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Gata Galáctica recently came down from Portland this past weekend & I was stoked to see them play live at Gold Diggers in East Hollywood! If you've never heard their music, definitely check them out. They're the grooviest contemporary Latin-influenced psychedelic band out right now, whose music is very reminiscent of some of my fav chicha sounds out of 1960s South America. Bandcamp Friday is coming up this week, so consider supporting them directly & buying their music! Or, at least give them a follow on their Bandcamp or Instagram! It's FREE. 😉 I also got to grab a copy of a 7" they recently pressed — ON COLORED VINYL! 😻 Do you get their art reference below? 😎  I'm also feeling incredibly lucky that they let me photograph their set! I know they had so many photographers hit them up, so I'm glad that they let me of all people. Considering that they're a psychedelic band, I didn't want to make just any regular photos of them. So, I got a little experimental with the compositions & tried some things I'd never done outside of a studio setting. I used a new speedlight (flash) I just bought recently, a slow shutter speed & incorporated rigorous movement into the photos, like shaking the camera & zooming the lens in & out while the flash froze the colored lights during the longer exposure time. Not all the photos came out perfect, but that wasn't the goal. I wanted to let go of control a bit & see what the light was capable of painting into the compositions themselves. It was fun getting to play, & what better time to get experimental than with photos for a psychedelic band, I guess? 😅 Photos below were created with a Nikon ZF, a 24-120mm lens, a fractal filter, & a Godox Ving V860III. Click to enlarge & view from a computer for the full experience!   
  
 
 
   
 
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Last week I got to see Dark Chisme with a very dear friend. This night was so fun & every band gave such an energetic performance. They were all so good & matched each others' energy very well. I think the best part of this gig in particular was how very POC-forward, especially WOC-led, the line-up was. In a music subgenre that has historically been overwhelmingly white, it was awesome to experience such a diverse group. This is honestly one of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles. Shoutout to the organisers who put the night together, the homegirl Selene for inviting me, & huge thanks for Christine & E of Dark Chisme for approving me for a photo pass to do photography at the show. I'm looking foward to doing more events like this in the future! Here's some of my favorite compositions from Dark Chisme's set! Since the performance was so energetic, I had fun playing with a slow shutter speed in some comps. Photos were created with a Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens. For the whole set of photos from the night (including Spike Hellis & Meldamore), visit the tag: Lastly, I am trying to hustle my photo work full-time. If you are in need of photography services, please visit my commercial photo website & book a consultation for events, portraiture or lifestyle photography!
Two of my absolute fav compositions from the whole set. The way the light was hitting Christine was perfection. 🤌🏽 
   
  
 If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts. This was my first time seeing Spike Hellis & their set was part music performance & part art installation. I appreciated the extra bells & whistles, like the old CRT TVs playing misc video footage, as well as the surveillance camera, netting & other sculptural elements around the DJ booth. The lighting was sometimes too dark or a bit intense at times, but it allowed me to do more than just documentation. I was also able to create very artsy-looking compositions that I feel pair well with the overall aesthetic & vibe conveyed in their performance. Photos were created with a Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens. For the whole set of photos from the night (including Dark Chisme & Meldamor), visit the tag: Lastly, I am trying to hustle my photo work full-time. If you are in need of photography services, please visit my commercial photo website & book a consultation for events, portraiture or lifestyle photography!
These two are some of my fav compositions from the set. I know it's not very clear what's happening or visible, but but I love the shapes & lines the lights are making.
More of my favs!
 
  
    This one is probably my fav out of the whole set. Even tho the figure may not exactly be clear, there's something truly celestial about the way the light is hitting, with a light in the back drawing attention to the surveillance camera & this idea of being watched from a greater being from above.
The last two weren't sharp, LOL. But I still wanted to include them! There's something painterly about the image on the left & the way the light is creating various layers of colors. And I converted the one of the right to B&W to create a very Xerox-style looking image that looks like it came out of a DIY zine. If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts. We arrived a little later & just caught Pride Month Barbie at the end of the set. So, I didn't get any photos of them, unfortunately! But we got to enjoy a full set by Meldamor. It was my first time hearing them & the whole time I kept thinking "The dummer looks like Dave Parley" — it turns out it was! 😅 I had no idea he'd left Prayers & started a music project with his wife. Her towering figure paired with commanding stage presence made a very memorable performance & was a great introduction to the band. I'm obsessed! Below are a few of my fav compositions from the show. I created a mix of both B&W and color versions. I was really trying to go for an oldschool aesthetic edit, reminiscent of old DIY band photography. Let me know in the comments if you prefer the color or B&W photos! Photos were created with a Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens. No flash in these, because I didn't want to ruin the ambience. I really loved a lot of the shapes & color palettes the lighting was creating, too! For the whole set of photos from the night (including Dark Chisme & Spike Hellis), visit the tag: Lastly, I am trying to hustle my photo work full-time. If you are in need of photography services, please visit my commercial photo website & book a consultation for events, portraiture or lifestyle photography!   
  
If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts. Sharing more of the extended research & photography of my month long ARROZidency artist-in-residence. If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience! As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags: For my main residency project only, visit: For the full extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit: It was Sunday, February 2, 2025. The rain was making its way through San Francisco & I had a ticket to the Asian Art Museum's free admission day. The rain was coming down & I remember being on the phone with my partner in the morning, asking him if I should still go, because it was raining & I wanted to be cozy. 😅 He encouraged me to go, because I may never get another chance to experience this again. I got dressed & had a short bike ride over to the museum from my sublet in Nob Hill. I was hoping that even though it was the free admission day, that not many people would be there because it was raining. I was sadly mistaken, haha! It was a bit too crowded for my taste, too noisy, I had a hard time navigating the galleries, some of the galleries were closed for installation, & from what I did get to see, I wasn't really impressed with the exhibitions. However, the main thing I wanted to experience at the museum was the lion dance performance. Having experienced my first lion dance performance just the year prior, I wanted to relive that electrifying feeling again. While the program was sadly so unorganized, the performance itself was so much fun to experience. At this time, having just left LA for this residency as the fires were erupting, I wanted to bring back some good fortune and cast off any lingering bad energy before returning to LA. 🐍 I hope everyone is feeling the energy of rebirth and renewal as we all finish shedding our skin from the year of the wood snake. Now, as we enter the year of the fire horse, I wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year, Tết, and Seollal! Fun fact: I was born in the year of the horse (in the 1900s)! The horse is known for being strong, independent & anti-authoritarian by nature. May we all channel our big fire horse energy this year as we dream of a future where authority & hierarchies no longer exist. ❤️🔥🐎 Shout out LionDanceME for their high-energy performance! Here's some photos of their performance from last year. Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens. Click any image below to enlarge.
  
  
    
     
 Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.
Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs. If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. |
NICA AQUINOIn this space I'll share digital photography, digital previews of my film photography, updates on new artworks in progress, upcoming programs, inspiration & my other misc interests. Archives
August 2026
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