Not A Starving Artist

Just noticed Michelle Phan blogged some of the still I took from her short “Underneath Your Love.” As I said before it was an awesome experience getting to work with all the creatives.

For me unit shooting provides a hands-on experience to see and learn more about lighting, story telling, and direction.

Thanks again for having me Ricebunny! 

Where have I been these days? It appears that I do not have presence in the world these days except within the online spectrum.

(Pause on blogging: thank you all for showing your support by “liking” and “following” me)

Afternoon, quick updates at the start of 2012. Let’s begin with the un-obvious ones:

I had the opportunity late 2011 to work on a couple of video project with the lovely Michelle Phan. No, by work I don’t not mean filming or dping. It was a blessing to work on these two films because of the others involved on the project. To be surrounded amongst equally creative individuals who aim to go beyond expectations can motivate the heck out of you and remind you to keep looking at the bigger picture.

Check out the videos below!

NewMediaRockstars, ok I’ve been name dropping this one everywhere. NMR’s mission is to empower, inspire, and promote the independent new media community. That is quite a bold statement.  In this startup I am the Chief of Creative, CCO.  Fancy title = huge responsibilities. My job is to establish the visual branding of the company, company culture, check quality control, etc…. oh yea produce epic photo shoots!  Pretty much anything and everything related to what you see and read on the webpage needs to be approved by me.  @#*(% I have a lot of work ahead of me. Believe me when I say I feel under pressure. I feel like I just been handed a big chunk of unexpected responsibility, but you know what? Regardless of whether or not I’m ready to lead, I know that I can and will rise in this situation.  All I can say is stay tuned. 

And of course I’m constantly shooting (I really want to stop saying shooting after the shooting incident) and editing.

With NMR as my primary project, I really have to train myself to focus and be highly selective with outside projects I take on. I feel that 2012 is the year when I have to and will need to push for more produced content. By produced I don’t necessarily mean having more finances funding each project (though that would quite lovely). What I’m saying is that with the photo projects I do take on I want to invest more time into developing the concept/theme of the shoot, build a stronger team around me, and overall just invest more time and energy to make stronger unique images. Anyone can pick up a camera and button smash until a happy accident appears. What I want to get at the end of the day is an image that is different. No, at this point I cannot directly define what different is or means.  And yes, I do realize everything has been done before and nothing is original.  However, I strongly believe that the connection I make among my subject, my team, and the project will generate images that will resonate with others.

In 2011 I was wearing several caps that unintentionally distracted me from fully focusing on purely photography. I’m going to make 2012 different. There’s no doubt that in my mind that I am going to fall on my face multiple times throughout the year, but I will get back up. This is my year and I’m going to take it.

Won’t you join me the pursuit of dreams?