The team at Unsplash reached out to me to commission a body of work around the theme of identity. Identity is such a broad, subjective concept that I ultimately used several different technical approaches to create the portraits…
Read MoreMachine Shop Photo Shoot with In-Camera Multiple Exposures
My inspiration for this shoot was two-fold: the movie, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and the cover of The Industrial Culture Handbook…
Read MoreMicro and Macro with Katy
I had a wildly varied session with @cortadh0e last week…
Read MoreWe Are More Than the Sum of Our Parts: A Photographic Pushback Against Artificial Intelligence
Many AI images look are impressive at first, in a too-good-to-be-true kind of way. Interiors brag gravity-defying architecture, or scenic terrains depict features that have never before been seen on this planet. However, there is inevitably an element that seems off when viewing these images. They are too perfect, and lack the tactility and weight that feels believable, a phenomenon referred to as the uncanny valley. This begs the question, are AI images a success or a failure? Are they successfully creating visions of an ideal human or world according to some programming and an amalgamation of stock imagery, or are they a failure in coding, with the author lacking the awareness to include nuance and imperfection in their vision? Its these details that, I’d argue, that inform us that a person or a place is real…
Read MoreKinstugi and the Art of Self-Care: Adult Survivor of Childhood Abuse
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing a broken vessel with a precious metal, such as gold or platinum. A repaired vessel isn’t the same as it was before the trauma, nor is it diminished. The essence of the original vessel is still there, but golden scars now trace the lines where the fracture occurred…
Read MoreImages From January's Creative Portrait Workshop
Here are a handful of my favorite images from January’s Creative Portrait workshop. I’ve been teaching workshops since 2011 and have been slightly modifying the format each time until I found the current iteration. I now cap the two-day class at five students, which allows for more hands-on time and exploration of each technique. Since there are endless variations that can be created from any one of the techniques that I teach, I start by showing the class three iterations, and then I guide them, one at a time, in helping them fold it into their own visual style. This allows students to really retain the knowledge, as well as work it into their personal style.
Read MoreFluid Portraits Commission by Unsplash+
These images were all created using in-camera effects. No Photoshop was used— only color grading in Lightroom.
I was recently commissioned by Unsplash+ to create a library of fluid portraits. Last year I began working on a new body of images where I explore fluids and in-camera multiple exposures. My Canon 5DIV allows me to select an image from my memory card and overlay it on my viewfinder, when in “live view”, which allows me to intentionally compose multiple exposures. Even though I know more or less how the fluid and the portrait will merge, there is always a moment of surprise when the final image pops up on my screen. As you can see in the gallery below, the same fluid shot will produce wildly different results depending on how the subject is light, the clothes they’re wearing, their hair, the complexion of their skin, etc. This makes each image a one-of-one.
Read MoreNew Flower Portraits and a Fine Art Print Sale
Historically, whenever I create something that I’m really excited about, I immediately get overwhelmed (this latest shoot is case in point). I’ve thought about reasons why it may affect me in this way, and here are just a few…
Read MoreLess Is More: Slowing Down with Sondos
Lately I’ve been intentionally slowing down the pace in which I engage life. Though I’ve never been good at being still or meditating, I have found lately that stillness is what I’ve been craving the most. My favorite pastime these days is to sit in what others might call silence and listen to the sounds of the world around me. Crickets chirping; the wind moving through the trees; jets passing overhead; neighbors listening to a ball game on their porch radio. If I can manage to stop thinking about each individual sound, I can start to hear them all as one, and accept my place within it.
Read MoreA Study of Form: High Contrast Black and White Dance Shoot
A study of shape and tone. Thanks to @kristielatham for bringing power and grace to every shoot, and thanks to the @ohioartscouncil for the grant which allows me to make art.
Read MorePhoto Shoot with Ballet Dancer Caitlin Valentine
I had a lot of fun exploring my new @nanlite_global Pavotubes. I set them to rapidly change through the prismatic spectrum while @bemycaitlinvalentine danced. I explored a range of techniques from long exposure to using prisms to shooting through reeded plastic. I’m super excited to explore the lights in greater depth.
Read MoreImages From the Previous Icon Session and New Event Announcement
Back in October I opened up my studio to host a day of portraits, which I call Icon Sessions. The idea behind it was to have a reduced session fee, making it more accessible for people to have creative images of themselves. Sessions are limited to 15 minutes, which allows for two outfits and lighting scenarios. Below you can get an idea of the range of portraits that were created that day…
Read MoreImages From Latest Creative Portrait Workshop
This past weekend I taught a 2-day Creative Portrait workshop at my Columbus, Ohio studio. Students came in from Utah, Arizona, Texas, and New York. It was an intimate time of learning, experimentation, and creativity…
Read MorePhotographic Interpretations of the Book of Revelation: A Commission by Rock City Church
I was recently commissioned by @rockcitychurch to create a library of images based on the book of Revelation (themes such as confusion, suffering, dying, and persevering). To create these images I employed a range of camera and lighting techniques to capture @repotrash, @priscilladwomoh, @ninjalascriss, and @johnathondarcelle, as well as create some abstract images to represent these themes. Creative direction by @mitchellaadams.
Read MoreElastic Plastic: Exploring a New Material with Alayna
Here's some recent work with @a.bean.sprout. It's been a couple years since our last collaboration and was a great time of conversation and art-making. I especially had fun exploring shooting through a piece of plastic that my friend @davidtsigler salvaged from an old Mac monitor. The red in that first image is actually a warped reflection of the red shirt I happened to be wearing at the shoot. My mind is still pouring over the possibilities that this material affords me.
Read MoreIn Rainbows: Portrait Session with Jason Walker
Here’s some recent work with @thisaintjason. This was a session focused on color and movement (like many of my sessions lol)…
Read MoreRemnants: Still Lifes of Dead Insects
I’m continuing my series of still life studies of dead things. I’m fascinated by their beauty and feel it an honor to commemorate them by creating an image that will outlast their short time on earth.
Read MoreBehind the Scenes of My Creative Portrait Workshop
Here’s a peek at my latest Creative Portrait workshop. Thanks to my wonderful models and students for making it a beautiful time. Check out my workshop page for more info on future classes.
Read MoreThe Birds and the Bees and Other Dead Things
I’ve expanded my still life studies to include dead bugs. Most of these were collected from my window sill. On a walk the other day I came across a dead baby bird that had apparently fallen from a nest, which I carefully took back to my studio to photograph. I’ve really been enjoying seeing how these tiny, forgotten specimen come to life in front of my lens…
Read MorePlant Pressing Studies
I recently discovered a new love in the pressing and photographing of plants. I love the hunt for new specimens almost more than I love the challenge of interpreting their natural beauty in an image. It’s an exercise in slowing down and seeing the beauty in the quiet, unremarkable moments I so often take for granted. That said, plants are simultaneously the hardest and easiest subject to photograph in that they can’t collaborate with me to help me flesh out an abstract idea or mood I may have. Rather, they simply exist as they are and I can either figure out how to capture their beauty or not.
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