Back in February I had the opportunity to shoot this video of Ryan Bingham for Easyriders magazine. I’m super proud of this piece, which I also co-wrote, directed, and edited. Big thank you to everyone who made it happen:
Read MoreCollaboration with Clothing Designer Xuena Pu
This was a deceptively simple shoot. Designer Xuena Pu makes garments with bold shapes, so I decided to make a range of basic shapes in Photoshop which I projected onto fabric behind the model. I made the shapes orange and chose to light the model with a complementary color of cyan. I used a softbox to create even, flattering light, making to add a grid to in order to avoid overlighting the backdrop. I then posed Dajia so that her lines (or lines from the garment) either aligned or broke out of the projected shapes.
Read MoreTechnophobia: Some of Us Are Looking at the Stars Photo Shoot
I listened to more than my share of darkwave and industrial synth back in the day so I was more than a little stoked when the DC-based duo Technophobia reached out to me to shoot press photos for their upcoming album cycle. They left much of the creative direction up to me, inviting me to “do what I do”, which I interpreted as “whatever I’ve been experimenting with lately”…
Read MoreMake 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 MoreTim Hortons US Fall Social Campaign
Last month I worked with the fine folks at 5 Hundred Degrees to shoot the Tim Hortons US fall social campaign. It was a beautiful day spent outdoors sculpting light and arranging pumpkins. Thanks always to Seth Miller, my assistant.
Read MoreLong Exposures with Dancers Wrapped in LEDs
In my last post I mentioned how I’ve struggled for years to capture the essence of a dancer in a single frame. These are more attempts in this ongoing quest…
Read MoreA Window to the Soul: Long Exposures of Ballet Dancers
Sometimes all you need is time. I photographed Caitlin and Karen last week, two dancers from Ballet Met. The sessions were deceptively simple. A dancer, a window, and a tripod. For some of the shots I froze their movement, highlighting their pose and their poise. I also explored making long exposures in an effort to capture the grace and fluidity of their movements (for years I’ve struggled to adequately capture a dancer in a single frame). I also used my fungus-filled lens on a few of the long exposures, resulting in especially ghostly images. Here are some of my favorites:
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 MoreFungus in Lens Creates Ethereal Glow in Images
The above image is a raw file— straight out of camera with no editing. It was created by shooting with a kit lens— which are very inexpensive and poor quality to begin with— that was made worthless by most anyone’s standard once it grew a fungus inside. I found this flawed treasure on eBay and have been exploring its possibilities over the last year, with this latest shoot being the most successful by far...
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 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 MoreDwell Magazine: Lolly Lolly Ceramics
Lalese Stamps is the genius behind Lolly Lolly Ceramics. A designer by trade, last year she decided to start a ceramics project making a new, uniquely-handled mug each day for 100 days. Between that and a lot of press due to the Black Lives Matter movement her following has skyrocketed. I had the opportunity to photograph her work as well as her studio— which like mine is also at The Fort— for the Sept/Oct issue of Dwell magazine.
Read MoreGetting Spooky with Rachel (Digital Pinhole)
Last week I shot with frequent collaborator Rachel Luree and made a range of ghosty images, including some digital pinhole images. If you’re unfamiliar with pinhole photography, it’s essentially any light-tight object with photo sensitive material inside and a tiny hole which acts as the aperture. An entire room can then be a pinhole camera (see camera obscura). I’ve made pinhole cameras out of LEGO, oatmeal boxes, film canisters, and cigarette tins. While each iteration has offered unique results, exploring digital pinhole has been a quicker and easier experience by far.
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 MoreNathan Ward's Winter Triangle
Aside from being a great photographer, Nathan Ward is also a multi-instrumental musician. His first album until the name Winter Triangle is a lush, layered, ambient endeavor in the vein of Daniel Lanois and Harold Budd. Needless to say I was stoked when he asked me to shoot his portrait for the album promo. After listening to the album I knew I wanted to used a projector and smoke machine to create pins of light. The native color temperature of the projector was on the cooler side and I leaned into the blue tones as I colored graded the files in post. I also decided to add a bit of grain to give the images an older feel. The final images look like his music does in my head.
Read MoreLiquid Color
This was a fun little test shoot with Jona. For some of the frames I projected video footage onto her and made multiple exposures. Other frames I used a pulsing, multicolored LED and had Jona do the moving. There was an element of control and chaos in each scenario, and all of them led to discovery and delight.
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 MoreWilted Flowers, Crumpled Leaves, and Other Pretty Dead Things
We had a bouquet of flowers on our dining room table for the last two weeks, and it had been dead for easily half that time. When I finally got around to tossing the dead flowers I caught myself and decided instead to bring them to my studio to photograph. Though I’ve been photographing flowers and plants for years I’ve never thought to document them after their prime. I added in some dead leaves from one of our ailing house plants to round out my decay study. I enjoyed these studies so much that I may begin a new series around it.
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FaceTime Photo Shoot with Mrs. Piss (Chelsea Wolfe) for Revolver Magazine
Stoked to have photographed @cchelseawwolfe and @jessgowrie’s new project @mrspisss via FaceTime a couple months back. These are in the latest issue of @revolvermag. Design by @toddweinberger. Long live print!
Read MoreMaking My Own Alternative Camera (Pinhole)
Back in 2002 I was halfway through the BFA program in fine art photo at OSU and I’d just started a course called “alternative camera” taught by the great Ardine Nelson. The umbrella of “alt camera” encompassed everything from finding/modifying toy cameras to making your own cameras from scratch. The course awakened in me a drive to explore and push the boundaries in my artmaking and I really learned to lean into the element of chaos and the beauty of imperfection that accompanied exploration. I crafted a range of cameras during those three months. I made a LEGO pinhole camera that shot 4x5 film. I modified my grandmother’s broken stereoscopic 35mm film camera to shoot hazy, ethereal pinhole images. But my favorite camera ended up being one I made from an old cigarette tin…
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