Guest Speaking at ICP

I had the opportunity to guest speak at Amy Arbus’ “Narrative Portrait” class at The International Center for Photography last week. It was so much fun. The class was so interested in lighting which made it simple to lead the discussion. I can talk about this stuff for hours, but ussually not everyone I run into wants to listen. I used both still and moving images to lead the discussions and we talked a lot about the differences between still photography and video. This has become such a hot topic recently with the introduction of digital SLR’s that now shoot HD video. There are ton’s of similarities between lighting stills and video. Ultimately you are after the same thing, (using the lighting to help tell the story) but the instruments and often the technique used are different. Above is a still image from a short horror film that I recently shot for Mike Miller called “beneath.’ We dissected this Image in the class, and I had this video clip with me to show them, however, for some reason the video was stuttering when I tried to play it. Hopefully some of the students will find their way here at some point to see the video.

Amy invited me to stay for the second half of the class which was critique of the students work. I realized afterwards how much I enjoy the formal education process. I’ve spent the last 4-5 years teaching myself photoshop from a series of text books. I think it’s a great way to learn and you can’t beat the price, but there’s nothing quite like the classroom setting to grow in. Having other humans to bounce idea’s off of and help you work through things like technique, process, or even getting suck emotionally is truly priceless. I met Amy Arbus last year at her workshop in maine by the same name. She’s an exceptional professor, with tons of experience, but most importantly, she’s one of the few that will give you her honest opinion, and isn’t going to sugar coat it. She’s there to help you become a better photographer, not to help you feel good about what you are doing regardless of it’s value. If you ever get the opportunity to take one of her classes or workshops, I highly recommend it.

I stayed with my cousin across the river in Weekhawken NJ. Here’s what I woke up to out her window. Beautiful.

Shape Note Cover


Here’s the final layout for the Shape Note Sister’s album. Kathy Fahey is amazing. This is the third (?) time she’s used one of my images for the basis of a screen print. Each time she has successfully added her own style and technique to make the artwork stronger. (see the other two here and here.) Collaborating with other artist’s is probably the best part of this job, and I feel lucky to be able to do it with such talent. As I watched the Shape Note Sister’s perform Saturday night, I realized that while I was photographing them I had this private performance right in front of me that I let slip by. I was so focused, or distracted by what I was there to do, (photograph them) that I missed a rare opportunity to listen to these three, beautiful and powerful voices all to myself. It’s an important reminder to be present with the talent you’re photographing and still get the job done. See more of Kathy’s work here.

shape note sisters and Round the Mountain

I’m excited for Round The Mountain This Saturday. This will be my first year attending the acoustic roots festival put on by Caleb Stine at the Creative Alliance. I took this shot for the “Shape Note Sisters” for an album they are putting together for the show. The three ladies(Kathy, Patty and Carly: Left to right) are a more condensed version of Baltimore’s Shape Note Singers. I believe Kathy is going to use the image to create a screenprint for the album cover. I’m excited to see what she does with it.


poster: Kathy Fahey

5d mark II -VIDEO-


Caleb Stine. “My Service isn’t needed anymore.”

I played around with the video option on the 5d last week, shooting this little video vignette for Caleb. The footage is beautiful. The resolution plays a huge role here, but I think what makes it feel so much like shooting film is the lens selection coupled with the size of the chip. Having come to this place through the video world, I’ve seen so many d.p.’s try endless tricks and gimmicks to try to achieve shallow depth of field on a video camera. It looks like we are finally getting somewhere. On the other end of the spectrum, the biggest drawback I can see so far is operator-ablity. I’m not sure if that’s a word, but I am sure that this dslr is not fun to operate as a video camera. There are more and more toys coming out to make this smoother but it’s becoming gimicky and reminding me that sometimes you can’t have the best of both worlds. For now it remains, for me, primarily a still camera, but I’m excited to shoot more video with it. We’re headed towards exciting and uncertain times in the world of film, video, image making, hybrid [motion and still] photography. Watch it in full HD here.

I also like this little “chip chart” if you will:

wander-more


Went back in the studio with thewanderous last week to knock out some new headers for the fall season. For all those who don’t know Ashley North changes out her seasonally related blog-header monthly to keep things fresh. I am always excited by all of the color she brings to the table. While simple in their design the headers jump out at you. Watch them change monthly here.

behind the scenes at the dentist office


Amy Arbus asked me to guest speak about lighting at her Narrative Portrait class at ICP in November. I’m honored to do this and of course now I’m sorting through gigabytes of images, trying to figure out what to bring with me. In my travels I came across this little video clip of the set of “incisor”, an image I made this past summer. The clip is quick but it does show the whole set and all the lightning instruments used. please forgive the rushed narration.

Paul Masson


I had the opportunity to work with Paul Masson last week. If you haven’t heard his song “My girl Baltimore” Go here now and listen to it. It’s absolutely beautiful. Here’s a couple images from a round of promo shots we did for his upcoming e.p.

Transformative Nutrition


I was honored to be asked to photograph the cover of the 2nd edition of Transformative Nutrition. TN is the brainchild of Yiska Obadia and Sarah O’Leary (my wife). Having seen my wife spend endless nights and countless hours writing and rewriting and formatting and so on with this project, I was was excited to be able to help out in some way. Because I was watching the book being produced, I had a unique pressure to make the image great. When you see first hand all of the effort that goes into a book, you feel somewhat more responsible for making sure this image will be absolutly perfect. The image turned out great and it was fun for me to work with ladderback design, who handled the layout, for the first time. I’m so proud of both Sarah and Yiska for completing this project that they both have such passion for, and im especially proud to have been a small part of it. Here’s the final cover layout. More info about the book at redefiningdiet.com and you can buy it here.

back at the zoo


I’m donating a piece to the Animalis Expressio opening put on by Kyle Rheinhart at diversiform. The opening benefits the American Association of Zookeepers. As a thank you to all the Artsist’s, the Zoo gave us all behind the scenes tours of the animals. I just love this. Access plays such a huge role in great photography. Details about the opening below:

canon ball

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