Jump in, the water’s warm.
This a shot I took over the summer. As I was walking along the fishing pier at Haulover Beach, I saw the these two. They were waiting for the fishermen to throw out the loose bait. Didn’t see the potential in the picture till I started to mess with it.
Downtown Miami View
This was the great back drop to a shoot I took a few months back. Part of the Miami Downtown Skyline. The sun was coming down pretty fast hiding behind the one building.
South Pointe Park (Re-Vamped)
Got a call from my brother Saturday morning to meet up for a breakfast and small talk with him and his son. He picked me up and headed to Denny’s. During the breakfast, another friend of ours also called to meet that afternoon and hang out somewhere. She also had her kids with her that day, so we decided to make a day of it. We got on I-95 and headed south to South Beach to take pictures and enjoy the day.
We decided to head to South Pointe Park and walk around. But to my surprise, they had upgraded the park in a major way. Totally re-vamped from top to bottom. They did an awesome job. Actually planned a shoot there the following week and it came out great. Will post soon.
My Boy’s Toys
Stopped over at my boy’s place last week for some small talk and future photoshoot planning. He had his bike and his 745 out so I strolled over and snapped them up. Made plans to use them in a sexy shoot in the near future.
Driving by the Biltmore Miami
Drove by the famous and ritzy Biltmore Miami Hotel in Coral Gables, Fl. the other day. Pulled over and took in some shots. Gorgeous day and couldn’t pass it up. Don’t have the cash to be in there, yet.
My Angelic Wind Chimes ’09
Been trying to shoot these darn wind chimes for awhile now, but just couldn’t get it right. Well, after many failed attempts on other occassions, I was finally determined to get them being it was a beautiful and sunny day. Even though I’m 6.1″, I had to stand on my tippy toes to get some of these right. Didn’t take many shots to get the feel I was looking for.
Photoshop vs Elbio L.
Here is a Photoshop project me and my homeboy Elbio wanted to work on and finally got around to do. After 4 complete wardrobe changes (gold grills included), playing musical chairs for an hour, my trusty tripod and remote, we were done. This time, I opened up my Photoshop and went to work. And here is the end result.
A good wall is hard to find.
While cruising through old Miami, I remembered a wall I had eyed before that was nearby I wanted to get a shot of. So I drove by, walked up and snapped a couple of shots. Very pleased.
A Shoot, Mr. Moes and “Notorious”-Very Eventful Weekend
Had a shoot scheduled for Saturday morning with my friend Cifa Skrpx. In this photoshoot session, he needed to do some wardrobe changes for different projects he’s working on. We met up and headed out about 10 am. We went to a spot by my house for the first part of the shoot. After about a little less than hour or so, we decided to head to The Wynwood Art District were there’s a lot of great wallart and terrific locations for shoots. It’s a very creative and colorful area. During this part of the shoot, he did 2 more wardrobe changes. Driving around, we found a street were the wall there was a block long and was covered with graffiti. We spent about another hour shooting there. Satisfied we the days work, we hit the road back home. We made plans to meet up the next day to talk and go over the shoot at The Big Tomato for some deep dish pizza.
After that, I headed to the Miami Gardens spot with meet up with fam for some Churrasco and some cold Heinekens. After a great meal out in the patio, we ended playing up playing games, (Connect 4, BlackJack and Wii Bowling) with me trying to finish my 6 pack. After too many gutter balls, I hung up my bowling shoes and called it a night. When I got home, I started watching SNL and knocked out.
The next day, Cifa came through to go over the shoot pix. Pulled up the gallery in LightRoom, set it in slideshow mode and sat back. He was blown away. It was hard for him he says, but he managed to pick out the few he needed for his projects. I told him I’d have them ready by the end of the week. So off we went, I grabbed my camera and we headed out to demolish that deep dish. But when we pull up, come to find out that they are closed on Sundays. Couldn’t believe it. So bummed.
So we got back in the ride and drove to Coconut Grove to eat and chill at Mr. Moes and possibly see what trouble we can find out there. After walking and shooting around the Grove, we noticed they were showing the movie Notorious. So we got tickets and prepared to watch “the rise and fall of a hip hop icon”. The movie was pretty cool. My two cents? The Biggie character was very believable, but think they portrayed 2Pac so wrong. Oh well, that’s Hollywood for you.
By now, I was a bit tired so I decided to head home. Awhile later that night, after dinner and a good long nap, I got busy editing that shoot from Saturday. So many to choose from. Really don’t know what I’d do without my XTi, LR and PS CS2.
The picture above is from the shoot that I got taken of myself. I took over 200 shots that day. It was a fun shoot. God Bless.
tilt.shift.try.1
tilt.shift.try.1, originally uploaded by Tropikal.
Hi everyone. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and got there fill of some delicious turkey. I did. We spent that joyous and thankful day at my brother’s house in Miami Gardens. Took some pix, had some drinks and had a great time overall.
Well, the picture. Trying to get back into PS again, I tried a techinque I read about called the tilt shift effect. This is my first, (maybe last) attempt at trying it. It’s supposed to look like a mini-model of parked cars. Did I pull it off?
On My 38th Year.
One of my hopes came true on my B-day this past Saturday night. Two of my favorite peoples made a willing effort together and patched up a 15plus year friendship just for me, to my surprise. Best present I would ever gotten that night. My homegirl V passed me a drink and the party started, surrounded by my close friends, good music and plenty of liquor to go around. I had my camera with me so I snatched up a couple of pictures. Might post some up later, maybe. Later that night, when it was officially my 38th, my brother made a toast on how important true long lasting friendships really mean and that had me choked up for a good minute.
Overall, it was the best B-Day ever. I want to thank everybody that either called, texted, posted a message or somehow reached out to me on this 38th year of my birth. Luv U all!
Scenic shots in Disney’s Kissimmee, FL
While we were on our weekend getaway for our mother’s B-day, I wanted to get in some scenic and very colorful shots. We ended up at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn in Kissimmee, Fl. Very beautiful and enjoyful place. We took a boat ride, walked and shopped a little and rented and rode around on 6 passenger bikes. Lol, I almost fell off that peddle monster on a curve on a bridge we had to get over. I guess I should have put on the seltbelt.
Enjoy.
Boy’s Night Out
What a rainy weekend we had in sunny South Florida. No outdoor activities for us. But we had said we were going to bond this weekend so, my brother rounded up all the boys and we went to shoot some pool. We don’t get to hang out like this much because of our super rock star lives so this was way cool for all of us. Took this chance to get in some practice shots without using the flash. After the 4th shot and some adjusting, I got this premo shot of my dad and my brothers.
Today, random house shots.
In this set, I what somewhat inspired to shoot around my house. Certain objects caught my eye as I was having lunch, so I got my trusty tripod and set up the camera. The plant is was in the kitchen, the candle was right in front of me, and the sculpture was in the living room. From there, I jumped into Lightroom and let the magic happen. I like my tripod. Click on pictures to get full effect.
dancing.alone.2gether
dancing.alone.2gether.pt2
someone.talk.2.me
lonely.wick.candle
lion.hearted.individual
lion.hearted.individual, originally uploaded by Tropikal.
Got inspired and re-edited a picture I took of my boy Cifa. Found a picture of a lion and Photoshopped it in. Had to restart my computer. It said Photoshop didn’t have enough memory to save it, so I had to re-do it. No problem. Twice as fun.
