Happy New Year !

I managed to make one decent picture to send off 2009. This is Isaida, my wife, texting away from inside her car in my brother's driveway in South Florida.

Have a great 2010 !

Franklyn (Frank) Georges

I hit gold when I finally got a hold of my last subject, Mr. Franklin Georges. Frank, as everyone calls him, was amazing and basically saved the trip for me. He volunteered to pick me up at the airport, which is an hour away from the main town. On the way to town Frank asked me what I planned to do to move around town and I really had no plan other than to ask him to suggest a driver. To my surprise, Frank volunteered to do the job. This was crucial. I probably would’ve had to spend my own money for this
Frank was a mayor of a town in England where he spent well over 40 years after leaving Dominica as a young man to make a better life for himself. He had bought a parcel of land from a relative in Dominica and like many before him, decided to live out his retirement years back home. That’s what the story The Guardian hired me for was about, returnees.
After he picked me up @ the airport with his wife Veronica we took the hour long trip in his Land Rover, nicknamed “The Lady”. The hills were a challenge for the diesel powered SUV. A few days before my arrival her tank was filled with gasoline instead of diesel which I think would’ve messed up any regular car. Somehow she survived and according to Frank seems to be doing fine. Getting parts like a fuel filter for that car is a hassle in Dominica. Most goods have to imported from abroad and take much longer to arrive.
I shot Frank’s portrait the day I arrived to his house high up on a hill. When we were on the road down below he pointed to the house and said, that’s my house. I laughed ‘cus I thought he was kidding me. The place is huge and looks like a hotel ! He made it a point to tell everyone we met the story. My bad.
This portrait of Frank ran spread across two pages of The Guardian’s magazine.

Dominica assignment

The Guardian newspaper from England hired me to shoot a piece for their Sunday magazine in the neighboring island of Dominica. This assignment required a lot of phone calls and emails to the subjects I had to photograph. I had never been to Dominica and was at a loss for resources in terms of logistics. It took me three days to get this done but I wished I’d had at least an entire week to spend there.

I was blown away by the beauty and chaos of this small island. Dominica is the greenest island in the Caribbean. It’s a real dream for those who love hiking. There is a small Carib (indigenous people) population. There really isn’t much road infrastructure. About 3/4 of the island is mountainous. There’re no highways. The roads are narrow and treacherous. Traveling to Dominica is expensive. It cost me about $500 r/t from Puerto Rico, a little over an hour away.

The light in Dominica is magical. No real development means great penetration of light throughout the island. I managed to make a few photos in the afternoon light a couple of times. The people of Dominica are friendly and welcoming generally speaking. Beer is found everywhere and the food is awsome.

More to come.

More digi IR

I've been busy, which is a very good thing. I've also had a bad last 7 days with cancelled assignments and a bad xperience w/a client but it's all good 'cus I'm learning about the business of photography. That part of making a living with photos can only be learned through experiences. I'm actually pretty happy about the things that are happening to me.

I went out for a ride yesterday to this awesome road I travel regularly but the weather has been stormy the last few days. I took a side road to a local fishermen association building near a river I didn't know was there. Stopped along the way and made a few frames before it got too dark.

Talk shop, G10 w/red filter and small (broken) Manfrotto tripod.

Ugly ass Cuban sato

Cuba has some of the ugliest stray dogs (satos) I've seen in my travels. These things are all over the island. No hair and a cool mohawk. They remind me of Gremlins, the bad ones not the cute friendly kind.

Here's one I spotted napping in Vedado the other day.

Poetry Slam

I went to a poetry slam in Davie's Nova Southeastern University a couple of weeks back. Isaida is on the board of the Write Side Poets, a group that helps kids write and express their feelings and life experienses through poetry.

I watched this kid, Gabriel de los Reyes perform a piece about a man who underwent electroshock therapy. It was very powerful. Gabriel received a scholarship from the University of Wisconsin which apparently has the only program in the country for poets.
I'm still feeling this performance by Gabriel.

The two poets in are watching him perform.

Shot with a Canon G10

Nice kid in Old San Juan, not

I was recruited by a couple of friends to do some tour guiding in Old San Juan after the NAHJ convention a couple of weeks ago. We were walking along that fountain next to the Ballaja Cuartel and shot some pics of the children playing in the water. I was just shooting silhouettes when I spotted this kid who upon spotting me turned around to say hola in the best way a 3 year old can, by flashing me his middle finger and sticking his tongue out. HE did this several times. Nice huh ?

Out of sync iPhone

Last week's NAHJ convention in San Juan started off with the tradidional Noche de San Juan on the beach outside the Caribe Hilton hotel. According to tradition folks are supposed to fall back into the water a few times and then something magical happens, sorry but that's as far as I know.

Since I only took my iPhone I decided to piggy back on a friend's flash to get some decent pics. I don't even know the speed @ which the iPhone shoots but it's definitely too fast thus all the pics were out of sync. However, I think some of the pics are interesting.

Tech: iPhone3G and a Canon strobe on my friend's camera.

San Juan snaps

I spent some time walking around Old San Juan and Puerta de Tierra the last few days.

Hera are a couple of frames I made.

Tech: Canon G10

La Perla digi infrared

La Perla

La Perla is one of the oldest hoods in San Juan. It was founded in late 1600. Modern day La Perla is a jewel of a location and is home to a very diverse set of people considered by many a tough place.

I hadn't been in La Perla since 2002 when I spent a day photographing addicts for the AIDS IN THE CARIBBEAN piece that ended up as Pulitzer Prize finalist. I went there with a couple of new friends/colleagues and a local community activist.

GEAR TALK: iPhone 3G

Coqui coqui coqui

If you come to PR you'll hear the sound of the Coqui all night long.
Coquis are tree frogs that allegedly are only found in PR. There was a
story in the papers not long ago that someone apparently took some of
these frogs to Hawaii and the things multiplied like crazy and there
non stop mating calls were driving residents insane. There was an
eradication effort and an outcry from Ricans who wanted to save the
lil bastards.

For the record what you hear is their mating calls, males say CO and
females quickly repond QUI. It's so fast that it sounds like one frog
singing COQUI over and over.

I found a song in iTunes that is probably the worst song ever
recorded. The singer basically sings coqui coqui coqui coqui coqui
coqui coqui coqui coqui the entire 4 mins.

This was shot with the G10, manual exp @ 200 iso.

Scouting snaps

Was scouting locations for a workshop in the upcoming NAHJ (Natl Assocn of Hispanic Journalists) convention in San Juan, PR in a couple of weeks. I'm helping out in a photo workshop and offered to find a couple of places we could take some of the students. I found a couple of things I had to shoot.

The old man smoking is selling billetes, traditional P.Rican lottery tickets. The pigeons are in the Parque de las Palomas, Pigeon Park, in Old San Juan.

G10 pics.

Mija & Federico polarized

Just playing around with the dogs and the iPhone.

More foto field trip: Arroyo and Salinas

Digital Infrared=Salinas

I went on a foto field trip yesterday w/my friend Xavier who works in a local newspaper. We've been talking about doing this for a few months and finally, yesterday, we took our first road trip.

Our first stop was La Villa Pesquera in Humacao's Palmas del Mar. We left in a hurry. It was a boring and sanitized scene. Then we made it to Arroyo and that was much better; a quiet Malecon, nice people and pretty visuals. We tried to make it to Guayama but all the streets were blocked for some event. Finally we made it to Salinas and to the Central Aguirre area. I'd never been there and was really blown away. Lots of abandoned buildings, nice plantation era homes, great scenery. Unfortunately it was late and there was almost no light. We will hit that area again next week.

Here's a "no light" 15 sec xposure w/my infrared set up on the G10.

More Digi IR

Stock photos

A couple of months ago I spent about 4 days bidding for a freelance project that I thought I wanted. I had to prepare a gallery of archive images showing my travel photography. Whenever I have to look for old photos it's a pain in the behind. I did it, found all the photos I thought worked and sent to the "client". Next day I get the news that I was "selected" from a bunch of finalists. This was a book deal so I was really excited about it until I read the client's contract and terms/conditions. Simply said, it was a terrible deal for me and a great deal for them. I asked for more money and some adjustments on the conditions. No go. They just wouldn't budge. In the end I'd end up giving them hundreds of photos from which they would choose what they wanted and they then would pay me a couple of months later. In the end, I'd only make about $10-$14 per image and create a bank of images for the client (which they'd keep for at least 6 years) to sell and split the revenue with me 50/50.

I called the pic editor and told him I wouldn't be involved in the project. He was pissed and told me so. Oh well, I am new to the freelance world but I'm not new to photography.

The good thing out of of this bad experience is that I got a shoot list from the "client". I am now using that list to put together my own PR stock gallery which I will display/offer on my PhotoShelter page. I plan on shooting for that gallery every week in different parts of the island.

Here are a couple of pics I shot with that in mind.

gear talk: shot w/a G10, P mode

Campas

I will blog regularly on Campa's, the best chicken wing place I visit in PR which is Piñones, about a mile from Loiza. The wings are deep fried in grease, yummy. Isaida, the wife, and Carlos Campas use to hang as lil chdildren and that's as far as I wanna know. I sort of inherited the place from her. Before I was "health conscious", I'd go every weekend and ate 10 wings and drink 5 Medallas. Now I go once/month and eat 5 wings and drink a few Don Q/Grapefruit or Coconut water... Today, I spent about 5 hours in the joint but hey, I got a free double Rum/Coconut water.

Here's a pic of one of the Campas brothers boiling potatoes which are then deep fried.
If you like wings, you will love this place.

Gear data: G10, ISO 80, Program Mode, -2/3 exp compesation.

G10 and Green wall

Last Thur-Fri I worked for the NY Times on a local reaction story to the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court. We went to la Placita de Santurce to get some local color and had lunch in El Popular. Afterwards, as I waited for Damien, the writer, I spotted this guy with a tall beer in his hands outside the bar.
Had to snap him.

Gear talk: G10 on Program mode, -1/3 expo compensation, ISO 80.

Pinchos (kabobs)

I drive past this pincho stand everytime I leave my apt. The old couple who run the place only work Thur-Sun. I can honestly say these are the best pinchos I've had in PR.
There is a pincho stand in just about every corner these days in this island. The old lady sez the secret to a good pincho is marinating for one day and slow grilling on tin foil.
I'll show the actual pinchos later on.

Gear talk: shot on an iPhone (cus I was too lazy to get my G10 out of my car).

I'm back

I've been away for a few months. Trying to figure out this freelance thing and what direction I wanted to take my photography. A coupla days ago I made some changes to my website, www.angelvalentin.com, and I ended up taking out my News Gallery. I wanna concentrate more on editorial magazine work, portraits and travel. It's a small adjustment but I'm officially no longer a newspaper photojournalist. I don't think I even want to freelance for newspapers unless the pay is decent and the terms are acceptable.

With my friend Jose Jimenez I started a documentary wedding photo business called Island Wedding Fotos, our site is www.islandweddingfotos.com. We're booking some weddings and talking to a few clients.

I think the hardest thing to do for me is selling myself to people in a few seconds. I'm getting better at it but it still feels weird to do so much shameless self promotion. I guess I have to get over that soon.

One thing I did was open a P-shelter service page (in the archives link in my site). It helps a lot for archival and photo delivery to clients. I plan on using it to do some ecommerce and offer some of my own photos as collections.

I'm also working on a light photo essay. If things work out I will be able to shoot a few enterprise essays a year and shoot a few weddings a month and take whatever magazine or corporate gig comes my way.

It's gonna be fine.

Santa in Calle 8

Was walking around Calle 8 the other morning with my G10 trying to dome some street stuff. Ended up shooting a couple of frames and drinking a lot of coffee.

This is the main door to a costume shop near the Domino Park.