the parachute factory

While I was in San Diego a few weeks ago, my friend Tyler told me about this art show that he and his art collective, Yeller Studio and Sezio were putting together in a defunct parachute factory in downtown. I thought it sounded cool as one of my best friends Jordan Josafat was going to be collaborating on designing a wall. The importance of the show didn't hit me until I did a preview of Jordan's work, I brought a camera to document some of his work, but upon walking through the Parachute Factory, I knew that I had to come back and photograph the art and the artists. I was able to photograph a handful of the artists and about half of the finished walls, as I came a few days before the one day opening so many of the walls weren't complete just yet. I took about 5-10 minutes with each artist and piece, as there was so much to photograph in the given time I had. The opening of the Parachute Factory looked insane, as I believe they hit maximum capacity only about two hours into the opening. If you are on instagram, check out the hashtag #parachutefactory for some great photos of the opening.

I want to thank Saya, Edwin and Yeller Studio who helped me with the walkthrough.

Bradford Lynn.

Celeste Byers with Buster.

Katherine Brannock.

Christopher Konecki & Jordan Josafat.

Sean Dejecacion.

Christina Liu.

Kyle Miller.

Dusty Dirtweed & Elliott Moeller.

Edwin helping me with the walkthrough, had to protect yourself from that dust.

Surge.

Product Etcetera.

 That Kid Peep.

Tocayo.

Exist1981.

Chandu Reading.

Dolan Steams & Ben Albert.

DTM, Neko, Surge, Honkey Kong & DieKuts.

SenzWen.

Yeller Studio & Clarke1981.

mike baker / the bike maker

Last week, I headed up to Queens for an impromptu shoot with rapper Mike Baker the Bike Maker. I had been wanting to do a series on friends of mine who are in the creative field and to observe them in their element. So I went over to hang at his apartment that he shares with his gal Drea, or to whom I lovingly refer to as Cheddar Bay Chuck, haha. So when we weren't cracking up at whatever Mike and Chuck were doing, I got some cool shots in as well as portraits with Mike and Drea together because hey, I gotta show off the love.

artist profile / jordan josafat

A few weeks ago, I created an artist profile on one of my best friends, painter Jordan Josafat. This is one of my first forays into video with my 5D Mark II and it was a test to see if I was capable of creating documentaries for what is to be a a lifelong personal project of mine. I thought it would be fun to showcase Jordan's art as well as practice with video and audio, something that is very foreign to me. But what we created was exactly as I envisioned, so now I can discuss my personal project. In the future, I am going to be creating documentaries of my most inspirational friends, normal people who inspire others around them to break from the status quo. These are individuals who take life by the horns and live their lives according to their own doctrines. These are the people we need to surround ourselves with to grow with positive outlooks, I believe that everyone can be inspired by people around them and in turn, become inspirations themselves. I have friends all around the country who I will be profiling, not in the same vain of how I did with Jordan's artist profile, but something deeply personal that when they themselves watch their own profile video, they will realize that just by speaking about their lives, they can be an influence to everyone.

So please enjoy this documentary on my friend, Jordan Josafat.