Chicago Reader Cover- David Bazan

without even really trying at all, i somehow managed to get my photo on the cover of this free weekly newspaper in chicago and get paid for it. yes sir, this boy is a real published photographer. check out the article online here.

all of this happened by no act of mine though to be honest. i did not submit this or anything like that; it was chosen. this photo, albeit nothing really that special, was taken by myself a few months ago when i went to one of david's house shows in santa cruz. i uploaded it to flickr, simply titled "david bazan" and thought nothing of it. a few months later, the newspaper is about to publish an article on david and need a recent photo of him. they type his name into a creative commons search (a copyright thing on flickr to use photos with permission) and lo and behold, they want to use my photo. a few emails later and here we are. if only a photographic lifestyle job could be this easy all of the time.

overall, Im very glad that my first really high profile published photo was not only of a friend but of one of my favorite musicians too. also, getting paid for uploading a photo isnt that bad either. :)

Polaroid SX-70

Hello again. I apologize for the lack of updates, but ive become a bit lax when it comes to updates lately. no real reason why except that life has taken some odd turns lately and i dont feel as up to it as i do normally. odd considering i used to really be into updating people in my goings ons. but i digress... in the meantime while i get my stuff together, here are some sx-70 polaroids ive taken lately to tide you over. people have a tendency to eat these up like candy so here you go.

Mary and Kidder (Wedding, Chico, CA)

taking a bit of an atypical approach to their wedding, i was originally supposed to photograph their wedding in the fall of this year, until i got a call from mary saying they would be getting married sooner. much sooner actually, because they decided to elope. in fact, it was so secret that i couldnt blog or post their photos until they had told everyone about it (hence this being such a late post!). but they still wanted me to capture the moment, so i happily obliged. here are a few choice photos from the day...

































...and their disguise of being married in public. haha...

Moustached Mayhem!

yup folks its that time again. Moustache May is back and this time myself and 200+ other stached weirdos are taking pictures of ourselves everyday. for those of you uninformed about my facial haired prowess, moustache may is an online photo contest in which all contestants take photos of themselves everyday for the month of may. the only stipulation is that you either a) have a moustache or b) grow a moustache during that month. thats it. sounds unimpressive but with the theme days and comments and favorites and moustache mayor winners you cant help but keep up with the fun! to be honest, i am more a fan of the beard than the stache, but my photographic creativity really thrives in these contests, so if you would like to keep up my daily moustached photo updates, please click here or you can view my entire archive for the month here. enjoy!

My photo on a Wired blog?

although not necessarily what i would like to put on my own blog, an interesting event happened today where a photo of mine, and one i took of myself, ended up on the Wired magazine blog here (for those unfamiliar, Wired is a kind of techie/culture magazine).

this is not uncommon to me however. this has happened to many of my photos actually. some of my pictures have appeared on a few random websites, including a few freegan websites and even on ffffound!, but the strange thing about this is that this is the first instance where they didnt take my creative commons license into play (basically a copyright on flickr so that people cant steal your photos) and just ripped my photo off without even giving me any sort of photo credit at all. i thought it rather strange especially since this is probably the first major website/blog to feature a photo of mine and you would think they would be better at this kind of thing being a major publication. guess not. anyways, i left a comment about it and the author of the article later said he forgot to include it when transferring his document from word to actual blog. (right...) he then changed the article to give me a photo credit at the bottom with a link to the original flickr photo page. all in all, i thought it more flattering than anything else, but odd actions in general. it makes me wonder how many of my photos are out there on the world wide web.



also, im very glad that of all the photos to use they chose my photo from moustache may where i have a fu manchu wearing my kenny rogers shirt for an article about how kenny rogers music helps victims of stroke.

Analog Photography

hello everyone. its been a while since my last update, so i thought i would take time to do so today. not much has been happening with me lately. the winter season causes me to rarely come outdoors for any reason, and of course, any photo shoots or ideas are rarely there, but thats not to say i havent been doing anything. ive rediscovered my love of film photography once more and have recent purchased a bunch of new polaroid cameras with interesting effects. ive also been recently on the search for some sort of tlr camera as ive become interested in medium format photography after searching around on flickr (which has become my usual past time lately). i spend too much money on this kind of stuff... anyways, here are some recent film photos ive taken.

Polaroid Spectra:







Polaroid SX-70 Alpha 1 SE:









Polaroid EE100 Special:







Canon EOS Rebel 2000:









other than that, i have a few weddings coming up in the next couple of months and thats about it really. ive been playing with the idea of getting a job in the photography industry of some sort. what that looks like exactly i am still uncertain. i applied for a few jobs i found on craigslist as assistants (wedding & computer tech-wise and art gallery-wise) a few days ago, but have yet to receive a response. if that doesnt work out, i wouldnt mind working in a studio or even just a development lab or something like that. someplace where i could at least learn more or get some sort of perk out of it. the most exciting thing i have to look forward to this year though is moustache may, for which i have a brilliant idea, and of course, whiskerino 09. heres to hoping for another fantastic season of bearded bliss!

Alicia and Hezekiah (Highway 41, Atascadero, CA)

my friend alicia wanted some photos of hezekiah to give to her friends and family as gifts for christmas, so i happily obliged. this took all of 10 minutes to do... and the drive out to 41 was actually longer than the time spent there. but thats all you really need when you shooting such a model in making like this babe... im serious. check it out.













i had never had anyone look so intently at me like that ever. really, it was just because he wanted to take photos with my camera afterwards.