Concert #1: Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club

Well, it’s January and it’s also the presumed end of the world year, so I’ve been looking back on my life a lot, especially my beginnings.   It’s funny how that works.  The end of the world is near so you start thinking about how a lot of things started.  The ironies of life.  Anyway, before I digress, I’ll probably be doing this a lot more often, posting the beginnings and what not of my photographic…let’s call it journey.  Enjoy.

The first ever concert I shot.  Man.  I was the ripe age of eighteen years old.  Brand new camera, senior year of high school, novice skills, and the passion that accompanies only that of a beginner.  To be honest I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.  I had recently broken up with the girlfriend I had at the time and I was looking for ways to cope with the stress.  Luckily photography was there to fall back on and I loved music, so I thought of putting the two together to shoot live music!  A big inspiration came from my best friend who showed me this man named, Adam Elmakias.  I’m sure most of you know him now (I mean he created the lens bracelets), but if you don’t, you should head over to his website and check out his amazing work.  His blog is also a great way to kill your spare time if you have any.  I always seem to digress.  Anyway.  So with a renewed passion for photography, I set out to immerse myself in the world of live music photography.

To think that my first ever show I would shoot would be one of the largest bands in the modern age of music, Two Door Cinema Club.  It was their first San Francisco show so I got extremely lucky and was fortunate enough to be able to shoot their soundcheck and a few portraits before their actual show.   If I could go back in time to do it all over again, you bet I would.  I was shooting in jpeg, high iso’s, fanboying too much to concentrate on making a good picture.  I pretty much was a nervous wreck.  However, they were all really nice dudes, I just wish I capitalized on opportunities that were given to me that day.

Enough of the words however, enjoy some of the images I was able to capture.

-bv

cheers.

We are living in strange times.  It’s almost overwhelming.

Materialism part 2

I ask myself questions all the time about my current lifestyle.  Do I need to be buying this?  Do I really want that jacket?  Why am I buying these things for?  Today, an epiphany dawned on me like a beam of light descending from the heavens.  I do need these things;  not because I’m selfish and materialistic, but because I’m alone and people are unreliable.

It all started when I was young.  My mother was always at school or at work trying to better her position as a nurse so she could provide more for me; I didn’t have a father around, so I was left alone with the things I had and sometimes my grandparents.  Those lonely days in my childhood were spent talking, playing, and even sleeping with my “friends”.  My friends, were really nothing more than little lego people, my power rangers, and other assorted action figures.  I would give them personalities and they would talk back to me and make me laugh, sad, angry, you name it.  I’ve always overheard the adults saying, matalbog imahinasyon ang bata, or something along those lines, which translates to “what a lively imagination that kid has.”  (Forgive me on my tagalog, it’s been awhile.)

No, it wasn’t an imagination I always thought to myself.  They were real.  They were my friends.  They kept me company when no one else was around.  They loved me when so and so didn’t.

That’s how it was until I was about eight years old.

Come that time, I had made some friends, but lo behold, I had to move to another city.  The moving part wasn’t the difficult part, rather, it was going to the same school from the city I originated in, while I lived in this brand new city.  So I still had all my new, real friends, but I couldn’t play with them often or interact that much.

Long story short that pattern continued on for about another eleven years or so, ’til this very day.  Friends would move, friends would leave, friends would walk out the door and never come back into my life.  So I decided to live my life pretty solitarily, keeping close only to my family.  I’ve replaced my toys and playthings with clothes and other material artifices because well, they’re always there and they never leave.  They keep me warm when I’m cold, comfortable when I’m not, and guarded from all those people that do choose to leave my life.

I’m used to it though. That could be a good thing or a bad thing.  Or both.

I like to think that I’m a glass half and half kind of guy.

 

Free Write #4

It was a normal day, he did a normal routine, in his normal way.  However, he wasn’t a normal person I guess you can say:  he was a narcoleptic.  He went to school in his normal route only to find that he left the pills he needed to stay away at home.  It was too late to turn back he thought so he decided to see if he can soldier on.  He last the whole day until he drove home.  He fell asleep and crashed into the center divide.  When he opened his eyes he saw that he was in his room.  Was it a dream?  No, he opened his closet and found everything he always wanted in there.  God came into the room and asked him, aren’t you afraid of being dead?

• He replied no,  I have everything I’ve ever wanted now.

Even if it isn’t real?

• Everything real in life either makes you uncomfortable, unhappy, or never satisfied.  I’m fine with this.

4 minutes

Free Write #3

It’s amazing how dreams can change your entire mood.  They’re things that don’t even exist, yet they alter your real state tremendously.  Sometimes, dreams can be so vivid you wake up longing to be part of that world you were in.  To revel in the happiness you felt.  However, sometimes you have nightmares and you just want to wake up and never look back.  Sometimes you want to forget everything that happened.  But what if you’re stuck in the middle between the two?  I believe that’s what life is.  A constant struggle between joy and pain; freedom and confinement; and rejection and acceptance.  That’s why it’s always tough to choose one side.

3 Minutes

Free Write #2

He was trapped in a capsized boat, with time running out to make his escape.  The cold water rushed over him, chilling him to the bone.  He swam  frantically trying to find an exit, but alas, it was too late.  Upon his resignation he uttered, “life is a strange thing,” then let the cold water fill his lungs.

Two Minutes

Materialistic Monday #2: North Face Klettersack

Before I bought this sweet bag, I had been using the same North Face backpack since sophomore year of high school.  I probably would have continued using that backpack until this day, however, it was too small to fit my behemoth 15″ Macbook pro.  So after a year of looking around, I came across this North Face White Label Klettersack.   For those of you that didn’t know, North Face has many different labels:  White label is exclusive to South Korea only, just like Purple Label is exclusive to Japan.  Unfortunate for us US buyers because shipping and fees made this bag cost a ton.  Was that price worth it?

Free Write #1

The clouds moved slowly today.  Their minute movements resembled that of a dying clock turning its last gear.  I often wondered what it’d be like to float around watching man fight ’til the very last breath and then slowly vanish into thin air.  Perhaps we’re all clouds, floating by in life, waiting for our time to vanish.  The clouds moved slowly today.

1 minute

The Problem With Modern Day “Photography”

I don’t know if it’s just me, or do more and more photographers nowadays just rely on soft aperture to make something look great.  It seems as if everyone is stuck at 1.4 or 1.8 or 2.8 and that’s it.  They don’t put any time into make use of their background or whatever.  I understand that it looks nice, but pictures nowadays all look the same.  I could browse through tumblr and see these countless amounts of photos that lack focus and depth or creative use of background.  Idk.  Live and let live I guess.

Happy Halloween!