All posts are better with an image! Here is an image taken with my Iphone and processed with Shake it. A beautiful San Francisco scene!

Death is always sad no matter what age. In fact I’m not on talking terms with the Grim Reaper. He has came and taken from me, too soon too quick many loved ones in the past couple of years.

It was Christmas day when I got the news that a friend/brother/ex coworker had been taken abruptly from this world. All I could think was “but I was just joking with him a couple of days ago via Facebook”. I was in shock.

And then I thought of his wife who had lost a husband, and worse his children who had lost a dad.

The rest of my thoughts came jumbled, but all I could think was WHY. Why on Christmas? No one deserves to have the Grim Repear break down their door on Christmas day. That’s the day a jolly old fat man is supposed to climb down your chimney bringing joy & cheer- but it wasn’t he who appeared.

David was many things: a wonderful son, brother, nephew,cousin, husband, father, and soldier. To name a very few. And each person he met will remember him in their own way.

Here is my way:

Ten plus years ago he came into my life. He was this crazy kid that had started working with us at San Jose Live. He was a friend’s little brother. Soon enough he became like a brother to me, always joking, giving me a hard time, stealing my food and running over if any guy not in the “circle” talked to me too long.  We all grew up like everyone tends to do. He met a beautiful hearted woman who became the love of his life, he got married, had children joined the service and moved- alot! Throughout the years we always kept in touch and he never stopped teasing me about everything and nothing. I will always remember David this way and am thankful he came into my life.

The below images are images were taken with a heavy heart, still in shock at the loss of my friend. Not too close because it might become real. My shutter sounding as loud as eachgunshot that went off to honor David, because I was not the only one silenced by shock.

How do you say goodbye? I don’t I say until we meet again my friend.

As they did the day he was laid to rest I leave you with a song that  in one moment went from a Bugs Bunny silly cartoon tune to a difficult goodbye.

Taps

RIP

SSG David H. Gutierrez 8/16/74 to 12/25/09

**If you knew David,please feel free to share to share a quick story about him with me in the comments section. If you leave a comment for his wife, kids, mother or sister I will be sure to forward the note.**

Woof Woof greetings from JakeRyan who is anxiously awaiting spending time with my nephews this weekend!

I’ve been asked this on numerous occasions. It’s true sometimes when you take something you love to do and turn it into a job you can become “over it” fast.

I personally have kept my love of photography by always taking time to shoot for myself. When I shoot for myself I don’t worry if it will be a perfect shot, or if “they will love it” or if it will get chosen for an album/card/canvas or anything else. When I shoot for myself I shoot to please ONLY myself .. and if anyone else likes it then that’s cool too. When I shoot for myself I shoot with whatever camera is handy and don’t worry about the “professional quality” of it. This goes for all my Iphone images (not the best resolution ever -but they capture images that mean something to me), my various Polaroid cameras (although they are quite often requested by clients) and mostly I say this for my Holga camera.

It looks a bit umm “ghetto” .. but seriously it’s my FAVORITE camera!

and as such the Dreamy images it produces are often my favorite and are the images I love to share here on what once started as “film friday” but turned into “film friday on saturday.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy taking them!

The following images were taken in July at a street festival in downtown Campbell, CA. If you are the owner of one of these beautiful images and would like a complimentary copy please drop me a note (info@marianamaya.com).

*these images have only been altered by the reproduction of the scan and the addition of a watermark. I hope to print these in the dark room soon…

So if you’ve turned your love/passion/hobby into a job maintain the love for it by remembering to set aside some time to do it for YOURSELF! because in the end YOU are the only one that matters to YOU!

I would like to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to get to know them through my viewfinder and let me invade their personal space. I know sometimes my images are a bit Up close & personal.

Happy New Year!!!!

and remember if you plan on partying like a Rockstar…

Don’t Drink & Drive!! Call a friend or take public transportation.