Arizona Workshop – Day 2

February 29, 2016

It's probably the timezone, but this is one of the few times in recent memory that I was awake before the sun was. So, naturally, I decided to do something about it.

The morning light was something to see. Even though I didn't get the shot I wanted, I was still pretty happy with what I was able to capture. I'm probably going to try again tomorrow and capture something great. Especially since I know now generally where the sun will rise from.

The rest of the day was mostly filled with class work. Re-learning the basics of Photography. Even though I already have a pretty strong grasp on the concepts that were presented, I walked away with some great notes. If you follow my twitter account, you may have seen some of these. Maybe before the end of the week, I'll transcribe them.

After the classroom, all of us attendees broke off into groups based on our camera brand of choice (I guess you could say that anyway). We were further introduced to our mentors for the week, and given our task:

Every night shoot and deliver 10 final photographs based on the theme chosen for the night. Tonight it was "Shadow and Texture". That was it. No real other set of goals. We then were let loose on the resort. I fumbled around for an hour or so, snapping. I had a bit of a tough time at first because I primarily shoot people (Hell, my business cards said this for years). But as they say "The best things from come outside of your comfort zone".

At dinner, I had a chance to sit down with one of my mentors for the week and had a very emotional conversation about life and my feelings regarding the work I do. He gave me a homework assignment to complete, watch Sue Bryce's video on fear. As we talked about the business of photography and our lives he re-assured me that sometimes it's natural to question yourself. But the trick to overcoming is not to listen. Later he helped me "kill some babies" and get down to my final 10 images. I felt a rush as we went through my first pass. I had missed having someone to go through and receive feedback from.

Below are the 10 submissions for the day. I have probably another hundred other images that I took today, I'm going to sit on them for a while and let them marinate in my mind. Keep your eyes out for those in the future.

I'll end this post as well with a "bonus image" of sorts of the sunset tonight. It's only day two, but I already think that this week will be on my mind for a while to come.

–Blake

2015: A Year in Review

December 29, 2015

So here we are, Another year in the books. And like every year I just want to take a few minutes and share with everyone my favorite 5 images I have taken this year. This list will probably have more than a few "runners up" as well.

2015 was a year in which I decided to get back to the basics and start fresh. At the end of last year I was a little burned out with my lack of creativity, and my goal for this last year was simply to "shoot more" which I did in spades. See the 52 rolls blog for more information. My original goal was to not pick up a digital camera at all, which I failed, but instead of counting it as a failure...I'm going to instead call the work that came from a digital medium a huge success. Re-shooting on film has caused me to slow down (as I hoped it would) and I ended up with a few great shots!

So without further ado, and in no particular order. Here are my favorite 5 shots from 2015.

I met Bri through another model I worked with this year. After seeing what Morgan and I were able to create she jumped at the chance for us to work together. This shot was taken very quickly as the sun was going down. And the effect that the lighting had, combined with her posing worked out very well to create the image that I had in my mind.

Hada Pixie is no stranger to this blog. After meeting her around 2011 while working with a lot of other talented photographers and models during "Beautiful Darkness" we have off and on worked together in many projects for Zivity. A trend that I hope continues on into the future. This was shot as a bonus to one of our Zivity sets, and in all honesty I liked it better than some of the other images that came out of that shoot.

I shot like a madman at DragonCon this year. But most importantly I had the lovely chance to work with Atlanta's own "team tank" (which also were my gracious roommates during the long weekend). My third Con and probably my favorite so far. These folks provided me a lot of great opportunities to shoot, laugh, and enjoy myself to such an extreme level.

Along with Team Tank, another one of my Con roommates was Nikki Nuke'm. Shortly after the release of Fallout 4 this year Nikki decided to let her inner vault dweller out into the world, and we captured this image among many. My only regret was not snapping a horizontal image of this one, but even the image I was able to capture I am in love with.

My final official favorite image from the year comes from working with Finite Automata. They saw my work and wanted some new photos for their press kit. After taking time to decorate a basement into a working set, we were able to snap a few great photos, including this one which ended up being one of my favorites for the year.

But of course I can't stop there, 2015 also brought on many great opportunities and even more wonderful people that I worked with. There are so many that I can't name or post from everyone here. But don't fret, I want to let everyone I shot this year know that I appreciate the time you spent with me, and I hope that we were able to create something awesome in the process!

"Titan Addams" was the first set I ever shot on a digital full frame camera (surprise I know). I loved how the tones came out, and that bokeh. Hope to see more come from Titan and I in 2016.

Stan, Justin, and Cody all helped me back to back while I was working the kinks out of my DIY black background. You can find more of that in an earlier Extra blog post.

Blix, Stevhan, and K all stepped up to the challenge when I needed to keep the 52 rolls project alive. Also a big thank you to Clockwork Calamity and Caprica Song. Clockwork and I did some great work for Zivity this year (hopefully more to come), and Caprica worked very hard for a spot in Poisonous Pinups magazine! So be sure to keep your eyes open for that very soon.

I definitely can't forget Ilker and the rest of the team at REGen Magazine. Thank you for allowing me to cover a few great shows this year, and an even bigger thank you for publishing my photos in the mag. So happy to have been a part of your culture in 2015.

And finally, as much as I hate to end this year on a down note. I wanted to share a photo of my fluffy cat. Although she is no longer in my life, she was a big part of keeping me together in 2015. She may have only been in my life for about three years, but I miss her dearly. I'm happy to know she is in a better place and no longer in pain. <3

Sorry if I missed anyone. I've been trying to put this blog post together for the last month or so, but couldn't decide which images I wanted to show. Thank you again to everyone I worked with, and everyone I have yet to work with. Here's to 2016!

Blix (In Color) – 2015

September 29, 2015

As promised, here are the color shots of the lovely model Blix.

I couldn't decide whether or not I liked them better in color, or black and white. Luckily we live in a world that you can see both! We don't get to work together often, but hopefully it'll be sooner than a few years until we can meet up and work again.