Saturday, December 13, 2008

My first published work

And it's a cover!

Here's an image of just the cover:



And here's a PDF of the whole issue.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

A break from our regular programming

So to everyone out there that is reading this blog... it is painfully obvious that I have not been writing much lately.

I slowly faded out on doing shoots a couple of weeks before my wedding to focus on that... and have not jumped back in since. It's been nice to get back from the honeymoon and just focus on my wife for awhile. I think rushing back into shoots right after getting married would be a little too crazy.

But just so you know, I have already started booking shoots towards the end of the year and into January, so I will start uploading new photos from model shoots soon.

But for now, I'll post a link for all of the Greece photos from our honeymoon if anyone wants to take a look.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Surprise Wedding Photos

I created two photos to surprise my beautiful bride with at our wedding. She knew I was up to something, but didn't get to see the final results until she saw them framed and hanging up at the reception. I originally created "the kiss" as part of "the collage", but liked it so much, that I framed a second photo of it by itself.

Needless to say... she loved them! I hope you do too!

Two Become One - the collage


Two Become One - the kiss

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

October 2008

So this is quite a busy month for me. I thought I'd let people out there know a little bit about it so they won't wonder why I won't be posting any photos for awhile.

For the last two weeks, and the upcoming week and a half, Monica and I will be doing final preparations for the wedding and the honeymoon. So I haven't been booking any shoots during this time.

Our wedding day is October 11! I'm very excited to finally marry my best friend, and have all of our families getting together (some for the first time). We kept the wedding small, only about 60 people, and have done a lot of things that might not be considered the "norm" for how a wedding and reception go. But we just wanted to do what felt suited us, not all the pointless tradition. Should be fun. I'll point a link to the wedding photos once they're done... and yes, I just went out and hired a photographer like everyone else did.

And on the day after they wedding, we will be whisked away to the Greek Islands for a week and a half. So I should have LOTS of photos to show from that.

So I apologize for not posting anything lately, but don't worry... there will be tons of photos to view in about a month! In the meantime, enjoy this photo from a little shoot Monica and I did. Take care!

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Crazy crazy crazy!

Wow! August was a very busy month for me! I shot everything from weddings (yes, more than one) to senior portraits, to family portraits, and throw in a couple of model shoots as well.

That being said, I am neck deep in photo editing lately. Luckily September has slowed down a bit so I can keep up. Guess this is a good problem to have, right?

So anyway... that's my excuse why I haven't posted anything lately. I add some samples for the various shoots as soon as I get a second to breath!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Finally got to meet my niece!

Got to finally meet my new niece Olivia last weekend. As usual when I'm visiting, I take a ton of photos to decorate all of my family's homes with. Here are my first photos of Olivia:







And of course I can't visit and not take pictures of my nephew Isaac:








And why not... here are a few more:






Sunday, August 10, 2008

Long exposure shots

While visiting my family in Michigan last week, I was walking into my parent's house from the car. I happened to glance up and was amazed by how well I could see the stars. After living in a city for 9 years, I forgot how clear the skies can be when there aren't any city lights to hinder them. So i grabbed my camera and tripod and took these shots. These were all 30 second exposures.






The next night (and last night before I left), I thought I'd go out and try again. I was disappointed to find that it turned into a cloudy night. But a little later, I started hearing thunder. So I took the camera and tripod out onto the front porch and captured the shots below. This is my first time photographing lightning.



For those curious about my methods, I set the aperture to f/22 to make sure I could keep the lens open for a long time without allowing too much light in. Then I set the camera to bulb mode (where the lens stays open as long as I am holding the shutter release down). Then I just held the shutter down when I heard thunder and waited for the lightning. These all ended up being about 10 - 15 seconds each. Any more than that, and it would become too overexposed. If after 15 seconds there was no lightning, I would simply let go of the shutter, and immediately press it again, so I didn't miss anything.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

New Self Portraits

I decided it was time for a couple of new self portraits. Being one who prefers to be behind the lens, I tried to think of a way to present myself that even I wouldn't mind looking at. As many of you can tell from viewing my photos, I also enjoy incorporating some type of compositing via Photoshop into some of my images.

So here are three versions that I came up with to show who I am, and to show anyone who's never heard of me before that I've got a few shoots under my belt.

Oh, and special thanks to my friend Dale Lewis for taking the original photo of me. Obviously I couldn't have done it myself since my camera is in the photo.



Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Justine shoot 2

Is it just me, or is this summer going way too fast? I just noticed that it's almost been a month since my last post, but it only seemed like last week. Combine that with planning a wedding that is now less than three months away, and you've got one super speedy summer!

I had a fun shoot with Justine last night. We caught up and took some photos for her new web site. The site is still in the making, so I can't show any of the shots yet... well I guess I can share one, since Justine's using it as a teaser for the new site.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Photo shoot with Reese

So I've notice that I've been chatting a lot lately, but not about photo shoots! So to get back on track, here is an entry about my shoot with the lovely Reese!

We started out in Schenley Park in Oakland. I wanted to do a couple shots for a fun series I'm working on. We incorporated some balloons and had a good ol' time making fools out of ourselves by jumping around and having people stare. We started with Reese jumping off of a mini trampoline, but she just wasn't getting the height that I hoped for. So I had to give her a little boost with Photoshop afterwards.





After that we went to one of the classrooms on the Pitt campus where Reese is working on her Masters in Biology (learning to cure infectious diseases). We did a little series of Bio-related shots, some playful and some more glamorous. She's not what you think of when you think of biologists! Here are a couple of those.






Reese was a ton of fun to work with. She's so polite and innocent, but when you point the camera at her... she suddenly turns all professional and intimidating! Man, she's got that model look down!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Dancing around the world

My friend Richard notified me of this video, and I felt the need to pass it on. The world needs to see more videos like this that promote unity as opposed to division. It may seem a little silly at first, but please watch it all. Yes, Matt is aware that he can't dance.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I HAVE A NIECE!!!

Olivia Pearl Zoet was born today at 9:30 am! My brother Jeremy and his wife Kim are the proud parents of their first girl! Olivia is lucky to have two older brothers Riley & Mason to look out for her.

Just wanted to share the good news! Isn't she cute?!



TEN 56 - The Movie

A couple of my co-workers entered the 48 Hour Film Project this year. (I didn't take part because of scheduling conflicts. Drat!) Teams across the country make a movie - write, shoot, edit and score it — in just 48 hours. You get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete. Here is their entry.

ten56themovie.com

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Struggle Within

After reading my friend Rachel's post on her blog, I found myself pondering about art, and the many ways I like to express it.

Many of you simply know me as a photographer... when in fact, that is just the latest outlet I have pursued to express art. I do love it, but there are many other art forms that I enjoy as well. (See the blog below about all that)

I love art, but yes, I need to find a balance. There just isn't enough time to do it all. (or at least at the same time) But I do find myself wanting to reincorporate some of my old skills into the mix again. Not that I will stop shooting photos, but now that I feel that I have given that enough time to grow, I feel it is ok, to dabble once again in illustration. So be on the look out for that in the future from time to time.

There are many different things that I would like to do in this life time. Here are a few in no particular order. If I get to them all... great! If not... oh well, I'm sure something else of a higher priority came in and I'd rather be doing that.

1. Design t-shirts, and purchase an at-home screen-printing kit to make them myself.

2. Illustrate a children's book, and maybe even write it! (I've colored one, but never drawn one)

3. Write and illustrate a small graphic novel (yes, a long comic book) I've written one already, but not sure if I want to tweak it or start over.

4. Purchase a video camera (one that can make it look like film) and then write, direct, edit, and do visual effects on my own short films

5. Write a symphony and create it through musical software. Maybe that can even be the soundtrack for my films!

6. Learn how to home brew beer. (Yes, that is still considered an art! It's just in fermented form)

7. Learn Flash and create short animated films

8. Actually take the time to fully learn how to play guitar. (as opposed to the sorry excuse for what I know now)

9. Create a collection of photos or illustrations and start doing some gallery shows

10. Write short stories, or maybe even a novel one day... although looking at how long this post is, I might be able to cross that one off my list already!

I'm sure there's tons more, but these are the ones I'm thinking about now.

So be warned world... you never know what I'll create.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

My journey through the arts.

I've expressed myself through a lot of different art forms over the years.

It all started with cartoons. I loved them. I loved to draw them. Growing up, all people would notice about me is that I was always drawing. Even while sitting in church, my mom reminded me that I used to draw the entire United States, and not be satisfied until I filled in every state. (Yeah, I like maps too). If you were to track down a childhood friend of mine and ask what they think I'm doing for a living, they'd probably assume something with cartoons.

I originally wanted to draw comic strips for the newspaper. I mimicked all my favorites from Garfield to Calvin & Hobbes. But the thought of having to come up with a new joke for every day scared me. So I kept my options open.

In high school I was still drawing, but was also incorporating a comic book style. I also started doing airbrush illustrations (because me and a paint brush just don't get along), and got into graphic design as well. Another thing that influenced me was when I first used Painter on my high school's Macintosh Quadra 610. Haha, I can't believe I still remember that.

I still did cartoons a lot. And because of a trip to Disney World, I saw the process of animation first hand... I was hooked.

When choosing a college, I decided to pursue animation. Not only did it allow me to draw, but I found myself fascinated with the physics of life, how and why things move, and how to have a great time exaggerating them.

After one degree and finding out that the animation (or at least traditional or 2D animation) was a fading business and impossible to get a job in, I was forced to re-analyze my art.

I went back to college for a second degree in Motion Graphics... which is kind of a mix of graphic design and animation. I interned for a company while still in school and was fortunate enough to get hired there after graduation. And am still working there 5 years later. Only after being employed there for a couple years did I start dabbling with portrait photography on the side. And that catches you up to what I'm currently doing.

Wow, that took a little longer that I expected to explain. Sorry.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Ouch.

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed it, but I have this little "Nike+ profile" at the bottom of the right column. If you you already know what Nike+ is, bare with me. But if not, I will quickly explain.

I felt out of shape. I didn't want to pay for a gym membership. But I needed some kind of accountability to keep me exercising because, let's face it, I wouldn't keep at it if there wasn't something to remind me to do it. That's where Nike+ comes in.

I went out and bought a new pair of Nike+ Shox running shoes, since I haven't ran (pretty much at all) since high school. Under the sole of the left shoe, there is a space to put a little receiver that talks to an adapter that I plug into my iPod Nano. So when I run, it keeps track of distance, pace, and calories burned. I need this.

When I get back from a run, I disconnect the adapter and plug my iPod Nano into my Mac. It automatically opens iTunes, downloads the information and also uploads it to the Nike+ website. So I can go there anytime I want to check how far I've been running, how fast, and how often. I even set goals for myself to reach to keep me going. Because, at least for me, getting up an extra 45 minutes to stretch and run is not something I like to do.

So there you have it. That's why I have the little profile on the sidebar. It tells you my latest run information. Hopefully it may help motivate someone else to run, because it sure motivates me.

If you want to see my running profile and progress, just go here.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Comicon highlight

While it was fun meeting many colorful characters (see blog post below), the highlight of the convention was meeting 4 talented artists from the Philadelphia area. We chatted for a little while as I flipped though their many samples. They probably don't even remember me, but guys... if you're reading this, I was that guy with the t-shirt we all were trying to match spaceships to their corresponding movies. As seen here:



They each had their own unique style, and stuck in my mind as the 4 favorite artists I met that day. Here are their names, a sample of their work, and a link to their sites. Go check them out. They're great.


Dave Perillo montygog.blogspot.com




Tom Whalen strongstuff.net




Scott Derby scottderby.blogspot.com




Pat McMullen patmcmullen.blogspot.com

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Comicon - a place for geeks

Deep within me lies a comic book geek. I haven't purchased comics in years, but still have an appreciation for it. Plus I find the whole world around it very amusing!

This past weekend, I decided to attend my 2nd Comicon ever, the last being in 2000. I liked seeing people finding something they enjoyed, and just diving head first into that subculture. While some of them might be mocked in everyday life, or looked down upon by many, I was encouraged to see them shine in their own environment.

Here are a few samples of what I mean.

You might laugh at some of them, but at least they found something that they love that fulfills them. How many of us have that?