Day 46 (Thursday, July 27)

I believe in guardian angels. Oh yes I do.

I got a few of those. Well, two at least. That's for sure.

The number one is my grandfather who passed away a long time ago when I was just 12 years old. Man, that's such a long time ago. He's still my favorite relative. He takes care of me and watches over me.

The other guardian angel is a borrowed one. Jessica has a best friend. She passed away nine years ago, almost to the date. Today she would have been 23 years old. A young life taken away in a matter of seconds.

Jessica's always asked Lyssette to take care of me. She asked for her to take care of me during the hurricanes, during my trips to Texas, Florida, Vegas and Chicago. Lyssette was asked for a big favor when I told Jessica I was applying for the AP internship. Somehow, Lyssette always delivers.

I love hearing about Lyssette. She was pretty cool, from what I understand. She was much like me. She had an imaginary friend. Me, as y'all know I have Cookie Monster as my best friend. Lyssette had George, a "piojito" (lice). There are a lot of very cool stories I heard about Lyssette. She seemed really outgoing, a dorky person who was an explorer. She was always looking for the next adventure. Sounds like anyone y'all know?

Anyways. The reason I bring her up today is not only because of her b-day. But also because today something magical happen. I was on my way to work. I walked the same streets, the same pattern, at the same time as I've done for the past five weeks. I looked in the same directions, came down the same stairway after riding the Orange Line. I even had the same breakfast. But today was different. I walked toward the Madison Street stairway that puts me within steps of the office. As I neared the exit, I saw it -- a shaft of sun light peeking through the buildings. I stopped. Took my camera out and started shooting some photos. The result:

© The Associated Press

I was lucky to make a nice photo today. Heck, even my editors liked the photo. It was liked so much at the headquarters in New York, that the photo editors there made this an AP TOP PIX image. Wooohoo.

The odd thing is that I've been walking through the same place day in and day out. I've never seen this before. It was something magical. Perhaps it was a way that Lyssette told me "hey, I'm enjoying my b-day."

Whatever it was, today I was really lucky.

© The Associated Press

I continued to have a good day as I walked around downtown looking for something cool to shoot. I went to Crown Fountain again today. I knew there was going to be something different to shoot there. I got there and I stood there for nearly 50 minutes looking around. There were a few things to shoot, but nothing that was standing out. I was fixing to go back to the office. I turned away and thought to myself "hmm, I'll wait 15 more minutes."

Good thing I did because within the next 10 or 12 minutes Matt Odom, 24, of Montclair California walked by. He stood out. He had tattoos all over his body. He wore a Dodgers shirt w/ the sleeves cut out. This was definitely my kind of guy. I walked closer to him and I started a conversation.

"You gotta be from LA," I said.

"You damn right!" Odom answered.

"I knew it, no one wears a Dodgers shirt proudly outside of LA unless they are from LA," I replied.

"I know. I saw your Dodger hat and I thought 'right on'," he said about my backwards LA Hat.

The conversation continued and I found out he was traveling with his best friend Iris. I stepped back and allowed him to continue enjoying Crown Fountain. That's when I realized he had cool tattoos on his legs. I walked back to him and started shooting photos of him as Iris (seen through his legs) played around w/ the water. Perfect!

I got up from the floor and made more conversation w/ the two Californians. Turns out Odom's sister is getting married here this weekend. It's the first time he and Iris travel together, which is something big being that she travels all over the world.

She mentioned she's been to Chiapas, Portugal and Thailand. Cool.

Her biggest concern was where the good Mexican food is. Of course I had to recommend good old Pilsen for that.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time talking to the two. Next thing I knew I had spent about two hours at the fountain. And there I was, about to walk back to the office empty handed. I really like the photo. It shows the fountain through a different eye, that's for sure.

The cool photos did not stop there. This week is a little different for me because I am having Friday off. That's because I am working on Sunday. Well..... technically, I am not working on Sunday. All I am doing is flying to New York to take part of the summer internship seminars next week.

Since tomorrow is a day off for me, I got a chance to go out and do a little bit of fun photography. I met w/ Nataley and Mili at Green Dolphin Street in uptown. That's where Amigos del Silencio and Si Se were performing tonight in concert. This allowed me to do some cool concert photography.

I did not bring all my equipment and I wish I did. But I made the most of the wide angle lens I brought w/ me. After all, I just wanted to have fun.

I focused on getting some photos of the dancing and the lights.

Once the band, which is from Venezuela, started playing I focused on it.

I did the usual photos.

Then I changed it up. I was allowed on the side of the stage and I took advantage of the access.

I was in great position when the lead singer approached the audience.

But it was not all about the band. I focused on other things at the venue. Like this really cool photo of a w/omyn hugging a man while the band played.

I also caught a guy taking a photo w/ his cell phone.

Destiny, who is seen on the right on the above photo, decided she was the better photo expert and started telling me what she thought I should be shooting photos of. I listened to her for a little bit, and then I continued w/ my quest to nice concert photography.

Amigos finished and the crowd stood still for a little bit.

But it wasn't long before Destiny (seen on right, above) started enjoying the music of Si Se.

I am always glad when I bring my camera around to wherever I go. Who knows what is going to happen. What I might see and what I might encounter.

Today was a good day to have the camera ready to go. Thanks Lyssette. You're a great angel.

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