First time...

...I rode an airplane like a bus...pretty much just had to sit anywhere.

Waiting to board our flight to LA

As of now, I'm playing Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on the DS with Cher (remember Scorpian, Sub Zero, Raiden?). Our flight is at 9:40pm and it's about 8:45pm. But we will be at LA til Monday for my friend's graduation @ UCLA and Disneyland!

My Last Day As "Coach JJ"

Here's me and my students from one of the two schools I work at as the after school photography teacher. I've been with these students as well as another group at a different school for 6 weeks teaching the basics of photography and just having fun taking photos.

For the final class I laid out all their photos they took with the disposable cameras and they identified theirs so they can keep it. I'll be working on a book for each group too to present their images to the City of Daly City. Hopefully I'll be back next year with a new group of kids!

Happy Birthday to my Cher!

We ate at a Russian restaurant called Cinderella on Balboa and 5th I want to say?.. Somewhere there... anywhoo, I chose it for her birthday since we like to try something new. And our first impression was that it was pretty good.. maybe we'll come back there and get something else since I thought my plate could've been better. Eh!

But yea, my birthday present is what Cherry is holding above--a VHS tape.. yes, one of those things. It's a Disneyland vacation guide video from 2003 haha. But yea, I've been planning it along with my friend who is graduating from UCLA this weekend and I just broke the news to her today.
Disneyland here we come! Oh.. and there's my friend Ghia's graduation too.. but Disneyland yee!

BYOA: "Your Diaspora" Set Up

All photos by Cherrymae Jumoc

Here's the wall the organization alloted me.

My first [and largest] image up: a 16x20 print of the Philippine flag in the airport.

Various 5x7 and 4x7 prints.

"Mom's Departure" and "Mom's Arrival" posted. [Yea, I took off my button down--pushing down pins is tough work!]

All most done... placed my business card at the end. Still have to put the informational cards to give more info on the conceptual images as well as the Philippine pictures. I'll also have a couple of business cards on the floor as well as a sign-up sheet to give thanks who stopped by.

Where my head is at will be the informational cards. [You the shape? The triangle? Remind you of the Philippine flag? A lil bit?? Ehh.. I tried. Cherry and I made up the placement on the spot haha]

BYOA: "Your Diaspora" Details

When: Thursday June 12, 2008, 6pm
Where: The Fillmore Center: 1403 Fillmore St. San Francisco, CA
What: Infin8sync's Bring Your Own Art (BYOA) monthly showcase

I'll be presenting some of my images from the Philippines (more than 15) as well as the two conceptual images I posted here on my blog. Melonie (one of the two organizers) showed me the wall space I'm allotted and it's a lot! Regardless, if anyone wishes to come out do!

The theme, "Your Diaspora," features artists circling individuals' cultures. So I'm there to represent the Philippines. Plus, it's Philippines' Independence Day! (As well as my girlfriend's birthday!).

Bargaining with Ice Cream and Conversations

After parking my car, I hear the familiar jingle that can only be emitting from a beat up van.

"ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!" I'd shout when I was little while running and waiving my hand to catch the ice cream man's attention.

Now, I just go up to the street hoping he sees me and I just nod. Regardless, I pull out my wallet and look over the myriad of choices on stickers posted on the van's exterior.

"You got any of those fruit bars?" I ask.

He points at various juice bars. Yes, there's a difference from fruit bars and juice bars.

"Nah, never mind."

"We got these here," he points at those juice bars I mentioned. I look up to see him and he's this dark middle aged man with an Indian accent. I've never seen him before so he must be new around here.

"I'll just get the Sundae Chocolate Crunch. How much?" I remember how the Strawberry Shortcake Crunch taste like medicine.
"Two dollars."
"Two dollars?! That's expensive... others are at $1.25"
"Ok.. I'll give it to you for $1.50."

He goes to back to get it but that kind is not there and presents me with a chocolate. Ice cream men have this way of presenting the ice cream in their hand even though you haven't paid yet... but they see you have money on your hand and for some reason it makes the transaction easier and faster. It works well with children. But I'm not.

"Uhm... come on man.. how about $1.25."

He thinks about it. "Ok, $1.25." He gives me my change and from here, I have my first conversation with the Ice Cream Man.

"You a student? You go to university?" He asks. His salt and pepper eyebrows raise over his dark sunken eyes.

"Yea, I am. I just had a tough semester!" I exclaim. "I go to University of San Francisco. I'm taking nursing there."

"I see. My son, he's a doctor."

"Oh wow.. he graduated here?"

"No... I meant he in school still. Back in India. My daughter too in school. She's taking pharmacology."

"Oh that's good! Are they planning on coming here?" I ask.

"Well," he pauses. "If all goes well, you know? But thank you," he says with an honest smile.

"Ok.. take care man."

I take my ice cream and open it as I walk towards home thinking about that man. His son and daughter and I'm sure the rest of his family are back home in India while he's here selling ice cream. And "if all goes well" his children will be here.

I bargained and so is he.. I just hope gets the better deal in the end.

Marvel Might Muggs: Hulk

Yesterday, I picked up my Marvel Might Muggs Hulk toy from the post office. I preordered it directly from Hasbro but it definitely beats paying more from other online toy shops [Hasbro $9.99 vs $14.99-$20.00]. I did want two so I can open the other while keeping the other in its box but as of now, it's sold out on Hasbro. =/ With The Incredible Hulk movie just around the corner, Hulk items are going up on eBay.

Photo from Hasbrotoyshop.com

But these figures are about 6 inches tall and to my opinion, they kind of bit off Kid Robot vinyl.. but then again, that's partly the reason why these are appealing. They have other characters too such as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America and much more. I wouldn't be surprised if they have the entire line-up.. especially with a lot of Marvel movies coming out.

"$10,000+"? Make that $43,995.00 of Cameraness That I Held

Today, I went to SF Calumet with Cherry to view a demo of Hasselblad's latest software called Phocus and their latest camera, the Hasselblad H3DII. I told Cherry [and others] that I got the chance to see and hold a $10,000+ camera but man was I wrong. After checking with BHPhotoVideo.com [a great store by the way in New York where I get some of my stuff], it turns out this is their listing for it:


Uh yea.. that's right. $43,995.00. That's a medium format 39 megapixel camera BODY. No lens included. Put in another $2-5,000 for sure for one.

There were two people in that room (of about 8) that actually own a previous model of this camera... the cheapest model of this camera runs about $24,995.00. I really wonder what they do because you'd need to be making mad money to own one of these. And if anything, if they actually paid it off. From what I know with these cameras, they're mainly rented because of that price. SF Calumet has it for rental for about $75/day for the older model and about $70/day for the lens [there's a variety with similar prices]. And that's not all, you still have to rent the Digital Back [instead of film, you put this digital module onto the camera to record the images] that says "CALL" under the price per day. So you can imagine it's still up there to use this camera system for a day.

Maybe one day I'll hold this camera again.. just as long as the job pays for it.

I'm just glad my girlfriend decided to pick up my pocket camera and take a shot of me holding this baby. Afterwards, we left and I sure jump for joy because the only time I'd be holding one of those is if I worked professionally in the commercial, advertising, or fashion agencies.

Nonage: "Your ISBN (978-0-6151-8526-2) is confirmed!"

This is a copy and paste from an email received today regarding my first book Nonage.

"Your assigned ISBN has been accepted by Bowker and listed in the Books In Print database.

ISBN: (978-0-6151-8526-2}
Title: {Nonage}
Publisher Name: {jjasef}

That means the information on your book is now available to all the companies in the book world that access Books In Print. (Trust us, that's a lot of companies.)

Plus, as part of the Published By You service, we're in the process of sending details about your book to our own network of print partners – not to mention other major international databases that provide information and services up and down the book supply chain. All the way up, in fact, to places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Ingram Book Company, Nielsen BookData in the UK and others!

You can expect to see your work listed on retail sites within the next six weeks, but remember that each bookseller controls its own process.

Now you're an officially recognized published author. And you're global!

Congratulations"

Part 02: "My Diaspora: Philippines"

[Read Part 01 to get a quick background of what this is for]

This is my mom's same hand as of in "America" but the backside. I decided to put the Philippines on this part of her hand that is smooth not because there is lack of work or hardships [I know there are plenty], but because the Philippines is my mom's homeland. It is where her parents and family live; where her younger years of her life has been spent and much much more. One's backhand is incomparable to the palm side--it does not touch the work, become callused, or age as quickly as the palm side--it simply goes unnoticed for most of the part. At the same time, it is never forgotten. We still care for it if we have an injury, maintain our nails and such..

Our homeland is just the same: we remember our families, friends and relatives that still live back home and still keep in contact when we have the chance. Despite the miles apart, we maintain the relationships we have.

Part 01: "My Diaspora: USA"

Red, White, and Blue--the colors that represent America. This image was made in conjunction with "My Diaspora: Philippines" for BYOA [Bring Your Own Art] event in Fillmore Center on June 12.

The theme for the showcase is "Your Diaspora." The word diaspora means a group's migration or flight from a country or region. With that being said, this image here is made with my mom's hand. After asking her briefly of her migration story of how she ended up here in Daly City/San Francisco, she mentioned that she first went to Illinois, then New Jersey, then New York, until finally settling here in the Bay Area. If you look closely, all four states are represented in the images.

The idea of using the hand shows the hardship endured. We all work and we all use our hands. I purposely put America's side on the palm of the hand because it shows that hardship endured--the roughness, wrinkles, calluses.

Yes, I am fortunate to be in America but from what I've learned, you must constantly work.

In Preparation of BYOA's showcase...

Taken on 10.20.2007 by TAG

I came across this picture from my Philippine trip of October 2008. That's me in the middle and my cousins around trying to do those infamous jumping pictures. You got to give it up to me and my hops and original pose. hahah

But anywhoo, BYOA stands for "Bring Your Own Art" and is organized by Infin8 Sync based in the Bay Area. Basically, the organization is open to independent artists looking to display their work in which similar artists are able to view it. Not only is it open to visual artists but also to musical artists and such. Melonie, one of twin sisters who run these events emailed me earlier in the week asking if I'd be interested in June's event in which the theme is "Your Diaspora." She was interested in having me represent the Philippine culture and it seemed perfect since I do have images I took while I was there.

I'll be selecting the images today and send them out for print. Prints will vary anywhere from 4x6's to the largest 16x20 which I want of one photo as the header.

I'll keep posting about this as the date nears and the installation is complete.

It really does hurt.

Gas sucks right now. Even car manufacturers (Honda ad) knows it.

San Francisco Arts Commission

My art professor from USF forwarded me an email about a photo gallery submission form in San Francisco. The installment is a recurring one called "Eighteen Months" which holds works of various photographs from local, national, and international backgrounds. Only 100 photographs will be displayed in the San Francisco City Hall art space. The form said they will accept 5 to 10 images and so doing the math that means anywhere between 10 to 25+ photographers. I submitted excerpts from the project "Text Box" so wish me luck