California dreams.

I've been back in the High Five state for almost a month and I still have yet to get around to scanning all my negatives from my wonderful stay in Long Beach [California]. As a result, I've told myself I wouldn't shoot a roll of here until I finish scanning all the photos that I need too. Regardless, here are two taken with the ever so exciting Patty the Pano. Just a good old fashion California sunset w/ some standard California scenery.

Vons (1/125, @F11, ISO200)

Broadway (1/125, @F11, ISO200)

Everyone woman looks better in a sundress.

I made my departure from California on Monday and now I'm back in Michigan. Whooo. Fun time right? Right. Not really though. Here are a couple photos from my flight, courtesy of Patty (Patty the Pano; Ansco Panorama Pix) and there's also one of Jen. She's the girl that makes me real happy.

LAX to ATL (1/125, @F11, ISO200)Jen (1/125, @F11, ISO200)

Korean Friendship Bell.

This is the Korean Friendship Bell located in San Pedro. I don't really have any kind of information on it, although I did hear that Charles Manson and his crew used to play around in the chambers under it. If you're real interested I'd suggest googling it or wikipediaing it. All I know for sure is that there is really nice green grass around the entire thing and that it has an amazing view of mountains and the Pacific ocean.

(1/125, @F11, ISO200)

Hello old friend. It's been a long time.

I think I've come to the conclusion that this is just going to be a photo blog of my life. There'll rarely be actual photos that I'd personally consider "photographs". More of snap shots of my life. With that being said, I broke out my Nikon FM2 today and I'm really pumped on the outcome. I don't believe I've shot w/ this guy since earlier this year when I headed down to Landslide Skatepark to shoot w/ Daryl Nilson. I did buy five rolls of film today so I think I'll be using it a lot more and I'll put my range finder aside for a little while. Enough rambling; Let me get back to the point here. In this photo I was skeptic on what my light meter was telling me, but I normally am when it's saying to shoot at 1/4000 of a second. It must be that California sun, or maybe it's the fact that I wanted to to shoot at F1.8 for a shallow DOF. Regardless now that I'm thinking about it, it was all compensation to the "Sunny 16" rule. Go figure right?

Jen (1/4000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Hi Jen, I'm Justin.

I've been getting much use out of my Yashica as of late. It's fast becoming my new favorite toy. I've started to post up a lot of random photos on this thing as of late so this is kind of actually starting to become a blog of my life or something. I did manage to make a Flickr for some of my more serious photos, so if you have this page bookmarked you should bookmark that Flickr page too. Anyways, this is a photo I took of Jen. Almost everyday she tells me she hates me or that I suck. Well, atleast she has her facts straight.

Jen (F16, ISO200)

Hey, thanks again Jason.

My good buddy Jason gave me a box of cameras as a going away gift that he had picked up. Inside was a Kodak Duaflex II camera in prime condition. This thing looks like it was almost never used and very well taken care of. The only down side of it is that it was made for 620 film which isn't produced anymore. The substitute is to use 120 film but you'd have to modify the film spool some to make it fit. If I could scan MF film properly it might be worth it, but who knows when that'll be. Anyways, this is probably the first photo "shot" w/ this camera in over twenty years. The subject of the photo is Posie, which Tanner brought to my attention yesterday, is spelled "Posie" and not "Posey", as I've been spelling it since forever. Sorry Posie. No hard feelings.

Posie (F2.8, ISO200)

Yashica at Cherry.

This series of photographs were from a test roll of film that I shot at Cherry Park (Bixby Park) with my [at the time] new Yashica Electro 35. When I recieved this camera I wasn't even sure that worked properly, nor did I know how to use it. Even after reading the manual it seemed kind of confusing. As you can see from the photos below I think you can clearly say I still have a few kinks to work out. Either way, I feel like it's a real good camera to take on adventures and document life with.

Tanner Shay (F1.8, ISO400)

Tanner Shay (F1.8, ISO400)

Tanner Shay (F1.8, ISO400)

Yeap, almost another full month.

Working for 8 hours a day for 6 days straight means it's kind of hard to update stuff sometimes. I'm sure some of you know that. Either way, sorry about that. Here is a photo from Scott Nichols when he was here for a week or so last month. Blunt to fakie. Putting them mini ramp skills to use really hard.

Scott Nichols (1/2000, @F2.8, ISO200)

Well it's been about a minute I guess.

I didn't realize it had been so long since my last update here. Sorry about that folks. Either way, here's a photo of Tanner doing a switch pole jam and Scott doing a fs 180 over a trash can. Good friends. Good times.

Tanner Shay (1/1000, @F5.6, ISO200)

Scott Nichols (1/1000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Red Boys.

Tanner was the original one that threw the quickcrete up to these barriers about a year ago and since then they've been painted red, the chunks have been patched at the top, and the Mystery crew has been sessioned this place. So when the Mystery video drops and you see red barriers being backtailed, just remember Tanner did that shit months before anyone else even knew about them.

Tanner Shay (1/2000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Tanner Shay (1/2000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Posey cat.

Until last night when Posey licked my knee, I was convinced that this cat hated me. I guess I was wrong. She's a cutie though, right?

Posey Cat (1/30, @F1.8, ISO200)

Hockey hair.

I don't really have a funny or interesting story for these photos here that Tanner and I shot today. I guess I'll just let the photographs speak for themselves this time.

Tanner Shay (1/2000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Tanner Shay (1/2000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Goodtimes at the Mounds.

When Jeremy Crowe told me he had bought a Bronco for off-roading, honestly, I probably laughed a little. I didn't think he'd be into that type of thing considering he likes to drive fast, but I guess when you're behind the wheel, driving is driving; whether it's 120mph+ on I-69 or 15mph through a mud hole. I'll totally miss hanging w/ this guy; whether it's skating Bendle park (Hahah), Kersely Street, or going off-roading. Its always a good time hanging with Tony Hawk, umm, I mean, Jeremy Crowe.

Jeremy Crowe (1/500, @F2.8, ISO200)

Panoramic beach.

This is where I spend a lot of my time out here. It's pretty peaceful there and a good time killer. Man, I really need to find a job.

(ISO200)

Beach bum.

Before I left Michigan, my boss at the Beanery kept saying, "Are you going to California just to be a beach bum?" Well, I don't have a job right now so I guess that does make me a bum, but at least I'm a bum on the beach and not in Flint. The weather here is always amazing; everyday is 70 degrees and sunny. Hey, thats better then humid 90 degree days with rain, right?

(1/500, @F8, ISO200)

Welcome to Long Beach.

I've been in Long Beach for the past 2 days and I've been loving every minute of it. Sunny skies and smooth side walks. Can't beat that.

(1/250, @F5.6, ISO200)

(1/500, @F8, ISO200)

Welcome back Dave!

My buddy Dave just made it back from a long stay in Texas then Denver then Long Beach. I knew he was in town last night but he couldn't make it over and I was in no shape to pick him up. But first day I actually street skated w/ the kid he's already jumping on roofs and get photos, not to mention bombing parking garages switch. Yeeeeah boy! Good to have you back man!

Dave Petrowski (1/500, @F5.6, ISO400)

Broken elbow.

The entire drive home Scott was stretching out and bending his arm saying "It doesn't really hurt. It just kind of feels like when you first wake up and stretch out and it hurts a little." Well, all that movement probably wasn't the best idea as he spent the next several hours in the hospital getting x-rays.

Scott Nichols (1/15, @F1.8, ISO400)

See you later Matt K.

This is my buddy Matt K and he's moving to Europe today. The forecast for today said rain all day w/ thunder showers so I was bummed we wouldn't actually get to get a final good street sesh in but to my surprise after about 2PM it hardly rained at all. I had a really good sesh w/ him and Scott. A lot of fun really. It's weird we never saw anyone else skateboarding around today all around the downtown area. Where was everyone?

Matt K (1/500@, F1.8, ISO400)

Matt K (1/500@, F1.8, ISO400)

Yeah, Flint is pretty cool.

Well it seems like the weather is finally breaking; it might actually be decent this week. Scott and I made it downtown for a minute today before he had to work and managed to squeak out these 2 photos. Considering it's been about 3 weeks since the last skate flick I've shot, I was real pumped on these.

Scott Nichols (1/500, @F5.6 ISO200)

I could never do Senior pictures.

It's hard enough to do portraits w/ a good friends but to do it w/ a totally random stranger? I don't think I could do it. I swear way too much for all that nonsense, and not to mention I wouldn't be able to make my stupid jokes around them.

Sam Manley (1/250, @F1.8, ISO200)

Hi Lauren.

Sometimes it's real hard to come up with some decent text to type about a photo so I figured I'd ask Lauren what she wanted her caption to say about the portrait we shot last Friday. All she was able to come up with is "dis be ma numma 1 bunnie". I'm not really feeling that so I guess I'll just leave it at that.

Lauren Dutcher (1/1000, @F1.8, ISO200)

45 Degrees.

Last night the forecast for today was rain all day so I figured I might as well sleep until noon. I woke up to see blue skies. Kind of bummed I wasted so much time sleeping, but we still got out and rolled around on the stunt wood for a minute. Scott just rolled a little harder.

Scott Nichols (1/1000, @F1.8, ISO200)

Fairfax Banks.

This is Fairfax Banks and I wish I had a funny or exciting story about her but in all honesty I had just met her personally that day. She needed a senior picture for their yearbook so I fired off a couple dozen shots.

Fairfax Banks (1/125, @F1.8, ISO200)

Daryl Nilson.

I met Daryl through myspace last Fall and knew he wanted to get some photos shot of him. Well things never really worked out until this winter when I met him at a contest. He invited my buddys and I to come down to his park for some after hour seshes. I must say, it's real nice to be able to set up your flashes without worries of random people knocking them over or getting in your bag to steal your stuff.

Daryl Nilson (1/30, @F16, ISO400)

Detroit through a plastic lens.

This is another shot of Detroit that I took recently with Harold the Holga. I finally got a good shot out of this thing where frames weren't over lapping and no light leaks either.

Detroit

Whitney [Dang] LaBarge.

This is Whitney. We went out to shoot some shots a few weeks ago and I pussed out because it was far too cold to try and hold the camera steady and level for an extended amount of time. I actually only shot this one frame the entire time and called it a day and now it's only taken about 2 weeks to scan the negative since I've gotten it back.

Whitney [Dang] LaBarge (1/100, @F1.8, ISO400)

Pete Halupka inspired.

This photo was inspired by Pete Halupka. None of you have heard of him, I know, but he takes some amazing shots of subjects that aren't alive. The photos amazing photos that they acutally hold my attention and for having subjects that neither people nor skateboarding, that's a pretty hefty task in itself.

Trainyard (@F5.6, ISO400)

Hello Canada!

My Girlfriend and I spent the night in Windsor this past weekend and let me tell you, we had a wonderful time. Great atmosphere, great food, great drinks, and a great view.

Lydia (F5.6, ISO400)

Detroit (F5.6, ISO400)

Harold the Holga strikes again!

This is the first roll of color film I ran through Harold and man, talk about double exposures and light leaks! I really need to work on this thing a little more. Oh yeah, and there's another photo I took by putting 35mm film through Harold. Once again, light leaks coming from every angle!

DoggyFlint

Harold eats 35mm for breakfast.

Well, when you put 35mm film in a MF camera you're suppose to be able to get the entire image on the full negative (covering the sprockets and everything). I still havn't been able to shoot a good roll of film like that, but I thought these 2 shots look pretty surreal , or something.

(ISO400)

Happy New Year!

Here is other portrait I had shot of my buddy Matt a while back. I had to shoot them for an assignment and Matt thought they turned out so well that ended up buying 14 prints to give to his parents/siblings as Christmas gifts. He said they went over real well.

Matt K (1/250, @F1.8, ISO400)