Baseball... Little kid style

Fire on the Ventura Ave. on 10/22/09

more fire photos to be posted later

Trimming the Past

Top Hat

SHADY

I once heard that’s a house without a cat is like a human with out a soul. After being a cat owner for almost three years now, I second that saying. I remember when I first saw my feline friend. He was locked in a bathroom at a friend’s house meowing his face off. I took one look at him and feel in love. At the time he was kitten, small enough to hold in one hand, so innocent I thought, boy was I wrong! I vividly remember him exploring every knock and cranny of my small studio apartment with wondrous child-like-eyes and with out hesitation going crazy and running laps around the house while biting and clawing anything that came near him. I still have some scars on my arms from some of shady’s most dangerous encounters. Yes my cat was crazy, and yes he still is. But at the same time he is the most loving creature on the planet. The first night he stayed with me after going crazy for almost 6 hours straight me jumped up onto my bed and slept on my chest. At that moment I could tell that he loved me, that he was thankful for me adopting him, and I was thankful towards him for being their for me. In the past two and half-years, shady and I have been though a lot. He lost his balls and I lost the woman of my dreams, yes times have been tough, but we have always been there for each other. Stating in July I will be doing an internship up in Portland Oregon for about two months. This internship will be a great experience for me but I’m unsure what to do with my buddy. Taking him up to Portland would be too traumatic for him and I cannot leave him all alone. I truly don’t know what to do with him. He has become more then just a pet to me he has become a friend that is always there for me and always willing to listen to my problems. I have thought about traveling the world once I get out of college, but what will I do with shady? I refuse to abandon him after all we have been though. I truly don’t know what to do, but I know that my decision will be in best in his best interest.

STOP

photos i never liked but other seem to

I enjoy doing Layouts in Adobe InDesign. I recently made a 60 page playbill for the Ventura Film Festival. here is a Layout i did for class

Brothers

Dave

David McCoy died in September of 2008 due to decades of Cigarette Smoking. I had the opportunity to photograph Dave in the last Months of his life and witness his family dealing with this terrible burden.

More photos that have taken over the years

Gauging Unplugged

Here is the Poster for my Short documentary that recently screened at the Ventura Film Festival. also here is a link to see the film http://current.com/items/88876925_gauging-unplugged-revised.htm

synopsis:
A short film about "gauging" or lobe stretching and it's recent mainstreaming in the U.S. The trials and tribulations of this body modification expressed through the stories of a 17 year old girl (who is at 3/4ths of an inch) a 19 year old gauging veteran, and a 20 year old who decides to punch his cartilage to a size 2.

For those who nothing about me let me explain, I’m a student at Brooks Institute studying Visual Journalism, a combination of photojournalism and documentary film making. I will gradate in January of 2010 with a bachelor of fine arts. I have been doing photography since high school but did not start doing photojournalism till September of 2006. When it comes to photojournalism I enjoy doing multiple image story telling, picture stories & photo essays.
Recently I have put my still camera down and picked up a video camera. In more recent news I have just finished a four-month Internship with the Ventura Film Festival. A local film festival in which I had short documentary I made screened at. The internship it self was a wonderful experience. Not only was I working with a group of professionals that valued my opinion as a filmmaker, but also treated me as one of their own. The people I worked with enjoyed me so much that half way through the internship they made me a Board Member…. Needless to say I was overjoyed that my efforts gave such a great impression on them.
Currently I’m taking a class on corporate video and continuing to work with the Ventura Film Society where we will be screening films every Thursday in June though August at the Elks Lodge in downtown Ventura. Anyway enough chit chat, enjoy my blog and feel free to leave comments.


Michael Thanhouser