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!

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.

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

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.

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.