I will be hosting a Game Night for Urban Eats on April 7th Friday. If it goes well, it's something we'll want to do once a month. There will be board games, Cards Against Humanity, and much more. I will also be running a one-shot pathfinder campaign titled Escape From the Shadow Tower.
Register below
Time has gotten away from me these last few weeks and for that I’m sorry. But I have been spending a lot more time on my Instagram and it’s going pretty well. When I first started the grind I had 40 followers now I have 72. Now I know that's not a lot, but it's more growth than I thought I would get, so that's awesome. I know progress is slow, but It’s going to be worth it when it takes off. I know that no one reads these posts I mean come on I’m not dumb. But I think it’s going to be fun to look back on what I was thinking at the time and how excited I got about my small growth. I’ll try to be more regular, but no promises.
Because what if cat photos are 0.001434 megapixels
I know I haven’t posted in a while that’s my bad, I’ve been busy with work and trying to get my Instagram going. Also, I’ve had a lot of car troubles. Our breaks went out on my girlfriend's car and my engine died on mine. But there is a silver lining. They are both in the shop and should be done by next week. Hopefully, I’ll have more stuff to say then.
I don’t mind doing glamor shots. I mean hell I’m good at it too. It’s just not the end all be all of photography. Although it does make the money
About five years ago my buddy Kevin and I went to Taco Bell. It was probably 1:00 AM on a Wednesday night which was normal for us. At the time we both lived in the dorms at UMSL. We also both had horrible insomnia. It was completely normal for us to stay awake for a day or two. Taco Bell at 1:00 AM was kind of a routine for us. What was not routine was having someone knock on our window at the drive-through. Kevin, who was driving, rolled down his window and processed to ask what the fine gentleman wanted (he was obviously homeless). He tell us that it was his birthday and he wanted to buy himself a pizza. (where he would buy a precooked pizza at 1:00 AM who’s to say) He wanted like twenty dollars at the time I never carried cash. Kevin on the other hand did and gave the guy maybe five dollars. After Kevin gives the homeless man some money he asks us if we have a gun. Now that’s an odd question to ask someone on a normal day let alone at 1:00 am in a taco bell drive-through. Before Kevin could even say anything I said yes and proceeded to reach under my seat as a bluff, because no I didn’t really have a gun on me. (This probably wasn’t my smartest move, to be honest.) The homeless man then says he has one and wants to sell it to us. At this point, I have no idea what to do and I’m waiting for this guy to come to the realization that he can just rob us with his gun. Kevin asked what kind of gun it was and how much he wanted. The homeless guy pulls out this little two-shooter and processes to say it’s twenty dollars. Kevin gives the man twenty dollars for the gun. After he receives the money he throws the gun at us and runs away as fast as he can. I tell Kevin not to pick up the gun with his bare hands because you know fingerprints. So he takes off one of his two shirts and picks it up. The gun seems really light for something that’s all metal. Kevin then checks to see if it's loaded. The only problem is he can’t figure out how to load it. After looking at it more closely I see what the problem is: it had a hole for refilling butane. It was lighter all along. Kevin is both mad and relieved at the same time. He was relieved it wasn’t a real gun, but also mad he got ripped off.
I decide that I’m going to start focusing more on projects that make me happy. As of late, I’ve only been working on work-related things. but that ends today. Tonight I’m going to be script writing.
I’m going to start off by saying that I don’t really believe in the supernatural. Which if you ever meet me you might think that’s odd. I love horror, the occult, and everything that goes bump in the night. But I don’t believe in it. Which is a shame because I wish I did. Over the years the idea of magic or anything supernatural has been replaced with hard science and facts. Which has its benefits I like being a well-rounded person. It’s important to know how the world really works and unfortunately, it seems like fewer people care about that. The rejection of modern science is something I will truly never understand, but that’s getting away from my point. Part of me wants to have that sort of innocence back. I want to believe, I just can’t and I hate that. I‘m going to leave you with one thought. I once told someone Holloween is my favorite holiday because I feel like it’s the closest point where two worlds can converge. And even though I don’t believe in the supernatural I still hold on to that for some reason. I don’t know how to end this so maybe I just won’t.
I wanna start selling my art, so I’m going to start ordering some prints on canvas. I also think I’m gonna do fridge magnets for my Gameboy camera photos.
As a film student who is used to shooting with a DSLR in 16:9, this brave new world of 9:16 is defiantly new to me. And unfortunately, I don’t have any equipment to help me shoot that way. My old fluid head tripod defiantly doesn’t shoot vertical. If I had a gimble for my phone it would be a lot easier, but that hasn’t happened yet. I think it might be time to invest in some new equipment. I mean I like getting new equipment, But actually buying it is another story.
Lately, I haven’t been happy with my art. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I think a big one is the lack of a creative outlet. When I was in college I could make a new video every week it seemed, But that was when I was living with a bunch of creative people who supported each other. Now it feels like it’s just me. Which I know deep down isn’t true. I’m still friends with most of those people and we talk frequently. It just seems like the day-to-day life gets Infront of everything else. I’m not gonna lie I’m a bit envious of people who are in bands. Having someone always there to hold you accountable seems nice. It would also just be nice to just bounce ideas off someone else. I wanna start my own small art collective, a place where people can go and have others encourage them. I need to start doing some research.
How many good video game movies are there? No, really how many? I can only think of one and that’s Detective Pikachu. Because of the recent release of uncharted I’ve been thinking a lot about this. Why is it so hard to make a video game movie? You would think that a multibillion-dollar company could hire a competent writer and director but no, somehow it’s impossible to do. Most of these games have great source material or at least a good premise that you could flesh out, but it seems like most movie companies just want to throw a sub-mediocre product and call it a day. And you know what it’s our fault, we as the audience have to demand a better film. If the movie is bad, don’t give them your money. It’s our fault that Paul W. S. Anderson made six Resident Evil movies. None of them are good, but they kept making them. I think the only thing we can do as the next generation of filmmakers is to make better movies. So let’s get to work. - N.N.
Sometimes I forget how much I love taking photos. A few days ago I took some promo shots for Sugoi Sushi and I had a lot of fun taking them. It’s something I wish I could do full time, but that’s not in the cards yet. I guess all I can do is just keep pushing forward. I know one day I will be working my dream job whether that’s with a company or by myself. I know I can be impatient so I have to remind myself that everything takes time. I’m still building my brand and it’s a slow process, but It is growing still. Anyway here are some photos I took. - N.N.
I wanna make videos about music, but I really have no idea where to start., I wrote a whole 1000 word script on Weezer’s blue album, but I wasn’t happy with the results. As much as I love Weezer, I feel that everything that can be said about them has been said. Which makes sense, there are probably one of the biggest bands in the world. So I wanna make something truly unique. I think I’m gonna a video about Blur, but from an American’s perspective. It hasn’t really been done a lot unless there talking about Song 2. Which has been talked about to death. I wouldn’t be surprised if Damon Albarn hates that song. by now. I mostly really wanna talk about their first four albums. (Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, and Great Escape) I adore these albums, I think Leisure is vastly underrated in their catalog and I would love to defend it. Maybe I need to write a script, I’ll see what I can write by the end of the week. - N.N.
So it’s April 1st and I guess I should post a joke right. Okay, here it goes.
What is a photographer without a camera?
Unemployed.
During a meeting, my boss and I were bouncing off ideas on how to attract more customers. And I honestly said, “Nelly is too big to hire for any sort of publicity, so what’s Chingy doing these days.” You know Saint Louis’s second most popular rapper. Well turns out he’s on Cameo and totally in our price range. So we’ll see what happens.
I don’t have a whole lot to write today, but yesterday I had a job interview and it went very well. I’m looking forward to the follow-up on Monday. If anyone is readying wish me luck. Yeah, this probably could have been a tweet, but it’s my website.
Lately, I’ve been playing Fire Emblem Three Houses in my off time and I’ve never seen a more wonderfully flawed game. I wonder how can a game this good still has so many rough edges. The “open-world” monastery is rough, to say the least. The giant yellow arrows telling you where you can go and who you can talk to are comical. It reminds me of something that came out on the PS2 really. Some of the textures are extremely pixelated, I know it’s bad when The Witcher 3 port on switch looks better. But everything else about this game is great. I love the character interactions, the actual tactical combat is as always solid. It’s a game that has me coming back. Even though I haven’t beaten the game yet I will say the first third seems a bit stronger than the rest of the game. I won’t spoil it, but there is a point when a lot of characters leave the story. As of right now, I’m excited to finish this game. I hope the ending is just as good as the rest of it. Also, Black Eagles are the best house.
Music is probably my favorite art form. Now that might sound odd since I’m a photographer, but a good song can change my entire worldview. Not to say that a photo can’t because it can, photos like tank man have amazing and cultural significance. But I think the reason I feel this way is because I was brought up in a very musical household. Everyone had to be able to play an instrument. And yeah I can, or I could. I played guitar for a few years and was decent at it. But I never felt like music was my calling, even though I love it. I always felt like my calling was capturing what my eyes saw, Whether it’s good or bad. I am rambling a lot at this point, but that’s okay. I’m gonna leave you with one thing don’t monetize everything that you love. I know it’s hard to say that in this day and age, but have one thing that’s just yours. Also here is a video of me scrolling through my music library - N.N.
I did some promo shots for All Rolled Up @ Urban Eats. Nothing really else to say besides I really like his food and would recommend.
