WebVideo5 from Mike Mastroni on Vimeo.

saw this video at Mary’s Myspace - this dude has skills… and I like the song!

j.martinez

self-explanatory…

j.martinez

Nike is gearing up for the Olympic and their flagship store in NYC (Niketown) just got a face lift.

The whole 5th floor got a new make over, from getting all the fitting a unique look to changing the shoe display with hard wood floor off a basketball court.
Nike also brought some limited shoes out of their archives to display them all around the 5th floor. (I saw some shoes that - haven’t/will not - drop yet…).

I got a chance to get a tour of the Nike Sportswear floor by one of the employee… which took me around all the fitting room and explained the concept of each fitting room and also the different displays installed on the floor. The various display shows Nike’s Heritage and concepts, From their top 4 shoes models (Air Force 1, Air Max 90, Cortes and Dunk) to a waffle display which shoes how the Nike waffle was first made.

Air Force 1 - Air Max 90 - Cortes - Dunk

Is being said that the Kaws Air Force 1 will not be released to the public… At least you can go to this fitting room and check them out! HA!

5th Floor of the Niketown in NYC - 1,160 pairs of shoes hanging of f the selling. Cortez, Air Max 90, Dunks and AF1.

Air Max Hot AIR!

The company’s first self-designed product was based on Bowerman’s “waffle” design in which the sole of the shoe was inspired by the pattern of a waffle iron.

Personal Favorite - this fitting room is outfitted with just a couple of dunks… located near the NikeID Studio, I wish I had this close to my room wall

Overall I left the store with a good experience and some history behind the Blue Ribbon Sports (NIKE).
if you live in NYC and you are a sneaker freak, you should definitely go check out the store. Which is more like a museum right now!

by the way - I heard that the store downtown that is opening on 08-08-08 got pushed back a few weeks…. but that’s just what I heard.
which sounds like good news to me because I want to cop the Olympic Air Max 1 edition pack - Gold or Silver…

j.martinez

My Weapon of choice….

I own many lens but this lens could out preform  anything out there when it comes to cost, weight, size, low-light, etc. [actual weight 4.6 oz (130g)].
I bought this lens back when it was $75 and it have delivered very sharp images and sometimes super blur backgrounds (if stopped at f/1.8).

This lens could spend weeks attached to my camera because of the weight and size. As much as I love my 2 “L” glass lens and my 10mm wide angle, this lens could be the easiest to handle and to get the shot that you want on just one try. I know most of the photographers hate Prime lens (Fixed Focal Lens) but to be honest, this challenge the photographer to look for the best angle or range vs subject.

Not to get boring here and brag about canon’s cheapest lens - check out these images - petty much I set the camera to Aperture Priority (Av) and stop the lens at f/1.8 and Fire away! Usually I try to point the closest object in order to get a sharp image with a clean background blur.

Below - I stopped the lens aperture to f/16 considering that the lighting was still good and I wouldn’t compromise a fast shutter speed (in order to prevent camera shake) - I accomplished to get more of the background of the cops car in the back instead of getting a blur background - compare the image above with the image below.

Last but not least… the Boxster stopped in front of me because of the traffic - I remember back in 96 when Porsche started production of this car… I was addicted to the middle exhaust and the overall look of the car - don’t ask me why - now I think this car is overrated and is like a soccer mom trying to be sporty sexy racing cool?!.

These photos was taken on Monday afternoon after a slow day at work.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, lurking and wasting some time at home… I’ve felt depressed at times when things are not working out for me here and there… but the truth is that nothing is perfect and “God gives you what you need, not what you want” 

This small quote makes me think of what I really need vs what I WANT! - hopefully you can find a balance between these 2 in order to make life making decisions?!

yours truly,

j.martinez

…portrait. — looking for inspiration.

j.martinez

Before leaving to Formula Drift - Las Vegas. I did a mini photo shoot to an upcoming rapper “Labba” and I believe this is one of the most powerful image of the whole photo set.

Im not amazing or average when it comes to portraits (I consider portrait is my biggest weakness), however on this particular shot, I nailed what I wanted - Smoke, facial expresion, lighting and overall look/feel.

You be the judge and tell me how do you feel about this image. I just think is “Timeless”

j.martinez

I’ve been Missing for quite some time… but the truth is that:

1. NYC is SUPER HOT and HUMID
2. Work is taking a lot of time off my hands
3. Sorting through images for Formula Drift + Editing
4. I needed some personal time to find “INSPIRATION” - YES we all need that time….
5. Other things keeps me away from blogging, like… Formula 1, Biking, sleeping, PS2 (Can’t afford the new one), etc.

But now I put all those things aside and I bring you some images of the Formula Drift Vegas…

I’ll post some more images on my Flickr account so keep the eye out… Otherwise head over to FormulaD.com and sign up for ALL ACCESS, were you can get the latest images, video, interviews and who knows? maybe walk with a brand new DRIFTING MACHINE!?

you might ask… oh wait.. ALL BLACK AND WHITE?!?!?! SHOCKER!

Well Tyler McQuarrie and Robbie Nishida advise you to come back later and stop complaining about color images. ok?thanks!

Truly yours,

j.martinez

On my way back home during a hot humid day, I came across this Miata…

I asked the driver if I can take some shots of his car and he was cool about it - Weird huh? - what stroke my was that this Miata looks like a daily driven car in NYC
and trust me here in NYC you can’t have a lowered car or you will scrape everything under and in front of you car.
I feel like Offsets is something for West coast cars and is nice to see people driving around in NYC with this set up!

Not to mention that the car looks MINT.

Thanks Dave for letting me take pictures of your car….

jmartinez

Since 1976, Macy’s has sponsored the annual “Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular”, New York City’s Independence Day fireworks display.

A firework is classified as a low explosive pyrotechnic device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics) is a display of the effects produced by firework devices on various occasions. Fireworks competitions are also regularly held at a number of places. The biggest fireworks event in the world is held in Madeira, Portugal at the New Years’ Eve celebrations, as documented in the Guinness World Records.

Fireworks were originally invented by the Chinese, for entertainment purposes, as a natural extension of the Chinese invention of gunpowder. In China, they were first made by firework masters who were well respected for their knowledge of the many complex techniques used to create firework displays. Such important events and festivities as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival were and still are times when fireworks are guaranteed sights. China is the largest manufacturer and exporter of fireworks in the world. China is estimated to have exported over 6 million cases or 120,000 tons of fireworks to the US in 2005.

check out the rest of the images HERE

j.martinez

Full write up of fireworks and Independece day coming soon!

j.martinez

Mozilla has officially made history with a new Guinness world record for the largest number of software downloads in a 24-hour period.

The final record breaking 8,002,530 downloads for web browser Firefox 3.0 took place in June. “The enthusiasm and creativity of Firefox fans was key to making this happen,” said marketing head Paul Kim. Gareth Deaves of Guinness World Records called it “an extremely impressive accomplishment”.

The official figure was confirmed after logs from download servers were audited and checked to ensure duplicate and unfinished downloads were not counted. Mr Kim told the BBC News: “The notion of going for a world record, as… nutty as it may have sounded, was a really sticky idea. “It was an idea that translated really well across national borders and to all different kinds of people around the world.”

Marketing manager Mary Colvig said no party was planned to celebrate the record until the actual certificate was presented by Guinness World Records in London next week. “Here at Mozilla headquarters (in Mountain View) I think most of us are just going to try and get to bed early now that we have the confirmation. We are all tired.”

Source: BBC NEWS

jmartinez

I have been busy at work lately… and I’ve not been shooting much since Formula Drift Round 03, NJ!
but im trying to work on re-launching my ever changing website/gallery…

www.negativo.org

Can you think of a domain name for me? jmartinez.com/.net/.org are taken…
I’ll update with pictures and projects before heading to Formula Drift Round 04, VEGAS!

j.martinez

Recon and RogueStatus doing the same tee?? oooopppsss!!!

who did it best? and who would wear this best? hahaha

so funny!

j.martinez