Grant Klein Photography

Photo Blog Coming Soon

2008-09-15T01:31:00.000-07:00

Since I am a photographer, I thought it would be great if I could show my photos a little bit bigger with a photography blog. Since I take pictures on a daily basis, it would be nice to share these with you. I'm having my programmers working on a new blog that will replace the current one, so hold on to your boot straps and get ready for a ride.

Thanks,

Grant

More Press

2008-05-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

One of my pics was used in Salt Water Girl's May 08 issue. It's a pic I took of Mike Falkow.

Man Stuck in an Elevator for 41 Hours

2008-04-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Watch the Video

Read the article

John Adams

2008-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Join or Die!!!!

HBO Films is doing a mini-series on the life of John Adams starring Paul Giamatti. At first when my dad told me it was his favorite thing on TV, I was a bit skeptical, but now that I've been watching it, I am immersed. Who knew history could be so cool?

Check out HBO's website.

Bird Poop

2008-04-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I got out of my car a I was surprised by a little gift on my shoulder. At least it wasn't this bad.

Automatic Loveletter at Bamboozle

2008-04-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

I was asked to come down to Bamboozle for Epic artist Automatic Loveletter. Excellent show. Amazing fans. Here are a couple pics.

Dance Is Rehabilitation At Cebu Prison

2008-03-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

Just in case you weren't one of the 10 million people to already view this on You Tube, you pretty much have to read/see this.

Excerpt from "asianoffbeat.com"

"Six months ago, Crisanto Niere and Wenjiel Resane were just two more inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, serving time for drug trafficking. Today, they are Internet superstars. YouTube footage, uploaded in mid-July, shows the prisoners dancing to the Michael Jackson song "Thriller." It has been viewed more than 10 million times and become one of the most popular clips ever on the video-sharing Web site. The skit features Niere, playing Jackson, and Resane, as the "girl," along with more than 1,500 other inmates performing in the background."

"Inmates spend up to four hours a day practicing a growing repertoire of more than two dozen dances. In addition, those who signed up for auditions and made the troupe have continued rehearsing their Sinulog choreography. Although they have been barred from performing at the site of the main festival events, they are planning shows within the prison itself. The prison is giving away 200 free tickets to each of three shows Friday."

Thriller:

Soulja Boy

New Canon 5D Mk 2

2008-03-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

New updated specs for 5D Mark 2. They were definitely different than the initial leaked specs in March 08. The camera is actually amazing. I am on a waiting list to get it.

The new Canon 5D Mark 2 specs are on DPReview.com Read the article here.

Nikon and Sony have been busy the last year releasing new cameras and amazing technology and finally Canon decided to wake up. Canon has now kept themselves in the market. Exciting times for digital camera enthusiasts.

Moon Advertising

2008-03-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Just saw a commercial for Rolling Rock Beer. It's a funny idea.

Cool Basketball Widget

2008-03-05T12:06:00.001-08:00

Online Photo Labs

2008-03-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a decent online Photo Lab Service to get some inexpensive prints done of just random things... nothing professional, but I always have to have a high quality print.

I don't like taking anything to local drug stores because they are just terrible and you have to get in your car and drive somewhere. There are a lot out of online photo lab options out there, but I found this article helpful. It's a bit dated, but I think it can help sort through the plethora of online photo services out there. Yes, I just said plethora.

Check it out.

P.S. I am trying out Adorama's Photo Lab. I have used Kodaks before, but their print sizes are a bit limited and you don't have as many options.

Random Photo of the Week

2008-02-19T17:35:00.000-08:00

Ok. So I guess most of the photos on this blog are random. But I was archiving some pics the other day and found this one from Florence. There are scooters everywhere in Italy!

Austin Texas

2008-02-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

Took a little trip to Austin. That is a proud state. They seem to have their Texas star on everything. Great city.

Doorknob

Texas Capitol Building

Southwest Flight Home

Fire in the Sky

2008-02-19T00:28:00.000-08:00

I took this shot awhile ago. Reminds me why I love California.

Moon over Los Angeles

2008-02-19T00:27:00.001-08:00

Self Car Portrait

2008-02-19T00:26:00.000-08:00

Driving down the 5. I took a self-car portrait. That's my truck in the reflection.

Tired Anyone?

2008-02-19T00:22:00.002-08:00

Seriously... no one needs this many mattresses.

Beef... it's what's not for dinner.

2008-02-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

Beef recall Part 2.

Holy smokes. Electric prodding of diseased and injured animals to the slaughter house. Possible mad cow. Good thing most of it has already been consumed by the school systems and people who like In-N-Out... sorry. I just puked in my mouth.

I'll be eating salads for awhile. At least until I die from some bad spinach... God bless America.

Read the Washington Post article here.

Cloverpuke

2008-02-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert!

I know, I know. It made 40 million dollars in the opening weekend. Just because JJ Abrams produces something doesn't mean it is necessarily good. As a disclaimer, I love LOST. Like really love it.

First off, I was surprised that this movie had a production budget of 25 million, since it seemed like it was shot on a handycam video and a couple tapes.

After I stopped puking and finished my epileptic seizures, I realized that the story had an empty plot and really, who cares if a monster attacks Manhattan. Really, what an original idea. Also, as a note, if you get impaled with a piece of rebar through your chest and you don't seek medical attention for let's say 6 hours, you're gonna be dead. I know it's a movie, but it was trying to capture the whole "realistic documentary" vibe so make sure that your script is airtight. Thanks.

I will now continue foaming at the mouth.

Halloween

2007-10-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight we carved pumpkins and I sat by the phone waiting to hear about a Halloween Party. I made the spider pumpkin by the way. I did it all by myself. I swear. I didn't use a paper diagram that was included with the pumpkin tool kit. How dare you accuse me of that. OK. I'm not playing this game. Agree to disagree. Agree to disagree.

Anywho, I was all dressed up and had nowhere to go. Seriously.

I was sooo bummed. I watched March of the Penguins 14 times to get ready for this role. What can I say, I'm a method actor.

Detour Festival – Los Angeles

2007-10-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

Right after we got back from our honeymoon, we hit up the Detour Festival in Downtown Los Angeles. I have to say, it was pretty cool to be downtown and seeing all those bands. Usually when you are downtown on the weekend, you have to worry about a bum sticking you with a dirty needle and screaming, "You don't own me. I am the past, present and future."

Anyway, one of my favorite bands, The Shout Out Louds played there. We mostly went to see them and Bloc Party. I have to say, we should have left after the Shout Out Louds. Bloc Party was kinda disappointing.

Anyway, there was an artist signing for The Shout Out Louds. I've never done one of those before and I have to say I was a bit nervous. My palms were sweating and I was giddy like a school girl. They were super nice and they are from Stockholm, so I tried to get them to do a thumbs up picture for the camera. I don't think they knew what Thumbs up meant. I thought that was an international thing... I guess not. Well, I got the guitarist to do it, but the singer really just thought I was kinda lame and started staring at a couple young girls... oh well. I guess I need to dress sexier next time.

By the way, the Shout Out Louds are playing the Fonda on November 5th. I'll be there even if you won't.

Italy Honeymoon

2007-10-31T22:29:00.001-07:00

So we went on a Italy Honeymoon. Ya, it was amazing. Jealous? You should be.

We started in Venice, went to Florence, Tuscany, Rome and finished in the Amalfi Coast. Positano to be specific (That's where dreams, sunshine and lollipops are made, by the way.)

I'm so glad we went to Italy. It shocked me that there were other people on Planet Earth that didn't speak English and didn't look like us Americans. If anything, I learned that most Italian boys at age 10 have a better sense of style than I ever could have.

Traveling with Melissa (my wife) is always nice. Luckily, we are usually always on the same vibe and we tend to have fun wherever we go. Whether it is getting lost in the Venice canals, getting hit on by Italian men, or eating pizza, we always enjoyed ourselves.

After our trip, we are making it a tradition to go on trips. We definitely have the travel bug. Stay tuned for our next trip. We are traveling to Uzbekistan for three months. We are going to be working in Tashkent, the capital. I found us a great job working on one of their famous subways.

Travel on!

We Got Married!

2007-10-31T22:19:00.001-07:00

Well, if you didn't know already, my fiance Melissa McCullough and I tied the knot on September 8th, 2007. It was a very intimate wedding with our immediate family and very close friends. It was amazing.

Everything was perfect... except for the small explosion. I still don't understand why the HAZMAT team had to show up. Just because there were a few harmful chemicals in the air and people were feeling dizzy.... Party crashers.

Married life is great. Thank you to everyone who was there and helped us put it together! You know who you are.

Photo by Juan Turcios.

Geoduck "The Weiner of the Sea"

2007-10-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

The geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"),[1] Panopea abrupta or Panope generosa, is a species of large saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk which is also known as the king clam or elephant trunk clam.

The shell of this clam is large, about 15 to over 20 cms in length (about 7 to 9 inches) but the tremendously long siphons make the clam itself very much longer than this; the "neck" or siphons alone can be one meter in length.

Native to the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada (primarily Washington, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska), it is the largest burrowing clam in the world, weighing in at an average of one to three pounds (0.5 - 1.5 kg) at maturity, but specimens weighing over 15 pounds (7.5 kg) and as much as 2 meters (6 ft) in length are not unheard of.

Read more about the Weiner of the Sea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoduck

Sometimes my name is Grank

2007-10-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

I dropped off some video footage to get duplicated yesterday and the guy asked me for my name as he was filling out the paperwork. He wrote down "Grank." Normally, I would be surprised, but I started thinking, "Is Grant an unusual name." Growing up, I only knew of one other Grant in my circle and he was about 10 years older than me. It was nice that I dogged that "Michael" or "John" bullet during school, but has it really paid off?

At Starbucks, the baristas get my name right about a third of the time.
But is "Grant" really that strange?

Here are some recent variations:
Gran (no "t")
Grand
Bran
Brent
Bret
Greb (no, I'm not making that up)
Frank

Now, when I call in orders to restaurants for pick-up, I just use "Bob." I'm not kidding. No one screws up "Bob." It only has three letters and two of them are the same. It won't overload the IQ.

Maybe Los Angeles is to blame. A melting pot of cultures and an eruption of strange celebrity names, maybe "Grant" is just too normal. Or is it too strange?

So I decided to do some research. According to http://www.namestatistics.com Grant is the #343 most common male name. 0.036% of men in the US are named Grant. and around 44100 US men are named Grant!

OK. Well I guess it's a bit rare. I decided to look up my brother's name, "Cody." Now, one might think that Cody is a very rare name, but NO! "Cody" is the #246 most common male name. A "Grant" is more rare than a "Cody."

Go figure!

Where does your name rank?

http://www.namestatistics.com/index.php