in the dust

Pulvis et umbra sumus. (We are but dust and shadow.)

It was after 7pm; the sun was low behind the mountains. Wind was fiercely rolling through the barren valley; we got tired of the swerving18 wheelers and pulled off into Manzanar. Loud whooshes of sand and dust pummeled our car as we inched along the cracked roads, branches and dead weeds flying. We made our way back to the monument.

Succulent Wrap Shoot

Photography: i102fly 
Flower Architecture: i102fly
Model: Mie Moon

I've been shooting a lot of my art pieces for my new website.

This piece is a wrap around vest using a lot of real succulents. I'm a big fan of the succulent, not only does it look alien and exist in so many varieties of other-worldly-craziness, but I can't kill it. So for its fortitude, I have respect. 

More photos coming on the new website.

Faces of Lightening in the Bottle

E and I went down south to the Lightening in a Bottle Festival.

happy camera

Last week was a long week, but I must've had some kind of astrological windfall, because I got paid up for a lot of work from several of my freelance jobs at once. That meant it was a good camera weekend! I bought a portrait lens with my earnings. Nothing fancy (50mm, 1.8), but I've already gotten some use out of it. We did some shooting at a very important project on Sunday. My friend is involved with a school that is starting in South Central. I'm going to make the website look magnifique with lots of pictures.

There were some great characters there. Some of these were shot with the new lens. Some are from Manzanar two weeks ago. All are gentlemen.

people from Cambodia

Thank you for checking out the Cambodian New Year pictures. Since we are celebrating and all, I thought I'd pull out a couple of pictures from my past trips to Cambodia for you to see. Really this is just an excuse for me to look at them. I do miss the sights, sounds, smells, and people.. especially the people from Cambodia. It's driving me a little mad, but then I won't get into all that.

I know what you are thinking, "Oh no the poor cat!" 

This little thing was such a trooper.

He is the quintessential little boy with bugs in his pockets 
and a mischievious grin. 

 

They call her grandmother even though she's only in her fifties. 

She works at a coffee shop and always has a big pair of galoshes on.

 

Met him on Silk Island where they make many of the famous Khmer scarves. 

Some people just have naturalstyle.

 

This is a very sad one. She is the mother of at least six children. 

They live at the city's landfill. This was her newborn. 

I told her the baby was beautiful. She told me I should take it.

 

This little imp is trouble, but in a good way. 

Before she was living on the streets, so she's tough. Not an ounce of fear.

 

This is just for fun. You may or may not recognize the one in yellow. ha! 
They worked for hours to do make-up and hair. The only extentions they had were black - so they had to make my brown hair look like highlights. By the end all of the women thought I was half-Cambodian. Amazing what a little make-up can do.

It was like an alternate dimension. Looking in the mirror, I was horrified. I thought two things: who is this crazy person, and I will be ridiculed when I go downstairs to this party. I was so wrong. Our ideas of beauty are so different. It's really fascinating. Everywhere I went at the wedding people stopped me and told me how beautiful I looked. And not just, "You look pretty." They gawked, "Oh My Gosh, You are SO Beautiful. So Beautiful. I can't believe it." They would just stand there and hold my hand. It was the trippiest, funniest thing ever.  

under the lights at nokia

Thank you all for your comments! I've got some nice shots, but ahhh I can't show them because they are reserved for future promos. Anyhow hope this will suffice. How about some zebra print?

E had her own huge dressing room with snazzy print floors.

It brought out the rockstar in us; we had to throw a couple lamps. hehe

Getting the head piece on...

Her make-up artist for this show (Marian Filali) created some pretty incredible feather lashes.

and here are the designs! Those shoes are so fun to wear.

 ready for stage..

Officially the unofficial photographer: the managers said I could get on the other side of the stage and photograph from the curtain. The problem though.. a huge piano. My only shot would be black enamel.

I got in the front and dodged the camera crew. It was kind of funny moving with the rig guys, trying not to mess up their kazillion dollar shots. Every once in a while the crew turned the cameras and panned on the crowd. When that happened, I had to jump in a seat and look normal. At one point I thought they were done panning so I hopped up. Just then they turned and BAM I was caught in the shot. Elly's manager said, he was watching the stage then looked up at the big screens just in time to see my deer in headlights look.

Seth MacFarlane crooned away for the rest of the night. (Note the conductor is Joel - the wizard from the other studio shots). The band was fantastic. You don't often hear that quality of jazz and big band live.

Before MacFarlane came out on the stage, you should know the emcee got up and had the audience do a couple fake laughs for the cameras and then some wild clapping that would be later spliced into the final edited version. Got to love the fabricated laugh tracks. Especially when Seth came out on stage talking about how he and Elizaveta had a problem, because they both ended up wearing the same hat to the show that night. Funny Guy or not, there is something to be said for making a scene. Sara Bareilles performed all of the duets in the show with MacFarlane, but the reviews from KPCC the next day didn't even mention her. Instead they dedicated a lengthy passage to Elizaveta. I guess when you get your chance, you have to go for it.

*All or nothing

*(Listening to nothing but Steve Marriott this week)