Porcelain

So I finally got to work with Porcelain from North Carolina. Me and a friend JMB double teamed it up again and Jason later stopped by. I think I was there for a total of 8 hours which was in a way mind numbing o.O

Jessica had 3 different looks and on top of that makeup, hair, and latex. I like to sit around and watch people shoot so it wasn't so bad, plus elizabeth tolley came up yet AGAIN so it was fun to conversate. Actually, shes on her way up here AGAIN since we are shooting Xanthia Doll from California tomorrow / Tuesday. I think it's going to be me, JMB, and stuntkid so I am pretty excited. I need to figure out a lighting scheme as well since I have been WAY too lazy.

Anyways back to Porcelain. I think I started shooting like 945 10pm time frame so I was pretty fried in my brain. I started out wanting to use my beauty dish then made a last minute decision to use my ringflash. I was extremely happy with how it turned out with Raquel Reed(see previous posts for picture) I decided I want to do just ONE more like it. I don't want to get TOO redundant so this will probably be my last shot like this ever... could be lying.

I ended up editing two and may be editing one more once Kayla confirms with me which one she likes best. hope you like!

Andover

So not too long ago I hooked up with a band named Andover. We decided we were going to shoot at this abandoned warehouse I was familiar with in downtown Norfolk. I think the last time I was there was about a month or so ago and it was pretty wide open, upon our arrival there was a damn barb wire fence surrounding the whole place. It wasn't so bad since our first shot was outside so we didn't have to deal with any fence jumping. The next shot the guys wanted to get to the other side so we crawled around the edge by the water and I threw my gear over the fence which was BEYOND nerve wrecking by the way.

Anyways, as far as lighting I kept it simple again with 1 main. I would have liked a beauty dish to cover the other half of them but I was by myself and with all that gear its not going to happen. The band was fun to work with and it went by quick and smooth. Good times :)

as usual click to go to my flickr

Good News + a new shoot + more shoots coming up

So my WINDOWS computer crashed again.. so I sucked it up and bought a 24" iMAC which is a dreammmm. Editing on it is so much easier on the eyes.

At any rate I recently did a shoot for a band called the Atlantic. I used to be in a band with these guys before so it was a fun laid back shoot. It was cold as hell outside but we managed.

ATTENTION!! I am becoming less of a fan of a lot of lights so I kept it simple with 1 main light to create some dramatic shadows/underexposing jibberish. I am getting tired of the rim light deal although I am still fond of the look.

Also, I have 3 pretty awesome models lined up so I am excited to see what we come up with. To be honest I never know what I am going to shoot until I arrive on the scene, but shh! I'll be working with the oh so awesome Elizabeth Tolley again, I swear we make a great double team. I'll be shooting along side 2 other awesome photogs JMB and stuntkid so I look forward to the adventuressss.

well here are the shots, they are small but just click and it will forward you to my flickr.

take care!

We Were Gentlemen

Had to shoot the boys in We Were Gentlemen again. They just got signed to Century Media so they need new pictures for there promotional campaign. This time I had a lot more equipment! We did two days of shooting, one in the back of Jillians in an empty ballroom type area, and one the next day in an abandoned warehouse that Natchez showed me.

anyways, heres the shots. if you need to view lighting just click the images, they will take you straight to my flickr!







Unfortunately, seems like they are not happy with the shots I provided which astounds me completely. Can't please em all I guess.

Raquel Reed

About time for another update since my dog won't shut up and let me go back to sleep.

A couple friends(JMB, Stuntkid) and I had a little triple team action and shot a model Raquel Reed from NYC. We got to shoot in an abandoned building which is soon to be renovated. The place was about 3 - 4 floors of sweetness. I ended up shooting last of the three since I had to back class.... exactly.

Elizabeth Tolley was awesome enough to drive up from Charlotte, NC, we are such an awesome team I swear. And Jason(Stuntkid) got Al Kelly who is awesome with hair.

I am kind of glad I shot last because I tried at least 4 light setup before actually shooting Raquel. 3 of which I thought up in my head but had ended up looking nothing like I thought it would. Anyways, I ended up using my abr800 as main and 2 strobes to each side highlighting the wall and her frame a little bit. I am overall happy with these shots, the colors pop out perfectly just like I imagined them too.

enjoy.



click to see larger on flickr!

Dead Thoughts Memory shoot

First things first.. never shoot at the beach during the winter with 20 mph + winds.

SUCKS THE BALLS!

Anyways, I seem to have more and more bands contacting me for shoots which is pretty cool. I have a pretty big shoot coming up at the end of the month so hopefully I do my part on that one. I am getting a little off topic so let me get my thoughts back on track.

Dead Thoughts Memory is a local hardcore band and they are pretty awesome. This shot is one of the TWO we got that night because I raised my white flag to the high winds and cold weather. Setting up a large softbox started to become a pain and my hands were close to frozen.

I wanted to keep the light very simple but very dramatic at the same time so I stuck with 1 light source. I ended up using an AB1600 and a Large softbox(thanks Candace, love you!)

But yeah here are the shots.. I mean here is the shot. We are shooting again this week and I am stoked because I am tired of shooting at night time! Stay tuned..



click to view larger on flickr.. as usual

Candace, Elizabeth, Rachel

So this past weekend has been super eventful.
A friend of mine who is a make up artist got hired for a job around my area(from Charlotte, NC) and she hit me up to give me a heads up. This girl knows what she is doing so I definitely did not hesitate to collab with her.

So..

Candace wanted to use an octopus in a picture which I thought was a pretty rad idea. I knew I wanted a headshot immediately but more importantly I wanted really good eye make up (elizabeth tolley ftw) and it on her face somehow to make it interesting and gross.

Now the lighting.. I never tried a shot like this and I wanted to approach it differently JUST to see what the results could look like. First I tried 3 lights. A bare abr800, 2 sb800's with umbrellas for fill in specific areas. I was going to use the ringflash to light up her face DECENTLY and have the umbrellas fill in shadows a LITTLE and mostly bring out the pattern on the background. Turns out the background was a little too dark in color and sb800's with umbrellas couldn't really get the job done at F/11 so scratch that idea. I would have to bump up my ISO to have the sb's do anything significant so SCRATCH that idea. You'll notice how I totally didnt even use the background, sigh.. waste of 5 bucks!. Then I tried an ab1600 boom with a beauty dish with the sb800's EHHHHH nope. the bam, abr800 on a boom with the 56" moon unit to get the job done. nice even light and strong enough to get what I needed. I dont have a large softbox YET for my ab1600 but I will shortly.. anyways heres the shot.



Next we have Rachel.. this wardrobe was picked out by Elizabeth, so thank you Liz!
Now for this shot we did in my house.. well my parents house.. anyways. We have these cool columns in the living room and I love the color of the hardwood floors and the white paint on everything. I KNOW the background doesn't fit the wardrobe but thats what I wanted. The colors on her outfit would stand out even more and also show a weird contrast of colors overall. Anyways I dont think I worded that very well but this isn't english so whatever. I originally took exposure of the frame without her (I had my camera on a tripod the whole time) so I could get a good exposure of the ambient since I would be working with a super high f/stop. BUT I ended up dragging my shutter to about 25th of a second to get the chandelier looking KIND of cool, and the background just natural overall. I used an ab1600 with a beauty dish boomed as my main. I like the BD because it really doesnt spill light all over the place so the background usually remains NATURAL. Dont really know how else to put that but anyways. I then place an sb800 on the ground and layed an umbrella over it to fill in some shadows too. I think I was working with a pretty high fstop, probably f/10 or little more. Anyways, I photoshopped to the max on these but I am happy overall.



Next we have the headshot. I used 3 lights. 1 sb800 with an HONL gride on it behind her, 1 sb800 up high through an umbrella for hair light and a bare abr800 for the main light. The colors of the wall and stuff was all photoshopped to get that amber sepia look which I dig ALOT. I really like these shots cause the makeup is just INSANE



click all images to see bigger on my FLICKR!!!