Ché 🔥 Video Creator & Storyteller

002 BET ON URSELF aka ✌🏽 cushy contract My job & I broke up. It was mutual; they wanted a mime. I wanted to speak my mind. So what’s next? We creatives make careers out of outsourcing our gifts. For the first time in 15 years, I’ll be freeing her — for me. 🕊️ & running after a dream I’ve had since high school: Video. For once, not for money, but for play. & to tell the stories of dope people and places I’ve met along the way. For this vid, I simply wanted to test a new “fisheye” lens. Techniques picked up from the GOAT, @gakuyen . So whaddya say? Have u given ur dreams a chance? Or PLAYED with ur creativity / hobbies today? Get after it, fam. 👊🏽💥 ~~ Fisheye, videography, San Diego video, San Diego, summer, fair, video techniques, Billie eilish, CHIHIRO

UPDATE: video is live TODAY after pausing for LA 🫶🏽 🎉 HER 1ST VIDEO IN 1 YEAR, Y’ALL!!! 🥹 💌 THIS VID IS FOR YOU. For you with a dream, idea, or even an inkling who’s thought: “I can’t do this…” followed by every excuse possible not to step onto your path. 😮‍💨 For you who’s BEEN THROUGH it & back, Decided THIS year you’re gonna squeeze those friggin’ lemons To make some DANG good lemon martinis. 🍋🍸 💃 Or for you, who just wants to smile; Be inspired by all the dope folk who fill our cities with All their dreams, their people, their good taste: Gathering creative communities that bring out the best & the blessed within us. I offer you: >> Pivoting After 30 << My most personal video series yet. Dropping tomorrow on the YouTube.

005 // CREATIVITY TAKES RISK 💥 The best discoveries come when you put yourself out there. For me, that meant 2 photoshoots in our first 2 days in Japan 📸 — (Because who needs sleep when you’re outrunning jet lag?) ✈️ I was determined to step into this identity of video creator, & team up with street photographers to capture one another in our craft. Jet lag aside, this turned out to be our BEST decision. For Michael & I, our favorite moments came from interactions like these — ✨ MEETING fellow creators turned friends, Spurring one another on in what we love. // 🎥 For this edit, I used my first-ever LUT from @cinegrams ! I have yet to learn color correcting for the base layers for consistency, But I LOOOVE how this film LUT looks over the lights of Japan. I also love street photography, so my fav style to shoot is street VIDEOgraphy. More on that, tomorrow 😌 ~ Cinegram, street photography, Japan travel, Tokyo, video editor, female filmmaker, video creator, travel video, color grading, film student

🎊 HAPPY 20 YEARS TO MY CULT!!! One of my besties in these photos said, “When you’re bummed out by what you see online, put your phone down. Talk to people in real life. You’d be amazed at how kind people truly are.” I wish everyone a love as overflowing, long-lasting, uplifting & edifying as I’ve been grateful to carry & cultivate with these women. 🎓 From degrees to moving cities. 💍 Heartbreaks to holy matrimonies. 💃🏻 Dancing babes to dancing FOR babies. 🌲 NorCal trips in RVs and ATVs; bachys to find Drake in CAN; forest folks at Oregon’s coast My banh mi babes, and my ACies. Thank you for being all the love this world needs 🫶🏽

OOF, writing about your struggles while in the struggle is scary… But also somehow, freeing. [Read @ link in bio.] Much of what I intend to create has to do with the CHOICE to move forward: Creation as prayer in action: our answer to making sense, unveiling beauty in a dark, hard, grievous world. Sigh. I hope, in reading this, you feel less alone if you’re also going through your own bout of darkness (or have gone through one)! To being the examples in our families and communities of silence — to saying YES to break the chains of shame, suffering, and grief. ~ Fil-am, Filipino American, career pivot, chronic illness, mental health, depression, urticaria, autoimmune, invisible illness, hashimoto’s, life change, pivot

“Taking pictures is not my priority” says Nao. Okay?? Interesting thing to say for a photographer — and not just ANY photographer — THE top-searched street photographer in Tokyo (according to me & many visitors, as Nao’s keyword usage is supreme) “The camera is a tool. Just like speaking English is a tool” I loved this interview — it showed me what makes the person BEHIND the lens so good at their job. Any other camera folk, do you agree with Nao? ~~ #Locallovers #meguro #meguroriver #japanfriends #megurorivercherryblossom #streetphotographercommunity #tokyostreetphotography #tokyostreetphotographer #japantravels #tokyotravel #sayyestolife #adventureiscalling #liveagoodstory #getoutandlive

Layoffs wrecked my future. Then, I took a deep breath, and decided I had nothing to lose. A year and some change ago, I was happy + thriving at a top company, with co-workers I cared for… and copywriting work which was cool for the pay. But I wanted more. I knew the fullness of my dreams x abilities were not meant for a CTA button (lol). I was comfortable there, and started to envision a growing future. But then, out of nowhere, I lost 95% of the people I cared for. I was left at the company with an uncertain future. As certainty dimmed, this hankering to DO THE THING I’d longed for since childhood banged ever louder to the beat of my sweaty, excited heart. If I no longer had a future at this “stable” company… could I go for the thing I’d been dreaming about? This PASSION I’d had since middle school when I forced my friends @angela.x.cm @alison.valenton @joannacatanus to recreate a scene from FRIENDS (“the pillows are the essence of the chair!”) 🪑 ? I realized: no company, no matter how loyal I am to it, could a) promise me stability, or b) give me the career path I’ve longed for, for myself. I threw caution to the wind and went for it, searching for a creative in Tokyo whose story I could film. 🎞️ Today @localloverstravel I shared Nao’s story: a street photographer who dared to say YES, And the 2nd yes, after my own, to prompt an avalanche of “what if’s?” This YES has led me to film the stories you don’t see (but deserve to!) across Japan; Portugal; Ireland; Mykonos; Nashville; Las Vegas; OC/LA, and of course, San Diego… 🎥 And though I’m far from being a great videographer ~ I hope my passion captures you through the screen, and inspires you to a) encounter people / places that challenge and change you; b) JUST. SAY. YES to those secret dreams on your heart, no matter how “ready” you are. The world is waiting for you to come alive 😉 ~ #getoutandlive #justsayyes #goodnewsnetwork #liveyourdreamlife #tokyostreetphotography #tokyovideo #yestheory #liveagoodstory #femalevideographer #showyourwork #streetinterview #filipinafilmmaker #lifeafterlayoffs #layoffs #careerpivot #goafteryourdreams #goafteryourgoals #taketheleap #motivationpost

When scrolling leaves you numb or in fear, remember: look for the helpers. Then, become one. Here are some organizations / people who’ve uplifted us, this week: 1️⃣ @ooocommunity , the baddest ☕️🍵 shop with the boldest flav-uhs, raised $621 (‼️) for @migrantfreedom by slanging drinks alongside @kilig.la  @family_frequency  and @heyannastrong  through the “Bataan Café” pop-up 2️⃣ @unitedwedream is the largest youth-led network advocating for the dignity and fair treatment of immigrants in the U.S. 3️⃣ 1,000s of immigrants and refugees who are here currently need your help acclimating to a new culture. Things as basic as, how to grocery shop? @worldrelief connects you with those seeking help to make here feel like home. Inspired by some @allsaintschrch nuggets 💎 in a recent message on justice: “Read more books, watch less news” and “Commit to regular, local service”. 🔔 If you know of any organizations doing *tangible good*, please share them below. I’ll be doing my research to apply my heart to my hands, too. ~ #creativitymatters #creativityeveryday #creativeliving #positivitevibes #visualdiary #creativelifestyle

“U r so hot n’ cold with IG” Maybe if Instagram was like tumblr in 2002, I’d like it a lot more Had the most @localloverstravel day, and this #arcticmonkeys track is haunting me

✨ To my makers, creatives, & faith-filled leaders: yes, please keep showing up Aka, your role in hard times It is utterly heartbreaking to see all the torn apart families, businesses, and communities at home. Not only is this targeting us & places we love in our own cities; it’s ripping apart innocent families who came here to live the dream many of our immigrant parents came for, too. In a time like this, we creatives, makers, & visionaries can feel conflicted about showing up & sharing our gifts. 🍵 How do tea; pottery; culinary challenges; words help in these hard times? 👈🏽 swipe pic: Then I remember this gorgeous wheel: What’s Your Social Change Role? by Deepa Iyer, which I first saw around 2020. Some of us are Disrupters, Weavers, Frontline Responders: We protest; fight legally; raise funds. 💡 Then, there are those of us who step into the darkness this wickedness breeds, and actively put forth light. We are the Healers; Storytellers; Caregivers, nurturing and nourishing people to sustain this marathon for change. We are the Visionaries: dreaming of a more unified future, and painting that reality as if it already exists. 🌟 @localloverstravel , at its core, is about slowing down to know the person across the table. It’s cultivating curiosity & openness to experience a way different from yours. Together, our cultures weave a tapestry of God’s love & beauty that wouldn’t be complete without one another. ⚡️ So, what’s your role in social change? I pray the anger and fear that may be settling on our hearts, be turned toward Hope, as we take healing actions to tend to one another. This is a worthy fight. You are not alone, and even moreso, you carry gifts / vision / a breaking heart that will act as balm for these times.

Once in a lifetime. 📸: Miggy. Wow. These bikes WHIZZED past us as I was taking a photo and I laughed; Michael had the foresight to grab this shot. Kind of like travel… and the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever had, these moments are so special, you have to grab ‘em. 📍 Douro Valley, Portugal. A for real slice of paradise 🥹 ~ Lamego, Regua

Olá, Portugal. You’ve colored my soul. ~ Porto, chapel of souls