Shark City Shooter: A Photo Blog by Carla Carrasco

I'm a photographer, artist, and musician born and raised in San Jose, CA. Currently dwelling in Austin, TX.

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Downtown Austin views from my work’s downtown office. Still split between Edit 1 and Edit 2.

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And, of course, cliche airport/flight photos.

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We didn’t end up doing anything exciting during my visit, but all I wanted is to spend time with family. A month ago I didn’t even know if I’d get to see them again this year. Things do have a way of working out, don’t they?

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It’s time to head home for a bit. We’ve got a triple Scorpio birthday going down, and I’ve got gifts to give.

I brought along my new Canon G9 X Mark II because I don’t want to photograph my family with a phone. They’re too good for that business.

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Oh man, it is time. I’ve decided to retire my paint palette of the past decade or so. It’s an 11″ x 14″ mat board for photos, and I’ve used it as my palette ever since I started painting. It’s a topographical map of my acrylic projects. After I finished painting my guitar pedal board and a small mini painting, I got it to a good color combo I was happy with. The dark blue paint, burgundy, and gold came from a sign painting project that was super tedious, and I didn’t want those strong colors to be the final layer. I’m certainly not parting with it and will frame it in a shadowbox to keep. I already have another palette to use and it’s one of those that comes with a lid that keeps paint fresh for a few days. We’ll see if it works. It’s also supposed to be “peelable” so any dried paint came come right off. I’m just hoping to not get dust in my paint.  Thank you for your service, friend.

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I’ve been working on a bunch of art and photo stuff most of the weekend. It was either delivering photos from a shoot, or photographing products, or editing the product photos - it was just a lot going on. (Also: I don’t know how other people do it when it comes to photographing things with their phone. I have a good phone camera and I *still* don’t recommend it.) While I was waiting for my towels to dry, I decided to make a mini painting for my friend, since it’s his birthday season. This also very selfishly gives me a way to test out how to ship a piece of artwork and hooooping it makes it to its destination okay. Making mini paintings seems like a fun idea and I may even put some in my shop once it opens. I’m still waiting on some packing supplies and need to do some more administrative tasks, but I’d say I’m on schedule.

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My Mint Momiji doll came in! I had been wanting one of these for a while, and when this series came out, I went for it. These little dolls are hand painted and collectible, meant to be displayed, but her place will be on my desk for the time being.

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In the spirit of taking more photos, I wanted to show you the mini chess set my friend Julie gave me for Christmas. And she made it with her laser cutter! The little chess board also serves as a pouch, with a drawstring threading through holes on the perimeter. I’m excited to play on this set with a worthy adversary. I also think this is my first actual chess set I’ve owned. (I’d always play on someone else’s.) Yay!

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I was given a light box for Christmas so I decided to test it out. It came with some backgrounds and I tried the red one, which is kind of ambitious (could’ve just started with the white one, but noooo). Personally, I’ve always thought that photography should document things as they are and should be mobile and hand held. The idea of a “photography studio” has always irked me because I felt there was a dishonesty about it. As a result, I never invested in studio lights, backdrops, or any things I felt were ultimately unnecessary. (Any studio photographer will counter these points with their own, but everyone has their preferences.) Now with this light box, I’m trying to see how far I can push it without having to get any other peripherals. I have a few portable tools which I intend to exhaust. And then there’s the biggest asset of them all: natural light. So here’s my first try. And I used the following: lightbox with red backdrop, dimly lit room, hotshoe flash on DSLR, and Lightroom to even out those wrinkles. As you can see, there are still shadows. (Maybe a bulbous Yoshi is the best test model of them all!) The goal is to make those shadows go away.

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It may have started a couple of months ago, when I was doing my usual Instagram browsing and realized that there were a lot of cute, colorful enamel pins out there. A lot of what I had seen prior was heavy on the gold or silver, one-off pieces, and they didn’t stand out to me, so I didn’t think much of them. Today I was excited because I could finally meet the vendors and see the pins in person. I was stoked to hear Luella would have a table, as the “Introvert” heart pin I had wanted was previously sold out, along with a couple others. I also wouldn’t have to wait for it in the mail. In my haul were more pins from the Pink Samurai (Caticorn pin), Tiny Deer Studio (fox pin), Negamidas (Ghost Trap pin), Felt Good Co. (Officer Big Mac pin), and LuxCups Creative (Dinosaur pin). And let’s not forget a coffee & cinnamon-scented bar of soap from Moore Soap.

My new pins now live on my handy dandy corkboard so I can look at them whenever I want and wear them as the mood strikes. I’m really hoping more vendor meet-ups like this happen in this area soon. Thank you all for taking the time to chat and letting me take your pictures. It was so nice to meet you all. See you soon! **URL’s in the photo captions!**

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Today I went over to the Burlap Bag (Austin, TX) to check out the Fourth Annual Etsy Craft Party. This year it had a focus on pins and other accessories, so it was dubbed “Flair Fest.” If you follow independent artists on Instagram, you may have seen people showcase their enamel pin collections. They’re fancy, durable, and more accessible than ever now. I roamed around the shop and got to talk to different vendors, ask about their processes, and learned a lot along the way. And everyone was so nice! I was expecting to really just shop and go, but it was a fun environment and I even got involved in some activities. They had a station where I could make my own little brooch, which fell apart because I shoved it in my pocket before the glue could dry, and I even made a mini nail polish. Oh, and the main reason I was there? I needed pins! Pt. II coming soon..

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It took a few years, but I finally got around to developing a roll of film I had sitting in a Lomo Fisheye camera. A lot were test shots, but I like how these came out. These are big animals taken outside a pediatric dental building in NorthWest Austin. Year unknown.

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There were a lot of booths with really colorful and quirky art, which I love. I bought some sweet stickers, which I’ve already plastered onto my sketchbook for inspiration, and I’m really wanting to buy more.

I’ve included links to these artists within the captions of the photos, so please check them out if you like their work!

The wait for STAPLE! 2017 begins!

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Every year I look forward to the STAPLE! Expo in Austin. It’s a cool event where all sorts of artists gather and sell their zines, comics, prints, and all sorts of original art. The event also takes advantage of its location at the Marchesa Hall to host panels in the theater. I love seeing other peoples’ work and I always leave with some goodies and a good amount of optimism and inspiration. For someone who likes to keep to herself, one of my favorite things about Staple! is talking to the artists behind the booths. I’m always surprised at how open people are to talk about their work and to even have their picture taken. It reminds me that there are people out there who like to do the same things I do, who have the same kind of energy in their minds and express it through their chosen media.

:Captions and links visible when clicking through the images:

..Part II Coming up..

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On New Year’s Day I met up with friends for lunch, and I finally got to meet their baby boy, Valentine. Val was being super cooperative for a baby so I snapped a short series of photos.

This was one of them.

It was the only one I processed in black and white because it just seemed so timeless.

I can only hope I unearth a picture like this of me and my mom.

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Part II of Castle Hill on Christmas

These are some of the less psychedelic shots from Christmas day. Even if you don’t try and make sense of the art and scribbles, the colors alone are worth the visit. There were people there doing the usual photo shoots, peeps on the top level creating their art, others pretending to know how to handle a spray can, and other people just hanging out and looking around. Not a bad way to spend time after a trip to the bookstore, with a 20-oz. iced coffee waiting in the cup holder of your vehicle.

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I’ve been needing to reacquaint with my DSLR. Everything else has been happening except that, so I went down to Castle Hill to check out the latest. A lot of the cool art was scribbled on, but I was able to find some neat things to shoot. I also got stuck in the mud. Let’s not talk about it anymore. Part II coming soon.