Historic High

Well I know some of you may be tired of hearing or talking about it but we all HAVE just experienced a very historic moment in this country. I have seen something that I was not expecting to see in my lifetime and I am only in my 30's.

No matter, it has happened, a black man has been elected president of the United States and I think we should all really appreciate the moment and recognize how major this is.

I will remember and really value the experience because it has given me confidence that I can accomplish my dreams.

Thoughts

Hello Everyone,

Just back into the same old swing of things with being busy with school again. I was getting a little overwhelmed again for a few weeks but am finally starting to feel somewhat caught up.

I took the photo below the other day during a one hour feature photo shoot in my photojournalism class. I turned one in but kind of felt that the teacher did not like it so I went out with 20 minutes left and scrambled to find another one. I got back with about 5 minutes to edit and this is what I got. The teacher then mentioned that he was glad I did what I did and went out to find another one because he did not like the first one.

Let me know what you think....



City College students walk along campus while they recover from a recent rain storm that occured during the weekend and ran into Monday on Nov 3.

Shaq and Kevin Johnson

On September 26, Sacramento Mayoral candidate and former NBA star Kevin Johnson brought basketball star Shaquille O'neal to the Boys and Girls club in downtown Sacramento. Shaq was greeted by a group of very excited kids and spoke for a few minutes before returning to his vehicle. The rest of the event had Kevin Johnson talking to the media about current allegations against the St. Hope Academy which he was previously a part of.



Sacramento Mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson and NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal visit the Sacramento Boys and Girls club in downtown Sacramento on Sept. 26, 2008. Shaq visited with the kids for a little while and then Kevin Johnson addressed the media about recent allegations regarding the St. Hope Academy that he has been a part of.



Sacramento Mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson addresses a group of kids at the Boys and Girls club in downtown Sacramento on Sept. 26, 2008. NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal joined Kevin and the kids for a little while.

Obama Reno

Hello everyone. I just got back from a speech that Barack Obama gave in Reno NV. I found out about it on Monday drove to Reno with a friend at night, stayed the night at a casino hotel(but did not sleep a wink) and woke up to the rally at 8 a.m. at the University of Nevada at Reno. It was quite an experience and I spoke to a good amount of the people there. The feeling of dedication and support was more than I expected and I met people from all over the world. Here are a few Photos that I shot and I hope you enjoy them.



Senator Barack Obama made a stop at the University of Nevada, Reno on Sept. 30, 2008. The Democratic Presidential nominee was welcomed by thousands of supporters.



University of Nevada, Reno Music Professor Dr. Katherine DeBoer shows her excitement during the Barack Obama visit to Reno on Sept. 30, 2008. Dr. DeBoer said that this election is "The biggest election of her life".



Thousands of people attended a visit by Barack Obama at the University of Nevada, Reno on Sept. 30 2008. Media and people from all over the world were in attendance.

Great Fair Results

Well, this took me a few days to get too but at least I finally got to it. I entered my county fair photo contest for the third year and got some great results. I won two blue ribbons, one red, two third places, and two honorable mentions. I was a little surprised because I was not totally happy with my photos this year but I am finding that I am feeling that about almost all of my work for the past year. I am just getting more touchy and judgemental.

Anyways, I was happy with my fair results but was surprised and extremely happy about what else I won. One of my photos won the best in show category and I was ecstatic about it. A friend of mine had predicted this but I thought he was just being nice. A photo of the award is listed below as well as photo of my other winners.

Now I am just getting ready for school to start again next week and will be busy as heck again going to school 3 to 4 days a week. Oh well, I am hoping to really look into finding a career or job in the next year and am going to work very hard to find one.

Let me know what you think of the photos.





This is the photo that won me the best of show photo and I am really proud of it. It also won the "water scape" category.





This photo won me the blue ribbon in the "still life" category.

Update

Hello,

I am enjoying my summer so far and have had more time to think about things in my life. I have been seeing a counselor and has definitely helped with my depression and has also opened my eyes to the way I think and why I think that way.

I have always been a person who is dedicated to whatever I would like to accomplish. To accomplish my Bachelors degree I went through numerous seizures, car accidents, brain surgery, and another surgery to take of a cancer I thought I had. No matter what, I was always focused on the goal of graduating from college. I accomplished that and then moved on. That is when my passion for photography just exploded and it has been a huge part of my life. I have decided to focus on photojournalism because I have always been interested in people, how they are raised, why they think how they think or do the things they do. I am so passionate about this that I have put myself in numerous dangerous positions just to get a good shot.

Speeking to my counselor, he saw how passionate I am about this but made me think about something. No matter how good of a photo I take, I never feel that it is good enough. No matter how many compliments I get, I never think it is good enough. I have never been able to take a compliment but still am always trying to satisfy the needs of others instead of my own. This opened my eyes to where it all started and it may be no surprise to a lot of you, but it all started with how I was never good enough for my father. No matter how hard I tried and what I accomplished, I never felt I satified him. This has led (unconsciously) to how I live today and always worry about what other people think and can never hold things in. I always feel a sense of guilt even though I have not done anything wrong.

This has made me think about how I should really live my life and what I need to do to keep a long term relationship because all this ties in.

In short, I have opened my eyes to how I have lived my life and now need to find a way to live it in a more happy and satisfying way.

Hope this isn't too corny but just thought this was an important stage in my life.

P.S. the photo above is of the Sacramento Water Pump in the early morning. I took it yesterday morning and was surprised how well it turned out.

Antelope Canyon 1

Antelope Canyon 1, originally uploaded by rjking60.

This is not one of my photos but after seeing the pictures of it, I really want to visit it.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Summer Break

Well I survived the semester and am now relaxing somewhat. I am trying to finish up some work from last semester and am almost there. I just need to work with some audio and then will be done.

I have also begun another essay having to do with same sex couples getting married on June 17. I have found a couple and am following them up to the day of the marriage which they will be having in the state capitol.

I am trying to figure out how to post some of my multi media presentations on this site but cannot find one that will work with audio. I hope to find out how to do this sometime this summer.

I hope you enjoy the slideshow above at the top of the page.

Back to reality

Well, I got back from southern California a few days ago and came back to my reality. Luckily I am in a little better shape emotionally but still have issues on my mind that need to be taken care of.

I really did enjoy the trip because I got more than I expected from it. I believe I have brought back a friendship that I had lost a few months ago. That was a surprise and was happy to find that.

I also met a lot of interesting people on the trip and saw a lot of things I wanted to see like Roy's old time Diner that is very popular to photographers. I also saw a few other cool spots on historic route 66 like a Mcdonalds made up of old train cars.

I go back to work and school next week and hope to be in a better mindset when I get back. Through this experience I have found that a lot of people do care about me and appreciate that very much.

Let me know what you think about my blog and photos.

Martin

Surpising Vacation

Well, here I am going into my third day of vacation and have been through a lot. Let me see, I have continued my journey through Route 66, been to a museum I have wanted to see for a very long time, and oh, got into a little car accident!!!

Yup, I was down the street from where I was going to stay tonight and someone rear ended me and I took the ambulance to the hospital. Funny thing was that while I was waiting for the ambulance, I saw a photographer taking photos!!!!! Sucks to be on this end of camera LOL!!! I am going to try and find that guy tomorrow. Anywho, I was taken to the hospital, said I was ok, and then went to get another car. Hopefully, the insurance and all that will go smoothly.

Well, now that the bad news is out of the way, I have taken alot of photos in the past couple of days. I got to stay at a place I have been looking into for awhile. It is called the Wigwam motel and it is motel made up of tee pees!!!! They are really cool and were even in the disney movie called "Cars" The people were really nice pointed me to another 66 landmark. They showed me where the first McDonalds was. I did not get to go inside because I got there a little early but I did get some good photos of the outside.

I then came back into the L.A. area to see a museum I have been wanting to see for a long time. It is called the Museum of Tolerance. It is museum about the holocaust, discrimination, and prejudice. With my interest in sociology, I had high hopes for this place. However, I found out how the place got its name. You need tolerance for the lines and the amount of time it takes to see it!!!! The staff could have been a little more tolerant also. Anyways, there were some interesting points to the museum but again, the amount of time was what bugged me.

So now I have gotten another car and am going to try and enjoy the rest of my trip and deal with the car accident later. Hope to add more of my experience tomorrow.

Escaping Reality

I finally got myself out of town and started a little journey that I have been wanting to try. I am trying to drive Route 66 and just got started today at the Santa Monica Pier in the L.A. area. It was not a very good day for photos with a very overcast sky but still had fun seeing all the people, beach, and felt a sense of peace and being away from my responsibilties at home.

I will try to add a post every day I am gone and also add a photo.

PLEASE let me know if you see this.

Martin

Reflection into reality

Today I had an interesting day to say the least. I have been tremendously busy as always with school and work. I am now the photo editor for my school newspaper and have been learning a lot of new things as well as being responsible for other photographers and their assignments.

I have been tremendously stressed and scrambling around a lot until today when I finally got a chance to kind of slow down and think about things. My life has been photography for the past two years of my life and was feeling as if I have not been producing very good photos and have been having trouble with eyeing out good shots. I learned today that I need to go back and enjoy taking the photos and not stress over if I like the pictures or not. I am learning photoshop (finally) and am learning that I can fix a lot of things I am not liking about my photos lately. I am blessed enough to have a very experienced photographer on my staff and he is a very helpful source for tips and tricks. I hope to be able to be happy with my photos the more I use photoshop and the more I talk with the other photographer.

I have to find a way to calm down and come to peace with myself on a daily basis. My life has been going by too fast lately and need to enjoy it more instead of stressing so much.

This is kind of nice to be able to express my feelings and thoughts. If any of you have thoughts or ideas, please feel free to email or reply to this blog. i am still getting used to learning how all this works.

Martin

Keeping up with you all

Hello,

Just thought I would add another photo of mine and hope to get some responses from someone!!!! I am very critical of my work and am finding it harder and harder to find photos of mine that I like.

Please give me some responses. I did like this one except that my team was not the one to catch the ball. LOL!!

Thanks,

Martin

Update with current photos

Hello everyone,

Sorry I do not keep up with this blog but I have been very busy with school. I will try to make it up to you by showing you some of my current work.

The above shot was taken at a Mexican Independence day even in Cesar Chavez park in downtown Sacramento. I just love how colorful and exciting this picture turned out even though the subject looks so focused.

Martin

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.