Rommel Salminao, Photographer

Rommel Salminao, captured by Sergio Salinas-- LeftEyeShut Photography

Rommel Salminao likes to tell stories.  Only he doesn’t use words, he uses his camera.

Salminao is one third of the appropriately named photography team LeftEyeShut, based in San Diego, California.  Together with partners Sergio Salinas and Paul Balancio, this innovative team combines artistic flair, masterful editing, and good old-fashioned photography skills to shoot weddings, portraiture, and special events in and around the San Diego area.  They also have a fourth member who does videography.

In contrast to those who’d had visions of their "dream" jobs since the time they were kids, Salminao’s revelation came to him as an adult:  Says Salminao, “I'd always had a little point and shoot camera and fiddled with those, but when I went to Maui for vacation, my kid brother let me borrow his 35mm film camera.  That’s where it all started… My brother bought a digital SLR [camera] later that year and after seeing what you could do with digital, I started to head in that direction myself.  From there, I started reading books, checking out websites, etc.  And of course just learning from actually going out and shooting.”  Salminao also credits LeftEyeShut partner and long-time friend Sergio Salinas as a huge influence with his photography.  “I have always gone to Sergio for advice and techniques.”

LeftEyeShut was formed in 2008 after a friend of Salminao’s, whose work she had admired on his Flickr Site, asked him to shoot her wedding.  Salminao asked Salinas and brother-in-law Paul Balancio, a talented photographer in his own right, to join him.  The trio’s first shoot was a success, and  LeftEyeShut was officially in business.  Since then they have shot several weddings, all from referrals and word of mouth.  

Wedding Cake, LeftEyeShutPhotography

It used to be that professional-grade photography and prints were only regularly available to the wealthy and privileged.  The advent of digital photography has made high-quality photos accessible to people of all budgets.   The equipment and the processing costs of digital photography is about half of traditional photography.  Additionally there's minimal waste-- no film required, no developing chemicals involved, and as you only print the pictures you need, digital photography is both cost effective and environmentally friendly.  As appealing is the fact that results can be instant and very easily shared.  

These cost-cutting advancements have opened the market wide-open for talented hobbyists to go into business for themselves, competing with established photographers and studios while charging far less.  In fact, an informal Google search of “San Diego wedding photography” generates 2,307 business hits.  And that number is expected to increase as  high-quality digital camera prices continue to drop. That’s a lot of competition for any start-up photography team.

So how does Salminao and LeftEyeShut separate themselves from the pack?

“I think having three main photographers in our main key,” Salminao says. “Usually a couple only hires a main photographer and an assistant [to shoot their wedding]. With having the three of us capturing the wedding, there's hardly a shot that we will miss.” 

And it’s not just their numbers that give LeftEyeShut an edge over the competition-- it’s also their varying styles as individual photographers:

Wedding, Sergio Salinas, LeftEyeShut Photography

Salminao, on partner Sergio Salinas:  “Sergio’s an old school film photographer.  Sergio has been into photography long before the digital age.  He loves to use the natural ambient light.” 

Bride, Paul Balancio, LeftEyeShut Photography

On partner Paul Balancio, “Paul’s really good at capturing a moment and has an eye for the small details…”

Engagement photo, Rommel Salminao,
LeftEyeShut Photography

On his own style, Salminao says he prefers to play with the flash and control the light. “I also like to hit the weird angles. I try to shoot the couples in a cinematic way. I think of the whole day as a Michael Bay movie,” he quips.

The work doesn’t end once the pictures are taken.  The LeftEyeShut team spends hours and hours in post-production, selecting the right pictures to edit so just the right mood is achieved.  It’s a painstaking process that shows the artistry in their work.  The effects they choose to add to their photos are impactful and evocative without ever being heavy-handed.  Despite the three varying styles, the end result is one beautiful, cohesive story, told in pictures.  It’s a formula that works for Left Eye Shut and its many happy customers.

Do the LeftEyeShut photographers also have day jobs?  Yes, they do.  Fortunately, the events they are hired for happen on the evenings and weekends, so scheduling has never been an issue.  Although it’s a lot of extra work they do on top of a regular 40 hour work week, it doesn’t feel like work to them. 

Simply put, they love what they do. 

See more of LeftEyeShut at www.lefteyeshut.com.  

If you are interested in hiring the LeftEyeShut team to shoot your wedding, portrait, or special event please get in touch with them at lefteyeshut@gmail.com.

*All images appear here with the consent of LeftEyeShut Photography. 

C+Locious, Music Producer

San Diego Hip Hop Producer, C+Locious

C+Locious is inspired. By his records, by the radio, by the sounds he hears every day. These inspirations can be anything—a drum break, a piano riff, the sound of his alarm clock. C+Locious takes these sound bites and crafts them into entire songs, fully orchestrated and ready for vocals to be laid on top.

C+Locious is a hip hop music producer. In his own words . “I create, arrange, format the music, engineer the recording sessions, and mix down the sessions so we have a product to present.” Music producers can also be responsible for managing talent, editing and laying effects on vocals, and rehearsing in the studio with the artist. In the hip hop world specifically, the music producer equals the beatmaker.

Interestingly enough, in hip hop, the producer can become more famous and better paid than the artist for which they work. Well-known and established hip hop producers, including Dre, The Neptunes, and Ryan Leslie have annual salaries into the millions. Top paid producers like Timbaland have been rumored to sell their beats for $500,000 a pop. The draw of fame and money is enough to lure millions of wannabe producers to start busting out their own beats and make a name for themselves in the industry.

More realistically, an independent hip hop producer will sell their beats for as little or as much as people are willing to pay for them. Websites like Beatswagger.com and 20dollarbeats.com are sites where you can buy and sell beats at a relatively low cost, and it can even be done through PayPal. Though at $20 a beat or less, it’s difficult to imagine anyone truly being able to sustain a living solely by these means.

With proper training and a musical background one stands a better chance at making music production an actual career. C+Locious has both. As a child he endured years of piano lessons and has played drums since high school. He also has intensive training in sound engineering and has interned with premier recording studios in San Diego. A trained music producer can fetch an average of $45,000 a year if employed by a studio.

C+Locious in his home studio, "The Beatcave"

Today C+Locious works independently out of his home studio, known to him and his associates as “The Beatcave” where he’s got his Mac with ProTools set-up, sound module racks, keyboard, five-piece drum kit, MPC 4000, turntables, and stacks of records. His biggest musical endeavor to date is the work he’s done with Broken Dreams, a lyric-driven hip hop act for whom he produces and occasionally emcees. Together, they’ve put out two albums and two mixtapes, and have developed a substantial following in Southern California. [Click here for more on Broken Dreams.]

Where most artists are fighting their way into the spotlight, C+Locious is content being in the background. “I like that, though” says C+Locious. “I like guys like Chad Hugo [one half of The Neptunes] who never gets the shine that Pharrell does. But people who know or care to know recognize that he’s as much a part of the duo’s success...” C+Locious also cites Black Thought of The Roots, JDilla, Pete Rock, and Premier as inspirations. “They never reached mainstream notoriety as far as pop culture like Dre, the Neptunes, or Timbaland,” he explains, “but are known as the best ever in the hip hop culture as role models.”

I should add that C+Locious was fifteen minutes late for this interview. When I called him, he was still tied up at the office gathering paperwork for a client. His client, in this case, was not a singer or emcee or musician trying to record at his home studio. In this case, his client was trying to buy a house.

As it turns out, C+Locious has a more conventional alter ego: Carlo Layug, Loan Officer. He has been working in the financial industry since graduating from USC in 2003—and it’s something that actually complements his musical pursuits: “The great thing about the day job I have is that it’s the kind of hustle where you create your own schedule, so I’m not locked down to a 9-5. There will be times where I can work on a music project for a day or two straight and not have to worry about going into the office.”

For as much as he loves what he does in the recording studio, C+Locious is not ready to rely on music alone to be his bread and butter. “Right now [the music] is obviously not paying the bills,” he says, “but it’s something that keeps me motivated and sane. The music is something I do on the side, and I will be content with it staying on the side if nothing comes from it, but I will continue to do it, hopefully with the quality output…I’ll be more recognized, be sought out more as a producer, and God-willing maybe one day I can make it something that pays the bills.”

Be inspired by C+Locious and watch him perform with Broken Dreams at Beauty Bar in San Diego, Saturday, July 31, 9 pm. [Click for more information.]

Broken Dreams, L-R: MoodSwingKing, C+Locious, BrekOne

Find out more about C+Locious and Broken Dreams:
http://www.facebook.com/clocious
http://www.twitter.com/clocious
http://www.myspace.com/clocious
http://www.myspace.com/brokendreamssd
http://www.famroyal.com

If you are looking for a place to record or would like to collaborate with C+Locious on your own projects, please contact him via any of the sites above.

And if you’re looking to buy a house, get in contact with Carlo at clayug@fullrealtyservices.com