Having just moved to LA, I needed to get my photo shooting skills up and running. It happens to all of us: if you pause your passion, it gets rusty. So when I heard that there was going to be a festival where I would have the chance to snap away, I told my friends that we had to attend.

We came in through Brooks Ave. and Abbot Kinney Blvd. where there was a stage and live music was playing. The crowd gathered around and danced and cheered. I enjoyed seeing the diversity because in Miami, well, we are Latin. We are diverse, but from the same part of the world. Here in LA people come from everywhere else. Street vendors followed and featuring everything from jewelry to metal dart boards. I started snapping away because I had to capture the vibe here. Tattoos, pink hair, clear glasses sprinkled in the crowd. The smell of grilled sausages, carnitas, and roasted everything hung above just teasing and confusing us all...what to eat?

Then came the sound of drums and Brazilian batucada, a sound so familiar from my life in Miami, I had to rush to experience that. Smiling faces, dancing feet, sweating bodies...it was so hot that day! And I'm from Miami!

At the end of the day, we were exhausted. I know we didn't see everything and now we'll have to wait until next year. At least I have these images to show for it! See you again in 2016.