One Powerful Persian.

You have to go on and be crazy. Craziness is like heaven.

-Jimi Hendrix

A look from one of her eyes is all it takes.  But you can't get away with just one look because now the intrigue of that one eye has you staring.  Before you know it your photographing her.  Her name is Ladan Dayyani.  The plate that Ladan carries around on an average day is more jam packed and complicated than most people could comprehend.  If it's not organic chemistry, she is at dance, and if its not dance she is busy being the Director Of Elections for ASUNM...and she is only a Sophomore.  Did I mention she speaks fluent Farsi and has a quite convincing British accent? Don't be fooled she isn't from Britain.  When it comes to her culture she is a very passionate person in fact just recently celebrating the Iranian New Year.  She is working on her undergraduate degree at UNM in Pharmacy and works in the hospital as well.  But don't let all the academics and work fool you, she loves her DJ'S and loves to dance.  Look out Tiesto Here she comes!

An Underestimated Gage Andrews.

"Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

First meeting Gage one would take him for the strong silent type or maybe just a shy guy, but silent is probably the furthest from what Gage Andrews is.  He is a conveyor of thoughts and feelings, a mediator between the beautiful euphoria that music is and the harsh reality of what is happening around the world right now.  He is first and foremost an artist, which is why I can appreciate the time he puts into his art, and the passion he has for it. That passion  creates a unique sound for Gage that everybody seems to love. I have to give credit to Gage for the idea to shoot with smoke in some of the photos, because they came out great.  Best of luck to Gage with his music career and pursuit of living the dream....

Drained Sunset Rides....

One if the best places to ride a skateboard is in an arroyo.  The massive amounts of concrete provide for a vast collection of concrete turns up and down through the intricate drainage system.  If you think about it these drainage arroyos could be ridden from most likely the base of the Sandia Mountains to the Rio Grande River.

Desert Wave Studios Opens its Doors.....

Never underestimate a 450 square foot room when it comes to painting.  There are something like 10,000 different colors to choose from and the difference in some shades may not even register depending on the eye that is viewing it.  So I decided to keep things simple and go with Cafe créme, which is the number one selling paint in the country at the moment, and Chianti, which I chose because it was named after a type of alcohol and boy doesn't everybody love to drink these days.  Americans consume something like 16 million gallons of beer a day and since we know not everybody drinks we can assume that most the people I know including myself make up for those non-drinkers in a big way.  Now painting by yourself seems like an ok idea when you think that with a little music and some pizza you can knock out.... half a wall in 2 hours??? This is the point where the roommates come in handy.  They can roll through a wall and a half in about an hour and cut my work by a third.  So once I got the painting to where it looked decent a week later after Charlie and I did some touch up work, I pulled tape and plastic to reveal a pretty neat sight.

Now it was time to start buying things, furniture, lights, plants, light stands, chairs, mirrors, prints...etc.  I wound up having to build all the furniture minus the love seat.

Once I had the furniture built I started to plant my yucca and lay rugs and hang paintings and mirrors and the place really started to come together the way I imagined it in my head when I signed my lease.  I had an epiphany around christmas time last year where I realized that I could not live my life, especially my young adult life, and exert my energy into a profession that I did not love.  I find it to be a waste of life when people don't attempt to follow their dreams.  Imagine where the world would be if everybody was happy when they got up to go to work in the morning, the world would be a much more positive place.  And so I begin my journey into the real world with the affirmation that no matter what happens with Desert Wave Studios I will know that I have pursued a dream.

Desertwavestudios.com