Writing | Orange County Photographer, Jeff Sipper

Category Archives: Writing

Waiting around on 5th Ave., NYC

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Girl smoking on 5th Ave. in New York City-Photograph by Jeff Sipper

Oh hey there. I guess I should update this thing more than every couple months. I was really on a roll for awhile, and then sort of hit a road block and never got around to writing more. Since I last posted, not a ton has happened. We’ve done a little traveling, once to Vegas and once to Arizona to visit the inlaws at Christmas.

This year is shaping up to be another traveling year, as we have my sister in law’s wedding next week in Arizona, my cousin’s wedding in Oahu in August, another wedding in Vegas right after we get back from Oahu. Not that I’m complaining. Not one bit. I like to travel. I like getting on a plane in one place and a few hours later I’m in somewhere completely different. I always wonder about people that don’t travel. I think it’s a pretty boring existence to never see new places, or just be too afraid to leave their house for whatever reason.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have started our descent. In preparation for landing, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins. Please turn off all electronic devices until we are safely parked at the gate.”

Hearing this on the return leg of a trip always puts me into and instant depression. It’s just a gentle reminder that the adventure I just had is quickly coming to an end and it’s back to the real world of my day to day existence. Not that there is anything wrong with it, it’s just never as fun as exploring new places and seeing new things.

The pic up top was taken on our trip to NYC last year. I found it interesting that most people were so distracted on the street that they never even knew you were taking their picture. If this was Orange County (and let’s be honest-no one walks here) you’d get the beat down, or at least get yelled at for even pointing a camera in someone’s direction. It’s a strange place, Orange County…. strange, indeed.

It’s baseball season and I live in a house divided.

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I spent the first dozen or so years of my life as a Dodger fan. Even though I grew up in Buena Park, close to Angel Stadium, my dad was a Dodger fan, so I became a Dodger fan. Nothing was (and still is) better than listening to Vin Scully call a game on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I knew who all the players were each year and what positions they played. I had my baseball glove autographed by Mike Scioscia, Jay Johnstone, and “The Bulldog”, Orel Hershiser. I only remember going to a handful of games at Dodger Stadium, but I always remember getting a couple Dodger dogs and a Kula Koo, back when they still sold them there.

About the time I was 14 or 15, I realized that I lived close to Angel Stadium and should probably become and Angel fan. It was about the same time the O’Malley family sold the Dodgers to Rupert Murdoch of Fox, and I just couldn’t get behind a guy like that owning a baseball team, so the switch was an easy one. I can’t say it was easy being an Angel fan in the 90′s. They pretty much sucked. They sucked so bad that you could even roll up to the Stadium when they were playing the Red Sox or Yankees and get tickets 5 minutes before game time. Dark days, my friends. Dark. Days.

Flash forward to 1999 when I meet Dana. Things were going great until she mentioned she was a Yankee fan. Ack! Not the Yankees… anyone but them! I do have to respect it. At least she’s been an Yankee fan since birth, and not some bandwagoner that half follows the team because Jeter has a nice ass, or A-rod has sexy eyes, or some crap like that.

Ya see, the Angels don’t have any real rivalries, so Angel fans need someone to hate on. Logically it could be Oakland, or even the Dodgers. But, really, when was the last time either of those were must see television? Everyone hates the Yankees. Well… everyone, except Yankee fans.

I can understand it. The Yankees have more World Series wins and more history than any other team. They are always in contention, and who doesn’t love a winner? “Scoreboard”, as the kids like to say.

And this is where Dana and I stand. A stalemate of fandom. She loves the Yankees. I love the Angels. To her credit, she does take a lot of crap from my Halo loving family whenever the Yankees do lose. Plus, she pretends to be an Angel fan, as long as they aren’t playing the Yankees. Or so she says.

It could be worse… She could be a Giants fan!

Spring check-in…

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According to the calendar, spring is here. With temps in the 40′s when I leave for work in the morning, I’m having a hard time believing it.

It seems I’ve neglected this blog since late last year. Not that I haven’t thought about it. I guess I’ve been in hibernation mode. Still having a hard time getting motivated to get out there and do things. I have been back on the bike, weather permitting. Did a 37 mile ride a couple weeks ago, and hoping to get out tomorrow if the roads stay dry. I started back running again, and realized I still hate running. I look at it as a, somewhat, necessary evil. I can get out for 30-45 minutes, run for about 3 miles and feel like I’ve exercised for the day. It’s just not that enjoyable.

I’m not sure it’s been a real productive winter otherwise. I did get a picture printed in Orange Coast magazine, which I thought was pretty cool. I’ve been shooting a little for the OC Daily Photo Blog that I contribute too. I have a few locations in Orange I still want to check out and shoot, just need to time and energy to get out and do it.

The pic above was taking the other day in the parking lot at home.

San Francisco and the first 10000 pictures

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San Francisco, San Francisco rain, San Francisco photography

I find it somewhat odd that when I lived in San Francisco, while going to school, I never really shot pictures for fun. Maybe it was because I was too busy with school work to wander around the city. Maybe it’s because is was 15 years ago, pre-digital, and every frame I snapped, cost me money I didn’t really have as a student. Now, especially with digital, I shoot a lot more. A LOT! Most for fun, some for jobs.

Cartier-Bresson once said, “the first 10,000 photos are always your worst.” This may have been true back in the film days where you waited patiently for scenes to unfold, waiting for the light to be right, waiting for that decisive moment to snap the shutter. Today with digital, I’d be more apt to say the first 100k pictures are always your worst. Easily the first 100k. As much as I try not to spray and pray, and really plan out my shots. I, too, am guilty of just aiming, squeezing the shutter, and seeing what happens.

As a result of this, my keeper pics are way down in comparison to what I actually shoot. And even those aren’t always the best. I think I’ve decided on working on a new project for the next year. As, most of you know, I shoot a day a week for the OC Daily Photo Blog. Some weeks I get a chance to go out and shoot stuff, and some weeks I phone it in, literally, with pics taken with my cell phone. What I’m going to try, for the next year is to shoot only within the confines of the City of Orange. I live here, always see cool stuff to shoot, but never really make an effort to capture it. We’ll see how far I get into it this next year. I figure, if I plan to shoot, it will happen. Wait, and capture.

The picture up top was taken in San Francisco the first week of December. Dana and I had just been to SFMOMA to see the Cartier-Bresson show, and I was somewhat inspired. It also helped that the rain at night made for really cool reflections. I took this while waiting for a light to change, looking up California Street.

Getting Started…

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From the time I was a kid it seems one of my biggest problems was finishing things. I’d get started on a project, and somewhere during the process I’d lose interest. I’d occasionally finish, but not often. Most times I’d abandon whatever it was I was working on, and dive head first into the next thing. It was a vicious cycle ranging from guitar class in college to art school, itself.

Lately it seems the opposite is true. I’ve figured out how to focus my energy and complete projects when they needed to be done. I’ve gotten a lot better at breaking big things down to small pieces, and celebrating the tiny victories when I finish them. My problem the past year or so has been starting things.

Case in point, it’s taken me about 3 weeks of this blog post rattling around inside my head for me to get motivated and finally bust the laptop open at 6:30 in the morning and start typing. As I type this, I have two other blog posts with titles, and maybe a sentence or two in my drafts folder. I get the ideas, write them down quick, and never get started on the actual post. I have ideas for finally writing down a lot of my stories from college, and the experience I had living in San Francisco for a couple years. I just never seem to get all the jumbled thoughts out of my head and onto paper, or more likely, in this thing.

I’ve been trying to get out and ride my bike for months now. It used to be no problem for me to get out and knock off 50-60 miles on a Saturday. Now, I’m so far out of riding shape that 30 miles feels like 100! I’ve even gone so far as to set up my bike in my garage to get short rides in after work, or in the morning. That was about 2 weeks ago. Have I been on it yet? Nope.

The same goes for photography. I look around the internet, mostly on Tumblr, (which is a great source for inspiration) and I see a lot of ideas for the type of photography I’d eventually like getting into. Expanding our business from just the weddings and portraits into more commercial editorial stuff. But getting that work takes a new portfolio of work, and once again, not sure how or why I can’t get that started. It’s all very frustrating.

Do other people have this type of problem? Am I just distracted? Where is my motivation in all of this? Have I been running full speed non-stop for too long and just burnt out?

Who knows?

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