New Orleans.... A post Katrina review...

I am currently sitting in the French Market Inn located in the French Quarter. I have wanted to visit here for a long time, and actually was sad that I wasn't able to come prior to Katrina, so with that said I will go on with my take on this colorful city. I am not much of a drinker, and so it don't take much for me to get pretty tipsy, so I had a blast on Bourbon Street. We spent the day going through all the little shops and such, and I must say that I absolutely love the atmosphere, the architecture and you won't find a city block that you won't find some of the most interesting people on the planet. I know for a fact that it has it's fair share of crime, Hell we kept our wallets in our front pockets, etc. just to be safe. I've seen quite a few shady people amongst the masses, but if you don't pay them any mind they go on with whatever business they happen to have. It's kind of odd really, when you think about the diversity within just the small area we've been... I will also say though that this is the only place I've ever been that just draws everyone in and leaves them with a smile. We went to a jazz club tonight, and you'd see ghetto gangsta lookin' people dancing with uppity socialites, or some old Grandma slinging back drinks with a biker. I like that fact about New Orleans. It doesn't care who you are, where you are from or how much money you have (although I will say that you'll get badgered for a few bucks here and there all throughout the city with street performers and the like, but if they are interesting I was always willing to throw in a buck or two) I just have to say that whatever you've heard about New Orleans throw it out the window and see it for yourself. As I stated, I've wanted to come here for a long time but I got a little negativity from various people prior to the trip, such as "Oooh, that place has a lot of crime" or similar. I think the positives of New Orleans far outweigh the negatives, especially if you're smart about things. Spend a few extra bucks and park your car in a garage and leave it, that takes away half the stress right there, and rooms in the quarter are cheap. You'd be hard pressed to visit every little shop or event even in the small area we've been in. There is so much here I have yet to see, and I was a little skeptical about all the money you hear about being dumped in to this area, but I can see now why people are willing to save it. Sure, some aspects of it may seem like a cesspool, I can honestly say that when you hit Bourbon Street you're going to smell a mixture of vomit and whatever else, but it's not overbearing. At any rate, I'll definitely be back here very soon with a whole list of things I missed this time around. I can't really say much else other than the atmosphere is awesome, and no matter who you are you'll find a place here that suits you. I'll edit this when I get home and add to it as I am pretty tired. It's been a long, fun and fufilling day.

Fun day...

Gotta get up early and go pick up a camera and work at the restaurant tomorrow, so another busy day. I always wondered how some of my friends juggled two jobs, and it's definitely interesting to say the least, but it's refreshing. I am doing two things I enjoy, and that makes a huge difference over having some random job somewhere. I did a corporate event tonight with Katie, and we had a lot of fun. I was bad about flashing in on her shots, so I have to be mindful of that. I guess I get so caught up in my shots. It's interesting, because I feel like I take a piece of each event home with me. The atmosphere, the people. It's a new experience, and I feel like I am in the right place. My whole life I've felt like I wasn't in the right place and for once everything feels RIGHT. I can definitely dig that. Anyway, hope everyone has a great remainder of the week, and an even greater weekend. Peas.

Good week.

We've been busy all week. Actually got out to the kiosk today and did some painting. I have to go back tomorrow and freshen things up a bit. I have some of Nick's material ready to post, I just need to get it up and have a layout ready to post. More on that later. I will try to post here more often, but if I don't don't get mad. I doubt at this point many people read this mess anyway. Ha. Drop me a line on the chat box thing. :P

It's really early...

Good Morning!! I doubt anyone will read this any time soon, but I just wanted to post a few updates. I've been trying to get all my pictures categorized and cropped and ready to put online, but I really need to find a better host for the site first as I am just using some free webspace from my ISP right now, and I am sure if I put too big a load on the site it will go down, so for now it's just my run of the mill shots that everyone has seen 1000 times, and for that I apologize. Until recently I haven't been inspired to get out, but I assure you there will soon be a steady stream of new shots flowing in, as well as some of my charcoal drawings and such. I really wish I had scanned some of the ones I gave out already, but it's all good, I have pics of most of them on my Myspace. At any rate, Nick is excited about getting his stuff up, and he has some really cool stuff from what I've seen so far. PLEASE click the link in his placeholder and bug the crap out of him on myspace. It will be fun.

I also want to throw a shout out to everyone that has been supportive to us over the years, and pushed us to try and make this more than a hobby. I hope that I will live up to my own expectations as well as those around us that have helped along the way. I'll also try and keep this blog updated, but I am usually not good at remembering to at least throw in a tidbit now and again. Anyway, hit up the chat room as well. There is no registration required, so you can post whatever but please keep it clean.

Latest News and such...

Well, I've been doing other things here and there so I haven't had time to really sit down and write anything of substance, but I promise for those that frequent the site to keep things better updated. At any rate, shadowed on a shoot last Sunday and it was totally awesome. It was better than I expected, and I think I will feel comfortable about everything. I think it helps that Sam is so thorough, and she has the ability to take the stress out of a situation. I think she's going to be a great mentor, manager and friend. I tend to get nervous over silly mundane things, but when it comes down to the wire I am good under "real" stress, so I am not worried about anything, and am actually super excited that things are falling in to place. It feels good to make a forward stride towards a goal, and I think the thing that I am most excited about is the people I will be working around. I haven't met everyone yet, but from what I know so far it will be a good experience, and hopefully I can bring what I have to the table and we can all learn from each other. I am sure this is going to be a fun season with many more to come.

I have been looking at cameras but I think I am going to hold out for a little bit and just use all my current equipment til maybe around May or June so that I can research and see what I ultimately want out of my setup. I have been looking at lighting and backdrop ideas so that I can do product photography (mostly for my ebay stuff, although I would ultimately like to help people build portfolios for modelling, etc.)

At any rate, Nick has some COOL stuff that we're getting ready to post, working out the layout for his section and we'll be getting his galleries up and running so you can check his stuff out. It should be up and going by mid March at the latest, although some of his more recent stuff he is still working on so they may not be up until April but I have personally looked at them so I know he's ready to get it all up. Definitely super excited about that, because the last, umm three manifestations of this site were supposed to include his work and just had placeholders indefinitely so this time around I want to make sure it gets up so everyone can see it. That is because the namesake originalM is not a representation of ME necessarily (in actuality I used to call it JwM Productions back in 2001 when I was just doing web stuff and graphics but when my aunt married and I discovered my uncle owned a "real" company called JW Productions I decided to change it and come up with something that I could use to encompass those around me, and I was having a hard time coming up with an original name, and one of the names I used before this one apparently ticked some guy off and since I considered myself to be the originator of that namesake as well I had a temper tantrum fit for a 2 year old and jokingly started using originalM, M referring to our last name of course. It consists of myself, my brother, sister, mother and cousin and anyone else we decide to drag along for the ride.)

This is my passion in life, and my drive is to be able to pursue a path that allows me to be creative and convey emotion through my work (be it photography or otherwise) and see that creativity put to use and inspire others as well as be able to surround myself with positive people that inspire me as well. I have a longstanding love of photography, and I enjoy the feeling when a photo I take MOVES people and tells a story, and while that is my primary focus I also enjoy charcoal drawing as well as acrylic painting. My brother and I recently did two murals (which we'll get pictures up soon so everyone can see them) We have lots of things planned, and I'll be posting updates on the main page as well as detailed descriptions here in this blog as they come along. I guess I wrote more than anyone will ever read, but I am excited so you'll have to just deal. :P

Welcome!

Basically I'll just be using this as an addendum to the site for news and events, if for nothing else other than it's easier than ftp'ing html files every time I want to add something. At any rate, thanks for stopping by and hopefully we'll have some cool stuff coming soon.