MelendezPhoto

Battles

2010-04-12T19:51:00.001-07:00

OK I was on the way home from the Iron Men Life Group and this thought hit me. It’s a common phrase I’ve heard many times but tonight it sank with me, “The devil attacks you where you’re weakest.” This thought churned in my head when all of a sudden it was interrupted by a loud “That’s preposterous!” and when I questioned the interruption this was the explanation that resulted. The devil attacks you from every possible angle at all times. You just DEFEAT the others EFFORTLESSLY. Your VICTORIES far outweigh any struggle you may be going through. Your victories are countless my friend. Now, I use the word struggle because it’s a choice. A choice you make to fight an attack head on. You can choose to just go with the punch and let it steer you in whichever direction it wants. But you choose to stand for what’s right and resist the opposing force with your might and begin a battle, a battle you are not alone in. A battle that’s honestly, already been won. Reach up and acknowledge the victory in Him. He strengthens you.

2010-04-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

I kid you not this was my fortune cookie today

VEGAS!

2010-03-27T09:12:00.002-07:00

A few photos from Vegas!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

2009-11-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

Profits from the sales of this photo will be donated to charity.
Please see http://blog.MelendezPhoto.com for details

2009-11-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

2009-11-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

TMBPP #10

2009-11-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

TMBPP #9

2009-11-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

TMBPP #8

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

TMBPP #7

2009-10-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

TMBPP#6

2009-10-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

Conflict TMBPP#5

2009-10-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

TMBPP #4

2009-10-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

For when the numbers blur together TMBPP#3

2009-10-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

Man I needed a pick me up!

Family Time

2009-10-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

So this weekend was a great, relaxing weekend. Spending time with the family after church on Sunday, a little time on the driving range on Saturday after running errands. Good times, everyone should stop and relax and enjoy what they have. Like this for instance, my niece was playing with a pumpkin she picked @ the patch on the farm. So I grabbed the camera, goofed around and wound up with this. This is the best niece anyone could ever ask for and yes I'm absolutely biased and there's nothing you can do about it! hehehehehe

--
Carlos Melendez

TMBPP#2

2009-10-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Continuation of my mobile photo posts. This was taken in a
restaurant in ATL that had a great atmosphere and tapas
Http://www.eclipsediluna.com

Today's mobile blog photo post (TMBPP)

2009-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Every few days I'll be uploading photos taken via my iPhone to the
blog for fun here's today's.

SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!

2009-09-29T07:23:00.001-07:00

Hey blogland! Today I'm coming to you via Mobile blogging, something
new I'm trying out to get back in the habit and posting more often.
Especially considering I'm never around my computer when I get
inspired to write something, and once I do sit down I'm mainly focused
on working or editing.

So, as I was going to say. Things have been great! I've gotten stable
enough with work that I've been shooting regularly again. It took a
few times to regain confidence and knock off any rust that gathered
over the past few months. Things just feel together again. Been
shooting with really cool people, have had the privilege of
photographing awesome weddings and have been learning from top minds
in the industry. All in three months time! I'm looking forward to
keeping this going and growing through my craft. That's it for today
no super deep thoughts, just good ol fun and games.

Test

2009-09-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

Testmobile

Test mobile

2009-09-11T09:21:00.001-07:00

Test

Myrtle beach

2009-09-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Photo from a vacation

Honeydew

2009-09-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

So we've been planting stuff around the house and our honeydew vine is
blooming. Check it out

911

2009-09-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

A moment to remember.

Getting back in the saddle

2009-05-11T06:24:00.001-07:00

Let's brush the dust off this blog a bit.

Since my last post I've been well, doing a lot of work in the house and dedicating a little more time to volunteer work, which has been very fulfilling. It's good to take time out of your schedule to focus on helping others. I will say I'm excited though, because today I started working on a few projects, both business and fashion based. Thanks to the encouragement of a few friends and mentors I've set off to create a team of people to bring a few ideas to life. And have also set out to run a promotional project in the motorsports division. Things have been busy, but I'm happilly trudging along getting things done. Now that the ball is rolling it's time to build momentum and bring things back into perspective.

--
Carlos Melendez

The not-so-side project Side Project

2009-04-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

Every Now and then I'll go off on a tangent to shoot some event or a group of people just to break the monotony and work with it for a little while. Winter had the Little League Basketball games in the league Jocelyn was in. Spring brought in a new type of work, Motorsports Photography. I wound up hanging around with a few Pro-AM drifters (as in the sport Drift,not just nomads) Pretty interesting sport to shoot, it's kind of like a race meets stunt driving where the object is to control your car through turns while sliding the car as far sideways as you can get it (in short). Reason I mention this is that normally the side projects tend to stay very low key but at this time this project has really taken off. (it actually has had more traffic than my main portfolio) So I figure why not just make it part of the main? So now for all to see here is a public announcement to let you know about it.

MelendezPhoto/Drift

(All photos were taken in a course in a controlled environment... Do not I REPEAT DO NOT Try this in public roads or neighborhoods.)

I'll be making improvements to it as it continues to grow
--
Carlos Melendez

Dear Blog

2009-03-23T07:17:00.001-07:00

I've been doing pretty good. Lots of awesome things going on this past weekend

Friday night Worship: God, I love my church we had an event called Seek which was a night full of straight worship and prayer, no agenda no strings attached an awesome acoustic set by our worship team, and incredibly motivating words by members that shared their feelings to the crowd.

Saturday hecticness. Yard sale where a new joke was born... not sure which one is worse.

I should send these to Jeff Foxworthy if he doesn't have them already.

You might be a redneck if you go to a yard sale and put something on layaway.

You might be an even bigger redneck if you LET someone come to your yard sale and put something on layway.

(and to answer the question yes they came back later to pick it up. lol)

Fresh haircut, always a good thing.

Continued progress working in the house.

Sunday:

church! 'nuff said :)

Drift event @ Charlotte Great shooting, and some awesome cars. look forward to the next one and have to find time to head out to Myrtle Beach and catch the next level up.

Experimenting with Brown Rice for new diet.... Yeah, brown rice is good but takes A LOT longer to prepare. worth it though.

Monday, off to work hard and make some money.

Day 8 of 40 Pastor Troy's Original Recipie Challenge. Today's ingredient Ephesians 5:11

Later
--
Carlos Melendez

Upgrades

2009-03-05T20:20:00.001-08:00

Site upgrades continue and I'm getting happier and happier by the day.

Thanks to Everyone who has helped out in the process

Http://www.melendezphoto.com

--
Carlos Melendez

Today

2009-03-04T12:24:00.001-08:00

Today I've been having one of those great extra productive and creative days. Nothing really meaningful I've just been able to get a lot of things done in a series of small projects I have going on and it's been a great feeling! I love feeling like I have momentum going!

--
Carlos Melendez

GRRRR!

2009-02-26T11:21:00.001-08:00

You know, there are times where I get angry or jealous about seeing other photographers that I would personally feel are better than me. but it's not anger towards them or a non appreciation of their work... but it's like they make me want to quit my job and shoot all day long so I can 'catch up' or show how much I can do too. like I hate being on the sidelines and it angers me that I have priorities I must tend to first. I love them, their work but hate that I haven't been able to shoot as often, aggressively as they do. It's a strange blend of discouragement and motivation.

so again I say..

grrr

--
Carlos Melendez

MelendezPhoto is up and running again!

2009-02-23T06:50:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that my main site Http://www.melendezphoto.com is finally up and running again.

--
Carlos Melendez

A bittersweet moment.

2009-01-22T10:08:00.001-08:00

I ran into a group of abortion protesters during my lunch break today.

I found it very odd to see picket signs and people wearing sandwich boards that show a picture of the remains of a post abortion fetus and "Jesus is the way" on the other. (not saying all of them were like that but it was a very mixed message for me.) The larger posters were directly on the corners and they were of the deceased fetus. (If you've seen them you know what i'm talking about if not... just know that they're gross) but as you make your way to the back of the crowd you start seeing people with pictures of kids with the phrase "I was rescued by adoption" that are truly quite pleasant to look at and sprinkled in the crowd are signs to a Church, and other signs like 'foresake your sins and follow christ" and the dude with the dead baby/jesus sandwichboard and a small ensemble singing worship songs Now i'm not upset that they were there, not at all. I know that, here in in America there is a document that gives us the permission to gather peacefully, worship, and pretty much say what we need to say. and i'm all for it I was kind of happy they were there. However it's not that they were there, I was extremely happy to hear worship songs in the middle of the street and seeing that people wanted to spread the word of Jesus. nor what they wanted to say but how they were doing it that was irritating me. A lady walks up to me and says " sir, can I talk to you about Jesus and Abortion?" Now looking around I know that they frown on Abortion, and so does Jesus (and for the record so do I). but all while standing next to a disgusting image of what once was a baby. Here's why I have a problem with it. I understand that awareness of the bad things in life is kind of needed to stand up and fight against it. But, I think that people don't realize that by showing the horror before explaining the problem (especially with something as personal as abortion) can put people on the defensive. I personally would have been more inviting if the ratio of "I was saved by adoption signs" to the dead baby signs were reversed. Think about this, if you want to bring aboard the message against abortion, think of the postive possibilities, you can SAVE A LIFE! by adopting someone, and while talking about the salvation of someone else's life it could also bring about the message of saving your own through the love and grace of Jesus Christ. but No these people want to show dead babies. and as an afterthought mix into the message of Jesus. It's odd for me to describe it but I was mad at her. I didn't want to give her my time one b/c i'm on her side and didn't need convincing. but as I walked away and politely said no to everyone that offerred me their pamphlets. I can't help but think about what non christians think when they are approached like this. "Here come save your soul by believing in something you don't and then you'll be like me and you too will hold up disgusting pictures to get peoples attention"

I know this isn't a candy coated world, but I would have much rather been approached about the miracle of adoption rather than horrific images of abortion. and if you're questioning my stance on the issue I'll say it clearly. I dislike abortion, It's morally wrong, and should not be performed. however it is much safer if it stays legal and under government regulation. I'd prefer it to be virtually inacessible w/o going through hell to do it (ie high price, not on medical insurance, limited clinics, and psychological permission etc etc etc. )

Gah, i'm done venting

--Carlos Melendez

Site Outage

2009-01-13T17:42:00.001-08:00

Site will be down for a few days while I make some server upgrades.

First Photo of 2009

2009-01-12T19:45:00.001-08:00

Titi Lucy (Aunt Lucy)

2008-11-02T08:24:00.001-08:00

Life's funny,
You know, I love photography, as an artform, an extension of who I am. A way to allow you to see life through my eyes, however am still having difficulties understanding the balance between that and the photography as a business, as a product. I've felt that the product of photography has to have a hyper realistic feel to it. taking something ordinary and presenting it as something extreme, getting caught up in rules, technicalities, to the point where it almost has a formula to it. granted these may be my own naieveties or a way to follow 'the relentless pursuit of perfection' that comes from thinking as an image as a commercial, a sell, or a product. I noticed it has pulled me away or at least disconnected me from the core feelings I have had with images. Instinctually I took an image not really thinking why, just one of those look, capture, continue moments. during the editing process I started to look at it and after applying the commercial filter to it I passed over the image. It wasn't "Perfect" It wasn't what I originally thought I documented... " I made a mistake" is what I thought and moved on. but after sifting through it with family and skipping over it I was called back to it to re-examine it. I was asked why, and small talk about technicalities came up.. " Why didn't you pick this image of Titi Lucy?!??"... " well I cut off his head so you can't see who's shoe she's tying, and it's a hair out of focus."... "so?"..."so yeah I just skipped over it"... "Silly, don't you see that's what makes this picture perfect?!?" ... "Huh?" ... "That's Titi Lucy! period..." ... "yeah but you can't see that it's Kevin" ... "You still don't get it. It's Titi Lucy, that's how she is... It doesn't matter whose shoe that is... She just serves, that all she knows.. is to be helping and cleaning and serving others, you know how hard she worked that weekend with everyone."

I felt chills run up my spine as tears built in my eyes, and seeing the image through watery eyes I realized that that's what I felt when I took the photo, not Kevin but of her helping as she had been continuously doing the entire time. which is what made me realize that I'm not looking at a product but a memory, a statement and an emotion that I couldn't even understand the second I saw it. and then looked over it with 'technical' filters completely missing what I had felt the moment I spotted it. so for the rest of the day I will be thinking about her and this image, and how I filter myself when I'm in the 'darkroom'. and see beyond shapes, lines and space and go back to what it means, and listen to what it's trying to say.

Titi Lucy

--
Carlos Melendez

Long Road Long Hours short update

2008-10-15T03:42:00.001-07:00

Well, I Started my new Job @ the bank and that has been a great experience so far. I've learned a lot and look forward to a lot more learning. I've also been working hard in the lab on the wedding photos so far they've been great. Went down to FL this weekend on a whim to visit family and celebrate my nephews first birthday. So as always Non stop moving and running around. Hope everyone is doing well.

Wedding Weekend!

2008-09-29T04:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was fun! The wedding was beautiful, a lot of fun to shoot(and dance in), and it's going to be a world of fun to put through post production. I've already had a quick proofing with the bride this morning and she's happy with the photo's I've produced. All good things. Me and Lisa also we're the bouquet and garter toss 'victims' lol. Which quickly prompted the wedding questions... still, all good things

I'm exhausted.

Fun fun fun fun fun!

2008-09-23T06:54:00.001-07:00

Short post today, things have been going great, I start a new job next month. I'm saving up for a mission trip to New Orleans at the end of next month. have a wedding to shoot this weekend. cleaning house all week and am finally agreeing to a new main website design. hope everyone is doing well.

--
Carlos Melendez

Call to Action

2008-08-29T07:11:00.001-07:00

Ya know, rarely do I feel the need to discuss politics in an open forum because of it's volatile nature. However I have had an urging to express that although I have sided with Barack Obama since the Primaries to have what I would have considered 'A hard decision to make come general elections' once I knew John McCain had a dominating lead in his primaries. I respect and Appreciate all that McCain has done during his years of service and looked forward to hearing two very strong people debate it out so I can approach the ballot with confidence in my decision. However after last night, that is no longer necessary. If you did not hear Barack Obama's acceptance speech (Obama Website), I strongly urge you to go to his website and listen to it with an open mind. One It's just worth listening to it because it gives you a glimpse of one of your choices come election time. Two even outside of political context it's an inspiring speech. 3. If you're on the fence of where your vote should go I'm certain this will help you make up your mind. It's a call to action, both political and moral. Heck, I've always paid attention to the presidential elections but this is the first time I've chosen to get involved and help do something to show my support (not just in this blog). Granted I will still listen to McCain's acceptance speech, I will still watch the debates. But My mind is already made up. My vote is going to Barack Obama.

Hope you all have a good day!
Carlos Melendez

Catching up

2008-08-27T11:18:00.001-07:00

Wow! It's been a fun few weeks. Where to start... Since Kids Kamp, I've done a 'going away' photo shoot for my friend Cori who is pursuing her Interests off in NY. I've gone off to assist/shoot another wedding with Bruce. and a few other things like Shoot a friends Son's 1st birthday party, Some more photos of my family, get a little more involved in fellowship with my church, and relax a bit around the house with Lisa. I've also switched all my systems over to Linux specifically Ubuntu Studio. that on it's own took me about a week but I'm happy I did (may I also add it's Free?...software and all) . So far It's been a great experience working in this new OS getting a lot of work done when I'm in the Office. I've also been doing some research on going back to school. I have a few different interviews with a handful of Universities, I feel like a kid again, having to answer questions like "What's your GPA?" and "Do you consider yourself a good student?" but I'm going to do it... I've been on and off for quite a while, so It will be nice to finally finish it and check it off the list of things to accomplish! To help offset costs of going back to school, I'm re-opening the Gallery Project and starting off with a bit of a Sale. Please give My Gallery a quick look. Any support is appreciated, hopefully there is something you like. I will be moving some images into the gallery as often as possible. If you have any requests for Images that are on my site that are not in my gallery, feel free to post a comment and if it's an image I can sell, I'm sure we can work something out.

Hope all of you are doing well.
--
Carlos Melendez
Melendezphoto.com

Up for a breath of fresh air

2008-08-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have a morning where I can sit and write w/o much worry for time. It's been an fun, rewarding, and interesting few weeks since my last post. Since then, I've been on 9 pretty much non-stop days of journalistic shooting. Days 1-5 we're shooting for my church's VBS a Kids Kamp that had a couple of hundred kids coming in and learning about Jesus and stuff. I think I learned a lot about my faith along with those kids. I would be in a horrible mood as I'd leave my office; but the second I'd have my camera in my hand and set foot into the church, I wouldn't even remember when the mood got washed away. People would comment as to how much I smiled and laughed with the kids. don't get me wrong some of that stuff was hysterical, and kids are generally adorable anyways lol (Go Beaker Bob!) but it was something I didn't even notice until someone would point it out. I'd ponder about it for a little bit and would either think it's because I'm shooting, serving, or both. They're both great feelings for me so I guess combined it's just amazing. Day 6 was to cover some workshops for my friends @ Charlottesalsa and then day 7 was to cover the finale of the VBS. Days 8-9 we're taking photos for my company's regional meeting. Also a fun experience. Of course with journalism, you can expect that the photos are plentiful and the turn around deadlines are short. so any time I'd spend in front of my computer was to be processing and packaging my images or delivering images. :). I also had that whole sprint to break-in to my new camera. I'm pretty confident in the fact that I've gotten used to all the new controls and buttons, and turned them into second nature.

After that, the tables turned, both in expected and unexpected ways, and put a few of us in what feels like a multi-home episode of extreme makeover home edition. Unpacking boxes, using those boxes to pack other things, deep cleaning, painting, etc etc etc. Lots of fun, lots of work, yet physically tiring.

I think that's pretty much the life in the nutshell. I'm probably going to resift through the photos soon and put a short version of the past week here on my blog.

Hope all of you are well. :)
Carlos

New Beginnings

2008-07-21T07:25:00.001-07:00

"If you build it, they will come"

Whoever said that to Kevin Costner had a pretty valid point. Sure,
Babe Ruth didn't come out from a corn field and give me a hug and play
a baseball with me. But it's kind of interesting on how once you get
things rolling more things will seem to fall into place. For example,
I was putting off small things such as my resume for my career
progression as an analyst/developer. and my work towards taking my
photography into a business environment. but It wasn't until I sat
down and put my nose to the grindstone that I started seeing the
results I wanted to see (go figure right?) In today's fast paced world
where the 90mph lunch is the norm, things tend to fall through the
cracks. Getting caught up in daily life is pretty easy. But I've been
going to a few interviews, and am looking forward to continuing to
grow as an analyst. Bought my new camera to start off the business
side of Photography (my maxxum was starting to show it's age, I've
since sent it off to get a re calibrated, etc. I can't wait for it to
get back. ) Ordered my business cards, they rock. It took me a while
to settle on a design that I was 100% confident in. The day they
arrived, before I could even hand out a single card, I had already
received a phone call from Bruce Mayhill a photographer/mentor I've
been speaking with recently asking If I'd be interested to come help
him out with a wedding. A learning experience I was immediately
excited about and looked forward to the entire week. and I was right,
it was a blast and I learned an enormous amount from just being there
and working with him. Can't wait to do it again. A few other
opportunities have come out of the wood work as well. But I feel that
If I hadn't taken that leap of faith, none of this would have
happenned.

Which kind of brings me to my next topic, I've been doing a few
personal studies as I always am, but this time I decided to start with
a book I've had on my shelf almost all my life, but barely ever
touched it... unless it was to move it out of the way to get another
book. The Bible, I can sincerely say that I've never been much of a
bible thumper, but I've seen a huge change in my life since I started
taking things like God a little more seriously. You know, everyone has
to believe in something, even if it's just yourself. I've remembered
many times that I've said that church is just in the business of
selling the drug called hope. However, I've learned a good church
deals a lot more than just hope. They deal in motivation,
encouragement, education (not just biblical-religous stuff... people
are people and everyone has someone to teach another about their own
life experiences) and a sense of community that isn't regularly
available by just talking to random people as you move through life.
Heck, anyone can blow smoke up your ass and make you feel like you can
throw the touchdown pass at the next superbowl. but just like smoke,
it fades away the second wind puts pressure on it. So I've come to
realize that hope is just a byproduct of being involved with people
who generally care for the well being of others. So, knowing you're
not alone and that there is a group of people you can reach out to, or
extend your hand to, creates an empowering feeling that could stand up
to Cat 5 hurricane winds ( 156+MPH winds. For people who haven't been
in a hurricane... That's crazy strong wind, Hurricane Katrina tore up
the New Orleans and more when it made landfall as a category 3...
imagine a 5) and in my study of the bible, I've come to realize that
it lays down the fundamentals of creating such a community, and those
fundamentals have survived a couple of thousand years so I think it's
pretty cool to be a part of a community like that.

So yeah, Things are moving in the right direction.
--
Carlos Melendez