It's been a while!

Oh man, it’s been about eight months since I last posted a blog. I feel bad about not keeping up with it, but I have no laptop, and I don’t really have time to blog from work, and I still don’t trust the “blogging” from my cell phone thingy ha-ha.
Let’s see, what’s happened during these 8 months? A lot!!
I think one of the most live changing events was moving out of my parents’ house about two and a half months ago.
I had spoke to my mom about it a week before I actually left. One morning, I decided to just leave! And I thought to myself, if I don’t go now I will never do it!
I gotta say it was a little hard in the beginning but I have learned to love it, I still visit my family from time to time (I only live a few blocks away from them anyway).
I’ve done a couple photo shoots and I am currently planning some more. I also got my license as a Pastor for the Nazarene denomination. And I’ve been singing A LOT as the opening act to a lot of famous Hispanic Christian singers.
I am super happy at this point in live! And I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me.
I will try to blog more often again, keep an eye open for the photos I’ll be posting in the near future.

2010 Recap/ 2011 Resolutions

Let me start by saying this has been the best year of my life!!!

I've learned it isn't about the good or bad things that happen to us but what we make of them, and from now on I wanna make the best out of every situation in life.

I learned to be more positive about everything in general. Some times things seem bad and hard to understand them, but I know God has a purpose for everything.

There were a couple of bad things happening to me but I let God take control and trusted him and was able to really appreciate this year and all of the blessings that it brought with it. You know how people say "there's always a rainbow after every storm" Well it is true!!

I went back to being a part of MQV's worship team. I sang at many different churches promoting the cd I recorded with the Paez family during 09. I opened concerts for well known christian artist and started working on my first solo album.

I finally got a job!! After a year and a half of being unemployed I got a job... A good job. The first two months I worked for free (as an intern) and when I started getting paid it just wasn't enough pay. But I love doing what I do, so it doesn't matter, I strongly believe that whatever time we spend in God's ministry isnt time wasted... It's time invested!! And I'm sure things will get better this coming year. God's got my back ;)

My 1st godson was born! He is adorable, and growing very fast!

I celebrated my birthday in Las Vegas with some old friends who have been with me through thick and thin! I love them a lot!!

I met new friends and I said goodbye to some old friends.

Summer went by super fast and it was very hot! but we survived! We also survived a couple of scary earthquakes.

I was finally able to lose weight!! After being depressed and gaining weight like crazy, I did it!! Being happy made it easier for me to focus. The love and support from my family help a lot too! I've lost 40lbs in 4 months I still need to lose 20lbs more this new year, and now I feel confident that I will be able to do it.

I'm really excited about this coming year. My cd will be released, concerts ahead, more blessings coming my way!

Some of my resolutions for 2011 are:

- Learn more about God, grow closer to him each and every day.
- Be more positive about everything.
- Learn how to play the piano.
- Drop the extra 20lbs I gained and get toned!
- Be a better son, brother, cousin, friend, a better person all together.
- Save up some money (this will be the hardest challenge of all)
- Travel.

I'm sure new challenges will come up during the year and I'm ready to take them on, with the help of God, with the love and support from my family and friends!!

Happy 2011 everyone!!!

After 3 months of not blogging.

Three months ago, I wrote my last blog. Ever since that time I’ve been saying to myself “I need to write a new blog”.

But I just haven’t had time. Also, I must confess, I started to believe people might not really care about all the nonsense I write about my life and the things that are going on with me anyway.

Then it hit me. If people don’t want to read it, well, they don’t have to. But I’m still going to write because I like writing!!!
So, if you’re still reading, thank you for caring :) and since you care I will share some more with you!

Like I said before, I’ve been super busy!! But I love it. I’m always doing something and keeping busy is always a good thing.

One of the things that keep me busy the most is my new job as a video editor for Vida TV channel 62-3. But I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy at a job as I am now! It’s such a cool job that sometimes I forget is work.

Oh, and lets not forget about school. it’s my last quarter to get my certificate as a movie animator, and I got lots of projects going on.

But that’s not the only school I go to. I’m also going to Bible school, and the reading is intense to say the least.

I’m also working on my first solo cd; I help Yeccenia (our youth leader) with the youth, their events, plays, movies and such.

I’m still singing with MQV. Singing with them is one of the greatest things ever. They may or may not be the best worship group out there, but to me, being a part of them means A LOT!!!

On top of all those things I still have chores at home and my mom will do anything to make sure I do them.

Sometimes I think I’m a bad friend cause I have no time to just “chill” with some of my friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. I have to put a “chillin” session on my calendar to make sure I don’t book anything else on those days, but for the most part it’s hard to set one of those on my calendar since most of it is already taken :(
But I do try my hardest to be with some of them even if it’s just for a little bit.

Now, my photography has been sorta put on break because of all these other things taking up most of my time. It’s hard to book anything on my calendar since most of it is taken up already.

But I have done a few shoots in the past 3 months, I didn’t just forget about it, although I have not written blogs to go with them.

Let me show you now some of the events and sessions I’ve shot.

I Shot a few celebrities for Celebrity Catwalk


Countess Vaughn better known as Kim Parker from the hit show The Parkers.


Carmit Bachar ex-Pussycat Doll.


I also shot the "Festival de Unidad" for the city of Hawaiian Gardens.





I booked both of this two events thanks to my friend Astrid Sandoval, who's always looking out to get me cool gigs.

But Astrid isn't the only one hooking me up with gigs. My mom also booked this Quinceañera from one of her friends. Itzel's XV





I also shot Maritza.






And here is the latest shoot I've had.





I have more photos on my facebook page if you care to look at some from the shoots I've posted here.

Remember to comment, like, and tell your friends about the page.

Yuri's Pre-Wedding Party

I met Yuri many many years ago at church, and I thank God that she has fulfilled her dream of being married. I wish her and her husband the best always and forever!

I was honored to have been part of the wedding as the MC, and the day before she had a pre-wedding party, where she signed her marriage papers.

I was also asked to take a few photos during her pre-wedding ceremony, and here are some of the frames from that shoot!

A little different...

This shot is a little different than all I've done so far. We shot indoors (in a garage) with a blue screen and artificial lights!

I had a lot of fun doing this shoot, and once again working with my friend Astrid as the Art Director made it even easier for me!

One day she came over and told me about the concept she had in mind and it sounded really cool. By the time we actually got together and worked on this project it was more than just cool, it was a lot of fun and challenging!

I was very happy with the result from this shoot, and here are a few takes, I hope you guys like them :)

A full crew on set!

I've been wanting to edit this photos for a while now, but I didn't have time with all the other things I had to edit first. I actually shot this about a month ago and I finally was able to edit some of it.

It was fun shooting, that day. I wanna thank the full crew that helped out that day.

Astrid, my Art director, for making my job easier :)
Sergio, for recording this shoot and all the others, I know this video will be just as awesome as the ones you always make!
Alan, for coming along and helping with bouncing off light it made my photos look so much better :)

And I also wanna thank the models, Lucero & Cristian for making this a fun shoot!!

Here are some of the frames I hope you guys like'em and as usual check out a few more takes on my facebook page.

Juan Carlos & Malena's Wedding

This past weekend I had the honor of being the master of ceremony of a very elegant wedding. I also sang during the reception but that wasn't all, I was also a part time photographer for it.

I was very nervous thinking I wouldn't be able to do all three things but it turned out to be a cool experience and I had a lot of fun!!

I want to share some of the photos from the wedding with you guys, hope you like them :)

A public Apology

I may have offended some people due to the content of my last photo shoot. The last thing I wanted to do is offend anyone. I have removed the controversial photos off of my facebook page and from the blog as well, and I assure you they will not be on the website I'm launching soon.

You can read a little more about it on the discussion board on my Facebook page.

Once again, thank you everyone for following me and my work, and my most sincere apologies to those of you that were offended.

Summer is Here!

Although it's not as hot as it usually gets here in socal, today we had a good day at the beach!

The water was a little cold, but the sun came out. I shot my friend Mariely one more time, this time in a swimsuit, well actually 3 of them :)

We had a lot of fun with this shoot. I usually don't edit and post from the same day of the shoots but most frames came out good and I couldn't wait to share them.











I will be posting more soon on from this shoot on my facebook page and ALSO, I will be launching my website soon, where you'll be able to see more of my work :)

Tairi's XV

I know I haven't posted in a long time.
But I've been busy with so many things, last year I had nothing to do, and this year I've been up and down none stop. Which is good, being busy is a good thing. It keeps my mind occupied :)

In this chaotic schedule of mine, i've been trying to get time out and work on my photography. I've shot some fashion concepts, a few parties and I have other shoots lined up. I am so happy about it.

Anyway! Here are some photos I took from my sister's Quinceanera!












Check out a few more takes on my facebook page.

Eres tu el Alfarero by David Paez

I feel honored to say I directed David Paez first music video.
This young boy of only 11 years of age is one of the most talented guys I've ever met.
He sings, he plays the piano, and many more instruments that he's picking up.
He's gonna be big one day!

Here is the video, Eres Tu el Alfarero!




Check out more of his music at www.davidpaezmusic.com

Thankful!

God is doing great things in my life and I gotta say, I'm very thankful.

I have been in a couple of churches promoting the cd I recorded at the end of 2009, and soon I'll be recording my own, which is a dream come true!

But that isn't the only area that is going well for me. My photography hobby is starting to kick off and make some profit (which is a very good thing now that I don't have a job).

It is really nice to hear people compliment my work. It feels nice to get compliments from other photographers that are way more experienced than I am. But having people contact me to become clients?? That's how I know people are really liking what I do.

Keep praying for me, my family, my personal life, my ministry, my business, and all of the amazing things God has blessed me with!

Meanwhile here is another photo shoot that I wanna share with you.

Side By Side Comparisons

As many of you know, I'm just starting as a photographer so there are a lot of things I still don't know how to do and I am still learning.

I see my photos getting better and better, the more I shoot the better results I get.

When I first started I was getting a lot of blurry images, over expose images, under expose images, etc.

But since I also have some knowledge on photoshop, I've been able to make even the "bad" images work.

Today, I want to share some of the photos that I've edited and their originals.

The first one will be from Naya's shoot. Although this frame didn't make the blog, it is one of my favorites.




The original was too dark, but after playing with it on photoshop, I made it a little lighter, and I even added a fake sky in the background because the day we shot her the sky was gray and had no clouds.

The Next one is from Jeo's shoot. I had a hard time editing his entire film, because I over exposed 85% of the frames! It was bad, I couldn't believe how horrible I had done. But I've learned so much from that day!





He posted this picture on his myspace, and people kept asking if the wall was fake, if the sun's reflection in his shades was fake. As you can see, only half of the wall is fake, and the sun's reflection is real :) it just happened to be very sunny that day.

The Next picture is from my sister Nancy's shoot.



I got an orange glow from her original, and I gotta say, although it may not be a good thing, I sorta liked it. But I wanted it to be even more dramatic than that so I tweaked the colors of it and that's what I came up with. It ended up being one of my favorites!

Next is a photo from my cousin Alan's shoot.



His original was good, but again, I wanted it to be more dramatic, I wanted it to scream photoshop. I think I accomplished that goal.

Here is another frame that didn't make the blog. This one is from Jasmin's shoot.



Her original was ok, but I was also looking for some dramatic effect, and I found it!

This last one, is from Mariely's shoot.




Her background isn't all fake, I just added the sky cause ones again, the day we shot it wasn't as blue as I would've liked it to be.

Well, now you know my photoshop secrets. :)

Don't forget to leave some comments and to visit the Awsker Katzin's Photography page and leave some comments there too.