Manny Pacquiao for ESPN
This shoot with the legendary boxer / former senator of Philippines / genuine man of the people @mannypacquiao for @ESPN was a new record for me in terms of speed of shooting (which seems appropriate given the speed at which Manny fights). Only four minutes elapsed from the time I took my first portrait of Manny to the last portrait…
Trying Out the GVM B100C Foldable LED Light
I was recently sent a GVM B100C, which is a foldable LED light. To get a sense of it’s capabilities I did a shoot with Rachel Luree and used the light in two different setups…
New Work: Nov. '24 to Feb '25
I used to be better about blogging regularly, but life happens, and the more I fall behind, the more daunting the task is of catching up. In an effort to at least loosely keep my blog followers informed (few as they may be), here’s a batch of new work that I’ve made over the past two months…
My 2024 Photographic Recap
I continued in my exploration of photographing different liquids, and soon ventured into working with epoxy resin…
Images From the November Creative Portrait Workshop
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.
Y2K Lifestyle Shoot for Unsplash+
I was recently commissioned by @unsplash to create a body of work around the theme of early 00’s tech and fashion. I was born in 1980 so this was my era. I already knew how to approach shopping for props because I was basically buying everything I always wanted but couldn’t afford 😂. I was heavily influenced by the aesthetic in Gregg Araki’s 1997 film, Nowhere.
Butch Reynolds X EPSN 30 for 30: False Positive
My earliest memory of the Olympics was watching the summer games in 1988. I remember being mesmerized by the South Korean flag, which I drew in the margins of every school notebook I had. My father was a massive sports fan— specifically anything involving Ohio State— so I’d heard all about @butchreynoldsofficial , who was not only representing OSU in Seoul, but went on to take home a silver and a gold…
Slipknot X Revolver Magazine Photo Shoot
This shoot was a make-it-work situation, if ever there was one. I was given 30-minutes to shoot a magazine cover as well as individual portraits of each member of @slipknot for @revolvermag. Apparently I didn’t think this was tall enough of an order, so I decided to shoot four different color schemes, both with and without a prism…
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.
Multiple Exposure Portraits with Rigid Textures
Last year I explored fluidity quite a bit in my work, and this year I’ve been gravitating towards rigidity. To create these images I wandered around taking photos of a range of textures, which I used as a base layer to make in-camera multiple exposures in two portrait sessions.
Identity: A Commission by Unsplash+
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…
Shelby X Creative Portrait Workshop
I had a blast hosting a sold out workshop at my studio this past weekend. Thank you to my students for coming from places as far away as Boston, Seattle, and the Cayman Islands. Shout out to my incredible models (@yesandso seen here) for making it easy to turn these techniques into moving art.
Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose (Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes)
It’s been nearly five years since I’ve photographed @kate_sweeney and it was interesting to see the parallel in tone with our last shoot (third eye vibes)…
We 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…
Kinstugi 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…
Fluid 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.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Photo Shoot for Entertainment Weekly
This is one of those achievement-unlocked moments for me. Since I first picked up a camera as a teenager (27 years ago 😱), one of my dreams was to shoot for @entertainmentweekly. A few weeks ago that dream came true, when I was given the opportunity to shoot the cast of the new, live-action adaptation of @avatarnetflix, which premieres next month on @netflix.
Astral Projection: Psychedelic Fashion Shoot with Foxx Smoulder
In an effort to keep things interesting as well as continue to evolve as an image maker, I’ve learned to embrace an element of chaos in my portrait sessions. In the case of this shoot I set up a series of controls, such as a strobe and a projector, and then I added the unpredictable element of video…
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