Ace Armstrong Photography

2012-01-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

New camera, new film. The PX 680 film seems all right. nice magical shots happening here, but the unpredictability of it all might turn me off in the end. I probably continue to use the fuji instax wide for fun candid shots and this film occasionally for the more artistic side of things. at least until they get the film more under control. Fun stuff though.

2011-11-21T22:49:00.001-08:00

typical.

2011-11-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

first photo. so far, i like.

2011-10-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

i bought some new black framed polaroid film from the impossible project today. i have yet to try out their film so im hoping it can still give me as awesome of results as the old stuff did.

2011-10-06T23:46:00.001-07:00

im starting to believe every word you said.

2011-10-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

that holga 135bc man... it takes some good shots when it gets it right.

i usually get my film developed at cvs (because its cheaper) but their machine was broken for the second time in a month and didnt know when it would be fixed, so i opted to not wait for it and go to walgreens instead. this is mistake #1.

now, ive developed there before, but not without some mistakes. one time they got a fingerprint directly onto a negative and then super imposed on the 4x6 print. it took up about 2/3rds of the image. i stopped going there after that.

then an old co-worker of mine started working in the photo lab so then i felt more confident about her treating my images with care. plus i knew if i had a problem she could probably fix it right then and there. unfortunately, she was not there the day i turned in my film. and consequently, i was not only overcharged more than normal, my cd of prints did not work.

although more annoyed than anything else, i got it resolved. and this image came from it which i was very happy about.

2011-10-02T23:24:00.001-07:00

hiked a mountain today. my legs are sore.

2011-09-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

of course.

2011-09-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

everything.

2011-09-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

grand canyon triptych (center photo of me taken by marleigh)

2011-09-23T21:05:00.001-07:00

Grand Canyon. Its pretty grand.

Back.

2011-09-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

i know... its been quite a while.

so rather than go a traditional blog route, im thinking about using this to showcase more photography and have explanations only if necessary. lets see if i can stay on course this time. enjoy.

Chicago Reader Cover- David Bazan

2009-08-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-06-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-03-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-02-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

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)

2008-12-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

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.

Internation Cultural Association of California Induction Ceremony & Pageant (Oxnard, CA)

2008-11-20T19:54:00.000-08:00

My cousin Jacqueline was in the running for this pageant and her family wanted me to take photos of the event. she ended up getting 2nd princess (which i guess is 3rd place?). being as it is family, i was happy to oblige, however i wasnt exactly sure what to shoot and no one really told me what i was supposed to be shooting really (typical of my family to give me some vague task to complete). to be honest, there wasnt that much there for me to shoot, and what i had to work with was a very VERY dark room with high ceilings, and the only light coming from old halogen bulbs and me without my flash. alas, i did what i could and came up with this. overall though, it was a nice time to reconnect with my filipino family, do some line dancing and get a nice meal. :) check it out.

Mike and Eva (Wedding, Paso Robles and Creston)

2008-11-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

shooting this wedding was a lot of fun. it wasnt at all like how i traditionally shoot weddings as per request of the bride, it was very fast and furious actually, but i think thats what made it so fun! this was the first wedding that i shot without an assistant and also with my new camera, and after a little getting used to of course, the 28-135mm lens and 40d shot beautifully as expected. and luck would have it that it was forecasted to rain that day, but it rained only after i packed up all my stuff to leave. imagine that!

whats been happenin?

2008-10-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

hello there! its been a while since ive updated, but not because i havent wanted to, but because ive had a few problems with blogger since the last post. first google thought that my blog was some spam site and blocked access so i couldnt post until i should them i was a real person! it was really weird... then my computer, for whatever reason, wouldnt upload the home page regardless of what i did, so i could never get to the update screen. but i finally got it today so here i am.

anyways, what have i been up to? well, since i got from oklahoma, i spent a few days in san francisco with some friends and check out the sounds at the hardly strictly bluegrass festival. it was great fun and while i was there i went to a thrift store on market st and found an old polaroid sx-70 alpha 1 se in great condition. took it home and sure enough it works beautifully! still bummed that polaroids are slowly going the way of the buffalo, but im still gonna use this camera to its fullest while i can.

i recently bought an old rebel 2000 35mm film camera and a 50mm f/1.8 lens and got my first roll developed to some of my favorite shots ive taken in quite a while! the rebel 2000 was the first real slr camera that i ever used and it was awesome to go back to the good old days for once. i hadnt used one since i first had one in high school 8 years ago. but man, that camera stuck by my side for so long. i kinda miss the days of 35mm film when every shot counted and every shot was great and editing a photo wasnt as big of a big deal as it is now. i feel sometimes that a lot of photography nowadays, especially online, is more about your photoshopping prowess than actually taking a good photo of something. a part of that is the fact that digital cameras arent anywhere close to film yet, but i just think its silly when your photo is so edited it doesnt even look like the original anymore. film processing is so simple and beautiful i think im gonna taking a lot more shots with it soon! click here to see the photos from my roll.

at the beginning of next month im shooting a wedding for my co-workers friend. local wedding of course, with the reception in paso and the reception in creston but i went to scout out the church yesterday and i can already see the photos being really great. this is a little unusual of a wedding shoot for me, because the bride doesnt want many posed photos or the stereotypical wedding shots, but maybe because of that it will be really fun! i enjoy shooting weddings where i dont have to do the usual shots anyways. my next post will probably be shots from their wedding.

and lastly, yesterday i decided to go big and buy a canon 40d! big purchase i know, but with the release of the 50d recently and the 5d mark II soon approaching, the 40d has rapidly dropped in price and i thought i should probably take advantage of this while i can! i am really excited to be moving up to a more professional grade camera soon and really excited to just be playing with the camera in the next few months. now i just need to get an external flash... and a super wide angle lens... and a few more memory cards... and a memory card reader of course... oh and probably a better computer and software... and oh gosh. these things add up quickly... but i love it!

First BLOG!

2008-10-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

blog is a weird word, isnt it? well, anyways, it appears that i needed to start a photography blog so here it is. i dont have much else to say so here is an animated gif i made of photos i took while i was in oklahoma. enjoy!

animated gifs rock! YEAH!