This is a preliminary menu I created for “Ainoko” (a Peruvian – Japanese restaurant that is about to open) and a couple of unused logo designs for the restaurant (I figured I could at least show them here). The menu is still a work-in-progress, but it is complete enough to show to my client.
Tag Archive: photography
It has been a few months since my last update and the truth is that I have had a rough time finding steady employment, so I have not felt very inspired. At first, I thought finding work would be easy. After all, I am a military veteran with a college degree who wouldn’t want to hire me right? Apparently not many people, but I have chosen a tough industry to break into.
I must have “shot-gunned” my resume to over 100 organizations and individuals in the hopes of a bite. I have spent WAY too much time searching various job sites, tweaking my resume, writing cover letters, and filling out applications. I landed interviews for several promising positions and I felt pretty good about my performance in each one, but I didn’t get any of the jobs (you never really know with interviews). However, my family is a wonderful support system and they didn’t let me stay down for too long. I really do feel blessed and I am grateful everyday to have such a great family.
Luckily, the last few weeks have been good to me in terms of finding contract work and I am bouncing back as usual. I have been on several different shoots (a police training video, constructions sites, an infomercial) and I have gained a ton of experience on how to light a set properly: what to look for, where to block, soften, or reflect light (natural and artificial). I have also started working with the city of Carlsbad recently, mainly shooting video, taking pictures, and helping them archive media.
The last few months have been humbling and they have certainly put a strain on my finances (not to mention my patience). The good thing is that they have also allowed me to spend time with family and enjoy the little things in life. So even after sending my resumes out like spam, the jobs that I have been working have been purely “word of mouth” referrals. It just goes to show that it’s not always about what you know, but who you know. Stay positive!
I have probably taken more pictures in the last three months than I have in my entire life. As a person who has been involved mainly in video production, I must say that I have really fallen in love with photography. I will definitely continue to learn more about photography and will certainly incorporate it more into my video projects. In the meantime, take a look at some of my handy work below.
Have you ever wondered who your neighbors are?
Turns out I have some pretty nice people in my neighborhood.
Here’s a short video/slideshow about my neighbor Harry.
I finally decided to stop by my neighbor’s house this weekend and talk to him about my digital photography project. As I mentioned in a previous post, we usually wave hello to each other whenever we pass, but I was a little nervous because I had never really spoken with him and I was not sure how he would react to my request. I decided to bring some cookies along with me and thank him for taking care of my dog after he had escaped a few months ago. I also gave him a DVD of a documentary project I had recently made to show him the type of work I have done in the past. I figured that I should share a bit about myself since I was asking him to share a glimpse into his life.
It turns out that I have an incredibly interesting and friendly neighbor. His name is Harry and he has worked at the San Onofre nuclear power plant for over 29 years. Being that we just had a major power outage a few weeks ago, I had to ask about it. He mentioned that, like most of us, he had no power, but went on to explain some of the safety procedures at his job. After the incident in Japan I felt a little anxious about living so close to San Onfre, but I feel better knowing that there are measures in place to cope with emergencies.
In total, we spoke for about half an hour and I actually ended up helping him with something while we talked. He was moving his van from his driveway to his backyard to do some maintenance on it, but he had to drive it through a slim carport where there were only inches of room on each side. It was a definitely a tight squeeze (check out the pictures below). He also told me that he has been trying to use up all of his vacation days before he retires, which is why he has been working on his personal projects (cars, motorcycle, etc.). All in all, I am glad that I finally walked over and spoke with my neighbor and now friend Harry.
When I think about recycling, I tend to think about the side that I see. I don’t actually see the entire process of recycling, I just know that I put my plastics, cans, and paper in the correct bins they get picked up and taken away by waste management. I am glad we watched Manufactured Landscapes because I had no idea that so much of our “e-waste” ends right back up where it was manufactured: China; it only seems fitting. Seeing the blocks of waste stacked up reminded me of the Disney film WALL-E. I really liked how the film transitioned from scene to scene, especially from the hot iron factory to the landfill and back to the factory; I may incorporate a similar technique in my future projects.
Anyway, I would like to switch gears and think about recycling in a different sense. I thought back to what Aaron R. said in our class (at least I think it was him) about recycling ideas or themes and I began to think about recycling one of my ideas. I wanted to revisit the spiders at my house because I enjoyed taking the first round of pictures. Additionally, I am a person who loves nature, but also loves technology; I saw this as a chance to put them together.
In terms of recycling, I have noticed that the spiders that hang out by my front door re-use parts of their old webs; at least that is what it looks like. They do not re-use their entire webs because see them spin new webs each night, but the spots where they attach their silk threads remains the same for the most part. I have literally walked into what I thought was a single piece of thread, but when I followed it to the base it was more like 8 pieces of silk wound up together. I didn’t even break the thread after running into it; it was so strong that I could pluck it like a guitar string and it would not break (needless to say the spider was already gone before I started to play). So without further ado, check out more spider pictures from my personal nature reserve (A.K.A. my house). I have also added a few of my favorite “non-spider” pictures that I took over the last two weeks. Enjoy.
Last Monday night (Sept. 12) I noticed a huge spider web near the front door of my house; in fact I almost ran into it. After some careful observation I saw the tremendous spider right in the center of its web. I was immediately fascinated. I took out my DSLR and started taking some pictures.
The next morning the spider was gone and only small remnants of the amazing web it had spun were still visible. That evening I kept an eye out for the spider and to my surprise it was back. This time I had my DSLR and my video camera ready. I was able to record it spinning its web as well as get more pictures. So far, the spider has come back every night, spinning a new web each time (I believe it hides out in my rain gutter during the day).
Yesterday morning I noticed another one of these webs as I looked out of my kitchen window and I actually saw a bee fly into it. The spider quickly came out of hiding and wrapped the bee up; I felt like I had the Discovery channel in my own back yard, so I rushed for my cameras once again and luckily managed to get some shots.
If anyone reading this knows what kind of spider this is please leave a comment.
Below are some of my favorite pictures and you can see more on my Flickr slideshow:
Sebastian Maselli 