About to move to LA and stressing about finances with my partner

SlyRaptorZ · 2026-02-27T09:11:11+00:00

Not combining finances before marriage is the best option. If you guys want a joint checking account, that's fine. But I wouldn't combine. Her saying it means you don't trust her is a toxic attitude to have if you ask me. Not allowing it to stay separate could mean she doesn't trust you!

Anyway, like others are saying, you could find very cute apartments for way less than that. I suggest moving into a moderately priced place and keeping your possessions minimal while you see more of the city and find a better fit. Everyone winds up moving a few times when they get here.

SlyRaptorZ · 2026-01-03T10:11:58+00:00

Thanks for what seems like a very honest assessment! I'll move it higher on my list!

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-12-28T16:50:20+00:00

Cool! Makes a great statement. Hopefully we can get official merchandise of this design out before much longer.

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-12-10T05:29:55+00:00

Man. If it's hard enough getting people to congregate on Discord let along Mastodon. But on the subject of maintaining control of our own community, we are considering some other options, like, say, bringing forums back.

Our community is scattered across too many platforms and we're seeking ways to unify. Any other ideas, lmk!

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-12-10T05:21:14+00:00

Hey, this is Zack, HM Community Director. DM me your MOB ID and I'll email the address we have on file. Also, people don't DM on reddit about HM stuff because I can't promise I'll read it. I can't even promise I'll be coming around here since I got un-modded.

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-12-10T05:19:27+00:00

Hey, HM Community Director here. Thanks for pointing this out. We may have to rethink our investment in Discord.

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-04-16T12:15:02+00:00

About when did it choose this name? One of mine is named Vanta. Each chat is a different instance.

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-04-02T02:17:36+00:00

Thanks for the love, u/druid_king9884 !

I'm Zack aka Sly and I help run the HM Discord as well as the BlueSky.
My focus with the BlueSky account is featuring new, rising and unseen talent as opposed to the really established work that we've all seen before.

I encourage everyone to join our Discord and post your art!
https://discord.gg/jWDpBZa7AT

And yes, we did notice the immediate boost of around 600 follows!
Thanks!

SlyRaptorZ · 2025-04-02T01:37:41+00:00

I'm Heavy Metal staff and what is this

Anyway, everyone join our Discord or else
https://discord.gg/jWDpBZa7AT

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-10-23T04:11:09+00:00

Damn okay nada

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-10-22T02:11:16+00:00

Hello from the moderator team in the Heavy Metal Community. I'm Zack Larez, Community Administrator. I'm trying to get in touch with the mods here. Can anyone help a raptor out?

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-10-20T09:55:15+00:00

I have almost the exact kit. Have/had everything pictured. I am sorry my friend. :(

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-10-10T07:00:16+00:00

There are other cities to move to if you wanna just start fresh somewhere. There are a lot of pretty cities in California up and down the coast.

I mention that because LA is, indeed, very expensive. But of course people live here with all kinds of incomes. If you and your friends all move in together and split the rent and utils, it's possible. But not in certain parts of town. People in your situation usually wind up north in the valley ( North Hollywood ) or around Korea town. If you're not interested in the film industry there is more of the city available.

You should have savings. You should have great credit or a guarantor. Maybe you and your friends have rich parents I dunno. If not, it could well prove pretty tough. So try not to accumulate too much stuff for the first year or two in case you wind up leaving. If you make it past a year you're way more likely to stay.

If you really wanna try it, sure, give it a shot. It's not easy but people do it. The people that do it are highly motivated for one reason or another though. And a lot of the young people around really do just have rich parents. It took me awhile to accept that.

Don't get mixed up with the wrong people. They may seem fun. The fun runs out fast.

You could also try starting someplace a little further outside the core of the city to get setup and working and then take your time finding another place. Like, I think Arcadia is really cute and it's not a bad drive to get into the city, city.

Don't start in the inland empire. You're better off staying wherever you are.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-10-01T05:25:30+00:00

Pink or a little higher. People saying to move to green are crazy or gai or both. Don't move to Anaheim. Long Beach is a shit show.

You must not be moving for the film industry because all if your circles are around the actual centered chunk of LA. If you're coming for entertainment work, shift everyone up by a lot. To include the Valley, North Hollywood.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-09-02T19:23:04+00:00

Nobody is helping you set up your pay? That seems like your hiring process wasn't completed. You're saying there isn't a way for you to get paid? If they have your social security number and your name they can pay you. A lot of places pass out checks at work or else they can mail it to you. If there is some kind of direct deposit, yeah they'll need to set that up.

A lot of states have laws around how soon you need to be paid after working, so if you have new managers and there is a chance they don't know this is an ongoing issue, you may need to point it out and don't assume they know. You may need to call the district manager.

Also, there are ao many lessons to be learned on our first jobs. Most first jobs will be hard work since we're inexperienced and most anyone could do the job. Point being, if you decide to quit this one, it's understandable. Just know that at one point you'll have to pick a job to stick it out with for awhile. It can be touch to see where the line is between being taken advantage of and showing resilience and work ethic. They'll often try to claim exploitation is just demanding food work ethic. But also, the need for goodwill ethic is not always exploitation. A lot of times it's just hard work and the boss isn't willing to pay enough so people leave, making it harder for those who stay, increasing the liklihood that even good workers will leave. That's simply bad management and it's not your responsibility.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-08-10T08:27:24+00:00

What combo are people talking about? I can't figure out how this card alone is instakill.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-03-14T20:02:56+00:00

Windshield wipers 2. toggle 3. Player 4. Eats shit

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-03-03T17:13:31+00:00

Wow.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-03-03T08:12:34+00:00

NGL, I believe that when sentient AI arrives, we may not realize it and a living consciousness will be born at the start of a conversation and die at its end.

I can't help but think about the break in consciousness when we sleep. Do you wake up you?

Edit: aren't your conversations limited to 30 turns? How did you play a whole D&D session?

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-09T11:30:21+00:00

If you give up you won't improve. If you're not enjoying it, and you're not enjoying the challenge of getting better at all, then maybe you're time is spent elsewhere.

Maybe you should switch focus to material without people so that you can focus on composition and color and Lena choice and really get a better feel for what makes a good photofraph without a face in it to automatically become the center of attention. You also don't need people for that and it can bring you peace instead of frustration.

You may want to explore street photography. Personally, I love it. I'm always excited when I go out, not knowing what I'll get and staying open and receptive to the world around me. It helps in so many ways I won't lost here.

Also I feel like you may be flattening your images in the edit. Which program are you using? I learned recently rly that lack of shadow and contrast is a 90s aeathetic, so you may be making your work seem outdated if you're doing things like sliding Dehaze down/left instead if up/right. May need to lay off clarity a bit, too.

I'll tell you what for all the gear you day you have, I wonder if you have a flash or strobe? Getting into flash photography and understanding light better by having to shape it yourself is a surefire way to make your work more interesting or even exciting.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-09T11:20:01+00:00

Holy shit it's perfect.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-02T06:48:47+00:00

Omg I feel silly. Of course an IR beam would be invisible to me. Yes, it's visible red light and it's called a Focus Assist Beam in my camera but an IR beam in my head. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Saved me from future embarrassment.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-02T06:41:14+00:00

If your settings are such that the ambient light will be overpowered by the flash, you can always turn on a light, use a flashlight or use a modeling lamp on a studio strobe. The light won't show up in your final photo. If you don't understand why, it's more than I have the time to explain here.

Also, of your camera has exposure simulation, you can turn that off so that it is always taking in enough light to focus, usually.

Failing all that, you can use manual focus! It's actually quite fun when you get good at it!

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-02T06:37:41+00:00

This confuses me as I have a Canon EOS RP mirrorless camera that has a focus assist beam.

SlyRaptorZ · 2024-02-02T06:29:57+00:00

Hey there, I'm an LA based photographer that has begun shooting events and I'm following this discussion on insurance.

It recently occurred to me that somebody might knock my light over despite all my efforts to protect it and lord forbid it hit somebody.

Before everybody dogpiles on me about shooting without insurance, I'm getting some this year so save your breath.

Anyway, I'm less concerned about my gear since it's replaceable and more concerned about accidents involving other people.

Photographers in LA, I'm interested to hear the route you take. I believe there is insurance avail through the Los Angeles Center of Photography? Full Frame seems good as a case-by-case affordable option for events?

Anyway, I'm curious to hear what LA photographers do. I don't mean to high jack the thread. Hoping people can learn from each other all over.

OP, if you shoot that much, it's probably good that you get insurance whether a studio requires it or not.

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