Miss Emma (2 Years) and January 2016 in Review

Alright, so for this year I'm trying something new... Looking to give each shoot its own blog, and pour the extra bittles in to whichever is the last one through for the month. This post starts with a family shoot, and covers those extra bits at the end!

While this post isn't nearly as dramatic as the last one (Los Feliz Murder Mansion), this. little girl. is. ADORABLE. She and her family are always a pleasure to work with. Let's get started!

We spent the cool, drizzly January day over at our standard spot. Being back on campus always gives me all of the good feels... And little miss Emma was on point that day. It's amazing watching her grow, dance, giggle, and become her own little person!

So, here were the first images of 2016... Bye bye 2015, hello.. peace on earth?

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Los Feliz Murder Mansion - January 2016

I got the chance to explore the famous Los Feliz murder mansion a few months ago. Long story short, this Spanish-style home was built in the 1920s. Back in the late 1950s, a doctor lost his mind, bludgeoning his wife with a hammer, trying to kill one of his children with the same fate, and committing suicide via a mixture of drugs:

Curbed has a couple of great posts on this house, and quotes:

“The scene of one of Los Angeles’s most bizarre and macabre murders—and its long, mysterious aftermath—is up for sale after lying derelict for more than half a century. The Los Feliz Murder House, a Spanish-style mansion at 2475 Glendower Place, is asking $2.75 million in a probate sale.
...
It was here that, in 1959, physician Harold Perelson murdered his wife Lillian in her sleep with a ball-peen hammer. He then attempted to do the same to his oldest daughter, Judye, who managed to escape to a neighbor’s house. Telling his other children to go back to bed, Perelson retreated into the bathroom and committed suicide with a concoction of Nembutal and tranquilizers. No one has ever really understood why, although there were money troubles.

The story has become the stuff of local legend (and the basis for an upcoming film), with fascination over the house and its history growing the longer it sat empty. Though the house was purchased shortly after the murder-suicide by a Lincoln Heights couple named Emily and Julian Enriquez, by all appearances it has been uninhabited since the 1960s. Eerie photos taken as recently as 2012 suggest that the home was abruptly abandoned, with food, home goods, and pieces of furniture left behind.”

— BY ELIJAH CHILAND MAR 29, 2016, 9:00A, http://la.curbed.com/2016/3/29/11322708/los-feliz-murder-house

With all of that said, I got the chance to explore this poor little mansion, murder scene-turned-hoarder scene and all, and put together a little video-- I had a lot of fun playing around with all the creepy feels (password: LIMLvids):

Below are some of my favorite stills. You can see the full set here.

Starting out coming up the driveway, and exploring the back of the house:

The kitchen area. It's obvious people have broken in over the years, whether transients, prostitutes, or other such urban explorers... but it's still a trip to see:

And on back throughout the house. This yellow light you see comes from those amber-glass windows. It's the only thing that I'd change out if I could afford to buy and restore this home.

Previous writings about this house have claimed that there is still a tree and presents upstairs. I was hoping with all of my might that that was the case; that I could have some prolific photographer's moment where I could document the scene as-is, image every package as-is, then document the contents... but alas. Either there never was this unopened Christmas from 1959, or it had been stolen over the past 50+ years... This was all I found, but I'm not so sure of its origins:

It was a smoggy, cloudy day, but just imagine what the view is like on a clear day! This was taken downstairs, I think. Even better views would have been upstairs, had one been able to make it across the clutter to the window...

The basement/sub-first floor area was probably the scariest. It's apparent how little this poor home has been cared for, just left abandoned for so many years. There appears to be a lot of structural damage. It would be wonderful if someone could come in and restore this beauty, but I fear the dollar signs from this prime location will take over and transform this into some cookie-cutter monster.

And back to the front. The details must have been, and the remaining ones still are, stunning. I'm in love with the door handle and lock, and the front door detailing reminds me of my old school. Swoon.

Can you imagine how beautiful this fountain must have been in the '20s? Like someone's own private Great Gatsby moment every time they pulled in the driveway. Also, I didn't happen to get a picture of it, but there is a bench (or two, I don't remember now) built in to that hillside right near the fountain.

All I can do at this point is hope for the best for this home and all of the souls who have seen it.

After exploring, it's hard to tell that the owner, Rudy, mentioned above, was actually something much more than his eccentric possessions. I got the chance to speak with his relatives, who remembered him as a well-kept, dapper man who was quite devoted to his church and who went out of his way to take care of stray cats in the area. This house, much like this piece, is an exploration on the broadest limits of the human mind. Two very different stories and outcomes, one harmful and one just harmless, but fascinating nonetheless.

Every once in a while, I get sent or come across links for blogs and fun stuff, so I’ll add them here as I remember or have time:

Weird Scary Stories, by Jeana Van Sickle

December 2015 in Review

So December was pretty quiet, but I did have a lot of mini adventures with my handy-dandy iPhone camera.

Oh, yeah, and I had a grand adventure to Santa Barbara with my love to celebrate my birthday! I posted the video last month, but here it is to go with this post:

I fit a couple of adventures into one video-- one spontaneous trip to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway this Fall, and another to Santa Barbara for my birthday! Both locales were beautiful. I had a little trouble with timing on this video, but had fun producing it anyway. In just a few short days, I'll be taking some video classes, so I'm hoping to come back with some epic know-how for better footage! In the meantime, enjoy the view and the music - Shining by Vacationer.

Anyway, let's dive in to the images, shall we? I'll start out with the Santa Barbara adventure. On the drive up:

Then we hit Ventura pier! It was my first time.

And a few iPhone pics to boot:

Alright! Such a tasty sunset. Sadly, I didn't catch any pics of the absolutely adorable Eagle Inn, but take a look at the views of the Santa Barbara Zoo! Of course, I had to snap a pic on the phone while we biked on over.

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After I saw my favorite animal (Bald Eagle! Above! Fierce!), we biked in the other direction to explore the docks. Is this not the cutest boat you've ever seen?

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We got to exploring at night, and gobbled up two different, delicious meals! One of the restaurants had these adorable little slides lining their walls as accent lighting for the dark hallway. As a photographer, I definitely appreciated it. Also, I channeled my inner Belieber and snapped this perfect Sorry neon. Not sorry. When it came time to leave, we explored a fancy little consignment store--I fought the urge to buy the poodle.

I hope to visit again, Eagle Inn!

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On the way back home, we decided to stop and have a picnic in Malibu. I wanted to see what this El Matador Beach was all about, and it was amazing.

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Whew! What an adventure. The Malibu portion will make its way into an upcoming adventure video. Until then... Here are just a few more iPhone photos-- I got the Iris lens series from Photojojo for X-mas from my love, one of which includes a macro lens! Here it is in action:

I got my inner graphic designer on and edited a few pics for fun:

I got to rock my birthday crown(!!!), took the pups on a beautifully-lit walk, got a thumbs-up from a wall, and got pumped up for Photo Field Trip 2016...

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And then, my last two photos of the year: a look back at the most popular Instagram posts, and New Year's Eve! What a year!