...lonely station...

one of the things i enjoy most about my job, is the people i get to meet. within every assignment lies a story about fascinating people i had never met before, nor would i have met if i wasn't a photographer. but every once in a while, i get to photograph things that were a first love...objects which are lost, abandoned and/or lonely.

last week i was given an assignment to shoot just that; a gas station which, after one year of operation, had closed. it's disappointing for the economy and the community, but it warmed my photographic heart.

...becoming shadows...

...the art of shaving...

I finally completed my story on Jerry's Barber Shop. Can't wait to show it to the guys at the shop!

The Art of Shaving from Micah Escamilla on Vimeo.

...te recuerdo...

‎...en tus ojos peleaban las llamas del crepúsculo. y las hojas caían en el agua de tu alma.
- pablo neruda

...sweetnlow...

i do not eat this stuff.

...in process...

Jerry's Barber Shop, October 2010


I'm working on a multimedia piece about Jerry and his shop. It's taking me forever...because I'm a dork and decided to go home with 2hrs of audio. Every time I sit down to work on the story, I want the audio to go into a different order. Very annoying. I think, maybe, I need to just pick a path and stay on it and get it done.

Anyway, this is one of my favourite images from the story. Mostly because of that little plume from the powder. And...little Mikey is adorable :)

Hope to be done with the story in the next week or so. Crossing fingers...

...give back the black hills...

...sonya...

...

Being with him made my brain quiet.  I didn’t have to invent a thing.
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

...muertos...

yesterday i traveled to east los angeles for a dia de los muertos procession. it was smaller and shorter than i had hoped, and ended while the sun was still shining, but it was fun and interesting. my favourite part of the day was when i overheard a man say that he had taken part of the celebration every year since his wife passed away, and he now feels closer to her. there are innumerable benefits of mourning/celebrating life among a community, rather than on your own.

i mostly shot film during the procession, but here are a few digital frames for now...

with every new latino event i experience, i fall more and more in love with the culture. really...i just need to move already. argentina. mexico. el salvador. costa rica...i just want to be surrounded by passionate spanish speakers who create delicious foods to eat, and a soundtrack that rattles my bones.

...

hoy, el entendimiento llegó. y las lágrimas cayeron de mi corazón.  

si solamente se permite en el interior ...

...spice of life...

my sister-n-law just set up her new baked goods blog!
i'm tellin you, her stuff is GOOOOOOD. especially the holiday cheesecake. frickin fantastic. so excited the holidays are coming!!!

...the art of whimsy...

my buddy nathan is in town this week, mixin and masterin his new album. last night, he treated old friends to live jams at the coffee depot. you can check his music here.

...layover...

...preserving a culture...

on saturday i had an assignment to cover a native american pow wow. at the very last minute i threw an audio recorder in my bag, thinking i would at least get some drum circle action.

as soon as i got out of my car, i found dennis nevagaya getting ready for the dance competition. he graciously allowed me to photograph him and did a quick interview while getting dressed. the audio isn't the best as you can hear wind and some of dennis' attire jingling...but considering this was not only a spur of the moment decision but also my first attempt to put a project like this together...i'm pretty proud of it.

this annual pow wow (held at cal state san bernardino) is a beautiful event. saturday was my second time attending but my first for work. i shot hockey later in the evening. made for a great work day!

...

...undesired...

mediastorm just published yet another incredible story.
this time regarding the treatment of women in india. stunning visuals by walter astrada. and a perfect example of why journalism can't and won't die.

...garden thoughts...

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

...sixteen years after the day we met...

...shooting for good...

this past saturday i attended truth with a camera's "shooting for good" exhibit in portsmouth, virginia. it was great to see a number of my truth friends! i will always say how incredibly grateful i am to have been a part of truth's quito workshop, and will hopefully attend the next one, whenever and wherever it will be.

the video below, put together by josh meltzer, includes footage from both the quito and guadalajara workshops. watching it will give you a taste of what it's like to be involved.

after the exhibit, i was able to spend most of sunday on matt eich's porch, chillin with some of whom i consider the most talented photographers in the states - a rare and cherished opportunity for me. i defnitely left there feeling encouraged and inspired. i'm now in DC to spend time with friends, be a little touristy, and soak up our country's beautiful east coast.

Truth Portsmouth Show Video from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.

...chosen ones...

preston gannaway is an incredibly talented photographer who currently works at the virginian-pilot. recently, she completed an exceptionally moving project entitled "chosen ones," which tells the story of a couple who adopted not one, but three boys from china, all of whom were born with albinism.

to see more of preston's work, visit her site here.


Chosen ones from preston gannaway on Vimeo.

...rilke...

"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. and the point is to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."
- rainer maria rilke

...bachata...

...cosas de sobrevivieron...

welcome to my new blog!
well, really this is a new spin on an old blog. "cosas de sobrevivieron" is spanish for "things that survived" (the name of my first blog from years back) and "things that survived" is just that...things that survived. 


maybe they are things that survived my years spent livin a hard knock life. maybe they are photos that survived a particular photo edit/critique. or maybe they are things i think you need to see. or things i don't want to forget. either way...all those things will end up here.


so, why the change?
well, in the name of professionalism...i created a new website, a new email address and soon there will be new business cards...so i figured why not create a new blog? the only problem is that i previously had a wordpress blog...and i can't, for the love of turtles, figure out how to transfer all those blogposts into my trusty new blogger blog (yes, i realize that this is the opposite transition that most would take, but blogger is what i want, so...). and, unless one of my techie friends shows me the light...i'll just have to deal with backposting a handful of recent posts from the wordpress fella.


so, for now...bienvenidos! and thanks for sticking around for all the transitions.