Internet, I have updated my web gallery.

Content includes prints from my glorious film days (AKA, first year at RCC) as well as my first forays into DSLR work. Check me out!

rcc chairs

During Advertising Photog class we split up into groups of three and quickly brainstormed ways to illustrate a list of 14 words. We had to shoot our ideas in just a few hours. Maciek, Justin, and I used the studio chairs as a constant in each photo. fun!

guglhupf tart

Guglhupf bakery in Durham, NC was the source of my delicious subject.

Mamiya 645 w/ Phase One digital back (P 21+ model)
120 mm
.7sec @ f/11

hot tamales

mmmm, cuban-style tamales! My friend vera opened her home to the cooking ladies of durham club and taught us some of her kitchen secrets. We spent the afternoon assembling little pockets of savory goodness, chatting and waiting, drinking and waiting for the steamed corn + meat/veggies/shrimp. They were so worth the wait.

krispy kristmas!

la Virgen de Guadalupe

During Immaculate Conception’s beautiful annual celebration of la Virgen de Guadalupe, the resplendent Lady resided on a rose-covered float that processed through Durham neighborhoods. She was accompanied by singing and dancing parishoners, many Juan Diegos, and some guys in mysterious masks. Everyone ended up at the church for a mass to celebrate the holy day.

all I want for christmas (or, I want all for christmas)

my little wishlist: body, lenses, pocket wizards, lights, stands, umbrellas, softboxes, bag.

new curtains!

candycane cocktail

Glad we made a test batch before our party–this tasted like cough syrup.

Äpfel

more light painting

It’s just so much fun to say apples in german.

still life with diffusion filter

Bryan got me hooked on painting with light. I love it because each shot is completely different and unrepeatable, just like a print made in the darkroom. The images are just single frames–they’re not made of multiple exposures.

There are no rules, but here’s how I did it: Long exposure (25 sec @ f/16) with noise reduction on. Waiting for the image to show up on the LCD after the camera chugged through the NR process was a lot like waiting for a latent image to appear in developer! With the camera on a tripod, I focused on the acorn squash while the lights were still on.

Then I turned out the lights and “painted” the squash, alternating between two flashlights (a brighter one  and a diffused one) that I kept moving the whole time. My goal was to give the squash some dimension and a painterly glow by highlighting certain parts and letting other stuff remain in shadow. I lit the background with a snooted hotlight for a moment while the lens was covered with a #4 diffusion filter attached to a c-stand. Then I swung the filter out of the way and painted the rest of the image. I didn’t light the background on the second image above.

Now I need to get a 2 million candle watt spot and really go to town. Watch out Aaron Jones! I don’t need no stinkin’ lightbrush nor a turbo filter neither.

setup

swiss chard

Nikon D3 shot into a soft box. Fishing line, c-stands. Yes, swiss chard was damaged in the making of this image.