artripoli.com » portraiture

Hater’s gonna hate.

artripoli — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:35:56 +0000

“Because tonight I can’t tell friend from foe. Live fast (but don’t die young). Slow down, but never, ever stop.” – Paint It Black

Lately I have been down on myself about my photography. At a point in time I was happy and felt like I was continually learning, getting better, and pushing myself, but this last 6 months or so I have felt like I was in a rut. Once in a while I shoot a photo, or set of photos I am really amped on, but nothing like a few years ago when I was fresh out of the Marines and had just picked up my first DSLR. It was awesome, seeing instant results felt so much better than when I was in high school and waiting to develop film. Three years ago this month I joined flickr and started posting everything I did to it. Not just for the world, but for me to catalog my progress and things I’ve done. Every now and then some flickr photo elitist/snob would say something rude or completely non-constructive at all on one of my photos and I would get a little down, but I kept going on. Tonight though, one of those photo snobs managed to really get to me. It’s sad because recently I discovered his BMX photos and really liked his stuff. I’ve been seeing more and more BMX kids around town and thinking about approaching them about shooting some photos of them. I even contemplated when the time came to shoot the photos to email this individual with some newbie BMX photographer questions. I commented under him on someone’s photo earlier in the night, disagreeing with something he said he disliked about a photo, and he then made it his personal mission to rip apart my photos. He assaulted my flickr photostream with sarcastic remarks from all angles. It got to a point where I sent him a message that simply read, “Hey ass hole, If you want to leave non-constructive, ass hole remarks on photos, do it elsewhere. Everyone is a tough guy on the internet I guess though.” This of course only provoked the individual to bombard me with more and more sarcastic remarks. I sat at my computer enraged thinking of how I could get revenge. I got as far as finding out his real name, where he lives, who he’s friends with, and even alternate ways of reaching him outside of flickr. My brain was storming with ways to rip this individual to shreds, but then it occurred to me there was only one thing I could really do, and that’s to just continue to shoot and grow. No matter what I could say or do to this guy, nothing would change the fact that he is a negative ass hole who is so insecure with himself that he has to resort to picking total strangers apart via the internet. The only thing I can do is just move on and continue to grow for myself as a photographer, and that’s exactly what I plan to do. In all honesty, I don’t know if the individual who provoked me will read this, but if you do, thank you. With that said, here are a few photos I shot tonight while walking around on my night off.

Photos after the “read more” link.

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1 Light in the dark. 6-23-10

artripoli — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:08:55 +0000

Some friends were hanging out last night, drinking beers/sodas outside our friend’s Lee, Dan, and Justin’s house. I decided to enjoy the nice weather myself and bring my camera and a single light set up to goof off with while we were taking in the late night.

Liz Mitchell I’ve been shooting a lot of random portraits recently trying...
Broadway and 10th I’ve got some shoots coming up, I much much prefer...
Kelli and Taylor at Peace Park and The Big Tree Today my buddy Alex Haycock asked me to come along...

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Jasmine Visits Part 1

artripoli — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:43:14 +0000

My girlfriend is here to visit for the week. I’m way stoked. Tuesday we put down the deposit on our apartment. I’ll be moving into it in July and she’ll be moving here by October. Wednesday we went to the lake, and yesterday we went to the Devil’s Icebox, went out to eat with my mom, and then went out with some friends from the shop. Here’s some photos from yesterday.

Jasmine Garcia This is my girl. She lives in Las Vegas, and...
Vegas Day 1 So I’m in Vegas for the next week visiting my...
Some photos from Tuesday Joe came to visit us and tattoo at our shop...

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Lost and Found Promo Pics

artripoli — Fri, 14 May 2010 18:00:26 +0000

Went to STL yesterday to shoot some promos of my friends in Lost and Found. Check out their myspace here, and keep your ear to the streets for their debut mixtape.

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Kelli and Taylor at Peace Park and The Big Tree

artripoli — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:42:51 +0000

Today my buddy Alex Haycock asked me to come along and shoot some photos of his roommate Taylor and her friend Kelli. With the weather being as beautiful as it is, and not having to work, I of course couldn’t say no. First we went to the bridge at Peace Park, then after drove out to the big tree south of town. Had some beers, some laughs, and made some cool shots. Check the photos below or click here to see them on flickr.

Dixon Today I had a shoot with a local rapper called...

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Greg and Tyler’s New Suits

artripoli — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:42:00 +0000

My friend’s Greg and Tyler recently purchased some new suits, and they asked my friend Alex to shoot some photos. Alex gave me a call and asked me if I wanted to come join in on the fun. I showed up, snapped a couple frames and provided some input. Check out the shots below. For Alex’s shots, go check out his blog.

Here’s a brief setup shot.

The Devil’s Ice Box So in my constant effort to teach myself new techniques...
Liz Mitchell I’ve been shooting a lot of random portraits recently trying...

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Lauren H Designs

artripoli — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:24:10 +0000

My friend Lauren H contacted me the other day about shooting some photos of some models in outfits she designed for her school’s fashion show. We shot them in the addition we are building onto our shop (Iron Tiger Tattoo). Her friend’s Ali and Stephanie modeled the garments.

Broadway and 10th I’ve got some shoots coming up, I much much prefer...

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