Christmas

For Christmas I received: a sweater, gold chain for my great grandmothers watch, book of poems by Pablo Neruda, 35mm film, some shirts, chocolate, and some mixed CDs.

My family as a whole got a Wii. After punching my sister in the face during a fast pace game of Tennis I decided to sit out and watch.

Family Portrait

So my mom wanted a nice family portrait and here's one of the test shots.

Ballet Shoes and Smoke Machines

Saturday night I split my time between the Pittsford Ballet School's performance of The Nutcracker and a Rochester club/bar Vertex.

I have a lethal weapon outside of my bedroom window

Bad bad blogger

My devotion to my blog is shameful. Truth be told, I hate blogging. I don't like it, maybe it's because I'm to stubborn to adapt to the new technologies that are available to me, unlike the olden days when you had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to show your work to the public.

So in the spirit of trying to keep a New Year's resolution (even before the New Year) I will try to be better about writing daily, ok that's pushing it. I will attempt to write weekly to my blog and by starting early I should, theoretically, be able to keep up with it longer. I did read a study that says it takes around 4 weeks to build/create a habit but 3 months to try and break that habit.

Maybe in 4 weeks I'll be better about this....here's hoping.

I haven't shot much but I've been looking a lot and here are to photos that I enjoyed. Thank you lens blog.

I play chicken with Mercedes and Audi's

While I play chicken with more expensive cars I also had some time to photograph at a meeting for people interested in the organic food movement. My time in LA is coming to a close and I will miss my roommates, the people I work with, and the old Victorian home I live in. I'll be leaving LA to be welcomed by the wintery air of the Northeast. Here are some things I've learned:

1.) Know your photo history. I was invited to a meeting a my boss's home and in every room of the house, the walls are covered with photographs ranging from Friedlander to Cartier-Breson. I was corrected by her son when I didn't correctly ID a Weegee photo. In case your wondering Weegee not only shot crime scenes at night but also used infra-red film in movie theaters.

2.) Simple skills like typing shouldn't be overlooked. I've had to transcribe interviews and I'm a two finger maybe three finger typer which doesn't bod well when you have to listen to 1-2 hour long interviews.

3.) There are many people who have photography degrees that don't shoot. I meet producers of commercials and movies who started out being production assistants but have a BA in photography.

4.) Don't assume anything and always check with someone above you (which is everyone). Minds change all the time so even if something was supposed to be one way an hour ago doesn't mean that it is still the same.

5.) In editorial/commercial work, the photographer is told what to do and the people making all the shots are the art directors and creative directors. While this may suck to many it's what helps to fund the work you'll want to produce.

Chinatown

This past week and half has been pretty chaotic between finding my around LA and the studio. This past weekend was the first one in a long time where I didn't get out of bed before 7am and didn't have any driving to do. Later in the evening I went to Chinatown. I know I shouldn't have been surprised that LA has a Chinatown but I was. I had real steamed dumplings, that's the great thing about being near a city that is on the ocean, all of the cultural diversity. All sorts of little communities form around the city. I live in an Hispanic neighborhood but two blocks south is a small Korean community. This does mean however, that the little Hispanic woman who lives two doors down enjoys waking me up, with her dulcet voice that proclaims "Tamales!". Over and over and over at from about 6:30am to 7:00am. Who needs an alarm clock?

Something I have noticed about LA is the bombardment of advertising. Billboards, road, newspaper, park benches, and t-shirts. Either has a label out here. I notice most of things on my way to work which being 45 minutes allows me lots of chances to see what's around especially with all of the stopping and starting. It's not the advertisements that offend me but rather what they are about. 1-800-GET-THIN, Best Buys for Purses, Clutches, and Bags, Ovation Cell Therapy Yes, you too can have thick gorgeous hair. For such a health conscience area, organic food is everywhere along with herbal remedies for any aliment, lap bands and chemicals to give you stronger hair don't seem too health to me. Maybe my feminist side is coming out, maybe my sarcastic East Coast mentality is playing a role, or maybe I have a photo story?

Chinatown

4:07pm

Venice Beach

The pier

This is a photograph I did not take. There are nine light poles each separated with enough space between them so that there is no overlap. Along the right hand side are three boats, one speed boat that has a small trail of waves behind it, and two sail boats that are moving in the same direction. In the foreground, on the right hand side, are two men fishing. One has a full head of hair the other is completely bald by choice. They seem to know each other because there is a comfort between them that seems like more than mere acknowledgment of each other. Both rest their left hand on the left cheek and stare at their fishing poles. The waves continue to rolls past their fishing lines without recognizing the lures. Further down the pier other clusters of people fish and in the middle ground two seagulls fight over a hamburger roll.

3rd day in LA

Is it that obvious that I'm from the east coast?

I've been in LA for about 48 hours now and there are something about me that are apparently east coast traits. I'm impatient and bouncing, jiggling, or moving your leg, hand and/or foot makes you seem impatient. I constantly want something to do and I move pretty quickly. Now this is odd for me because at home I walk the slowest out of my friends and family but out here I could join a speed walking team and easily become their best athlete. The way I talk I guess lets people know I'm from the east coast. When I get excited about something I talked faster and louder and tend to use my hands. I thought that was just an Italian thing.

Los Angeleans are an interesting type of people, they never seem rushed and generally don't rush others. For example I was hell bent on spending exact change at a grocery store, I wanted to use ever last penny, so I ended up counting out sixteen cents. Not once to the cashier get huffy with me, it was wild. The wildest part about was that I was still trying to counting the change out fast.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll ever be full acclamiated to the west coast but here are some photos from Big Sur.

“No man should go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his true and hidden strength.”-Jack Kerouac

Tallyho!

It's been awhile since so here's a quick re-cap of the end of my trip, got to spend a day and a half with my grandparents in Utah and then traveled to California and basically traveled the length of the state. Somewhere between San Fransisco and Los Angeles the weather, people, and my nerves changed. Luckily two nights in Big Sur helped eased the transition.

In San Francisco I got to listen to a band that complied the accordion, violin, upright bass, drums and the bass guitar and realized that people in the west coast are very mellow, no one speeds. ever. or uses their directionals either, both irritated me to no end. I also found it interesting that once we crossed into California there was a stop on highway 15 where we were asked if we had fresh fruit or animals in the car. Do you suddenly have to go through customs to enter California? Apparently.

Also the moment we got into Illnois, there were all kinds of green energy suppliers. Windmills and solar panels were speckled across the landscape which was nice to see. However the west and midwest seem to make-up for their green efforts by dumping abandoned cars along the roads.

Thousands of feet above sea level

We made it to Colorado. Fourteen hours later, five rain storms, and fifteen construction delays later. Nebraska may be my new favorite state on the account that the speed limit was 75 mph and the scenery was beautifully flat. The closer I got to Colorado the more the sky darkened and then the rains came.

Our first day we made it to Chicago and I got to take a trip down memory lane and visit my old home. My very small 1930's bungaloo style home. Many things were still the same and many things were different fortunately the woman who currently lives there didn't get to freak out by a complete stranger asking to walk through her home.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to make it to St. George, Utah where my paternal grandparents live. Here's hoping I can get adjusted to the mountain times zone!

You're not home til you're fighting with you siblings

Typical evening in the Lohmiller household. Wine and walking through the yard preceded dinner which was til about 7:30pm. The whole time mockery was sprinkled within the conversation and as usual rival occurred. The problem is that my younger siblings are growing up. Actually they're out growing me.

Half way there

My things are getting close to being packed and and my laundry is almost done. I've finished my 11 weeks of work at the Erie Times News and now I'm preparing for a move west. Very west. Los Angeles in fact. I've never been to California which makes this exciting and terrifying all at the same time. I will be working for Lauren Greenfield for the next three months which is complete 360 from the newspaper. I'm hoping that I learn more about a different aspect to photojournalism and see really great work.

Here's what I've learned from working at a newspaper:
1.) Never assume anything, even if you think the person is the mayor ask anyway.
2.) Even if it's sunny outside, use a flash
3.) Don't think that just because you're working for a newspaper that you'll never have to do a portrait or studio work
4.) Keep your cell phone on you at all times, you never know when your editor or someone from the newspaper will need to contact you
5.) Go the extra distance when you have the time, if you're given an hour to photograph a book use that full hour to try something different. Your editor will see the extra effort and like the variety.
6.) Talk to the other photographers, they'll have good insight to approaching assignments and have good stories to tell
7.) You will mess up and it's ok because that assignment was a one time thing once it's done, it's over and you have to move on to the next thing.

I understand why it's called hard news

I got into to around 8:15 am Monday morning and checked my work email, added paper to the printer, and looked to see what my assignments were. I didn't have much to do other than cover a press conference by the police chief. Well when I got to city hall with the other photographer we saw a news station videographer standing by the side door. Big Mike was waiting for Aaron Noyer to be walked out by police. I had been gone for the week and didn't know why there was a secret perp walk. Noyer was the lead suspect in a child abduction. Rob, the other photographer then found out that the press conference was about the missing two year old girl.

I missed the press conference. So I shot two cops being sworn in a was able to get an interview with the police chief. They found the little girl too late. She was taken from her room, sexual assaulted, and then strangled to death. I then had to shoot video of this story. It was a very hard day. I had to go to the site where the found the body and then to the little girls house.

If shooting was difficult, the editing of the video was. I understand why this is called hard news. There's nothing about this story that is easy. There's nothing about these types of stories that will ever be easy. Now as I sit in the office listening to the police scanner through the left ear, my right ear can hear the reporters and editors having a pow-wow discussing where this story is going. The plot continues to thicken with this story, it's too bad that this won't be the last time something like this appears on the news.

Tobacco juice and the all american game

About a week ago I had to photograph the Erie SeaWolves, the minor league baseball team. This meant I dragged around a lens that was heavy enough to kill a person, hung out in the dugout, and tried to follow a game that I know nothing about.

Knowing what I do about baseball, which is absolutely nothing, I basically switched from dugout to dugout and would switch from fan watching to sport watching. I now understand why sports photographers study the games with religious fervor, there are many nuances you can miss when you don't understand how the sport is played.

Another thing about the game I never realized was how much spitting occurs. Seriously. At any point during the five innings that I was there, I could find someone spitting. Whether they were on the field, in the dugout, waiting to bat; someone is spitting, like Men's Warehouse I guarantee it. And this spit is not the usually saliva mixture, nope it's a wonderful concotion of saliva, gatorade, and chewing tobacco. There was no tip-toe through the tulips but rather try not to step in spit.

Planes, Trains, and Highways

I've put many miles on my car and have hit almost every gas station from albany to erie along i90. this weekend however i spent along the beach of ontario lake and plotting the second part of internship filled 6 months.

here's some photos from a pit stop, the beach, and my vacation bible school project.

Family Minus One

Last weekend my family came out to visit me in Erie. It was so nice to see them and to just enjoy the little quirks that one can only find with people you've known your whole life.