Well, looks like Sokonotes the photo blog is about to transform itself into Sokonotes the travel blog...Again. Yes, for those of you new viewers, Sokonotes was originally my travel diary in Korea where I worked for a year in 2005-06. Ever wanted to see what I look like as God, Santa Claus, or (most shocking) an English teacher? Now you can! Just click on those archives on the left side of your page.
My second year in business has come to a close. My first year living on my own in Atlanta has come to a close. Probably the greatest year of my life is quickly nearing it's spectacular finale. Thus, I thought I'd keep everyone in the know.
I'm just over an hour away from boarding a jet headed to Caracas, Venezuela where Lena and I will get married before nearly 300 of her closest friends and family. Luckily we've been practicing. We've already had two weddings: The official one in April and the Jones family reception in September. This third wedding is the Big Enchilada. Lena has been in Barquisimeto for the last two weeks already, planning, buying and working to pull the event together. Her secretario is on the next flight!
It's raining outside Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International airport. People of many nationalities walk the concourse in front of a garishly lit "On The Border" mexican joint. My ears record a host of different languages being spoken: Korean, Japanese, German, French, and yes, Spanish. But the it's the thick-accented, sharp-witted Venezuelan Spanish that is the most distinct, and I grin when I recognize it. It makes me think of Lena. I miss her a lot.
I'm so happy to be traveling again, even if it's somewhere dangerous. I still remember my trip to Korea, a trip that started with a road trip through Wyoming with Wes, then a three-day stop in sunny San Francisco followed by a trans-pacific flight to Seoul where I caught a high-speed train to Busan. This is a much easier four hour non-stop flight, but to a much more mysterious place; a place filled with danger and beauty as well as a new family to get to know. It's altogether exciting, though this time I have to make a serious attempt at learning the language, not just how to ask for kimchi.
I'm also really happy to be finished working. I haven't had a single day off in months. Even today I was up at 7 in the morning preparing images for GSU. Then I took my lens to the repair shop, bought some fishing gloves for my father-in-law, delivered an album, made my last deposit, had lunch with my friends and delivered my car and keys to my sister. I can't wait to be sitting on some crystalline beach in Venezuela, a martini in one hand and my sweet baby Lena in the other. We deserve this.
Well, it's 4:10 and people are starting to fill in the empty blue seats of the terminal gateway. You can always tell international travelers when they are leaving America: Giant carry-on bags packed with everything they can fit in them crouch like leathery trolls next to their masters. It's Christmas, too. The pilot probably needs to strap on another engine.
Venezuela, here I come!
Friday, December 05, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Lena and I are about to leave the country for our Venezuelan wedding! Yes, that's right...Wedding numero tres. Well, actually Lena is already there spending time with her family and preparing. I think this is the last wedding for a while. Might get bored and do it again thirty years from now. Who knows.
Anyway, I just finished my last shoot, a maternity portrait session here at the apartment. Maternity is a relatively new market for us, and this is the second couple we've photographed in 2008. It's tricky, in part because you must strike a balance between your vision, people's tastes and posing limitations. Some people like to be nude (these people don't normally sign our model release) and others are more conservative, such as this couple. Check these photos out.
I was somewhat limited in what I could shoot by the space available in my apartment. I think we have completely outgrown the space, actually. Although it's very large for a living room, and the ceilings are really high, this last shoot really reinforced that fact that we need a space twice as large if we are going to get serious about studio-style portraiture. One of our goals for 2009 is to purchase a property with the correct dimensions. Until then, our highly successful location work should suffice.
Speaking of which, the following three photos are of the two technology teachers who own and run the consulting firm, Tech Matters, out of Marietta. Tech Matters helps introduce middle school students to the world of technology and software design. They partner with Southern Polytechnic University in Marietta, who provides them with the computers, instructors and space they need to help the next generation move into the IT economy. The photo is for a brochure put out by the Kennesaw State University Small Business Development Center. These are my three favorites.
Anyway, I just finished my last shoot, a maternity portrait session here at the apartment. Maternity is a relatively new market for us, and this is the second couple we've photographed in 2008. It's tricky, in part because you must strike a balance between your vision, people's tastes and posing limitations. Some people like to be nude (these people don't normally sign our model release) and others are more conservative, such as this couple. Check these photos out.
I was somewhat limited in what I could shoot by the space available in my apartment. I think we have completely outgrown the space, actually. Although it's very large for a living room, and the ceilings are really high, this last shoot really reinforced that fact that we need a space twice as large if we are going to get serious about studio-style portraiture. One of our goals for 2009 is to purchase a property with the correct dimensions. Until then, our highly successful location work should suffice.
Speaking of which, the following three photos are of the two technology teachers who own and run the consulting firm, Tech Matters, out of Marietta. Tech Matters helps introduce middle school students to the world of technology and software design. They partner with Southern Polytechnic University in Marietta, who provides them with the computers, instructors and space they need to help the next generation move into the IT economy. The photo is for a brochure put out by the Kennesaw State University Small Business Development Center. These are my three favorites.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Hello Everyone! Lena and I are wrapping up 2008 in preparation for our journey to Venezuela for our third and final wedding as well as a much-needed and much-deserved break. Neither of us has had a single day off in over a month. We barely have had a moment with each other that isn't work related. We both love running this business, and the rate at which it's growing is staggering, but jeez...We need a vacation!
November has brought us many blessings, including a bevy of new clients and 2009 weddings. We're also re-evaluating our business, drawing up marketing plans and switching out of Pictage for the incomparably better PickPic online-gallery solution.
November has also brought with it a few really interesting assignments, including this one: A portrait session with the Alpha Team Search and Rescue K-9 unit, whom I know through one of their members, Paul Rusczcyk. Paul invited me to take pictures of the team as they practiced near Covington, Georgia. Here are a few of my favorite photos:
November has brought us many blessings, including a bevy of new clients and 2009 weddings. We're also re-evaluating our business, drawing up marketing plans and switching out of Pictage for the incomparably better PickPic online-gallery solution.
November has also brought with it a few really interesting assignments, including this one: A portrait session with the Alpha Team Search and Rescue K-9 unit, whom I know through one of their members, Paul Rusczcyk. Paul invited me to take pictures of the team as they practiced near Covington, Georgia. Here are a few of my favorite photos:
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Er, we got married, too. Here are our photos. Scroll down to the bottom to read about the event.
Lena and I set out to get married oh, fives months ago. I could honestly say we're a lot closer. Our reception for our parents was a lot of fun. September 20th will live forever in my mind as the day I danced as Hector Lavoe, the famous Puerto Rican salsa virtuoso, in front of my parents. Yes, friends. It was quite an event.
The entire point was to give my extended family a chance to celebrate the marriage. And celebrate they did. I still have the pony keg I picked up with my uncle Lanny that morning. It's squatting in the work room, probably totally foam.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, Katy, mom, Sara, Bina, Mindy, Deivis, Pat and Lena brought baskets of food and transformed our modest apartment all-electric wannabe kitchen into a living thing that ate flour and spit out delicious treats.
The food was better than good. It was made by the hands of the people who love us. And everyone pitched in to make the evening entertaining. Our friend Deivis brought his Venezuelan cuatro and my dad brought his guitar. They tried to strike a deal between the harp-like four-string cuatro and the deep, slow pluck of the guitar, but in the end they parted amiably and played samples from both American and Venezuelan traditions. Deivis had the benefit of a choir of female tenors (Linda, Lena, Liz Beth and Sandy) singing along all their might. Dad had me, and I had been drinking. Still, we managed to pull off The Boxer and Bob Dylan's dream, my personal favorite.
The Boxer is special, too, as that was the song dad tried to teach me back in high school. I can still remember a few chords.
One of my best friends, Josh, jumped into his truck in The far northwest corner of Georgia and rocketed into the night with his girlfriend just to be there. My friends Bina and Sarah Epting showed up and kept themselves entertained by marveling at how fast Bina and my sisters' fruit tarts got snarfed. Jennifer took control of the video camera and made history. BTW, she is also a master of dog hair removal, treasure hunting, rollerblading, tropical flower cultiviation and, in case you aren't sold, she gives life-altering back massages. Do I have good friends or what?
Lena's friends added their spice and charisma to the party. Rosario and Jeff sat stylishly on the couch while Liz Beth and her beau chatted in the sofa adjacent. My uncle Lanny grabbed a scotch and joked around with anyone who sat on his arm rest. My engaging, wise aunt Katy met and proceeded to know everyone and like everyone and they all liked her, too. Lena kept the music distinctly mixed, and when some tambore began to play, she encouraged everyone to shake their ass, including me.
Shake I did. I need to learn. The next party is in Venezuela and could last a long time and involve a lot more gluteal input. So I need to practice. I'm getting ready like Rocky. I wake and I practice Spanish every mañana, 7AM via my Rosetta Stone software. I now know EXACTLY what a montaña is and EXACTLY how to wear it, thank you very much. I've also been taking careful notes about Venezuelan culture and slang. I'm up to date on the political state of the country, it's relations to the U.S., Russia and itself. Mr. Chavez, I beg to differ: Shankees are NOT mierrrrrrrrrrda!
Anyway, the party was starting to die down a little, and there was still a lot of food to eat, and I needed people to stay and eat it. so I took action. I jumped into a white nylon suit with a rainbow big-collar suit adorned in gold chains and leapt into the party as a strutting, microphone-wielding Hector Lavoe (special thanks go to my cousin Chad Maness for providing the John Ra-volta costume). It worked. And although now I feel my strategy a little extreme and just slightly embarrassing, for some reason it worked perfectly and no one batted an eye. I love my family.
Ah, the next day...
NOTE: To all prospective brides in the middle of planning your wedding, the true purpose of catoring isn't the food. Anyone can or has family who can cook. It's the fact that the caterer also cleans and packs up everything and takes it away. Another lesson learned the hard way.
So here we are, Lena and I, swimming in the roiling economic seas. We still have work coming in, but there have been cancelations, too. Luckily, we've booked three weddings already for 2009 with a few more decisions in the air. Good times or bad, love reigns, people fall in love and some marry under the warm smiles of the ones they love. I know, it's happened to me. Twice. We enjoy making photographs for these happy people. If you are once of them, please give us a call. www.saldiviajones.com or 404.228.9739. Peace.
Notes
Lena and I set out to get married oh, fives months ago. I could honestly say we're a lot closer. Our reception for our parents was a lot of fun. September 20th will live forever in my mind as the day I danced as Hector Lavoe, the famous Puerto Rican salsa virtuoso, in front of my parents. Yes, friends. It was quite an event.
The entire point was to give my extended family a chance to celebrate the marriage. And celebrate they did. I still have the pony keg I picked up with my uncle Lanny that morning. It's squatting in the work room, probably totally foam.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, Katy, mom, Sara, Bina, Mindy, Deivis, Pat and Lena brought baskets of food and transformed our modest apartment all-electric wannabe kitchen into a living thing that ate flour and spit out delicious treats.
The food was better than good. It was made by the hands of the people who love us. And everyone pitched in to make the evening entertaining. Our friend Deivis brought his Venezuelan cuatro and my dad brought his guitar. They tried to strike a deal between the harp-like four-string cuatro and the deep, slow pluck of the guitar, but in the end they parted amiably and played samples from both American and Venezuelan traditions. Deivis had the benefit of a choir of female tenors (Linda, Lena, Liz Beth and Sandy) singing along all their might. Dad had me, and I had been drinking. Still, we managed to pull off The Boxer and Bob Dylan's dream, my personal favorite.
The Boxer is special, too, as that was the song dad tried to teach me back in high school. I can still remember a few chords.
One of my best friends, Josh, jumped into his truck in The far northwest corner of Georgia and rocketed into the night with his girlfriend just to be there. My friends Bina and Sarah Epting showed up and kept themselves entertained by marveling at how fast Bina and my sisters' fruit tarts got snarfed. Jennifer took control of the video camera and made history. BTW, she is also a master of dog hair removal, treasure hunting, rollerblading, tropical flower cultiviation and, in case you aren't sold, she gives life-altering back massages. Do I have good friends or what?
Lena's friends added their spice and charisma to the party. Rosario and Jeff sat stylishly on the couch while Liz Beth and her beau chatted in the sofa adjacent. My uncle Lanny grabbed a scotch and joked around with anyone who sat on his arm rest. My engaging, wise aunt Katy met and proceeded to know everyone and like everyone and they all liked her, too. Lena kept the music distinctly mixed, and when some tambore began to play, she encouraged everyone to shake their ass, including me.
Shake I did. I need to learn. The next party is in Venezuela and could last a long time and involve a lot more gluteal input. So I need to practice. I'm getting ready like Rocky. I wake and I practice Spanish every mañana, 7AM via my Rosetta Stone software. I now know EXACTLY what a montaña is and EXACTLY how to wear it, thank you very much. I've also been taking careful notes about Venezuelan culture and slang. I'm up to date on the political state of the country, it's relations to the U.S., Russia and itself. Mr. Chavez, I beg to differ: Shankees are NOT mierrrrrrrrrrda!
Anyway, the party was starting to die down a little, and there was still a lot of food to eat, and I needed people to stay and eat it. so I took action. I jumped into a white nylon suit with a rainbow big-collar suit adorned in gold chains and leapt into the party as a strutting, microphone-wielding Hector Lavoe (special thanks go to my cousin Chad Maness for providing the John Ra-volta costume). It worked. And although now I feel my strategy a little extreme and just slightly embarrassing, for some reason it worked perfectly and no one batted an eye. I love my family.
Ah, the next day...
NOTE: To all prospective brides in the middle of planning your wedding, the true purpose of catoring isn't the food. Anyone can or has family who can cook. It's the fact that the caterer also cleans and packs up everything and takes it away. Another lesson learned the hard way.
So here we are, Lena and I, swimming in the roiling economic seas. We still have work coming in, but there have been cancelations, too. Luckily, we've booked three weddings already for 2009 with a few more decisions in the air. Good times or bad, love reigns, people fall in love and some marry under the warm smiles of the ones they love. I know, it's happened to me. Twice. We enjoy making photographs for these happy people. If you are once of them, please give us a call. www.saldiviajones.com or 404.228.9739. Peace.
Notes
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