LARPers

Spent the day yesterday shooting LARPers in CT. They are apart of Alliance, which has chapters all over the US, theirs specifically is named Caldaria. Everyone was super nice, I couldn't have felt more comfortable. I got a few portraits that I am happy with but I really need to go back. There were many people that I didn't get to shoot and a few that I'd like to reshoot as well. I also shot my hassey on everything so the film stuff should be up in a few weeks. I might bring a strobe next time as well. Not sure why but I feel like they could use a bit of a pop, everything is so surreal that a less natural look might work.

Here' s a few selects I fixed up quick in Lightroom.








Special thanks to Kate Hetu for making it all happen!

Daniel Cooney's online auction for emerging photographers

Two of my friends and fellow photographers are in this auction. Check out both Nelson Chan and Brandon Hale Holmes' work.

Some snaps on black

Don't know why I'm on this b&w kick again. All the editorial stuff I've been shooting has been color but when shooting my daily stuff I'm really digging the shades of grey. Here's a few from today.


Brian Gibson
NY, NY 2009

Wife's Blog

Kate just started a new blog with photos and writing. Check it out.

http://kateamengual.blogspot.com/

Some snaps from a Saturday

Had a nice day off yesterday. I made an unexpected stop at the NYPH '09 and I'm really happy I did. Ran into some friends and got to see some good work. Of course there was the usual stuff that I wasn't into but there was a good vibe and I was introduced to several photographers works that I hadn't seen before or heard of before. Here's a list of people worth checking out.

Corey Arnold
Tim Hetherington
Jacob Holdt
Brad Harris

I then stopped by a B-Day BBQ, happy birthday Reggie.


A view from the Manhattan Bridge
East River, NY 2009









Addie's neighbor's pitbull
Brooklyn, NY 2009








Asif Mian
Brooklyn, NY 2009








Reggie having a good birthday
Brooklyn, NY 2009








A rose freeing itself
Brooklyn, NY 2009








Ago
Brooklyn, NY 2009









Jon S. Mildenberg
Brooklyn, NY 2009








Lights and trees
Brooklyn, NY 2009









Asif and the pit make friends
Brooklyn, NY 2009


Haven't posted a collection of snaps in a while, I'm also really feeling b&w again. Shooting again for TimeOut NY today, should be good.

New 4x5 & Hassey stuff

Here's some film stuff I've shot over the past few weeks. Now it's warming up the beach stuff should start filtering its way on here. In the mean time here is some 4x5 and Hasselblad stuff. Once again they are all just quick scans for me to start feeling all this stuff out. I really enjoy shooting the 4x5, but I also really love the look from the Hassey.


Aidan & Oran next to the compost pile
Rowely, MA 2009









Chris, Jen, Asher & another baby boy on the way
Amesbury, MA 2009








Dad & Darlene in their backyard
Fremont, NH 2009









Dad testing out his new bike
Fremont, NH 2009







My niece Alia waiting to go to the father/daughter dance
Hampton Falls, NH 2009








Kate trying to stay warm
Hampton Falls, NH 2009

new scans coming soon...

I just finished scanning them. New post soon!

Boston Magazine website

The Boston Magazine website is updated with all 38 portraits, check it out here.

Kate and Lightroom

Here's a little test I've done using Lightroom. I'm looking forward to exploring it more.


Kate with my hat. 2009

Lightroom definitely has some great features, I'm trying to learn more about processing techniques.

New Work! part 2

The Boston Mag stuff is up. Here's a sneak peak of one of them, see the rest here. I haven't shot a studio assignment in a bit so it was a nice departure from my environmental work.


Natan

For Boston Magazine article on recent Boston college graduates

New Work!

I just added a new section to my site titled "New!". A lot more to come there. I am still working on my edit for the Boston Magazine story. Trying to narrow down 35 portraits to 12 is proving a bit challenging, but in the meantime you can see the magazine's edit in the May issue thats out now. I think they ended up running 12 for the story and the rest should be online soon. I'm really feeling all this new stuff, been lighting stuff a bit again and the Boston Mag story is studio stuff which was fun.

Here's what you'll see on the site.




Sean William Salim, fashion designer for TimeOut NY









Clark the Concierge for Improper Bostonian

Eddie Adams Workshop XXII

I can not speak highly enough on the place, people and experience of the Eddie Adams Workshop. Changed me as a person and photographer. I've been lucky enough to tag along with the last two years as Clay Patrick McBride's assistant and I was a student in 2006. Take a second to get some work together and apply. I promise you won't be disappointed.

The MassArt 20th Annual Benefit Art Auction part 2

So in a previous post I mentioned and showed the framed Chuck Close portrait that I donated to the Mass. Art Auction. The auction took place this past weekend and it went for a real great price which was good news in itself but that is not all. I received a phone call today that a second collector would like to purchase another print from the edition. I'm super flattered. The Chuck Close portrait is probably one of my most if not the most iconic portrait that I have made to date. Every time make a new portrait I hope it's my "next chuck picture". Others have come close but I think its a combination of the man and the actual photo that makes it so special. In the end I'm thankful to Chuck, Swindle Mag and Mass Art for making it all possible.

Michelle

Been a while since I've posted anything. I've shot a few assignments lately that I will post when the mags come out. Been playing with lighting a bit on the editorial assignments and its been kind of fun. Some sheets are starting to pile up from stuff I've shot with the 4x5 camera will have to get those processed and scanned soon. Here's a portrait I did of my good friend Michelle from a month or so ago. Been trying to go tighter in my portraits lately.



Michelle Clark on a street in Roxbury, MA 2009

My Dream Assignment

I entered this contest, please take a second to vote. Thanks!

Words

I usually publish quotes I've found from other blogs and give them a credit. Well I just started following Tim Gruber's blog Waitin' On a Moment. So many great quotes on there. Here is the most recent:

"Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.
Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can’t with our minds.
If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you’d take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you’re going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.
Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don’t expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do. As in the concentration camp and the evening of 9/11, the artists are the ones who might be able to help us with our internal, invisible lives."

by Karl Paulnack (given to incoming freshman music majors at the Boston Conservatory)

Please check out what other great tid bits Tim has there.

Harbour Island Locals

So as I mentioned in a previous post I was on a gig in Harbor Island and was lucky enough to have about a 1/2 hour to and an hour most afternoons to go and make some pictures. It was a lot of fun and is something that I probably would have not done a few years ago due to the fact that I used to not be comfortable shooting strangers. I've gotten over that now and it has expanded a whole world of possibilities of picture making. Here's 12 proofs from the trip.




Hotel worker on his way to his break.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Chico hanging out during a break from the shoot.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Men on their way to the boat dock.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008







Painter taking a cigarette break.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008






I've learned that kids can be tough. They almost always want to pose and smile but I think this one works.

Children on their way home from school.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008







My favorite landscape I've take in a long time. Notice the dead chicken to the lower left of the frame.

A clothes rack and a dead chicken.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









A man on his way home from work.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









Old cemetery
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008








Sun breaks through after a storm.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008











Older man watching the sunset.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









Young girl eating flavored frozen ice.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008









A little mixup for myself, a tight portrait. I've been getting tighter lately, something I plan on doing more of.

Portrait of a young man.
Harbour Island, Bahamas 2008


So I am now caught up on proof scanning all my latest processed film. I've shot some 4x5 portraits lately, so new negs are piling up for processing and now that the weather has been nicer I plan on shooting a lot more. I also have a new webpage in the works that I'm pretty excited about. I don't want to talk to much about it but I'll say right now that its not another portfolio site. Stay tuned.

The MassArt 20th Annual Benefit Art Auction

I donated a piece for the auction this year. They selected my Chuck Close portrait. It was nice to see it big and framed. Here's some little iPhone snaps I took of it at The Framers Workshop. It had been a while since I'd framed something myself but once I walked through the door I felt like it was 2003 again. You can see the listing for my piece here and take a peep at the rest of the work for auction here.

Contax and some books

So I've recently been shooting a bit with my Contax g2. What a beautiful little camera. So fast so compact it feels so good to shoot with. I've often shy away from shooting with it because I think that I might as well use my Canon 5D, but I get so much enjoyment from shooting with that thing. My friend Stephen Schuster uses it a lot. Check out his blog and website. I've picked it up again and started shooting some b&w, I plan on processing and scanning it myself to keep costs down. Its a nice camera for me to "sketch with". Here is an example of s shot from a year or so ago that I just scanned. Another thing is that the on camera flash looks great as well.



Kate waiting for the L train
Brooklyn NY 2008?


On some brain building stuff I've been reading two photo books lately. One is Image Makers, Image Takers by Anne-Celine Jaeger:

The sub title really bothers me, but the interviews are pretty interesting. It's been kind of like hearing lectures except you can't ask your own questions. I'm about half way through and even the David LaChapelle interview didn't bother me too much.

The other book I'm slowly getting through is Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before by Michael Fried:

Damn this is a incredibly dense book, but I'm making it through slowly and its has brought some thoughts on contemporary photography to light that I haven't thought of before. It too has an annoying title.

Scannin'

So I've finally finished doing some quick Epson scans of the negs that I got processed a few weeks ago. This first batch is kind of random stuff I've shot and the second post will be stuff from Harbor Island, when I was there for work. I have to say again, I still truly love shooting film for my personal work. I feel like I get something out of the creative process that I miss when shooting digital. I never mean to down on digital, I think there are many advantages to digital over film, especially now with the high ISO shooting cameras that have come out. Also in editorial and commercial shooting digital has become an necessity. We're going to start seeing photographs in low light that could have never been made before, a huge advantage to anyone working in a documentary style. Working with film is just a different experience that I think everyone can learn from. I really like shooting with different formats and cameras which cause you to shoot differently.
Almost all of these are of Kate, god bless her on her being my constant subject. These are some seasonal photos of different times in New England.








Kate & I going shopping at a strip mall
Seabrook, NH 2008





I did a really wide portrait of Derek that I posted a few months ago. I really liked the feel of it so I've been experimenting with that style a bit more. I guess its an extreme version of my usual full length environmental portraits that I make. I really like this one a lot too.

Kate in the dunes
Salisbury Beach, MA 2008








Kate & Shug on a walk 1
Amesbury, MA 2008

Kate & Shug on a walk 2
Amesbury, MA 2008







Kids taking a break from jumps
Fremont, NH 2008









Dunes Motor Inn empty in the off season
Hampton, NH 2008