Forever Grateful

I am blessed and highly favored. I have been grateful for everything that has been happening in my life good or evil, I have never been thrown anything that I could not handle. I have been through the lowest of lows and stood my ground, for which I have been compensated greatly. One thing I will never do is fail, if I actually put in my greatest effort into the situation and it does not result in the most desired results. I still win, it is always taken as a learning experience on how to do better the next opportunity. If you are having struggles with your situations I suggest you change your mindset on how you reflect on them. I throughly believe in the law of divine compensation, and the yin yang ideology. They go hand in hand in my mind, the dark will come with the light, the light will still have some dark, in the end it will all even out. So be grateful for every situation in life. Positivity always in all ways, Keep it constant in all directions. The Waves Never Stop, No matter high tide or low tide the waves keep going consistently. So keep going.


I have been far from being inspired by photography. I will get back into it, I will need some assistance with it also tho. I have not been inspired to shoot recently. So if you want to model for a shoot please let me know, even if you are a stranger let’s work. You can contact me anywhere but if this is your first run in with my content. You can go over to my contact page and fill out the form and I will get back to you promptly.


Recently I was paid to go to Washington DC for 4 days I did not bring any of my cameras because of my lack of inspiration. But on the last day I went to local camera store. The staff there were so patient and helpful while I was looking for a disposable camera to buy, I ended up picking up another polaroid camera instead of a disposable :/ But I took these two photos for proof that I was in DC because everyone know I don’t post on social media. Thank you for always sticking with my inconsistent content.

Love always, Soulo



Come as you are.

Nobody can be you better than yourself. You are in competition with nobody but the person you were yesterday. Do not strive to be like someone else, strive to be better than everyone else. Be jealous of the future self that you envision. Do everything for self. Come as you are, as you were and as you want to be. Sorry I just had to get that lil preach out if you needed to hear that you’re welcome, if not you’re welcome. Now to the actual blog…

I drove down to San Diego a little while ago and linked up with Sam, a very kind and genuine person. We arranged a photoshoot at Balboa park. I told her to just dress as yourself as I do with most of my first photoshoots with someone and she did just that. We walked around the park really talking more than actually taking photos lol. It was a genuine human interaction rather than me just being the photographer robot just taking photos and leaving. Sam was a great model and you guys will definitely see us collaborating again. Please enjoy these photos that we took. Thank you.

Sunday Morning, Top Down.

Cruising. Cruising allows me to exhale, whether there’s a destination or not it frees me. Gives me a sunny break in the clouds of my mind. I’ve been driving for a while but the last 3 years I’ve been traveling by car specifically. I have found a love for the road, a love for the escape, driving through the nights and seeing the sunrise peek over the horizon to light my path. I know I am being guided on my journeys now because I do them without the use of energy drinks or sour gummy worms. It’s kind of a skill now to drive across california on nothing but water and podcasts or audiobooks. Even one of my apple music playlists that I’ve listened to over 100 times will still hit for that ride. One that will never fail me is Sunday Morning, Top Down I made that for a very important person in my life. A lowriding, Harley chopping, Boat cruising, Asphalt paving son of a gun. One of the realest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, never told me anything that wasn’t a lesson. From young accepted me into his life as one as his own. I was never a extra, never the kid down the street. I was always introduced as family, and treated as such. I thank him for that. I thank him for welcoming me into his family, with that I have formed some of the tightest friendships I have now truly friends I call my brothers. I thank him for sitting me at that kitchen table and talking to me for hours about his past experiences and how he overcame them. I thank him for putting me through a trade school after high school, I truly had no direction in life and he showed me a path. I thank him for instilling in me that I must be free during my youth. I thank him for the many boat rides and that one trip to Santa Cruz where I almost got eaten by a sea lion while swimming in the ocean. I thank him for the numerous parties and the random bbq’s. I thank him for all the countless handshakes and hugs that I truly miss. I thank him for being a part of my life and anyone else who had the pleasure to know him.

I thank you Ronald Mendola.

Love always, Derrick.

The Grand Crater

Hola, cómo estás. I have returned, I did some recent travels to a giant hole in Arizona for my birthday with two of my friends Daniel and Rob. The drive there was the most boring thing ever. I’ve drove 10 hrs by myself before but driving 10 hrs through all desert is a different type of boring. 10 out of 10 would not recommend that drive. But the actual sight of the grand canyon is a crazy sight to see, so big yet so empty. I don’t know maybe I’m hard to please but it was just looking at a lot of nothing. I need to do a helicopter tour or something next time but just walking the rim didn’t excite me, being one of the world wonders I expected more ouuu’s and ahhh’s. But I’ll try again another time. I took my camera and snapped a couple flicks for you guys so enjoy the views from my camera to you. :)

Letter to E Brodie

E Broooooo. Now don’t even ask me why this is my second time writing this cuz you know my luck. But Brodie this is never something I could even imagine. My brother, my best friend, my business advisor, my skateboard/bmx/scooter/road bike/infiniti riding brother. Over a decade of friendship with zero, absolutely zero arguments. You are probably the only friend I have that I’ve never been mad at, the thing is we never let each other be mad at each other. No matter how bad the news we shared to each other the first response was always how we are going to get each other out of that situation. No matter how down someone was feeling at the time it was always full love and support. We always made sure each other was straight, no matter what the issue, we always had each others back. You have been my business partner throughout every business I ever thought of, whether it came to fruition or not. I came to you to manifest every idea I ever had, you knew my process of manifestation and you were a key factor in that. I spoke to you every time I had a idea for a new product and you pushed me until that product was made. You seen the sketch, the rendor and the physical product before anybody else. And I honestly don’t know who to go to for that now bro. I’ve tried a couple people but they don’t really care like you did bro. I need that guidance bro. When I started Soulo Photos you were already my main model, you assisted me on many shoots and I showed you how to operate all of my cameras and you developed into my photographer. Some people only know me as your photographer but you were my photographer at the same time. I’m really going to miss you being in front of my lens bro. We shot ALL THE TIME, damn near every other week we had a new shoot planned. We had the same exact vision our shoots would literally be like 5 photos max cuz it was automatic. I knew exactly how you wanted to look and it was captured instantly. I don’t think it’ll ever be that easy shooting with someone.

I miss you bro. I miss us mobbing the neighborhood just looking for something to get into. I miss us mobbing around to find something cool to skate. Then when we got the bmx bikes we literally hit every street spot, every mini skatepark in the middle of a neighborhood park. Remember the double dip bro? we thought we was on the xgames mega ramp on that thing. Remember the big dirt mound in between the baseball fields at west that we turned into a ramp. Shit was always a fun time riding with you bro. We went from pushing skateboard to pushing whips you had the Q50 I had the Q45. I miss you bro, I’m honestly rambling crazy rn trying to get around to what hurts me the most.

When Shelby called me that morning I didn’t believe her at all. I left work so quick and drove straight to your house bro and Nani answered and I broke down brodie. I hugged Nani so hard bro. I know it’s hard on everyone bro but I’ve never been this hurt in my life bro. You know me it takes a lot to get me emotional. I try to stay that strong figure my friends can look up to but I couldn’t be strong at all for this bro. This is a crazy amount of pain, my whole best friend dawg. You had the entire world in front of you bro. You a father of four dawg FOUR. You made me Noah’s Godfather and I promise on everything I’m going to be that positive uncle in his life always. All of the kids brodie. I got them all, Niko, Noah, Kaia, and Adaleya. I will always be there for them. I will always tell them all the stories of us getting into stuff. I will show them every photo I have of you and tell them the story behind the photo, the look we were going for, where it was, how many fences we had to jump to get to that spot cuz you know that was most of our shoots. We liked the run down/abandoned look that was our shit. I have 500+ pics of you brother and those are all the final edits not even the stuff I skipped over tryna get some photos to you quick, I still have all of those raw photos too never seen by the public. The fam elected me to do the slideshow at your celebration of life because I already had a majority of photos of you, but bro you know I have never done a real deal slideshow a day in my life. I was stressing that entire week bro. How was I supposed to put together a visual for your entire family and friends and knowing you, it had to be perfect. But brodie I know you already seen it but that mf was every single bit of perfect dawg. From the sections to the songs to the uplifting ending, perfecto. Let’s just talk about the songs bro, the songs had Elijah written all over them and I did it the player way, instrumentals only. So only the real ones knew what was playing, everyone else just thought it was a cool beat lol. Let’s go through the tracklist shall we, Mac - 2009, Mac - BDE Bonus, Dom&Nip - Pleeze, Dom - 1997, Mahalia - Karma. Bro if that wasn’t the perfect playlist to celebrate you we gone have to fight haha. I had the church speakers bumping bro, playing some real player shii. I don’t even know if anybody was bumping they heads to it cuz I was crying throughout the whole slideshow but I know the real ones knew what it was.

It was a such a perfect service for you bro everyone made shirts for you with the pics I took of you, everyone asked permission for it but seeing that was crazy bro fr crazy cuz that was never the intent of us taking pics, I would’ve never thought that I would see any of my photos on a shirt, I was always against that and you know this. But I had to let them do this for you brodie. and they came out so clean I know you seen em. We gone put on you bro, always. We not going to let you down not one bit. I know what I need to do to make you proud, but if any force ever sends me down the wrong path please correct me. I love you brodie, always. Thank you for being that solid friend in my life. Thank you for never switching up or letting anything get in the way of our friendship. Thank you for always believing in my endeavours. Thank you for being a day one Wavy, SouloPhotos, The waves never stop, +Soulo fan. Thank you for always being down to shoot whatever idea I had, the iphone square shots, the commercials, the modeling of merch, everything. Thank you for all the random facetime calls, you always caught me in the most craziest places like when I was lost in Canada or the last time you FT’d me I was on my kayak for the first time lol. Thank you for accepting me into your loving family, it’s always love in your household it is such a warm feeling being there. Thank you for introducing me to all of the homies, they a solid group and it’s crazy sharing stories with them cuz they be having the same type of stories that I do. that’s how I know you kept the same energy with everyone you met. Thank you for bringing your beautiful children into this world, you know I would do anything for them, it’s crazy my last blog post was for the boys. Thank you for always being there when I needed to manifest something and never allowing me to say the words “Can’t, Won’t, Might, it was always I WILL and nothing less. Thank you for always being a positive person in my life and never allowing me to have a bad day when around you. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you brother. I love you Brodie, fr. This hurts me so much man every single day. Most people aren’t even going to read all of this, they just want to see photos so here are some of my favorites photos of you.

Love, Always.

-D Bro/D Money Cash Money/Dwiz/Herbert/Soulo

Will model for fruit snacks.

Alright so I had this vision in my head of a shoot and print of my best friends children for a while. But the whole thing is that they live in Washington, 10 whole hours away from me. My best friend knew about the shot that I wanted to take but didn’t know about the print I wanted to make. After a couple failed attempts of us traveling to go do this shoot, I took it upon myself to drive the 10 hours to Washington soulo. So I planned a day and drove 10 hours on I-5 for this one photo I’ve had in my head for months.

My drive there consisted of podcasts, crying to Jhene Aiko’s new album, and me silent panicking driving through the unexpected snow in the mountains with no snow plow in sight. I landed at my hotel in washington without a scratch and with all my snacks. I smacked two bags of grandma’s cookies and took a quick nap to recharge my body. I woke from my nap and traveled to my shoot, which was another hour and a half away from my hotel. After a bit of driving aimlessly down random dirt roads, I found a spot that fit my vision. I set up my camera while the kids were not trying to have any of it. Luckily mom had a box of fruit snacks in the trunk of her car and promised them they can have them after the shoot. So they posed it up like that angels that they are and they were paid in handfuls of fruit snack packets.

The shot came out exactly how I had envisioned it, I didn’t hold them up long because it was the last hour of light in the day and my models were hungry. I got the select shots that I needed and headed on my way. I stayed the night in Washington, the next morning I stopped at a farmers market in Portland, Oregon to grab some souvenirs so I have some memorabilia of my soulo journey. Then I headed back down to California.

Here are the photos from that shoot and me presenting the print to my best friend. Thanks for reading and viewing. Keep on rocking in the free world aaand doot doola doot doo…

The gift, a custom skateboard deck with his kids on it. Our friendship started way back when our only transportation was skateboards and bmx bikes. It was only right I take it back to those roots.

IMG_1978 2.JPG

Soulo in Vancouver

I turned 27 this year, and I’m not joining no club. I’m going to live it to the absolute fullest. To start this perfect 365 off, I flew soulo to Vancouver for my birthday. The plane landed at midnight in a new country and I was a new age. I spent my time in Canada walking around people watching, walking amongst the trees, and walking some more. For some reason Vancouver doesn’t have ride share services or the cool lil’ electric scooters. So I got around with these 10 toes down yafeelme. Lol I’m kidding I used public transport the entire time in Vancouver. But let me tell you something California you need to step your game up because public transportation in Canada is super simple, and way faster than driving your own car.

My time in Vancouver was spent walking high in the trees at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. Trying the local foods and witnessing the watching the Toronto Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. All of Canada went insane that night. I spent 3 days in Vancouver and shot strictly film the entire time, this is a collection of photos from my experience. Enjoy.

To my dearest friend, Teresa

I wouldn’t be anything without you. You supported wavy when it was just pockets sewn on T-shirts. You supported Soulo Photos when I was still HerbertTsunami. Thank you for staying with me from the start until now. Thank you for recommending me to SOOO many clients. Thank you for being a friend and hanging out even when we’re not shooting. Thank you for being patient with me taking weeks to edit your photos, even years sometimes =( I’m sorry. Thank you for being down for every adventure I throw at you, even though we flake on each other a lot. Thank you.

I’m here with you on this journey you’re going through, as you stayed with me through all of mine. I listen to all of your wishes and I swear to you they will all come true. And yes we will make that merch just wait on it. Stay strong girl, mentally and physically. You got this.



I take photos of cars too.

I've taken more photos of cars then I have of people. I just never really post them. Let me know on my instagram if you would like to see more photos of cars. 

For the first time ever I took one of my big camera's to a car show and shot some classic cars at the Tracy Clutch Burners Picnic. Here are a few of my favorites from that picnic. 

Downtown with Raeana

Hi, long time no see as usual. I'm trying to get better at this blog thing. Be patient with me, please. Anyways I am here to post photos of my friend Raeana. She has bright brown eyes, loves Khalid, and is a natural in front of any camera. Enjoy these photos.

 

small request: If you guys could go to her instagram and gas her up for me that would be great. Because she always gasses me up when I need it the most. Thank You.

Morro Bay Kite Festival 2015

I know it's been a while. I'm sorry about that. But I'm back to share my experience at the Morro Bay Kite Festival. The festival is a 2 day event held annually every year on the last weekend in April on Morro Bay State Beach. The city of Morro Bay is beautiful and has great views in every direction you turn. The residents of the city are very polite and welcoming. Downtown Morro Bay is a great experience with it's many art galleries, antique shops, plant gardens and thrift stores all within walking distance of each other. It is a very creative and artistic town, many of the shops showcased multiple one of a kind art pieces for sale. I loved the aspect of the whole city supporting their local talent. 

The kite festival was a fun time on the beach with many things to do including watching all the flyers perform aerial acrobatics to a soundtrack with their kites. The kids would also love to be there with a booth to create and color your own kite. There was also many amusement rides for the little ones to ride. About half way through the festival, a candy drop is held where a kite is raised into the sky with a bag of candy attached and when the candy gets dropped the children run to collect the sweets. 

The beach also had a variety of wildlife to admire, the tide constantly washes up Sand Dollars, Crabs and Starfish. On the other side of the beach where the actual Morro Bay was located their were 2 families of otters that resided close enough for people to watch them both days. You could also occasionally see the seals pop their heads up to breath, and the rocks along the bay were home to many little lizards and fat ground squirrels scurrying in and out of their burrows.

It was a overall great experience seeing all of the unique kites in the air, and the welcoming people in the city of Morro Bay, CA. Below are a few photos I captured, Enjoy. 


Fell In Love With Film

I have always been one that loves vintage style, whenever I go clothes shopping it is at a thrift store to find the most out of date articles of clothing that I can find. I want to dress opposite of what society thinks is "In Style." I used to try and portray a vintage camera look by editing the most grain I can into a digital image, but it wasn't the real thing. A while back I purchased two Polaroid 600 camera's, I have been very selective about what to shoot with those since the film is so expensive so those photos will be posted on a later date.  I also borrowed from my father a Canon Cannonet QL17 which takes 35mm film.

I am really infatuated with film for the aspect that you have to wait for your photo to develop or get developed. Knowing that I can't chimp when I have a film camera makes me slow down and make sure that the composure, and every setting is correct for that environments lighting. Another new thing to me with film cameras is that the ones I have are all Rangefinder's. Learning to shoot with a rangefinder challenged my composure skills, I am usually the absolute best at composure with a SLR. You can see where the dusty rangefinder from a canon from the 1970's stumped my composures in the FILM category where I will post a few images from my first roll with the QL17. I absolutely love the grainy look on the photos even though they were only shot on a 400iso film. Please check out the FILM category to view my first photos taken on a 35mm camera. Here are some samples.

Redwood Regional Park

This past sunday I decided to go hiking, I wanted to take woodsy light through the trees type of photos that whole week. Antonia Tsunami joined along she is a great friend always willing to go on adventures with me. So I decided to go to Redwood Regional Park in Oakland,CA because it was the best looking place when I searched 'Hiking' on the Yelp App.

We left around 2pm which is a horrible time to get light through the trees type of photos. We arrived and began our hike, the first trail was bordered with cut logs and branches with a sign encouraging you to build your own artwork with the bordering wood. Antonia flipped a few branches to symbolize her contribution to the trail. At the end of that trail was a little stick Teepee with a log inside to sit on.

After that little baby of a trail we continued onto the stream trail which was 4.something miles long and half of it was uphill, which we were not prepared for because we both don't work out. somewhere in the middle of the stream trail I lost my lens cap to my Cannonet QL17. I was devistated since it was actually my fathers camera given to him by his grandfather. We got to the Girls Camp for a bathroom break when a local hiker we seen earlier on the trail asked if we had lost anything excited I asked "A Cap?" and he replied "Yes, Canon?" And there he raised it out of the stroller he was pushing. I couldn't thank him enough. After about a quarter mile more of hiking we arrived at the Skyline Gate Staging Area, HALF WAY COMPLETE!

Totally exhausted we continue onto the West Ridge Trail a 5.something mile trail which we later regretted taking. On the west ridge trail was the Chabot Science and Space Center, but it was closed on sundays which left me devastated. We continued on and the trail opened up to the Redwood Bowl a beautiful miniature valley just for you to realize how small you are compared to the trees. Now after the redwood bowl the west ridge trail got a seemed deserted.

We didn't see another human for at least three straight miles, and somehow I lose our only map. After a few more feet we found out why nobody else was on this portion or the trail because its was another 2 miles of winding downhill slopes. With our feet hurting from running and stomping down the hill we finally spot a car across the dried up stream and it actually turned out to be my car. My baby Clarissa. 

Relieved we make our way around the stream and back to the car so thankful to finally sit down and relax. After all of that it turned out to be a great day and a must visit spot for anyone looking for a nature trip. Goodbye and Thank You for Reading.