California VI - Point Lobos

I talked about this place so much on other posts...

First of all, I have to say: no pictures in the world will make justice to the beauty of this place. It was probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen! It is located in the Highway One, in Monterey County. If you ever decided to travel through this beautiful road, please, don’t miss this State Reserve. And take all the hiking trails. You won’t regret.

Nikon F100
35mm f1.4G
Portra 160 (exp 2014)

It’s friday, I’m in love

I was watching Sideways yesterday and, oh god, how I miss California. Especially this place, Point Lobos, which has nothing to do with the movie, but it is now one of my favorite places on earth. I’m a bit skeptical, towards God and all that, but for once in my life I could feel there’s something bigger than you and me.

Fun fact: about 40 minutes after this picture, he proposed. :)

Ignorance is a bliss

I was talking to a friend the other day, we were remembering the times when I started to photograph “for real”. I was 20 at the time and decided to take the hobby to a profession. From then to now there was a lot of drama and money wasted. Since I first decided to take classes, and invest on good quality equipment to where I am now, it took me more than 10 years. Do you remember the “Fotolog” ol’ days? well, I had a page there and I remember posting almost daily. And I was so fascinated with this, I used to post photos (of a questionable quality) of my feet, of my books, of everything around and I thought I was so deep!! I thought I was this huge talent waiting to happen. It is so funny how we think of ourselves at a young age and years later we disappoint that young person so much. Of all the things I thought I would be by the age of 32 (almost 33), none happened. Of course, a lot of other great things happened, and I am happy and all that. But there’s this feeling that the more I study and the more I learn about photography, the more I think less of myself. My ignorance was the fuel that kept me on risking. Now I think I am too settled. Because I know I’m not an Annie Leibovitz or an Anton Corbijn. I know I’m not the next best thing and I find myself stuck in there. I have this struggle from time to time, but especially around my birthday. Does it happen to you too?

Update: Just when I pressed “publish”, I remembered this Nick Hornby book I have, “A long way down”. Have you guys read it? Well, there’s this quote I love, and it kinda sums up what I’ve been thinking.

“The trouble with my generation is that we all think we’re fucking geniuses. Making something isn’t good enough for us, and neither is selling something, or teaching something, or even just doing something; we have to be something. It’s our inalienable right, as citizens of the twenty-first century. If Christina Aguilera or Britney or some American Idol jerk can be something, then why can’t I? Where’s mine, huh? (...) But having talent is never enough to make us happy, is it? I mean, it should be, because a talent is a gift and you should thank God for it, but I didn’t. It just pissed me off because I wasn’t being paid for it, and it didn’t get me on the cover of Rolling Stone.”

California V - Muir Woods

I totally forgot to post about Muir Woods! It should have been posted before Yosemite, haha.

It happens, right?! Before late than never!

It is such a beautiful place. You’ll probably remember it from the new Planet of the Apes series. It is Ceasar’s home. But let me tell you, it didn’t remind me of the movie... One scene I remember clearly was James Franco’s character and the girlfriend having a picnic there. But there are MANY signs informing that is forbidden to eat anywhere in the park. Haha. I took a lot of food and a nice towel and all I did was eat an energy bar in the middle of the trail.

Anyway... I just wished we could have spent more time there. We were in a hurry to hit the road to Yosemite... The sun was setting at 5pm, and we didn’t wanna take the road in a complete darkness (which happened anyway). Even though, we had enough time to take one trail and enjoy what nature has to offer. :)

Funny story: I took this Velvia roll before the Wine Tour we did. By the time we were leaving the hotel I mistook this one, that was expired, thinking it was the other Velvia 100 that is not so expired. I only noticed what I did when I got back from the lab. Now I put a yellow mark in all very expired rolls, so I’ll never mistake them again. Haha, living and learning.

Nikon F100
35mm f1.4G
Fuji Velvia 100 (exp 2009)

Le chat

Boris Becker, always making my days happier...

Nikon F100
50mm f1.8D
Portra 160

Inspirational Wednesday

Anton Corbijn

If you don’t know his work yet, baby, you have to do it, NOW. He’s one of the best photographers of all time (in my modest opinion) and probably the reason why I decided to photograph. His work change the way we (or at least I) see photography in the music business. He started as a music photographer, being friends with the guys and then his talent introduce to new bands and then other bands, then he started to work for a lot of fashion magazines (because he was doing something totally new) and sort of mixed it all. The music shots were more fashion, and his fashion shots were totallly rock’n’roll. And, since he never settles, now he’s in Hollywood! I loved all of the films he directed and can’t wait for “Life” to be released (about the photographer who is assigned to shoot James Dean).

I have a bunch of favorite photos here, but the ones I really, really like are all of the Nirvana photos (I think nobody portrayed the band as good as he did) and the Metallica shots from 95 to 01, specially the Reload booklet photos. They are probably my all time favorite (unfortunately I didn’t find any throughout the web, and don’t have a scanner here to prove my point).

There’s an excellent documentary about his work called “Inside Out”. Sometimes it is on Youtube, sometimes they remove it. You can find it here, but I don’t know until when. Run. :) It is half english half dutch, but comprehensible. 

There’s also a film he did for Leica, with photography tips, which I find adorable! 

Hope you like it! 

California IV - Yosemite

I love mountains. Always did, since a little girl. So you can imagine how happy I was to visit Yosemite National Park for the fist time. The park was all autumn-yellow, like a painting. Cold (there were snow in a few higher points), but not too cold. For me, it was the perfect weather.

The bad thing was that, since it was autumn, and Califa is on a drought period, the biggest waterfall was almost dry, and so was the Mirror Lake. But other than that, it was a lovely time I spent there. When I think about Yosemite, a smile just show up in my face.

A (not so) fun fact: I almost didn’t shoot on film there. My fiancé took my digital and shot almost everything with it, I grabbed the camera whenever I saw something TRULY interesting. And since I was on vacation and didn’t wanna miss the moment, I kind of kept everything inside my head. It doesn’t sound like me, I’m always shooting everything and everybody, but I needed the rest. For the eyes, the mind and the body. Not mentioning the soul.

The half dome. My second favorite (the firt one was El Captain, which, funny enough, I don’t have on film)

Nikon F100
35mm f1.4G
Kodak Portra 160

Monday bubbles

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.

Jane Austen 

Alcatraz in Colors - Chapter 2

Back to the Alcatraz in colors. I already told you I didn’t like the development and the colors of this particular film, right? But the only ones I did like were those from Alcatraz because, in a strange way, these tones remind me of the Clint Eastwood movie “Escape from Alcatraz”. Don’t you think they do? I’m not crazy, am I? Haha. Do you get what I’m saying?

Did I mention I miss San Francisco? California didn’t catch my heart they way Paris did, but it still one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visit. From up north in San Francisco to down, really down south in San Diego (I almost passed the Mexican border), California is the kind of trip everybody has to do at least once in their lives. There are tons of pictures yet to share with you, hope you’re not bored.

Nikon F100
35mmf1.4G
Portra 160