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I spent yesterday rolling around Sacramento with Adam Saake from VHCLE. They’re an online magazine covering design that will appeal to anyone who loves good writing, creativity, or art.
So where did I go? What did I shoot? What do the images look like? Well that’s the thing, I wish I could tell you. I’m not sure I can’t exactly, but I don’t want to chance it. Adam is doing a write-up on a Sacramento day trip and I shot photos for 5 locations around the downtown area. I’m still working on getting the images to him, which will hopefully be done tomorrow, but until the article goes up I don’t want to say too much. I just had a pretty good time getting it done and I will throw up some images from it this coming week!
I’m an animal lover. To my core I love animals. I love the young puppies and kittens, the old dogs on porches, the old cats who sleep 23 hours a day. I love them all. I’m still waiting with bated breath for the day that I get to shoot a wedding with some hardcore animal lovers who somehow incorporate their pets into the proceedings. I just can’t get enough of our four-legged friends. With that in mind, today was a little bittersweet.
I told Kellie that this year I would get her a new cat for her birthday/Christmas present. Granted, both of those are in December, but I knew that if I got the okay on this from Rayleen (who owns this house and all the furniture which may or may not be damaged by a cat) that she wouldn’t want to wait. So today we went to the Sacramento SPCA to look at cats. They were ALL cute. All of them. But, being a dog man myself, I was able to resist the urge to take them all home a lot more than Kellie was. Since it was her gift I wanted her to pick one up I knew I had to be there to keep her from taking them all.
We walked through both cat areas for a good long while looking for a cat that meet all of our criteria. Eventually, we were able to narrow it down to a few candidates and while Kellie was looking at the last few to decide between them I took a walk across the hall to the dog area. It may be a little…emotional, but by the time I walked out of the dog area I was almost tearing up. I couldn’t take much more of seeing such wonderful animals in these scary places just waiting for someone who would take them home and love them. I wanted them all, but alas, I was there for just one cat, not a dog. If you were waiting to read why today was bittersweet, that was it. I wish I could help them all but it’s just not realistic. I do what I can, when I can. Today, I know I made a difference in the life of one cat.
We decided to spend some time with a cat named Patches. They took her from her private room and put her with us in a much bigger room where she could roam and crawl around on some cat posts. She was four years old and had been at the shelter for just under a month. Right away she was loud, she was cuddly, she loved to be held, and she was very friendly. Once Kellie picked Patches up and I saw how big her smile was I knew our search was over.
So, tonight, we welcomed a new baby into our home. Welcome, Patches England. We’ve been waiting for you.
Lastly, if you’re wondering what my title is about, check out this video. I must warn you though, it’s damn cute, and damn funny. 
Okay, this post really has nothing to do with Reading Rainbow. Just reading.
Also, this post has almost nothing to do with photography. This is just a, “get to know the photographer/blogger” sort of post.
Reading has been very important to me throughout my life. I always did really well in school and it wasn’t until I got a bit older that I started to believe my success was based in my early love of reading. I still remember when I got my first comic book. It was, of course, an X-Men comic that I picked up at a KB Toy Store. Old school, I know, KB isn’t even around anymore as far as I know, but that specific issue is still in my collection. What’s that? A whole collection? That’s right. I haven’t counted them (and probably never will) but it has to be easily in the thousands by now. One of my previous posts was about my attempt to organize my beloved issues and just having to see them all made me really confront how many I have and how quickly I’m going to run out of room to house them. What’s that you say? Put them in the garage? Perish the thought! No, I will not. The heat and cold would do far too much damage.
I fear I’m getting very far away from the point of this whole post. Forgive me…
So, reading. Yes. It’s very important. I had the idea to write about this after posting on a discussion over at 20 Something Bloggers. Through an extremely unfair conversion of events I was just FORCED to try to list my top 5 books of all time. Let me get this out of the way: this is impossible. Really, just unacceptably impossible. Besides the fact that this list could change constantly since I’m reading multiple magazines (currently Esquire and Runner’s World), books (just finished Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk) and various manga/comics (rereading X-Force and The Gentleman’s Alliance Cross vol 5) I would be hard pressed to choose among all the things I have ever read. But hard pressed I was, and the list was made. Sort of.
1. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I seem to read it every year and I can’t put it down EVERY TIME.
2. X-Men. I know, I’m breaking the general rule, but I love it so much. Especially when written by Joss Whedon or Brian Michael Bendis.
3. The Harry Potter series. I don’t think I have to explain anything further here.
4. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
5. I’m trying so hard to come up with a solid #5 and I can’t do it. I guess this is just an open slot!
I’m sure you’ll hear more about my love affair with reading later. As I said, the reading never stops.
Hello Internet!
This is a safe place for me. This is a place for me to tell you about the journey I will now take. I suppose, as with most good stories, I’ll start from the beginning:
My name is Angel Lopez. I earned in a degree in photography from Sacramento State University in 2006. At the time I had a vague idea of the life I wanted to live and while I could not put into words what I wanted to do I knew that it involved photography. Since graduating I’ve started working for the state while working on my craft. To be perfectly honest, I have a lot of reservations about starting a photography business. While I have had some amazing moments meeting people and being a part of their amazing wedding day I can’t help but think of all the possible downfalls. Sure, it’s a risk, especially in this economy. There are long hours whenever someone starts their own business. In addition, while I did very well in the photography program during college I neglected to take anything in the way of business so there is an entire world of information for me to learn on my own. But then I think of the best moments. Of being there on that special day. Of seeing the joy captured forever in a single image. I think of being pushed as far as my creative mind will take me to perform in front of people knowing that the pressure is on. I think of all these things and feel energized and inspired.
So, with that in mind, here I am. I have seen too many people give up their dreams in my lifetime. I will not become one of them. I will plan this out and do my best to prepare for this journey. I will call on my friends, some of them amazing photographers themselves, for inspiration and guidance. I will also reach out to local photographers who inspire me in the hopes that I can meet some amazing new people along the way. I will do my best through all of this and push myself further then I’ve ever had to before. This is how dreams become reality. Wish me luck.
Member!
