Friday, February 27, 2009
the photographic dictionary
a friend sent me this gorgeous site today. it's an exquisite combination of photos and traditional definitions. just lovely.
i'm also on cult of mac!
check out this sweet post nicole martinelli made about my work on the cult of mac blog. i don't know who you are nicole, but thanks!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
find me on notcot.org
whoever you are, thank you.
some ubercool person posted my iphone project on notcot today and my website skyrocketed 700 hits higher by midnight. woah. please go here, search for my name, and then give me a little heart click in the lower right corner of the box. this will help my item will move up the queue and thus more people will see my work. thanks!
here's a screenshot of the site as of now, mine is smack in the middle:
some ubercool person posted my iphone project on notcot today and my website skyrocketed 700 hits higher by midnight. woah. please go here, search for my name, and then give me a little heart click in the lower right corner of the box. this will help my item will move up the queue and thus more people will see my work. thanks!
here's a screenshot of the site as of now, mine is smack in the middle:
the coolest new gadget
check out this multi-crazy-composited image from the inauguration. what a shocker! it's so clear and detailed that you can even see bush near the podium making a wonky face! awesome. (fyi, if you're confused how this was made, check it out here)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
my day as a model
today i took a break from shooting to model for lovely margo moritz. she's shooting a cool project on movement in the body and i had the pleasure of participating by spending 2hrs jumping, falling, flinging, running and otherwise emoting myself to the limit.
i'm not used to being in front of the camera but margo made it easy. at the end of the shoot i felt free in my body and somewhat more in control of my own self image than i usually do. somehow jumping and falling down 300 times in a row taught me three things:
1. i'm not going to hurt myself falling down which is a pretty neat feeling, plus it's really fun
2. continually experiencing the moment of pure lightness at the arc of a movement is both liberating and blissful
3. i should do more lunges at the gym in addition to my daily cardio since my thigh muscles are absolutely dying. i actually almost fell down the stairs this evening a couple of times which is fairly embarrassing since i'm in darn good shape.
unfortunately all the flinging about made me motion sick (and i mean literally - i had no idea you could do that to yourself) and i spent the evening in bed, but it was well worth it. i can't wait to see the images.
i'm not used to being in front of the camera but margo made it easy. at the end of the shoot i felt free in my body and somewhat more in control of my own self image than i usually do. somehow jumping and falling down 300 times in a row taught me three things:
1. i'm not going to hurt myself falling down which is a pretty neat feeling, plus it's really fun
2. continually experiencing the moment of pure lightness at the arc of a movement is both liberating and blissful
3. i should do more lunges at the gym in addition to my daily cardio since my thigh muscles are absolutely dying. i actually almost fell down the stairs this evening a couple of times which is fairly embarrassing since i'm in darn good shape.
unfortunately all the flinging about made me motion sick (and i mean literally - i had no idea you could do that to yourself) and i spent the evening in bed, but it was well worth it. i can't wait to see the images.
retouching up the wazoo
here's what's on my retouching plate:
1 shoot from sf (pre-kauai)
3 shoots from kauai
6 shoots from la
that's a total of 33+ images to work on in post. my estimate is about 1-2hrs per image by the time i do detailed raw conversions plus high-end retouching which means i'm looking at more than a full weeks' worth of work just in post. ugh. this is when i seriously consider outsourcing.
the good news is that as of today i'm about 60% done. i'll keep chugging along this weekend and next week and hopefully get it all done before i start shooting again next weekend.
1 shoot from sf (pre-kauai)
3 shoots from kauai
6 shoots from la
that's a total of 33+ images to work on in post. my estimate is about 1-2hrs per image by the time i do detailed raw conversions plus high-end retouching which means i'm looking at more than a full weeks' worth of work just in post. ugh. this is when i seriously consider outsourcing.
the good news is that as of today i'm about 60% done. i'll keep chugging along this weekend and next week and hopefully get it all done before i start shooting again next weekend.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
my perfect career / my idol
my perfect career would mimic larry sultan's: he is primarily known as a fine artist, has shown in many major museums and galleries and his work has a cultural permanence and resonance that few achieve. the kicker is that along with his fine art work he is commercial and evocative enough to shoot spectacular choice fashion/portrait campaigns such as the latest from bottega veneta. it'd be different if he were known for commercial work and did fine art on the side but what i love and respect is that he does it in reverse! please revel with me in the ideal crossover career. i can only hope that one day i'm lucky enough to follow in a modicum of his footsteps. here is one of my favorite images from the campaign:
image copyright larry sultan/bill charles represents
image copyright larry sultan/bill charles representsThursday, February 12, 2009
tuesday in la, summing it up
my last day in la, also hectic!
again i started the day with the gym and their fun individual tvs. fyi, i've never found 8am so tolerable.
10:30am, our model hits traffic and is late. when she arrives we head off to our awesome (though undisclosed) location. despite feeling like i didn't do a great job with this shoot, i enjoyed the challenge. i know i can't win them all and turn out a stellar image every time, but trying is always a valuable lesson.
1:30pm, shoot number two. we drove to pasadena to shoot my friend at his apartment. i was pretty excited to shoot in a classic la apartment and when we arrived i was loving the location. once i started shooting i immediately felt blocked and stuck. i think i was feeling a combination of time pressure from shooting in tandem with chloe, plus just mental fatigue from being on the 5th shoot in 36hrs. i worked it out slowly and did end up turning out a couple of great images even though i didn't utilize the location like i had planned.
5pm, last shoot. we shot my friend at her place. we had originally through we'd pick her up and drive somewhere nearby that looked promising, but when we arrived the sun was 15min from hitting the horizon and we just went with the gorgeous light in her bedroom. again, i felt jammed and stuck but i worked through it as best i could. i think i ended up with some winner images and i'm trying not to let my memory of fatigue and blockage taint my perception of the final shots.
overall, the trip was a big learning experience. i got some great images out of it and got practice photographing real people in unplanned situations and locations. because i didn't rock every single shoot, i feel somewhat disappointed about the trip as a whole (chock it up to unrealistically high standards) but i'm being too hard on myself: the shoots went well as a whole and i turned out some great fresh images.
one thing i noticed is that i may be overusing the 85/1.2mm lens by repeatedly creating similarly composed images. though i spent tuesday trying to break out of this and didn't totally succeed, i did come up with a few creative shots that didn't feel lens-specific. perhaps in the future i'll try other lenses to see what i can get out of a different perspective.
for now, i may go back to shooting real models because i need a modicum of comfort and the knowledge that it'll be easier to knock out some stellar shots. i also will continue working on my polaroid and iphone projects because they make me so happy. combining the 2 shoots i did in kauai plus 2 mad days of shooting, i think i have 10+ new images to take to nyc. i need a day off and it sure is nice to be home!
again i started the day with the gym and their fun individual tvs. fyi, i've never found 8am so tolerable.
10:30am, our model hits traffic and is late. when she arrives we head off to our awesome (though undisclosed) location. despite feeling like i didn't do a great job with this shoot, i enjoyed the challenge. i know i can't win them all and turn out a stellar image every time, but trying is always a valuable lesson.
1:30pm, shoot number two. we drove to pasadena to shoot my friend at his apartment. i was pretty excited to shoot in a classic la apartment and when we arrived i was loving the location. once i started shooting i immediately felt blocked and stuck. i think i was feeling a combination of time pressure from shooting in tandem with chloe, plus just mental fatigue from being on the 5th shoot in 36hrs. i worked it out slowly and did end up turning out a couple of great images even though i didn't utilize the location like i had planned.
5pm, last shoot. we shot my friend at her place. we had originally through we'd pick her up and drive somewhere nearby that looked promising, but when we arrived the sun was 15min from hitting the horizon and we just went with the gorgeous light in her bedroom. again, i felt jammed and stuck but i worked through it as best i could. i think i ended up with some winner images and i'm trying not to let my memory of fatigue and blockage taint my perception of the final shots.
overall, the trip was a big learning experience. i got some great images out of it and got practice photographing real people in unplanned situations and locations. because i didn't rock every single shoot, i feel somewhat disappointed about the trip as a whole (chock it up to unrealistically high standards) but i'm being too hard on myself: the shoots went well as a whole and i turned out some great fresh images.
one thing i noticed is that i may be overusing the 85/1.2mm lens by repeatedly creating similarly composed images. though i spent tuesday trying to break out of this and didn't totally succeed, i did come up with a few creative shots that didn't feel lens-specific. perhaps in the future i'll try other lenses to see what i can get out of a different perspective.
for now, i may go back to shooting real models because i need a modicum of comfort and the knowledge that it'll be easier to knock out some stellar shots. i also will continue working on my polaroid and iphone projects because they make me so happy. combining the 2 shoots i did in kauai plus 2 mad days of shooting, i think i have 10+ new images to take to nyc. i need a day off and it sure is nice to be home!
Monday, February 09, 2009
monday in la, 3 shoots down!
today was crazy.
i didn't sleep well last night and woke up at 7:30ish after only 2hrs of fretful sleep. the first shoot was at 11am and since chloe's house is on the complete other side of town (which in la time means 45min+ by car) i hit the gym in her neighborhood instead of mine. i must say, a personal tv on each cardio machine made my morning much better than trying to read tiny subtitles on a faraway screen.
the first shoot at 11 went well. we shot at a nearby gorgeous park and i learned a bit about working with what i got. i didn't pick the location and i decided to make something beautiful out of any environment. i think i was fairly successful and i enjoyed the non-pressure of a 30min shoot with only the wardrobe chloe's friend brought. it was somewhat uncomfortable working with a non-model and all of her realism while trying to get beautiful images, but i think i did pretty well and the next time will be easier.
the second shoot at 3pm was spectacular. the girl was drop dead perfect and brought excellent garments. it was fun to do both a lay-person shoot and a professional model shoot on the same day. i used my experience from the morning to inform my shooting of the afternoon. i decided not to force an external location on the shoot when chloe's apartment was just calling to me to shoot there. i think i succeeded in working with a professional model without completely defaulting to my standard commercial/fashion mentality and instead thinking more along my polaroid mentality. it wasn't perfect because i could feel my brain trying to force myself into my old way of thinking, but i did make some progress.
the last shoot of the day was at 8pm and we only shot for about 15min but somehow i got a usable fun image. who knows if it'll pass muster since it was working completely out of my element but hey, that's what this trip is all about!
it turns out that i have to go home early so tomorrow is my last shooting day and i leave on the last flight out of lax tomorrow night. we have 3 more shoots planned with a possible 4th - i'm looking forward to all of them. my test tomorrow is to practice finding the sweet spot between my "idealized fashion portrait" and real people subjects. i need to learn how to make the same stylized beautiful images that i'm used to with less control over the subject, clothing, etc. i believe it can be done! stay tuned.
i didn't sleep well last night and woke up at 7:30ish after only 2hrs of fretful sleep. the first shoot was at 11am and since chloe's house is on the complete other side of town (which in la time means 45min+ by car) i hit the gym in her neighborhood instead of mine. i must say, a personal tv on each cardio machine made my morning much better than trying to read tiny subtitles on a faraway screen.
the first shoot at 11 went well. we shot at a nearby gorgeous park and i learned a bit about working with what i got. i didn't pick the location and i decided to make something beautiful out of any environment. i think i was fairly successful and i enjoyed the non-pressure of a 30min shoot with only the wardrobe chloe's friend brought. it was somewhat uncomfortable working with a non-model and all of her realism while trying to get beautiful images, but i think i did pretty well and the next time will be easier.
the second shoot at 3pm was spectacular. the girl was drop dead perfect and brought excellent garments. it was fun to do both a lay-person shoot and a professional model shoot on the same day. i used my experience from the morning to inform my shooting of the afternoon. i decided not to force an external location on the shoot when chloe's apartment was just calling to me to shoot there. i think i succeeded in working with a professional model without completely defaulting to my standard commercial/fashion mentality and instead thinking more along my polaroid mentality. it wasn't perfect because i could feel my brain trying to force myself into my old way of thinking, but i did make some progress.
the last shoot of the day was at 8pm and we only shot for about 15min but somehow i got a usable fun image. who knows if it'll pass muster since it was working completely out of my element but hey, that's what this trip is all about!
it turns out that i have to go home early so tomorrow is my last shooting day and i leave on the last flight out of lax tomorrow night. we have 3 more shoots planned with a possible 4th - i'm looking forward to all of them. my test tomorrow is to practice finding the sweet spot between my "idealized fashion portrait" and real people subjects. i need to learn how to make the same stylized beautiful images that i'm used to with less control over the subject, clothing, etc. i believe it can be done! stay tuned.
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