1st Post: Old Photos

I'm taking part of a blog challenge and today is the official start date! If anyone is interested in participating please email me the link to your blog and it will be added to Awesome Blogs. There's no prizes but I've nomitated Jess & Jeremy to host a "blogparty" at the end of the challenge lol!

So here's my first official post for the challenge. These photographs were taken about a year ago at Boo's Warehouse in downtown Phoenix. A huge group of photographers (AZ Strobists) got together that day and we all shot at the same location.

"Mr. Pants" - A gentlemen who happened to be on location when we were shooting. I don't know his real name but he introduced himself as Mr. Pants.



"Pregnant Jeza" - My cousin Jezabel was my model for the shoot that day.

Darkroom Prints

I've joined a blog challenge w/some friends so in the spirit of posting something every day you will be seeing alot of old photos. With that said here's some old darkroom prints from a photo class I took at MCC years ago.



"Sere Mi Madre" - Portrait of my aunt Tere (left) & cousin Jezabel (right). Look closely at the hands and you'll notice its not a mirror she's looking into. We shot this in my garage in the middle of the summer and used a glass to give the mirror effect.



"Violeta" - Portrait of my sister. This was shot in Puerto Peñasco.



"Untitled" - Photograph taken in Jerome, AZ.



"Mi Sombrita" - I was trying to take Ari's picture but she was too distracted by her shadow.

I had the privilege of taking some portraits of Carla Morrison (ex lead vocalist for a local Phoenix band called Babaluca). Carla is currently working on a solo project and is heading out to Tecate, Mexico then making the move to Mexico City! If you would like to see additional photos click here to visit my flickr account and please check out Carlas new music at http://www.myspace.com/carlamorrisonmusica. Suerte Carla!

CopperHead Sara

I'm finally getting around to editing Sara's portraits. I'll keep adding to this post as I go. We had been talking about taking some shots of her in a bridesmaid dress that she's about to get rid of. She had a location picked out near her house that I didn't get to see until we showed up for the shoot. The lighting was perfect that day.. nicely difussed by clouds. I styled her hair and between the both of us did her makeup. For not knowing what the hell we were doing I think we did ok. There was a moment of panic where we had to rush the makeup and hair to get to the location on time before the sun was too low. Overall, I think we pulled it off. Thanks for letting me torture you Sara and that goes for any of my friends that let me photograph them!

A little preview of Saturdays shoot w/Sara. More coming later this week.

"Children of Light"

I first photographed the "Children of Light" in 2006 and recently went back home to take some portraits of them again. I intend to photograph them once or twice a year from now on. Throughout my teenage years, I lived only a couple miles from this group of people who call themselves "Children of Light." They believe to have been supernaturally chosen and called by God in 1949. The group originated in Canada and thru visions of God ended up in a secluded area of the southwestern part of Arizona in 1963. They acquired 80 acres of land and built their own homes, planted gardens, fruit trees and live a vegetarian lifestyle. They are also "Eunuchs and virgins for the kingdom of heaven's sake." Although they are a religious group they don't claim to be a certain religion instead they say this is a way of life that they've chosen to live. Elect Star, Elect Philip & Elect David are 3 of the original 18 members who remain there. If you would like to see the photos I took in 2006 please visit www.martinezdesign.net and go to the "exhibits" section. Thanks to Sara Placey who joined me on this trip and helped w/the shoot.

–eu•nuch [yoo-nuh k]
A man who has been castrated, esp. (in the past) one employed to guard the women's living areas at an oriental court. In some societies, the notion of eunuch has been expanded to include men who are impotent with women or are simply celibate.

"Children of Light"






"Elect Star"




"Elect Phillip"




"Elect David"




"Way of Life"

DATELAND (this post JUST for you Chad!)

This weekend I went back home to Dateland to take some portraits of the "Children of Light" (which I will be posting in the next coming days). My friend Sara and I left Phoenix at 4:15am to catch the sunrise there and stayed till the sun went down. It was a long, cold & very windy day but the sunlight was perfect and made for a lot of photo opportunities. On our way to see the "Children of light" we were distracted by this abandoned marine bus and took a few shots. The 1st photograph of me was taken by Sara Placey and the rest by me.