Goodbye 2007

As it is in my life, the sun rises and sets over my beautiful wife. So it would seem fitting that my last image that I post for 07 is of her. We were on a walk in the neighborhood and I was playing around with my new Nikon D300. We stopped in front of a large hedge that had white Christmas lights all throughout. Donna walked by as I shot using a slow shutter speed creating a series of surreal images. This is my favorite.

We wish everyone a blessed 2008.

Happy Holidays 2007

O-Tay!

For those of you who like to expose yourself to Pulitzer Prize caliber journalism… check out my photo in the November 12th issue of OK Weekly Magazine. It’s the one with Tom-Kat on the cover!!! Page 85 features the shot I took of Joel Madden and JC Chasez at the Guitar Hero III launch party at Best Buy back in October.

Tjade

It’s always fun to shoot musicians. On Tuesday night Donna and I were at the The Aqua Lounge in Beverly Hills to see my good friend Marabina Jaimes’ band, Tjade. Their sound of jazz and latin fusion had everyone on their feet by the end of the night. Marabina’s infectious stage presence and the bands' smooth sound is impossible to catch on film so I highly recommend you visit their site and seek out an upcoming show.



Tjade Latin Jazz Ensemble

Holiday Sale '07

On Sunday December 9th from 12-5pm, Eiko Battle and I will be hosting a holiday sale at Makespace Gallery in Downtown LA. Eiko will be showing her line of hand made fine jewelry and I will be showing my line of clothing for toddlers and kids as well as canvas tote bags with hand printed designs.

The Makespace Gallery has plenty of street parking and ample structure parking just next door. The Gallery entrance is in the driveway to the right.

Hope to see you there. If you have questions, give us a call.
Vince Gonzales: 323.707.7789
Eiko Battle: 310.600.1568
See the map below for location.


View Larger Map

Plastic Fantastic

A few months ago I shot stills for a Nip/Tuck segment that will appear Tuesday on FX. What you’ll see in the end is our two favorite plastic surgeons featured in a parody opening title fending off models and paparazzi on the red carpet. The talented director Paul Westergard created this piece at ka-chew! studios using the images I shot to create final animation with a paper cut-out feel.

The first two images are frames from the final segment. The last image is a sample of the raw shots I took in front of a green screen. This was an exciting project for me and the first time my work appeared on a popular network show. Check it out, the episode airs Tuesday December 4th, 10pm on the FX Channel.

Genius Horrendous

Congratulations to our good friend Gav who just launched his blog HORRENDOUS FIASCO. Not only is he an all around great guy, he's also a wicked talented artist and animator. Take a look and wish him well. Tell him Vince sent you.


http://hfiasco.blogspot.com

Wrinkles

I got a great response from all the pictures I took at the Pup Casso shoot a few weeks back at Doggie Styles. Usually from these events I get drawn to one image of a dog that inspires me to create new art. In this particular case it was Wrinkles the pug. In the shot below you see Wrinkles on a bare floor with leash trailing out of frame and an earnest expression in his eyes. I wanted to take it a step forward, extend the leash out and play on all the negative space around him.


In the end Wrinkles looked more graphic and the leash almost makes him look like he’s tethered in space.


My final concept was to put this on a bag and make full use of the big square space on the tote. Let’s hope Wrinkles approves.

Santa Paws

Mike and Eva who own Doggie Styles hosted a “Pictures with Santa” day offering their customers an opportunity for their favorite pooch to take a snapshot with the big man in red. Overall everyone had a good time and I was able to capture some great memories for the pet owners. Just like when you photograph children with Santa, there was some crying, some snarling and a few accidents on the floor. The best part was by the end of the day we raised over $1000 for Jill Blackstone’s Thumping Tails Animal Rescue. Check out their website (http://www.thumpingtails.org/Home.html) if you are looking to adopt, want to foster or even just give a little donation. They do amazing work.



Thanks again to Doggie Styles for putting this all together, all the volunteers at Thumping Tails for keeping everything moving along, Vaughn for enduring a day of dogs in a Santa suit and Donna for being my pillar.

Write On!

Donna dug in the Writer Strike trenches today joining her good friend Christopher Painter. The pair were a force to be reckoned with especially since
Donna was sporting the custom made “Write On” t-shirt.



The art was Inspired by Donna’s spirit of protest. I photographed the “W” from our old 1932 Underwood typewriter and letters are not a font but actual type from it.


Good luck writers!

Viva Realidad!

This week I shot publicity stills for VH1’s upcoming reality show “Viva Hollywood.” The idea is that contestants live in a house together and vie to become the next Telenovella star. On the day I shot, show hosts Maria Conchita Alonso and Carlos Ponce welcomed Daisey Fuentes as a guest judge. The three posed for me in great dramatic style.



Below, contestants keep their eye on the prize.

USC School of Cinematic Arts, 2008 Catalogue

The USC School of Cinematic Arts Spring Catalogue for 2008 features on the cover photographs I took from the Herb Farmer collection at the Moving Picture Archive. Included are three front lenses from antique motion picture cameras and a Super 8 film reel. The reel actually belongs to me and is part of my Grandfathers' collection of home movies. It's nice to see something so personal in print.

Halloween 07

By Vince & Tammie

Joanie Loves... Exercise!

This past Sunday I shot publicity stills for VH1’s upcoming new season of “Celebrity Fit Club”. Having watched Erin Moran on TV since I was a kid and then to photograph her was a trippy experience. Erin and the rest of the cast were very warm and made the shoot totally fun. Here are a few.

Show Judge, Sgt. Harvey Walden

Dawn Robinson from En Vogue

Erin Moran

Party at... Best Buy?

Last Saturday I shot the launch party for Guitar Hero III at the Best Buy store in West LA. They turned the whole roof into a giant party that attracted a wide variety of celebs. The party wrapped up with the band Poison (yes, Poisen) playing to a very enthusiatic crowd.

Guitar God, Slash

Rikki Rockett of Poison

Missy Peregrym from the show "Reaper"

DJ Ashba from the band Sixx A.M. and Playmate Tiffany Holiday

Brett Michaels thinks to himeself... I still got it.

Tony & Mikki

Congratulations. We wish you a happy, healthy, rock'n'roll future together.

-Vince & Donna

Palm Desert

Donna and I took a few days off earlier this month for some much needed RR in the Palm Desert area with a day trip into Joshua Tree. Despite the intense sand storms and high winds that eventually contributed to the fires, we had a great time. The desert for me has always been a refreshing mix of rugged landscapes, resilient life and fresh air. Here a few snapshots.

Palm Springs: Dry

Joshua Tree: Not as dry

A Local

Karley's New Bag

Even pound puppies can be famous. Check out the new Karley canvas tote bag. Click the link below:
VINPET | shop

My Master, The Disaster website launch.

See Sue and Buster on their very own website featuring a very funny short I co-directed. Congrats to Sue and Jaimie and thanks for the props! Hope to work with you guys again soon providing Buster keeps his ego in check.



Click the link below to see the brand new My Master, The Disaster site:

www.mymasterthedisaster.com

Pup-Casso

To view the slide show of the PupCasso event site, click below:
VINPET Gallery | Pup-Casso

School of Cinematic Arts on the Tech Art USPTO Exhibit

To see the page on the USC SCA site, click below:
USC School of Cinematic Arts Announcements

To see the page on the USPTO site, click below:
Tech Art | United States Patend and Trademark Office

Tech Art Opens at the USPTO

To see the page on the web page, click below:

Tech Art | United States Patend and Trademark Office

The 10th.

On September 13th Donna and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary. I post this entry in honor of my beautiful wife. We spent the day in San Juan Capistrano via train.

Diamond and Pink Saphire Mile-Stones

The Flowers

At the Mission

Our Ride Home

Vas Defrans

Shot a band a last Friday called Vas Defrans at the Knitting Factory here in Hollywood. High energy, great stage presence and powerful sound. I look forward to hearing and seeing more. Rock Lives!

Tech Art Goes to Washington

It’s official! A.M.P.A.S.’ Science and Technology Council will be taking my photo series, "Tech Art" to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Museum in Washington D.C. at the end of September.

Two new images that I shot recently will be included in the show and will join the 34 prints shown at last year’s Reception. Here is a sneak preview of the new additions:

The Sci-Tech council asked if I could get a clean image of a Maltese Cross for their ongoing research and education. This important bit of engineering is the critical mechanism that puts the motion in motion picture. Thanks to Herb Farmer at USC’s Moving Picture Archive for allowing me access to this piece.

Maltese Cross

Alan Heim, a collector of rare editing equipment and all around great guy, invited me to his home to shoot some of his collection. This odd film splicer reminded me of the 60’s “Rat Fink” style gear shifters found on muscle cars. The Robot II actually won a Technical Achievement Oscar in 1952 and some claim that it is the fastest film splicer in the world. Who knew?

Robot II

I’m very, VERY excited about this exhibit. More updates as I get them.

Dog Blog

This is a first for me. I’ve been getting a great response from the pictures I took at the Frenchie Soiree at Doggie Styles last month. In all the time I’ve been shooting pets, I’ve never had a response from the animal, until now. Tank, a French Bulldog, who was in attendance at the soiree has his own blog! I’m not kidding. I’m now very glad I was nice to Tank as he gave me a good review of my work. To see the rest of Tank’s thoughts in cyberspace, click the link below:

http://tankthedog.blogspot.com



Hey Tank, thanks for your kind words. Let’s party sometime. Good boy.

Bus-Star

Buster, the star of the upcoming “Buster’s World” webasodes is seen here on set in a custom VINPIX “Fire Plug” doggie tee. To get one just like Buster, click the link below:

VINPET | Shop

French Connection

Once again, my weekend went to the dogs. Last Sunday Eva and Mike, who own Doggie Styles in Beverly Hills threw a customer appreciation event entitled, "The Frenchie Soiree." Their preferred customers who own French Bulldogs were invited to hang out and let their critters have a play date. After a few hours of watching a dozen dogs playing, our faces were sore from laughing.

To see all the photos from the afternoon, click on the link below:
http://vinpet.com/Vinpet%20Gallery.html

Harry’s 1st Birthday

Harry Andrews celebrated his first birthday this past weekend with friends and family. For our gift I printed him up a custom DJ*PJ shirt.
His Mom, Patty who recently took up spinning wax on the turntables was the inspiration for me creating this graphic.

Happy Birthday Mr. Andrews

To purchase the DJ*PJ greeting card, click the link below:
http://www.cafepress.com/v66.149847685