New Years 2010.... ATLien Glamour!!!

Location: 

Midtown, Atlanta GA. 

December 31st. 2009 -January 1st. 2010

Disclamer: All these Images were taken by Mandy! (You Rock Mandy)

I recently started graduate school, I am now officially a graduate at the Savannah College of Art and Design; which is a school I have wanted to attend ever since I found out about it! But As the Title states This Blog is about New Years! This past new years was the best that I have had in a long while, I started out with grand plans that ended up falling thru but it ended as a hell of a night, I met some new friends and had a blast with some old ones. For my new years I am very thankful for my friends we all came together to have a great time even though the location had to be changed. This year I have hope that even though hope is nothing new to me, this years is different it seems more real, more alive.

I am a graduate student studying what I love photography, I have great friends and very much enjoy my life. I see my plan very clearly now. The plan is to graduate at the top of my class at SCAD with an MFA in photography, and very soon after move to New York!!!  Now New York has been a dream of mine since I left butI knew that I could not go back without at least a masters degree. Now I see my goal getting closer, and I am working as hard as I can to reach it! Now that I am on the path, I have a million things planned, I know that I have to take it step by step and while keeping my eye on my goal, make sure I take each step with care, as to not fall back a couple. Now here is my new years resolution, to do my best and give my all, no distractions!!!

Editing:

This is where you can see my hand in these images, Mandy took them with my canon 30D with 18-55mm lens and a speedlite 430ex flash. The 30D was set to TV and she played around with the shutter speed, and bounced the flash. To edit these pictures after preediting them in aperture I uploaded them to photoshop where I converted them to grayscale, played around with the curves and filters, and contrast until it gave me this vintage film look (looks better on macs :-P) . I choose not to edit my skin because I did not want it to take away from the candid picture feeling of the images.

And here is the photographer extraordinaire who made sure to capture these great moments the  talented Mandy, Thanks again Mandy you rock!!!

Reading is Fundamental

"Reading is Fundamental" We have being hearing that phrase I guess since grade school, but it is almost as if no one understands it. I am no exception for a while there I always looked for information the easy way or so I thought at the time. The easiest way to gather information is to read it, but in today's fast paced world reading has become defined as a slow annoying process, to which we cannot be bothered. Thus the invention of cliff notes and other such summarizing tools. 

Here is my point READ!!! now since this is a photography blog let relate it back. Alot of people ask me how I make my images so colorful, detailed, clear. And my usual response is I know my camera; thereafter I am followed by the question? how did you get to know about your camera, and I simply reply, I read the manual. 

Yes folks that is it, Read your manual, and not just once, keep reading it over and over again. Your manual is not a novel you do not have to read it in order. Use the table of contents find the information you want, camera in one hand manual in the other, and read; and as you read test what you have read with your camera, take test shots explore your camera, so that you can use it better. I always pick up my manual every once in a while and relearn some old settings and try out new ones, this is fun to me. Before I use any new equipment, I like to sit down with the manual and just teach myself, check out tutorials etc...  

So all who seek to better themselves and find information, you have heard it once, and you will continue to hear it "Reading is Fundamental" so read.

Hair

This past weekend, I did a hair shoot for Miss Briana Hickman. The shoot was relatively simple just you basic glam our shots focusing on hair. I decided to shoot with a black background because I thought it would bring out the hair better especially if there was color in the hair and I would like to think that I was right, you be the judge.

I used a to light set up with my WL x1600s and I had my AB's for back up just in case something went wrong with my white-lighting. For my main light I used a beauty dish with the diffuser sock, and for my hair light i just used a white diffuser umbrella. I had my Trusty canon 30d, My work horse, with a 17-85mm lens.

Now for the hair, I was very impressed, Briana did a great job, The hair photographed excellently and had an excellent shine to it. I do not know much about hair, but I do know about what looks good and her stuff works of art were great!

As a photographer in my images and hopefully in yours as well, or what ever your craft is, the key word is 'details' in alot of my images especially my commercial projects every detail is looked at twice. Everything has a meaning every letter, every syllable, every color, even the placing I love going over details in ads, and appreciate it more when I meet someone who shows the same detail in their work. And Briana showed the highest detail in their work and I appreciated that from them and enjoyed the full 4 hour shoot. If you are interested in having your hair styled by Briana Hickman, or for your next shoot you can email Briana at bxquisit@yahoo.com

Briana Hickman is pictured on the right in the middle. bxquisit@yahoo.com

A Homeless Face...

A while back I was in Canada I went to with a group of friends, we visited 5 cities in one week, two of which stuck out the most to me were Montreal, or as I call it the Amsterdam of the west and Toronto, which reminded me of a larger more spread out new york, less friendly though, seriously some of the people I met in this city were pricks! There are a few things that stuck to me the most in this two cities, in montreal was that there seemed to be a strip club at ever corner and they were open 24/7. In Toronto was the beauty in some areas, but most apparent was the number of homeless in this city. I mean I have seen most of the world and not just the first worlds, and I have to say this city has the largest number of homeless I have ever seen. At times I felt guilty enjoying my sights because they were everywhere out in the cold, and it was very cold.

Which brings me to this picture, my group had stopped to stretch out legs and take a couple of pictures and that is when I met this gentleman. I kinda feel sad that I did not give him any money but Looking at this picture I kinda wonder what his story is. He seems to be at the very bottom with his luck but he has such a kind face and his eyes are very warm. I wonder how he ended up homeless, I wish could find out, see how his life is on a daily basis.

I know how we are all trained in regards to the homeless. And you who read this and think I can never do that are just in denial. We all know what we say when we see a homeless person infront us when we are walking down the street...

"ignore,
Just keep walking...
Look straight, do not make eye contact...
if you do not acknowledge him,
then he is not there..."

sound familiar?? I am in no way trying to be high and mighty, I do the same thing at times. Not every homeless person is a good person down on there luck, but still... Hopefully we can find a better way that a one way ticket so that we do not have to look at them.

The picture to the right I also took in Toronto, the person walking past is probably thinking what I stated above, this does not make them a bad person, he represents us all, but I also found it funny that he/she sleeps infront of of HnR Block lol...

Shooting in the Late Fall and Winter Months

I love shooting this time of year the natural light from the sun is usually perfect. The morning and sunset sun brings colors that are a dream to capture, and the best part is that it is cold and neither you nor the subject need to worry about sweating. The make up stays on everything is usually perfect shoot wise. Now the downfall is battery on your camera or pack is sometimes cut in half but that is why you plan ahead and bring spares.

The picture to my left is one that I took in the late fall with my Canon AE-1 with Kodak HD film in the early morning. The colors in this pictures almost bring a tear to my eye I love the colors, this whole set had brilliant colors. This Christmas and new years I will hopefully be spending in London and I cannot wait to do a couple of shoots there, if there is enough time I hope to jump on a train to Paris, even if it is just for one day ;-)

Summer Days...

Now that it is getting cold, it reminds me of slow summer days. I love the days that time stood still when the humidity was not 100 and you did not have to do anything but just sit and watch the clouds pass by. As we grow older we have less and less days like these. we have become so accustomed to working that we even work on vacations, life is funny...

I do not know what life holds for me, but I will do my best everyday to live, i mean truly live. I want to fall in love, I want to have my heart broken, I want to travel with someone I love. Money would be great in today's world money is important, it helps us live well and comfortable. Currently I love my life, it is not perfect not by a long shot but I love it.

Which brings us to this picture. In it is a very beautiful friend and model of mine, in this image she captures what I see in summer days the passion in her eyes, sun bouncing off her skin, I love this picture. She did a great job!

Art and Life

I like surrounding myself with positive people. This pictures are from a past Ad campaign by Art&life clothing company. there clothes are great and love the designs. Check out there website and buy from them!!!!

artandlifeclothingcompany.com

First Words

First time with the blogging, this is fun!
if only i knew what to write about lol a well we will see what comes to mind...

Now a little about myself...

here is my life philosophy
"We only have 100 years if your lucky, for most ppl about 80. life is too short for me to worry about everything, so I do not. I am enjoying life, I do what I love and I am happy! feels great!!!"