F*** YOU to the new organizers of the Hollywood Forever Dia de los Muertos event!

F*** Hollywood Forever Dia de los Muertos event! Those bastards are in it for the money now, for years my family had gone to celebrate but last year they decided that after years of free admission, they would charge $5 each, this year it's $10! WTF?! next year will be $15? Go with your family and expect to spend $50 getting in plus get charged for everything that goes on inside! Hello!? It's not like money is growing on trees right now, we are not exactly all rolling around in extra cash. Screw that! I'm going to Olvera Street!

Street Merchants Present Dia de los Muertos (Downtown)
October 25–November 2, 7 p.m.
www.olvera-street.com
Olvera Street celebrates Dia de los Muertos with several days of festivities featuring piñata breaking, children workshops, face painting, strolling Mariachi bands and Ballet Folklorico. Enjoy colorful, ancient Mexican ceremonies in honor of departed loved ones with beautifully decorated altars, entertainment and Novenaria processions. Best of all admission is FREE.

One Great Weekend w/ The Mars Volta & The Dead Weather

Sunday August 30th the Mars Volta killed it on stage at the Hollywood Palladium with hours of super high energy, great theatrical lighting and that amazing unique voice. Apparently Kat Von D was there too with her sister but I was too busy enjoying the show with my sister! It was still hot as hell out here in SoCal but it didn't matter. This was my first time at this particular venue, a little bigger than i had expected, I would have much rather seen them at Ventura theater but that show had sold out. Can't wait for the next show!

Friday August 28th I was lucky enough to find out about the free mini concert Jimmy Kimmel was giving with the new supergroup The Dead Weather. I had heard about Jack White and his new band but hadn't gotten a chance to check them out. It was my first time listening to any of their music and I was blown away!!!!! Allison had great energy, she was a rockstar on stage with a killer voice. I went straight to Best Buy and picked up the album and have not stopped listening to it since :)

Rock the Bells 2009

Guerilla Union presents Rock the Bells 2009 at the San Manuel Amphitheatre and the ladies of the Classy Riot Mob were there to represent! Beer, music, sun...what more could you ask of an all day hip-hop music fest?
Psycho Realm took to the stage and the crowd went wild, broke out in a pit and elbows and fists started flying...

highlight of the evening definitely had to be when Ice Cube took the Main Stage with the classics! Good times....till next year....

Crazy for Cult - Art Show @ Gallery 1988

Woo-Hoo! Another art exhibit in Los Angeles!

Crazy for Cult is the current art exhibit at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles dedicated to the classic cult films. There are 100 contributing artists and work is available for purchase at the show. Check them out online at Crazy 4 Cult.
Show starts tonight Thursday July 16 and runs through August 8. I am excited to see works for Clockwork Orange, Willy Wonka, and Edward Scissorhands just to name a few...

Scott Kelby's 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk - July 18, 2009

The Photo Walk falls on a Thursday this year and will be the first one I am participating in. I am so excited to get the chance to explore the cities that I rush by all the time and stop and take it slow with my camera. 2 hours dedicated to photos. I am also excited about the opportunity to talk and share tips with fellow photogs! The groups are limited to 50 per city and I have narrowed it down to three: Malibu @ the Paramount Movie Ranch, Santa Monica @ Camara Obsura as the starting place making our way around to the pier and farmer's market or Universal City with details coming soon. I can't wait and already have my camera bag ready with about 4 different cameras, film, memory cards and lenses. This should be a workout!

Go Green in Los Angeles!

Nature is trying to fight back! Here are some small changes you can commit to to make a difference in your community: Use the energy star program and purchase appliances, light bulbs, etc with the energy star seal. Once you make the switch you will forget you are helping make a difference because the products are just as good as the ones they are replacing. If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with a CFL(ENERGY STAR qualified Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road. That's HUGE and is not "inconvenient" so no excuses! Recycle and get some dough! Some cans that you can recycle instead of throwing away can add up to some nice change and I KNOW we can all use the extra cash right now....there is alot we can do so get to it and remember that every day is earth day....I willl leave you with this photo I took in Los Angeles that gets me in the eco-friendly mood:

Day of the Dead weekend photoshoot, New website launched, and a whole lot of Los Angeles cruisin'

So I made some changes to my photography website but still tried to keep it G rated since I am sure some of my viewers would not appreciate the whole Los Angeles gangsta' "Livin' La Vida Loca" chola look. The photo shoot was fun, we almost got rained out but luckily Dia De Los Muertos afternoon was nice and cloudy but not rainy. The weather actually made for some nice shots. All photos have been uploaded to my flickr gallery as well as on the myspace and the website. The new classy riot mob website has also been launched, this time including a splash page with music to provide a soundtrack while you are shopping and surfing around the site. We figured it would be a nice touch. Hollywood Forever Cemetery held their annual Day of the Dead festival on Saturday night and for whatever reason they decided to start charging a $5 entry when I have never had to pay to get in. So basically you pay to get in and walk around to see what else you can pay for, maybe some overpriced tamales? The event overall was amazing as usual after I got over that little bit of disappointing news but I hope there was enough complaining that they decide to not pull that again! I did walk out with a Virgen de Guadalupe purse that i absolutely loved even though it set me back about $40. Totally worth it. We also attended the Dia De los Muertos event in Los Angeles the Sunday afternoon after the photoshoot at Self Help Graphics (free entry). To be honest, after attending the festival in Hollywood, SHG does not compare, it was almost a waste of time to attend. The place was TINY. I would probably just stick to Olvera Street next time, which I did not attend this year because of these other 2 events.

Holga took a trip to the train station

So I bought five rolls of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 ISO film from Lomography and loaded one up to test it out on my Holga CFN before I leave for my trip to China. I figured I would get some practice in and get a feel for it before I completely blew it by snapping away and not knowing what I was doing. Here is a sample shot from my first developed roll! The photos of the station were taken at Griffith Park's Travel Town. If you want to see more they have been uploaded to my Flickr photostream, I also picked up some Fuji Superia 120 film for color shots....China: Here I Come!

Cholas in East Los Angeles, Nikkor Lens, and Expensive Film From Lomography.com

So the ClassyRiotMob ladies are at it again! I will be the official photographer for the girls up coming shoot in the East Los Angeles area. The theme will be the original gangster girl. Should be a fun shoot. Above is a shot of the main ladies, Mizz Traviesa & Mizz Hunny, from our first shoot. This time they are looking for fresh new faces. I think this will be a great opportunity for someone to build up their modeling portfolio since they will have the opportunity to work with a photographer for free. Also, the exposure is great. These girls network like crazy via print media, myspace etc. So if you are in the Los Angeles area and would like to take advantage of this opportunity and be part of C.R.M. then contact me or the girls at myspace.com/classyriot.


I recently picked up my new Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AF Lens and have already taken it for a test run. I absolutely love the colors and makes taking pictures that much more fun since the lens is small and there is no need for a flash, making your subject much more comfortable in front of the camera. Here is a sample shot, I was happy with about 99% of the shots without any editing.

Today I bought my first few rolls of film for my upcoming trip to China. I got some 35mm slide film and 10 rolls of 120 film for my Holga, I will post some photos when I get back from my trip...