Holy fuck…
I’m exhausted. And I haven’t even had breakfast.
I just filed my 2020 taxes.
And fuck.
Taxes are scary.
Especially when you are not sure what you are doing and you have to file freelance taxes from three different sources.
And I paid for my car insurance.
And I paid for some more prints.
AHH
Money fucking disappears. And when I get some. It disappears quickly again.
Ahh
Fuck.
I still have to fix my student loans.
I got that final notice. Call us now or face default. I have 30 days. Except it is marked on March 06, 2021. So I really have like a week. It says I could pay as low as $0. Let’s hope that’s true. I fucking hate the phone.
I could always kill myself. Though supposedly debt will follow you to your grave. What a fucked up world.
What a depressing and anxious way to start the blog.
I need breakfast and a shower and some positivity going on in here.
I had an Oxxo breakfast. They have a taco cart inside the convenient store and their burritos are more than okay. Especially for being a convenient store. It has better tacos than many restaurants in the US. Sort of like how 7-Eleven sushi in Japan is better than most sushi restaurants in Mexico.
After that, I went to the print shop to gather my prints in “politela” (cotton cloth) and took them to the frame shop. I didn’t even unroll the politela to see the prints. I hope I sell them. Because I have no money.
I have no money.
I have no money.
Is so stressful to say “I have no money.”
I have some money.
Not enough money.
Just barely to keep living.
2020 changed many things. Let’s see how life continues.
I need breakfast again today. I haven’t been cooking because I also need to fix a thing with my stove and the gas hose for it to work properly. I’m not much of a handyman, I’m better at cooking. So I have been pushing it to “I’ll do it later” for more than two weeks now.
All my food comes from the street.
At least TJ food is cheap.
I’m getting some cheap Tj food right now.
Things are going well somewhat though.
I’m going to be an uncle for the third time. Not sure how my brother does it.
I’m going to have a pop-up store / slash / showroom / slash / photoshoot sessions. All over in a space called “Nett Nett.” It’s a radio station and an undefined creativity space situated in Pasaje Rodríguez in Tijuana. I’ll be there the whole month of April. Weekdays by appointment. Weekends (Friday and Saturday) from 2 pm to 6 pm or perhaps later depending on the flow of things.
Come visit me in Nett Nett (second floor of Pasaje Rodriguez).
I will have my prints. So far I’ve printed and framed the following:
And
And a few more.
This is what I look like inside the space with my framed pictures behind me:
Bam. Cover picture for the blog. I’m not totally in love with it. I need to take more.
I also finally posted the pics of the model I worked with a couple of weeks back. It has been my most successful Instagram post featuring a model.
The shooting was easy. Choosing my favorite shots was the hard part. Agreeing with her in what were the best shots was also difficult. I should shoot less.
This is what my setup looked like:
And then it got dark and I have no idea what I was seeing through my lens. I just knew I had the proper settings and hope for the best results.
The model got more comfortable in the dark. There are some sexier pics. Some more nude. And in a couple of pics, she’s looking down her underwear no idea why. Those make me laugh. I had no idea that she was doing that.
Oh.
And two more covers for the Magazine. I cross today to take yet another cover shot.
This was cover #6 of the year:
This is the cover for the sad story. Even sadder pictures.
This is the other cover that came out today, cover #7 for the year:
It’s about dirt and stuff (I haven’t read it).
I had burritos for breakfast. Burritos and coffee are my standard breakfast. My photoshoot is for later today but I should get to crossing soon.
Bisho didn’t like the new cat food I got him. It’s salmon and chickpeas all-natural ingredients no grain. I buy premium fancy cat food and he doesn’t like it. He is staring at me like, yo, feed me.
Sorry, cats. That’s the food I got. That’s the food you’ll eat till the bag is gone and I get you another bag. I think they actually liked cheap Meow Mix the best, but I also bought another fancy bag of cat food they really liked. This new bag… yep. They eat it eventually. But they are not excited about it.
Fucking cats.
I woke up to a message from “Lydia” the owner of a restaurant and villa lodgings in Valle de Guadalupe. She wanted to book me for a photo session. And a tall order at that. Food photos, chef photos, and photos of the villa, and more.
I agreed to do it for cheap.
$150 which is my standard price, plus food, travel expenses, and lodging. She seemed to be ready for it.
And…
She just messaged me telling me that the web developer already hired someone else and she didn’t know about it. That other dude is probably getting paid more than $500.
I’m a cheap photographer and I still don’t get the gigs.
I know I have to be better and increase my prices. I’m going there.
If you like what I write or my pictures and want to support me anyway you can… you can do it through my Patreon, here:
https://www.patreon.com/Matingas
I’ll be adding more goodies to the Patreon tiers soon. But as you can tell, I’m busy with a lot and with nothing at the same time. And I’m also too much of a beer drinker. Which reminds me, there’s been a few new drinking beer with Matingas and I haven’t mentioned that. You can find those here:
and more… and more…
And finally… I forgot I tried opening a print shop through SmugMug. It’s too expensive. I did a 14-day trial and I only have one week left. I decided not to do it with SmugMug since there are similar choices at a cheaper price. I’m still trying to land one, but so far I’m also on a free trial with PixieSet and ShootProof.
PixieSet is winning. Prints through there will be more expensive than the ones I make here in Tj… but they will be available all through the US. Maybe people that love Tijuana from afar will buy some.
The website will be called something like “TijuanaLandscapes.com.”
This is what it looks like on PixieSet right now, but I still have much work to do with that. I have much work to do with life. It’s going though. It’s still going.
Matingas 