04.08.12: Ryan (XVII). For my birthday, a friend bought me an adapter that lets me use the lenses from my film camera on my Canon 7D. This shoot was to test this device.
The biggest problem for me: You cannot autofocus while using the adapter. My professors made me start photographing without it years ago, but I have grown quite comfortable with autofocus since then.
Manually shooting with f/1.8 is not easy. I tried it here and back-focused quite a few images I liked.
If you don’t know what that means, think about your eyes and how difficult it is to focus them when they are dilated. The open iris is not concentrating the beam of light, so you can only get a tiny spot in focus.
That is what it is like to shoot with f/1.8, and on manual, you have to be sure that point is exactly where you want it. It is not easy to tell, and I would trust a camera more than my eye on this. But I will happily relearn this skill if it means that I can better use this amazing lens
I like the resulting image. Ryan looks like a badass, and I love the graphic background. However, I do not like the curved shadow on his neck; my head is to thank for that.
What do you think?
04.04.12: Marisa. Marisa hired me to do portraits of her and her sister as a Mother’s Day/birthday present for their parents.
I’m still working on the set, but I just wanted to share this great image of Marisa. Before this shoot ever started, she told me that she hated cameras, so her parents never had any great photos of her.
Well, I hope this shows how anyone can look awesome in front of a camera. All you have to do is relax and enjoy yourself and leave the rest to me.
What do you think?
03.30.12: Resound Magazine. Okay, I did not photograph a magazine, but this large and fun shoot was the brainchild of this awesome publication.
The founders of Resound aim to unite the diverse music scene at UNC and in Chapel Hill by providing a single online publication that will contain CD reviews, concert photos, interviews, performance calendars, etc.
So, they hired me to capture that whole goal in one photo, and this was the result.
Needless to say, this was difficult. Thirty musicians do not like standing in a weird formation under direct sunlight, but, in the end, they were all champions and made this job fun.
The group feels like one unified force, yet the individuals are still quite distinguishable. I wish the formation was a bit better, but I knew I could only do so much with so many different people involved and with a time constraint.
Overall, I am pleased with the photo. It matches exactly what Resound is: epic.
What do you think?
03.06.12: Ash (XVI). A few days before this photo was taken, I moved into Ash’s spare room. After a year-and-a-half of awful roommates, it is nice to finally feel at home somewhere.
Here, I could finally have what I always wanted: a deep red accent wall. I love this shade, and it was well worth the effort.
In the photo, Ash is figuring out where to paint next. You do not see her face, but the body language alone tells a story.
My favorite part is where the yellow, green and red all intersect, but I do not like how concentrated the light is on the left side of the frame.
What do you think?
03.02.12: Trey (XX). After seeing ‘The Artist’ with Trey, I felt compelled to shoot, something that hasn’t been happening lately.
That’s why I will spend the $10 for 90 minutes or so of escapism: the inspiration.
And in movies such as ‘The Artist,’ ‘Hugo’ and ‘Silent House,’ the cinema is returning to the cinema of attraction style. Films were built to share experiences—not to inform—and it’s beautiful to see those roots return.
As for this photo, I had a hard time choosing between this and the color version, but how well the grain and fog show up in this image made it the clear victor.
It feels very haunted mansion-esque, and I love how the fog helps spread the light yet makes it creepy at the same time.
What do you think?
02.25.11: Trey (XIX). I haven’t been photographing much lately, and it has made me antsy, so it’s time to fix this situation.
In the process, I hope to break all of my style rules and push my technique even farther. I came a long way in 2011, but there is always room for improvement, and I don’t ever want my work to become stagnant.
As for this image, I think it’s very dramatic and engaging. The colors are weird yet not distracting.
My only issue is with how Trey’s nose and eye intersect, but I don’t think it takes away anything from the image.
What do you think?
02.23.12: Ryan (XVI). What an awful, amazing night, this was.
We were both so stressed out that we just vented the whole night and realized everything happening left us in quite a melancholy state.
Of course, Ryan and I felt better by the end of the evening, but I hoped this photo would capture the emotions that dominated the night.
While it’s not as technically sound as I would like (Ryan’s not that sharp), I think it’s quite the successful image.
What do you think?
02.19.11: Trey (XVIII). When Chapel Hill gets invaded by tourists, I’m always ready to hit the eject button, so Trey and I headed to Duke for the hell of it.
We grabbed lunch, and I pretended to know enough about the campus to give him a tour. The university has a lot of interesting halls and windows and nooks and crannies.
At the end of it, we found this amazing staircase, and I knew we had to shoot there.
I’m pretty happy with the image. I couldn’t quite get the composition I wanted, but this one worked quite well. I’m glad Trey wore such a bright shirt, because it helps you go right to him in the image.
What do you think?
