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"Mod Still-Life" (2022) - Process shots in the studio

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"Mod Still-Life" 
31" x 38" 
acrylic on canvas
 (2022) 
    In studio process shots. 


Food taste better with neon

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Andy's Frozen Custard
Prospect, Illinois
Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
Lexington, Kentucky
Food taste Better with Neon


Cinestill 50d Review

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My 3rd roll of Cinestill 50D
The first roll I shot I pulled an amateur move and opened my Paterson tank when developing it. I accidentally flashed it with light.

The second roll I lost on the Simpsons Ride at Universal Orlando.

My Third roll is where my bad luck ended and I was amazed. 50D is awesome!
I’ve had a lot of random luck with 50D before my 3rd roll.
The range of colors is real smooth. Look at the shadows under the pier and smooth blues of the water and the amazing clouds and sky.
I used my Nikon F6 with a 40mm f/2.8G DX lens for this somewhat marco shot. Even though its a DX lens it works great on the F6. It has a bit of vignetting but its hard to see. 
Film grain is super super super fine!
I can't even see it. Can you?
Cinestill 50D even looks good in lower light situations. Almost seeing a bit of halation on the highlights. (Thinking of you Cinestill 800t).
In conclusion: Cinestill 50D is a go!
Shot through car window glare.


In the shade

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Fancy hotel in Miami Beach 
Portra 400 - Nikon F6 - 50mm f/5.6 1/1500


What is the meaning of life?

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Is life about being happy?
I know of a man who’s really good. A really good guy. He’s honest. The kind of guy who the second you ask for his help he is right there to help you. Even I now trust him with my life. When I say he’s good I mean the absolute best, perfect. 

The thing is if you look at his life its hard to say his life here is HAPPY HAPPY. He was arrested and found guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. The judge knew he was innocent. His best friends denied knowing him. I’m no better, even I did. They beat him up in jail and made fun of him. He was sentenced to death!

They killed him, but the good news is he rose from the dead on the 3rd day.

The meaning of life… Honestly seek to know who Jesus Christ is. What did he say about himself and what did he do for you, your family and the world. 

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.



Impressive Sunset

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Sunset over Dadeland
Kodak Pro Image 100 - Nikon FM2n
I was driving by Dadeland mall and noticed nice colors forming in the clouds. I parked and took the elevator to the top floor of the parking garage. Then saw the most impressive unreal Miami sunsets straight out of the 1980's


Remington - Portra 400

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Remington Indiana 2021


Abuela Mami Coffee Neon Sign

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Abuela Mami Coffee  -Neon
The backout paint over-brush is a real example of the imperfect human touch of neon.
Film is the best medium to photograph neon. Digital photos can't compete here.
One of the coolest things I can think of is a neon sign. I’ve always wanted a neon sign. We had a custom neon sign made for my company, Abuela Mami Coffee, it was very exciting.

What’s cool about neon, even more so in the digital age, is that it’s completely manual. You need a skilled craftsman. You can’t just pull up a website and make one.
Our Neon sign is portable and battery powered. We bring it to coffee events and it's always a hit.


Atlanta downtown skyline

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 Atlanta  
 Jackson Street 
 Bridge 


Shooting Cinestill BW Double-X film at a Cattle Show

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2022 MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURE, HORSE AND CATTLE SHOW
Cinestill B/W Double-X film
DOUBLE-X FILM
I thought it would be fun to photograph a cattle show with the same 35mm film stock used for the movie Raging Bull. 
I think this bull won something, They were waiting to take a photo.
My brother Kiki Valdes wearing our late grandfather's (Abuelo Papi) open road Stetson hat.
Francisco. How do I know? It's written on his leg.
The way this film renders grays are awesome. The grain is very fine. 
Dancing Mexican ladies.
Miami-Dade Police Tank Truck!
SHOOTING ON MY NIKON F6 WITH


Spiders in Miami

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Spiny Orb Weaver.
Mabel Orchard Orb-weaver or a Black Widow, I'm not sure.
Spiders 
I’ve seen in

My-Am-E.


Can a bee feel or sense vibration reduction on a lens?

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Vibration reduction
Not in this photo but one time a bee was floating around and drinking water from a hose. I had a vibration reduction lens and I got closer to take a shot. When I half pressed the trigger to focus the vibration reduction turned on and the bee immediately reacted and started to fly away. 

I backed up, waited for the bee to settle and it went back to drinking water. I moved in again, half press the trigger. Vibration reduction turned on and the bee freaked out again, started buzzing around and moving away. I did that a couple more times and then that’s when I realized maybe they can sense the vibration.


A Normal Day In Miami...

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Cinestill 800t Halation

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Oh the Halation!
I love shooting film at night. Cinestill 800t is a really fun film to do this. It’s marked as 800 ASA/ISO film and what I really like about it is the halations. Halations happen because light bounces back into the film and bleeds outward on highlights. (It has something to do with Kodak movie film, ask a dork or checkout cinestill’s website for a better explanation.) The halation creates this halo effect around bright lights and it’s really cool.
Cool & Interesting

What I think makes halations cool and interesting is that when you take a photograph you never really know what you’re getting until you develop the film. The halations adds to that mystery. It adds another element of excitement. Was the exposure right, did I miss focus because I shot in the dark, did I shake the camera… Now I get to also wonder how the halation will look.

Each element changes or improves the look of a photo. Some people shoot photos for the experience of shooting. Other shoot for the final photograph. I enjoy shooting film for both of these.
Wrigley field, Chicago
Chicago
Cinestill 800t at night
The glow of halation at night


FIlm and Digital

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Film & Digital
iPhone 13 Pro
Kodak Ultramax 400
Homemade French baguette bread.


Double exposure on FIlm

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Some of my favorite double exposure shots
When everything goes right this is what happens - Kodak Portra 160
This one reminds me of a Florida t-shirt - Kodak Ektar 100
Double exposure at night with flash really gives an unreal look. Almost looks faked, but its real because its film - Shot on Cinestill 800t
This is a random one but I love the heavy vignetting - Shot on Kodak Ultramax 400
Underpass by the Design District Miami - Shot on Kodak Portra 800


Post title...

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Add some text, Yo! Click this text box to change the text, style, color and fonts.
  Fun Facts to 
Help You Seem Interesting at
               PARTIES!
By Sam Ortiz

Fun Fact Many people mistakenly think plutoids and dwarf planets are the same thing. 
Plutoids are a subcategory of dwarf planets. Plutoids are dwarf planets that are farther than Neptune in the solar system. Ceres is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, so Ceres fits the criteria for being a dwarf planet, but not the one for being a plutoid
Fun fact: Every part of a shoe has a name.
You’ve probably heard of a shoe’s soles and tongues or maybe even it’s eyelets. From a shoe’s collar to it’s eyestay, every part of a shoe’s anatomy has a nam
Fun fact: The only difference between perfume and cologne is its concentration.
There’s different categories for scents you apply to yourself based on its concentration. These categories are Eau Fraiche, Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, and Perfume (or parfum) with Eau Fraiche being the least concentrated and Perfume being the most concentrated. The amount of time the scent lasts is determined by its concentration.
Fun fact: There are different tiers of Barbies.
arbies are categorized into “Labels”. First, there are the dolls meant for play. These dolls do not have limited numbers and they are not labeled. Next, there’s the pink and black label Barbies. They also do not have limited numbers. Pink label barbies are keepsake barbies, like Holiday or Birthday Barbies. Black label Barbies are meant for older collectors. Next, there’s the Silver and Gold labels. Silver Label barbies are limited to only 50,000 dolls, and Gold Label Barbies are limited to just 25,000 Barbies made. Platinum Label Barbies are the rarest of them all. The Platinum Label limits each Barbie to less than 1000 dolls made. Platinum Label Barbies can go from anywhere between $200 to $2000. Official One-of-a-kind Barbies are included in the Platinum label like Barbie by Stefano Canturi, a doll with multiple real diamonds on it, which sold for $302,500.
Fun fact: Some dog breeds don’t exist anymore.
Lots of dog breeds like the Blue Paul Terrier and the Cumberland Sheepdog have stopped existing. They could’ve gone extinct for some factors that aren’t related to humans or simply because they weren’t very popular.
Fun fact: The reason why bubblegum is pink is because that’s the only colour the creator had.
The creator of bubble gum only had red food colouring on hand. When added to the gum, it became pink.
Fun fact: Cranberries grow on vines.
Cranberries grow on vines in places called cranberry bogs.
Fun fact: Professional crayons exist.
Lots of artists use crayons in their work. The crayons artists use are different from kid’s crayons because of their formula. Artist’s crayons are more expensive and they’re made to be able to blend colours evenly.
Fun fact: The world’s smallest flowering plant is the size of a sprinkle.
The Wolffia Globosa, also known as duckweed, is the world’s smallest flowering plant.
Fun fact: The Times New Roman font was designed for a newspaper.
The Times New Roman font was specifically designed for a newspaper. It was later adapted to suit longer texts like books.


Neon at night - Biscayne Blvd Miami, Florida

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Portra 800 handheld
I don’t like tripods but love night photography. I wanted to challenge my steady hand and loaded up my Nikon FM2n with Portra 800. I used a wide a 24mm 2.8 lens to help minimize motion blur. I don’t remember the shutter speed I used but it was slow. Maybe 1/30th or 1/15th of a second. Then self developed with CineStill C41.
I've never had a hotdog from Dogma but they get 4 out 5 on Yelp, so maybe next time.
Not sure if it was broken but only part of the neon sign of Gold Dust Motel was on.
Across the street from Dogma.
Film is awesome!
The Vagabond motel sign is cool but I perfer this one on side of the building.
Night Film photos on Biscayne Blvd
In Low Light
When I scanned a few of these I did bump up the exposure just a bit. I was surprised how well they turned out. 
The South Pacific Neon sign is just the coolest!


"Flowers on 37th"

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