One day last year (what is time) I worked with @alexhaldi of @pawncreative to create art for the new @skrizzlyadams album cycle. We shot a bunch of smoky images on location at a bar to match the classic Americana aesthetic of the artist. My assistant @sethmosesmiller helped me position a snooted speedlite up near the ceiling for the first setup, which created a shaft of light in the smoke. For the second setup we wanted to imply sunlight coming through the window blinds but since it was in fact a rainy morning we had to fake the light with a projector. Less is more, more or less.
Read More
Color and Shape Collab with Larry Robertson
Larry Robertson is a clothing designer, stylist, poet, and many other things. Everytime we collaborate we walk away with fire. He came by my studio yesterday and brought with him a bunch of outfits. We vacillated between shooting and chatting, discussing life, creativity, and navigating the ever-changing world…
Read More
Playing with Bold Colors and Silhouettes
Collaboration with Sustainable Fashion Designer Malvar = Stewart
Celeste Malvar-Stewart is a fashion designer that specializes in using locally-sourced, sustainable materials in the garments she makes. I’ve collaborated with Celeste several times over the years and the thing that I especially love about our shoots is how open she is with the way I interpret her garments. She simply hands me a garment bag filled with delicate treasures and tells me to style and shoot them however I please. I am someone who thrives in situations like this— just improvising and figuring it out as I go. The more I plan ahead, the more anxious I get at all the possible points of failure. If you don’t have a concrete plan you can’t be held responsible if you deviate from it…
Read MoreElegance of Form
The Fort, From Above
Here’s a short video I made just for fun. This is The Fort— a sprawling warehouse on the south side of Columbus, where my studio resides…
Read MoreBold Black and White Fashion Story with Molly
Make or Die
I recently collaborated with illustrator/designer/friend Dylan Menges. I wanted to explore shooting a subject through plexiglass while they painted and he was the first person that came to mind. Collaboration with another artist really takes a lot of the pressure of me as the photographer. I can give him some basic direction and then just capture the beauty that unfolds before me. An element that I really love but didn’t plan for are all the scuff marks on the plexiglass. It adds such a gorgeous tactility to the images…
Read MoreBack to Life: Opioid Recovery Campaign for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
Back in June I drove down to West Virginia with my assistant Seth to shoot portraits of two different subjects who have recovered from opiod addiction for the state Department of Health and Human Resources. I was working alongside a video crew (who was shooting a tv-spot) and under the direction of the agency Fahlgren Mortine to create multiple exposures showing the subject’s new life without chemical dependency as part of the Back to Life campaign.
Read MoreTim Hortons x Fruit Loops
A few weeks ago I shot a range of social media images for Tim Hortons’ recent crossover with Fruit Loops. When it came to the visual approach I wanted to mimic old print ads from the 50s and 60s, which translates to hard light and shifted color hues. I think it gives the images an elevated look.
Read MoreRemotraits Vol. 3
After a month of experimenting with these FaceTime/Zoom photo shoots (which I call Remotraits) I’ve really broadened the range of techniques and materials that I work with, resulting in a big variety of styles. Just in creating the images in the gallery below I worked with mylar, prismatic window film, rubber cement, honey, water, and trash bags. I love the painterly results I’m getting and can’t wait to do more.
Read MoreMarissa Nadler: Remote Shoot
I recently hopped on a FaceTime call with Marissa Nadler to shoot some photos. I’d been a fan of her music since 2006, so I was super stoked to be collaborating with her. I shot through a range of materials, covering five setups in the hour-long session. After I sent over the images she decided to use the above photo for the cover of her new covers EP.
Read MoreMetal Hammer Magazine: Lamb of God
Back in February I had the opportunity to photograph the metal legends Lamb of God in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia. I was told that the theme of the story was revolution so I began to brainstorm ideas for lighting, pose, and technique that would match. We used orange as the color palette, giving a nod to Russian propaganda posters. I also decided to give a nod to the infamous NWA album cover for Straight Outta Compton.
Read MoreOld Man Gloom
It’s always great when I get a chance to reconnect with Jim. We worked through a range of creative scenarios in this shoot. I shot his reflection with a broken mirror. I shot through a distressed air filter. I played with mylar. It was my first time splattering water onto the mylar, and found that the warped nature of the material in addition to the water added a nice graphic novel-look to the images. These techniques are all part of a new video series I’m currently working on, titled The Creative Portrait. Keep an eye out for the first episode, dropping soon!
Read MoreIt's Always Sunny with Sonny
Last week I shot with Sonny and we did all the things. I started with a single, un-gelled “hard” light and then began ratcheting up the complexity. By using a range of different cucoloris (cookies) I created organic-shaped shadows on her face. By adding a cyan-gelled background light I was able to give the feeling of her being outside on a sunny day. We went on to play a range of different shadow-makers and color which worked perfectly with her long braids and flowing outfits.
Read MoreStrata VII
It’s been a while since I’ve explored the Strata series. The reason why I started this experimental series almost a year ago was in an effort to take my portraits into a more painterly realm. Digital can be so hyperreal and “accurate” and I often find it quite boring. I want tactility. Grit. I experimented with shooting through different substances, such as honey or coconut oil. I shot through different types of plastics, using everytinhg from saran wrap and bubble wrap to light panels from the hardware store. I explored different ways of capturing reflections by using broken mirrors and mylar. My goal was discovery. I want an element of chaos and surprise in how I create photographs, and so I set up a series of controlled photo experiments to see what came out of it.
Read More
Zoom Drag
This was a fun, quick session. A simple setup— just one light and a projector— with a dramatic result. I was experimenting with zooming my lens from 35mm to 16mm as I simultaneously panned the camera during the long exposure. The strobe on the background kept her silhouette intact while the projector and camera movement created the wavy, fluid lines.
Read MoreRJD2: The Fun Ones Photo Shoot
In late 2018 my buddy RJ (aka RJD2) approached me about shooting the cover art for an upcoming album he was working on. He didn’t have a concrete idea about what he wanted to do but suggested possibly involving his Delorean. He was specific about the images not being about the car itself but rather capturing elements of the cars shape and incorporating them into creative portraits. I was intrigued but really couldn’t visualize what the hell he was talking about. Eight months later he hit me up and told me he was ready to shoot. He said that he had a garage that he’d just painted white that had a 14-foot ceiling with trusses. His plan was to suspend himself upside down above the open doors of his Delorean, and seemed confident that he could rig himself adequately with a climbing harness and some ropes. When I suggested that it may be easier to just shoot him and the car separately and composite them he was aghast. Ok, we’ll do it the hard way.
Read MoreCreative Portraiture Workshop: New York City
It was great to be back in New York, teaching my two-day Creative Portraiture workshop. Photo god Lindsay Adler graciously lent me her Manhattan studio while she was off killing it in Milan. We had a blast experimenting with light, color, and technique.
Read More
Creative Portraiture Workshop: Columbus
My sold out, two-day Creative Portraiture photography workshop took place a week ago and we had students travel from three other states to make art at my Columbus studio. We began by covering different qualities of light (soft vs. hard) and how to intentionally create different types of shadows. Next we covered a bit of color theory and how to use cookies (cucoloris) with gelled lights to create colorful shadows. For the rest of the weekend we covered a vsat range of techniques, such as making multiple exposures; creating prismatic effects with a broken mirror; shooting through different materials; photographing warped and colorful reflections with mylar and prismatic window film; using shutter drag; making custom shapes and images by way of projector. It was a jam-packed whirlwind of a weekend but we all came away feeling inspired and ready to go back into the world and create.
Read More