Lately I’ve been exploring different ways to manipulate my images after the fact. Since I’m not great at Photoshop creating realistic effects in Photoshop and don’t like the absence of “happy accidents” when working on a digital file, I prefer to print the images and then physically modifying them. So far I’ve explored crumpling prints, poking holes in them, submerging them in water, and lighting them from below before re-shooting them…
Read MoreTraumatic Portraits: Integrating the Past and Present
I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember, and I’ve tried everything from medication to dietary changes to shake the issues. In 2017 my therapist suggested that I had survived an abusive childhood but I laughed it off, listing a number of pleasant memories as a counter argument. However, in the years that followed, the more I read about trauma and how the body writes that terror to our DNA, I began to accept the truth and reframe my history…
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.
Read MoreNew Photo Tutorial (Creative Portrait #3)
I’m excited to announce that I just dropped the third episode in my ongoing tutorial series, The Creative Portrait. It covers ten scenarios with each scenario showing real-time raw file capture, camera settings, and color grading in Lightroom.
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 More
Remote Photo Shoots Featured in Better Photography Magazine
Better Photography Magazine (India) recently interviewed me about my Remotrait sessions. I’m still taking bookings if you’re interested in portraits of your own.
Remotrait Session with Aleksa Palladino
In my last post I described how I’ve begun to do remote photo shoots, via FaceTime. By hooking a projector up to my laptop while I’m on a call with my subjects— who are often not just in a different state but sometimes in a different country— I can project their face onto a backdrop in my studio. Then I shoot through a range of different materials and substances, throwing the subject slightly out of focus, which takes the focus off the poor video connection and puts it on the texture, helping sell the illusion that the subject was actually in my space. I’ve dubbed these portrait sessions “remotraits”…
Read More
Beauty and Beast-ish
Even when I’m doing “pretty” shoots I like to have an element of darkness or mystery in my images. After all, things aren’t pretty all the time. This shoot with Rachel is a prime example. I used lace to light through (pretty) as well as shoot through (looks a bit eerie). I shot through different plastic panels, mixing beautiful makeup with jagged shapes and ghostly shadows. I used prismatic window film to light her in pretty pink light, while also using in combination with a slow shutter to create an ethereal haze…
Read MoreStrata VIII
I’ve shot with rubber cement half a dozen times now, each time slightly changing not only how I apply the material to the plexiglass but also how I light it and process the images in post. Though I’m getting closer to what I’m going for in this series, there are still so many variables to explore with this material. Over the past year I’ve experimented with shooting through a range of substances and materials to get more painterly or sculptural results, titling the series Strata. You can view my other texture explorations here.
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 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
Shadows and Simplicity
I love the brutality of hard light. Especially when used with a high contrast black and white treatment. Subjects emerge or recede into darkness. Features that might otherwise be missed are accentuated. Everything is stripped down to shapes. All too often I overcomplicate my setups and run the risk of missing the essence of my subject. When I can make myself slow down and simplify, that seems to be where I mot often find truth.
Read More
Trash Talk
These images were created during sessions with three different models. I love the variation between each of them. The textures are just so stunning. I can’t decide whether I like this series better in black and white or color. I suppose it could also work to go back and forth. Thoughts?
Read More
Gettin' Weird with Jade
One Man's Trash...
This marks my third shoot with Melissa this year. Though she now lives in NYC, she was in town for the holidays and asked if I’d be interested in doing a plastic-themed shoot. In preparing for the shoot sent me a few images from a recent Vogue Portugal fashion story that implemented single-use plastics into their shoot. I really enjoyed how they repurposed trash into the creation of something new and beautiful. I knew that I would want to take a different approach to the idea by capturing the texture of the materials and experimenting with creating more abstract portraits, and so I asked Melissa to “rescue” a range of plastic from her life over the next week and bring a range of options with her to the shoot…
Read More
Finding Inspiration at the Hardware Store
Over the past year I’ve been pushing my images into more abstract, painterly directions. As digital images seem to be moving into a realm of hyperrealism, I find myself longing for gritty tangibility. Since I have always more in the get-it-in-camera camp, I have been experimenting with a range of techniques and materials to try and achieve the look I’m after. I started off this past spring by adding substances such as coconut oil and honey to glass and then shooting through it. After that I moved on to shooting with imperfect, fungus-covered lenses to get a hazy, dreamlike quality. Next I tried my hand at capturing distorted reflections in mylar. Most recently I explored what broken mirrors can add to an image.
All these experiments have worked together to inform my process in terms of optimal focal length, aperture, and light quality/direction when working with multiple planes, layers, and reflections. Now that I better understand how to manipulate these mediums I can walk through a hardware store, for example, and visualize how certain materials would look when photographed and lit a certain way, which is exactly what I did last week…
Read MorePhoto District News: Equipment Guide 2019
This was a fun surprise. One of my portraits of Sydney Lafaire made the cover of the new Photo District News equipment guide. I’ve been reading this magazine since I started out as a professional photographer, so this is certainly an “achievement unlocked” kinda moment…
Read More
Character
I decided to keep this session really minimal. One light and a v-flat (which I used as a tabletop). Sarah brought a range of clothing options but I decided just to use the black and white options. I had her pull her hair back to keep all of the lines really clean and simple. It’s never not surprising to me just how much the mood of an image can change through a subtle gesture or tilt of the head.
Read More