Model Stefan Baird

Model : Stefan Baird

Photographer : Alejandro Garcia

Styling : Alejandro Garcia 

I got off work and walked to the nearest subway station. I was tired from that bullshit ass job      ( Levis) and i just wanted to get home and get into bed! so im waiting for the train and i notice this tall black guy and in my head im like thinking " hmm he would be a good model for one of my photos" i was having a conversation to myself , coming up with ideas on how i could photograph him. I was like , should i give him my card    ( i always carry business cards with me ). the train came and i was like fuck it..didnt give him one ..i go in the train sit my ass down and away we go.

the train stopped at 96th st and he boards the train and im like ..oh cool hes here again..so this time i was like i have to introduce myself to him..and so i do..

i tell him im a photographer and that he should check out my work.

i asked if he models and it turns out that he does and is in need of photos..so we exchange #'s and our facebook pages. ..this happened like maybe 2 months ago i would say. 

so i went back to california to shoot my cuzzins wedding ( i know cuzzins is spelled wrong so shut the fuck up )  and we kept in touch .

so he gives me a call once im back in NY and we talk about ideas and whatnot and he seems eager to work and hes excited to work with me and i am too. so i hit up a good friend of mine whos a stylist and asked to borrow some clothes. i go to his house and pick out shit i like.  so with the clothing i picked out gave me a military feel so thats where im going with this editorial. i shot the picture below on sunday. My first time working with Stefan and from the looks of it it wont be my last. he says he needs help making a better portfolio. Im going to help him out get by giving him dope ass imagery for his book. two months ago we were complete strangers and now were two people working together. #funnyhowtheworldworks  lol (#) inside joke

Easter Hill Shooting

...sigh....so what I am going to write is very personal and to this day I cant believe that none of us were hurt and that we survived. Im going to tell you everything from what I remember...so here it goes...

It was a sunny day and My brother and I were playing tag or I hanging out at a friends house in the front yard. The yard was sectioned off by a gate. My brother was inside and I was outside with our other friends. The house was on a corner and next to the house was a cement path that went down in a roller coaster descent. I dont know who said what or how we ended up looking at what was coming our way. 

I remember us looking down the hill and seeing six people dressed all in black and they were all carrying something in their hands but we couldnt see that far. they began running up towards us and thats when a kid starts yelling that they have guns. everyone scatters and goes inside the house and some of us start running the opposite way back to our house. I noticed that my brother had gone inside the house and he was safe. my friend was in front of me like a few feet away. we were both running and i remember saying " please let the door be unlocked "

as i was running towards my house which was 5 houses down the block. I look back and I see one of the gunmen go up to a man who was in the street. the man puts his hands up and gets shot in the head as they continue to run- i felt like they were running towards me- i push the gate open and i reach for the door knob and felt to relieved when the door opened. I closed the door and thats when they started firing. i ran to the back of the house and i kept hearing glass break and bullets going through walls. I lay down near the washing machine and then it was over. I get up and i hear someone coming down the stairs and realize its my dad covering his cheek near his eye. Blood was all over his arms. within seconds he was gone out the door. and a couple of minutes later police arrive and the whole entire block was outside with people and police. as i was walking out i remember looking back at the neighbors window which had been shot down. I saw people dead in the living room, it seemed as if they were watching tv when they started shooting and got everyone. this event has been engraved in my memory ever since. 

My Mom & dads side of the story.

days later after the shooting took place a couple of our family members got together and my parents told us their side of the story...

here is their version.....

My parents were both watching tv in their room while my oldest  sister(she is now 20) was in my aunts room and my youngest sister (whom is now 19) was still in diapers in the crib sleeping. my mom says she remembers hearing gunshots and both my dad and mom ran to get both of my sisters. my mom got andrea ( youngest one ) out of the crib and get on the floor. My dad grabbed my other sister and he says til this day that when he grabbed her she somehow got out of his hands and got up and stood next to the window. my dad quickly got up and grabbed my sister and pulled her away and as he did a bullet grazed his temple near his eye. he got back down and soon after the firing comes to an end. minutes later my dad gets up and comes rushing down the stairs and thats when i see him with blood all over his arms.

we got lucky. thank god no one was seriously injured. life would have been different if any of my family members would have been taken away that day. 

i cant even imagine life without them.

Much Love,

AG

stand your ground

so I had a shoot planned for May 8th. I had met up with the client two weeks prior and we talked about what the whole shoot was about and who was going to be involved and all that. hairstylist, make-up artist etc. this client owns a beauty salon and wanted beauty shots for his salon. he mentioned no one was going to be paid and that everyone was pretty much doing it for free and told me he was going to pay me. I was like oh ok. thats cool. so i got home and figured out how much time it was going to take to shoot the stuff on the 8th. so through texting back and forth . i had to be at the salon ready to set up gear at 9:30am. the shoot would begin at around noon and be over around 5pm. 

today i met up with the client again to talk about what was his actual budget for my photography and he tells me that he can only afford to pay me 250$....I was like thats way cheap for what your asking me to do. he asked how much would I want. I said I want 400$ . and he was like sorry the most i can give you is 275 $. 

I think about what to say next....

so im like....your asking me to be here at 10am and its pretty much a full days shoot plus me going home and work on the images is another process that I need to do.

he kept throwing the word "broke" around as if im suppose to feel bad that hes broke and how everyone is doing it for free and im the only one getting paid.

I tell him..yeah thats great but this shoot benefits you more than it does me...i dont shoot beauty

-well you can use the images for your book

-I wouldnt put those images in my book

-well you need to let me know if your going to do the job or not otherwise i need to get another photographer...think about it and let me know by tonight.

so that was that..im on my way to work and thats when i send him a text saying , hey im really sorry, I would love to work with you but not for the price you offered me, thats too cheap and I know my work is good enough for me to get paid a decent amount.

he replies.

wow. pulling out at the last minute. lose my contact information and good luck with your photography here in New York.

I didnt and im not going to respond to that. talk about being professional about how you handle business right..? smh.

so to all my fellow photographers out there hustlin..here are some pointers....

1. dont be afraid/timid to talk about money..its what your going to live off of so why hold back.

2.let them know what your offering them from the beginning, that way there's no confusion afterwards as to whos getting what and how many.

3. if you have any ?'s ..ask away, client has the answers ( most of the time )

4.never do something just cuz its money..you have to look at everything that you do ..

which is...your equipment, editing, setting up, shooting , your time and more importantly they are hiring you because they love your aesthetic. so stand your ground and ask for what you think your time is worth...just because someone says ..yeah its 250$...its money and all...but at the end of the day your going to be the one doing all the work and 250 $ is going to feel MAD cheap  when your working on the photos...especially if the client isnt happy for some reason and demands more pics or just becomes picky for some dam reason.

anyways if you have any ?'s about some shit your trying to figure out about how much you should be charging or when should you start charging, send me an e-mail or hit me up on facebook.

stay hu$tlin

much Love,

AG

and you see any grammatical errors up in this bitch..its fuckin 4am so give me a dam break english teacher

dueces

scream is more like yelling this time around, hopefully its last

SCREAM 4

Im a big fan of the scream movies. they are not the best movies ever but they are entertaining and fun to watch every now and then. my favorite scream is scream 2. why ? every character in that movies is fresh and new plus it has a really good soundtrack!

so i knew when the 3rd one ended that there had to be a fourth movie and when i found out that they were making it i was excited. why ? original cast lasting this long, same writer and director. so i was like oh ok, could be decent after all.

so the opening scene was eh ..somewhat clever and funny at the same time..but when the title SCREAM 4 came out and that stupid ass song behind it i was like alright wtf is up with that stupid song. so i was over that after a couple more curse words. so we see sidney getting out a car and stopping to look at her section of books that shes about to sign and sell in the next couple days.

dewey still has that character as a dumb cop, but only this time hes an officer but still stupid why did he become an officer? hes just better off as Doofy! LOL. 

gale looks hotter and still wants to catch the killer so she can write up a story.

so in this movie we are introduced to freshmeat. sidneys cousin that kinda looks like her and also to two film geeks who play off as a reference to billy & stew from the original SCREAM..but they just get on my nerves and look stupid.

throughout the movie there were a lot of moments where it copies the 1st movie, characters and even the whole setup towards the end when SPOILER ALERT..... when sidneys cousin is the killer along with the long haired film geek who gets stabbed by her cuz she wants the fame to herself cuz she blames sidney for always being in the spotlight and being famous and her having to always hear about it...sounds pretty lame to me! crazy bitch!

the final scene reminds me of halloween with jamie lee curtis trying to escape from her brother. it has that feeling. the movie just rapidly but at the same time goes really slow with pointless kills and pointless dialogue. all i care about is, who the fuck is  the killer and why is she trying to kill sidney ya know...kill important people..but in order to do that a movie has to have a good plot..in this case......it doesnt. from here on out all the movies will go straight to shit. i wouldnt be surprised if that motherfucker ends up in space.. to me..scream ended with part 3. no need for part 4.

dueces

life is all about .....

sometimes when i write or think about writing something in my blog...i go through rewrites in my head. as if my brain was a fuckin english professor  and then im like . yeah nvm...doesnt sound interesting...or naw..dont really like how that sounds. 

so the emotion that i will write about is change.

CHANGE

one big change that has happened in my life has been me moving to NY. its crazy how its been 7 months now. i remember it as if it was last week..at least certain parts feel like it was last week. I remember my last day in richmond, saying goodbye to my friends...i wasnt really sad about saying goodbye to them..i was excited to start my new life and i know that we would remain friends..but it does suck that i wouldnt be able to hang out with them anymore...no more high times...no more getting drunk...no more watching movies late night..no more pizza runs....no more 12am movie showings..no more life in richmond california.

i remember the night of my flight. my dad stayed home, and when he hugged me he gave me a note. i was trying so fuckin hard not to cry. as i got into the truck....i looked at my dad and said " adios apa" i was crying on the inside...inside i just wanted to hug him and be like..NO I DONT WANNA GO ..i wanna be with you guys..im gonna miss my family...the trip to the airport was surreal ...i couldnt believe that the day was finally here...ive been talking about it since high school. I would say..i want to move to NY and take pictures and become famous/known. 

...

finally it was time to say goodbye to my brother and my sisters..my friend yadira and my # woman in the world..my mom. as i got through security check i looked back and i could see my family waving to me. i waved back as they became nothing but a blur as water filled up my eyes.. I quickly turned my head and as i did. tears fell to the ground as i wiped them off and walked off..i kept thinking ...omg i cant believe this is it...im on my own......sigh.....

at first i was excited to be here..and doing this doing that...then i got homesick and that turned out to be a drunken phone call to one of my friends, Jay Perez..lol...i was so drunk in the st..crying and talking on the phone of how its been and how the industry is like and just how people with the ability to help you can try and take advantage of you...and you feel vulnerable and stuck and at the same time torn from making two decisions. do i ? or do i not ? that is the ?.. that made me hate the photo industry for a minute along with rebecca fain ( editor at XXL ) not really hate...but lets just say im not a fan..

NIKE

Model - Aerol

 Location - The Cool Studio

Photographer - Alejandro Garcia

more pics coming soon

I saw the devil,...

this isnt a horror movie at all...dont know why its being tagged with the horror category...maybe im thinking...cuz of the title and the gore. its along the lines of kill bill....very graphic and a lot of violence. the movie doesnt keep you at the edge of your seat , some scenes are suspenseful for a couple seconds which is good..but i wish there were more scenes like that throughout the film. the only character that you care about..and i wouldnt say care about like if he got hurt you would be like oh dam...its more like you just wanna see him kickass and beat the shit out of people.i like the concept of it though...treating serial killers how they treat their victims....but throughout the film i felt like he could have prevented innocent people getting killed by just ending his life when he had the chance..instead he goes on this cat and mouse chase with the killer...which i guess is the point of the movie...it drags towards the end when you think its over..its not over..this movie is 2hrs and 25min..you would think for a long ass movie like that the director would build an emotional connection with its audience...but instead show us a plethora of violence and gore and fuckin brutal ass murders...i was like dam...that looks fuckin real and disturbing..which i love seeing in movies...but i was just missing the connection with this one. 

i give it a 6& a half