Something Wicked This Way Comes.

This is not part of the project that’s starting TOMORROW, but it’s an outtake from one of the images.

Join me and a group of my buddies in looking at our summer project: The Steam Effect

The Odds Against.

This is Jennie Araujo, an UnSafebet. She’s a wedding photographer.
And a model.
And awesome.

I teamed up one afternoon last weekend with Tim Wood to shoot some new images of Jennie. It satisfied everyone on all sides of the camera. I ended up with a few more, but this diptych was my favorite. When Tim and I compared versions (This is his.) after we’d done post, it was cool to see the vastly different directions we’d gone in. I’m looking forward to the collaboration again sometime.

EDIT:

Tim suggests (in the comments) that I add this image to the post. It’s one of my immediate favorites as well. I’m hoping to go through the batch sometime next week.

Joe is not Happy with Your iPod App.

These are really just test shots but they’re funny.

He’s rarely mad and always smiles.

Straight Outta NOLA.

This is Louis Ledford.
He makes music.
His website is here.
We only had 30 minutes after 8 o’clock the other night.

Check out some of his music here and his myspace page.

What The–?!

A friend of mine on twitter gave me a small heads up about a local company that was looking to have some photography done of their baked goods. The client never surfaced but the idea stuck in my head.

How would I photograph baked goods without going the obvious route? I mean, without using bakery locations or chef’s hats or Jane Austen-esque women at high tea.

I started simply. I figured, what if I just put some cupcakes in some odd places? Nothing seemed to work in my head. Then I got to thinking that a lot of people describe confections as “guilty pleasures” and don’t always wanna admit that they’ve eaten them. I liked the way that was going and thought I’d take it a step further.

Before I could do anything I needed to shoot one to see if the concept held up as well in my camera, so I sent Joe a quick text message to ask him to stand in. I promised he could have the cupcakes after I was done. He was sold despite complaining that he wasn’t up to looking pretty.

This is what we got:

I think it’s pretty clever. The location needs a little bit of playing with and the lighting’s not exactly even, but for a 10 minute setup and 15 minutes of shooting, this is really close to what I was thinking.

I’m wondering if shooting the series and showing it to the client might not have some merit. I mean, they might just love the idea…

Strange Goings On.

I was working with Chris again. He’s so very pleasant and willing. I mean, how many people do you know who’d wade out into the river (the bottom of which neither of us could see) and wait patiently?

I’d tentatively titled this “Regarding the Recent Occurrence at Spaulding Creek,” thinking I’d write a short piece to go with it that was (longer than, but) in the spirit of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Alllsburg. Alas, I never wrote anything. Go figure.

I’ve got a couple of other shots like this planned and Chris has agreed to help me. Moreover, I’ve got some cool new models lined up to work on more images in this kind of spirit.

Keep watching!

Reflection.

I’m working on retooling the online portfolio right now and I’m putting together some new stuff to shoot.
I’ll be back. I promise.

Wave Park.

A couple of finished images of another surfer.

Old News.

It’s funny how the first two weeks of every fall semester seem like the hardest — at least until I get to the last two weeks. Those invariably feel worse.

I say this mostly because I usually have my students give this image a once over toward the end of a semester. It looks like a man traveling. Their responses are always engaging. Some think he’s Jewish. Others make him out to be a cheater (on his wife, not at cards). Still others make it clear that he’s a serial killer. In real life, his name’s David and this was total grab shot. It was cold and the sun was setting and given what I had to work with, there was no credible shot I could pull off. Or so I thought. As far as my personal work goes, this is iconic. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

The Beach.

I read somewhere that photo editors like to see pictures from the real lives of the photographers that they hire. Whether that’s true or not is moot. I liked this picture. The thing that galls me is that there are no clouds.

I never realized how important clouds were until I found myself pining for them every time I shot pictures outside. *sigh*

Anyway, here’s m’girls. Ain’t they precious?