Owwww.
Fuck.
This the third morning I woke up to a sharp pain in my stomach. I want to puke. There’s nothing to vomit. I’ve been sick since Saturday night… It’s Wednesday morning.
The pain renders me useless for periods of time. I don’t know how women do it. It’s just a stomach ache. I can’t even imagine menstrual pains.
The stomach pain came with fever, nausea, cough, cold sweat, body aches, diarrhea, and more. And it hasn’t stopped.
My girlfriend thinks it was tacos at Don Zefe. I don’t want to believe her because I like that place. But we both got sick after eating there. So… though reluctant… I agree. Don Zefe was probably what fucked us up.
We ate and drank at Wendlandt the previous night and then had more beers at Canneria. Wendlandt was outstanding as always. Canneria… could use some improvements. Doubt that that was what made us sick.
We went to a show at La Camorra and had more beers there. The show was horrible, the beers were alright. Indie pop bands that sounded like La Ley. I hate La Ley.
We had one more beer at a shitty bar and ended up going back to the hotel around 2 a.m.
Oh yeah.
We were in Ensenada.
There. I just had a period of like 25 minutes laying on the couch because I couldn’t handle the pain. I took Alka-Seltzer as soon as I woke up. It helped yesterday afternoon. It didn’t help this morning. Not sure what else I can take.
I need to work. I need to write. I need to photograph. I can’t afford sick days. Much less with little to no work. I need to finish the second version of the book. And more.
It was one helluva of a weekend.
It started on Thursday night. My girlfriend skipped work Friday morning… Because we went to see Daikaiju!
The first show that we go to together. It was great. I love her.
Since I barely touched my camera all month and I wanted to feel productive and I knew great shots were to be taken… I went out with my camera.
We started at Norte Brewing Co. for their 7th anniversary on the 6th floor. “Winstone” was DJing. I did my classic slow shutter with the flash trick. The results were posted on his Instagram:
We had a couple of beers there and headed down to Mous Tache for San Pedro el Cortez and Daikaiju (we were late for the band Axxident). San Pedro was alright, not great like the previous show. They weren’t originally supposed to play that night, but another band canceled and they filled in last second.
Close to midnight, it was Daikaiju time. I took over 300 pictures until my flash died.
We drank more beers. I got some beers for free. We rocked with the crowd. My girlfriend watched from the stairs for a while and joined the slammed from time to time. Her small purse opened up and her cards flew out. She didn’t notice. The bar did. Her stuff was recovered (sans money).
I jumped in the middle of the shit and started blind shooting a bunch. A lot of great pics. It’s tough to only summarize it to a handful on Instagram. I love shooting live bands. I wonder if they would look good on print.
ANNOUNCEMENT!
Sorry. As of now is under construction. But under the shop tab you will find the merch I sell. Should I call it shop? Or merch?
As of now, the shop will have the two books I wrote as well as prints. I intend to make more. Coffee mugs. Shirts. Who knows what else. You want to buy it. I want to sell it to you. Let me know what Matingas merch you want!
My flash died after one hour of Daikaiju playing live. I thought they were about to be done. It was late on a Thursday. I was drunk. My girlfriend was also drunkish. I asked her to get an Uber to get back home. I thought it was all done…
But no. Daikaiju, like they always do, played with fire. The pictures of that would have been amazing. But we left too early.
Speaking of Rock n’ Roll. A new cover I photographed just came out now as I’m typing this. School of Rock cover! To read about it, click here.
I photographed that what feels like forever ago. It was five weeks ago. I’m happy with the result. I sent 150+ pictures to the office. I’m content with the ones they chose.
I regretted not taking my flash. But at the same time, I’m happy with the results from the mirrorless camera. It was dark in there. I pushed the ISO higher than I am usually comfortable with. Imagined what I could do with even better gear…
Friday morning came. And by morning, I meant almost afternoon. We were supposed to go to Ensenada early to pick up her freshly minted government ID. We ended up leaving Tijuana around 4 pm…
It mattered not. We made it to Ensenada on time to grab her ID. We could have simply driven back. But I love Ensenada. And she’s from there. We decided to stay. We went back to the same hotel to find out that prices were doubled on the weekends. Instead of $30 for a room, it was $60. We looked for a different hotel but they all had a similar price. We went back to the same one.
Luckily. And I’m not sure how. I’m still baffled by it. My bank account reflects that they only charge $30 on my card. I’m not sure how it happened. I was speaking to the clerk about the rate hike. She either felt pity for me. Or because I was talking numbers, she got mixed up while charging me and gave me the room for half off. The receipt says it was $60. My bank account statement says otherwise.
Well.
Fuck.
That was a lie. I just checked my bank statement and saw that they charged me the right price. And I was so happy with my imaginary discount. This is what happens when you are low in funds. You obsess over your bank statement. And I still owe rent.
WORTH IT!
Even my stomach ache right now.
Worth it!
Worth it for her. Worth it for Ensenada.
After getting her ID, the aforementioned Friday Ensenada adventure. With nothing to do on Saturday in Ensenada and low on funds, we decided to drive back. But first, coffee. The best coffee I’ve had so far in Ensenada, Xcaanda:
And after coffee…
TRAFFIC. A lot of traffic. There was a bicycle race between Rosarito and Ensenada. I was stuck in the same block for 20 minutes. Google Maps indicated that it would take me over two hours to leave Ensenada. It was like the city wanted me to stay. It was already late and we hadn’t had breakfast yet. So what was next? Don Zefe. Two fish tacos for her. I got three tacos: shrimp, octopus, and fish. Cucumber water to share. They were good. I enjoyed them like always.
She started feeling sick after eating. I thought she was just hungover. I’m sorry babe… You didn’t say how bad you were feeling.
After tacos. There was still a shit ton of traffic, so we went to my favorite brewery. Cardera. It was early to drink, but fuck traffic.
Babe barely drank. She wasn’t feeling well. I drank them all for the most part. We were then debating if to stay in Ensenada for another night or go back to Tijuana. We went to the inauguration of a new taproom of two breweries, Syncopa and Imaginaria. The beer was okay. I trust they can do better, because I’ve had better. Great for the very first day. The rock show was way better than the previous night, especially because it was early. After a beer there and some music, we decided it was Tijuana time.
My girlfriend was feeling better after that last stop. I felt alright during the drive.
But as soon as I got home. It hit me. I got the chills. Everything hurt. I went from being very cold to sweating from la calorts. My eyes still hurt.
And my stomach…
I still need to take breaks to just breathe for a while before coming to type all this nonsense again.
I had a photoshoot on Sunday. A dude shoot. My 5th or 6th dude shoot. I didn’t know that was a thing until I made it my thing. I’m good at shooting dudes.
If you need headshots for work, dating profile, social media, or just in general… and you are a dude and you are shy about getting pictures. Hire me. I’m good at shooting dudes.
The dude pre-paid me and I hate canceling. So I ignored the pain. Took some Aleve NSAID and got to work. I wasn’t feeling like drinking. But it always helps with a photoshoot. And then I drank more. And more. And took some more Aleve.
That combination fucked me up even more.
At least the pictures were good and the client is happy.
And now, Wednesday. My sleeping schedule is a mess. But at least I don’t have a real job to be concerned about. I am worried about my low funds though. I have a gig tomorrow and another on Friday. That will recoup me a bit and save September from being an absolute shitshow financially…
So, for more attention and to try to make money…
I finally did a Giveaway!!
Or like how I like to call it. Give a güey.
I’ve sold plenty of prints of el Rayo es Falso picture… Well… Here goes once more. I’m doing a giveaway to get interactions. And it’s working. Now I have to figure out how to do the actual fucking giveaway.
Here’s the selfie that I took to do the give a güey. Here’s the actual post where you can comment and tag a friend to actually participate on the giveaway.
If you want to buy a print, contact me. And I’ll sell you whatever your heart desires. Or if you just want to print it yourself, join my Patreon and get access to the full files.
Version 2.0 of the Tijuana book is coming out next week. I need to finish that now. You can read the two new chapters only on my Patreon. Or when you buy the book.
I got tagged on the wedding photography subreddit. One user is really nice to me. I truly appreciate it. I trust that my business will grow. Right now I’m broke. But I’m good at what I do. I just need to knock on doors and get the clients.
Follow my fourth Instagram. I cover weddings, XV años, ceremonies, bautizos, lifestyle, portraits, and more. Baja Bodas by Matingas.
I also cover children’s parties. The last photo shoot was my nephew’s birthday:
There is nothing in October. I barely knocked on doors in September. I improved my LinkedIn. I searched for jobs. All I get is annoying emails. My TikTok gets more popular. I get messages about photoshoots. They don’t materialize. They just say they want a photoshoot. Rarely anything happens.
My stomach hurts, but I need to eat.
Done. Chicken quesadilla with beans. I made it delicious, but because I feel sick, it was a bit rough going in. I feel fine. I feel better. I should be fine later today. I work tomorrow in San Diego. I haven’t even crossed the fucking border all month. I forgot that was a thing. Donatella needs to be fix ASAP. Shit. I gotta get my shit together.
My girlfriend is mad at me. I have the knack to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I was worried about something when I shouldn’t be. And I ruined the mood. I’m going to buy her something she’ll like. I know exactly what she would like. It will be a nice surprise.
The stomach ache is better. The Ensenada ache is the same. I ache for Ensenada. I don’t want to cross the border anymore. I have a gig tomorrow, might as well try and make them two. And I’m gonna see my good friend Kevin. He’ll have some beers for me.
There hasn’t been a new drinking beer with Matingas… There will be a new one soon.
Beer and photography shall continue to be my life. And tacos. I’m writing an article about tacos to get paid. I should finish that was well.
Word vomit over. Shower. Get to work!
Matingas 