Hidden Chinatown : A Photobook

A while ago I went back up to San Francisco to shoot some new images and meet with friends. I shot a number of series on different topics and locations all around the city, this book is about one of those topics. Chinatown is one of my favorite places to photograph and look at all the tiny details in the streets, storefronts and the way people go about their day. As a filmmaker details are very important to me and I like to visit stimulating places and notice the little things other miss as they rush by on their way to work or hunting for a Starbucks. San Francisco's Chinatown is one of my favorite places to just walk and think to get new ideas for films and other projects. Check it out if you ever go to San Francisco.

Meredith Revisited

These shots are a few years old, but they're some of my favorites. Every so often I offline a disc or two and go through the photos to see if there was anything that didn't get published the first time through. I came across a few of these shots and I have no idea why I didn't use them the first time?

Hey... it's me!

A friend of mine commented on how there aren't any photos of me online (unless you are in my Facebook circle). So I decided to finally post one. This is actually my press photo that I use whenever someone asks for a photo of me. Like most filmmakers I'd rather be behind the camera than in front of it.

NORTHSOUTH a photobook.

Last month I went out to Joshua Tree with my friend/model/LA Celeb Jackie Cooper. I've been getting burnt out on digital work and wanted to shoot something sort of primal and raw. All the images were taken on a Holga Camera with FujiPro400 film. The Holga is a tricky camera because it's not twin lens reflex so you can't see your focus. You sort of have to best guess where your focus is and hope for the best when you get your film developed. (It definitely makes you appreciate the little LCD screen in the back of your digital camera). There was also no shutter settings, it has a fixed shutter of about 1/100th of a second. So there was no way to set exposure. Needless to say, I loved this shoot. Old school.

Ask for it at Hennessy + Ingalls! They'll say, "Never heard of it."

Fire Walk with Me

In my last post I mentioned I had been working on a few new photo-series that would be photography and notes sort of like a lite version of a National Geographic photojournalism article (which incidentally I thought would be one of the world's greatest jobs as a kid). So here's one of those little series I shot last spring on a beach in Los Angeles.

Surf

S U R F E R S
I've been working on these photos for a while. I think they're kinda cool. I usually don't photograph subjects like this, but I was toying with the idea of creating a blog where I take photos and write a little something about them (sort of like a photojournalism National Geographic blog), but ultimately dropped that idea due to the fact that I have a number of other larger projects on my plate right now and I don't really have the free time for another. However I think I will be slowly posting photos from that concept here over time as I develop them.

Microfilms on YouTube...

I recently shot the first in a new series of "Microfilms" (meaning extremely short, shorts that are about 1min each) and they are now online. You can watch them in HD on my homepage, www.christopherdesantis.com or click the YouTube links below to check them out here.

San Francisco Panoramma

Last fall I was up in San Francisco taking some new photos for a about a month. These were some of the more interesting images. Once again I can't escape my love of Panoramic imagery or my desire to see the world in widescreen. Also check out the funny little inner city mushrooms on the last image. They can be found down between Chinatown and the Financial District.

STUART NG BOOKS : A Hidden Gem of a Bookstore

A few years ago my brother was showing me where he gets a lot of his rare and hard to find art books. Things that you won't find anywhere else and the kind of books that really help with creative inspiration and blue sky thinking. That place is Stuart Ng Books.

If you live in Los Angeles and are interested in animation or contemporary illustrative art... this is the place to go. Many great artists and illustrators have passed through Stuart's shop and many of them leave their mark with one of a kind sketchbooks and compilations that you simply can't get anywhere else. Numerous Pixar artist create one of a kind printed compliations and original story work that are inspiring and fun to flip through and are the kind of work that you will never find anywhere else. Some of my favortie things to look though there are the rare and private sketchbooks by Chris Sanders (The creator of Lilo and Stitch) and Mike Mignola (Creator of Hellboy) as well as countless other tomes of conceptual art and design. If you are an artist or work in the industry you should definitely run down to Torrance on a Saturday and check out his shop. Trust me... once you go you'll want to come back every so often to see what he has in stock next!

http://www.stuartngbooks.com