I want to introduce Malek, fresh arrival from Florida. Maleck was signed in Florida and currently seeking new representation in California. I shot a few images of Malek to help rebuild his book and bring it to speed with what is expected of models. He’s a great guy, positive attitude. Here’s Malek.
You and I have water, power, and shelter. We have food and hope too. Madonna will match every dollar donated to her girls academy in Malawi. Donate if you can please and she’ll match it dollar for dollar.
Last month I had a quick promo shoot with Darcy Turenne, the current female world champion for mountain biking. We filmed in Brea, CA and got some great lomography styled images of Darcy. Here are some previews:
Darcy Turenne, Pro Mountain Bike Athlete
I need to focus more on art and I will. I mean everything is art, music, books, photography, etc… but I mean art as in brush to paint, brush to canvas. I am always looking online for new inspiration and one I ran across was Manzur Kargar based out of Germany. I’ve been looking more there because I am going to visit family and want to see a lot of the city.
What he does is hard to describe. It’s part colorful explosion, part soulful, part collage, part pop-culture, and I guess the ingredients can go on for a while. There is a link to his website, go support him. He’s had many shows from Europe to America and sold many great pieces.
His new series is called SPLENDID and it’s part digital, part painting. Here is a sample of his work, one of my favorites. Like a lot of my photography I focus on the face and sometimes extreme close up images are my top picks. His paintings remind me of that style I have for myself. Then again, I just like it because his paintings make sense in my mind.
Once I let go of understanding the meaning of a painting, I started to enjoy them for what they are. The gallery snobs would call me a commoner and look down on me because I look at it in such a simple way, but sometimes that is the best way to appreciate life’s beauty. Hope you have a chance to appreciate Manzur’s work and support great artists from around the globe.
I aim to make this a photography and film based blog, but every now and then it is sprinkled with other bits of information on my mind. This has nothing to do with media, but I found it and think it maybe of interest to some people.
Did you know that most of the time that insurance compay CANNOT deny you coverage? There are specific statuates dealing pre-existing conditions and the insurance companies simply ignore them 
because it’s easier to deny coverage, hope people can’t afford to fight it or just don’t know any better. Below are some specific guidelines governing pre-existing conditions. Even people with serious illnesses are covered a good portion of the time. The insurance companies have done the math and figured out that if they deny coverage, it will take several years and a great deal of attorney’s fees to recover that money. If you are covered by group insurance (and most people are) ERISA also affects this. If the insurance company doesn’t pay, there are NO PENALTIES. The worst that can happen to them is that they eventually have to pay the claim but often they don’t have to pay the plaintiffs attorney’s fees. That means the insurance company still wins.
42 USC § 300gg sets a max pre-ex period of 12 months, but that 12 months is reduced by any prior coverage. So if you have more than 12 months of continuous prior coverage, no preexisting exclusion applies.
42 U.S.C.A. § 300gg
United States Code Annotated Currentness
Title 42. The Public Health and Welfare
Chapter 6A. Public Health Service (Refs & Annos)
Subchapter XXV. Requirements Relating to Health Insurance Coverage (Refs & Annos)
View the full text of all sections at this level Part A. Group Market Reforms
View the full text of all sections at this level Subpart 1. Portability, Access, and Renewability Requirements
Current Selection§ 300gg. Increased portability through limitation on preexisting condition exclusions
(a) Limitation on preexisting condition exclusion period; crediting for periods of previous coverage
Subject to subsection (d) of this section, a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage, may, with respect to a participant or beneficiary, impose a preexisting condition exclusion only if–
(1) such exclusion relates to a condition (whether physical or mental), regardless of the cause of the condition, for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received within the 6-month period ending on the enrollment date;
(2) such exclusion extends for a period of not more than 12 months (or 18 months in the case of a late enrollee) after the enrollment date; and
(3) the period of any such preexisting condition exclusion is reduced by the aggregate of the periods of creditable coverage (if any, as defined in subsection (c)(1) of this section) applicable to the participant or beneficiary as of the enrollment date.
The more people know about this, the more they can demand accountability from the insurance companies. They cash your premium checks then refuse to offer the service you are paying for.
Recently fans of technology saw their Entertainment Weekly Magazines in their mailboxes. What they saw were the first of its kind video ads, INSIDE of a magazine! Amazing right? We did the commercials for the CBS/PEPSI/ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ads on the B2B website. Expect this new technology to sweep across the advertising world as video becomes evident in everything from magazine ads to shopping carts! We were happy to be a part of the photography process and shooting the new media commercials for this great product.
Ad for CBS/Entertainment Weekly Magazine
There is no reason for this post, but to say that I’ve thought this for a while and now there is proof.
They ARE the same person.
Recently I did a shoot for a great new model that the agencies had a field day trying to lasso to their stable. During the shoot someone from my crew asked if I knew a particular photographer. I did not know them. Then she asked if I knew another guy, I did not know him. Yes I know the majors, the Steven Kleins and Bruce Webers but I didn’t know Orange County’s hot new photographer and LA’s up and coming new star. Have you ever sat down and someone asks if you’ve read a book, you say no. Then they ask about another book and you still stay no. You feel dumb and in this case I should have felt that way, but instead I defended my stance.
I am a fan of the art, the lighting and the overall imagery. I don’t waste time trying to memorize the exact steps of someone else’s career. What good will that do for me? I don’t want to collect them like baseball cards or be able to pick something out just by the style. I don’t care. I am lucky enough to be busy with my own work, and I focus on my work.
I said that I may have the photographer’s work in my mind, but never who did it. I feel that slowly molds you into who THEY ARE. It takes an artist so much time and effort to define yourself and your work, so why would I pay attention of my peers? I support them in what they do. I will support their great images but I don’t need to know what photographer did each shot. I want to grow and develop my own style and memorizing my local photographers will inhibit that process.
Lesson from me: Just worry about your art, wether that is music or photos or writing. Find what makes you special and exploit that. Let the world know that. Focusing too much on others could sway you to borrow from their style, making you unoriginal and doing a disservice to your art.
It’s fassssssssssssssst! That’s all. Get it.
UPDATE:
Dear Apple Computers,
When you release a new program, please have the decency to let us know that some of our old software may not work with the new OS system, put it on the packaging so that I can decide if it’s worth losing one of my photography programs just to have the newest OS X from you guys. Geeeez! I lost 2 programs.
