RoboBlogs
12/06/08
Blogs
Yet another year gone and so much happened in that time. When I look at the photos I have taken through the year I am reminded of my year. This has probably been the most serious I have been with my photography and is something I wanted to seriously studio as a full time gig.
One other thing I am reminded in my photos is how lucky I am to have such a great group of family, friends and loved ones around me to support me. It was a long and difficult year which ended with great sadness. I am not the kind of person to let anything or anyone take away my happiness or the respect I have earned. Thanks to all those in my life.....so let's get to it
The year started at midnight with the annual New Year's party. As usual it was lots of fun. Sakai has become the fan favorite of the cats and this pic kinda explains why. He is so much bigger than he was just months before this picture but I think he still thinks he is a small kitten
This year I took on a padawan learner in Denise. She asked me if I would show her the ropes but I explained that I am self taught and the best way to learn is to get out there and do it. This pic was from a bright January day in downtown Plano. After a long year prior of work it was nice to get out and do some adventures.
My brother is the percussion instructor at Forney High School. On an early Saturday morning he took his students out to their first indoor drum contest. I came out to support my brother but I also grew up as a percussionist and still play drums to this day. The had a great performance and placed high in the event.
One night I was asked to do some headshots. I used my apartment with the high walls and big walls. I was setting up my lights for my neighbor to come over for her headshots and when I looked up....there is Sakai ready for his headshots. The little bastard was sitting there looking right ahead. I was kinda shocked how he just sat there.
What is quickly becoming one of my favorite events of the year is the Frightmare Weekends. They start off with a zombie walk which sadly I missed out on shooting but did make it out to the event. It was a blast and met some great folks. The highlight was listening to Malcolm McDowell speak in a Q&A. Can't wait for next year's event.
The year my best friend got hitched. I was so happy to see my good friends Donna and Alex tie the knot and I was stocked to be asked in stand in their wedding party. This night was the wedding rehearsal dinner and we watched a little montage. I was so happy for them and I am so honored to call them my good friends....
So Texas weather is so odd. It seems that every year we get a blast of cold enough to have some snow. This past year was no exception. I woke up one March morning to lots of ice build-up. I love it and wish we had more.
Along with Frightmare Weekend the Dallas area has been lucky enough to have two horror festivals. Fear Fest was another great event with lots of nice people there. What made this event special was it would mark my first interview. The interview was with Shawn who was one of the creators of Black Devil Doll. The interview was for the Hijinks Ensue Podcast. I had so much fun doing the interview. We are still waiting on the movie to be released to watch on one of our famous "Shitty Movie Nights" but the movie is still in a holding pattern.
If you have not noticed by now I am a fan of the Geek Convention. It can go from Geek to Horror to Anime...it doesn't matter to me because what makes the events great are the people. These are just people who love to geek out for a weekend and leave their worries at the door and play dress up. These are not people looking to hook up or be the king of the herd like most Dallas folks but they all just wanted to have fun. This was the first year for All-Con and I had a super blast. This was a last minute event for me but I'm so glad I made the event. This event scored my first "Digg" with a photo that wasn't the best. It would this photo that would score 164,615 views within 3 weeks.
...oh yeah....I did take other pictures that day
This weekend I made a trip out to Frisco because.....well just because. It was a nice day and why the hell not. I didn't grab too many pictures that day but I liked this one.
Oh look...another convention. A-Kon would be the event in question. This is the largest Con of the year. This year was HUGE in downtown Dallas at the Adam's Mark. There was so much to see that it would have taken another day to take it all in but I took in as much as I could on that Saturday.
This summer my padawn learner asked me to join her with a Flickr group trip to a weekend photoshoot. This event was put together by the DFW Area Meetup. This summer Saturday we met up at a junkyard south of Dallas. This was a blast cause of all the textures and shapes. I grew up around a lot of these kind of places so I felt very at home crawling around and breaking into trucks to get the shot I wanted.
Every summer I try to make it out to the Lake Highlands Festival of Drums. This event brings the best of the DCI corps to Dallas. I took Denise to get a look at how hardcore marching band can be. If you don't know much about DCI then YOU don't know how intense this type of music can be. I let her use a lot of my equipment as events like this make for great practice in photography.
So this year i wanted to expand my photo skills by adding some model work. Luck for me I had a great friend who was more than willing to do some modeling with me. Daniy is her name and she is not only a great model but an awesome friend. She has now moved back to Houston and I miss her company and her model skillz. Her is one of our photo sets.
The summer ended with a warm summer evening at the Plano Balloon Festival. Luck for me the event took place right behind the park where Denise's parents live so we were able to just park at their place and walk over cause there were a ton of people. It was kinda a challenge to shoot while it was dark out and only the fire coming from the balloons. The event ended with a great fireworks show and a fun Beatles cover band.
It was September and we had just received work that Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway had gone gold. It was indeed a proud moment as it was my first game title shipped as an Art Lead. I was more proud of my team and this day we enjoyed some smokes that I had saved up. These moments I will never forget as two years of hard work had finally come to end. I made some great friends during those two years that I will consider lifetime friends.
The highlight of my year was my second trip to Chicago. After a long two year project I took a week off before getting back to it at work. I spent the better part of a week in Chicago which is a city I am really coming to love and would love to call home someday. The first day had rain and man did it rain. The rest of the time had a bit of a chill but was still nice. So much fun and memories for a lifetime. My trip would be a month before the Presidential Election and the city had a vibe of politics in the air. With Chicago being the home of Obama it was great to see all the support that city put out and what appeared to be the support given back in return. Comic book shops and records with art all around for good measure. As I write this I am to go back. My first attempt at HDR photography would be in Chicago at the top of the John Hancock Tower. I love you Chicago and hope to see you soon.
Texas wouldn't be Texas without the STATE FAIR OF.....TEXAS. I had not been to the fair since the first year I loved to Dallas about 12 years ago. Denise and her brother-in-law and sister invited me out for a day of eating fried fried things and walking it off. We fueled up by eating more fried things and then some candy fried things covered in fried goodness. They might as well call it the Fried Fair of Texas.
This year I wanted to experience some things I had not done since a child and I found out that Denise had never done such event. Pumpkin carving was in order so by golly we were going to carve some pumpkins. With the election days away from Halloween it seemed to have an influence on my pumpkin...guess if you can pick mine out. Denise thought the inside of pumpkins felt like "BRAINS!!" from some zombie movie.
As the year was starting to wind down the geek-cons would also start to wind down. Second to the end was Star Wars Fan Days. This was the second year for the event and it was huge compared to the first year. The highlights would include Jewel Staite of Firefly fame and other like Darth Vadar and a few others but the star of the show was Mr. Bruce Campbell. He was just RAD during his Q&A. Big thumbs up on the event and really look forward to see what they do next year.
Halloween would be the last time I see my friend Daniy in person as she moved back to Houston. We wanted to get in one last model set before she headed out. The day open was Halloween so we went for it. It was a lot of fun and I hope if the time presents itself again that we can do some more stuff.
The year ended for me with Wizard World which happened to fall the same weekend as my birthday. It made for a great birthday weekend of events. Wizard World like all the cons this past year seemed to have grown by a huge amount. This year they had a huge costume contest which was so great!! If the country hurting because of the economy then someone forgot to tell the geeks cause all events were stronger than ever. I hope to count on those folks someday if my dreams of a comic book store come true.
Well the year has ended with much uncertainty. It has ended in a way that pictures won't be able to describe. Lucky for me I have a great group of people around me. This new period in my life has put some fear and doubt in my life but I have been reminded that my focus and resolve is stronger. This new period has presented some new options for me which I will explore and hopefully bring some dreams to life. I wish everyone a happiest of holidays and best of luck to those who also continue to chase your dreams. See you next year.
-eli