I LOVE OC
Does anyone care ? I know why LA people hate the OC, but I secretly love it. I feel more at home in Orange County than L.A. So nice to be exploring corporate business parks again, reminds me of my childhood. I grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by business parks and would get kicked out of the same ones every night for skateboarding with my brothers.
The people are way nicer too. Damn. This guy Tony washing the Ferrari has an auto-detailing business contract with residents of this fancy high rise in Irvine and was super down to let me shoot around. Love red cars. Couldn’t help it. Going back to see him next week! He said the Ferrari was nothing compared to some of his other client’s cars. yay
Finding treasure in some past shoots..
Robert Rexx! Actor/Trainer shot at his home in San Bernardino.
Sweet Lolita
I spent this past Sunday photographing a fashion event at UC Irvine called Dollyhouse Runway. The show featured SoCal “Lolita” fashion designers, lolita vendors and a rock band that I didn’t stay for. Lolita fashion from what I understood is where girls dress like dolls.
Felt good shooting personal work and a bunch of film. So nice not looking at the back of a busted ass digital camera for a change..
I just put a bunch of photos on my website: http://damoncasarez.com/sweet-lolita
here are a few!
House in Diamond Bar…funny…
So I have been interested in this story that broke a few months ago in Chino Hills, next door to my hometown of Diamond Bar. A mansion in a neighborhood had been uncovered as a “Birthing House” for “Maternity Tourists” from China, where pregnant women stay for a few months to give birth, giving their child automatic U.S. citizenship. Angry citizens/neighbors suspected this had been happening and made complaints to the city, prompting an investigation leading to the house being condemned for operating a business in a residential area and and the owners being cited for illegal renovations. I believe there was 14bd/ba total in this mansion a top a hill.
Since this “Maternity hotel” story broke, other San Gabriel Valley birthing centers have been shut down for similar reasons. Such an interesting phenomenon in LA County, I had never heard of this before the Chino Hills house was busted.
I decided to drive down today to the Chino Hills house after hearing about another bust in Rowland Heights. I arrived to see CBS news trucks there doing a report. The guy told me it’s trespassing if I go up, but no one is up there, so good luck! The place was abandoned but still intact and relatively well kept. Looks like the residents left in a hurry and only took their personal belongings, leaving furniture, TV’s and art/pictures on the walls. Such a strange experience. Felt like a hotel for sure. It was pretty sad actually thinking about what was going on.
It was nice to get out and shoot again, even if it is just to go on this blog. Adventures are always fun.
April 14, 2012
April 14th 2012 - Armenian Genocide Day
Spent the day with the Hye Riders, an Armenian Motorcycle club out of Pasadena, CA. Really interesting day…Got to ride in the sidecar of one of the guys and cruise from Pasadena to Hollywood for the protest/demonstration in Little Armenia/Turkish Embassy. Here are a couple photos from the day.
“Celebrity Event”
I got a job a couple weeks back shooting an artists work at a fancy ballet opening at Cal-State Northridge, which I thought was going to be terrible, but turned out to be an amazing night. I had no idea what I was going to shoot beyond catalog stuff, but I was told the day of I was going to be a paparazzi basically…
Ended up being so much fun! The place was beautiful and had the most epic light. I was told to photograph the artist with a couple “important” people when they arrived. I had a lot of downtime so I ended up just cruising and shooting the intense hob-nobbing that was going down. Its so fun to be invisible and just shoot for myself when I didn’t have anyone to shoot for the artist. All these people were expecting (and hoping) to be photographed so it made things easier. It was nice not knowing who any of these people were. Everyone seemed important. Good job guys.
This is my favorite shot. BOOM
