I've moved my blog!

I've switched over to a Wordpress blog at joshuaps.wordpress.com - check it out!

I won't be updating this Blogger site anymore, so please update your links accordingly

Updates/Cool Things to Check Out

Some quick bites about what's going on with me photographically:

1. In case you haven't heard, I'm starting a Photo Q&A section for the blog. E-mail your photography-related questions to joshuaps (at) usc.edu, Facebook me or leave a comment on this post. The deadline is Sunday, July 5 for the first round, and the question will get answered by the next Sunday of the week.

2. I've broken ground on a documentary multimedia slideshow project (photos+audio) about an up-and-coming musician in LA. I'll post updates as they come, but I'm pretty excited about the direction this is going in.

3. Some amazing videos:
http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/watch/9/looking_back - amazing video documentary of a homeless veteran who brings his community together through photography

A man's life in 42 seconds:

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Technorati Activation

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Shadmehr Aghili @ Nokia Club 6/20

Last Saturday was an extremely long, but fun, day for me... hot on the heels of a for-fun shoot, I was hired to shoot an Iranian pop star at the Nokia Club. I figured, hey, why not?

These are the guys who opened for him, above. I'd always wanted to shoot at a venue with a balcony, like the Nokia Club had, but I think I'm finding I prefer the tight intimacy of a lower, close-on angle where there isn't as much distance between you and the artist, and where the artist is level or elevated relative to you.



I had no idea what he was saying (he was singing in Farsi) but damned if this guy wasn't flexible. He was on the guitar and violin, doing great vocals the whole time.

This is where I found out the guy had a rabid following in the Iranian community in LA.


Every song had a different set of dancers - they had dudettes on stilts, the Flamenco dancers above and a bunch of other ones.
I was ON the stage for this shot. As in, audience could see me (barely). Nobody batted an eye. I think they were all too busy having fun.

Bruining my life with Jane and Cathryn

Had the pleasure of spending last Saturday shooting around with two great people who have the misfortune of going to that school on the other side of town, UCLA.. Cathryn (left) and Jane. We were all feeling a little down because of the weather, but luckily that cleared up in the afternoon when we started shooting.

I love stuff like the shot above, behind-the-scenes stuff that really makes a shoot come alive and feel real.



I stuck to one little speedlight with no modifiers as my light for the shoot. Didn't bring any stands either, so it was one or the other holding the light as I shot. I'm starting to see why people like Joe Mcnally are such huge fans of Nikon's CLS wireless lighting system. One pop turns boring shade light into a sunset scene, as above, or provides some amazing fill like in these shots here:

My new housemate, Pebble

My housemate Gary decided to get Pebble, a Welsh Corgi the other day.. he's been giving her lots of TLC ever since!