Last week I hosted another one of my Creative Portrait workshops, in Columbus, Ohio. Students came in from Toronto, Portland, Asheville, and San Francisco to learn some of my lighting and camera techniques. Big thanks to @westcottlighting for providing the strobes, transmitters, and light modifiers, and to @nanliteusa for providing the LEDs.
My next workshop is January 25-26 and is at a discounted rate until December 15. There are only five spots FYI. More info, here.
Images From the May Creative Portrait Workshop
Here are some of my favorite images from my latest Creative Portrait workshop. As you can see, we covered a braod range of techniques over the two day class.
Read MoreTechnicolor Rainbow
Here’s the set of images i made of @larryrobertson during my last Creative Portrait workshop. I have learned that my images benefit from me waiting to color grade the files until I have the time and energy to really explore the possibilities of what they could look like.
Images 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 MoreImages from the August Creative Portrait Workshop
This past weekend I held my latest Creative Portrait workshop at my Columbus studio. We kicked off the weekend exploring color theory and shadow sculpting…
Read MoreCyberpunk Photo Shoot for Unsplash+
I was recently commissioned by Unsplash to create a series of cyberpunk-inspired images. Though the cyberpunk aesthetic is especially trendy as of late, it has held a spot near to my heart ever since I was a teen in the nineties…
Read MoreImages From My Latest Creative Portrait Workshop
Last week I taught a two-day photography workshop called The Creative Portrait. I taught my students a range of innovative camera and lighting techniques that allow them to capture subjects in creative ways. Here are a few of my favorite images from the weekend.
Read MoreUsing a Fungus-Filled Lens with Long Exposure and Prisms to Create Psychedelic In-Camera Effects
Whenever I’m doing a personal shoot I try to make at least one small change to a tried-and-true technique in an effort to see how the resulting images differ from previous sessions. For example, let’s say I’m shooting long exposures in a darkened room while my subject is wrapped in strands of LED lights and moving around the room. Each image is different based on their movement, which creates unique light trails. In the following shoot I might have the subject and camera stationary as I swing the strand of LEDs around the room, thus framing the subject in light. Another session might involve me moving my camera while the subject and lights are unmoving. Each tweak of the formula creates dramatically different results and I frequently discover new techniques through these experiments…
Read MoreAll the Things with Annika
This was my first shoot with Annika Peterson and we did all the things. I started off with some light lighting, using a black fiber optic brush and orange gel from Light Painting Brushes. After that I explored making long exposures while rotating a linear prism FX filter and multi-strobing my flash. Finally, I took some shots with my fungus-filled lens, using shutter drag and an LED with changing colors.
Read MoreInterplay: Exploring the Relationship Between Light and Movement with Dance Couple Carly and Gabe
Last October I began experimenting with wrapping dancers in LEDs and making long exposures in the dark. In essence this turned the black room into a blank canvas and the lights turned the dancers limbs into (light) paint brushes (check out the old post here). Since that point I had it in the back of my mind to use this technique when photographing a dance duo to see how their light trails interacted. That time has finally come…
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