Los Angeles Arboretum

Last weekend, I went to the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia to stroll around and take photos with one of my photo friends, Mario Rodriguez. Getting there was the hard part, everything else seemed to go smoothly after I got there.

I didn't find anything I liked for at least a half hour after I got there. I wasn't in the "mood" to shoot until later on in the day.

As we walked about the park, I started finding things that caught my attention and that's when I started shooting away. The above photo was shot on a slow exposure time of 3 seconds with a closed aperture. I didn't have my tripod on me, therefore, I put my camera on a rock to reduce shake.

The black and white of the birds of paradise is my favorite from the entire day. I'd like to point out that the photo was taken in clear daylight and the shadows in the background where not tampered with. It really was that dark. I think it's great how the birds are the only ones who came out in the light.

After a while longer, I became tired and decided to call it a day.

A major thing for me when shooting is to do so when I want to. I don't ever force myself to take photos if I don't want to because my end result will not be so nice. I have to be craving photography in order to do it. Same goes with editing. You might overlook a great photo in your library because you're so tired of editing other ones. A tip for photographers, immerse yourself in photography ONLY when you want to! It sounds silly, but it has worked for me for the past 13 years.

See ya

Jake

It is below freezing and only getting colder!!

I went camping with fellow photographer, Chad Bykerk, to Greenvalley Lake this past week for one and a half days. Chad's family has a cabin up in the woods and I have been asking him for about a year to take me up there with him. I finally got my wish and boy was it cold!

As soon as we got there, we walked about the town shoppes and started shooting. The temperature was 20 degrees I believe and dropping as the day went by. I covered myself with sweaters and jackets as much as I could but still, the cold got to me.

We went out to shoot 3 times that day. Combined, Chad and I have 8 lenses in between us. I used most of them to shoot my photos. The challenges I faced were many. COLD COLD COLD!! I could not feel my fingers most of the time much less would I be able to take photos. My feet were frozen and my lips chapped, nonetheless, I did what I had to to get great shots.

I took a little over 200 hundred photos and only picked 12. They range from landscapes to the sunset giving an orange glow while touching down on a frozen tree. While we were shooting the sunset, Chad said, "This is what a live for." Then and there I realized taking photographs is my life's passion and I don't ever want to stop. I take photographs for my personal satisfaction but feel elation knowing that I can share these with the people who enjoy viewing my work.

Thanks a lot for supporting my photography.

See ya later

Jake

Juliet Valdez Photoshoot

Let me introduce my latest client, Ms. Juliet Valdez.

Juliet is a free spirit to say the least. She's smart, funny, and extremely talented.

Juliet came to me a couple months ago asking if I could do a lifestyle shoot with her. Of course, I said yes; however, this shoot took months to plan out. We finally shot together this past week in sunny San Diego.

We shot at two separate parks, one being Balboa Park. The photo shoot was roughly about 3 hours long. When we got to Balboa, it was full of people! We walked around several locations and took some photos in front of an enormous fountain, inside a plant house and used the beautiful architecture as our background.

Juliet was easy to work with. She took direction very well and did exactly as I told her.

I think the photos came out great and I am very glad my client thinks the same.

In this photo session, I used my Canon 7D and 2 lenses- an 18-55mm and a 10-24mm wide angle lens. The above photo was shot at 10mm giving my model very long legs (wide angle lens have that effect). I also used a reflector to bounce light onto my model's face.

I took about 200 photos and ended up choosing 24. Some might think that's not very many photos, but photographers need to have an excellent editing eye. One things is to shoot well, the other is to know how to edit and which photos to pick. I could have easily given my client more photos; however, they would turn out to be repetitive. I pick the best photos from a setting and give those to my clients.

I shot all photos on Manual Mode as I always do and changed my white balance to Daylight while being on Portrait mode as well. I don't believe I hit any speedbumps on this shoot. Everything worked out smoothly and I am glad for that.

As soon as I receive my client's complimentary 4x6 prints, I will mail them out to her along with a master copy of all her photos. That's a wrap for another successful photo session.

See ya

Jake