The Most Legendary Landmark in Dwntwn

Well, you can’t even see it in this shot, but the Freedom Tower encapsulates 85 years of Miami history. You can’t say that about too many structures still standing in the dwntwn area.

Currently, this guillotine is still on display just outside the Freedom Tower, apparently for the awareness of past torture methods used by… yea, I really have no idea why this random guillotine is out there. But I was asked to take a shot of it for a last minute assignment a couple months ago. Came out pretty well, but I made sure to keep my distance. :p

A Therapeutic Occurrence.

I feel that in order to accurately represent Miami from a visually standpoint, everything has to be exposed. You might be surprised to hear this, but there’s more to this city than just the damn skyline and south beach, seriously! I can’t name one major city that does not contain an unusually vast homeless population, can you?

I was able to take photos regarding a cover story for the college paper; this article spoke on the topic of homelessness around campus. But what’s truly unique about this scenario is who I was able to meet: a Miami native who is simply down on his luck. In dwntwn, exactly one block from where I reside, you will find 43-year-old Jorge Valdivieso, husband and father of 2 kids [son, 8 and daughter, 5]. This man lost his job just 2 months ago and is now living on the streets.

Jorge’s situation is so complex because despite his circumstances, he still has a family to attend to. He explained to me the actions he’s taking to make sure his wife and children are secure and not without shelter. One of those ideal methods is how he attracts pedestrians for money.

This is How You Hustle!

Jorge has managed to sculpt a serious hustle game with these roses he creates from plants [It's like a plant of a plant o_0] It’s seems to be quite the money-maker; Just within the ten minutes I spent with him, he must have made at least 10 bucks! I asked what got him into this ‘artform’ and he replied:

” There’s this Jamaican guy I met on the streets that told me ‘Look mahn, you learn how to make these plant-flowers, you’ll never go hungry mahn.’ “

It’s when I take really meaningful photos like this that teaches me to be as open-minded as possible. Even more, it teaches me to become increasingly grateful towards the fortunate lifestyle that I live. As Jorge’s story portrays, nothing is guaranteed in life [our stable job, our warming home, not even our existence]. This is a point that we need to recollect more often.

How Was it Done?

Ahh, so I had to use the partial monochrome method, once again. It was necessary for this shot because I want you to closely focus on Jorge and his flowers as opposed to everything else going on in the frame.

1. I kept the original photo in color and used the Photoshop Quick Selection tool to outline Jorge’s body and the flowers.

2. Once that is done, I right-clicked on what I outlined and selected ‘Inverse Selection’ which will outline everything but what I selected initially [I hope you're not confused already]

3. Here’s where I call for the CS4 plug-in Silver Efex Pro to convert the selection to monochrome, leaving Jorge and the flowers in color because it was not within the selection scope.

This Is Not An HDRI! Really, I promise, this is not a high dynamic range image. I used another plug-in by Nik Software called Color Efex Pro, which has a abundance of presets that can give your image the HDRI look. I may use this technique more often because it’s a bit faster yet just as effective as Photomatix.

I telll ya, if I got a nickel each time I heard that statement… well I’d still be broke, but the point is that I’ve heard it quite a few times. c;

This is one of several sculptures scattered around the Miami Dade College Wolfson campus in downtown Miami. It’s directly across the street from where I reside so I’m there all the time for images. It’s simply referred to as the “X” and it’s an common meet-up spot for many of the students.

What this location is mostly known for though is attracting musicians. Don’t ask how it has come about, it just is. I always see bands and spectators in the area, relaxing, more than likely waiting for their next class to begin. So with that, I felt it was necessary to get some musicians in the frame, creating a true representation of what the “X” is all about.

These guys were real cool and didn’t mind me taking the photo. Actually to be honest, I don’t even think they realized I was even there; they were mad focused on their tunes. 0_O

So What’s Next?

Another hdri image from the construction site I visited the other week. I’ve still got a couple more to share with you from that assignment, which was a great experience. Or maybe next I’ll share with you a shot I got of the American Airlines Arena just after the SOS Haiti Concert ended. I’m not really sure yet. =\

Oh Sheeeiit ➡ The Fans Playground

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Image Detail.

I’m not really too hung up on horizontal images, as my current portfolio suggests. But sometimes its just unavoidable. =/ View the larger size of the image; the smaller size looks so disgusting. Bigger is better.

While at Bayside Marketplace, across the street from where I reside in dwntwn Miami, I caught a shot of the lonely carousel to which I rarely see in action. When it’s in business, there are never kids riding on it. The carousel operator seems to treat it like an iPod, turning it on  just so the music plays, hoping to entice the kids that walk right past it every time] How embarrassing.

I kept debating whether to post this photo as color or monochrome. Then I came across a Photoshop plug-in that I used for the first time. Silver Efex Pro is the sheeeiit! It gives the photographer more options to play with lighting and structure within black-and-white shots! I really love it and I may just have to take more monochrome images from now on because of it.

Happy ’10! >_<