-alan- profile picture

-alan-

The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way. -

About Me


UPDATE!
I HAVE MOVED MY PHOTOS & WORK TO MY NEW WEBSITE.
HERE IS THE LINK TO MY NEW PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE:
ALAN VESPERAS PHOTOGRAPHY
(http://www.freewebs.com/avesperas)
ABOUT ME: Right right. Here's a little snippet about me. I used to be a loose cannon, but I mellowed out a lot. I just moved into my own house in Hercules, CA and I'm living a normal life, I have an okay job, a I have a non-flamboyant lifestyle and I'm fine with that. I don't watch TV, smoke, or drink (not even coffee). I can be pretty sarcastic and cynical at times but I'm comfortable with who I am. I can accept the fact that not everybody is going to like me, but I also know that I won't like everybody either. I find it best to stay out of other people's affairs and to mind my own business. Other than that, life has been fine and dandy. I can't complain. That's about it.
My current toy of choice for photography:
Nikon D80 (D-SLR)

I am very proficient in Adobe Photoshop CS and Corel Paint Shop Pro X, however, I tend to not do too much photo editing. Most of my work goes as follows: "What you see is what was shot. Little or no photo editing or tampering involved with the final shot."
My camera bag of tricks include:
-30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM Sigma Lens
-50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens (my favorite lens)
-18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens
-70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens
-Nikon SB-600 Speedlight
-Typical Circular Polarizer
-Typical Neutral Density Filter
-Omni-bounce Flash Diffuser
-ML-L3 Remote Control
-Manfrotto Tripod (I NEVER ever leave home without it)
-Nikon D50 (backup camera)
-Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7
-Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX12 w/Leica lens
-Creativity
-Ability to Take Photos with Sucka-Free Mentality
-Desire to Bend All the Rules of Photo Composition

Alan, you are Filipino food
Comforting yet overwhelming.
People love you, but sometimes you're just too much. If people think you being too nice is a weakness, fuck 'em! What Kind of Food Are You?
TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
"I answered this survey on 4/01/07"

Name: Alan
Birthday: April 17th
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Current Location: Burlingame, CA
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Black
Height: 5'8"
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right Handed
Your Heritage: Filipino-American
The Shoes You Wore Today: Caterpillar Steel Toe Boots
Your Weakness: Women
Your Fears: too many to list
Your Perfect Pizza: pesto pizza (that's it!)
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: too many to list, perhaps get a better job
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: LOL
Thoughts First Waking Up: another beautiful day in paradise
Your Best Physical Feature: eyes
Your Bedtime: 10PM (if I'm lucky), usually knocked out by 11PM
Your Most Missed Memory: getting engaged back in 1999 (obviously, it didn't work out)
Pepsi or Coke: Diet Pepsi
MacDonalds or Burger King: neither, I don't eat fast food
Single or Group Dates: both
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: neither
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee: neither
Do you Smoke: no
Do you Swear: like a sailor (but I'm really fuckin' toning it down lately, I really am, god dammit)
Do you Sing: nope
Do you Shower Daily: yes
Have you Been in Love: 4 times
Do you want to go to College: graduated college
Do you want to get Married: when the right woman comes
Do you belive in yourself: yes
Do you get Motion Sickness: no
Do you think you are Attractive: I'd like to say that I'm above average
Are you a Health Freak: yes, I'm a gym rat and a running-holic
Do you get along with your Parents: my mom - yes, my dad - occasionally
Do you like Thunderstorms: yes
Do you play an Instrument: piano (very badly, I might add)
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: no
In the past month have you Smoked: no
In the past month have you been on Drugs: does Tylenol count?
In the past month have you gone on a Date: yes
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: no
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: no
In the past month have you been on Stage: no
In the past month have you been Dumped: no
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: no
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: no
Ever been Drunk: of course
Ever been called a Tease: a lot of times
Ever been Beaten up: once
Ever Shoplifted: yes
How do you want to Die: in my sleep
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: the best person I can be in the present time
What country would you most like to Visit: Italy
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: Blue/Green/Hazel/Brown (doesn't matter, really)
Favourite Hair Color: Blonde/Dirty Blonde/Redhead (but I really don't care)
Short or Long Hair: long
Height: 5'8" and no shorter than 5'0" (I've dated a couple of 6ft women before)
Weight: average, not too heavy
Best Clothing Style: super swank or very dressed down and laid back
Number of Drugs I have taken: too many to list
Number of CDs I own: too many to list, can we say "MP3s"?
Number of Piercings: 2 (left ear lobe), I don't wear earrings anymore
Number of Tattoos: 1 (on my right arm)
Number of things in my Past I Regret: not much, and I don't dwell on the past
CREATE YOUR OWN!

My Interests


..

SOME OF MY INTERESTS : I'm a city slicker but I love the great outdoors, especially traveling. My two biggest loves in life is running and photography. I do a lot of running. I'm also an avid photographer with a quest to get my photojournalism degree. I'm actually going back to school "FOR FUN" just for better knowledge of photography basics and to take better photos. I like to stay physically fit which usually involves a lot of time at the gym, at the track, or running anywhere from dirt paths to city streets. I also do voluntary work at hospitals and institutions usually once a month on my free time (seriously). As for my extra-curricular activities on the side, I LOVE San Francisco. I usually hang out in the Mission, the Haight, Irving Street, or Downtown S.F. to listen to live bands or to hang out with friends. I like positive and funny people.

I'd like to meet:


WHO I'D LIKE TO MEET: I'm usually game for meeting anyone who wants to hang out and have a good time.

Music:

MUSIC: I enjoy practically ANY kind of music, and I mean ANY (except Beatles, more about this near the bottom of this rant). I'll listen mostly to alternative, to classical, ska, to rap, to mostly old school hip hop, rockabilly music, big band, classical, etc. etc. etc. I don't dig gospel or some country (except for maybe Johnny Cash). I love the Pixies, New Order, Fugazi, the Smiths, Broken Social Scene, Ella Fitzgerald, Dresden Dolls, Rancid, Etta James, Duke Ellington, Tsunami Bomb, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Gang Starr, Public Enemy, 7 Year Bitch, The Breeders, Cub, Portishead, Team Sleep, Nine Inch Nails, Operation Ivy, Thrill Kill Cult, EPMD, 2 Live Crew, Ice Cube, NWA, Jurassic 5, De La Soul, BDP, Deftones, Depeche Mode, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, L7, Sonic Youth, Royal Crown Revue, Stray Cats, Reverend Horton Heat, Agent Orange, Tribe Called Quest, any tough girl punk bands etc. etc. (just to name a few). I absolutely CANNOT stand Elvis or the Beatles since my parents played that garbage OVER and OVER again when I was growing up in my childhood and I cringe when I hear Beatles or Elvis tunes - Clockwork Orange style.

Movies:

SOME OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES:
SIN CITY
GRINDHOUSE
AMERICAN PSYCHO
A SCANNER DARKLY
PI
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
FIGHT CLUB
THE PROFESSIONAL
HALF NELSON
MOVIES: I watch all sorts of movies - however - I'm very picky about what I wish to watch. The Departed was one of my favorite films I watched recently. Sin City is another favorite of mine. It's probably up there in my top favorite movies along with Million Dollar Baby, American Psycho, The Prestige, Half Nelson, Fight Club, Waking Life, Pi, Blade Runner, A Scanner Darkly, V for Vendetta, Miami Vice, etc. etc. etc. I also loved Batman Begins as well. I am really picky when it comes to movies. I truly did NOT like Napoleon Dynamite nor did I like "Bored of the Rings", oops, I mean Lord of the Rings. I look for the beauty of cinematography, directing and acting. I'm a big Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Martin Scorcese and David Lynch fan when it comes to directors. Just to name a few more: Collateral, Million Dollar Baby, Trainspotting, Memento, Gattaca, Snatch, Lock - Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Sixth Sense, American History X, Rounders, Waking Life, Mulholland Drive, Good Will Hunting, The Matrix Trilogy, Heat, Dune, Carlito's Way, The "Original" Star Wars Trilogy, Excalibur, Good Fellas, Casino, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Killing Zoe, Blade, Fear and Loathing Las Vegas, Clerks, Clerks 2, Permanent Midnight, Color of Money, etc. etc. I can add to the list ad infinitum.

Television:

ONE OF MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS:

THE X-FILES

TELEVISION: Other than watching a couple of DVDs here and there, I used to watch a lot of Twilight Zone, Cheers, Twin Peaks, lots of Simpsons and X-Files. Now, I rarely if ever, watch television. My TV gathers cobwebs in my apartment.

Books:



BOOKS: I'm definitely a Charles Bukowski fan. There are other writers and poets like Hunter S. Thompson, George Orwell, Robert Frost, philosophy from Nietzsche, Kant and I relate to Darwin but I don't totally agree with his ideas, I read a lot of Theists vs. Atheists debates, and The Catcher in the Rye. l read mostly writings from beat writers and philosophers and writers/poets who are locals here in San Francisco.

Heroes:

My heroes are Martin Luther King and Fanny Bacolor who is my grandmother. She is no longer with us but is alive in me in spirit. My tattoo is actually in honor of my grandmother for being that angel in my life and raising me when I was a kid when my parents were both working 2 jobs each. I also wished I had a chance to meet Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange (gifted photographers who are no longer with us but their photos live forever). But honestly, there's a different angel, friend, family or acquaintance, everyday that is there to help my ass, day in and day out!

My Blog

More pictures have been added to my website

There have been new pictures added to the website where I have stored my work.  http://www.freewebs.com/avesperas/The following pictures/work has been added:-pictures taken at my 34th birthday pa...
Posted by -alan- on Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:22:00 PST

I'm moving

Gosh, after living for almost 3 years in the yuppy town of Burlingame, I'm moving to Hercules, CA. It ain't the greatest city in the world, but here's why I'd be moving there. My parents own 2 houses ...
Posted by -alan- on Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:10:00 PST

"Grindhouse" was FUCKIN' AWESOME!

I think the title speaks for itself. It was about 10:35AM and nobody had time or wanted to watch the new Rodriguez/Tarantino movie with me. It had nothing to do with me, it was kinda a sudden request ...
Posted by -alan- on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 08:42:00 PST

My photos and work have MOVED!

Hey y'all. Just a heads up. I deleted most of the pics I was posting freely here on myspace. People at work were printing my photos and just giving them away and claiming they took the pictures. I tak...
Posted by -alan- on Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:10:00 PST

Dammit, insomnia strikes again

So it's about 11:44PM and I can't sleep.  Normally in times like this I'd go to the gym and workout so I can get tired enough to sleep, but the gym I go to is only open from 5AM to Midnight. ...
Posted by -alan- on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 12:00:00 PST

Fuck Work

(This is actually what's on my fridge in honor of my current job) In a nutshell, I get paid stupid amounts of money to take people's shit, complaints, insults, anger, bitchfits, bitchin', "if I ran y...
Posted by -alan- on Thu, 30 Mar 2006 08:22:00 PST

Opening my day with a Minor Threat song. Oh yeah, this is so me!

So I wake up this morning at 5:32AM (that's considered as sleeping in for me, I usually wake up at the crack of 4:00AM) and I hit the shower.  I jumped into my car and "Good Guys Don't Wear White...
Posted by -alan- on Fri, 17 Feb 2006 08:41:00 PST

Sleepless, but happy nonetheless, thinking about the upcoming race.

As you can tell, my blogs have a few common denominators such as insomnia, lack of sleep, a dash of sadness, lots of hope and happiness and a dash of nonsense.  Yes, you guessed it, I can't sleep...
Posted by -alan- on Thu, 16 Feb 2006 11:08:00 PST

Wow, I'm actually smiling for no reason at all!

Seriously, I must've had a lot of great weekends but I was probably too into my self-centered self to realize that I was indeed having a great weekend.  This weekend was nothing special in partic...
Posted by -alan- on Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:52:00 PST

Borgasm

So here I am at work.  Bored outta my mind.  I get paid pretty well here but the hours are not exactly the best (12:30PM to 9:00PM).  As of today, life has been pretty mellow.  Li...
Posted by -alan- on Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:54:00 PST