"Where I live"
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Learn Something New
You've come to know people throughout your life. Some pass through without hardly any impact at all. Others become good friends, while a select few become part of your life. Everyone around you has knowledge. Their skills, talents, and abilities might be right out in the open, but you may be surprised in the things that have slipped your attention.
I feel like I am quite proficient in many areas. Over the years I have become pretty good at a handful of sports, my skills in film making and photography have skyrocketed, I have composed music, created paintings on canvas, hunted big game animals, graduated from college, built computers, worked in tire shops, and most recently learned how to (somewhat) surf.
So, I sound pretty amazing don't I? Well I wish I could say that's true, but the truth is that I owe my abilities, talents and knowledge to all those who have been kind enough to teach me and share with me what they know. My parents and brother, teachers, friends and even strangers. I owe everything to them. It's because of them that I have been able to become good at anything. The only thing I've done is take advantage of these resources which makes me sound kind of like a jerk actually.
We've all ran into someone who "knows it all". These people frustrate me because generally they are too prideful to share their knowledge, and they act like they owe nothing to anyone almost as if they came across all this knowledge by themselves. Luckily I don't run into these types of people very often. It's quite the opposite in fact. I'm lucky to have so many people in my life willing to teach me. I'm glad I've never been too prideful to listen.
When the Mozo family offered me the chance to go to Waikiki and surf with them, I was honored. I mean that in every sense of the word. They have only known me for five short weeks, but that's not how they treat me. They have literally given me shelter and food since the day I arrived. A clear reflection of Jon Mozo, the man who's life is being made into a documentary. I was a bit nervous to do something new, but that was drown out by the excitement.
The next morning we piled into some vehicles, surf boards in tow and headed out. When we arrived it was an absolutely beautiful day. I couldn't wait. We all grabbed a board and walked to the edge of the water. My roommate Nate showed me which leg to attach the leash to. Just like a snowboard the leash is basically a cord which has two ends, one tethered to the board and the other to your ankle. This keeps the board from getting too far away from you in the event you get drilled by a wave. With my board in the water and my leash on, I was ready.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself why waves even exist or what causes them? I know I never did. Let me take this chance to explain it to you as I understand it. Basically a shore-break occurs at any beach where the depth of the ocean floor changes dramatically. Swells traveling in deep water remain intact until they come in contact with shallow water near the shore. This water then unleashes all it's energy in a short distance. That's how waves are born more or less. Every beach will have different breaks, some will have huge waves, while others will be much more friendly to someone such as myself.
The first thing you have to do when you get in the water is lay on your board and begin paddling out to the break that you plan on surfing. I quickly learned that surfing is no chump when it comes to strenuous activity. I was winded just paddling out. As we approached the break, the oldest daughter of the Mozo family, Amber, was gracious enough to donate her surf knowledge to me. She quickly taught me how to deal with paddling through waves, how to sit up on my board, turn myself around in the water with my feet, and most importantly how to catch a wave. Getting my brain to actually process this information and send the correct signals to my limbs was a bit challenging however. I spent the first hour in the water falling off my board, getting tossed by waves, and trying to blow the salt water out of my nose. I found that as long as I listened to Amber, and did exactly what she said, I was going to benefit from it. Finally I got into position, as a wave approached Amber instructed me to paddle as hard as I could. My arms violently tore through the water. I could feel the energy of the wave building under my board. Then it happens, the moment where the wave takes control of you, and it owns you in every way. You become nothing more than a visitor to it's power. My hands grip the edge of the board tightly as I push my self up. I hesitate for a moment, and then stand up. A rush of endorphins are released from my brain as I realize I am actually surfing. It doesn't last long before I lose my balance and awkwardly spill into the ocean, but when I surface all I have is a smile on my face and my ears hear the sound of clapping coming from my own personal support group. I quickly hop back onto my board, because I just want to do it again and again.
Surfing is unlike any sport I've ever taken part of. I think it's because the ocean is so alive. You can't help but feel a connection with it. It's both terrifying and beautiful at the same time. The power that it's able to conjure up is beyond belief. It requires your attention and respect. Anything you do in the Ocean, is only because it lets you.
By the end of the day I was proud of myself for trying something new, but more importantly I was again thankful to Amber, the Mozo family, and my friends for helping me along every step of the way. It's because of them I had the opportunity in the first place. Take every chance you have to learn from others, If those chances don't come organically, then make them happen, and more importantly do everything you can to share that knowledge once you attain it.
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| A wonderful playground. |
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| My arms were too tired to paddle. |
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| My pal Nate. He's no rookie. |
When the Mozo family offered me the chance to go to Waikiki and surf with them, I was honored. I mean that in every sense of the word. They have only known me for five short weeks, but that's not how they treat me. They have literally given me shelter and food since the day I arrived. A clear reflection of Jon Mozo, the man who's life is being made into a documentary. I was a bit nervous to do something new, but that was drown out by the excitement.
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| What you don't know, is that he is making airplane noises in this picture. |
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| The very talented Amber Mozo and her sister Yani. Great teachers by the way. |
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| It actually took some time to learn how to do this without falling off. |
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| See that joyous look on my face? Like a child. |
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| Party wave! |
By the end of the day I was proud of myself for trying something new, but more importantly I was again thankful to Amber, the Mozo family, and my friends for helping me along every step of the way. It's because of them I had the opportunity in the first place. Take every chance you have to learn from others, If those chances don't come organically, then make them happen, and more importantly do everything you can to share that knowledge once you attain it.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
A big beautiful mess.
I haven't been in Hawaii very long. Just over a month to be exact. So naturally each day feels incredibly new and fresh. Even when I stay in all day editing on my computer, the sound of the ocean and swaying palm trees out my windows are still very much foreign to me. Each day feels like an adventure, but adventures come in different sizes and last night's adventure was a big, beautiful mess.
Around 3:00pm my roommate Devin suggested that we go camping. The location sounded amazing. A lighthouse perched at the point of the rocky coast complete with WWII bunkers on top. The catch, is that nobody is supposed to be there after dark, and cops check the nearby parking lot for vehicles. This led to the decision to travel by bus.
So we packed lightly. A little food, some water, small blankets, a tarp, and most importantly our camera gear. We headed out the door and down to the nearest bus stop. This is when things stopped going our way, and everything that could go wrong did.
Our first bus wasn't much of an issue in the beginning. It seemed simple enough. Take the bus down the coast, get off at a particular stop, transfer onto another bus, and head to our destination. Not quite. What happened is that we missed our stop and ended up going clear over the mountain to the other side. We promptly got off, and caught a bus back from where we had just come from. We got back to the original transfer stop and waited again for the next bus. Here we met a nice lady named Judy, she was from New York and in her 60's. She has lived on the island for 44 years. Why do I know such things about Judy? Because my friend Devin decided it was his obligation to interrogate the poor lady. Waving his arms, talking loudly and being downright crazy he carried on a conversation with Judy. Oh, and did I mention I filmed the whole thing? Yeah, I totally did.
Finally our next bus pulled up, we boarded and though we were running out of daylight, we were on the right path, at least we thought. The bus got us within a few miles of where we wanted to be, but still far from walking distance. We tried to hitchhike, but I guess nobody had room because we watched as car after car passed on the opportunity to pick up three strapping lads.
With the power of Google Maps on our phone we found another bus stop that would FINALLY get us to where we were trying to get, and to our surprise it did! We arrived at "Sea Life Park", which is just a couple miles from the Lighthouse.
So up the hill we trekked. We arrived at the parking lot that sits at the base of cliffs. There is a paved trail that goes all the way around the cliff side and eventually leads to the Lighthouse, but we had little to no daylight left, so we decided going up and over was the best idea. We were both right and wrong. The daylight disappeared faster than we anticipated, halfway up a cop car had pulled into the parking lot with the lights flashing. Did he know we were there? Was he calling for backup? We didn't care, and it only motivated us to move faster.
Still a long way from the top it began to rain, and the wind was blowing violently. Through the dark we staggered our way up over the rocks and through the cactus and bushes. Finally we reached the top, but the lighthouse was at the base of the other side. We had hit the halfway mark. By this time the rain was relentless and showed no signs of slowing down, so we took refuge in one of the WWII bunkers. It's good enough for soldiers, should be fine for us we figured. As we scoped out the concrete floor for a spot to sleep with the lights on our phones I began to see movement. Upon closer examination I discovered some fun friends that we were about to have a slumber party with. A handful of scorpions and a very menacing looking centipede. Suddenly the rain and wind didn't seem so bad. We grabbed our gear, climbed out of the bunker and decided we would walk down to the lighthouse. It was dark, raining, and dangerous but by this point we really didn't care.
We stumbled, fell, and slid down to the path that led to the lighthouse. Hooray! That wasn't so hard now was it? The lighthouse was finally within sight. We finished the remaining last steps that led us to a lookout point. This point consisted of some concrete stairs leading to a concrete slab with a small fence around it to prevent people from falling to their death I suppose. This looked like a perfect spot to sleep for the night.
This is when all the hurdles that we had just spent hours jumping over suddenly seemed so worth it. Looking out over the ocean the nearly full moon was so bright I had to squint to look at it. I'd never seen the moon look so powerful. It hung up there in the clouds, and all I could imagine was the force it has pulling our oceans around like rag dolls raising and lowering the tides. We could see another storm approaching as it dumped rain back into the ocean, but all I wanted to do is take photos.
Finally my pal Nate talked us into getting our "campsite" set up. This consisted of putting a tarp up against the face facing the wind. Not much of a tent, but I was grateful for it. It kept everything dry, and shielded us from the intense wind. After the storm passed what I saw next was not only a first for me, but one of the most surreal moments of my life. A lunar rainbow.
I didn't even know it was possible, but there it was, staring me in the face. I scrambled to get my tripod set up and my camera primed to expose. Unfortunately at night the only way to take photos is using long exposure, and subtle movement during the exposure causes blurry images. So, long exposure combined with wicked nasty wind equals less than focused shots. I did the best that mother nature would allow. Nothing will compare to being there in person and witnessing such an event. We had a little more fun with long exposures as well.
As the night wore on we eventually wrapped up in blankets and attempted to sleep. I don't think any of us got much. The combination of multiple rainstorms, and coastal wind throughout the evening mad it tough to doze off. Eventually morning arrived and we were greeted with a gorgeous sunrise. I'm beginning to think Hawaii doesn't know how to have any other kind of sunrise.
Even though we didn't face ideal conditions during our venture, what we received in the end was priceless. A memory that will never be pulled from our minds. A memory that we had to earn. The difficulties of this trip were what made it worth having.
Around 3:00pm my roommate Devin suggested that we go camping. The location sounded amazing. A lighthouse perched at the point of the rocky coast complete with WWII bunkers on top. The catch, is that nobody is supposed to be there after dark, and cops check the nearby parking lot for vehicles. This led to the decision to travel by bus.
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| Our destination |
So we packed lightly. A little food, some water, small blankets, a tarp, and most importantly our camera gear. We headed out the door and down to the nearest bus stop. This is when things stopped going our way, and everything that could go wrong did.
 |
| Little did they know the adventure that awaited us. |
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| Our camera gear... complete with "Nate". |
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| Cameras make good pillows. |
Our first bus wasn't much of an issue in the beginning. It seemed simple enough. Take the bus down the coast, get off at a particular stop, transfer onto another bus, and head to our destination. Not quite. What happened is that we missed our stop and ended up going clear over the mountain to the other side. We promptly got off, and caught a bus back from where we had just come from. We got back to the original transfer stop and waited again for the next bus. Here we met a nice lady named Judy, she was from New York and in her 60's. She has lived on the island for 44 years. Why do I know such things about Judy? Because my friend Devin decided it was his obligation to interrogate the poor lady. Waving his arms, talking loudly and being downright crazy he carried on a conversation with Judy. Oh, and did I mention I filmed the whole thing? Yeah, I totally did.
Finally our next bus pulled up, we boarded and though we were running out of daylight, we were on the right path, at least we thought. The bus got us within a few miles of where we wanted to be, but still far from walking distance. We tried to hitchhike, but I guess nobody had room because we watched as car after car passed on the opportunity to pick up three strapping lads.
 |
| I guess my huge biceps were intimidating people? |
With the power of Google Maps on our phone we found another bus stop that would FINALLY get us to where we were trying to get, and to our surprise it did! We arrived at "Sea Life Park", which is just a couple miles from the Lighthouse.
So up the hill we trekked. We arrived at the parking lot that sits at the base of cliffs. There is a paved trail that goes all the way around the cliff side and eventually leads to the Lighthouse, but we had little to no daylight left, so we decided going up and over was the best idea. We were both right and wrong. The daylight disappeared faster than we anticipated, halfway up a cop car had pulled into the parking lot with the lights flashing. Did he know we were there? Was he calling for backup? We didn't care, and it only motivated us to move faster.
Still a long way from the top it began to rain, and the wind was blowing violently. Through the dark we staggered our way up over the rocks and through the cactus and bushes. Finally we reached the top, but the lighthouse was at the base of the other side. We had hit the halfway mark. By this time the rain was relentless and showed no signs of slowing down, so we took refuge in one of the WWII bunkers. It's good enough for soldiers, should be fine for us we figured. As we scoped out the concrete floor for a spot to sleep with the lights on our phones I began to see movement. Upon closer examination I discovered some fun friends that we were about to have a slumber party with. A handful of scorpions and a very menacing looking centipede. Suddenly the rain and wind didn't seem so bad. We grabbed our gear, climbed out of the bunker and decided we would walk down to the lighthouse. It was dark, raining, and dangerous but by this point we really didn't care.
We stumbled, fell, and slid down to the path that led to the lighthouse. Hooray! That wasn't so hard now was it? The lighthouse was finally within sight. We finished the remaining last steps that led us to a lookout point. This point consisted of some concrete stairs leading to a concrete slab with a small fence around it to prevent people from falling to their death I suppose. This looked like a perfect spot to sleep for the night.
 |
| Best suite on the island. |
This is when all the hurdles that we had just spent hours jumping over suddenly seemed so worth it. Looking out over the ocean the nearly full moon was so bright I had to squint to look at it. I'd never seen the moon look so powerful. It hung up there in the clouds, and all I could imagine was the force it has pulling our oceans around like rag dolls raising and lowering the tides. We could see another storm approaching as it dumped rain back into the ocean, but all I wanted to do is take photos.
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| Only in Hawaii does the moon shine like a sun. |
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| Dear Planet Earth. You are stupid cool. That is all. |
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| Nate wins the circle game. Devin gets bronze. |
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| My handwriting looks better when I write backwards using my phone. That's strange to me. |
As the night wore on we eventually wrapped up in blankets and attempted to sleep. I don't think any of us got much. The combination of multiple rainstorms, and coastal wind throughout the evening mad it tough to doze off. Eventually morning arrived and we were greeted with a gorgeous sunrise. I'm beginning to think Hawaii doesn't know how to have any other kind of sunrise.
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| Insert 1000 words here |
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| Me shooting the "lighthouse" |
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| My shoes have never been so scared. |
Even though we didn't face ideal conditions during our venture, what we received in the end was priceless. A memory that will never be pulled from our minds. A memory that we had to earn. The difficulties of this trip were what made it worth having.
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| This adventure ends, to make room for the next. |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Living Through a Viewfinder
It's not a secret. I love photography and film. In fact they are what fuel my daily life. I'm passionate about the process of using imagery to convey emotions, and ideas. It can be frustrating when you see the world in ways that you can't describe to people in words, but with a camera I feel like I am able to show them.
Growing up I loved movies. I made short stop motion films using my dads High 8 video camera. My actors consisted of Lego's and Action Figures. Later I made flip-books using post-its. I never really thought making movies was a viable aspiration in life though. I looked at it the same way I looked at the chances of making it to the NBA. It just didn't seem very realistic to me.
When I got into my teenage years I became more interested in photography, but never really pursued it. I was intimidated by it. There seemed to be so much to think about when taking a photograph. Lighting, exposure, position. Not to mention all the jargon. Aperture, ISO, shutter speed, light metering, flash controls. Was I really going to be able to learn how to harness these elements? Needless to say it was enough to keep me from pursuing photography. So I spent my high school years focused on sports and my girlfriend.
After graduating high school I had the opportunity to go to California and be part of a music video for a band called Yellowcard. This was my first "on set" experience with anything being filmed. It reignited my love for making movies. It was here that I realized there were many outlets to tell stories using film. Whether it be movies, tv shows, music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, the list goes on. Not to mention by this time the world around me had exploded into the digital age where everything became more accessible and a lot cheaper. Suddenly I could buy an HD camera for $2,000 as opposed to $200,000+.
So now it was time to put up or shut up. After getting my Associates degree at the College of Eastern Utah, I transferred to Utah Valley University in Orem where I got my Bachelors Degree in Digital Media and Film. Since then I have worked on films, tv shows, marketing campaigns, viral videos, and currently I'm working on a Documentary. It's hard work, and long hours, but it's what I love. It will never feel like "work" to me.
We all have things inside us that make us tick. What are your passions? More importantly what are you doing about it? Sometimes the world keeps things out of reach, other times we have to sacrifice one passion for another. I don't think it's important to get everything we desire in life, but I do feel like it's vital to do our best to go after what we believe will make us happy. I think life, in its most simplest form is learning today what we can apply to tomorrow that causes our quality of life increase.
An interest in photography is what started it all for me, yet it took years for me to finally pick up a camera for photographic purposes. Would I be a much better photographer had I started when I was younger? Yes, I certainly would be. That's not the tragedy here though. The thought of never taking the chance to pick up a camera to see what I could do, now that's tragic. I'm very new to photography having only been doing it for less than 2 years. It's become one of the primary outlets for me to express myself. That to me, is priceless.
I have started a new blog to post my photos on. It's more of a sample portfolio of the different types of photos I take. A gallery, more than a blog. Anyone who wants to follow, please do :)
www.tasteofjace.blogspot.com
Growing up I loved movies. I made short stop motion films using my dads High 8 video camera. My actors consisted of Lego's and Action Figures. Later I made flip-books using post-its. I never really thought making movies was a viable aspiration in life though. I looked at it the same way I looked at the chances of making it to the NBA. It just didn't seem very realistic to me.When I got into my teenage years I became more interested in photography, but never really pursued it. I was intimidated by it. There seemed to be so much to think about when taking a photograph. Lighting, exposure, position. Not to mention all the jargon. Aperture, ISO, shutter speed, light metering, flash controls. Was I really going to be able to learn how to harness these elements? Needless to say it was enough to keep me from pursuing photography. So I spent my high school years focused on sports and my girlfriend.
After graduating high school I had the opportunity to go to California and be part of a music video for a band called Yellowcard. This was my first "on set" experience with anything being filmed. It reignited my love for making movies. It was here that I realized there were many outlets to tell stories using film. Whether it be movies, tv shows, music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, the list goes on. Not to mention by this time the world around me had exploded into the digital age where everything became more accessible and a lot cheaper. Suddenly I could buy an HD camera for $2,000 as opposed to $200,000+.
So now it was time to put up or shut up. After getting my Associates degree at the College of Eastern Utah, I transferred to Utah Valley University in Orem where I got my Bachelors Degree in Digital Media and Film. Since then I have worked on films, tv shows, marketing campaigns, viral videos, and currently I'm working on a Documentary. It's hard work, and long hours, but it's what I love. It will never feel like "work" to me.
We all have things inside us that make us tick. What are your passions? More importantly what are you doing about it? Sometimes the world keeps things out of reach, other times we have to sacrifice one passion for another. I don't think it's important to get everything we desire in life, but I do feel like it's vital to do our best to go after what we believe will make us happy. I think life, in its most simplest form is learning today what we can apply to tomorrow that causes our quality of life increase.
An interest in photography is what started it all for me, yet it took years for me to finally pick up a camera for photographic purposes. Would I be a much better photographer had I started when I was younger? Yes, I certainly would be. That's not the tragedy here though. The thought of never taking the chance to pick up a camera to see what I could do, now that's tragic. I'm very new to photography having only been doing it for less than 2 years. It's become one of the primary outlets for me to express myself. That to me, is priceless.
I have started a new blog to post my photos on. It's more of a sample portfolio of the different types of photos I take. A gallery, more than a blog. Anyone who wants to follow, please do :)
www.tasteofjace.blogspot.com
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
[VLOG] EP: 02
"Sequels Suck!"
Feel free to leave comments below! If you want to ask me a question, or request that I film something in particular just let me know!
Feel free to leave comments below! If you want to ask me a question, or request that I film something in particular just let me know!
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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