ginko leaves

fall in december. oakland, ca.

civic center plaza

the city of san francisco not of brotherly love

claudia and bernhard came up to sf for the holidays.
brunch dates two days in a row.
today we went to a strange little place called munch haven on market street. the fries were decent. and we took a nice little stroll down memory lane.

here the two love birds pose in their super sexy plaid.

we have two cats

annie and sbt.


annie and lady schmelks.

low angles

silhouette

annie and the heater

the only place of refuge in our cold, old home.

'charlie'

the cast lines up for a shot.

this weekend i worked as 1st assistant camera for my classmate renny's first year film. it was a blast. i learned so much and had a lot of fun. the film took place in a school and involved 16 adolescences, some incredible sunlight and a handful of dolly shots. here are some production stills:


hannah, art director, sips on some coffee as the day begins.


renny frames the shot.


hannah and nicki cut it up as the day winds down.

mt. diablo

abby, ramona and annie take in nature.
quite possibly my favorite polaroid ever.


ramona models her duck hat on mt. diablo.

post danksgiving

this year was my first thanksgiving with friends. i enjoyed the holiday right here in oakland, california with my housemates annie and ramona and their (and now my) good friend abby. we initiated what will from now on be referred to as 'danksgiving', a gluttonous feast of tasty, homemade food, a few bottles of wine, and refreshingly good company.

the day after thanksgiving put us somewhere between leftovers and sloth but we did manage to pull ourselves out of the house for a day drive deep into the east bay. our excursion took us to to mt.diablo park in walnut creek where we took these lovely polaroids:


laughing it up on a pee stop.


candid.
the sheer genius of this photo actually blows my mind.
really. seriously. you can't fake this shit.


and the trio is complete with a candid that leaves
ramona obstructed by none other than
'the mount diablo review'.

abandoned adventure in arbuckle

while on our location scout marcia and i made a stop to photograph this old abandoned home right off the main road in arbuckle, ca. it was a beautiful structure full of windows and light. the holes in the ceiling made it possible for me to take some great interiors. check 'em out:


the exterior of the house.
it looks like it could just crumble into itself at any moment.


i fell in love with this room. the large number of south facing windows provided plenty of light. but you can see that the most interesting light is coming from the gaps in the ceiling. if you look close enough you can really see the texture of the debris on the floor. but my favorite part of this photo is the movement of the windows; how they've become slanted and now descend and ascend in what feels like carefully calculated choreography.


i had to climb on a shaky banister to get this shot. but what a lovely old stove. for some reason it makes me think of bonnie and clyde...


another windows shot. the shape of these windows and the quality of light of the scene beyond makes it feel like each window is its own little polaroid, wouldn't you say?

power lines and railroad tracks

on friday marcia and i went on a little day trip to scope out the location where we'll be shooting my first year film in january. we had quite an adventure:


it really felt like fall in yolo county. bright yellow leaves framed roads that never ended.


train tracks. arbuckle, ca.


the cinematographer scopes out a high angle.

golden gate bridge

film school

more rewind

home. decatur, ga.


sophie washes her hands amongst a never ending row of port-a-potties at the adirondack hot air balloon festival. september 2005.


my old spectra before it kicked the bucket.


sophie and polly on a beach in north carolina.
march 2006.

rewind

because im knee deep in pre-production business i havent had much time to go on polaroid adventures. but i did recently uncover some old favorites of mine.

so please, enjoy these blasts from the past:


the beautiful kitty displays a glowing virigin de guadalupe.
you can read all about her los angeles adventures here.


sophomore year of college. heels and wine.


jonah and jax. two of my favorite people.


sophomore year. sophie enjoys a cold, crisp dr.pepper.

disposable camera

i took some 35mm stills along with the polaroids on my location scouting adventure. i used a fuji outdoor disposable camera. i think they came out quite nicely. saturated and bright.

scouting locations part 2

more from the scouting adventure. these three are my favorites:


i fell in love with power lines...


i've always been drawn to industrial farm equipment but this one really stood out to me. i find there to be something very art deco about the design of this structure.


palm trees on palm street. welcome to california.

scouting locations part 1

in january of 2009 i'll be shooting my first film on 16mm: the first year film at san francisco state university is the culminating work for your first year as an mfa candidate. on sunday i went out to various towns in the central valley of northern california to find locations for my short film, a narrative that captures a moment of isolation and then unification in rural, middle of nowhere california.

here are some polaroids from that adventure:


nicki, my fellow classmate and dear friend, poses against the neverending fields and blue sky.


what appears to be an old abandoned aqueduct. it stretched almost the entirety of hahn rd in arbuckle, ca.


an abandoned farm storage tank stands rusted amongst miles of dry land and power lines.

on the set

scott and renny run a scene before rolling.

today i shot my first project on film for the mfa program at sf state. i shot in a group of four with paul, renny and scott. it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. we each had to shoot 100ft of 16mm film which adds up to, roughly, 2 minutes and 47 seconds. you'd think with that limited amount of film it couldn't possibly take all day. think again. it's such a grueling process, especially when you're trying to orchestrate some semblance of a narrative with actors and blocking.

we first shot renny's film: a complicated narrative of love, lust, deceit and murder told in an elaborate non-linear fashion. in one long take. we then moved to the street where we shot scott's staging of a shady deal gone wrong. scott also got some on the fly shots of a neighborhood second grader boasting his skills on the pogo stick. this was followed by subway sandwiches and my film, a modge podge of high fives and sunglasses, complete with an orange and typewriter for props. then we trekked three blocks to defremery park where paul documented a graffiti festival and scott ate a delicious hotdog.

it was a long and exhausting day but it was the first day where i really felt how i imagined i would feel in film school. sweat, stress and chaos all made worth it by the lovely hum of a rolling camera...
finally kids, we have landed.

housemates

more of my mates:


annie.


ilyssa.


clio.