photography by wasim.

Category: Adventures

Be Ready Be Real.

So I found myself unexpectedly in the middle of a joint exercise in restraint, being ready and being personable.

It was on Saturday, I was scheduled to work an event. I was supposed to be capturing video and photos of the owner of racing company as he participated in a drifting demo at the Xtreme Autofest in Los Angeles, but unfortunately, he was unable to show up, so I found myself at a street racing and modified car auto show, with an all access pass, my camera gear, and, well, quite frankly, enough stimulation to keep many people happy all day, but for some reason, I just wasn’t feeling it. A huge part of me was saying “take pictures…it doesn’t matter of none of this is really doing much for you…TAKE PICTURES!!!,” but then another part of me was saying, “well, why force it?” So I didn’t. I simply walked around, and enjoyed a free day at the festival, eating barbecue, scoping out cars, watching the drift demo, snapped a few shots there, saw a train of at least 35 tricked out Impalas roll around the grounds…was very pleasant, and didn’t really think about photos even though I had the camera strapped around my being all day for 9 hours. So 6 o’clock rolls around…and at a time when most would tell themselves to stick around because the sun is falling, and the light is getting better, and this is when the good stuff happens, something inside kept telling me to leave. Usually, I’d brush it off and give into convention, but this time, for some reason, I unapologetically told myself, “screw it, I’m leaving!”

I was planning on going directly to my parents home an hour south to spend the next day, Mothers Day, with the familia. So I got in my car, and started driving. I rolled into Temecula about 40 minutes before the sun was going to dip behind the valley hills and disappear, so figured I’d drive around for a bit, with no expectations, and see if anything caught my eye…and boy did it…I came across a blueberry farm on a street that was once closed to traffic, and just as I turned the corner, I saw the light falling on it…pink, orange, pastel blue skies, it was gorgeously inviting. So I pulled onto the farm, no one was around, jumped out of my car, and started snapping shots. The tractor, the fence, the barn, the horses…I got there right in time.

A man came out of the farm house and seemed a bit irritated, explaining to me that “We’re closed. We re-open on Thursday. I don’t have liability insurance on you until then.” I tried to tell him that I just saw the sun setting, the beautiful farm, didn’t know they were closed, and couldn’t resist really. He said something along the lines of “you should have at least asked.” And I know he’s right, but with 20 minutes left of light and trying to find angles and shots, that’s where most of my mind was. I was torn at the moment between trying to be nice and cordial while knowing full well my attention was on nothing but the shots I could be getting while I was talking to him, so I started pointing things out and genuinely showing my excitement at the light and the opportunities.

So as I was trying to explain myself, my eye kept drifting to what the light was dropping on, knowing right well that there were only a few minutes left of this…my attention darted from the light bouncing off the horse tails, the fence, the barn, the gravel, and back to him, trying to explain that I didn’t know they were closed and that I profusely apologized for being there after hours, but that I was ‘chasing the light.’ It was then that it hit me…he’s just standing there feeling like I don’t care, and most of the words he was telling me were going in one ear and out the other…and that was completely disrespectful to him. That”s when the photographer in me stopped for a moment, and the human in me woke up.

I slowed my roll, walked over to him, looked into the farmer’s eyes and apologized again, and I saw him release a bit of tension when he saw that I was genuine for the first time since he came out and saw me trespassing on his property. I took a moment to show him a couple of the images on my camera, and he stepped back a bit and said, ‘Wow, that’s actually pretty nice. Is this what you do for work?’ I told him I did, in various conventions, make my living (if you’ll call it that) in photography and photography related work. That’s when he took a few steps back, sat down off to the side on a tree stump, and then just watched me, letting me do my thing. I think there was a moment there that he knew that I meant absolutely no disrespect, and realized my intentions were quite the opposite…to do my best to capture the beauty that they built here at the Temecula Berry Farm.

I couldn’t have been there for more than 30 minutes or so, but walked away with a few images I was pretty happy with. 9 hours at the fair, nothing. 30 minutes on the farm…boom!

I gave him my card, told him I’d gladly send him the photos, he appreciated that and we went about our separate ways.

So that was my exercise in being ready, being real, and paying attention to the gut.

Now just need to practice it more…

May 15, 2013
Jerky!?

OK, doesn’t get too much more bizarre than this bit of serendipity…so within a period of 12 hours yesterday, I was contacted by two separate, completely independent of each other, beef jerky companies, to use one of my images for various purposes. What the hell are the chances!? Beef jerky!? One was a local small independent company making gluten-free beef jerky that’s looking to use one of my Topanga Canyon images for their label, which I could NOT be more excited about, and the other is actually one of the larger corporations and they’re doing some sort of sweepstakes with the National Park Service, so I’m pretty excited about that one as well. Now comes the (UN) fun part of negotiating some sort of terms with them…the business end of it all. One has already offered to purchase it, so that’s easy and good, the other, well, the other…is gonna take some fishing. We’ll see how it goes… (more…)

May 9, 2013
That Yurt. Oh, That Yurt!

The Malibu Yurt. Wasim Muklashy Photography

I almost didn’t do it, but I’m sooooo glad I did.

So every now and then, I shoot photos for Airbnb.com, the vacation rental website where people can rent out their unused spaces for extra income. Sometimes it’s a guest house, sometimes it’s a room in a house, sometimes it’s a tent on a roof of a house. Luckily, since I’m in Topanga Canyon, my radius of 30 miles for assignments covers some of the most ridiculous places ever. I live in a 600 square foot shack of a house, but the hills around me are surrounded by Malibu, Pacific Palisades, that sort of thing…so you don’t have to work your imagination too hard to understand what exists in these parts.

Anyhow, this time, my assignment was a yurt on a property in the middle of the Santa Monica Mountains. It was described as a ‘yurt on an organic farm.’ Intrigued…so I accepted this gig. It’s our responsibility as photographers to reach out to the property owner to set up and schedule a shoot, so when I reached out to the woman who’s property this was, she invited me to spend the night in the yurt and cook breakfast for me in the morning. Now this is the first time something like this has happened, and at first I thought she was just doing it to be nice and there’s no way I could take her up on the offer, but she kept insisting. I figured I’d never been in a yurt, I may never have an opportunity like this again, so said screw it, let’s do this thing. Drove out to the property late last night, made it around 9pm, and walked into the thing and I was insanely surprised. I could live in this thing. It was like a round studio apartment with bamboo flooring. Read a little, passed out, not knowing what to expect as I hadn’t met the owners yet.

I woke up at 8am to a call telling me breakfast would be ready in 15 minutes, so I hurried down, washed up a bit, and walked up to the main house. This property was incredible. In the middle of a gorgeous canyon with an ocean view and chickens and roosters and plants and trees and that sort of beautiful madness. I ran into her husband on the way up, a nice fella who introduced himself on his way out and told me to head up to the house for breakfast. We chatted for a bit, he was interested in that I was a photographer because he’s a well-accomplished Director of Photography on big films, told me his wife was a photographer, and sent me on my way.

I went up into the house, and there she was…a lovely woman pouring me a cup of coffee with freshly baked scones, and eggs prepared that were just picked this morning from the coop out back. She set up on the deck overlooking the ocean and sat me down and fed me and we chatted and and chatted and chatted. I felt like I was on vacation. She had written two photography books, both based in Africa around eco-resorts and structures and sustainable practices in Africa, long before any of these were even buzz words. Anyhow, after we finished a nice hour long breakfast, I figured it was time to…well…work?

So I headed down, she offered herself as an assistant and told me to boss her around, which I felt weird about, so didn’t, but I went about the next 4 hours or so photographing her two rental units, the yurt being one of them, and another room in the main house that overlooks the canyon and the ocean. I was wrapping up and getting ready to go when she told me to head back upstairs and just relax on the deck…I had worked hard enough she said. I couldn’t do it. But again, she insisted, so I sat on the deck, she brought out a salad for lunch, and fed me yet again. We chatted about similar interests, everything from publishing, to photography and ate.

After lunch, it was finally time to leave. The wonderful part was, and it took me all day to accept this, that I wasn’t imposing…she actually wanted to do this. This was who she was. And I left happy to know that that exists. I hadn’t felt that sort of hospitality…perhaps…ever. And here was a complete stranger letting me into her life in such a beautiful way, without expecting anything in return other than mutual respect.

She vowed to be in touch, offered me the yurt whenever I wanted so long no one was renting it, and off I went.

I do not remember the last time a day like this happened, and I am so grateful for meeting her and taking the chance and heading out there and everything the day brought with it. It was incredible and throughout it all, there were so many moments where I would normally have just left or felt uncomfortable, but that moment never happened today. It just came, and then disappeared, and I was grateful throughout the entire process. And it felt good.

Basically, I had a genuinely good day, and that is something I have needed for a much longer time than I’d like to admit.

Anyhow, if you’re ever in the Los Angeles area, and are looking for a place to stay, use Airbnb, search for yurt in Malibu, and make sure the host is Bibi.

You will not regret it.

Guaranteed.

Today…

. …was a good day…

Malibu, California. Wasim Muklashy Photography

April 17, 2013
Twice In One Week!?? Yosemite You Gone Done Spoiled Me!!

a slice of yosemite layer cake. Yosemite National Park, California. Wasim Muklashy Photography

TWICE IN ONE WEEK! This is crazy exciting for me on the inside…so earlier in the week one of my favorite photography podcasts picked one of my images to critique. That was my oak tree image that I was using to bring attention to the non-native borer that is threatening to rid california of all of its oaks. It was featured on the April 1 episode of the Digital Photo Experience podcast and that blew my mind.

Well, earlier today, I was sitting here editing photos for work, listening to another of my favorite photography podcasts, this one is the April 5 episode of Frederick Van Johnson’s ‘This Week In Photo,’ and all of a sudden, at about the 51:04 mark, I hear my name (butchered, but they gave it a good effort) when they announce their first ever photo critique on the show. They picked my image ‘a slice of yosemite layer cake,’ and they dug it. They had professional photographer guests Jeffrey Totaro & “Fro Knows Photo” Jared Polin all give their thoughts, and it was all positive. Frederick went so far as to say that he could see the image printed large and framed on a wall with a nice light. I mean, I can’t think of a higher compliment.

I know it may sound like I’m boasting or whatever, but I’m not. I’m just genuinely hyped. Please understand, this is the first time in my life that I’m doing something that I actually feel I’m supposed to be doing. Like everything I’ve done before has been leading me to that thing that just feels right and it’s starting to come together that way, and at age (almost) 36, that’s pretty damn exciting for me. While the next steps once, very recently, felt ridiculously daunting, they’re all of a sudden starting to feel exciting and encouraging instead.

It’s always been an ultimate goal to help people that need it and be able to lend my skills to try to help make things even a little bit better than they are for those in unfortunate situations and regions and areas in life, and I feel that I’m getting closer to a point where that can become a reality. Using the skills I’ve honed over the past 15 years – video, writing, publishing, and photography – and somehow bringing it all together into something that actually makes some sort of a difference. I don’t know exactly where and what this is going to lead me, but for the first time in perhaps, well, ever, I feel like at least a path, albeit a rocky one, is being laid out in front of me. So long as I don’t think about it too much and just keep paying attention to doing what I feel is right in the moment – right now – perhaps, perhaps, the rest will sort itself out.

There I go thinking about it too much again. Ah hell.

April 6, 2013
looks can be deceiving

Ok…so this is not my usual forte, but when this shows up in your yard, how can you not snap a few (hundred).
Enjoy the slideshow…don’t say I didn’t warn you…

April 4, 2013
DP Experience

So I’m kind of hyped. The new episode of one of my favorite photography podcasts was released today, and every week they choose a few photo posts from their Google Plus community and talk about and critique the photos. This week, they chose one of mine, the second time that’s happened, and I couldn’t be happier about which one…it’s the oak tree from the earlier post about Malibu Creek State Park and the borer that’s threatening California’s oaks. Any attention I can bring to that I’m happy about…it would be an incredible tragedy if we lose those iconic oaks.
Anyhow, check out the podcast, it’s called Digital Photo Experience (http://dpexperience.com) and it’s hosted by two extremely well-respected names in the photography industry, Rick Sammon and Juan Pons. If you download it, I highly recommend listening to it all, it’s the April 1 episode, but if you just want to skip to the photo critiques, they start with mine at the 1:02:45 mark.

April 2, 2013
Pines to Palms

So spent Easter with the family. Was really nice. We don’t get together all that often, and decided this time we’d take a day trip and just kinda cruise around. Headed to Idyllwild up in the Anza Borega Mountains (I think…), had some coffee and beef jerky (don’t ask…my love for the stuff got revived in Yosemite earlier in the month), then headed through the mountain range along the Pines to Palms Highway just south of Mount San Jacinto. After a crazy Jurassic landscape drive through mad boulders and twisty madness along the Pines to Palms Highway , it threw us out into Palm Desert, where we continued into Palm Springs and ended up at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. (more…)

April 1, 2013
Beware The Borer!

So after all that, they didn’t even remember to have us present our projects…but that didn’t stop me from moving with it. Not because I felt I needed to prove anything but because I truly want to do what I can to help out the park system. Budget woes are apparent all over, but that’s driving the passion of the volunteers, myself included, to make sure people are aware of the parks and these public spaces. They’re frickin’ insanely beautiful and they’ve basically saved my sanity and I know that anyone that shows up will feel the same. It just does that. So I created a Google Plus page for the Malibu Creek State Park Docent program, started posting to it, and plan on getting it going. So if anyone’s reading this and is on Google Plus, add us to your circles. If you’re not on Google Plus, well, you should be…just sayin’. (more…)

March 24, 2013
Working Better Under Pressure – A Malibu Creek State Park Docent Story

It’s strange how my life has turned into a series of photo taking and processing. Sure, not getting paid for all of it, so can’t really call myself a true professional, but all of my income is coming from this stuff, which is actually kind of…eh…neat. For the first time in my life, I’m actually feeling like I’m doing something I’m supposed to be doing. 36 hot damn years old and now I’m figuring this out?

Anyway, woke up with the intention of spending all day today working on editing the Megan Racing videos and processing those photographs so I can get a paycheck before rent-time creeps up in a hurry, but remembered that my docent project is due tomorrow at the final interpretation I’m required to go to as a new Malibu Creek State Park docent. (more…)

March 23, 2013
at the end of the tunnel.

So started a new gig this week. It’s just a part-time thing, and I’ve only been there 3 days, but I must admit, it’s kinda nice to be doing something robotic that I know how to do and an competent in. I’m the new photo editor for a boutique-home rental website, so basically editing and sizing photos of rich people houses around the world. Does nothing for my extreme wanderlust other than add locations to the list, but perhaps it’s getting me closer to that goal of making a career of traveling and making photos and telling stories. Who knows.

Cool crew, cool location in the hills of Topanga, the hours and everything about it are extremely flexible, the bosses are avid travelers and artists and have made a life and career of it, and from what I can tell so far, super cool and down to earth, so can’t complain. (more…)

March 22, 2013