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44/365 Jon with models

I did a photo shoot today with Lola Dee and Amanda Garland. Make-up was done by Racheal Parrilla. My assistant was Jonathan Gonzalez and this is him with the girls. If you would like to view the pics from this series, click here. Lola Dee is also the organizer for a non-profit called Operation Recuperation. They send out care packages to US soldiers throughout the world. Thanks to everyone involved including Julia who got all ready and then couldn’t make it at the last minute.

43/365 Victor

Victor has been a student of mine for over 10 years now. It’s an honor that his parents feel that this is good for him and have trusted in me for this long. He’s almost like a little brother to me. I’ve seen him grow up to become a Need for Speed playing, peace-sign sporting teenager. Here he is in my friday night grappling class.

42/365 Little Patriot

My son told me that they were going to say the Pledge of Allegiance today and sing a couple songs at school this morning. Little did I know he was going to be the announcer for a President’s Day performance in front of the school.

41/365 Guess who?

Ok I give up.

Graffiti is interesting to me. But I think this guy may be trying to take it to the next level.

Amanda and Jessica

So today was my first photo shoot since I started my “Andy needs photogenic models for his portfolio” group on Facebook. I’ve been wanting to do a shoot in the stairwell of the Art Center at Orange Coast College (OCC) and I finally found a model that I thought would go well for that location. Amanda was in my photo class last semester so I figured it would be fun to revisit. She also brought her friend Jessica which made things more comfortable and I feel like they learned from each other. We had a great time and I got a bunch of pics that will help me update my portfolio and get my name er… work out there. And Jessica and Amanda will get some pics of themselves that I hope they’re happy with.

Model: Amanda

Model: Amanda

Model: Jessica

Model: Amanda

Model: Amanda

40/365 My Surrogate

Now I never have to go outside anymore. I have a surrogate.

This photo will make much more sense after you watch Surrogates. I watched it yesterday and I loved it. I guess it’s the popular theme these days to have the ability to control a “unit” like in Avatar and Gamer. Then again maybe it started with the internet. Yeah I said it. Back in the 90’s with chat rooms, ICQ, and now Facebook and Myspace. Where you can hide behind a profile and blurt out one-liners on your status like, “Can’t wait for the weekend and then it’s party time”. Why are our kids texting so much!? What happened to walking to your next-door neighbor’s house for a chat?

39/365 Murder in the Alley

Lots of talk about murder today. Michael Jackson’s doctor was arrested on charges of manslaughter. My take on it is that he took unnecessary risks at the urging of MJ. Although MJ did alot of great things, he was a drug addict. Nothing material could make him happy. He was the king of pop and he lived like a king. But as the street preacher at Centennial Park said on Sunday, a rich man can’t buy his way to heaven.

38/365 Outline

Time to step out of the shadows

Today was the Super Bowl with the Colts vs. the Saints. My son and I went to watch it with my dad. Before that I had an interesting conversation about fame and fortune. It’s a very dangerous road. There’s a famous quote that says it’s harder for a rich man to get to heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Another one says that you should store up spiritual treasures instead of materialistic ones. Yeah they’re from the Bible in case you didn’t know. Still, I’m addicted to a life of action. First I was a martial arts teacher, now a photographer. I can’t stand working in cubicle world. As a teenager, my thirst for fame got me arrested once and I landed on the front page of the Orange County Register. Long story.

Anyway, I’m really excited about my first photo shoot tomorrow which was a result of my facebook group “Andy needs photogenic models for his portfolio”. For today’s photo, I was playing with my LED flashlight again. Maybe today it didn’t show, but I was inspired after visiting the Santoro building in Santa Ana’s Artist Village. I’m coming up y’all. And soon, I believe things will start paying off for me. That being said, God is still first to me. I won’t need to sacrifice my values. I want my son to learn that from me by my example.

37/365 Saturday Sparring Class

Fil launches a roundhouse kick

I have been practicing martial arts at United Studios of Self Defense in Santa Ana with these two guys for a very long time. Manuel and Fil. Sometimes I kick their ass, and sometimes they kick mine. But we know each other’s limits so well, that we rarely hurt each other. I trust them. What I love about martial arts is that you can fight, without anger or hatred towards your opponent, just for fun. You don’t want to hurt your opponent because then you won’t have anyone to practice with. You have to allow them to learn because it will make you better as well.