What we’re up to

 by Abel

McAllen Commercial Portrait – Michelle Zamora

Commercial Photography Behind The Scenes — I’d like you to meet Michelle Zamora (a Commercial Lender at Inter National Bank and current president of the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley). You can always find her volunteering somewhere, lately with the Food Bank serving as the current president.

She’s told me that they’re already preparing for Empty Bowls (held ever September). If you’ve never been you need to look it up, its a lot of fun and I’ve volunteered over the last few years. It’s kinda like a family reunion as I ALWAYS find someone I haven’t seen in years.

McAllen Portrait

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 by Abel

Sunday Photography Update: Website down! Well for a while

Lessons learned with in the last 24 hours.

1.) when working with websites BACK UP YOUR WORDPRESS

2.) read the documentation…even if it’s 120 pages. I’m spending the evening repairing abelriojas.com as i cratered the thing at about 2:00am. It’s slowly coming back to life but WHAT A PAIN.

In my other life I was a web designer and while things have improved (I’ve designed websites since 1997) they have become more and more complicated.  I guess you can still do the whole HTML thing but I still say wordpress is the way to go.

What does this have to do with photography?  Nothing.  Just kinda of a mini rant here on a Sunday evening.

McAllen Photography Workshop

Photography Workshop – Photo Credit:  Dustin Meyer

In other news, I had a chance to go back up to Austin and help out with a pair of photography workshops and I feel like teaching again.  If anyone’s interested in something specific drop me a line.  Let’s talk about what you’d like to learn and maybe we can come up with a game plan.

 

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 by Abel

2018 McAllen Valley Symphony Orchestra

Finishing my last edits for Valley Symphony Orchestra.

Nothing like a little bit of late night editing but what a performance.  They really do bring their “A” game in everything that they do.  I had a chance to catch up with some of the directors and we’re happy to announce that we’ll be supporting them again for the 2018-19 season.

As always the have lots of special performances lined up and I think one of the biggest changes (at least for me) is moving their famous “Touch of Frost” concert from late November to December.  I can’t wait for that one. (Says the guy that listens to Christmas music year round).

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 by Abel

What do you do after Easter is over?

Easter In McAllen

What do you do with leftover candy once Easter’s over? A: I don’t really have a sweet tooth, it’s the savory stuff that gets me B: I’m pretty well disciplined, mostly because I try to make it last as long as possible, or C: Seriously? I’m at HEB first thing Monday morning clearing the racks of EVERY remaining trace of chocolatey dove candy! Me personally I’m on a 12 step sugar detox that isn’t going well.  But Meh…there’s always next week.

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 by Abel

Commercial Photography – McAllen La Plaza Mall April 2018

Ever have one of those days where you’re just trying to catch up with everything?  That would be me.  We were asked back to help reshoot some of the new interiors of McAllen’s La Plaza Mall and they’re still adding more to it.  They weren’t able to say TOO much but they’re going to have a big announcement for local entertainment in the near future, as always I’m looking forward to it.

If you haven’t made the time to stop on by they have added more the north part of the mall and they’re expecting more stores and restaurants to open in the near future.

 

La Plaza Mall Expansion

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 by Abel

Headshot Portrait – Kassandra Rodriguez

Big Brothers Big Sisters McAllen

Kassandra Rodriguez – Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas- RGV

We spent most of the day updating our headshot portfolio and forgot to include this.  I wanted to introduce you to the Kassandra Rodriguez
the new Branch Director at Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas. They’ve begun asking for sponsorships for upcoming events including the April 21, 2018 Bowl For Kids’ Sake. If you’d like to help or need more information on how they make a difference in our communities call them at 956.630.9898.

I’ve spoken to a few of the advocates and it’s really a great organization.  We hope to help support them in the near future.

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 by Abel

Mission Chamber Spotlight – Commercial Photographer

Mission Chamber Photographer

This is a nice surprise!  I didn’t know we were featured as the Member of the week.  A friend of mine called me and told me the news, well there’s a first for everything.  I joined the Mission Texas Chamber back in 2008 when I was still part of the digital agency and as time went on I left the agency and re-joined as a photographer.

I can safely say they and the original Pharr Texas Chamber of Commerce helped start our business.  They took the time to introduce me to good people and even thought me the ropes of networking (which was HARD for me).  The VERY first networking meeting I ever went to I lost my nerve and walked out (probably back in 2002 / 03).  I didn’t know how to talk to other business people with out sounding like I was full of my self.  =)

Thank you Mission Chamber! Keep up the great work and we’ll catch up with the team soon.

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 by Abel

RGV Commercial Headshots – Behind The Scenes – Whistling Duck

McAllen Commercial Portait Photographer

This week was take your kid to work week…or was it put the kids to work week. I forget…anyways. I took the kids with me to a commercial job at local restaurant and they were able to get some pretty good #BTS photos.

And yes a big thank you goes out to our friend Fred from the Whistling Duck…he did awesome in his shoot and paid the kids in pizza, burgers, and tacos. (no really it was AWESOME!). Photo credit: Diego Riojas – 10 years old

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