). But in all seriousness, I really got a hard hit on life since I started hanging out and going around Los Angeles with her and a her friends, from a diverse perspective. I saw the reality of life, meeting different people and listening to the different opinions the spit out. All the late night shows in downtown, and hanging out with her friends family members was like a spinoff of a television series. Fuck, I really enjoyed it.

I really couldn't imagine what my life for the last three years would've been if I never met her. I learned so much about the different aspect of life through her than I would've throughout my entire lifetime.Through her I  experience about the joys and the mindsets of children through her friends' kids, newborns in life (such as seeing Katie Galvez's daughter Marilyn at one day old), experiencing losing life partners (RIP Ashley Davidson), the responsibilities and lives of young and old parents, giving respect to talented musicians and watching them craft their work behind the scenes during their practice sessions, having conversations with other photographers who have doing this longer than I have, staying up late at night till sunrise, driving her friend's cars since they were too intoxicated to go behind the wheel, spending Christmas Day with her family, hanging out at the DLT's, running into Nikolai Frature of The Strokes at the Five Star Bar right after he performed at Coachella that weekend, and witnessing the homeboy Eric Jackson getting married to Jessica Torres this past weekend at Franklin Canyon park, which was a great event. I wanted to stay longer for the reception, but I had to leave early due to work issues. If I never got to experience all of these, I seriously would've been some un-social vocational school student living with my moms and I would've had that one-dimension mentality thinking that too many people having kids is negative and that everyone was too lazy to clean themselves up and get a job. Shit, I would've lost interest in photography if I never met her, cause she was a major part of expanding my portfolio and the main reason why I started blogging a lot more.

Its not everyday that you would run into a blonde hair girl with tattoos and a serious infatuation with BMWs (she named her son after one of them) who would all of a sudden quietly put some kind of a dent in your life. I'm returning all of this by not only writing this long ass piece on her 25th birthday, as well as Memorial Day today, but by saying thanks to her for giving me a boost forward in expecting and looking out for life's challenges and social obstacles. I write all this cause I really do love her, just like the Thousands (yes, THOUSANDS) of her friends on her Facebook page. Even though I haven't seen her that much aside from seeing her at Eric and Jessica's wedding last Saturday (sorry that I didn't stay to watch your Disc Jockey talents) I'm very blessed to have her as a part in my life and hopefully it will continue for a very long time, and that she'll do the same impact she has done to me back in the summer of 2010 to others out there who don't have an true idea with social direction their going.

Happy 25th years of life, Nicole Stetter.

Movin' Around

Honestly, I was supposed to make this following blog post two months ago, but obviously, work and other personal shit got in the way. So now I can finally put this up.

I've known the homeboy Jesse Valencia since 2005. We went to the same high school and I had a few classes with him. Dude is one the chillest persons I've known. After graduation, I haven't seen him since. A year later, whenever I would pick up my little brother from school during his Freshman year at Kennedy High, I would see his sister there and she told me that Jesse worked at a tire shop n Sun Valley (Anthony's Tire Center). Since I had a car at the time, I was thinking of dropping by that place to visit and to see if they check the tires on my car, but I never had the chance and the time to go over there, especially after I sold the car two years ago.

After I joined instagram a year ago, he then added me on there and its great to see how he's been doing with his life just from looking through his photos. Then I saw that he's opening up his own tire shop in my old stomping grounds of North Hollywood. I have always been driving around that community alot more since I started driving taxicabs, so one day I decided to drop by and visit him and support as well.

We caught up with each others lives and just chilled at his shop for a bit. He even showed me his Dodge Challenger SRT that he drives. I forgot what used to be there but, the place looks completely brand new, and they have a alot of new equipment and tires in stock. If you're in the east part of the San Fernando Valley, I suggest that y'all should stop by there for any tire rotation or is you need new tires for your car. The name of the shop is NOHO Tires and Wheels. Its on the corner of Lankershim Boulevard and Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood. And say hi to Jesse while your there.  Here are some of the photos I took at his shop.

NOHO Tires & Wheels. 5615 Lankershim Boulevard. North Hollywood, CA.

Also, one other thing. I moved out of Sylmar after spending three years staying there. For those who haven't been following up on my updates, I originally moved out for my pops house cause we weren't in sync with each other and other reasons. Now everything is cool and since I've been staying over there more than my place at Sylmar, whom I shared with a Filipino family that my moms knew from a medical personnel she knew. Yesterday was my final night sleeping over there. Here's a link to a short video I took of my room with the iPhone 5 just minutes before I left. Last Day living in Sylmar

It was such an trip living there and experiencing a dose of independence, but then again, they built a school across the street from my place and after school, the block becomes a scene with several kids hanging around and the street gets filled with parents picking them up. But then again, as I learned and get reminded ever year in the month of may: life moves on. 

Speaking of which, my friend Eric Jackson and his fiancee Jessica Torres are getting married today. I'm not the official wedding photographer for the event, but regardless, I'm gonna attempt to capture some moments using black and white Kodak Tri-X 35mm film, which is something you don't see most wedding photographers shoot with anymore. I'll upload them in about a month or so, so keep a lookout for those. Thanks for your time reading this. 

Spoiled Beginnings

I've said this almost 4 years ago on MySpace as well as on here a few times and I'll say it again. Everyone is very busy nowadays.

I'm not tripping, but seriously, everyone I know is either doing stuff that take up so much of their time and their schedules are even booked up a few weeks in advance. Its not just everyone that's busy, but I'm even way more busier than before, which is why I haven't been updating this blogsite in the past month. Not that I haven't lost interest in typing, but its just I haven't found the time to work on this.

Its been already three months since I've been driving taxicabs around the San Fernando Valley. Everyday, I've been doing it for 12 hours a day, driving an average of 100 miles at least for seven days a week, and getting paid everyday. Then I get about 8 hours of sleep and two hours doing stuff with the family, so there for I have about two hours of free time, which is mostly spent on checking on Facebook, instagram and my Bank accounts. Typing on this site for me requires some energy and thought, but for losing 20 hours of your time day after day, you just don't feel like spilling out some words like I used to, cause I wasn't working as much then as I am now. My favorite blogger/celebrity jeweler Ben Baller has to put his blog on the brakes last week cause he has to focus on his wife Nicolette Lacson and his son as well as other personal business. At first I was upset cause I would always look forward to reading his blogs for inspiration and amusement for the past 5 years, but in all seriousness, I respect his decision to no longer updating on his personal life and wish him the best in his life.

Like I said in the past, May is one of the busiest months of the year. Alot has happened and it's not done yet. One of my cousins (the youngest in my immediate family) will be graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles next week and my homeboy Eric will be linking his life with his fiancee Jessica  in their wedding ceremony this Saturday. Also, my good friend Katie Galvez gave birth to a wonderful newborn girl a two and a half weeks ago. I was there to visit her 24 hours after her new daughter was born and that was a very unique, interesting moment on that Saturday. It was the first time since my youngest was born 19 years ago that I've ever seen a fresh young baby just straight out her mothers stomach. It made me think alot of life and how precious and fragile it is. I give my absolute best to Katie and Rudy for their new addition to their lives.

So yeah, I just thought I spill a little update on what's been going on with me so far. Even though not too many people keep up with their blogs cause of other important matters in their lives, I'll still continue to write on here and upload some photography for those who like to read this shit whenever I get the chance  Finally, I copped the iPhone 5 yesterday (wasn't cheap, but whatever). Was impressed with my cousins iPhone 4s when I was with him last week so it made me go out and get one for my self, but only the latest model. Its gonna take a while to get adjusted to it for expect your news feeds on Twitter and instagram to be flodded with photos and random statues that get tossed around in my mind. I didn't take that many photos yet, but here's two I took so far.

Lastly, here is my current lock screen capture featuring Lisa Ann (who I've met last year). The Hundreds isn't the only thing that's Huge. 

Anyway, thanks for your time reading this. I'll have some interesting stuff in the works, so stay in touch with me on instagram @justforsneaks07.