pond exploring

My friend Natalie Pond and I went exploring around a cool church on the cliffs in PV while I was home last week.

old school feelings

I tried getting creative in my editing of some of the pictures I took of Theo's bus last week. For the interior shots, I decided to go old school and give it an almost antique feel.  I tried four different styles, just playing around with settings and presets in Adobe Lightroom. I'm happy about how they turned out, let me know what you think.

two rolls

I shot two rolls of film over spring break. One BW and one color. Comparison:

spring break friends

Spring break was partly about seeing as many people that were in town as possible, but also spending some good quality time with a few people that are my closest friends.  This break was by far the most enjoyable time I've spent back at home since I left for college.  I slept in almost everyday, usually until 2pm or later. Everyday I hung out with my core group of guys that are all still seniors (one junior) in high school, plus got to see tons of friends from my high school class that were also on their college spring breaks.

Theo and the VW Bus

It's been a while since my last update, but I've been shooting primarily film for the past two weeks.  When I get those developed this weekend prepare for many posts.  I shot with my digital camera for the first time in a while today.  My friend Theo has been begging me to do a photo shoot with his VW bus he got for his 16th birthday and it finally worked out today.

The bus is the definition of Theo in car form, it fits him perfectly.  We went down and took pictures in the parking lot right next to Torrance Beach.

It was a beautiful Southern California sunset, and Theo said this is "how he always watches the sunset or watches anything these days... on top of the bus!"

I miss this kid, and I was so pumped to hang out with him today.  Hopefully in the next few weeks Theo is going to make the drive up to Santa Barbara in the bus and we can go to the zoo (his favorite place).

I took some shots with both my film cameras too. I'll post those when I get them developed this weekend.

grandpa's car

Some of my very oldest memories involve driving around in my grandpa's Chevy Corvair.

It's a 63' or 64', but if I ask my grandpa the exact year it would be a two hour conversation slash story about who knows what.  Apparently it's been deemed "unsafe at any speed" because with the engine weight in the back it has a tendency to slide out of control around corners.  I need to learn stick better before I can drive it, but I can't wait!

Westmont's best speaker

Sara Reinis won the speech tournament last weekend!  A few hours before the tournament we went and had a mini photoshoot outside Page Hall.

Sara has got some big hair... These were the only two I took with my film camera, but I still need to edit the ones I took with my 60D.

skating montecito

About a month back, Wesley and I went on an adventure skating around Montecito.

We stopped by my grandpas house, and explored his neighborhood.

Jayme Dee

A few weekends ago I drove down to Anaheim to see my amazingly talented friend Jayme Dee Mackinga play at the House of Blues!

(the only camera I had was my iphone)

She is quickly rising to fame, and I am so proud to call her my friend.  She opened for Tyrone Wells and was flawless! People in the audience who had never heard her before could not stop talking about how amazing she was, and I just stood there smiling.  I am so proud of all she has accomplished, she is going to be very famous very soon.  Check out her youtube page HERE, and her facebook HERE.

roll 2 (I know... I'm going backwards)

While I was home for 4day the other weekend, I spend the night at my sister Annalise's house (age23) in Playa Del Rey.

Yes, Annalise and I are blood siblings even though we look absolutely nothing alike.  She looks pure Italian and I look pure Scottish, but our middle sister bridges the gap.

Even though I knew only one of Annalise's friends at the party (Sarah above), it was still really fun.  I got to see what life and parties are like after college.  Everyone talked about work most of them time, and since I was the only person there not working for a big advertising agency, I was left in the dark.  I had a blast, but I'll take my time through college.  My sister said that this was basically as fun as it gets after college.  I'm glad I'm only a freshman and I've got 3 1/2 years left until then!

roll 3

I got my third roll of Ilford B&W film developed taken from my Pentax K1000.  Most of the shots are from a trip to the pier Wesley and I took last week.

This was actually the first time I went to the very end of the pier here since I was a kid.  Unlike the pier in Redondo, this one just end with almost no guard rales.  It makes you feel much more on top of the water.

There was a rowing practice going on, and they're instructor was just a old guy just screaming at them about how they're waisting his time.  I'd like to meet that guy.

The palm trees here remind me of LA.  I love Santa Barbara. 

a patriot and an inspiration

Former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice spoke at Westmont on Friday, and I had the privilege of attending her talk at the Westmont Presidential Breakfast in the morning as well as the discussion in chapel.

Dr. Rice is an amazing woman, and her talk was both illuminating and inspirational.  The United States is better off because of her work as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor in the Bush Administration.

Dr. Rice spoke on a wide range of topics from the Cold War, to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to education, as well as her family background.  She is a brilliant woman, and was able to make her points in an intelligent yet understandable way.