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 :)

It's a Boy!

The newest member of the family surprised us by arriving a little earlier than expected but looking healthy and adorable as ever! I had the opportunity to photograph him at only a few days old. Welcome and Happy Birthday Aaron Michael! Congratulations Tia!

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....

Orange County Fair Summerfist 2009

I usually wait until the LA County Fair but this year we took an early trip to the fair to catch "SummerFist 2009" MMA event because I had heard about it through Tarzana Boxing. Soooo here is the recap:

Boyko Ranchev of Las Vegas (2-1) won a unanimous decision over Sebastian Lopez of Huntington Beach (0-2)

Chris Saunders of Long Beach won his debut by inserting a choke hold on Thor Skancke of Tarzana (1-3), which put an end to the bout at 2:47 of the second round.

Brian Devaney of Los Angeles improved to 3-0 with a unanimous decision over Fernando Bernstein of San Clemente (3-3)

In the main event, Brian Abram of Irvine and Aaron Miller of Gardena brought some excitement and ended the show with Miller out of the ring and onto the judges table! The ring doctor wouldn't allow him to continue....you could see the disappointment all over his face.
The night was beautiful and fairs are always better at night anyways, the lights, the food, the fun, the games...all awesome! This fair is identical to the LA County Fair except for the crowd. Trust me, you can tell you were in the OC....haha
and the perfect way to end ANY night...with some Jose Cuervo Margaritas...my favorite! Pass the tequila Jose!!!!

Ink-N-Iron 2009 w/ Eagles of Death Metal, Tattoos, Hot Rods, and Art!

I look forward to Ink-N-Iron every year for the chance to see portfolios of amazing artists that come from all over in the beautiful Queen Mary in Long Beach. I have been to my share of tattoo conventions and this one takes the cake! There are amazing tattoos being made at every turn, greasers and pinup gals, classic movies, amazing music and hot rods on display.

Eagles of Death Metal took the stage around 10pm and rocked it! It was so much fun, I went crazy when "I really wanna be in LA" was played. They seem like some really cool guys and delivered a good old rock and roll show.

Lomography

I LOVE FILM~! I just got my mail order film processing in the mail. I love how I never know what I am going to get from my lomo cameras. I had a couple rolls that I had developed from my Diana + my Holga and my Horizon cameras. I still need to scan the Horizon photos...go check them out on my flickr or at http://www.melissacerda.com/

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!

Happy Mother's Day

This polaroid was taken of my moms bouquet in our back yard. My mom loves sunflowers, she got tons of flowers since that is what makes her smile...

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day and were able to show your moms how much they really mean to you. For all the moms that have passed, that have acted as a mother and a father, that have made tough decisions, that have held their heads up high and let love conquer all I only have one thing to say: Happy Mother's Day! You deserve to be celebrated all year long.

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:

China photos for Lomography

I got back my first few rolls from my recent trip to China! Medium photography is a nice change for a different view of the same city and sightseeing spots. It captured China in a different light, the fog and grainy black and white film gave it an almost dreamy, eerie feel to it. All photos have been uploaded to my Flickr gallery but here is one shot of the Great Wall of China in Beijing taken with a Holga 120 CFN on Ilford HP5+, 400 ISO, 120 black and white film. The photo above was taken on the same roll on the West Lake in Hangzhou, China

Here is a shot of the Great Wall in color with light leaks, what the holga is famous for!

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.