New digs....

I've been trying to get into a new place for a while now, somewhere to set up a studio and stretch my limbs a wee bit. Well- here's a pic from the new window. We'll have a full on studio set up within a month or so. Too excited for words......

Blisss Shoot

Did an editorial shoot for Blisss magazine the other day, Josh at Loft7 gave us the keys to the new property his company is managing for a location. We had a blast running around the acre large empty warehouse and loft space......had Amanda and Thom play hide and seek for hours. Big thanks to Alicya for stepping up into the producers role while styling with her assistant. The issue will hit stands first thing in the new year. Here's some behind the scenes shots and one of Amanda that we didn't have room for in the layout. I can't thank the team enough for helping make the shoot smooth and fun, cheers kids!!!

Annie......

Had the pleasure of shooting Annie Hardy from Giant Drag today. Thanks to Amy for MUA/Hair, Jerome Duchange for studio, and Annie of course!

Black lung....

Took the crew into the abandoned building and did a couple shots, most beautiful natural light. Thank you Marina for the dresses, Leah for MUA, Josh for the location, and Cassandra for being a trooper.

left behind.....

Downtown is full of places like this; buildings left to rot full of forgotten mementos of peoples past. While scouting locations for an upcoming shoot a friend gave us access to one of the creepiest abandoned buildings I've ever been in. Remnants of lives lost treasures buried under inches of dust and bird shit. Chris Adams and I went back the next day and got some great shots, I'll post some samples when they're ready.

Media Contender Photo Feature

Media Contender put up a little feature on my photography, give it a look and let me know what you think. www.mediacontender.com

Johnny Monster and the Nightmares

My brothers band hadn't played a show since 1991 or something but when their old friend and collaborator Roy Gonzalez had an art show in our hometown of San Clemente the boys put aside their differences and played two shows. I think that everyone idolizes their older brothers but the whole experience was a reminder that he always was, and still is, one of my heros.

Eric

Vegas isn't all glamor....

Website is up!

www.JoshuaSpencerPhoto.com

Thank you Jerome Duchange for helping me step it up.

Nate, 2 chris's, and dead birds

Explored an abandoned building with Chris and Chris the other day, Don't think anyone's been in there in thirty or so years. No one but shit tons of birds.......

Coil Tattoo and Art Gallery

One of my good friends Nathan Kostechko and his lovely girlfriend are in the process of opening a new Tattoo shop in Chinatown called Coil. Check out his website for more information. He's amazing, just look at what he did on my hand. www.nathankostechko.com

Portfolio, Part two......

Editing a new portfolio can be hazardous to ones' health. Mental and physical. Kind of a self administered torture. Soon enough it will all be over and my new website and book will be done.

Julius Shulman

Julius passed away at his home the other night. Death is an ever present force in life, sometimes it looms closer than others. Lately it has been all too near, all too personal. I only met Julius once, but he influenced my life more that he would have ever known and more than I realized until hearing of his passing.

Julius helped me fall in love with my birth city, Los Angeles, by providing a historical and cultural perspective via his photography and words. I met him while he led a group of photographers around downtown LA on an open aired double decker bus with police escort. We spent the day shooting while Julius encouraged us to look at the city with new eyes.
I only hope my eyes can stay open for as long as yours Julius, thank you for being you.

Where the F#$K RV Going Video

LA to AK from anon. optics on Vimeo.

We made it

Day 5, still alive......

We made it as far as Winston, Oregon before the RV died. We got towed to a lovely little trailer community on the outskirts of town for the night and now are waiting for a new vehicle to arrive so the trip can continue. I must say, these guys kill it when it comes to killing time. I've never laughed so hard in my whole life.....

We named the trip (any worthy adventure deserves a tag line) and made t-shirts for everyone.  

The boys have been on a rampage; skating all day and partying/ camping every night. It feels god to be back on the road. 

Slash's dog keeper is having the best time out of all of us....

and yes, thats a steak-in-the-box......

Bah....Let's go!!!!!

Haven't had a chance to update lately, to say I've been busy is an understatement. We started the new Anon campaign, shot another catalog for Pleasure Doing Business, and a whole lot of stuff in between. Oh yea, I've also been wrangling everyone for a trip to Alaska for the World Beard and Mustache Championships......like herding cats.  The crews together and we leave Sunday. We're going to drive and camp to Portland then hop flights to Alaska to compete, I should be updating from the road........if I survive the drive. 

Anon shoots were a blast; got to hop in the pool with a water housing then we took off for the snow to shoot the goggle team.  Good to get out of your element. 

Hollywood Arts, Part II

The show was amazing, the look on the kids faces when they saw their dresses printed large format was absolutely priceless. Steffanie Walk helped me out by cleaning up the images, here are a couple of the finished pics that went to print. Thank you Ms. Walk, pure magic. 

Hollywood Arts Project

Did a shoot yesterday for the Hollywood Arts Center, good people doing good stuff. The dresses were designed by youngsters under the watchful eye of Marina Tia. Alex Perez, Maria Brown, and Tiffany Michelle did an amazing job putting the pieces together. 

Leah Vautrotcame down and did her magic with make-up and Thelma Macias killed it with the hair. 

 There will be a show at the Hollywood Arts Center on April 14th to show off the photos. 

Thanks for letting me be a part of a great day everyone. We will be showing prints on April 14th at 6PM, please come help out a great thing. 

ComedySportz Los Angeles  733 Seward Street,  Los Angeles, CA 9003

Pleasure Doing Business With You....

Aaron and Simone have a line called "Pleasure doing Business with you" that they just launched and they had me shoot their look book yesterday. The model we were planning on using called me deathly ill so luckily Jenny was free for the day. Turns out that she's a classically trained dancer, who knew? 

The clothes are stunning and Leah killed it with hair and make-up. 

Jenny from Sweden

Go Team!!!

Testing in full effect, thanks team. 

Styling- Alicya Blake

Styling Assistant- Krista

Make up/hair- Ms. Leah Vautrot

Model- Brandis Nicole at Vision

Staccato

This is Louisa and Gina, collectively they form Staccato. They came by the studio last night after another shoot and we played with weapons and old tv's. Awesomeness in motion. 

The Alexandria

Built in 1905 the Alexandria Hotel was once one of the finest hotels on the west coast. Charlie Chaplin, Joseph Kennedy,  four US Presidents, and even reputed mobster Al Capone have all been guests at one point or another. Rumor has it that Al "took care" of a couple people in the basement boiler room. 

 When downtown LA went in the toilet the grand old hotel became one of the worst in the area; junkies and squats basically. They've been making a go at restoring the old beauty, but half the building still sits as it did in the 20's. I've been living here for a couple of years and have been sneaking around shooting for a bit now, brought Jenny over today to play around. More to come soon.....

Nick as???

Having just landed a part in a project that requires him to portray a legendary performer one of my best friends Nick prepares with a wee bit of research. Since I don't know the legal ramifications of saying who he's playing or in what I'll leave it at that. We stopped by one of the legends old haunts after the first day of rehearsals. Walked into his hotel room tonight to see him on the old internet........

Who, what, when, where? 

Sam

This is Sam Kweskin, the oldest friend I have and one of the main reasons I'm pursuing photography. I've always toyed with photography but it wasn't till I was living on his couch during a rough patch a couple years ago that he gave me use of his equipment and encouraged me to get out there. 

You know how people say, "I've known so and so for my whole life"? Usually that means they've known someone for a long time, but in this case I really have know this guy my WHOLE life. Our parents were in Lamaz class together and we were born three days apart. 

Thank you for everything old friend.  

This was shot at art walk at the Brewery with some of Sam's fine art photos in the background. Check out more of his work at www.skfoto.net

Greg kills it. PIIYM!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you mister Greg Lang. Did shots at his warehouse the other day and let me tell you, I never want to shoot without this guy on my team EVER again. 

The man is an art department/set designer/get it done dude of the highest caliber. 

-You want a frame? 25 seconds....Done. 

-"You want black velvet or white background?"  

-"Um, Black would be cool".....1.5 Minutes....Done.

-Natalia, "That clock would make an awesome necklace."

BOOM!! Two minutes later Greg comes in rocking the clock........Done.

Thanks man. 

Natalia and Elizabeth

Natalia and Elizabeth came by Greg's place the other day to do some stuff for Natalia's jewelry company ( N. OM). As you can see it was a fun day, thanks for being good sports ladies. 

Sarah

Had an hour to kill before Louisa came by so I called upon my neighbor Sarah to come over so I could hang her out my 6th floor window. You're awesome little lady, thank you for giving it a go. 

LOUISAHHHH!!!!...

Let the testing begin....One of my best friends Louisa came over to shoot some off the other day and we snuck into the basement of my building to use the creepy rust walls as a backdrop. I did my best to make her look evil but try as I might she's just too damned angelic.....

Chris is funny....

Shot with the Tealeaf kids again this past week. We went renegade in the subways of LA in the middle of rush hour, good times. 

This Weekend

Dirty Land Pirate

Welcome to the world!

This is Marianna, the new addition to the Spencer  clan. My lovely niece was born on December 6th......

Mr. and Mrs.

My favorite couple........

Downtown LA

It's good to be home....

Family

Was in the flatlands (Florida) for the past week visiting the family, was nice to get away for a minute. My nephews are amazing little kids, sometimes I still can't believe my brother made them. Snapped this shot of the little nephew and it killed me. His older brother, himself, and I were roughhousing and playing a game of hide and go seek when the little one disappeared. I rounded the corner (hunting and silent) when I found him peacefully reading in the cupboard. That kids awesome.....

The next night we had a big ass bonfire on the beach in front of their house and the kids were on fire. I swear there was 15 kids from the neighborhood terrorizing the sand. Ended up chasing them around with a spotlight for hours. 

Kids....make me feel old and young all at the same time....

Amanda Palmer

Was invited to the Amanda Palmer show last night by the lovely Ms. Katie Kay, who as been on tour with her for the past two and a half months. The show was breathtaking to say the least. Thanks for the photo pass Mrs., good to have you home.....

It rains so little.......

I put together my first printed portfolio over the past couple days. Started out with a couple hundred photos and ended up with twenty five in the book. Not going to lie, kind of a draining experience. Here are a couple images from past shoots that I haven't posted yet, hope you like 'em. 

Big thanks to Mr. Zeigler; you helped more than you know. 

I got you babe....

Wow... Halloween was pretty intense. i've got more pictures coming but enjoy our costume for now. 

Cat Party

Had a little shoot with the band Cat Party this weekend. They're in the studio recording some new tracks, should be out within a few weeks, I'll put the link up when they're available. 

Jail Weddings Redux

Fashion !!!

Here are some shots from the shows this past week.

The Tulle/Clothe Logic show was absolutely amazing, it was as if someone slipped Valium into the drinking water backstage. Everything went so smoothly and the house was packed. 

Next night was the  Octavio Carlin opening, absolutely stunning clothing. 

Tea Leaf

The Tea Leaf fashion show went great, big thanks go out to everyone who came out. Give them a peek on the old web. www.tealeafcompany.com

Too much good stuff going on this weekend.... Made a stop by the Eaglerock festival, always a great event. Killsonic was fun....as was Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. 

We The People

We The People took over the old cornfields below Chinatown this past weekend. Suicidal almost closed the show down by inviting fans onto the stage during their last song. Mayhem! Thanks to Media Contender for having me out, look for more photos and coverage on their site soon.

 

Beautiful peoples

Two days= two catalog  shoots. One for Hunters and Gatherers, the other for Paces line, Tealeaf. More to come........

Richard the III

This is Gronk, fabled downtown artist, in his studio. His current show, Tale of two rocks, is showing at the L2Kontemporary Museum in Chinatown. That jacket isn't a thrift store find by the way, straight couture.....pants to match. One of the joys of living in downtown is having people like Gronk as your neighbors. 

 

Man Hands

We tried to go to the new exhibit at the MOCA today but didn't realize that the museum was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.... Moral was low, spirits were sagging, so we followed Gregs suggestion and went for manicures and pedicures. Seriously, nothing lifts the soul like a little foot rub while being massaged by the mechanical chair devices. If I can give one nibble of advice to all the guys who are going for the first time; don't let them give you the new girl. I did this once and she cut my cuticles so bad I couldn't put my hands in my pockets for a week! Always go for the oldest of the bunch, hopefully she'll have the most experience with "man hands". 

As you can see from the photos we decided to get a little artsy on our designs. Greg went for a Louis Vuitton print on the pinky, Victoria got green with sparkles, I put a little bling on the always black nail, and Melis stayed the course with the dark blue. 

The feet were a whole other adventure; Greg went Pirates black and yellow (hometown throwback), while blood red with some black jewels felt right for my hobbit feet. 

Don't be scared boys; and while you're there throw down the extra loot for a longer rub- always worth it. 

Jail Weddings

Went out to see the boys and girls of Jail Weddings last night, great live show. Eight members on a tiny stage.... so many instruments, so little time. Yes, there was a martini dancer. Why are they always redheads? 

Desserted Art Walk

The good people of Banquette opened their new venture, the Nickel Diner, this past week and the desserts will knock your pretty little socks off. Usually only open for lunch and dinner, they stayed up late for especially for art walk and I'm glad they did. Mr Mister and Katie K joined me for good eats before meandering the downtown "walk". The night seemed like a reunion of all my past blog posts.... The Shys played, Corey Smith sold art, Garreth came down, and tons of old friends converged on downtown.  One of the best art walks ever...

found another good shot of Andrea from the lighting tests too. 

I've been so busy the past couple of weeks, only had one night in my own bed since mid August. Here's a couple of random images from my adventures. Benji premiered his new film, "Life as a movie", and the party went nuts. Dylan was there, suave as ever. Chris and Corey are starting a new company called Commune, the gear is going to look amazing. Corey's right, our dreams might not be in California. One of my best friends is moving to New York, might have to do the drive with him......cross country again?

the kill zone

I've been spending a wee bit of time with my favorite couple (Mr. Melcher and Katie Kay) this past couple of weeks and it's been nothing short of inspirational. They just moved into a lovely lil place downtown and they've been kind enough to let me start shooting parts of an ongoing series they've got going called, "Murder by Numbers". I'm not at liberty to show the actual images but here are a couple of out takes from the evening. Best couple ever......they're both so creative and positive it's near impossible to not get inspired...... thanks you two- can't wait for the next one.

vegas

Went to Vegas to help Jiro and check out the tradeshows (Pool, Magic, Project, etc) this past week. 24 hours in that city feel like 3 days, making 3 days feel like a week. I'm still beat.....Thought this picture pretty much sums up what people expect from Vegas.......oh yea, Spank Rock killed it at the Flaunt party. 

Last night I caught Stab City opening for The Bronx; absolutely amazing show. Sailor and the Stab kids were so stoked to be playing to a packed house and  everyone in the crowd was really hyped on them. The Bronx took the stage and all hell broke loose, as usual. Ended up with a bruised rib and a broken flash... gotta love it. 

headgear

The Burton store had a little shin dig on top of their roof this past Sunday, ended up being a blast. They've got a spine ramp (perfect for nut cracking) and the session went nuts. Here's a couple of pictures from the event; Mr. Melcher was there showing off the latest and greatest in headgear (guess he's getting over everyone having the same hats like me) and Garreth was rocking out in all his pirate glory. Little Spencer dropped in for the first time, sending the crowd into overdrive, that kid's awesome. 

I've been doing some lighting tests in my building for an upcoming project so I grabbed the little sis and ran around the old Alexandria for a bit this week, she's so darned photogenic. 

Went down to San Clemente this past weekend to help out with "Big Ed's Hotdogs", Sam's venture in culinary arts. We set the cart up for the Fiesta where they block the whole main street off and everyone drinks from dawn till dusk, ends up being a full fledged reunion of people you do and don't want to run into . Luckily; this year I ran into a lot more does than don'ts and was able to snap some fun portraits along the way. The Shy's headlined the main stage, those kids put on one hell of a show. 

I got inspired by the Vice photo issue and walked out my door with no plan but to walk and shoot, haven't done that in a while and it ended up being a blast. I forgot just how beautiful this old building that I live in can be. I found a room with probably the best wall paper ever and snapped a couple frames of the grumpy guy down the hall. He was yelling at the "piss poor pions" in the parking lot next door from the 8th floor window, then he yelled at me for being "too young".....awesome. 

I meandered the neighborhood for a bit and ran into my neighbor Courtney; good sport that one. 

Looks like we didn't get the space for artwalk so the hustle is on for next month, we'll get a space one of these times. 

I've been trying to get my friend Jeffrey and his son to shoot with me for a couple of months and this past weekend they finally relented. Jeffrey and Harrison took me out to Kidsplay in Pasadena- problem was that as soon as I was around all those fun activities I reverted into a 5 year old and barely picked up the camera. 

Then Katie K and Skingraft were preparing for a fashion show so I went down to their loft and snapped some pics of them getting ready. Had my flash take a shit midway through the night so I had to get a wee bit creative with the natural light. 

Another fun LA day.......

I've been trying to pull together some of my photos for showing purposes and it's given me a chance to look back on the past year; get all reflective and shit. Found some fun photos that I haven't seen in a bit- Gronk in his studio, Crazy James on the roof, Mr. Shulman on the hunt, Andrea in my old "loft", Bonnie catching a strip tease, Old Mr. Melcher- Nice reminders of why I love living in this city. 

River Living......

A while ago I was talking about Brian Lotti's film, "Free Pegasus"- Mr. Melcher was so inspired by it he went home after the premier and bought a ticket to Spain. Not kidding, he flew out yesterday. Before he left we helped Mr. Lotti on his new project, a music video for the Culver City Dub Collective. We spent a couple of days skating and filming on the LA River, we even built a ghetto raft and floated a mile or so down stream. I was so busy laughing and filming while Francho and Patrick danced down the river I didn't get a chance to shoot any photos....

 I think the sun is brighter in the river bed, I'm one fried tomato today- even my eyes feel burned. Andrea did a great job making up Francho from CCDC (see photo) and the rest of the boys from the band did great jobs in their respective roles. It's going to be a great video, I'll be sure to post the link when it becomes available early next month. 

Art Walk

I often write about why I love living in downtown LA and last night was a great example. On the second Thursday of every month downtown hosts an ever growing art walk. Our little community pulls out all the stops for this one- seems like everyone puts on their best party hat and hits the streets, including some of those who usually only venture to DT for court or a game at the center. It's one of my favorite nights of the month yet I can't seem to get an early start, something (or someone, depending) always keeps me till at least 9PM, giving me only an hour or so to try and cram in all the galleries and accompanying street happenings. Luckily, two new additions stayed open just late enough for me to take a looksee. Upper Playground and SA studios are now up and running on 6th Street between Main and Los Angeles, conveniently sitting side by side.   Upper Playground has some amazing stuff on their walls (and shelves) and I've always been a fan of Estevan Oriol's work. For those of you who aren't too familiar SA Studios is the production facility showcasing tattoo artist Mr. Cartoon and photographer Estevan Oriol's creative efforts. Tattoo's, photos, and tons of their collaborations adorn the new space- Mr. Cartoon was actually in the back finishing up a piece while we were there. 

After the walk I went up to Silverlake and caught Stab City, looks like they're in the studio and will have a full length out within the next couple of months. These kids are so much fun live, they'll be playing a bunch of dates around LA while they finish up in the studio. 

Next month I'm going to get out earlier, no matter what- wanna join me?

4th of July in the wilderness of Washington state is amazing- rednecks save up for this one all year and boy oh boy does it show. The whole family went down to the beach in front of my mom's house thinking we'd hang out and light a couple fireworks (ok, maybe $500 worth). It was like a fucking war zone out there; rockets were being fired at the van, spent casings falling from the sky, smoke all around, and people yelling, "COVER!!" and "INCOMING!!!" all night long. My older brother tried to get everyone into the van and off the beach but my pyromaniac cousin and myself weren't having it. We came to blow shit up and that's exactly what we did...Sure, there were some close calls (shell fell into out fire and we had to scatter like mice) but that's half the fun, right? As you can see; the pyro was finally awakened in my brother (blue sweater) and the kids stopped crying long enough to light some shit off. Next year I'm bringing a fire proof suit, video camera, and we're going to the Indian reservation to get the good stuff. What's more patriotic than big trucks, loads of booze, and explosives, eh? 

Ahhhhh, escape

I escaped LA for the weekend, came up to Washington/Oregon to see the family and blow up some fireworks. I've been going 20 plus hours a day for the past three weeks and it feels great to unplug for a minute. I worked myself into a nice little head cold (which is awesome to fly with by the way), first time I've been sick in years.

 I forgot just how beautiful it is up here when it's not raining, green acres for miles. My aunt and her husband own a farm in the middle of nowhere, raising cattle and the like. I think I ate this little buddies brother last night and tell you what; it was the best steak I've ever had.

 Sam sent me a bunch of photos from when I first moved to LA that I thought were lost forever; they were all on my computer that got stolen on my last adventure to San Fran. I'm so happy to have them back, lot's of good memories associated with these images.  This is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken, "Never abandon imagination" with "love life" above it. Such a great chest piece. 

More to come soon.......Novus Os, Novus Dies.......

Went down to Bordello last night, ended up hearing and falling in love with a new band called Stab City. This is a picture of their drummer playing while standing on top of his kit.   Hyper kinetic three piece that tore the fucking stage apart. Search them out on the old myspace and enjoy. The guitar player reminded me of a rubber band would tight then released, kind of like the motors on the old model airplanes .......wow...just....wow.... 

My handy laptop gave me the lovely warning that my disc was almost full; usually this pisses me off but in this case it turned out to be a blessing. While cleaning up I found a couple of photos from when Alan Abel, his wife, and his daughter came through downtown's very own DVD Bank for a screening of the documentary, "Abel raises Cain". I had almost forgotten meeting one of my heros!!! Alan has spent the majority of his life thumbing his nose at anything and everything; from clothing animals to trying to tax the fat.  He started is 1959 and has not stopped to this day, this man is the reason that talk shows and network news have fact checkers. Do yourselves a favor and check out his website on the right, you won't be sorry.......

Acceptance

I'm starting to get used to the idea of getting little sleep; and boy oh boy are the days long when you're only catching a couple hours of zzz's. Creative output at an all time high. I remember my dad always said he didn't need much sleep, maybe that's where it's coming from. 

Anyways, my friend Baron is in the process of opening a motorcycle shop in Silverlake. Should be up and running within the next couple of months but if you are looking for a bike hit him up, he's been fixing and flipping old bikes out of his house for a while now.  Logo looks good, eh? 

Insomnia, part two.....

Here we go again, no sleep for the wicked I guess. Penance for too many good nights of sleep? I went down to the harbor after driving with the hot rods the other day and shot some pictures of the old tall ships they have docked down there. Something struck me about the rum and water barrels, could you imagine sitting on one of those ships for months at a time with your only food and beverage coming out of these things? What a long way we've come in just a couple hundred years. 

Downtown LA has a certain beauty to it in the golden rays of morning light. Might as well brew some coffee and get the day going.  Lot's of photos and other creative shit coming out soon, keep our eyes peeled for my first solo show to be announced within the next week or so..........

Oh yea, gotta thank the good people at the bike kitchen for helping me put together my human hamster wheel. 

Insomnia rules

I was down south in my hometown of San Clemente this past weekend to set up for a group show at Jessica's "Salon Bleu". I was so hyper after setting up that sleep failed to come. I said fuck it at 5:30 AM and went to the Kinko's to do all the necessary paper stuff for the show (price lists and the like). I was so pissed that I couldn't sleep, but after running into these guys on the freeway (I tailed them for 15 miles taking photos) I couldn't help but be in a better mood.  "The Scrapers" were all driving kit cars and hauling ass, my little hybrid could barely keep up. They actually slowed down after seeing me hanging out the window taking snaps. It was as if they were working with me, slowing down for a couple frames then rumbling off. I tried looking them up but could only find a Belgian chapter. Amazing custom cars. If you're ever in need of a good hair cut and/or dye job be sure to check out Salon Bleu, Jessica has been the only person to touch my hair in over ten years. She's also been going out of her way to support the art scene by throwing shows every month. Love you girl!!!! 

Now if only I could get some fucking sleep............

 

The party went nuts!!! 

Big thanks go out to everyone who made it happen (you know who you are and will be thanked individually). Seriously, you all did  amazing jobs. 

Here's a picture of DJ Melcher getting the crowd going early in the night. Between four photographers we shot over 4500 images that will be turned into Anon eyewears next ad campaign. Check out the two new photo links on the right to see who else besides Jiro and myself were shooting the festivities. 

Beautiful women, good vibes, great Dj's, and a shitload of free booze made for one hell of a party.  The images are currently being edited down for your viewing pleasure, you'll be the first to know when the mini site launches. 

Shot my first wedding the other day, kind of.  It was a renewing of the vows on their one year anniversary. Needless to say there were all the trappings of a good wedding; good food, good people, booze, and a hell of a lot of cute kids in tiny outfits.  There's too many funny stories to list here but one that really gets me is the extremely cute drunk girl who insisted on showing off her white undies every time my camera pointed in her direction. Her boyfriend was none too pleased and became aggressive with me long after the undies in question were put to bed. His argument was that i was encouraging her, my argument was that the guy should be happy that she chooses him at the end of the night and that he should enjoy it. Wonder if I'll be getting an invitation to their wedding?

One thing about living downtown that gets to me now and then is the utter lack of green space (not echo friendly environments or carbon neutral living, but places with grass and the occasional shrubbery).  What passes for parks down here is laughable to say the least; Pershing Square is one of the worst excuses for a public park I've ever seen. The concrete jungle leaves an itch for fresh air that had to be scratched this past week so I grabbed Whitney and  headed for the hills for a little hike. Los Angeles is surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains. You know, the ones that occasionally turn southern California into an inferno worthy of Dante's scribbling. Anyways, we were loosing daylight so we hit the nearest hill, Elysian Park. Elysian Park is the oldest park in Los Angeles and home to the Dodgers, just in case you were wondering. We didn't really find any trails so we wandered around the fire roads for a bit and checked out the amazing views. A police helicopter from the nearby police academy kept circling us, perving on Whitney while practicing their aerial maneuvers. The police presence didn't dampen Whitney's mood one bit, as you can see.........

We saw this dude rolling down Los Angeles street and I almost crashed into him getting this photo, I think that's why his hand is up. There's a big uproar in LA about Taco trucks and other types of food carts, they're trying to shut them down using fines and creating new rules. It's not a health worry (most trucks are meticulously cleaned) but one of economics that's prickling these vendors.  These trucks and carts have been servicing some of the shittiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles forever and now that they're gentrifying and generally becoming safer (meaning restaurants are now coming into hoods they wouldn't dare step into 10 years ago) the powers that be are trying to kick the street vendors out.  I hope they don't succeed as some of the best tacos in Los Angeles come off of those things........that and it's getting harder and harder to find a good meal for under five bucks in this town. Long live the Taco Trucks!!!!

Well, it's May Day alright. Couple thousand people converged at 5th and Broadway (one block from my house) so i was able to get on the roof and snap some shots. I was at the MacArthur Park rally last year and the police sure are doing it differently this year. First off; they're actually doing the announcing in Spanish AND English this year (last year they announced an order to disperse in English to a %99.9 Spanish only speaking crowd, right before beating the living shit out of everyone in their path). There was actually three different marches going on and they all met up the street from my house and marched the rest of the way to city hall together. I'm writing as the rally is winding down so I can't say if it ended peacefully or not (hearing sirens now, hope everyones ok down there). Just another beautiful thing about living downtown. 

Here's a photo of Kyle Krone, singer for The Shys. These kids are like my little brothers, so proud of them lately. They just finished a residency at The Detroit down in Costa Mesa. While i was shooting this a drunk lady came up and asked if she could shoot a couple frames with my camera. She was barely standing upright so i decided against letting her shoot. She yelled that she was a photographer and that i was doing it all wrong; apparently i should have had her in the frame. Gotta love it!!!

Made the trip out to PaLm Springs this past weekend for the giant music festival but didn't set foot on the concert grounds. Parties galore; a favorite of mine was Jeremy Scots party at one of Frank Sinatra's old houses. It was interesting watching all these celebrities rage in a house where Mr. Sinatra and his crew partied decades earlier; I wonder which group was more debacherous? Jiro and I set up the photo booth at the Anthem Magazine house and got some amazing photos of the revelers, don't know where they're going to pop up but when i find out I'll let you know. 

Another interesting aspect of living downtown is the constant filming of movies, TV shows, and commercials. This was shot from my window way to late in the evening. I don't know the legalities of posting plot information before the episodes air but I can tell you that in this episode of CSI New York someone dies a strange death, CSI takes the case, then the bad guy gets it in the end. Hope I didn't ruin anything for you CSI fans. This poor actor had to lay on the cold concrete for hours, little does he know that I watched a crack head take a dump in the exact spot hours earlier. 

Mr. Melcher brought Richie Jackson by last night for a portrait session on the roof of my building, the featured photo is one of the out takes.  Mr. Jackson is in town finishing up the new Transworld Video, from what I've heard it's going to be a banger. Seriously; these two guys are on my top ten list of favorite skate rats. Did you see the Death video? Styles for miles kids.... and the mustaches? They've got some kind of bet going but honestly, I'm just bummed cause I'm a thirty year old man who only gets peach fuzz.....oh well, one day they'll drop and I'll probably be bitching about having to shave my neck. 

While shooting this photo some hoped up jock tried to fight me for getting "too close to my ride, yo!". I felt like i was on the Jersey shore; redneck in a Camero wanting to fight me cause i look different than him. I was tempted to snap a couple of him and his car but he promised that ,"if that fucking camera comes near me i'll break it over your fucking head!!!" Needless to say I decided against trying to sneak a couple frames....so I went down to the boardwalk were i found a guy begging for nothing. Really, look below, he was rollerskating down the boardwalk with a blank sign, "just a little nothing goes a long way", he would claim as people walked by. And I'm the one almost getting beat up? You gotta love Venice Beach..... 

One of the many things about living in downtown Los Angeles that I love is the characters you meet while on the streets. Take Ray here, a Vietnam Vet who has lived down here for 26 years. He's saving up for a golden retriever, or maybe a black lab....if he gets into a loft space big enough he's going to get one of each. Says he might have a tough time getting into the building he wants though, something about bad credit and a little recreational crack use. He's going to get me back that dollar i loaned him when he settles his multi-million dollar lawsuit, coming up here any day he says. Makes me wonder; do you think they check millionaires credit at the Sante Fe? Check out the bigger photo below for pupil confirmation of "recreational use".

What this is

Remnants-noun:

Middle English, contraction of remenant, from Anglo-French remanant, from present participle of remaindre to remain.

Date:14th century

1 a: a usually small part, member, or trace remaining b: a small surviving group —often used in plural

2: an unsold or unused end of piece goods

Remnants of Los Angeles is the name of my creative efforts.