Down Town, LA _Project 09 #1

I’m starting the third part of my Down Town Los Angles project. This picture defines the project pretty well. At firs you see a beautiful sun rise and to me that symbolizes the beauty you see as you approach the city. As you get closer the details start to emerge. Once you are in the heart of the city you notice some thing is defiantly not the same as the rest of LA. Down Town is a mix of Business People, Homeless, Artist, Gangs, Students and every other group of people living with each other. There are no lines that divide economic status, race, gender, age or sexual preference. This is where I find the inspiration for this project. In Los Angeles the line have been drawn by streets and free ways. You can go from Beverly Hill to the Hood in a matter of minutes but rarely do people do this. I fell like people in this city just stay in their bubbles. Down Town is not like the rest of LA at all this is were everyone is mixed together in an area that is only few miles wide.

I love that all the lights on the stop light are on at the same time. That is how I feel when I walk around here. I never no what is going on. That symbolizes the craziness of the city.
I shot this photo at 5:30 am after I had been shooting for this project all night. This is the view my pent house loft witch is a big contrast form the streets below. I always look down at the streets and wonder who are these people living here night after night? We are going to find out in this project.

These are pieces of the original photo it took.

everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it (Kandee Johnson in NYC)

While I was in NYC with, Kandee (Johnson), and after we finished up her
Glaminars, there were all these balloons left over from the class. In typical Kandee form, she just grabbed all of them and started walking the streets of New York. The only thing I could do was grab my camera and follow.

We shot photos in the middle of the street, in rush hour traffic. People were looking at us like we were crazy! As we made our way down the street to union square, we stopped at this big blue wall and I starting shooting her with my point and shoot. I started thinking this would be amazing to film, so I turned it to video mode and shot this scene. I’ve never shot any video with that camera, and looking at how fun this shot is, makes me think, “ why don’t I do things like this more often?!?” I had this technology in my hands for a year now!

The one thing I didn’t get a shot of, were the people’s reaction around us! They were freaking out! They started gathering around like we were shooting a Vogue cover. I could not stop laughing. This was a super fun moment.

NYC and Kandee

You can't always see the forest from the trees...

I always like to look at things from afar before I enter any situation. Whenever I have questions I like to step back and look at things, I guess this is true for the way that I travel.

This was Kandee's first time in New York City, and I wanted to show her a view from outside the city to see how amazing it looks. I also wanted to shoot some pictures of NY at the same time. As I was shooting this amazing city scape, I noticed that kandee had become part of picture. She was sitting there with the light from the bridge shining down on her, that is kind of how she appeared in my life, she was just there one day. Like in this photo, she adds beauty and light to any picture. I’m glad I had this opportunity to come to NY with her to help with her Glaminars (check it out - www.kandeethemakeupartist.com). She is one of my best friends and I think any one who meets here feels the same way instantly. That is just the effect she has on people.

Is the world made of plastic #2?

Here are some examples of what I'm working on for the “Is the world made of plastic “art show. Living in down town LA there is inspiration all around me it was so easy to get these portraits. I love them because they are raw I just shot every body as they are. I want to work on this project for o few mounts and see what I get. I’m not going to Photoshop any thing on these images. This is just a preview of what it will look like.

Is the world made of plastic?

Is the world made of plastic? I always wonder why people want to look like mannequins? In Los Angeles I see so many people who alter their looks in so many ways I sometimes think I'm looking at room filed with mannequins. Photography is no better. The ads and billboards I see are so offensive to me. The are retouched to the point that they are not even human beings and a company will try to say if you buy their product you will look like this? Really!? What I have been thinking about for a few months is shooting a portrait project and just showing people as they are? I have one in the works now. I plan to have it completed by November for an art show in LA.