Andy Kitchen Photography

Prom Kitchen Style, Thanks Maranatha.

2009-04-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks Maranatha for having fun and not going for the usual boring prom photos.
You guys rock.

10 new bands to watch out for!

2009-03-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

White Lies,
Sleepy Sun,
The Henry Clay People,
Janelle Monae,
The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band,
Black Joe Lewis,
B.o.B,
Late of the Pier,
Vetiver,
N.A.S.A.

Jessie and Dave

2009-03-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite people to photograph.
Jesse!
Thanks Dave and Cole and Jessie for putting up with me.

Interesting Items From J. Hulett

2009-02-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

eVolo sponsors an annual skyscraper design competition (conceptual). here are this year's winners

http://evolo-arch.com/

david byrne's blog has an interesting, if somewhat scathing, entry on hong kong

http://tinyurl.com/dz9ld2

for fans of crop circles

http://tinyurl.com/chq6kr

i knew i was contributing to a higher spiritual purpose all this time

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/10/27/temple-of-a-million-bottles/

a nice photo essay of people at work

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/at_work.html

a very extensive article from the new republic regarding the challenges to prefab (thanks, gong)

http://tinyurl.com/aqqeuz

dr. NO's favorable review of d+s remodel of lincoln centre

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/arts/design/20tull.html?_r=5

the amazing design collaborative, droog, opens a store in new york

http://www.psfk.com/2009/02/site-visit-droog-store-nyc.html

current favorite light fixture

http://tinyurl.com/avx9hp

current favorite rocking chair

http://tinyurl.com/crzl95

what may be the next wave of architectural challenge... what to do with all those failed big boxes?

http://tinyurl.com/aszy9q

30 years building a model of herod's temple, and still not finished

http://tinyurl.com/balpqv

connecting the toe to the football... proposal for the world's longest suspension bridge

http://tinyurl.com/abtm2z

for fans of metro stations, here are the world's ten best

http://www.freshbump.com/featured/?p=124

san franciscans: last night the presidio trust released their latest plans aimed at scaling back the proposed guest lodge and fisher's contemporary art museum. fisher has apparently submitted new renderings to john king at the chronicle exclusively. those are not here. WARNING: clicking on the following link downloads a 10MB pdf from the presidio trust

http://library.presidio.gov/archive/documents/MP_PTMP_Update_Feb2009.pdf

a four minute video to help you refresh/reset. "everything is amazing and nobody is happy" (louis ck on conan obrien)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

Good week

2009-02-09T00:59:00.000-08:00

I finished a good book this week, so I am at the place that is sad because that book is over. I watched a good movie this week that was made from a book that I thought was good that was written by a person that I think is a genius. I made art this week and if that is not good enough I was paid to do it. That it itself makes me a lucky person. Not that I made money, but because I made art.

New Logo and Feedback

2009-02-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

I am trying to get feed back on my blog so I can use it to try things out on. We'll see if I can do that. It seems like an easy task, other blogs have feed back.

I want to see what people think about a new logo.

A Cool Place in Pasadena

2008-07-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

If you're ever in Pasadena go check out my friend at "Lula Mae". The greatest store in Pasadena. She's always cool to me so I thought I'd give her a little love on my site.

Lula Mae 100 North Fair Oaks Avenue Pasadena, California 91103

www.lulamae.com

Winnie gave me Rock and Roll

2008-07-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

In 1976 Winnie the Pooh came into my life and gave me rock and roll. It was February and it was my birthday. I was given a gift of a small transistor radio in the shape of Winnie the Pooh's head. High tech for that time, Portable. I didn't think much of it at the moment. Music to me at that point in my life was what ever I had heard my parents playing in the car. I didn't have a lot of other inputs back then. TV had 3 channels, 4 if you count the one that came on the round antenna that didn't work that well. We had a record player, but the selection of records I had to pick from was bleak at best, and looking back was a big clue as to where my dad was coming from in terms of sexual persuasion. Nothing like a little Ethel Merman. I heard music in church, the Methodist church... do I have to go on. No this music was sweet, and sexy and hard and fast. Rock and Roll had entered my life.

When I first turned the Winnie head on it was set to Christian music, and magically no matter what station I had on when I went to sleep, I woke up with the Winnie head turned to Christian music. Apparently my mother was sneaking into my room at night and changing the station as I slept. That's a little creepy in it self. When I first turned the small dial on the side of the Winnie head to change the stations I distinctly remember the sound of Stevie Wonder singing "Sir Duke" for the first time. It was one of those Ah Ha moments in life. I then turned the other dial on the side of the Winnie head that made things louder, something until them I didn't really want to do. There was some inherent desire to hear that music loud. It just sounded better. I fell in love. I listened to that Winnie head all the time and most nights fell asleep with it on 98 KUPD the station that "Rocks the Desert". Of course that is not the station it was on in the morning. The problem then was that there was no auto off switch and I was running down the battery at night and I was always on the desperate look out for new 9 volt batteries. They became a precious commodity.

Winnie was a portal for all kinds of things. The DJ's were funny and the Ad's gave me insight into other aspects of life that I had been missing. Pink Floyd was slow and menacing and I loved it. Paul McCarthy was in this great band called Wings and Eric Clapton had shot a Sheriff. I seemed to become self aware and with Winnie as my tour guide I ate it up. With what I am sure was an impulse buy on my parents part to give me a small gift for my birthday, the innocuous face of a Disney character that spoke Oral Roberts but sang Tina Turner, changed my life forever. I wonder if Tinkerbell did the same for my sister.

Jesse and Becca's Wedding

2008-07-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

This wedding was like one of my favorite drinks back in Texas. The "Swirl" from Uncle Julio's. The "Swirl" is half frozen sangria and half frozen Margarita swirled together in a fantastic melding of green and pink, backed with Alcohol. Just like that drink, this wedding was fun and loose, and pink and green, and dancing, all with a touch (or two) of alcohol. This wedding was Music and Family and bald shirtless guys and the pool and great food and tons of beautiful women. There was also a flair up of the chicken dance which was quickly put out, to the betterment of all. Thank you Jesse and Becca, and family for letting me hang out with you guys.

Poker

2008-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Okay I haven't blogged in awhile.

I have had some computer issues and I am back up now.

I am going to take money from my friends tonight in a friendly card game.

Christina's Semi Formal

2008-06-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Over the past eight days the weather here has seen highs in the 100's and lows in the 50's. That is an amazing swing from one end to the other with neither side being what you want when you have an outside semi formal dance to go too. Friday night though, was a perfect spring California evening. Warm and sunny and exactly what you want when the hundreds of girls at the local Jr. High to go to a dance. Collectively they looked like a giant 80's era pinata had exploded, and pinks and teals and purples went flying all over the place. If they had curly hair they straitened it, if had straight hair they curled it. There were high-lights and up-dos, silver shoes and jewelry and some make up here and there. They looked amazing. Here are some shots of Christina and her friends as they were about to leave.

On the roof of the old Rosslyn

2008-05-07T13:25:00.001-07:00

This was a cool shoot. I have for some time wanted to shoot on the roof of the Rosslyn Hotel downtown. This is the Hotel that U2 shot their video on for "The Streets Have no Name". This is a funky place. I told that to Katy and Jeff as we headed there to shoot. It is mostly low rent apartments now. The signs on the roof are so cool and made a great background and feature in the shots.

I'm shooting Katy and Jeff's wedding at the end of this month on the beach. So this was a cool place that was as opposite to the beach as we can get.

We didn't win, but we didn't lose.

2008-05-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

This morning the families and players of Team DCG met at the park at 6:45 am. Yes that is not a misprint. We had an 8:00 game and we decided to have a breakfast before hand. I was in charge of Coffee. (Yes Coffee should be in caps, like a proper noun. It is so proper.) Coach Todd had his camping griddle and made pancakes. The sun was raking the field of Montrose Park. One of the most beautiful baseball fields in the country (in my opinion). The streak was on the line. This was for 12 in a row. Andy's transfer the opposing team had other plans for this game. They are in Second place and they are good. The final score was 4-3. We didn't loose the game. We were beat by a better team today. They earned this win they played well in all aspects of the game. We didn't give it away we have nothing to be down about. There was a spectacular game played this morning and the boys of Andy's Transfer won.

I have come to really look forward to going to the park and watching a game. It is timeless and it seems very much American… in a good way.

Behind the curtain.

2008-05-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have, in my 41 years, never had the unfortunate opportunity to look behind the cancer wizard’s curtain and really see what's going on. That is a fortunate thing. That has all changed. I am walking down the greenish hallway that leads to the fire and noise of the curtain room. I myself do not have cancer, but my sister Julie does. So I am a bit like the lion and she's Dorothy. She has to go there; she has no choice but to go face the curtain. I am, in my cowardly form, walking next to her watching knowing that nothing will happen to me, she is the one that has all the pressure. And she is crazy amazing in how positive she is about having surgery next Monday. She is such a cool person. She lives in Texas and has four kids. I'll write more as we go.

Grant's Baseball Team "DCG" goes for 12 wins in a row

2008-05-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

The monster team that wears the Yellow jeresey's is going for win number 12 in a row this Saturday. It is an early morning game at 8:00. We are missing our short stop Travis and we are playing the 2nd place team Andy's Transfer so it won't be easy. I'll have pic's from the game.

3 day Weekends every week!

2008-05-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

People love three day weekends. My wife lives for them. I work on the weekends and having another day would be great.

Why not every weekend? Isn't it time to seriously look at the idea of the four-day-a-week, ten-hour-day work week for some people? And not just for the mental health benefits.

By coincidence, I just saw this story:

"It's a way to save gas by commuting to work one day less. West Virginia workers are thinking about going to the shorter work week which, obviously, would cut fuel consumption by 20 percent.
This is not a new idea. It was first broached in 1973 during the first oil crisis --you know, long lines, odd and even days, back when gas wasn't even a dollar a gallon. The idea never caught on but today, several cities in California, Nevada and Arizona are already experimenting with a 4-day work week."

Seeing where the current energy crisis is going and with talk of 200 dollar a barrel oil in our future, isn't it time to take a new look at mixing up the work week? Why do most people need to work their eight hours Monday through Friday anyway? Not just four ten-hour days should be examined for many workers but how about shifting some jobs, or industries, to Wednesday through Sunday? And aren't there many businesses -say, making baseball bats- where the factory could operate 6pm to 2am instead of "regular" business hours? Nine to five is starting to look sooooo 20th Century.

"We've got to BE Creative...B...E...Creative..."

Down in Las Rocas, Mexico

2008-04-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take much to get me to go down to Mexico for a wedding. Pretty much just ask. Here are some shots of Scott and Jen's wedding last weekend. Two (three with Diego) of the coolest people around.

75 foot Jesus... kind of cool, kind of creepy.
He was right across the street.

Friday people arriving and hanging out.

Friday night on the mic.

The end of a Great weekend!

Don't let it fool you... don't drink the water.

The streak is alive, 9 in a row.

2008-04-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

DCG team yellow won a hard fought game. Nick's cafe was the hard team we thought they would be. DCG had to come from behind to win this one. Grant pitched a grinding 2 and 1/3 innings but only gave up 2 runs. He added two hits, one a triple, to an all around solid game. The best part though, was the smoked ribs we ate at Coach Chris's house after the game. Those rocked.

Grant's Baseball team goes for 9 in a row today

2008-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

The juggernaut baseball team also know as DCG Electric, the team you can't stop you can only hope to contain, is going for 9 wins in a row today against a very formidable foe Nick's Cafe. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Pasadena Magazine Shoot

2008-04-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

This was a cool gig. I submitted a bunch of Weddings to Pasadena Magazine for their Wedding issue. They accepted 7-8 different weddings, and then asked me to shoot the feature fashion shoot. It was fun and very much my style. We had several dresses to shoot in a bunch of different locations in and around Pasadena. Guerilla style is what I like best, it keeps things moving and the energy is fun. My dog Rocket made a couple of cameos in the shoot. It was a long day but it was fun. I want to say thanks to my friends at "The Factory" hair and make up in Pasadena for all the help.

www.thefactorystudio.com

Atypical

2007-09-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Atypical:

It's the reason kaleidoscopes, fun-house mirrors and prisms were invented. Hold a prism to your eye and see how it changes the view. Atypical, it's the way an image can surprise and a thought can change. It's the architecture of a smile, question mark and exclamation point. Clouds were the original high priests of atypical. Most people think snowflakes are the ultimate atypical but they're insecure about their differences. An army of ants marching against the picnic of the predictable. A collage of syntax rebelling in the middle of a grammar textbook. Atypical is a jazz bass player in a club on a side street at midnight. Are you atypical? If you've tagged along this far it's something you want to be. So where do you start? It's something you live. Atypical is a learn-as-you-go-education. Break old habits. Make new ones. Then break them. Creativity is calling. You answer it with your heart. Start looking for the atypical right now. Tattoo your imagination with it. You’ll sleep better.

Okay let's jump into the bloggity blog world.

2007-09-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

So today on the first day of my blog it's going to be 111 degrees of really insane hotness outside. So I'm leaving this side of town and heading west. There is an unbelievable difference in temperature from one side of LA to the other. In Santa Monica the high is going to be 70. Where as, here at 8 o'clock in the morning, it is already 85F and climbing. I know I'm complaining about the weather here in LA and anyone outside of Southern California is going to roll their eyes and laugh at me. The rest of the country has been getting cooked or pounded with rain for the last several months with the prospect of a winter heading towards them. So I'll shut up and go to the beach and get a Jodi Maroni's sausage sandwich and put my feet in the water and watch freaky people walk around. I'll get some pictures to post. I hate blogs with out pictures.

"I think music and photography are part of the same thing: It's rhythm, light, air, movement, focus- and more focus."
-Lou Reed