Joel.Rojo's Photos

I like taking pictures of people doing music, moving to music. I've played some instruments myself, even if nowadays I only practice guitar, so be it a big concert of a big band, or a couple of friends jamming for the sake of playing, being able to take pictures is something that I enjoy every time. Part of it it's because it gives me a chance to experiment, to try to find ways to capture the feeling of music, which is a fun challenge every time. This time I try to capture the rhythm by leaving the lens open, which makes the picture blurry and suggesting movement, the feeling of a small gig among mostly friends, outside some mexican houses is suggested with the warm colors which stand for the intimacy built around friendship, then it's saturated over the top to go with the upbeat, youngish nature of the picture.

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This was an exercise in composition, not much else, I do think that the guy on top adds some feeling to the picture. I did, however, add some contrast and sharpness, to take advantage of the rock formation and the water in it.

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This was taken years ago, I've long ago dropped the emo glasses. Ok tks. This was meant to be a self portrait of sorts, but in a more lomographic frame of mind. I wanted it to look frank and sort of troubled, but still vibrant, which was achieved with contrast and brightness levels. I made two shots and after editing, I liked this one enough to keep it.

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I don't want to get too philosophical here, so suffice it to say that I wanted to combine the elements of the sky and car traffic, so as to imply that in more than one way nature and humankind are the same thing, despite how often we depict both themes as opposite. On the elaboration, I wanted it to be, again, sort of lomographic aesthetically (which might be heresy, as lomography is supposed to be spontaneous, but whatever, it's also a monopoly, so suck it, Lomo Inc.) The exposition is understated, which works to make the trees stand in a more beautiful fashion against the sky, but also the power lines and such. A tiny bit of playing with the tones rounds the photo, to take full advantage of the great, great sunsets we often get.

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This comes from a set of two pictures, you can find the other one right next to this one, or at http://beta.zooomr.com/photos/JoelRojo/786629 These are the feet of another great friend of mine, Maria (marisanz). While talking we noticed her socks, and I tried to portrait their cheerful nature here, even if I think I could have done a better job integrating the legs into the composition, I do think the everyday kind of fun that comes out of these small things does come across, and I really like it. Also, as I mention on the other picture, to me the, this kind of beaten up sidewalks are reminiscent of the time I used to spend with my friends when a kid and early teen, which is why I wanted the colors to be sort of washed out, like an old photograph, but they still had to be vibrant, again, for the cheerful nature of the picture.

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This is not showing properly, Ill try to fix it and comment then.

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This is, again, more based on candid photography than anything else, and in the spirit of capturing how we (I?) were feeling at the time, so I tried to make the picture warmer, brighter and more vibrant, because the shot itself seemed quite cold and, well, off. In the shot itself I knew I had to capture a sense of direction (the highway), movement (the hair on the girl on the right) and introspection (the mirror showing the face of the girl on the left). Those are clues, I have avoided telling you how we were feeling, what do you think? There's a comment box right here: | | v

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This is more of an experiment, really. I tried to do some candid photography, but incorporating the landscape and the flag. The composition is based on the thirds rule, with the stone on the left and the flag on the right as the reference points on a horizontal axis, and the sea level and the malecon as the references on a vertical one. So the intention is both to capture the dynamic of this traditional place in Mazatlan, while also showcasing the natural beauty of the place. Does it work or does it fail at both ends?

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I took this picture at my alma mater, Universidad de Occidente. Depicted are two of my friends, Lesli (sic) and Alma. I told them they looked like monkeys eating each other's lice. I got what I deserved: cuts and bruises. Crime doesn't pay, and neither does sense of humor. This is a more truthful attempt at lomography, a candid photo on high contrast, a scene of our days at college. There was more detail on the background, but I felt it detracted from the piece, so I took it away by toying with illumination and contrast.

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