I’m beginning to figure ways to control and manipulate the honey in my Strata portraits. I’m now using a mirror for my honey images, while I still use a large sheet of glass for the oil shots. Rather than cleaning off the mirror between shoots, I leave it laying flat, allowing the honey to settle (and collect dust and grit). Once I am ready to shoot, I stand it up and and dab it with my fingers, which creates raised areas for a few minutes. The refraction from the honey can get really extreme, mimicking the distortion from a funhouse mirror. My favorite parts of the image are the areas where the face/skin begin to split away from the body, as if to disintegrate.
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Perfect Imperfections
I, for one, am someone with a limited imagination. What I mean by that is that I need to get my images looking how I want them in camera so all I have left to do is color grade them. So if I want a lens flare or glitch or haziness in my image, I need to introduce that element into my shoot. All that’s to say that recently I’ve spent quite a bit of time scavenging ebay for broken or flawed camera lenses.
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Strata III
I’ve been working with oil and honey for several shoots now. I’ve also tried shooting through plastic wrap, which has a really nice texture. Though I really like the texture of the oil shots, I want to figure out how to show a bit more of the subject without making it too literal. I also want to try out implementing color into these.
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Santa Fe Workshops Presents Chroma: Lighting with Color
If you’re unfamiliar with the Santa Fe Workshops, it’s one of, if not the, longest running photography workshops in the US. They started in 1990 and have had some of the most renowned photographers in the industry teach there, including Albert Watson, Joyce Tenneson, and Frank Ockenfels 3. The format of the courses is especially unique, given that it’s a 5-day course where the students and the instructor are together learning and shooting, from sunup till sundown.
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Strata II
For the past couple of years I’ve begun drifting away from the literal and heading for the lyrical. I am finding myself easily bored with well-lit (and even colorful) images. I find myself longing for the qualities a painters brush stroke brings to a portrait. I have experimented a great deal with using multiple exposures or projectors to add layers of texture and distortion to my images. Though I made images I was happy with, they didn’t feel like they were close enough to where I was wanting them to go.
Read MoreThe Old Man and the Screen
I recently read the short story, “The Machine Stops”, written in 1909 by E.M. Forster. In the story he lays out a dystopian prophecy wherein humans live under the earth’s surface (the surface is no longer inhabitable) in pods barely larger than themselves. They get everything they need through the machine, including sustenance, entertainment, and communication with other people around the world. Remind you of anything?
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And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
I was recently enrolled in Sara Lando’s online photography course, The Support Group for Lazy Photographers. Though she has been teaching the course for many years, this was the first time that she offered it in English. I immediately signed up, excited at the thought of what she would compel me to create.
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Strata I
This past month I have begun working on a new series, the working title being Strata. I am dealing with obscuring my subject by shooting through a range of different materials. Though I am still early on in the exploration and not sure how exactly it will evolve, my goal is to capture the nature of humans at a spirit level, rather than make portraits of a specific person.
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Merrill Lynch Atlanta for Barron's / Wall Street Journal
I can think of no better element in a photo shoot than creative freedom and trust. I had precisely that in my shoot for Barron’s last week in Atlanta. Annie Chia, the photo director, sent me a handful of photos of music groups such as Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, and the Velvet Underground as direction for my session with the three investments consultants. The shoot was already off to a great start.
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Product Photography: Michael Malul London
I recently shot product and editorial images for Michael Malul London, an emerging fragrance brand. Aside from shooting the standard “soft light on white” ecom shots, I shot a range of of stylistic shots using different colored backdrops and hard light.
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Light and Dark
Photography is light. The term comes from the Greek words for “light" and “drawing". But I’d argue that equally important to light is its opposite, dark. Without darkness, there would be no concept of light— nothing to which you could set light apart. Personally I am someone who spends a lot of time focusing on the darkness. Though some might call that unhealthy, in my opinion it makes it that much beautiful when I happen to encounter light.
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Re-Visiting Older Work
I shot the above portrait of model/photographer Helena Martin in 2014. At the time, I was so proud of the mood that I had created with my lighting and post processing that I included the scenario in my book, Studio Anywhere. When I look at that shoot today however, all I see are information-less shadow areas and matte blacks, and I cringe.
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On Self-Assignments and Getting Discovered
I have photographers regularly email me, asking for advice on how to make a living doing photography. Aside from the obvious things like assist other photographers or work on building your network, I always say if there isn’t work coming in, make work for yourself. I’m talking about self-assignments.
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The Numerical Values of Color (Goethe's Theory)
As a portrait photographer, the thought of creating a balanced composition with your subject, pose, and background is no easy task. Once you factor in the added layer of color, achieving balance in an image is even more tricky. If only there were some kind of system that could be used to determine how much color to use in a composition to each balance…
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Yin & Yang
Here are a few portrait studies that I’ve shot this past week. I’ve really been into shadow and subtlety of light/pose lately (and apparently black and white). I am largely known for my bold use of color, but creating quiet, muted moments is just as important to me as a visual artist— the yin as opposed to the yang.
Color and Shape
I kept it simple and fun for this shoot with model Rachel Luree: crisp shadows, complementary colors, playful poses.
Surrender
As of late, my need to explore studio lighting has waned. I still have the drive to create, but I find myself at a place where I am uncertain how to proceed. Light exploration no longer alone satiates my creative needs. There’s no more mystery in the discovery for me. It’s time to push my limits again. I need to get outside my head and my go-to techniques. But how does one simply pull themselves up by their artistic bootstraps? I need something to force my creative hand.
Read MoreAimé Leon Dore SS19
In early 2019 I shot the product photos for the Aimé Leon Dore SS19 collection. If you’re unfamiliar with their brand, Aimé has arguably the most immaculate, refined style in the game. Their entire aesthetic is on point. I still look back on this project with immense pride.
Ghosted
Hey guys. This morning I woke up and deleted all my social media. My Instagram, Twitter, and personal Facebook accounts (I deleted my Facebook business page a year earlier), all gone. I ghosted from the party. As a small business, it’s a bold move (if not insane) to walk away from such successful pages (I had over 60,000 followers between the three platforms). But I had had enough, and here’s why.
Read MoreImages from GPP Photo Week 2019
This was my third time teaching at Gulf Photo Plus and my second Photo Week (since February 2018!). It’s always a whirlwind of a week, teaching five workshops in seven days, but super rewarding. Here are a few images that I took throughout the week. I can’t wait until next time.
