The ramblings of a Californian, living in Nashville, going to Art School, looking towards the big city...

Friday, February 27, 2009

Product Photography

Today I had a studio time booked at school, I was planning on taking everything I needed into school and do my "reflective surfaces" assignment there. But, I decided that I wanted to

A. use my own equipment
B. have to be a little resourceful (i.e. not being able to just BLAST the scene with light from seven heads) but instead have to use what I have, and engineer the rest. (it was a blast)

For a little background on me, the past year or so I've been wanting to fit myself into the art world, I've been trying to massage my work into the vein of Freudian Psychoanalysis, or Semiotics, or...whatever. I came to a conclusion just a few weeks ago, that not only am I not specifically gifted in that area, I don't frankly like it. Syl Arena said on Scott Kelby's blog the other day:

"The true meaning of “amateur” is “someone who works for the love of it rather than for money”. Choosing to remain an amateur photographer is no measurement of your skill or commitment to the craft. The photo world is filled with unskilled professionals. Thinking that you want to be a pro shooter because you really love photography is absolutely the worst reason to get into the business. I guarantee you, if a love for photography is your main motivation, the economic realities of the industry today will pound your passion into the ground. If, however, your inner voice continues to shout “this is what I want to do” after your passion has been beat out of you, then you are truly hearing the call to the trade."

I really believe that, I, or whomever, needs to do what they feel drawn towards, not what seems more "hipster or bohemian."

Two years ago I enrolled in a study abroad program through my old college called NYCAMS (New York College of Art and Media Studies) the program had a few classes, and an internship. The internship I was setup with was at Ryann Cooley's studio helping him with still life and product photography. I loved it, really really loved it. So, thats the direction I want to start moving in. I'm open to the idea of some model work, i.e. with people, but it's not what I want to put my full blown efforts into. So we'll see what comes of it.

With all that said, here's the result of my staying at home and working today:


(click to enlarge)
I was working with the idea of, "Even in chaos (or work , or stress, or whatever) there can be elegance."

For the ones that care, this was done with two photogenic 1280DR lights. Frame right was a 3x4' ish softbox, frame left was another strobe head set two stops under the key light shooting through a diffuser, then lastly overhead a sheet of plexi filling the reflections in the pen and cap. Any thoughts??

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Another New Start

So as some of you might know, this is the third blog I've started with hopes of being a regular member of the blogging community. The first was personal, the second was going to be the memoirs of an art student, and now this, the third, is going to be whatever it needs to be. I want somewhere to display my photos since now Facebook owns all pictures ever put up there... ever... I want somewhere to write a poem, or thoughts, or rant about the news...

So lets see what happens.

To start, I went to Atlanta with some friends over Valentines Day, it was the first real day of shooting with my Diana camera, for those of you who don't know what a Diana is look here.

But, I wanted to show you my images, I'm thrilled with them. What I like about the Diana is that it allows you to really forget about photography, softness is encouraged, focus is optional, grain is awesome... Some of my negatives even have chemical stains from when I developed them and... it's awesome! I'm not sweating it at all. For those that care, this was Illford HP5+ film, developed in HC-110 at the manufacturers N. I'm testing out Fuji Neopan 400 next, so we'll see which I like the most. Here's the photos:































My friends Aaron and Moxie




This one was with the new Pinhole feature on the new Diana+
I'm a HUGE pinhole photography fan.