Monday, November 16, 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Happy Halloween!

The Wicked Witch of the West would like to wish everyone out there a Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

ROPE.

ASMP gallery show requirement: ROPE. My immediate idea: Wonder Woman and her lasso of truth!

It's no surprise that I immediately thought of Wonder Woman when they announced that this year's ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) Object Show's ...er, object... was rope. I've been a comic book collector since I was a kid, and have been known to do some geek-themed photos in the past. I'd been wanting to do a shot like this for awhile, so when they announced the show, I decided now was a good of time as any to do it.

My lovely wife Monica volunteered to be the model for this shot. We ordered bits and pieces of the costume through Amazon.com because none of the Halloween costumes that you can buy seemed to be all that great. (surprise, surprise)

Once we had the wardrobe figured out, all I needed to worry about was the lasso. I bought some cheap yellow rope, but wanted to be able to shape it how I wanted, so I also picked up some wire, and fed it all the way through the rope to make it more stiff and be able to pose it.

We intended on just taking the shot of Wonder Woman up in sky, but just before we wrapped on the shoot, I decided to quickly switch the lighting around and so some more simple dramatic shots... and ended up liking them too!

So here are the two final shots. Somehow, I have a feeling these won't be the last of my comic book inspired shoots!



Monday, October 05, 2009

ASMP (and my first gallery show with them)

So I finally joined ASMP this past month. For those of you that are not familiar with this organization... it's the American Society of Media Photographers. I want to try to take my photography to a higher level in the years to come, so I decided to join this group in the hope of making some more professional contacts and get me work out there.

Upon joining, I noticed that the Pittsburgh chapter was having a meeting that week. I figured that this would be a good time to meet some of the other members, so I went. One of the things I found out about at the meeting was that they were doing an "Object Show" for the upcoming gallery crawl in downtown Pittsburgh. Every year, they pick an object and have everyone submit a photo of their take on that object. This year's object was rope.

Unfortunately, the day of that meeting was supposed to be the deadline to turn your submission in... and I was just finding out about it. Luckily, they said that since I was new, if I wanted to try to get it into the show, that I could still take a crack at it.

So I had an idea right away that I wanted to do, but it required a particular wardrobe for a model to wear to pull it off. I was fortunate to have my lovely wife Monica volunteer to be the model, so we ordered the wardrobe and anxiously waited for it to come in so we could do the shot. One piece of the wardrobe ended up being on back order, so I canceled it, and ordered it from somewhere else.

The show was on a Friday, and I finally got all of the wardrobe needed that Monday. So Monday night, Monica and I went to my studio to take the shots. We finished up pretty late, so I spent Tuesday compositing the photo. Sent it to mpix.com to get it printed Tuesday night. (Highly recommend mpix.com for printing) They printed it Wednesday and shipped it overnight FedEx to me on Thursday. Brought it home Thursday night to frame, and then delivered it to the gallery show 2 hours before it opened! Whew. A lot closer than I like things to happen.

But everything turned out fine, and I was really happy with the results. The photo is still on display at the Bricolage Gallery at 937 Liberty Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15222 if you would like to see it. Only up for a couple more days, and then I'll post it online once the show's over.

So that's my whirlwind story of my first ASMP show. Hopefully next year's will be a little more relaxed!

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Fitness!

Wow. Talking about an inspiring shoot! I was lucky enough to do another fitness shoot last week. This time it was with Sarah, who came down on a Saturday from Cleveland for the shoot, and then had to drive the 2 hours right back home. She is training for a big competition in early September, so she decided to book the shoot just before then to be in her prime shape!

Seeing someone this devoted to getting in shape is very inspiring to be around. Any excuses you might have for not exercising seem ridiculous when you see her photos. I hope this opens a gate for more fitness models to book shoots with me. I had a great time, and really like the potential for creative and inspiring shots with models in prime physical shape.

Sarah and her husband Ryan also run a personal training business, and wanted these photos to help advertise it. And in Sarah's case... she's her own best client! Hope these help bring in lots of business!











Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Return of Lyndsay

I first met Lyndsay back in 2005 when I was just getting started with portrait photography. She was kind enough to volunteer as a model for me when I didn't really have much of a portfolio to show for myself.

She mentioned during that shoot that she cuts hair, and has been cutting my wife's, her sister's and her mom's hair ever since. She even did Monica's hair for our wedding!

Well Lyndsay had her second child since that shoot back in 2005, and hadn't done any photo shoots for a while. She finally decided to update her portfolio, and I was honored to help her out. Hopefully this is the start of many more shoots for Lyndsay as she returns to the modeling world. Welcome back Lyndsay!









Friday, July 10, 2009

Flashdance!

As my obsession with the 80's continues, I randomly saw this photo that Lacey posted on twitter.



She meant it as a joke- just to show how big her hair gets after blow drying it. But it instantly reminded me of Jennifer Beals' character from Flashdance. (Which was shot in Pittsburgh, by the way!) So I pitched the idea to Lacey, and she was super excited to do it!

We talked about different scenes from the movie that were both memorable and could actually be done based on wardrobe and location needs. So here are a couple of the final shots from our super fun shoot!

♫ What a feeling! ♫









And here's a little montage I found on YouTube to get you back in the zone of Flashdance if it's been awhile!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Red's Had Enough!

A lot of my ideas tend to be happy or humorous ones. I don't try, but that's the way they turn out. It's just the way my mind usually works. For this shoot I did recently with Megan, I decided I wanted to take a crack at something a little darker. Maybe even somewhat violent... ok, well maybe just implied violence.

And for some reason children's fairy tales felt like a suitable genre to go about doing that. Ha ha, sorry. I can't control the random ideas that pop out of my head. I just try to roll with them.

So here is the first in what I hope to be a series of "dark" fairy tale photos.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

More Michaela!

During the shoot with Michaela (view the first blog post about her shoot here), we took a couple shots of her in a villain outfit. I knew I wanted to try something new with those shots, but wasn't sure what to do with them. After some thought, I decided to put her into an apocalyptic setting for a faux movie poster entitled "Hell Hath No Fury".

So here are the results of a woman scorned.

This first shot is probably my favorite. I just love the overall feel to it.



I couldn't decide between poses, so I did this one as well. Then put it into a coming soon display for a little extra fun!



And there are almost always video games based on big summer movies, right? So just for kicks, Hell Hath No Fury became an X-Box 360 game too.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Penguins Stanley Cup Parade!

For the first time since 1992, the Stanley Cup made it's way down the streets of Pittsburgh. I just happen to work right next to the parade route with access to a rooftop with a great view of the players passing by.

So here is a link to the shots I took as well as a pic of one of my favorites. Make sure to click on it to see it larger.

Penguins Parade photos

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Kristen

I had the pleasure of working with Kristen lately. She was looking to create a basic portfolio consisting of some head shots, casual, glamour, and swimwear.

Kristen was super professional and was very easy to collaborate with. The shoot had a great flow to it, resulting in getting a lot more looks than either of us planned on getting. Proof right there that it's always better to bring more outfits than you think you'll need... because we needed them!

I hope these shots help you get where you want to go Kristen! Good luck!




Monday, May 25, 2009

Magic!

So I just had an interesting shoot! I'm usually working with models, but got approached by a magician to do some promo pics. I was very intrigued since he really wanted to take advantage of my compositing skills to make some truly "magical" images.

Here's a couple of samples for our shoot. To find more information about him, please go to his website at joshknotts.com