Rhymes, rhythms and reasons: A glimpse at my photography

Update: I just checked in with Portland Monthly via email and got confirmation from the Art Director that they used a different photo than mine for the article.. Oh well, it was nice to have one of my pictures considered at all. I'm still going to keep my eye open for other opportunities.

Coming up in the next issue of Portland Monthly will be my first published photograph. I occasionally take photographs at the events/exhibitions at Disjecta and post them on the site. I was surprised to be contacted by the Deputy Art Director requesting permission to use the photo in an article about Portland 2010 Biennial of Contemporary Art.

This will be the first time my work as appear publicly, besides having pictures on the Disjecta website or Facebook/Myspace. I'm pretty stoked. This may spark an interest to enter photography contests. In fact we have juried show at work with a deadline coming soon that will feature works of employees (paintings, photographs, etc). My biggest problem: narrowing them down to just a 3 submissions.

I got my first "real" camera few years ago from Pro Photo Supply on NW 19th. I've always loved photography and felt I had an eye for composition.

I grew up next door to a professional photographer, Mr. Irving Haines. He was always a grandfatherly figure for me. His wife Martha was a pretty cool woman as well. They lived in this huge green house on Mar Avenue in La Jolla. Mr. Haines was an artistic guy. His outdoor stairs were covered with mosaic tile chips. I remember he make a fish-shaped plywood base and helped me do a mosaic on the wood. I wish I still had that somewhere :( They converted two different room in their downstairs in to galleries, one B&W and one color. They had a few openings, receptions. I remember a photograph of him and his siblings in a wagon pulled by a chicken.

Photography and recording images didn't become an interest of mine until college when I got involved in filmmaking. It wasn't until Mr. Haines had been moved to a nursing home that I debuted a video pieces I'd done for a class assignment. I created a series of freeze frames from video footage I'd shot. I can't positively recall but I think it was the We Always piece without the soundtrack. I hooked my camera to the TV in his room. I believe it was the last time I saw him.

Looking back I see he was a huge influence on me but it took many years to realize it. I gravitated towards filmmaking and video production but always as an homage to Mr. Haines (consciously or subconsciously). I brought my interest in composition to my work as a camera operator in both student films at SDSU and the independent production of "Sparkle".

My early experimentation consisted of grabbing stills from my digital video camera. On my trips to Big Sur and other road trips I resorted to an assortment of disposable cameras. I eventually graduated to my first digital pocket camera (a Nikon Coolpix) before I went to India. On the trip I broke the LCD screen the night before my camel safari in Jaisalmer. It still takes great pictures but when I got home, it knew it was time to upgrade. After being inspired by Matt's purchase of the Nikon D80 I started shopping around. I probably should have spent the extra $200 bucks but I went for the lower model, the D40. It's still a freaking awesome camera for what I do. I wish I had 18mm-200mm lens 'cuz I like to shoot closeups with the zoom but also be able to get the wide angle shots. I hate swapping the lenses out on the trail since I'm using shooting on hikes and such.

Recently I upgraded my cellphone to the EnV by LG. It's a decent camera for those impromptu shots but it wasn't until I discovered the panorama feature that I really enjoyed taking certain kind of photos with it. I did some Lunchtime walks when the weather was nice earlier this month and got a bunch of pano shots.

The following are photos I have posted on Facebook. It's not a comprehensive collection by any means but I dig them a lot. Enjoy.