I haven’t tried the camera but it seems to be fully working. I still have a 100 hundred year old camera to test, so I don’t think I will be playing with this new camera any time soon. But be sure I will post the pictures I take with it once I used it.

A couple of pictures from our new family member.

Images used on this post are copyright of Calvin Dexter. In case you want to use them, please ask me first.

Thanks to the Internet I have listened to music, watched movies, made friends, bought and sold things, met people, learned lots of things, played games, wasted huge amounts of time, watched tutorials about Photoshop and Illustrator and so many other things.

Now that I think about it, I have taken a lot from the Internet. And I believe it is time for me to give something back. Just a few days ago I uploaded a couple of my images to the website SXC, which is basically an alternative for expensive stock photography. According to their creators, SXC was born as a site where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work. That means that you can download images for free and use them for free in your projects. Yes, they are royalty free images.

Head over to my Profile page on SXC to download my latest and totally royalty free images.

There are some rules, of course. In my case, you can use my images in your projects and all I ask in return is that you notify me that you will use one of my images and that you credit me as the author of the picture being used.

For now I have uploaded only 2 images and they have already been downloaded more than 30 times. Not bad for such a humble start. I will upload more, for sure. And any feedback will be deeply appreciated. You might even ask me for some images to be uploaded if you want and I will try to do my best to get them and give them for free.

These are (for now) the 2 imagers available as royalty free pictures on my gallery at SXC site. Download them and use them in your design projects if you like them. They are free!

You can see my profile and royalty free images over at SXC site by clicking HERE.

Anyway, it is a Fujifilm Instax Mini 50s. I love this camera. Since the day I first saw it I knew I wanted to have it. And I do have it now.

I believe I will have lots of fun taking pictures with it.

My girlfriend is taking a look at the book I bought for her this Xmas. It’s that super cool book from The New York Times that is all about photography and photographers talking about the pictures they took for the publication. Amazing book.

FUN is and american indie pop rock band based in New York and formed by Nate Ruess (lead vocals), Andrew Dost (vocals, piano, guitars and keyboards among others) and Jack Antonoff (guitars and trumpet).

They are cool, extremely cool and their music is so fresh and great that you hate yourself for not having listened to these guys for the last year over and over again.

Well, I have. When I listened to FUN some months ago I couldn’t stop listening to their album “Aim and Ignite”, specially the song “Walking the Dog”. I love that song and the music video they did for it. You should watch it right now if you haven’t already.

Next year, on February 21st they will release their new album called “Some Nights” and I really can’t wait. You can listen to a song from that album called “One Foot” already on their Facebook Page.

But if you really want to fall in love with these guys, please do not miss the song they sing along with Janelle Monáe called “We Are Young”. Listen to the acoustic version and you will be amazed. And you might ended up like me, listening the same song the whole day. I’m serious. I have listened to this song more than 70 times already today. And I actually found out about the song today. Nate Ruess is just out of this world in this song and Janelle is stunning next to Nate.

Do you see now why I would love to work with these guys and do a photo shooting with them? Just look at them… they look like really nice people and it must be really fun to work with them. I can see the images we would get. They would be so cool and fresh. I hate myself for not living in New York and not knowing personally Nate, Andrew and Jack.

As I usually say, who knows… maybe someday I have them in front of my camera getting ready for a fun photo shooting.

Now do yourself a favor and listen to these two songs:

Warning: If you listen to the song on this next clip you will fall in love with it and you won’t be able to stop listening to it. You have been warned!

More info on FUN music band:

 Fun Official website

 Facebook Page

All the images on this post were taken from Fun. Facebook Page and from their music videos, so they are Copyright of their respective authors. I wish I was the author of all this images but I’m not.

In the meantime, I go to the Mediterranean coast, just next to Barcelona, and I work there trying to get a nice light and a nice summer feeling.

All images on this post are © Copyright of Calvin Dexter. 

Actually, when I look at it I feel this image doesn’t belong to my “portfolio” for not being too much edited. But it is indeed. It’s just that I edited in a way so the editing wasn’t so evident.

When I do this, it always makes me think about the movie Forrest Gump by Robert Zemeckis. It contains lots of special effects, but they are a part of the story and not so evident, but they are there, for sure. Sometimes, I try to do that with my images.

This image on this post has lots of layers of work, but I think they are, in a way, hiding behind the image as a whole.

I shouldn’t need to say this, but the image on this post is Copyright of Calvin Dexter and if you use it without my permission I will kick your fat ass.

We had a really nice natural light and it was about 2pm, so the sun was like a huge light bulb shining strong for us. I love when that happens.

We didn’t go far from my house and we had such a wonderful day. It really doesn’t look like winter on the images, but it was. The light was awesome and I’m really thankful for that. After months of not doing any shooting (I’ve been pretty busy with other projects), it was really nice to hold the camera again and start shooting like a maniac.

Some of the images I’ve edited so far…

All the images on this post are copyright of Calvin Dexter. Do not use them without asking me first, please.

I don’t mind to share some of my tricks and techniques, but there is no way I will share all my secrets about editing. I think we all have to keep something for ourselves so our images with have that personal touch.

Today I was editing an image from a recent shooting. And I was listening to one of my favorite singers: Eric Hutchinson.

This guy is awesome. Not only does he sing great, but he seems like a really nice guy. I love his music and every time I listen to his songs, I know the work I’m doing will look nice.

So there goes one of my secrets for editing. Listen to some cool music. Music that can really inspire you and make you wanna create something really worth watching. Eric Hutchinson inspires me and pushes me to become a better photographer and retoucher.

This is the image I have been working on the whole afternoon.

And this is Eric Hutchinson’s new song that I have been listening over and over again for the whole day. I just love it. I wouldn’t have done a good work if it wasn’t for this guy.

Get to know great Eric Hutchinson better over at his OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

Lovely colors, wonderful light… This music video has it all.

I have seen “For the first time” music video, directed by Charles Mehling, a thousand times and still don’t get that analogue and retro/vintage feel the video oozes. How on earth Charles Mehling or the editors got it? I don’t know, but I will find out.

Look at those wonderful color leaks on the left.

The quality of the saturation and blur effects are simply top-notch.

I have no idea whether the video was shot using digital or film cameras. But what I do know is that it looks absolutely beautiful. I’m talking about the “story” scenes the video has, of course.

They show a strong desaturation, some blurring and some color leaks here and there. There seems to be a big presence of yellow and green color also, which creates an excellent balance between warm and cold colors that I really want to get. I think it’s the first time that I see warm and cold colors working so well together in the same image.

If this isn’t a perfect balance between warm and cold colors, then nothing is.

The light is also beautiful. Take a good look at the end of the video, when the guy arrives home and the girl is waiting at the stairs. Look at that light. Don’t you think it’s gorgeous? Fuck yeah it is.

I’m absolutely in love with the light used at the end of the music video, the one shown on the scene where the girl is sitting on the stairs.

You can see more of Charles Mehling’s works over at the Bikini Films company site.

And now, If you haven’t yet, please watch The Script’s “For the first time” music video in HD glory: