Form submitted successfully, thank you.

Error submitting form, please try again.

HoustonPhotog.com / LongoriaPhotography.com bio picture

My Photo Blog

I've been a slacker when it comes to posting my images online so I am hoping that this newly revamped blog will motivate me to do just that.

I plan to keep this blog updated with photos from just about everything so definitely be sure to check back often.

Abel Longoria

My Blue October Guitar

Friday, July 30, 2010 Posted in Concerts

Well as some of you may know I am a big fan of the band Blue October and have seen them perform live 12 times in the past 13 months in 7 different cities and 5 different states. This is one of the only bands I’ll really travel for and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

This past June I got the opportunity to photograph a charity event for The Austin School for the Performing and Visual Arts (ASPVA) which was being hosted by C.B. Hudson (Blue October’s lead guitarist) and his lovely wife Betsy Hudson. Upon arriving at the event I noticed an autographed guitar on display with a silent auction sign up sheet sitting below it. I just knew this had to come home with me and be displayed in my mancave aka home office. Lol.

After a very intense bidding war between myself and two other attendees I managed to sneak my final bid in without the other parties noticing. Once the auction ended the guitar was mine! LOL! SCORE! Haha.

Typically when purchasing autographed guitars, you only find Fender Stratocaster’s which makes it easy because the person gaining the autographs only has to carry around a small pick guard in order to have the band members sign. Then once all of the signatures were given then they’ll mount it to a guitar and sell it. In this particular case there is no pick guard. Each member of the band signed the solid body Epiphone guitar which is a much bigger deal than just a pick guard. In addition to the signatures the guitar also feature the custom Blue October artwork drawn by bassist Matt Noveskey. How’s that for a one of a kind display piece!

Shortly after getting the guitar home I began looking online for a wall mount display case in order to mount in my mancave/office. After a few days of searching I finally contacted Jeff McMurray at Bandmate USA and had them build me a case for my new piece of wall art. Jeff’s craftsmanship on the display case was amazing and I would definitely recommend his products to anyone out there looking for a nice custom case. In fact, I’m about to have him build me another case in order to round out my mancave/office. =)

Signatures going clockwise from the Blue October artwork are:
Matt Noveskey, Jeremy Furstenfeld, Ryan Delahoussaye, C.B. Hudson & Justin Furstenfeld

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/100th : f/8 : 800 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

by Abel Longoria

3 comments

add a comment link to this post email a friend

July 30, 2010 - 8:50 am Amy - I hate you. Ok, not really- I'm just jealous. I'm also glad that the guitar went to a true fan and that the proceeds went to such an important cause :)

July 30, 2010 - 8:56 am jayne richards - Wow - so glad you got this - it's fabulous and for a great cause!! Congrats Abel!!!

July 30, 2010 - 9:13 am Abel Longoria - Thanks guys. I knew I would hate myself if I did not end up bringing this guitar home so I had to ante up my ninja skills and outbid the others. I don't think the other guys realized who they were bidding against, I don't think thy realized it was the "hired help". =)

DJ Z-Trip

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 Posted in Concerts

I first saw DJ Z-Trip perform here in Houston about 2 years ago and I was completely blown away by this guy! The music was amazing! I made it a point to keep an eye out for this guy’s tour schedule so I can see him live again. As it turns out he was in town on June 23rd and I almost completely missed this current tour date. If it wasn’t for a friend of mine, Alex Luster over at ShootEditSleep.com calling me only hours before the show to tell me about it then I would have indeed missed it. It was a week night and didn’t make it home til past 3am while still having to be at work at 7am that morning. Oh joy. Was it worth it? HELL YA!!!

You can view the entire set of lower resolution photos on my FACEBOOK ALBUM HERE.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/60th : f/2.8 : 1000 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

Have I mentioned recently how much I love my 135L lens? Ok, just checking. This lens is so freaking tack sharp wide open it’s unbelievable. This is definitely a lens I will hang on to and will not be selling for any reason whatsover.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/160th : f/2 : 2500 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Cliche fisheye shot of the crowd. I had timed it just right so when the house lights were at their brightest I snapped the shot. lol.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/40th : f/4 : 800 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : Flash Fired

Keep in mind guys… If you hear of DJ Z-Trip making a stop in your town do yourself a favor and go check him out! You will not be disappointed.

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Tags: , , , , ,

by Abel Longoria

no comments

add a comment link to this post email a friend

Schwabacher’s Landing – Jackson Hole, WY

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Posted in Travel

I spent the past few days up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on a photo tour of the Grand Teton National Park and it was AMAZING up there! About 50 degrees cooler than the 100 degree weather we’re having here in Houston. Lol. I took about 2,000 photos over the course of the 4 day trip so it will be a little work sifting through them and picking my favorites.

I did manage to check out my Infrared photos real quick to see which ones I liked so I figured I post one up here for you guys. This was taken at Schwabacher’s Landing and the view was absolutely breathtaking. This was definitely one of my favorite spots along the tour to shoot at.

Canon G9 IR Converted : 1/25th : f/8 : 100 ISO : 7.4mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash

I’ll sift through my photos and get a complete set posted within the week. Stay tuned for a ton of spectacular views and some amazing wildlife. =)

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Tags: , , , , ,

by Abel Longoria

6 comments

add a comment link to this post email a friend

June 16, 2010 - 11:19 pm paul burd - Stunning! Nicely done.

June 17, 2010 - 10:01 am DeAnn - Wow! This is amazing!

June 17, 2010 - 10:27 am Abel Longoria - Thanks a ton guys! I have a ton of images to sift through and edit.. I know what I'll be doing this weekend! ha!

June 19, 2010 - 10:28 am Teri McCarthy - Absolutely stunning! Snow in the Tetons in June!

June 20, 2010 - 1:14 am Bill Hamilton - Amazing shot - please let me know if you sell prints of it and thanks for sharing.

June 20, 2010 - 1:24 am Karen Mayberry - Unbelievably breathtaking--especially with your spin on it!

Staples Center – Los Angeles, CA

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Posted in City Life, Travel

Earlier this year I flew to Los Angeles, CA in order to attend the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Show. As a fan of music in general you can probably guess how stoked I was to land a pair of tickets for this event. This is an event that I have always seen on TV and to finally have a pair of tickets and for the first time seeing the event unfold live and in person was amazing!

I arrived the day before the event and had to pick up my tickets from Will Call at The Staples Center. The entire area was jam packed with security, TV trucks, barricades etc so I wandered around trying to find the right place I needed to go to in order to get my tickets. During my walk around the outside of The Staples Center I noticed some very interesting lines of the building itself so like any photographer would do, I stopped to snap off a few shots of it.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/1000th : f/7.1 : 100 ISO : 50mm : Aperture Priority : 0 Bias : No Flash

I had so much in Los Angeles that weekend and attending the Grammys was the icing on the cake! I got to walk down the red carpet, no not the same red carpet as the important people but right along side that so we got to see all of the people conducting their short TV interviews and such. It was very very cool to see the behind the scenes stuff in regards to the production of the entire event. That’s definitely something you don’t get to see while watching it on TV! Needless to say I will definitely be making plans to attend the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Show coming up in 2011! I can’t wait!

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Tags: , , , , ,

by Abel Longoria

no comments

add a comment link to this post email a friend

Blue October in Houston – May 15, 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010 Posted in Concerts

Blue October came to town on their Pick Up The Phone Tour promoting suicide prevention. Blue played at the Sam Houston Race Park and ended up bringing in the largest crowd they’ve ever played for as a headliner which was just over the 8,000 mark! Much different than the 3,000 capacity venues they’ve played throughout the rest of the tour.

You can view the entire set of lower resolution photos on my FACEBOOK ALBUM HERE.

Here is the capacity crowd of over 8,000 dedicated fans ready and waiting for Blue October to take the stage. I purposely purchase the Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens for crowd shots like this and when its coupled with my full frame Canon 5DMK2 body it gives me that wide angle that I love! I stood up on the short platform which is located on the inside of the barricade and then stretched out my arm as high as I could in order to get the highest possible perspective in order to try to capture as much of the crowd as possible. Looking back on it now I wish I had brought my monopod along in order to extend my reach another 6ft up above the crowd. Now that would have been really cool. Well there’s always next time.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/80th : f/2.8 : 2500 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Justin Furstenfeld, lead singer of Blue October taking a moment just before beginning of the first song.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 70mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Another somber moment in between songs which is one of the reasons as a photographer I try my best to not ever take my eyes off of the stage. When I need to change cards or such I usually try to do it during a song as weird as that sounds. Some of my favorite photos like this all occur in between songs while most photographers are checking their images on their LCDs, changing cards and/or changing lenses.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/160th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Jeremy Furstenfeld is usually the toughest member of the band to photograph due to him being set near the back of the stage plus 90% of the time he’s in shadows since there usually isn’t much light on him. I was concentrating on trying to get some images of another band member when I noticed the light tech began to shower Jeremy with light so I quickly diverted my attention straight to Jeremy in order to try to get a few shots of him.

One of the things I learned shooting NFL games from the sidelines is shooting with both eyes open. Not only in order to watch what plays are developing and such but also for my own safety so I don’t get mowed over by a massive football player sprinting out of bounds. LOL. This technique of shooting with both eyes open also helps in concert photography since it helps me keep track of what all is going on stage while still shooting photos of a single band member. That is what happened here, I was photographing one member when I noticed out of my open left (non shooting) eye I saw Jeremy become lit up so then I simply switched to shooting him.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/200th : f/2 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

This is by far my most favorite photo from the evening. I absolutely love the clarity and bokeh of my 135L lens. In fact most of my favorite photos over the past year or so have come from this lens. The 135L is one of the sharpest and smoothest lenses I have ever used and I’m never afraid to shoot with it wide open at f/2.

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 135 f/2L : 1/200th : f/2 : 1600 ISO : 135mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

Canon EOS-5D Mark II : Canon EF 15 f/2.8 Fisheye : 1/50th : f/2.8 : 1600 ISO : 15mm : Manual Mode : 0 Bias : No Flash

As some of you readers know I am a huge fan of this band and this Houston show marked the 12th time I’ve seen them in less than a year’s time. Out of those 12 shows I’ve attended I’ve been fortunate enough to photograph 7 times. I love each and every show I attend and it makes it so much fun when I get to photograph them. I look forward to my next Blue show!

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Sphinn
  • del.icio.us
  • Mixx
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Tags: , , , , , ,

by Abel Longoria

3 comments

add a comment link to this post email a friend

June 1, 2010 - 3:52 pm greeneyedgeisha - Man, I LOVE your photography and I share your love of Blue October. You are SO talented!!!

June 1, 2010 - 9:23 pm Abel Longoria - Awwee! Thanks a ton for the kind words my friend! Hopefully I'll be shooting them again in July while their on their acoustic tour. Keep your fingers crossed!

June 1, 2010 - 10:00 pm Amy - As a fan of the band I think you get better shots than those photographers that are there just to cover a concert. You are more aware of their stage presence and personalities so you know that Jeremy is hard to get a good shot of or that there will be those moments when the lights are down so you're looking for those opportunities and capture them beautifully. I really hope you get a chance to shoot one of the acoustic shows.