More cellphone photography

L-R
1. Sometimes I still bring out the Sharpie (not always on the computer)
2. Best Fish tacos I've ever had
-Take the 5 south past San Diego
-Exit Main St in Chula Vista
-Turn Left (on Main)
-Turn right on 4th Ave
-Look for Mariscos El Prieto truck
3. L.A. traffic
4. Michelada
5. Mom's home cooking... Nopales with Carne & Frijoles, great!
6. My hand looks giant
7. Mac Addict!
8. The coolest baby
9. Sign
10. Does your mailbox get tagged on? That's hood!
11. Me
12. A dragster goes back to it's roots.
13. Ever eaten dog before?

paz
-Juan

Signs of Salinas

So I always get these urges to go photograph around town, not just for the sake of art (partially though) but also just to document my take on Salinas, you wont see much fields, steinbeck stuff or the new shopping malls from me. I want to photograph stuff that really shows Salinas as it really is. No glitz & glamour but the real Salinas. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

This time around for no reason really I decided I wanted to take pictures of Signs around Salinas. There are still a few good ones, and a lot of bad ones... But a lot of the bad ones have character, which is a big part about Salinas.

I'll go back and take more shots of more signs someday... soon maybe..

I do have to take some shots for a show I'll be in later this year (more on that later)

I've always been a fan of old Theatre signs.. This run down Cinema sign is cool.


The Greyhound sign has been a longtime favorite. Hope if they decide to tear down that building someone saves it.

You gotta appreciate hand-lettering..

An old abandoned bar in downtown, I love the Stained glass!

Another of my favorite local signs. Every time I pass by it I want to steal this sign.

I remember as a kid we'd go eat tacos at a truck that parked in front of this furniture store. I dig the lettering!

Now I want to shoot a car in front of this building!

Another sign I remember from my childhood. I dig this lettering a lot. If you live in a hispanic-majority community like Salinas, you've probably seen a lot of similar signage. Someone once told me that the hispanic community is keeping hand-lettering alive.

This sign is cool, I want to steal this one too...

More hand-lettering from the eastside.

Vote! You can't tell from this angle, but the Obama sign is also hand-lettered, and of course I had to eat at that hot dog stand.

This one speaks for itself, Bright building, bunch of beat up cars and "God Bless You USA" awesome!


Probably my favorite sign in Salinas!

I was cut short from my sign hunting to go help my brother shoot a Mustang Campos Custom Fab just finished working on. Here's an outtake.



Paz!
-Juan

Interweb

Like many of you, I go online everyday...

One of the first things I do when I get to work is check my emails.

First my work email, then my Deadend email, then my DesignIsGraphic email, and finally my personal (junk) email.

Then I get started on work.

I visit a lot sites throughout the day, most have to do with cars and creative stuff.

Here is just a list of some of the sites I frequently visit.

http://www.deadendmagazine.com - DUH!

http://www.jalopyjournal.com (I visit the HAMB a lot) - Spreading the gospel of traditional Hot Rods and Kustoms to hoodlums worldwide

http://www.myspace.com - For social networking (waste time really)

http://www.facebook.com - Just joined and it's my latest addiction

http://www.ffffound.com - find a lot of inspiration there

http://www.estevanoriol.blogspot.com - Bad dude, good photographer

http://www.thehundreds.com - Ive only bought a pair a shoes (dope ones) from them but It's a pretty interesting blog to read.

www.thecoolhunter.net - Features a lot of crazy off the wall stuff

http://www.cameratakesphotos.com - Sarah's photography blog, cool stuff

http://www.drawnandquarrtered.blogspot.com - Jeff Norwell's blog

http://www.sudtipos.com/home - Tasty Fonts

http://hydro74.com/H74/blog/ - This guy is good, a little too much for my taste, but good non-the-less

http://www.lettercult.com - Great typography inspiration

http://www.cloutonline.com - Graff

http://www.royaljokers.blogspot.com - Clowns

http://shop.rebel8.com - Mike Giant & Joshy D's blog

http://www.lilwatcha.blogspot.com - My lil Cuz' blog

http://www.losboulevardos.com - Car club site

http://www.deadendmagazine.blogspot.com/ - Just launched

So now most stuff of my traditional car related posts will be on the Deadend Blog

Send me more cool sites if ya know of any.

Peace
-Juan

4th of July Weekend 2009

Spent the 4th of July weekend in the San Diego area (which is becoming a tradition for me)

My brother, Andy, Dj Sho-T & I jumped in a rental and headed south to pick up Fitty in Oxnard. We planned on going to San Diego that night but decided to spend the night in Oxnard and go out in Ventura, good choice... we had fun.

Woke up from a quick morning hour nap and headed to San Diego.

Our first stop was El Cajon for the Strays Car Club car show.
We had a good time in El Cajon even though it was really hot, the Strays fed us and kept us cool with plenty of water and beer to drink.

Then we were off to Pacific Beach to go walk the beach
Beautiful view

All the water made Sho-T have to piss, haha

Lots of people out on the beach enjoying the nice Southern California weather

Drunk "Bro-Dudes" will do anything for free stuff, "Sweet free Redbull Bro!"

Had to take a pic with the TA El Gordo sign haha, and no that's not an area code, it's a race car

Saw this nice Lincoln parked in an alley, wanted to jump in and drive it

After spending the day getting sun burned and tired from all the walking we went to book a hotel room. Once at the hotel we took a dip in the pool and got ready to go out. Once we were ready it was late and Pacific Beach was packed with people so we went out downtown.

Woke up the next day and headed to J&V Automotive in Chula Vista to shoot Joe's bitchin 35 Ford

I was shooting while the rest of the fellas looked on.

After the shoot we headed to eat the best mariscos I've ever had, and went shopping at the Tribal Gear store. After spending too much money we were northbound towards home.

Dj Sho-t got inspired and was ready to shoot for his new album dropping soon
So we shot last night

As you can see the little guy has been working out.. haha..

peace
-Juan