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…
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Shoot with Fashion Photographer Gail Shamon
This was a fun, quick little shoot with fellow photographer and friend @gabrielleshamon. Gail did her own hair, makeup, and styling. I did three lighting setups, sticking to a red/yellow/blue color triad. I simply rotated out gels on my main, background, and rim lights for each set. This allowed me to have a broad range of looks that still felt related to each other, all in a short amount of time (I think we shot for about 45 minutes).
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Hair / Beauty Shoot with Chyna Tené
A few weeks ago my friend and frequent collaborator @chyna.tene stopped by my studio to hang out. She brought some of her crafting materials with her to work on some of her art while we chatted. We got to talking about hair and I showed her a book of hair portraits from J.D. ‘Ojeikere before suggesting that we do a similar, hair-themed session. She selected some jewels and I cut some strips of wire from her crafting materials and we styled her hair in several different ways. I used the @lindsayadler_photo x @westcottlighting Optical Spot and gobos to illuminate her in a variety of patterns. The whole shoot only took about 45 minutes but the act of creation and collaboration stuck with me for the rest of the day.
Read MoreWhy We Choose to Suffer: Conceptual Portrait for Wall Street Journal
I was recently commissioned to create a conceptual portrait to accompany the @wsj article, “Why We Choose to Suffer.” The essay is an excerpt from Paul Bloom’s upcoming book, The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning, which touches on why we humans often choose things that create unpleasant moments for ourselves, and how these moments can ultimately lead to growth and even pleasure…
Shoot with Ballerina Francesca Jordan Dugarte
My latest attempt at capturing the beauty of movement over time. Been exploring long exposures while rotating my @prismlensfx linear filter and multi-strobing my flash. Excited at the possibilities! Also really loving the hard light and fast falloff I can get with my @lindsayadler_photo @westcottlighting Optical Spot.
Read MorePlants and Plastic with Chyna
I’ve collaborated with Chyna a dozen times now, and we’ve since become friends. She recently came by the studio and we chatted about work, life, and plants, among other things. I had recently propagated one of my plants by splitting it into two pots, one of which I gave to her. Before she left I asked if she would want to do an impromptu shoot with her new green friend. After snapping a few frames with the plant I convinced her to let me shoot some colorful long exposure images…
Read MoreShutter Drag with Window Light / Creating Dappled Light with DIY Reflector
I wanted to create a dappled light effect, similar to sunlight reflected off of windows. I actually came across this effect by accident. I bought some mirror stickers used for crafting, which I adhered to a piece of cardboard. I had scored the cardboard on the back which made it an easy-to-carry tri-fold reflector. The happy accident came about in that the corrugated cardboard texture created the dappled light effect when lit with a bright light source, in this case a flash…
Read MorePlastic Galaxies
It’s been a while since I’d shot images for my series One Man’s Trash, where I repurpose single-use plastic, so it was fun to make these images with Katy. She’s draped in a mattress bag and her pointy fingers came from vials saved from the chemlab at her school. I love the eerie sci-fi aesthetic in the images.
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