Edward Cordero watches as cousin Jay Juarez (left) and friend Mariano Rivera (right) perform song XYZ by rock group Rush in the console game Guitar Hero II. 420EX on-camera bounced off camera-left wall. 20D camera previously white-balanced accordingly. 17mm, f/5.6, ISO100, 1/250

Mom and her gifts. A ring, necklace and earrings in topaz, her birthstone. She said she was going to find something to wear with the jewelry once she got home. Maybe even get a new outfit. I said “yeah, cuz you’re a girl.” Then she asked if I’d get embarrassed if she hugged me and gave me a kiss. I said yes and quietly drank my tea. She got me in the parking lot, though. I wasn’t looking.

These ladies were at the rock station chatting on the air about a motorcycle-related event happening that weekend. Andrea and Cecilia are models-for-hire and travel all over Texas providing T&A for local venues. The DJ was, of course, trying to get some.

DJ Kane dude among the roaring legions.

My father’s right hand as he lays in a hospital bed. It was shaking only moments ago. A smoker his entire life, he quit before it was too late and was saved from terminal throat cancer by several on-going chemo and radiation therapies. Years later, the cancer had been destroyed but the treatment he underwent decimated my father’s body, leaving him tired, withered and old. Today he breathes through an oxygen tank and feeds intravenously yet his incomparable spirit and sheer willpower keep him alive. With hardly an immune system, my father is prone to severe illness. Something as mundane as the common cold could invariably kill him. Admitted to the hospital for pneumonia recently he is now recovering from staph infection which he gets all-the-time. I had a chance to visit him in ICU this weekend before a photoshoot. These are the images I captured.

I don’t normally take pictures of bugs, birds, plants, wildlife, landscapes, etc., but I figured I’d try it out at the municipal park and wildlife sanctuary in Edinburg if only because my model didn’t show up to the shoot.

I was showing Gibby the quality of bokeh of the EF 50mm f1.8 II lens on my Canon 20D with BG-E2 vertical battery grip when I snapped this photo. It quickly became one of my favorites. Practical fluorescent light.

My very first model shoot. Shot in Marian’s apartment in Brownsville, TX.

Shooting Tejanoween 2006 in Donna, TX.

February of 2006, co-worker Ana Liza asked me to photograph her showing off her new tattoos and generally looking hot in bluejeans. Shot in downtown McAllen one Saturday afternoon, Ana Liza wanted to show her “real” self, so she naturally wanted to convey a rocker sort of attitude. I figured she wanted dirty, gritty and urban, as well, so the hard lines and graffiti-lined walls of the back alleys and a place called The Ice House I decided to use really helped the look. We then moved to a train car depot and switching station to shoot around a box car and a warehouse exterior. I was shooting in natural light with a little fill flash provided by my 420EX. I also purposely shot at ISO 1600 to give the pictures a natural graininess. This was probably my very first shoot with my new Canon 20D which I had just received earlier that month. Slight work was done to each image in Apple iPhoto at the time. I’ve rediscovered the images and have archived them here at Flickr. Ana Liza has since moved to New York City and I will probably never be able to shoot her again. This was one (if not my actual first) of my concentrated efforts to do a model shoot. These images are still inspiring for me today.