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 I got a call from a close friend, producer Sergei Avakyan, regarding a new project he wanted me to direct, about two months ago. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it on time, so I asked for detail and it turned out it was a video inolving a friend I had met with Sergei earlier on, drumming genius Jacob Armen.

I knew Jacob in person, but had never heard him play. So once I received the files, I was excited to work on this new challenge. Soon enough we shot the video, and every obstacle that’s known to man came against us, but a beautiful piece came off of it. Why? Because it has a story. It had a story during his making, it had a story during my making, and now that it’s up for you to watch, it’s creating a new story going forward. That can only tell you one thing about this project: perfection.
Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the piece directed by yours truly, titled Heartbeat. Enjoy the video, and pay attention to his music writing. Here’s Jacob Armen in Heartbeat.

Apo Avedissian

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From a studio to another, from a computer to a laptop, we have all downgraded our equipment for the sake of saving a dollar or two. What do we do with the dollar or two? Eat, or feed the needy.

This trend started a long time ago, for the needy knows what the other needy is going through, and if it’s worse, then I can definitely share my food and miss a lunch to feed one who hasn’t eaten for a day (sometimes longer, believe it or not). Does that come from within? I’m not sure. I’d say it comes from my parents, since I’ve seen what they’ve gone through and still took care of others, but that’s a different story to get into. I hate having to tell you this, since the last thing I need on my record is to go out and yell “I donate money,” but it’s not one of those. We’re not millionaires. Not yet! We don’t own places. We don’t drive fancy cars. We make art. We make music. We make photos. We make videos. We make feelings! We do what we enjoy while trying to save a dollar or two from the work we do to feed us for another day and continue our efforts to make a change in people. Unheard voices are now heard, and through my art I’m able to speak. I’m not a talker, and because of my ability to express my thoughts through writing and documenting, I do it. I simply make a thought into a piece of art and throw it at you. You’re welcome to open it and watch it, or simply scroll down your newsfeed or e-mails and read other things, but I do what I do because I love doing what I do. I mean what I do. I do what I mean. I don’t say things. I can’t say things. These are my mediums. The people around me have shown an understanding of this world that I happen to agree with. Do we understand this world? Not really. But we know what we know and we usually agree on that view, and as we make art, we share what we’ve gone through in these pieces.

The rapper and producer and I meet, talk about a theme. The producer goes home, makes a sample, sends it to the rapper. The rapper and the producer discuss it, finalize it, record to it, then once the track is done we start on a video. These three sentences are very simple for you to read, but when you watch and listen to the final product, you’ll go through an out-of-this world-experience. That is what we’re all about. We enjoy teaching. We enjoy making art.

The thumbnail is of one of the symbols of my Armenian culture. If you’re into that, Google it! I’ll definitely be teaching you a lot about that through my work later on.

Here’s a piece done recently by Alex Trebor, engineered by Nick Lalaian, and directed by myself, Apo Avedissian. It does show you what a crew goes through at home and then at work time and play time. It’s as real as it gets because a lot of the shots are real-life footage of unplanned real-time events, and all it’s missing is your views and thoughts.

Please, enjoy, study it, and while at it, smile when it’s done.

Ladies and gentlemen, Reflection:

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Lol…….. Apo Avedissian and Alex Trebor during a photoshoot in Glendale, California.

Had a little fun on the side today while doing a photoshoot for Alex Trebor. We had a long shoot going on and during the hard work, as you see in the picture, so I decided to give you something extra, ‘behind the scenes’ type of thing.

Click on the thumbnail for a bigger size view.

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San Francisco - Apo Avedissian

About two years ago, I took a break from a long session of photography that lasted for a couple of years. Photoshoots, events, and even private bookings were down by more than 90%! I needed a break. It was a time where everybody became a DJ, everybody became a rapper, and sadly, the one that was most personally touching for me, photographers. I couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m not one of ‘them’, so why should I be?” was always on my mind. I was eighteen and sick and tired of adult human beings’ actions.

I took a break from daily photo work and decided to sit-back and watch. This week, after a nice San Francisco trip, I finally got in the mood of doing photo work again. By that, I mean photography ;) I took some really nice shots of San Francisco using my phone alone, and luckily I had my camera with me, so I was pretty much in heaven.

Once we got in the city and I saw the buildings and street life, I had to take my camera out and zip my bag up. I wasn’t gonna put the camera away. I hung the lenses’ bags on my wrist and carried on walking around every where and taking pictures of everything. Anything I saw I snapped a picture of, and whichever street I had time for, I walked. I’m here with hundreds of shots that I need to sit down and edit, but what’s more important is the fact that I want to bring art back to the photography scene. I’ve always been so pissed at dudes with $5,000 cameras who have absolutely no skill but just shoot pictures and call it photography. I started an iPhone photography session on my Facebook fan page to show how much the meaning of the photograph matters rather than what the photograph is taken, or made, with; now I’ll be doing some real photo work for the sake of this beautiful art.

I missed teasing people with trailers and then going through the count downs to release music videos. HINT. I missed posting videos and pictures and watching the feedback pour in, good old MySpace days. Well, now is the time for a little change. I have a very nice summer ahead of me, and a good half a year to prepare and get my stuff together. July is also the month Apotize.com was made, making this month this website’s birth month =) Happy early 2nd birthday Apotize.com, and may you, the readers, keep doing what you do best. You’re what makes this website popular.

Much love,

Apo Avedissian

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First things first, I’d like to start this blog by thanking each and every one of you who contributed to and participated in this campaign. This should show you how much an online presence can pay off.

If you’re not aware of what I’m talking about, on April 22nd, 2011 I posted the Twitter: The Armenian Genocide Campaign article in which I suggested starting a campaign, as the name suggests, for the Armenian Genocide recognition, by using Twitter’s hashtag symbol “#” in order to ‘trend’ the wording and make the ‘Armenian Genocide’ show up on every Twitter users’ account when they log in, hopefully giving them the option to click on the trend, and learning more about the issue.

Incredibly, this campaign started the same night, as the Facebook event page was started, about 5,000 members were invited to join, and boy did people join! We had tweets updating the #armeniangenocide page every minute or two on April 23rd, and by April 24th, we had tweets coming about every 7 seconds or so average!!!!! It was insane!

Our goal to trend the #armeniangenocide wasn’t perfectly met, however we did pull off to trend it in Los Angeles, with the tweet numbers reaching 6 digit numbers, we had ‘Armenian’ trending first, and ‘#armeniangenocide’ later on; the latter with the help of Kim Kardashian and the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF).

What did Kim Kardashian do?

Well, Kim Kardashian actually wrote a very nice blog condemning the event and asking for it to be recognized, although still blogging to her millions of fans to call their state representatives and asking them to recognize the Armenian Genocide. That alone, in my book at least, is enough of teaching odars (Armenian for ‘foreigners’) about the Armenian Genocide! Since we’re survivors, we should teach! Soon enough, Kim Kardashian, with the help of the #armeniangenocide hashtag supporters who made sure they tweeted Kim as many times as they could, and once she was online she did post a tweet that got re-tweeted lord knows how many times and boom! WE WERE TRENDING AN HOUR LATER!

By achieving this, we actually had the chance to teach many people (by many, the number is in thousands) of people who asked about what the fuzz and trending was about, and myself and many users actually helped answer these questions and got their support or at least taught them a fact. I’m proud of every single person who did this or spread the word about it, thank you very much, this cause is very dear to me and the recognition has been my life goal, still is, and always will be. No words can thank you enough on behalf of the one million and a half dead during the Armenian Genocide. You made the unheard voices heard. Thank you again.

People credited with the first initial push of this project deserve the credit and recognition for what they have done. They taught people by the simple action of posting or spreading the word about the initial process of this campaign, and they include, but are not limited to:

My partner in crime: Alex Trebor.

Close people to me/friends of mine: Seza B., Edith K., Shant Avedissian, Caroon A., Mary K., Norair V. and everyone else who posted or spread the word that I wasn’t aware about.

An honest photographer who helped with his heart: Sako San.

And a close friend of mine, and an AYF member: Levon A.

Model, beautiful inside and out: Rose Lopez.

Rapper, fresh out of the oven starter: Enfinal.

Here are some pictures for you to show you what we achieved, click on the pictures to see them in their real sizes with no distortions: