Updates/New project: El Jale

Whats good homies!

Been away from the blog game for a bit but its been for good reason. So let me catch y’all up on what I’ve been up too.

To start off, I finally released my first zine ‘Memories of the North’ . This zine was a huge milestone for me as it offered a new way to share my work with others. I’ve always been wanting to make my own zine since the first time I heard of them, and I was able to put together a body of work that allowed me to do just that, as well and make a homage that focused on my time living behind the redwood curtains.

Copies are still available through the website, use code HOMIELOV369 for free shipping.

On top of my zine, being released, there has been many changes in the world, of course with COVID hitting us and putting all our lives on hold and the mass awakening to racial injustices. When all the shit hit the fan, I decided to take a small break from creating new projects and focus on putting my efforts into the BLM cause. In this time, I put together a fundraiser with four other artists from OC, William Carmago (billythecamera) , Julie Leopo (julieleopo) , Jonah Jackson (@jonah.jay) , and Sara Fernandez (@ch1ngona_af) where we all put one photo to sell on 4x6 prints and made close to $900 for BLM funds and black trans mutual funds. I’m proud to have had this success to raise this money for the cause of our brothers and sisters. During this trying times, let it be a reminder that the racial injustices we live in currently is bred out of hatred for people of color and upheld by white nationalists. Continue to fight the good fight and remember that liberation of our black brothers and sisters is our liberation as well. Don’t come at me with this divisive, to each their own bullshit.

I’ve also recently gotten myself some new gear. My beautiful partner helped me get a Fujifilm XT2. if you are reading this, I love you babe! Thank you!

With this new gear and a new studio set up, I plan to start taking on jobs such as portrait shoots, events and eventually weddings. So if you are in the market for a photographer, contact me and we can speak about packages.

and now finally

I am finally working on a new project, however, it will not be done with my new camera.

This new project called “El Jale” is a focus on Latinx street vendors and their persistence to make a living in this heated world climate and capturing the culture. I always see my people on street corners selling whatever they can, mostly its flowers, ice cream, raspados, elotes and at times masks. Other times I go to the swap meet and almost every vendor there is a POC or Latinx, again persisting through these trying times. At the moment it seems like business is booming, given that malls and most retail stores are closed, so the latinx community always knows where the next best place is to get what they need. With their struggles becoming more aware through social media and support systems, it inspired me to capture it for future archives. Before the proper ethics are grandstand on me, each vendor pictured was compensated for their photo and I supported their business by making purchases from them.

This project was all shot on an instmax mini with monochrome film. I wanted to deviate from my usual medium to challenge my composition and be more in tuned with my limitations. This kind of format is normally used for fun and easy use so it only allows you to work with so much. So far I’ve found that I like the format as it gives me instant results and more ideas for my next shot. It has also given me a better idea of how to use the format to make compelling photos for what would usually be used as a fun party camera.

I feel like I am close to complete with this project and I will publish it soon. I hope that this project can add in helping understand the diversities that POC face in this pandemic and show how essential these workers are for the community. They work off their own means and live with whatever they can make. To me, the culture is the peak of resolve and resilience.