2016: A Year in Review

December 28, 2016

Oh hey there! Yes, I know it's been a while. But fear not, I'm still around. Just unintentionally took the last two months of the year off. I guess I just needed to take a bit of a break. Right now I'm lying in bed, getting over the last little bit of some flu or some other sickness. I figured if I can't be good for much else, I may as well get my yearly review post out of the way.

Much like last year, I had a very hard time getting things narrowed down to just 5 images. But since this is my blog I guess I'll do what I damn-well please.

On a rainy Easter Sunday, Sara and I took an afternoon just doing whatever we could. Just being cool. Some great photos walking around Atlanta and getting caught out in the weather.

Cody, Damien, and Coco from Ecto Proxy asked me to shoot some promo photos for them this year. We had planned on a few different shoots, but this one was the only one that materialized. Not that I am complaining. We had fun with a simple white background set up in the practice space.

I actually don't think this photo of Hada Pixie ever got shown in its full resolution this year. Long story short, we were trying to save it for publication, but it never did get chosen. None the less, I still like what we were able to do with such a simple setup.

Sig and Nikki. So glad to get the chance to shoot them both together. After having individual shoots with both of them over the course of the year, October came and with it came Halloween photos. I was extremely happy with a lot of the photos we captured that day, but this one still stands out as one of the best of the year.

Unintentionally 2016 became the year of the cosplay. Shooting with Sig (also mentioned above) with his Red Hood costume, got me tied in with Hysteria Machines (and with it Risky Sour, Persephone Phoenix, and Jesse), as well as Estella Zorn and her great gender swapped Tuxedo Mask. I never really fancied myself a cosplay photographer, but if the shoe fits...I'm not opposed to wearing it.

Honorable Mentions:

Snog + The Labrynth: The Compliance Tour (Finite Automata and Ecto Proxy) – 04/20/2016

April 21, 2016

I don't fancy myself a band photographer. But sometimes when the shoe fits, you just have to wear the hell out of it. I was invited by Dom of Finite Automata to photograph their show with Snog and The Labyrynth for their Compliance Tour 2016.

Recently I had the chance to add one of my "legendary" lenses to my collection, a Minolta 70-210 f4 (The Beercan). I was itching to try it out, and especially in a lower light environment. Overall I found it to be a little hard to work with at times, but I was extremely happy with what I was able to capture. I'm really happy that this lens fell into my lap, and I can't wait to use it in a more controlled environment.

The first opening act was previously featured in ReGen magazine, Ecto Proxy. Since shooting them a few months ago I have been in close contact planning a shoot for their press kit (Spoiler alert, coming soon).

Next came a group of guys who also are no stranger to this blog, Finite Automata themselves. You may recognize a new guitarist from the last time we worked together. Damien from Ecto Proxy has stepped up and joined another project (So it's time to update their press kit photos as well).

Next up was The Labrynth:

And finally Snog!

At the end of the night, I was pretty happy with the images I was able to capture. And as always big thanks to everyone for inviting me out to snap a few shots. Keep your eyes open, and ears to the ground for some new photos coming soon from both Finite Automata and Ecto Proxy.

Arizona Workshop – Day 3

March 02, 2016

I'm tired. Today has probably been the most taxing day so far. Not really in a bad way, but after three days of humping 50+ pounds of camera gear on your back, eventually exhaustion begins to take hold.

At breakfast I was given a chance to get my hands on a newly released camera, I didn't get a chance to shoot it...but I was told to share my thoughts with my Instagram followers. And believe me, I did.

After a very brief classroom meeting, we broke off into our teams and began some more specific one on one training sessions.

I've never really shot models with a bunch of other photographers all trying to get their own version of the same shot before. And although I felt very excited to finally be shooting something that really appealed to me, I also was frustrated because it seemed like everyone was struggling to get the attention of each of the models. I could tell it wasn't easy for them as well trying to give to multiple sources at the same time.

Shortly after our lunch break, the exhaustion set in. I've been running on such an adrenaline high so far all week that my body didn't exactly have a chance to catch up. I started to ache. My muscles were at their breaking point. And we still had 4 hours to go.

We ended up having an opportunity to do some optional night shoots involving light painting and longer exposures that was supposed to start at 7:00 pm. Once we broke at 5:30, I intended completely to attend, however, the hotel staff didn't exactly give us all of the details about where our dinner arrangements were. "Right down the street" must mean something completely different here. So after a 20-minute hike to the local Walmart, and then another 20 minute hike (and almost getting lost in the "desert" later), I finally was fed and only slightly delerious.

I got back to the resort around 8:00. Final images for the day were due by 9. I realized quite quickly that I DRASTICALLY over-shot for the day. All of that time fighting to find the right image caused me to shoot much more than I anticipated. I very quickly culled almost 800 photos down to 72, and then finally down to my final 10. I'm not unhappy with the work I did today, but I am far from satisfied.

Once I have more time I will be going through and re-visiting some of these shots, as I feel many of them have a lot of potential and didn't get the time they deserved. Tomorrow is our big shooting day. 8 hours in the Arizona sun. If I don't burst into flames, I think I will have fun.