Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dog walks

These flicks are from two separate dog walks. The first b&w from a couple of days ago, the last four from the afternoon before last. You got to love that last hour of day light.


Old Town Hill. Newbury, MA 2008









Kate. Newbury, MA 2008










High Road, Newbury, MA 2008









Kate & Shug. Tendercrop Farm. Newbury, MA 2008









Tendercrop Farm. Newbury, MA 2008

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I'm back in action, some hassey stuff

Feels good to get some scans done. Here are some quick stuff I shot with my Hassey. I don't plan on shooting anything (w/the hassey) but the project from here on out.
I just scanned these super low res, just wanted to get a feel for how things were looking. So I apologize for the dust and imperfections.



Clay "Cleezy" Patrick McBride ATL 2008
exhausted after a very long day







Josh "Dust La Rock" Prince. Brooklyn 2008
The man, the legend, the brains behind much visual intrigue. Check out his work here.







Kate. City Hall NY, NY 2008







Hanksy. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008







Jen Sesma. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008







Jon Mildenberg. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008









Kate blowing in Shug's ear. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008








Syd & Buddy. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008









Tim & Betsy. Prospect Park, Brooklyn 2008

Its fun shooting film again, almost a novelty. So sharp, its amazing. Once I get some decent images together from the project I will be posting them here, same deal, rough scans, just to get an idea of where I'm going.

Marty

Got my new laptop. Thought I'd do a quick update with some flicks I shot of Mr. Marty Mar a couple of weeks ago.

Feel like these feel like some real NYC type vibe.




Marty Mar NYC 2008





Also getting back into the mode. I've just got back a couple of rolls shot with my hassey 60mm. Hopefully scanning them tomorrow and will post them shortly there after.

Lately been in the process of shooting several portraits for Juxtapoz Magazine for an issue that will drop at the end of the summer. Don't want to give anything away, but I should have about 4 or more portraits in that one issue as well as a contributors section.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

way too long...

Been way too long since my last post. I've got to make an effort this month. Here are a couple of flix from the last few weeks.

First off some iphone flix. It's sad that i'm posting them for photos on here, but I'm really blown away at how decent that little camera is.


Green pen, green grass 2008







Brooklyn Sunset 2008






Kate 2008


Shot Aloke again, just an impromptu night thing. Really just wanted to play with what I could get with no flash.


Aloke 2008







Christian, Lead Singer of Aloke 2008




Quick landscape shot recently.

Route 1. Salisbury, MA 2008






I'm finally think I'm about 75% settled and can start shooting the project. I spent an afternoon up there and the light was beautiful. I've shot a couple of rolls with the hassey to get used to that camera again. I'm hoping to get them processed this week.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Website Sneak Preview

My new website is all but launched. For those of you that read this thing please take a sneak peak. Any feedback is much appreciated.

Ver. 3.0 Beta

Things are a bit hectic right now in the personal life so I've been a bit lax on the posts but with the new website and new project both being launched in June I will be sure to add some posts next month. The new site also has a link to the blog so I'm sure a good amount of traffic will be coming this way as well.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The other Amengual Photographer

Some of you know some don't that my younger brother Derek is a photographer as well. He's got about a semester left at my old stomping grounds Mass Art. He's really starting to develop as a photographer, particularly shooting landscapes. He's just started a blog himself, check it out here.

Not so much new in other news. Laptop hard drive failed again, this time for real. God bless apple care 'cause this is my second drive and they also replaced my battery as well. I've also been shooting with that new Hasselblad lens and am dropping off some rolls early next week. Hopefully I'll post some scans then.

I added a few more blogs to my blog link section.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tank Theory

A little colabo Zach Johnsen and I did a bit back for his t-shirt company Tank Theory just got released. Check them out here. They released two out of a three part series. I believe they still plan on releasing the third "t" at some point. This is our second collaboration. Here is an example of my first t's I did with them.



Tank Theory T's 2008 (photos by Zach Johnsen)

Blog links

So I added a blog link section. Some of these are pretty popular and are the inspiration for my own blogging. I'll try to only put up ones that are regularly updated. I have many many more links, but I feel these are the best, a combination of images and writing.

Monday, April 21, 2008

A must see and a rant

So I didn't mention yet that this past friday I helped out a photographer, friend of a friend, but now now a friend of mine, Wayne Lawrence. Guy is an amazing photographer (and Eddie Adams Workshop alum). I helped him on his first editorial shoot for Vibe which was a tough one due to some technical breakdowns, specifically a camera going bad. But we pulled it off and Wayne shot some great pictures. So if you get a second please take a moment to check out his work here.

Wayne is just another example of some amazing photographers that I personally know or that I am familiar with that I feel could make up a crew that could make images for a great magazine. I would love the opportunity to shape that someday. Maybe curating a show, a book, or limited art mag might fill this need.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Derek

So here is one of the final sheets I shot with the 4x5 polaroid conversion camera. It's just a quick scan.


Derek, Newbury, MA 2008

Saturday, April 19, 2008

NY Magazine and the end of my camera search

So my issue of New York Magazine is out. Click here for a link to the web version. The issue is this week's with McCain on the cover. I was pretty happy with the print quality, and the lighting matched up pretty well. What a hard assignment but I think I earned my stripes, hope it turns into more work. Love for people to check out the print version, but here are some jpgs. A little on the cleaner side than my usual steez, but besides that, I'm really happy with them.



3 Portraits for New York Magazine 2008


On another note, my on going battle with the 4x5 polaroid conversion camera has come to an end. I got a refund. Really sucks, but I've decided, due to multiple reasons, that I'm not going to use that camera. I got the camera back and the same issue was there, I also noticed this time that the film plane wasn't straight either. Michael, the guy who made the camera was super helpful and willing to continue to try to fix the problem, but I couldn't wait any longer. So my next decision was what camera would I use now, I thought everything from using my 5D, buying a Mark III, buying a Toyo field camera or even going back to shooting my old faithful, my Hasselblad. But if I was going to shoot my Hassey, I'd need a new lens, a 60mm (the equivalent of my trusty 35mm on my 5D). In the end I decided to go with the Hassey, besides being the 2nd cheapest choice investment wise, I would be able to shoot a lot more for a lot less money. My sometimes overly opinionated friend and talented photographerYoav asked me why was I shooting 4x5 and why not medium format. My reply was the depth of field fall off and that I wanted to really analize a photo before I snapped it, but my problem is that I didn't really want to commit to a tripod. Also, to really explore this project, it will only help me to shoot more, especially because I've never shot anything in this manner before. I will still get a decent short depth of field with the medium format and I will be able to shoot so much more. It just seems like the natural choice and that is what Yoav was getting at.

So I just ordered the new lens and treated myself to a better focusing screen.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

North Shore for sure

Man, I love being home. There is something about being near the water up there that chills me out so much. I made a super quick trip to take some pictures for Kate's uncle, Mark Williams. He was a commercial diver for a while and then a lobsterman for 17 years. He's just published a book in the last year or so of stories about growing up in Gloucester, MA and his years catching lobster called, Fishing Vessel Black Sheep. He's now got a new publisher and needed a new cover. Thats where my talents came in. I'll definitely post a link for the book as well as the cover once all is done. Another plan is for Kate and I to do a multimedia piece on him. We basically just drove around for the day, stopping at different spots that related to the book or just favorite's places of Mark's.

So inspiring to be up there, its weird how drawn I am to photographing that area. Can't wait to get the project started in Hampton. I think early June is the reality.





Salt Marsh Grass, Gloucester, MA 2008









Old Pier Stilts, Gloucester, MA 2008







This is where Mark had his first job working for his dad who was a forman there. Great stories from that place which are in his book.

Mark Williams, former Empire Fish Company factory building, Gloucester, MA 2008







Mark took me to several places that he goes to write. This is one of them.

North Shore Salt Marsh, MA 2008





Also got to see my brother Derek. It was great to catch up with him. His new pictures are looking great. I was really impressed.

Derek, Newbury, MA 2008




Shot several sheets of film with my 4x5 camera on this trip. These will be the first sheets since I've got the camera back. I'll post those when I get them back from the lab.
In other tech news I dropped my 85mm lens pretty hard, bounced like a handball down several rocks. Amazingly the glass stayed intact and there was no (heavy) visual damage. The auto focus still works but something is up with the closing of the aperture blades, they won't close down. Lens shoots fine at f1.8 but completely freezes up anywhere beyond there. I'm making a trip to Nippon camera tomorrow for the lens to see the doctor. Hopefully it won't be that much.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

This American Life

I love this program and it has been a huge insparation for me. I have to give A Photo A Day credit for bringing this to my attention again.




In other news, I just got my 4x5 back. Hope to shoot some stuff over the weekend.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Back that thang up

Been a crazy week. Shot my first assignment for New York Magazine. Pretty excited about that. Had some great help. Big shout out to Mildenberg and Marty Mar for all the help and laughs. My laptop died and I lost some shit, nothing from the NY Mag shoot, fortunately it died right as I was about to download the first card. But I did loose the photos from the last two posts. Sucks. I really liked them. At least they survived in some form. So I'm now up and running again. The lesson I want all five of you who read this to learn is, back your hard drives up. Loosing your shit sucks. Keep a look out for the issue of New York Magazine, it should be next week or the week after that's issue. I will post the images on here once the mag comes out. Also, I got an iPhone. I talked a lot of shit about it but I am a convert. The thing is pretty amazing, having my portfolio on there is so dope.

Friday, April 04, 2008

The Hamptons

Just got back from a gig in The Hamptons. Was a pretty chill time. Met some cool people and got to hang out on the ocean. The view from the property we shot on was pretty amazing. I was actually PAing on this job, but was paid the same rate I get for assisting which was pretty nice.


Here's a shot of the other PA, Doug. He was a super chill dude. He's got an invention he and his pop have been working on for a minute called Stop A Spill. Check it out here. I actually got iPod invention that I want to contact him about at some point.


Doug Montauk, NY 2008





Also, I have officially sold my soul to the gadget devil. I bought an iPhone...

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Cabin Life

Kate and I had such a good time this past weekend with our good friends Marion and Steve. Two of the most talented people I know, click on their names to check out their work. Marion and her family has some land and a cabin in PA that is such an amazing escape from the city. It was just the four of us which was super nice (well five if you include Shug), perfect amount to fit around the fire. We drank home made brandy made by Marion's pop, ate great food and had even better conversation. It was a bit chilly but it didn't bother us. Being there during the early spring was a lot different than being there in the summer with the small group and cold weather, it was super relaxing.



These are a little out of order:

Marion & Steve @ The Cabin 2008








Scape PA 2008






We went for a walk around the body of water that is there. This is some swamp land on the far side from the cabin.

Scape PA 2008




Kate and Marion nesting it up the first morning. It was a bit chilly that first morning but the place was pretty toasty by that night.

Kate & Marion @ The Cabin 2008




Like I mentioned before, the place has a different vibe in the winter, beautiful in its own way. Here the lake was about half frozen. Shug was really funny trying to run over it.

Scape PA 2008






Scape PA 2008




And our wonderful hosts. I can't thank Marion enough for giving us this weekend to get out of the city, but also for sharing this special place over the last couple of years. I know there are many many many more memories to come.

Marion & Steve @ The Cabin II 2008

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Business Portraits

I've never done anything like this before (corporate portraits) and it was super painless. The man with the mustache, Reuben, was a super cool guy. It was some quick cash, with no headaches.





Lawyers NY, NY 2008

more 4x5

Good News. I talked to Michael, the guy who made my camera, and he said he would do whatever it took to fix the situation. I am going to drop it off tonight possibly. Here are two more pictures I took last week. I'm just getting used to scanning again, so these shots are not finals by any means.


Irving 2008







Kate and Shug Brooklyn, NY 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

First images from the new 4x5

Finally got some film scanned in. Got my scanner back as well so I could start making some proofs.

I got to say I've really liked shooting with it, but unfortunately there is a problem with the lens when shooting under f.11. I've emailed the guy who made it and am waiting to here back. So to say the least I'm a little bummed about it. The guy said if there are any problems let him know, so I'll wait to hear back.

Here are two images:

Jordan China Town NYC 2008







Kate Brooklyn, NY 2008






In other news Kate and I had our first lesson in Final Cut last night. Super excited to get the multimedia thing going. I'm going to shoot Marty some more and start putting that whole thing. Stay tuned.