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…
Read MoreMicro and Macro with Katy
I had a wildly varied session with @cortadh0e last week…
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Images From My Creative Portrait Workshop
This past weekend I hosted a 2-day Creative Portrait workshop at my studio. In an effort to keep the atmosphere intimate and allow for a lot of hands-on time for students, I capped the workshop at 5 students. We covered a range of techniques such as using flags to shape light; color theory; making and using snoots; long exposure portraits; and lighting with projectors. We packed a lot in, as you can see below…
Read MoreWhat is Time?
Fancher X Feinknopf
Last week I had the privilege of photographing photographers. Great ones, at that. Brad Feinknopf is a legend in my neck of the woods, and to be asked to photograph him and his team in my style was a great honor.
Read MoreThe Great American Road Trip
A couple weeks ago I booked a shoot in Los Angeles but given the extremely high numbers of covid cases I decided to avoid the airports and turn it into a road trip. Though I had made a similar cross-country trip twenty years ago with a friend, this time it was a solo trip through a country in lockdown. It was more than a little unnerving to stop off to fuel up at the only town within 50 miles only to find that every gas station, restaurant, and hotel is closed. I couldn’t help but think about books and films depicting a post-apocalyptic country where one could go days without human contact. That said, the beautiful diversity of landscape hit me especially hard; the mountains, deserts, and the kitsch making me more grateful than ever for this country…
Read MoreElegance of Form
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 MoreFractals: Photographing Time and Space
Though I’ve been exploring long exposures and shutter drag in my portrait photography for years now, I’ve recently began to explore it in a new way. For some time now I’ve implemented intentional movement into my shoots but I was always doing the moving— not my subject. I’d shoot at exposures longer than 1/30th of a second and I’d move my camera around as my subject sat there. I’d mix in a strobe light with a continuous light source so that at least part of the subject was sharp while the rest of the frame fell away to blurred movement. Lately, however, I’ve decided to ditch the strobe and fully embrace the blur…
Read MoreMy Travel Gear Kit
This is my travel kit. I’ve whittled down my gear over the years to get the leanest and meanest kit possible. With this two camera, two lens, two light setup I can easily travel and solo shoot, creating a broad range of indoor and outdoor scenarios.
Read MoreMy Photography Studio: From Basement to Loft
This is my studio. Not even 5 years ago my studio was in my basement. The ceiling was just under 7ft and the foundation leaked every time it rained. My lighting kit was little more than a couple battery-powered flashes and a desk lamp. Though I only had a tiny space and limited gear, it was my space. I learned to use every inch of that studio and gear…
Read MoreEphemera: A Collaboration with Hana Mendel and Celeste Malvar-Stewart
Last week I collaborated with Hana Mendel (an amazing photographer, illustrator, guitarist, etc) and clothing designer Celeste Malvar-Stewart. In an effort to maintain social distance guidelines, Celeste dropped off her garments, giving us permission to style and shoot them as we saw fit. Hana showed up ready to shoot and I kept my distance, wearing a mask the whole time. Save for the addition of wearing a mask, the shoot wasn’t any different from my other personal shoots— I always work with a minimal or non-existent crew…
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Remotrait (FaceTime Photo Shoot) with Sara Lando
Sara Lando is my friend. She’s also a brilliant photographer, artist, and teacher based in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. Last week we hopped on a FaceTime call and she graciously sat as my subject for an hour-long shoot.
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.
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Remotraits Vol. 2
I’ve been doing remote photo shoots (Remotraits) for a few weeks now and they continue to evolve. I began by projecting the FaceTime or Zoom feed onto a backdrop and shooting through different materials and substances. Then I moved on to projecting the conference directly onto different materials to change the shape and add texture to the projection. After that I started placing different substances on plexiglass over a horizontal computer screen, allowing me to shoot through different liquids. I’ve really been enjoying these experiments.
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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 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!
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