Rivers Langley - 2020 (2018).

July 24, 2020

So, naturally, I’d be the guy who would want to start a podcast about taking photos of people…during a time when it’s not wise to get closer to 6 feet from someone. I can’t say I’ve ever had the best timing, but when the idea strikes, you have to act on it. Thankfully I know some awesome people who are willing to step up and take on a challenge.

Back in 2018, I had the chance to meet up with Comedian and Podcaster, Rivers Langley, and take some new head-shots at the Standard Deluxe compound in Waverly, Alabama. Check out the first batch of these photos from when Rivers and I first shot together here.

So going back to the podcast, I took a look back at some of the photos I didn’t use back in 2018 and came across a few great moments that I felt needed to be shared and figured I’d chat with the man himself about what he’s been up to in the time of Corona.

Let Me Take Your Picture - Episode 1 - Rivers Langley:

Blake sits down virtually with Comedian and Podcast Host, Rivers Langley to talk Headshots, Comedy, Podcasting, and some experiments with long gone Polaroid film. To see the photos talked about in this episode, make sure to visit the blog at: UNEXphotography.com/news/2020/7/19/rivers-langely-2020.

Twitter

During the episode Rivers and I talk about some of his experiments with Polaroid film. He sent me these photos to share with everyone, and I think they are pretty cool. I knew this kind of thing was possible, but I’ve never really tried it myself!

Screen Shot 2020-07-24 at 7.58.43 PM.png

And if you liked the cut of Rivers’ jib, make sure to check out and subscribe to his very entertaining podcast:

Twitter
Apple Podcasts
Patreon

Rivers - 2018.

December 31, 2018

If you don’t know Rivers Langley yet, you should.

Rivers is a stand up comedian from Auburn, Alabama currently based in Los Angeles. I was introduced to him through his podcast The Goods from the Woods, which he shares with two other smart and hilarious individuals (as well as a rotating cast of equally funny guests).

After being hooked by the southern-fried podcast, I quickly followed Rivers on Twitter where we occasionally would tweet back and forth with each other. We met in late 2017 while he was home visiting Alabama, and I am happy to consider him as a friend.

This year, he announced that he would be having his usual holiday show, and I knew I had to act while I had the chance. In exchange for the hours of entertainment he has facilitated for me over the last few years, I wanted to shoot some portraits in return.

Rivers and I both loved the backdrop of posters created by the Standard Deluxe team, so we set up and quickly had to rattle off a few shots. I think this backdrop, while a little busy for standard head-shots, creates a unique look for a very unique person.

I’m super stoked to share these photos as my last set of 2018:

Be sure to check out Rivers in the video below, and make sure you follow both him and The Goods’ social media accounts for some great comedy.

And of course, be sure to share the attitude of gratitude, because if you don’t then fuck you.

Big thanks to Scott over at Standard Deluxe for allowing us to shoot in his home/place of business. It was super awesome seeing all of the artwork, and I am stupid-jealous of your library. Can’t wait to be back in Waverly for the next adventure.

Happy new years everyone, see you all in 2019 with more great photos and exciting stories.
-B

Top Photos of 2018 - An UNEXPhotography year in review!

December 26, 2018

So here we are, it’s that time again. Another year has almost come and passed. 2017 was a HUGE year of firsts for me (I mean, you can see that here if you like, just make sure you come back), and even if 2018 wasn’t as huge, I still accomplished several new things.

Unlike last year, I only averaged a shoot every 1.85 weeks this year, but I still was able to create some quality work and capture some quality times from my friends and clients.

The year started almost immediately, I was at a company meeting for my day job and was challenged with a team of my peers to make a series of images. I’m not sure if I ever actually shared this with anyone since most of my work is portraits and not abstract works, but I still liked how this one turned out.

I was hired to shoot some photos for one of my cosplay clients, and after wrapping I just wasn’t done yet. I had built a very simple and basic lighting setup against a blank wall and asked Kat to step in for a few shots after she finished with a shoot of her own.

I still love how these turned out, and I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve ripped myself off with a similar lighting plan on several shoots after this one.

It also just occurred to me that I never posted any of the final images from the shoot I was hired for. Unless one or two made it to Instagram.

The final images that were delivered to the client were drastically different than this one, mostly because their vision was something very specific (even if it wasn’t really my cup of tea in the end). But I’m still very thankful that I was allowed to experiment on some final images after we shot what was needed.

A short time later I had the chance to shoot New York Burlesque Royalty Nina La Voix while on a business trip. I was happy that she took the time to respond, and actually took a chance to meet up with me in my hotel room for a shoot. We captured a couple of different set-ups that day, but I still love how this image came out.

Zachary reached out to me again to document some photos for what would become the second of his Talon’s Grasp series. We shot this book cover almost exactly one year to the day that we shot his last cover in 2017.

And of course it wouldn’t be a shoot that involves Zak without some out of context snaps that actually end up looking pretty good.

Where would I be without Dom inviting me to shoot concerts that he books when they come through town. I didn’t get to be at as many as I would have liked to this year, but I still love the photo of JD from Grendel as well as the below photos of Ghostfeeder’s guitar player (I never did catch his name) and Peter Turns Pirate frontman Neil.

I need to partner with Dom and make sure I can schedule my time around more of his shows. They are always a good time.

Around this same time I was given the chance to work with Tru Facade and take some of her first burlesque performer photos. She has grown so much over this last year, and I am so happy that I was able to be there at the literal beginning.

In a first in a LONG time I was invited to be a part of a few different art shows. Kate AKA Artetak did a great job at stoking my ego by actually wanting me to be a part of some of the great shows she has held this year.

But of course where would I be without my subjects. Big shout out to Roux for playing ghost in my entry to the “Occult” themed show, and Kali Fornication for being willing to be tied up by a bunch of random cables for my “Sci-Fi” entry.

Put on your best “monster truck voice” because, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. I met Sunday when she came along for a birthday brunch of mine this year, and knew that at some point we had to work together. Sunday has a great look, and I’m so happy of the work we made together. Can’t wait to shoot more.

I’d be completely lost if I didn’t mention my local Atlanta burlesque family, I didn’t do as much work for them this year as I would have liked to, but that doesn’t mean that 2019 won’t be different. I’m working on a few special things…so stay tuned.

I spent a week in Germany this year for Photokina. This is the second time I’ve been out of the country, but I am already seeing a trend. When in a place where I don’t speak the language I seem to let street art speak to me on behalf of the people who live there.

Sometime I’d love to spend a period of time in Europe just walking around taking photos of stickers and spray paint. Maybe the occasional bicycle as well.

I had one of my blog posts picked up by two international photography blogs (so you don’t have to). I’m still riding the waves of this since it hit me basically out of nowhere. I’m so entirely thankful that two publications thought so highly of me, and I hope that I can leverage some of the contacts I made during this process to get the opportunity to try and review more products next year.

Also (and I’m sure I’ll be posting about it later) keep your ears open to hear my goofy voice on a podcast in early January.

For Halloween I partnered with Courtney from Courtney Walters Makeup to turn her partner Taylor into a spooky skeleton. I loved this shoot, it was so simple yet so expressive. And of course I love how excited people get when I turn their living room into a makeshift studio.

Courtney and I will be collaborating on a few different projects in 2019, so please stay tuned for that.

Keep your eyes peeled for a stand-alone blog post of this gentleman right here. LA Comedian and Podcast host Rivers Langley.

We squeaked in this shoot on the friday before Christmas and I was able to finalize everything while I had some downtime at home. I should be getting that post up pretty soon, so I’ll save my comments for then.

And of course, where would I be without my friends who love the work I do so much that they ask me to be a key part of their special moments:

Jessica and Thomas

Erin and Preston

Jesse and Rachel

I want to make sure that I give a big Thank You to everyone I have worked with or have talked about working with this year. And also a huge thank you to all of you who follow this blog (or at the very least catch updates as they come through your social media feeds).

I don’t want to put the cart before the horse but I’d like to say that big things are coming in 2019 one way or another, and as always I’d love to see you all there for the ride.

From me to all of you and yours, Happy Holidays and a beautiful new year!

The Artist's Way - Week 6

October 21, 2018

Day 35:

I am unusually excited for today. I have been planning a shoot for the last few weeks and am really happy to be back behind the camera using some new equipment. By the time this blog goes live I should have the photos ready to post in a secondary Blog post, but until then I’ll share the following two sneak peeks.

A couple of thumbnails from what happened tonight.

Just take a look at this good lookin’ fellow.

I wanted my Halloween set this year to pay homage/tribute to the late Rick Genest AKA Zombie Boy who unexpectedly passed away a few months ago. RIP you beautiful human being.

Because of the shoot my homework for the week is going to be pushed back a little bit while I get the creative juices out.

Week 6 Goals:

Morning Pages x7
Artist Date x1
Money Madness, An Exercise
Complete as many additional Exercises as possible.

Day 36:

The end of today was very frustrating, dealing with UPS and international shipments made my blood boil. I was anticipating coming home to work on photos and go to sleep when a comedian friend from LA dropped me a message and said he was having a show.

I’ll take this as the Universe’s way of telling me I need to calm the fuck down and chill out for a few hours.

When Rivers Langley invites you out to a comedy show…you go.

Money Madness, An Exercise:

Complete the following phrases:

People with money are luckier than they know
Money makes people change
I’d have more money if I had less bills to pay each month.
My dad thought money was something to be hidden away
My mom always thought money would help provide
In my family, money caused a lot of confusion
Money equals comfort
If I had money I’d be a lot more comfortable in my day to day
If I could afford it, I’d rent a studio space and quit my day job
If I had some money I’d probably stress about whether to spend or save it
I’m afraid that if I had money I would forget what it was like to not have any money.
Money is a needed evil
Money Causes some people to be happy, and other people to be miserable.
Having money is not all its cracked up to be
In order to have money I’d need to work even harder or win the lottery
When I have money I usually spend it
I think money could solve a lot of my current problems
If I weren’t so cheap I’d buy more photography equipment
People think money isn’t as big of a deal as it actually is
Being broke tells me I know how to survive without a lot of money

Additional Tasks

Clearing: Throw out or give away 5 ratty pieces of clothing This was surprisingly easy, this time. Usually I tend to hoard old clothes for sentimental reasons. But this time it was easy to pick out some things from another life and give them to Goodwill.
I even found a few pieces I may try to sell on eBay to make a few extra dollars.
Creation: Bake Something (or make a fruit salad)

A food photographer I am not, but I can throw together a mean fruit salad

Communication: Send a postcard to a friend. Can a Twitter message count? I couldn’t find an address to send a physical card. But I did send a thank you message to someone who saw my potential and helped me realize there was more to my path than working a crappy retail 9-5.

Re-read the basic principles daily. I’ve actually missed this several times this week because I have forgotten to do them. Even though I have them written at the beginning of my morning pages notebook.
Acceptance: Any new flow in your life? Practice saying “Yes” to Freebies (See above Day 36).
Also Facebook gave me $15 in “free advertising”. So I figured why the hell not and decided to throw a few of my own dollars into the mix. I still feel a little dirty about it, but let’s see where it goes.
Prosperity: Any changes to your financial situation or your perspective on it? Any new– even crazy– ideas about what you would love doing? No real changes so far, but next week I’ll be spending some time with the president of my day job, earlier this year he offered to sit down with me and discuss my financial future with the company (eg: Raises and Compensation). Maybe it will lead somewhere that will make things much more comfortable in the short term.

I’ve been thinking a ton about the lottery (so is the rest of the country I guess). It would be wonderful to win a Billion dollars (yeah, probably closer to 500 million after tax). No longer would I have to limit myself because of finances.

I still maintain that I’d probably end up giving away a lot of it. I’d much rather “spread the wealth” and help other people live their dreams as well.

Day 41:

It finally happened. I’m now dreaming about morning pages…

I didn’t win the lottery. I mean, at heart I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming about it.

Check In:

How many days this week did you do your morning pages? Have you used them to think about creative luxury for yourself? I ended up missing a page this week. Today actually. Yesterday I dreamed that I missed a few days and woke up very anxious about it, but today I got up later than I wanted to and had to get ready for a wedding. So I had no choice but to miss today.

I don’t feel as anxious as I did in my dream, but I still don’t feel great about it. It’s getting a little late in the day so I need to prep for next week still. But I should be ok.

I don’t think I’ve been musing in the pages about creative luxuries for myself, but I have been thinking about them more. I still dream of a studio, or a space I can use as such. This is my goal.

Did you do your artist date this week? Have you considered allowing yourself two? What did you do? How did you feel? I had a ton of errands to get ready for next week’s trip to NYC for work. I went out and bought a new pair of jeans, and looked at shoes.

I guess this could be considered a date as I was doing something for myself. I considered buying a leather jacket. Not that I really need one. But something inside of me likes the idea of me wearing one.

I’d love to have more time to go on dates. But I find it hard enough to schedule one each week. If only there was more time in the day.

Did you experience any synchronicity this week? What was it? Monday after my day job I left in a very bad mood. I had been dealing with a frustrating shipping issue for most of the tail end of the day and just wanted to get home, eat dinner, and work on photos. But as I got on the interstate a friend from out of town sent me a text and invited me to see him perform stand-up comedy (See day 36 above).

I really do think that was the universe’s way of telling me to calm down and take a load off for an hour or so. Even if I was REALLY tired the next day at work.