2015: A Year in Review

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!

Week 38 – Miss K – Fujicolor 200

So here we go. Week 50(51?) (officially). This year has been a trip. Based on my notifications this should be the last roll for the project here for 2015. Removing the mystery roll post from a few weeks ago, and that one time I scanned my gameboy. This makes up all of the entries for this year. Next week I'll be doing a roundup of some of my favorite images, just in case you haven't been following the whole time.

"Miss K" and I have been friends since very shortly since I moved to Atlanta back in 2010. She has always been a bit of an enigma (and likes to keep it that way). However it was decided that she and I HAD to work together before the project ended. Fitting that she would be the last. 

We had a lot of fun shooting this during a very late night at my studio. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

Development Notes:
Unicolor C41 Kit
Standard Processing
Slight Editing in Lightroom Post Scan

Week 37 – Grinder – HP5+ (+2 Stops to 1600)

Stevhan is not a stranger to this blog, however not exactly in the way you would expect. His basement was used a few weeks ago for the shoot I did with Finite Automata. He is an interesting fellow, and I don't exactly remember how we actually met. But that doesn't matter.

When he contacted me through my weekly call to action on Instagram and said he wanted to do something with fire. I'd be lying if I both wasn't A) a little scared, and B) seriously intrigued. So I made sure I cleared time in my schedule to shoot.

Sadly for you there isn't any of the fireball photos in this batch, I shot all of those digital (and posted them to my news blog a few weeks ago; by the time this goes live). However I did get some of his grider act on film. And for shooting in almost pitch darkness except for a modeling light for focus, I'm happy to have captured anything at all. 


Development Notes:
Stand Developed 1 Hour
Rodinal  1:100 Dilution
Standard Fix 4 Minutes
Levels adjusted in Lightroom

"Miss K" – 2015

This photo set was a long time in the making. Or at least a bit of a scheduling nightmare. But eventually we were able to work things out. 

"K" and I met at a now closed bar here in the Atlanta area. Because of our similar schedules at the time we would always frequent the same nights and quickly she became one of my closest friends. When it came time to shoot some of what will be the final photos of the 2015 52 rolls project. We decided that she had to make something happen before the end of the year and the end of the project.

After a few days of back and forthing, we ended up meeting late and working into the night. Enjoy the below photos we were able to create together. And stay tuned for a future 52 rolls update shot at the same time.

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