Optimystical

2010-01-20T10:39:00.001-06:00

new website up now

2009-12-04T13:53:00.002-06:00

I've finally posted a website for my work. However I hope to make it something slightly more useful than a reference only to myself. I'll soon have a link section giving reference to other artists and resources.

www.lightlyoptimystic.com

Babies?

2009-11-30T09:46:00.004-06:00

This is what happens when you're mom is in charge of her office party.

Pictures in the Dark.

2009-10-22T18:57:00.007-05:00

I've just realized that it's been almost 3 months since my last posting.
Insane.
It must have been a busier summer than I had realized.
None the less, I would like to now consider these images as homage to a summer well spent.

My midwest.

2009-07-15T20:46:00.003-05:00

2009-07-15T16:56:00.009-05:00

Pinstripe 45's

Latest progress.

2009-07-14T22:50:00.011-05:00

The first results of a day long photo expedition.

A refreshing breath of progress.

2009-06-24T20:58:00.004-05:00

Aside from being bogged down by my multiple positions with various companies, all non-photo related of coarse, I've managed to finally determine how to achieve my desired lighting for the series I have been working to pull together for the last 3 months.

Here are the testing proofs.

closer

Closest

This is just a test scene of coarse, and the lighting could use a few tweaks. That will all come together the day of the shoot. I'm really excited about what the results of this project will be.

Wish me luck.

The light went out.

2009-06-09T14:34:00.004-05:00

We went into the wild...

2009-05-14T11:46:00.000-05:00

Well...it might have been more of an 8 block radius of nature preserve.

Lilian's first ride.

2009-05-13T10:16:00.002-05:00

Moving forward.

2009-05-12T20:52:00.008-05:00

I've finally started production on my next series.

Dance till your dead.

2009-04-28T21:26:00.006-05:00

Some friends, my fiance, and yours truly went out for a night of food, song, and dance. Luckily there was a pretty fantastic German DJ to dance to. As much fun as it was, we didn't dance to death, as the pictures might suggest. The next day however, might have made me doubt that fact.

Happy Earth Day.

2009-04-27T20:31:00.001-05:00

I know it's a little late,
but I figured there's no rush

Maybe you had to be there.

2009-04-21T20:33:00.010-05:00

Every so often in life, things get left behind.
I've never been one to willingly leave something I'm so passionate about. I would imagine that nobody really is.
"It's time to grow up," is what we tell ourselves. At some point, our role in society overlaps our passion in life, squeezing it down.

As a teenager I remember skateboarding from the time I got out of school until that night. On weekends my time would be consumed by where the best "skate spots" might be. The biggest gossip in our group was what trick so-and-so was able to pull off. Such a time of simplicity.

Eventually our group started to go their own ways as time went by, we could no longer survive as a parentally funded commune. Friends began falling in and out of love, with women and cities far away from home. I watched as friends and their passions both changed. I was one of the fortunate few able to re-advert our passions into new, constructive, and self awakening outlets. Several turned to crime and sexual abuse. I watched as their lives would seem to fall apart around them.

I moved to Chicago for school, and ever since have lived here.
Like so many before me, I had fallen in love, and my passions in life were directed even farther than before.

This past week as my fiance and I drove towards Target, i noticed a newly built skate park on the left, underneath an overpass.
At first I was filled nostalgia, then I began to place the distance between memories and the present. I had been almost four years. Four years since we all crammed into a beat up station wagon to grab 59 cent sodas from the nearby gas station, taking a break from skating all day.

That Sunday, we decided, would be the day we would go.
On the way to the park, I couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that I was out of practice to say the least.

"What if all the youth make fun of me," I thought, as if I'm some sort of ancient being.

When we got there all of my suspicions were completely unfounded. It was raining at the time and there were about two people there, both my own age. That is until a kid ran up to the park getting there the same time as us saying, "Alright, yes!" as he hopped on his board. My first thought was, "Okay maybe I won't be the worst one here," immediately followed by, "Well what if I still am?"

All went well and it was only a matter of time before it all started to come back to me.

The wind on my face, feeling the thrust of every push,
It ended as an overwhelmingly great day.

The Presidents Lady.

2009-04-15T20:07:00.009-05:00

From the top.

2009-04-12T20:33:00.004-05:00

My collection.

2009-04-12T15:40:00.015-05:00

Naked interracial couple.

2009-04-08T20:50:00.005-05:00

Inquire within.

www.boyfrengirlfren.blogspot.com

Out with the old..

2009-03-24T13:27:00.009-05:00

new business card.

front
back

the last card:

Blast from the past. (pt.1)

2009-03-17T11:35:00.005-05:00

Here's some of my "pre-blog" work.

Another project in the works.

2009-03-15T23:03:00.005-05:00

New series.

2009-03-13T21:14:00.013-05:00

Here are some rough drafts of a new series that I'm starting.

Keeping busy.

2009-03-11T12:20:00.006-05:00

figured i would try some web design yesterday, this is where i'm at so far.

Just giving a hand.

2009-03-09T13:26:00.008-05:00

These are some works in progress I've been helping with by Chicago photographer Todd Baxter.

It's all coming together.

2009-03-05T22:32:00.007-06:00

it's finally mine, this is it.

i'm so excited, i don't know what to do with myself...

She told me to hold her snake...

2009-02-28T16:18:00.007-06:00

about a year and a half later; i finally developed these pictures.

i met this woman through my mother. she believes that snakes have healing properties, similar to those brass bracelet things, or at least that's how i understood it..

I was just doin some laundry.

2009-02-27T18:50:00.002-06:00

Minding my buisness, doing my thing.

But I neeeeed this!

2009-02-27T14:01:00.002-06:00

saving for a new camera is probably the worst superficial feeling in the world.

Refreshing perspective.

2009-02-26T22:49:00.008-06:00

so while i was assisting with a photo gig today, i was thinking about how impressive the studio space was. then i came home to my impressive studio.

The End.

2009-02-24T09:44:00.004-06:00

welcome to the end of an incredibly long hiatus.