John Morales Photography

Walking into music Blogger Jon Aliaga'a room in New Jersey I noticed his desk that was full of invites to shows and events. Here I captured what his desk looks like before he starts to work. On this picture we have a few event invites, press releases, a flip cam, and most importantly his desktop on which he does his blogging work. Jon says the he always cleans up his workspace, “ I have to clean up my desk because I always have food or something that might get my work material messy so that’s why I clean up.”

  

I wanted to capture a long shot of Jon Aliaga's "workspace". I want people to get a feel of what his space looks like before he cleans up to start working. His space is currently filled with tons of mail he has received by various record labels. You can also see on the computer screen the overwhelming amount of e-mails he receives on a daily basis. I asked him how does he check all of them a day? He said that he only looks at the ones that appeal to him, which ones have significance. He can tell when labels or agencies properly send e-mails to him. 

In this close-up of Jon Aliaga's desk we see more of a personal look on his what tools he uses for his job. The flip cam that is shown is used for when he does in person interviews or records concert footage. You also notice the CD’s that are sent to him by record labels for reviews. There is also an invite for an award show placed on his desktop that is taking place next month at Irving Plaza in NYC.

Jon Aliaga is settled and ready to start posting new updates onto his blogsite. “The music world is never ending of new updates” he says. Here he has cleared up his space, having a cup of iced tea he is ready for his second round of updates. “My work never stops, it’s like Breaking News every time I get alerts of new music that has leak or a music video or something.”

In this photo he has just received a call from an artist he recently interviewed named Jessi and The Toy Boys. Here he is having a humorous chat with her about a recent performance she did a few nights ago at a club in NYC. The phone conversation went from talking about her club promo tour to her hitting the road this summer with Britney Spears. Jon said that Jessi has potential to make it big so he has his hopes up for her.

Here is Jon in action, working on blogger.com which hosts his blog but he has bought his own domain name. Jon is in the process of making his own website with a graphic designer who he has been meeting with to construct the site.

This is one of Jon's e-mails he receives from labels and public relation firms. They send him press releases of artists that are coming out with new material before it's out to the public so he get's first hands on news in the music industry. This is an alert that recording artist Gaving Degraw is preparing to come out with album later this summer and has a new single coming out next month.

Gavin Degraw to Release new album entitled Sweeter. I took a close up of the press release Jon was sent by recording artist Gavin Degraw. I wanted people to see what some of his news or alerts he gets looks like.

It was Thursday April 14,2011 that Jon invited me to go with him to the X-factor audtions which is a singing show that is sort of like American Idol and will also be on the FOX network. He was asked to bring a prospective contestant with abilities to sing and have that IT factor. Here we arrived around 6:30am to The Prudential Center in Newark,NJ .

This photo was taken around 8am where the lines still weren't moving. Jon was checking updates on his e-mail thru his blackberry. He said that without his blackberry he wouldn't know if he'd be able to leave his house because these updates need to happen fast! Luckily nothing that needed to be alerted right away was to worry at the time. 

 Inside the Izod center we have Jon and his featured aspiring singer Amanda Berghorn who was waiting to try out for a chance to be a contestant on FOX's new show The X Factor.

The next day Jon invited me to his graphic designer and friend Alex Evan's apartment in Clifton, New Jersey to show me the work and process of his new logo and website. I asked Alex how he felt to work on Jon’s new website design he states: “I am very excited to work on Jon’s blog I know that his blog is very popular and has so many hits so to show me talent on his site is exciting to me.”

 Alex says that working on Jon's website is pretty easy for him to do but hard at the same time because their schedules are so off that they rarely have time to meet up and discuss changes for the blog. Here is Alex showing Jon an option of the new logo for his site.

 In this shot, Jon's shown the new logo for his site. He was shown 5 different ones and this is the one he chose and really liked. It’s a new step and direction of what he wants his new website to look like.

 Both Alex and Jon discussing the new logo for his website. This new website should launch in June which is right around Jon's birthday so he is very excited about this new and revamped site. He is also working with a IMC firm to help him plan a launch party for his new website and is having up and coming singers perform at his party. Which is why he’s working on a new site.

 Alex is showing Jon what his logo would look like in different colored backgrounds. Jon was a bit hesitant at first, so Alex showed him his options, which you can see in this shot. He liked the black and white logo the most.

Last week on  May 13^th, Jon invited me to the I Heart Radio venue in Tribeca ,NYC to see Kelly Rowland perform a few songs off her new album. She is a Grammy award singer and was in the most popular female group Destiny’s Child. She is now a solo artists and Jon invited me to see her perform. The experience of attending an event like this was very exciting. “I really enjoy what I do and these are one of the perks that I love about my job, free concerts? Who doesn’t like that?” he says to which I agreed.

 I loved this shot of Kelly Rowland, it shows her really happy to be there. Here she was thanking all of the media for coming and supporting her and listening to the showcase.

 Kelly Rowland ending the showcase, which was a 6 song set. Her talent amazed me but also realizing what a cool job Jon has. It was a surreal moment at the time and something I was thinking as I took this shot.

 At the same event at The I Heart Radio venue Jon spotted one of the artists he interview a while ago. Her name is Vita Chambers. She is a 16-year-old singer from NYC and has been the opening act on tour with pop sensation Justin Bieber. She released her self-debut album last fall. Jon enjoyed her company at the Kelly Rowland show and she was a really sweet girl to meet.