moved!

click here --> diary of juanita!

the adventure begins.

this blog was mainly used during my photo school days.

silent consequence

photo shoot i did with artist, silent consequence (www.myspace.com/silentconsequence)

in my "corn pone" entry a few weeks back, i mentioned about posting our film from the "6th annual 72 hour film shootout" contest once it was ready...

here it is!


here are the other contestants:
"ttp://www.youtube.com/profile?user=72hourfilmshootout&view=videos&sort=v"

some behind the scene shots from our shoot:

eddie, the director


brian, the sound guy


peter, the producer


khoa & youri, the actors (shout out to elena & tina who were also actors, but not in these shots)





















the awards ceremony is next friday, july 24th at 7:15pm at the museum of
chinese in america (MoCA) at 215 centre street in new york city.

let's go CORN PONE!

(shot with the Canon Rebel XT. thanks to eddie for letting me be part of this project, peter for letting me use his equipment and being his "left" hand woman, and to everyone else for the good times!)

better than the movies

i LOVE trailers.

50 greatest trailers of all time

(from www.ifc.com)

alisha

another addition to the "my escape" personal project:



"even though my room is always messy, i love it. i feel so comfortable. my bed is such a piece of shit but i know there's a couple spots where i get cozy. i'm mostly at my computer. my life is on there. i am an artist and my walls are covered in photographs and paintings, and polaroids. when i have a room covered in art, i feel inspired. i feel more of an artist in my room. i love it." - alisha noorali, 19

(shot with the Canon 5D and one portable strobe with an umbrella.)

corn pone

for the past few days i've been helping my director friend, eddie, shoot his film for the "6th annual 72 hour film shootout" contest hosted by asian american film lab. there are several teams throughout the country and each team must create a 5 minute film within 72 hours based on a given theme. this year's theme is "time's up".

he had asked me to be his director of photography slash lighting person, and i ended up also being the cinematographer because his camera guy had broken his wrist. i've always enjoyed shooting films. i used to shoot short behind-the-scene videos for friends but i used amateur equipment so i'm glad i was thrown into this situation and had great people to work with.

the editors are doing their thing tonight and all day tomorrow. once the film is ready, i'll post it here!

just like i promised, here are the videos from my portfolio review!





(videos were shot with the canon 5d mark II by my friend, konrad brattke. thank you to everyone who came for support!)

inspiration

when i went to mexico city back in march for spring break, i went to see a show called "chunky move" from australia. we were forbidden to take any photos or videos inside and for the longest time i've been trying to find a video from the show to share it with others.

i finally found the video.

the show i saw was called, "mortal engine":


i'm planning to do a shoot based on this video, i can't wait to try it out this summer!

oh em gee!

this is super adorable!!!



(from www.engadget.com)

the end to a beginning

my final portfolio was accepted today!

although i am excited, at the same time i am feeling pretty sad to know that this journey is over. these 10 months have been challenging and very rewarding. i want to thank everyone who modeled for me, worked with me, and kept up with my blog throughout this journey.

a few people videotaped my review, i'll post the videos up sometime next week!

to everyone who has an iphone and the fabulous canon 5d mark II:
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/05/30/future-dslr-remote-iphone/

feel free to buy me an iphone guys! really!

moment of truth

our final portfolio was due yesterday and today was the beginning of portfolio review.

to avoid biased decisions, the school has brought in three judges: skip cohen (marketing consultant), tamara behar (art director from NYC), and gregory heisler (world renowned photographer).

there are 8 groups total with around 25 students each. each group has 2 days of portfolio review. the first group went today and so far, it's been a pretty nerve wrecking experience.

you sit in the auditorium and all you see are black curtains and a black stage. they don't tell you when it is your turn, you find out by the black curtains opening up and your work displayed in front of everyone. after the judges view your work, they announce your name, you walk up on stage, and they announce if your portfolio has been accepted or not.

today was the very first day and the very first person that went up wasn't accepted...more than half the group didn't pass today.

nervous? yes.

but you don't learn anything without failure and you definitely can't control what will happen...

my review will be on june 9th and 10th.

carlos

it took me a while to make, but i finally finished it!

***disclaimer: this is NOT a real SPIN magazine cover***

this is my favorite so far in my portfolio.

(check out silent consequence at: myspace.com/silentconsequence)

i was just chosen to be the student speaker at graduation (which is almost in a month)!

i can't believe this program is coming to an end...

lara

for my mandatory "high key female portrait" assignment (shooting your subject against a white background):


(shot with the Mamiya 645AFD II medium format camera with the Leaf Aptus 22 Digital Back, and 3 soft boxes. thanks lara for modeling and being so prepared!)

alexandria

another mandatory assignment for the final portfolio, the "occupational portrait":


one classy librarian.

(shot with the Canon 5D and natural lighting.)

greg

the final portfolio is split into three parts: mandatories, additional personal submissions, and electives. mandatories consists of all the assignments we have learned throughout the program and shots with technical rules we have to follow. APS is pretty much whatever we want to shoot and electives is in between.

this is one of the mandatory assignments, "PR shot & alternative". we have to shoot the subject in their business attire and then bring out their personality in the alternative shot:




if i had to choose, i would've used this for my portfolio:

greg imitating obama, haha.

(shot with the Mamiya 645AFD II medium format camera with the Leaf Aptus 22 Digital Back, 3 soft boxes and a hair light. obama photo from my ultimate idol: peteryang.com)

jill

a few weeks ago, when i did a photo shoot with battle for my "low key male portrait" assignment, not only did he come with his sister, britney (and his brother!), he also came to the studio with his best friend, jill. i finally had time to edit some of the shots tonight.

i was thinking of using one of these for the APS (additional personal submissions) part of the final portfolio:






(shot with the Canon 5D and two softboxes.)

mario

another addition to the "my escape" personal project:

"my room represents my character, my likes & loves of my life. it's basically me on four walls." - mario a. santillan jr., 7-26-85, 23

(shot with the Canon 5D and two portable strobes with an umbrella. thanks to the santillan family for cooking the best ecuadorian food!)

something random

today, i turn 24 years old.

brian smith, an award winning editorial photographer, came to lecture at our school tonight. only 20 students names were drawn out of a hat for a private portfolio review by him. my name was announced second.

out of my collection so far, this was one of his favorite shots (including "my escape" personal project):


(shot with the Mamiya 645AFD II medium format camera with the Leaf Aptus 22 Digital Back and 3 soft boxes. thanks to greg for modeling and brian smith for taking the time to look at my work.)

jerrell

during my shoot with battle for my "low key male portrait" assignment, i was introduced to his sister, britney. she told me her son's birthday was coming up and asked me to photograph him. coincidently, i have a "child portrait" assignment in my final portfolio.

i just shot these tonight. here are some shots i just briefly edited:


this is my ultimate favorite:












i usually don't like photographing kids, but i loved working with him.

for a 2-year old, his expressions were so mature.

(shot with the Canon 5D and 4 soft boxes. thanks to britney & jerrell sr. for driving all the way from springfield!)

battle

phase four is already in progress, the most important and final phase in the program. we have a month and a half to complete 28 assignments.

last night i did a photo shoot for my "low key male portrait" assignment. i usually save the editing part of my assignments for last, but i couldn't help it and just started messing around with some of the shots tonight:




(shot with the Canon 5D, one background light, and one softbox.)

corona land

my friends and i took a trip to mexico for our spring break. we didn't want to do the stereotypical cancun trip, we wanted to explore the culture over there and with our friend from the heart of mexico, we thought it was a great opportunity for us to get a legit tour.

one of my favorite shots taken in the city of queretaro:




one thing i noticed most about mexico was the amount of cathedrals around the area. i'm not a big fan of cathedrals, maybe because i'm not religious, but i have always loved their details in their glass mosaics. i started to get addicted with photographing them...

these were shot in the bathroom while we were on tour in guanajuato:




the rest of these were shot in a cathedral at guadalupe in mexico city:










and last but not least, my self portrait:


you don't always need a fancy, expensive camera to get good shots...

(shot with the Canon Rebel XT and natural lighting. none of these images were edited. thanks to tiare for taking care of us and showing us a great time!)

***get to know me! to check out more photos from my trip, click on these links!***
1. from connecticut airport to mexico city, queretaro, san miguel, and mineral de pozos
2. san miguel and downtown queretaro
3. downtown queretaro and guanajuato
4. guanajuato, queretaro, and teotihuacan pyramids
5. teotihuacan pyramids and mexico city
6. mexico city
7. mexico city, boston, and back to massachusetts!