february – you wild beast, you’ve tried to maul me but i’ve cracked my whip, hustled and tamed you. unless you have some secret attack saved for the remaining days of your reign, i’d say i’ve won this round.
phew. ok, this month has definitely been busy. between shoots, breaking up with an asshole days before valentine’s day, and working ridiculous hours at the producer job, i’ve been going slightly crazy. thankfully, le tigre’s discography helped me shred through everything in my path. despite the obstacles, it’s been a very good month and i’ve set plans in motion to tick a few items off my bucket list. for one, i finally signed up for upright citizens brigade improv/sketch comedy classes! after the two month class, there will be a graduation show so i hope you guys can come out and see me make a fool of myself. the performance is on sunday, april 21 at 1:30pm at upright citizens brigade theatre. if you’re going to the second weekend of coachella, you will sadly miss me being idiotic on stage. that’s alright, i’m sure if we’re friends you get plenty of that on a regular basis. >:3
oh, and in other news, i licensed one of my music photos for apple outdoor ads in the UK and japan! can’t go into too much detail but i’m very stoked about that.
of the features i’ve shot this month for gilt city, gordon ramsay’s restaurant at the grove, fat cow, was one of my favorites. executive chef, mathew woolf prepared stunning dishes including grilled shrimp with bacon habanero marmalade, root beer glazed short rib, and malt chocolate pot au crème. oh my gawd. voilà, some obligatory food porn:
i absolutely love shooting food but it can be challenging. for interior/exterior shots, i typically bring a tripod and remote to shoot with a low shutter speed. that way i can capture the vibrant activity of the space in a low light, nighttime setting. also, the slow shutter speed means any type of movement will be blurred which is perfect for masking diner’s faces. after all, you don’t ever want to feature someone without a release form or disturb a patron.
i was slightly intimidated shooting this particular restaurant since it was in a very crowded space and i knew curious eyes watched as i worked. the grove is a busy outdoor shopping center. though i’m a pretty shy person in some situations, when it comes to work and photography, you just have to zone out all the distractions and focus on the task at hand. usually i get so excited about the food (chefs are fucking genius artists) and creating a good image that i naturally lose consciousness of anything else.
food porn aside, another gilt shoot i really enjoyed this month was xtend barre. i can already sense my asian metabolism betraying me these days so if i ever get myself to exercise on a regular basis, i think i’d do barre classes. i mean, what girl doesn’t want to pretend they’re a ballerina while getting fit? the people that run xtend barre on melrose were extremely friendly and nice so i’d definitely recommend them if you’re in the area.
besides these shoots for gilt, i’m now the house photographer for a monthly comedy series in los angeles called super serious show. i’ll write another post for that because man, it’s just a little too silly to follow up behind barre and food photos.
work at the digital media agency has been grueling because we’re in the final stretch of launching a redesigned app for a major hair product line on multiple mobile platforms. there have been late nights and countless spreadsheets. generally though, it’s been a busy but incredible month.
so yeah, K.O. february. you’ve swung some punches out of left field but you’re a fool if you think you can take me down. whenever i’m stressed or presented challenges, i think of these lyrics by le tigre:
and if you ever wanna try your hand at forcing my suicide just know i’ve only begun
and if you ever wanna try your hand at forcing my suicide come on and try to kill me off!
