While I was in San Diego a few weeks ago, my friend Tyler told me about this art show that he and his art collective, Yeller Studio and Sezio were putting together in a defunct parachute factory in downtown. I thought it sounded cool as one of my best friends Jordan Josafat was going to be collaborating on designing a wall. The importance of the show didn’t hit me until I did a preview of Jordan’s work, I brought a camera to document some of his work, but upon walking through the Parachute Factory, I knew that I had to come back and photograph the art and the artists.
I was able to photograph a handful of the artists and about half of the finished walls, as I came a few days before the one day opening so many of the walls weren’t complete just yet. I took about 5-10 minutes with each artist and piece, as there was so much to photograph in the given time I had. The opening of the Parachute Factory looked insane, as I believe they hit maximum capacity only about two hours into the opening. If you are on instagram, check out the hashtag #parachutefactory for some great photos of the opening.
I want to thank Saya, Edwin and Yeller Studio who helped me with the walkthrough.
Celeste Byers with Buster.
Christopher Konecki & Jordan Josafat.
Kyle Miller.
Dusty Dirtweed & Elliott Moeller.
Edwin helping me with the walkthrough, had to protect yourself from that dust.
Surge.
That Kid Peep.
Chandu Reading.
Dolan Steams & Ben Albert.
DTM, Neko, Surge, Honkey Kong & DieKuts.
Yeller Studio & Clarke1981.
So for the last few weeks my contact form on my wedding website hasn’t been sending me emails, so for anyone who might have emailed me through there and I never responded, my sincerest apologies! I can’t even find the emails on my server to at least know who didn’t get through. But on the bright side it led to me revamp my whole website, so a bunch of all new weddings and the front page features my 9 latest weddings, so even if I may not be updating my blog all the time, my site will always be updated with my latest work. Feel free to visit Chaz Cruz Weddings if you haven’t been there in a while.
Last week, I headed up to Queens for an impromptu shoot with rapper Mike Baker the Bike Maker. I had been wanting to do a series on friends of mine who are in the creative field and to observe them in their element. So I went over to hang at his apartment that he shares with his gal Drea, or to whom I lovingly refer to as Cheddar Bay Chuck, haha. So when we weren’t cracking up at whatever Mike and Chuck were doing, I got some cool shots in as well as portraits with Mike and Drea together because hey, I gotta show off the love.
I’ll be out of town from June 11th through the 20th, the first half of my trip will be to Hawaii for the wedding of AJ and Jelynna then the second half will be to New York City. I will do my best to respond to all emails and inquiries in a timely fashion. But till then, I wanted to introduce you to Refix Magazine, a new online publication created by one of my best friends Andrea. She has been working hard to promote green living and fashion and this magazine is a product of months of hard work! Check out the magazine as I have a spread of photographs starting on page 36 and another one of my amazing photographer friends Emily Sandifer has some of her gorgeous work featured as well!
I’ll be in Puerto Rico from May 5th through the 10th, so I’ll return all emails and calls when I return. Until then, here’s a pic of photographer James Law that I took a few days ago.
I compiled a collection of my twenty favorite photographs I took during 2010. When I looked back over my work at the end of the year, these were the images I were drawn to the most. I can still remember the feelings I had when I took these, it ranged from euphoric to heart-wrenching. I decided to pair them with twenty of my favorite songs from 2010, while all the songs were not created last year, these are the songs that were my biggest inspirations to keep enhancing my life and my photography. A lot of this work I haven’t blogged yet, so look for the full sets coming soon, enjoy the photographs and enjoy the music.
Houstatlantavegas – Sonnymoon
Summer Holiday – Wild Nothing
Zebra – Beach House
Wet Cement – The Morning Benders
It’ll Be Better (Francis & The Lights Cover) – Alex Winston
Feel it All Around – Washed Out
Blessa – Toro Y Moi
This City Ain’t the Same Without You – The Foreign Exchange
All Around – CEO
Silver Tiles – Matt & Kim
Island, IS – Volcano Choir
Awake My Soul – Mumford and Sons
Unforgettable Season – Cut Copy
Two Doves – The Dirty Projectors
You’re Going Back – The Tallest Man on Earth
Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
Who Knows Who Cares – Local Natives
I Remember – Yeasayer
High Hopes – Onra
To the Lighthouse – Memoryhouse
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Awesome work bro! I love em all. Hella clean & fresh.
~Ari
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Chaz- you’ve got serious talent! Of course, you know that! I love love love the wedding tree photo and the very last shot. Nice work! Looks like you had a great year! Happy 2011!
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I love them all, especially the last one
You’re pretty amazing! -
Great stuff, Chaz — you’ve clearly been working hard as usual!
A few weeks ago, I created an artist profile on one of my best friends, painter Jordan Josafat. This is one of my first forays into video with my 5D Mark II and it was a test to see if I was capable of creating documentaries for what is to be a a lifelong personal project of mine. I thought it would be fun to showcase Jordan’s art as well as practice with video and audio, something that is very foreign to me. But what we created was exactly as I envisioned, so now I can discuss my personal project.
In the future, I am going to be creating documentaries of my most inspirational friends, normal people who inspire others around them to break from the status quo. These are individuals who take life by the horns and live their lives according to their own doctrines. These are the people we need to surround ourselves with to grow with positive outlooks, I believe that everyone can be inspired by people around them and in turn, become inspirations themselves. I have friends all around the country who I will be profiling, not in the same vain of how I did with Jordan’s artist profile, but something deeply personal that when they themselves watch their own profile video, they will realize that just by speaking about their lives, they can be an influence to everyone.
So please enjoy this documentary on my friend, Jordan Josafat.
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off to a good start my bro…keep’em coming! I’m also starting to do video with the 5dII…it’s a whole new world
HP
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Great job, Chaz! You with many talents definitely inspire other people. I can see how you incorporate your photography style and turn it into more than just a frame. It truly is a masterpiece.
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Great job, Chaz! You with many talents definitely inspire other people. I can see how you incorporate your photography style and turn it into more than just a frame. It truly is a masterpiece.
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Each shot is well thought out. The lighting is great!
welcome to the new blog design! I’m currently redesigning my websites and blog to match and am also using a new blog content management system, so to view archived posts from 2008-2009, please click here. I will be re-posting all 2010 blog posts on this new design, so thanks for visiting!
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oOoh I like!! Fresh and Simple…=)
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i love this photo.
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Really nice blog Chaz! Priscilla and I would like to talk about our engagement session, if you are not too busy!!!
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Very sleek and nice Chaz! Love the feel it gives off!
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I love the feel and style of your blog! So glad I found you through another photographers tweet!
You work is amazing!!! -
Really nice blog Chaz! Priscilla and I would like to talk about our engagement session, if you are not too busy!!!
Hey Chaz, I’m not sure if you’ve heard but you’re a photo genius.
Nice to meet you and thanks again for taking awesome photos.