Rising...a dark knight review

Well I am not a comic book nerd (and no you are not allowed to check my closet to see if I have comic books there), and I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but here is my review on The Dark Knight Rises, which I just finished watching 10 minutes ago.

So I got into the theater, wait in line to buy my ticket and looked at the "showing hours" I was 10 minutes late, and the guy in front of me was trying to make conversation with the "ticket seller guy". I mean you can talk to the guy but AFTER I buy my ticket on a movie that started 10 minutes ago (according to them). So I buy my ticket, proceed to enter the theater and debated on buying popcorn and a soda. I read that the movie was kind of almost 3 hour long so I decided not to, and anyways everyone knows the popcorn and the soda is gone before the movie starts. So now at my seat they were showing the previews. So basically I made it and didn't miss a thing. And to my surprise I even got to see the "Man of Steel" preview which was awesome.

And then the movie starts, I am ready for it, so I strapped to my seat and was prepared to be amazed. (I am going to try not to give any spoilers btw). To my surprise I wasn't amazed, yes the movie looked good but the first scene of The Dark Knight was better than the first scene of Rises. It set the tone. But this scene I already saw in a "preview" before Harry Potter (I think) and it involves a plane heist. Cool scene by the way but I am not impressed. And then it just dragged and dragged, exposition after exposition of scenes that could have been cut because they served no purpose (More on this later on). And then I stopped to look at my phone and check my Facebook statuses. And then I stopped. I thought "I bought a ticket and I am going to watch the movie even if I don't like it. I mean, it is no Avengers, but I have to watch it".

And then something happened. The movie started to show it's true form. Scene after scene my interest began to grow, and that is when I noticed that all those scenes in the beginning that I thought could have been cut came to fruition. Nolan gave us the salad before the steak. Here have a salad, and you go "Ohhh its a salad, kind of good but why would I need a salad?" and then you see the steak, and notice that the salad was there to prepare you for it. That is what I felt about the movie. It started slow but it picked up, and once that happened it didn't let go. You feel the struggle, you feel the pain, and you get more excited when heroic things happen. And then you see familiar faces, and you know the story is getting better. And then you question the story and then you think that they tried to pay you for the fool but you knew better (even tho you didn't). And at the end you end up with a feeling of satisfaction that closely resembles killing a craving.

At the beginning of the movie I thought "This is in no way, shape, or form better than the Avengers". But when I left the theater I knew that I had just seen a masterpiece, and that The Avengers, as good as it is, could not compare. And at the end something happened that made me yell "I knew it" and you will probably do the same.

So that is my sort of review (sans spoilers) of The Dark Knight Rises. And I am still digesting that amazing piece of steak.

So lets set the world on fire.

This may not be a blog post about photography, well not 100% about photography. It is more about inspiration and what inspires my style of photography.

So...what does inspire my style of photography? My answer to that question would be "everything". there is no magical recipe of perfect things to inspire you. Maybe a leaf blowing in the wind is enough to get the creativity juices flowing. Maybe a little depression, or a little happiness. For me, most of the time, my inspiration comes either when I am riding my bike or by listening to music, sometimes while reading a book. Maybe it is triggered by just a word, or a phrase, maybe by the actual music, but it happens a lot. 

When I am riding my bike (which is at least 11 miles on a daily basis, when not in winter season) I think about a lot of things, but at the same time the sound of gravel and dirt colliding with the tires is relaxing enough to make me ponder about stuff, random stuff most of the time. The water dress image I did came to me in one of those bike rides. Just thinking that "...it is too hot. I wish my clothes were made out of water" was enough to convince me to do this shoot. It took a while (about 5 months) to make it happen but the idea was there. 

Water Nymph

Another example, is when I read a book, maybe a phrase like "A murder of crows" will lead up to something like this next image. 

The Fall of the Crow Princess.

So lately I have been listening to this song, in repeat, and can't stop doing it. And this just one song evokes a lot of things in my core. Stuff like feelings of homesickness, loneliness, appreciation, happiness, thirst and a lot more. Which are perfect for inspiration, but at the same time it inspires me to not hold the camera that much, to be on the other side, not hiding behind the lens but enjoying the "spotlight" sort of speak. To be carried home, and to carry someone home (You'll understand when you listen to the song below). The song is "We are Young" by Fun (yes, that is the name of the band), and here is the video, take a couple of minutes to listen to it. Note: This is my favorite rendition of the song.

I have a lot of ideas in my head, and probably tomorrow I will be in front of the camera, I have a great idea for a self portrait. And it was just inspired by this song. The thing is that I am reminded of the idea every time I listen to this song, and probably it will not make a lot of sense when you see the final image and go "This was inspired by that song?" but that is how inspiration works. It is not a literal thing. And that is why photography has been a huge part of my life. Because you can do a lot of things in a portrait but it has little meaning, and at the same time you can do so little that means so much. That is why it is an art and not just something that you pick up and do. So let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun.

Note: Sorry if you have the song stuck in your head right now. I know it is kind of catchy.

One Great Year.

The year 2011 has already gone, and now that all the booze and all the partying and all the resting (well most of it) is gone we can look back and contemplate how good it was. For me it was really good, from hanging out with new people to meeting new awesome friends.

Health-wise , this past year saw the arrival of Clementine, my mountain bike, who I will come to love in just a few days after her arrival. Riding 11 miles (at least) everyday has made me a little healthier. I lost around 40 lbs because of it. Also, even thought it was almost at the end of the year, I quit smoking for good. November 30, 2011 was and will be the last day I smoked a cigarette, and my body and lungs love me for it.

But most importantly, this year was one of my most creative ones, photography-wise. I kept challenging myself to outdo myself with each shoot. I had to get equal or better images with each subsequent photo shoot, or otherwise I would feel that I was moving backwards and not forwards. There is a saying in spanish that goes like this "Para atras ni para cojer impulso" which roughly translates to "Backwards, not even to create momentum". And so here are my 15 favorite images from the year. It was supposed to be favorite 10 images but I couldn't take any of these out of the list. I will try to explain why they are my favorite under each image. Hope you enjoy.

FAVORITE 15 IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2011

This image was taken in January 2011. This Senior All Star session started it all for me. This shot was taken while getting ready for the actual picture. And it turned out better than the one we were looking for. Spontaneity is always better than poses. 

I sincerely LOVE this image. Her eyes are two windows to her soul. Colors saturate the image but still the eyes draw you in. 

The band Gravity Defied, we were looking for a rough look, and just before we were done with the shoot we found this location. This was the final frame of the shoot.

Powerful, stylish and awesome. One of the best "hair flip" images I've taken. Her stance, the look in her face and  the lighting make this image one of my favorites.

Sometimes planning a shoot or an image helps, but sometimes finding the shot works too. We were in a parking lot and I noticed the rings the light made, so I moved a little and gave her the halo. No flash used, natural light and the artificial light in the parking lot. 

After a short get together to talk business, me and a bunch of photographers went to Aggieville  for a small photo-walk. This is one of the photographers (and an awesome model don't you think). Lisa Marie was so natural and her clothes were so perfect for the location that I could not resist to take this image.

Clementine (my mountain bike) was the first step into my love for the trails. This was taken on an event sponsored by Big Poppi Bicycle Co. at Little Creek. A lot of people went there and I took images of all of them, but this one, with the motion, the passion in her face, the concentration, the colors, well almost everything made it one of my favorites.

Another "last shot", a friend of mine agreed on letting me take images of his family. And just before we called it quits, this little girl was drinking from her bottle and I went for the last shot, and my favorite of the day. 

A really good friend of mine, she agreed on me taking images for his husband who was  deployed at the time. This image makes the cut because of her eyes, two emeralds with hints of orange. Also this image was the one who made me think about doing the Modernizing Fantasy Collection.

First image of my Modernizing Fantasy Collection. I call this one "Talking with the Fairies".  Like I wrote on the last image, after that photo session I knew she would be perfect for this image that has been in my mind for about 4 months, and she was perfect for it.

Another Modernizing Fantasy image. This idea I had it while riding my bike on a 104 degree summer day. I was so tired and hot that all my mind was thinking about was "If only my clothes where made of water" and right there it clicked. With new found strength and determination I got home and started doing water test to see if what I had in my head could be done. And after 5 months the perfect model appeared and this was the end result. 

At the time I was reading one of the "The Secret Life of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel" books and in the chapter I was they started talking about dryads. So naturally I researched the idea, and put it on the back burner. I had so many ideas for the Modernizing Fantasy Collection that I could not pick which one was going to be the next one. So I was making backups of the images I already had from other shoots, saw this image and immediately knew it would be perfect for the dryad. So I started working on this image. Titled "The Dance of the Dryad". 

Sometimes I have a huge explanation as to why an image is my favorite, but for this one, I don't have many words, I just love this image.

Sometimes you work with someone and you know they would be perfect for an image. So I convinced my good friend into modeling for what was going to be an image of her but with wings and a spear. After I was almost done with that image I took a break from it. I put in The Rocketeer and immediately thought "steam-punk the Valkyrie" so I went back to the image and started from scratch, and this was my favorite image of the year, well almost.

While checking if my backups still work I found this image of my cousin (which is a ballet dancer) from her Senior session about 2 years ago. The crow princess idea was the first one I had for the "Modernizing Fantasy" collection. But did the others first because for this one every had to be perfect. I thought it would be my hardest image to make, and maybe it was because I had this exact replica in my mind's eye,  but it was the easiest image I have done. From start to finish it didn't take me a lot to finish. The idea of having a princess and her soul leaving her body in the form of crows because she was shot down with an arrow was in my head for probably 8 months. But after filtering the image from my head into this image I am so happy that I could do it. 

So these are my favorite 15 images of the year 2011. I already have shoots planned for 2 more collections (as soon as I finish the Modernizing Fantasy one). And I will keep on pushing myself forward....Backwards, not even to gain momentum.