What I'm up to this week.

So this week I'm shooting for the local magazine publication "Palm Springs Life" and thought I would share a few photos I took of the runway show after my initial assignment (photographing guests as they enter for the show).  I've photographed a couple of other fashion shows before  but this one is on a much larger scale as it is the annual Palm Springs Life Fashion Week on El Paseo.  I didn't have to stay for the show but who could resist the opportunity.  I'm in the midst of processing other photos including a wedding I recently photographed (I can't wait to share some of those!) but I'll have runway photos posted for each day that I attend in the events gallery soon enough.  Take care!

Work Life -vs- Personal Life

Yesterday, I went mountain biking for the first time in a really long time. Something I've been promising my brother I would do once I got a bicycle helmet (The last time I really rode bicycles, there weren't bicycle helmets). Well, my cousin visited last month and was nice enough to purchase a helmet and left it for me. You would think that for my first time we would go for a nice easy ride. Yeah right. The climb up was painful. I thought I was going to pass out, throw-up, and or have a heart attack... several times. The ride down, painful, but only because I crashed into a bush that happened to be on the ground. I'm not really complaining though. I had fun and while I probably walked most of the time, I spent that time with my brother. Something that I take for granted. It's always work work work and now I've realized that work is just something you do to pay the bills. What is important is the time you spend with your friends and loved one's. If only I realized that eight and a half years ago, I may have not devoted as much time to my job as I had.

After my ride, I took some time to help my friend, Richard Byford of Byway Entertainment, out and take some photos of him for a website he is working on. Richard has been making a large effort to show that even in the event industry, they can do their part to help the environment. It was nice spending time with him and catching up on things. Richard is a very hard worker and you would never believe how, eh hem, how old (or young?) he is. Sadly, as hard as he works, I don't feel that he gives himself enough "Richard" time and I wish I could get him to realize that it's ok to put the phone down after normal work hours, sit down, grab a drink and relax for a few hours. The work will be there tomorrow.

sigh...

I know, It's been over a month. I'm currently going through some personal troubles (don't worry, Monica and I are just fine and still happily engaged).

After eight and a half years and countless hours of sacrificing my free time, sleeping on the office floor to get the job done, coming up with ways to save money, and working closely with clients on both small and large projects, I was laid off from The Show Factory, Inc., where I ran the lighting department, due to the bad economy and complete lack of work. I was told that they would possibly bring me back in October depending if work picks up for them.

In the mean time, I have been neglecting my photography while I try and figure out what the next step in life is. I still take photos whenever possible and have a couple of galleries on the Palm Springs Metromix website from the past month and a half.

The back story...

I've been a Lighting Designer for almost 15 years now having started back in high school when I joined with Stage Crew.

Originally, I was an aspiring photo journalist and had even become the high school's youngest Photo Editor, taking the position in my freshman year (the position was usually reserved for seniors). I had really gotten into photography and obtained my first SLR, a Pentax K1000 and a few lenses. I had no direction and no real idea to what I was doing other than understanding how to get a good exposure.

One day, I was asked to sign a piece of paper by the art department head, Mr. Lopez, who was the Stage Crew advisor. Little did I know, by signing that paper, the course of my life changed dramatically. I had instantly become an officer of the Stage Crew club. I was intensely involved from that point on. I typically handled audio for sporting event but in the theater, I was responsible for lighting events and productions. I taught myself through reading by observing the occasional proffesional that came through and just having a natural understanding of lighting. I was drawn to how controling the light for a play or musical could evoke emotion or create the mood for the scene. I became passionate about lighting. What a happy day to discover I could make a living playing with light!

So after much research and traveling to colleges in the North East, I ended up in the South East where I attended the then called "North Carolina School of the Arts" (now called The University of North Carolina School of the Arts). I could not have been happier. For four years, I studied Design and Production for theater, specializing in Lighting Design. My freshman year my love for lighting was cemented in a simple dance solo for the all school production of Brigadoon. The lighting that was done to highten the emotion of the solo (which was a dance for mourning) just struck me in such a way that connected with me.

Fast forward to today. I left the theater and NYC in 2001 to try my hand in the corporate world. It, for a time, allowed me creative freedom with a little more budget and a good learning experience. After 8 years and a few cycles of different types of production work, we've mostly been doing rock and roll. The acts have been getting bigger and typically, the bigger acts have bring their own designers. This leaves me with the simple job of providing the requested parts, hanging up in the air and twiddling my thumbs on the side lines ready to pounce if there is a problem. Boring.

Last year I fell in love with photography all over again. I purchased my Canon 40D and never looked back. This time I'm armed with my design training and a greater appreciation of light. I'm also continuosly learning something new everyday so it keeps photography fresh for me. Last night I attended a seminar, Digital Wakeup Call with photographer David Ziser (check out his Digital Pro Talk Blog ). I found it to be very insightful and educational. There were a lot of "a huh" moments for me and I would recommend the seminar to anyone (both pro and ameture). My head was spinning with ideas the entire one and a half hour drive home.

One of his suggestions was to blog and to blog often. So I'm going to make more of an effort to do so. Today's post was just to give my audience a little back story to how I ended up here with "IMAGES BY DeMEGLIO". While I've made some posts in the past, I'm still unsure of what I'm doing.

Send me a comment or email me. I want to hear from you, What do you want to know? What will you find interesting about me? Do you want to know what I'm working on these days?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Anthony