Day 35 (Sat., July 3)

Remember I said July 3 was a very special day for me when I spoke about today on Thursday's entry? Well, yeah. Today's a real special day for me. To refresh your memory, my name is Julio (which means July in Spanish) and the #3 is my favorite number. So, July 3 is a special day. I remember growing up I used to tell people I had two birth dates a year -- July 3 and my real birth date on Dec. 19. So, today's sort of my birth date... Ok, so you are probably wondering what's going on in the above photo. That's me. And that's Ana Gutierrez, who I have written about on the journal on some occasions. That's a year ago today. Being that July 3 is a very special day for me, to begin with, I made it even more so last year. After nearly five years of being with Ana, I proposed. Being the passionate photographer that I am, I figured the best way to capture the moment is to do it how I know best: with a photo. This photo was taken with a remote control as I captured the exact moment when I got on one knee. She had no idea, as I always set up the camera on the tripod and took photos of us off the remote. So, obviously, the set-up happened and she had no idea. That's the happy note.

The sad note is that after nearly five years of spending time with her, we broke up and the above photo is now just a distant memory as is all the other episodes during our time together. I feel lucky, and I hope she does, too. We spent a great part of our lives together and we have many things to cherish. I say we are both lucky because we didn't have the type of break up that involved having your ex go psycho on you. I've seen on many occasions how people who break up become psycho and stalk his/her ex. We didn't have that. We each went our ways, holding on to the good times. In fact, we worked together at the same newspaper for six months and we held a professional and friendly attitude toward each other. Now, that's what a healthy break up is all about.

I am so happy where I am now. I can't say I am sad, mad, upset, and/or ashamed of what happened. Look at me now. A year later, I am 1,500-plus miles away from home. I am successfully displaying the little bit of talent I have to a large audience that reads the Al Dia Newspaper. I will be going to New York in the Fall to take part of another very important internship. I am on the final stretch of my college experience. I will graduate soon. And I am happy. What else can I ask for? Nothing! I am happy. My life's complete -- something I didn't think would happen to me since last year. :)

Today, I continued my firework-shooting experience. It was a very long process. Knowing the City of Dallas was going to host its 4th of July celebration today at City Hall Plaza, I figured I go do some homework. I drove around the city for almost three hours. Looking for the perfect angle. Talking to people about their previous City of Dallas 4th of July Celebration. However, this was the first time they held the event near downtown, so I had to capture the essence of this "new" event. So, I found out where the fireworks were going to be shot off. I talked to apartment managers, parking lot and parking structure security guards and to the manager at a hotel in hope to getting access to the best angle. The fireworks were going to be shot off the top of the City Hall, according to an event organizer I talked to at around 2 p.m. Luckily, I was able to get access to the top of the Ramada Plaza Hotel which gave me the best view of City Hall, with the Dallas skyline on the background. That set-up is seen on the following photo. As I sat there today in the afternoon, I imagined "bombs bursting in air" over the Dallas skyline. It was perfect.

Fastforward 9.5 hours after I spoke to the event organizer. I shoot the above photo to see how "sweet" this location really was. Again, I imagined the "bombs bursting in air". Then the expected time for the fireworks came. And as slated, the fireworks started to go off. I looked to my set-up and there was nothing. I looked 1/4-mile to the left and there, on top of the Convention Center was where these fireworks were exploding. "Arrrrggggghhhhhh," I thought as I had to improvise. I had to switch my cameras (I shot both 35mm and digital film frames of the event) in order to get a good view. Of course, I worried about getting a nice shot and it wasn't until the end of the show when I realized how my hard-work this afternoon almost paid off. The bottom photo shows a little of the city, but the ideal would have been with all the buildings in the frame. Oh well, you live and learn. Today, I learned a little more about photography and about events. I'll try again tomorrow and hopefully this time my homework gets an A.

 

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