The Longboard

My daughter has gotten into long-board skateboarding so for Christmas one of her skater friends gave her a blank.  He helped her cut the shape and sand the wood — then it was time to design the graphics.   She went through several ideas before settling on an Alice in Wonderland theme.  This is the point where I got involved.  She had a rough graphic of Alice which had to be enlarged well beyond it’s limitations for it to fit the original board plans.  Taking both the graphic and the board plans into photoshop, I sized the image of Alice to fit, then taught her to use the graphics tablet to redraw all the lines.  Next we duplicated the rose background to take it from edge to edge, manipulated a swirl pattern that emulated falling down the rabbit hole, added a “we’re all mad here” graphic, and built a tattoo for Alice’s arm with contact info in case she loses it.  I output the full-size graphic as a decal.  Six or 8 coats of polyurethane later and it was ready for “sea trials.”   Here’s a shot of her with her long-board on the Athens Greenway trail.Longboard-3591churchill_st016

El Yunque rainforest, Puerto Rico

Rain_Forrest_Triptych I had the great fortune to travel in Puerto Rico this February.  Among all the amazing things I photographed were these 3 sets of vines in the El Yunque rainforest.  I was thinking about this vertical crop on each shot as I took them, but it wasn’t until after I saw them side by side that I realized how well they worked as a triptych.  Together they appear to me as the uprights of  a gate — blocking your way, but giving glimpses of the lush green forest that lies behind.

Most of the images I took in the El Yanque rainforest are detail shots.  When I looked at the forest as a whole, the landscape didn’t seem all that different from other forests I’d been in.  But in getting up close, I was quick to realize just how vibrant, green, and alive the place was.  The details were what made the place so remarkable.

More shots of Puerto Rico to come.

Testing a Photek Softliter

feather_mask-3128I like to experiment with different lighting sources and recently tried a  Softlighter 60″ diffusion umbrella.  One of the beauties of an umbrella is the shape of the highlight reflection in the eyes.  A standard softbox causes a rectangular reflection that seems unnatural, but an umbrella creates an octagonal shape that is more pleasing.

Another feature of an umbrella is its thinner profile as compared to a softbox which requires more depth in order to produce the same sized light source.   This means the light can be moved closer to the subject, making the transition between highlights and shadows softer.

For comparison, I switched light sources between a small softbox, a strip bank with a grid, a medium softbox, and a 48″ umbrella — while keeping my model in the same general pose.

After comparing the contrast, eye-reflections, and light spill onto the background, I was very happy with the Softliter and settled on it as my light source for the remainder  of the shoot.

MODA Gallery

Susan_Coddon-9645Got a call from metal arts and jewelry designer, Susan Coddon — letting me know that using the work I shot for her in an application to the Museum of Design, Atlanta (MODA) got her into the show.  On top of that, the image I shot was picked up by the Atlanta Business Chronicle for a review of the show.

Congratulations, Susan!

 

Scholarship Winner #2

M__Kouznetsova-2400I’ve been working with Georgia State University’s art department for an ongoing project photographing student work.  This year, 2 students from the fiber arts department were nominated for sizable scholarships, so they were both sent to me to get the images they needed for their applications.

There were 2 possible scholarships they were competing for — and both of the students (who’s work I shot) won.

Congratulations to Masha Kouznetsova!

 

Here’s an example of her work:

 

Scholarship Winner #1

Summer_Gray-DEP_1728

I’ve been working with Georgia State University’s art department for an ongoing project photographing student work.  This year, 2 students from the fiber arts department were nominated for sizable scholarships, so they were both sent to me to get the images they needed for their applications.

There were 2 possible scholarships they were competing for — and both of the students (who’s work I shot) won.

Congratulations to Summer Gray!

Here is a corset she made — right down to making her own ribbon.

Aerial Shoot

Kawasaki_Newnan-DEP_2491This aerial shot is of the Kawasaki assembly plant in Newnan, GA.  The image’s final destination is as a wall sized print for the Kawasaki Heavy Industries corporate headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

I rented a small, overhead wing plane to use as my shooting platform.  By choosing an airport fairly close to the destination I was able to save my client a fair amount of money because otherwise we would have had to fly around the international airport adding at least an hour to the trip in both directions.

Heavy Machinery

95z7_visiblity-v4-2This image is a view from inside the cab of a Kawasaki bucket loader.   Being greater than a  180 degree view, the shot is built out of multiple images, stitched together into a panorama.   Besides the 180 degree plus view from left to right, it’s also beyond a normal range of view from top to bottom, making it a panorama in 2 directions.  There are lots of simple panorama programs on the market — you can even make ones on your smart phone — but not ones like this.  Photoshop can’t even make this without hours of fine tuning and a lot of individual image manipulation.  It’s one of the most technically complicated things I do.

Michele Walsh Jewelry

Here’s a new piece I really like by Michele Walsh.  I shot 10 new works for her website and gallery submissions.

Sculpture Shoot with David Robinson

Shot 4 new works by David Robinson.  David’s sculptures are always fascinating to shoot — much more like portraits than products.  Looking at them feels somewhat voyeuristic because the faces of his characters are very melancholy, so seem like your catching them when they don’t know you’re there.  (They don’t know I’m there… right?!)   This was my second shoot with David, and he says that he has been very successful getting picked up by new galleries and accepted into juried shows using the recent images I’ve done for him.