BESS MARINE PHOTOGRAPHY

PROMO TIME

2010-10-13T12:12:00.000-04:00

The winter months are fast approaching and I thought it time to start marketing to one of my favorite demographics, Seniors. So many Seniors don't have photos of them playing winter or spring sports because they don't realise that their photos are due by the first week of october their senior year. The goal with this promo is to get seniors to have fun and start shooting their Junior year. We'll see how it goes. Below are the pre-press layouts.

MAIDEN VOYAGE

2010-10-02T09:05:00.020-04:00

She's here! Just got my SPL housing in on Thursday and took her out for spin yesterday! Fortunes Rocks in the rain with some of the guys from the wedding I'll be shooting today.

Definitely a learning experience. The hardest part is trying to figure out the best way to move without being on a board. I started out with fins and a wakeboard jacket thats non coastguard approved. I figured that way it would float me, but not so much that I wouldn't be able to dive with it. That was defnintely a good choice. The fins... well I think that part just takes practice. Initially I couldn't get out with the fins on because I kept tripping over them. So I ditchd them. Once I got out past the break I had really wished I had them though. Something I'm going to try next time is a mask also, it might make the fins easier if I can just swim the whole way out rather than just trying to walk as far as I can.

Ah well, there will be a learning curve for sure. The housing was amazing though. Full control of aperature and shutter speed and the controls are smooth as butter. Using the autofocus is a dream in this thing!

EXPOSURE

2010-09-21T11:31:00.003-04:00

Come check out the new blog and be EXPOSED. The idea is to share stories to inspire courage, make connections, collaborate, and so much more. I post a portrait of someone then they come to the blog and post their story in the comments box.

Where did this idea come from you might ask? Yesterday I attended the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" rally in Portland with Lady Gaga. I got there super early, the event wasn't supposed to start till 4:30 and I was there at about 12:30.

When I arrived there were just a few people milling arround. I had scored a pretty great parking spot and didn't want to leave and come back. So I wandered arround. It was a beautiful day, sunshining in the cool fresh air. The camera crews were setting up, and the crowd was slowly trickling in. One thing you all should know, I'm super ADD. I couldn't just sit arround and wait for four hours.

So I decided to go back to the car, get my "rig" (one 300 watt profoto head on a crappy pro master light stand, vagabond II battery pack, pocket wizards) and start doing portraits of the people at the event.

Then what was I going to do with these photos? I thought it would be so cool to hear everyone's story, because they are all so unique and diverse. This was a spur of the moment thing so I didn't have a tape recorder, paper, pen, or even business cards! Some of the first people I photographed gave me a pencil and some paper to take down emails; thus the birth of the EXPOSURE blog. Everyone on there now is from the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Rally.

There will be many more portraits and stories to come. Stay tuned.

If you missed the rally you can watch the video below. It is Lady Gaga's full speech. It was very powerful, see for yourself.

CAMERAS GIVE US COURAGE

2010-09-15T11:51:00.002-04:00

Have you ever noticed that things in everyday life that would ordinarily scare the crud out of you seem not so scary when there is a camera to your face? I feel like this happens to me all the time and I never realize it till I'm looking at the photos afterward. Have you ever had this happen to you or am I just a wierdo? I'd love to hear crazy stories or see some photos of your fearless moments.

This photo is one for me that triggered this conversation. I'm deathly afraid of snakes. Yet the other day I was on a shoot and I caught myself asking this guy to push the snake forward into my lens. Crazy.

IT'S COMING...

2010-09-14T13:00:00.007-04:00

Today I am taking the plunge and making what could be one of the best gear investments I could make at this juncture. Can you guess? Well if you're thinking of a water housing you'd be right on the money.

I've been using a fun little baggy from DiCapac, which has served it's purpose for sure, however, not sure if I would trust it in the heavy surf of the winter months in Maine. Not to mention, using the controls in one of those little baggies in the summer is difficult enough, I can't imagine with thick neoprene gloves in the freezing cold!

Then the decision, which one? There are so many great water housing companies out there, I've been reading up and following them for the past year or longer (yes, this purchase is long overdue). I've used Aquatech a bunch when I was down in FL, and they are awesome for sure. However, I know I wanted something that had a little more access to exposure controls and a way to autofocus. Enter; SPL Waterhousings.

The SPL Waterhousings come with a pistol grip that will engage the autofocus, access to your shutter speed, aperature, detachable side grip, and a few other goodies. I've never used one but my very little experience with contacting Sean at SPL over the past six months, he is right on top of things. I'd call and leave a message and he'd get back to me by the end of the day. I sent an email this morning and got an email back within the hour! I also called today and talked to Sean again and he said he'd shoot me an email with more info and I had the email within 15min of our convo! I love good customer support.

So I'm responding to that last email with my order for a housing for the d300 after I post this. Can't wait to get back in the water!

STAY ORGANIZED KIDS

2010-09-13T17:41:00.003-04:00

Just when I think I'm super organized, something pops up to prove otherwise. Recently I got a phone call from the executive director of the Freeport Chamber, looking to see if I was interested in decorating her work space with my imags. I was felt very flattered and excited! Until I went to find some of my favorite images...

It started as a needle in a haystack search as I was looking for a very specific image, and it turned into mining for oil. I found pockets of images on hard drives I didn't know I had! My goal for the slower winter months is to go mining for images. I may even share a few here!

Here are the images that will be temporarily gracing the walls of the Freeport Chamber of Commerce. I say temporarily because as soon as i get some down time I'm going to shoot some specific Freeport coastal images and portraits to replace these below.

Just for the record, still haven't found the needle in the haystack...

MORE MY STYLE: Finding my place in the photo world

2010-09-09T14:42:00.005-04:00

There is it. The big enigma. Where is my place in the photo community? What niche am I looking to fill? I've been pouring over past images, and grouping the ones that resignate the most. Then, on a recent trip to the beach, it all seemed so clear and so obvious.

I love the water. The one common thread I've held though all my ventures throughout life from a young whale worshiping 6 yr old, to a wakeboarding fanatic teen, to a surf fascinated 25 year old, water is the one constant. And isn't it just fitting that my last name is Marine? So where am I going with this? Well, to the water of course.

To the water and to those who love and appreciate it. Along with a very visible passion for aquatics, so too have I been fascinated by people. So I'm thinking water and the lifetyle arround it. Still pretty broad, I know. But we're narrowing the scope, yay me! Here are some of the images that keep surfacing. As always, any and all brutal critiscism is welcome.

SHOP TILL YOU DROP!

2010-09-09T12:10:00.004-04:00

Ahhhh... so winter is fast approaching. I'm fully booked through the second week of October. Sweet. With some upcomming planned expenses (including a new water housing, logo, and equipment insurance) and with my personal checking account dwindling I figure its about time to create another stream of revenue to carry me through the winter to the glory days of next summer.

Enter; the Store. Here will be a variety of prints, books, and some other goodies soon to come (inspirational posters and BMP Expression Apparrel). Check it out, and stay tuned. Lots of good stuff to come.

What do you think?

2010-08-31T21:43:00.009-04:00

Below are a few of my recent selects that I grabbed real quick before bed. Let me know what you think, which ones don't belong, which ones do, which ones you'd like to see on the website and which ones should collect dust on my drives. Be brutal folks.

Recent Days

2010-08-17T14:38:00.003-04:00

So what have I been up to? I've been uber busy this summer which is always a good problem to have. When I get busy though the blog usually suffers a bit. I quite my day job (the Harraseeket Inn) and am trying to make a full time go at this. So far so good. Maybe I'll even work in a little blog routine??

I've gotten into a routine with my more recent shoots to put together a little slideshow preview for all my clients and I figure I mine as well share a few here for all to see.

Below you'll see a senior session, a wedding, and a session I did for some friends of their dogs. Let me know what you think.

Don't Just Stand There

2010-08-13T15:13:00.002-04:00

Get out and do something. Shoot. Find a mentor. Get your work critiqued. Go for a hike. Whatever makes your soul sing, go do that right now.

PHOTO PLUS

2010-08-09T14:05:00.002-04:00

Get your booty to NYC! PDN's (Photo District News) Photo Plus is one of, if not THE biggest FREE photo expo of the year! Register now for your free badge to the expo floor. They also always have seminars and classes going on that you can purchase as well. My advice is check out the expo not just for the gear, but for the speakers. A lot of the big brand booths have your favorite photographers speaking at them. Be sure to hit up all the major vendors and get a schedule of their speakers.

I'll be attending photo plus and my mission is going to be to get my work in front of my peers as much as possible. I'm on a hunt for all the critiscism I can get! Hopefully make some connections for assisting work as well.

Make sure to get to the PDN Photo Plus site to register for your free badge. Trust me. It's worth it.

It's a Struggle

2010-08-09T11:29:00.004-04:00

Photography is something I think every photographer struggles with. I don't mean that technically, I mean that a little more figuratively. There's so much that goes into that world, the photo world. There's the business, technical aspects, the gear, the industry speak, the vision.

The vision.

The passion.

The things that started it all, the fuel for the fire.

I've found in recent days that maybe I've been a little too focused on the the first few in that list. It's time to get back to fuel that started it all. The vision. The passion. For those of you who know me know I've been glued to Chase Jarvis's blog and to the book Vision Mongers by David Duchemin. They have given me a breath of fresh air and some much needed perspective. The next leg of my journey is going to be a two part adventure entitled; Assisting & Personal Work.

My goal for the next year is to work as a full time assistant (assisting two-three jobs a week) and putting together a portfolio of work I LOVE and getting it in front of as many critical eyes as possible. Chase's words of "Create.Share.Sustain." are becoming my mantra. Here in this blog I will share my journey with all of those who are interested.

So it's time to 'throw off the bow lines' I'll see you all out there!

gas is cheap in staunton, VA

2010-06-09T08:58:00.001-04:00

Finding Inspiration with Chase Jarvis

2010-06-03T11:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I got caught up in Chase Jarvis's blog and found loads of inspiration that I thought worth sharing with all of you. Chase is a commercial photographer specializing in sports and lifestyle photography, you might know him for his "Best Camera" app for the iPhone. The man is a genius. He also works within the realm of the motion. The videos below are from Chase that I found to be inspiring not just as a photographer but as a human being. Check 'em out and be sure to check out Chase's site as well.

Model Mayhem

2010-06-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

I met Alana through Model Mayhem and worked with her once before for her Teen Idol Clothing line. Lately I've been itching to shoot more and more so I called up Alana to shoot. Using the Vagabond II, two 300 watt Profoto's at high noon on a bright sunny day we were able to nearly completely knock out the sun. Here's my favorite shot from the shoot.

After shooting for a little bit, we went scouting some new locations and found some killer spots that we'll get to hopefully when I get back from FL on the 15th. So stay tuned cause there is some good stuff coming!

Vagabond II Has changed my life!

2010-06-02T12:05:00.004-04:00

I've been borrowing this handy little piece of equipment from my good friend Chris Rioux (whom is also an amazing photographer and CRAZY hard worker) and to say it has inspired me would be an understatement.

The Vagabond II is a battery pack from Alien Bee that retails for about $300. It has one standard house plug in it which when used with a power strip can support several lights. I've been using it with my 300 watt Profoto mono's and this thing is awesome.

The first day I used it was on a shoot on backbay (you can see the video and the Vagabond in action that day in the previous post). I was so fired up after using it that day that I started calling up friends to shoot more. The first person I was able to get a hold of was a buddy of mine that I work with up at the Harraseeket Inn, Jamie. Well Jamie and his puppy humored me for an afternoon and here is one of my favorite shots from that shoot.

I've used the Vagabond II quite a bit since that day and I haven't run into any trouble with it yet. I've also only used up to two lights on it though. We'll see what happens when I get up to four. As always, thanks again for tuning in.

Assignment

2010-05-13T01:39:00.004-04:00

Apple certainly has quite the hiring process. I'd made it through two interviews and was super excited for the third, and what I thought final, interview. Good news is it was not my final interview. That's right, the process goes on. When the interview was wrapping up and the laid back Jon was inviting me to the next step I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Exactly how many interviews are there?"

"At least one more."

Then he went on to say, that he had an assignment for me. The next step would be for me to create a Pod Cast depicting me and get it to them ASAP.

I'm starting to feel more and more like I'm on reality TV. Once I left the interview the other people in the mall must have thought I was nuts because I laughed to myself the whole way to my car. Just goes to show the level of quality control Apple has. They really are amazing.

Anywho, so luckily for me I had a shoot already scheduled for this morning and with the assistance of my incredible brother he filmed and helped make this little beauty a reality. Chris Marine you're an amazing man.

Above is what we came up with. Hope you all enjoy. I know you're all probably losing feeling in your finger tips but keep 'em crossed for me. This is a big career move for me! I am forever greatful for all of your support!

FOCUSED

2010-05-06T10:45:00.003-04:00

I'm not a TV watcher by any means, but as fate would have it when my partner in crime requested to play some Wii late last night I was in. I flicked the TV on then proceeded to turn on the Wii. The moment the TV flashed to life this trailer was playing... and I was captivated. I immediately went through the guide to see when this little piece of photo adventure television would be on again and proceeded to record an episode on later last night. I was up early this morning and came downstairs to to watch this little nugget and just had to share with all of you.

So if you're a photographer in the action sports industry, or even just an action sports enthusiast, and you have the HD Theater channel... you gotta check this show out.

Here is the link to the TV Schedule that its on;

http://dhd.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=66.12343.128163.38046.1

Keep those fingers crossed

2010-05-06T08:14:00.003-04:00

There it is, such a powerful symbol. I could go on all day about how incredible apple is, but you all already know that. So why, might you ask, is that symbol, a beacon of hope, here on my blog?

Well, in recent days I've decided that I'd like a career 'job' along side my business. Probably just for my sanity. Never knowing where money is coming from, when, or if people will ever even pay me; just gets a little stressful. As Dana Letchworth put it; 'It's not for the faint of heart.' Boy was she right.

So I couldn't think of a more perfect fit for what I was looking for than the Apple store. Good people, fun work environment, I get to help people, and I hear the pay isn't all bad. Maybe in time, I could even move up in the company? So I applied.

Apple's hiring process is done in phases. The first phase is making it to the group interview, which I did sunday night. Yay! Then there is the one on one interview, which... drum roll please, I have this afternoon at 2pm. Not sure what the next steps are but hopefully soon I'll be helping people with their technology needs in the comfy cozy home of the Apple store.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Change

2010-05-05T16:09:00.003-04:00

This little corner of cyberspace has witnessed it's fair share of change. Change is a tough thing. Ultimately change is good... anywho, once again I'm trying something new. For my loyal readers you've seen my attempts to create everything I think a photo blog SHOULD be. Same thing with my business, I've reinvented myself more times than I can count in an effort to create what I think a successful photography business SHOULD be. I'm learning that if you do something because you should, you often lose sight of what you truly want. Sometimes you just need to follow your gut. For something with no thought process, it seems to always know what's best.

So here I am, following my gut. This reinvented slice of the interweb is going to be dedicated not just to photography, but rather all the fun meanderings I seem to get into. My thoughts, my opinions, the successes, the failures, and everything in between. This is an exciting an unpredictable time of my life and here is where I'll be documenting it. Thanks for tuning in.

Hugs,

Bess

Heavy

2010-05-05T11:23:00.003-04:00

I love clouds. So light and airy, and always changing. Took this on my way home with my Droid.

Bring On The Rain

2009-11-28T02:08:00.005-05:00

The last week or so has been an incredible whirlwind of transition. Moving, meeting new people, getting organized, rebuilding, etc. I've been so busy playing catch up that I haven't had much time to pick up a camera.

I awoke today to the sound of rain lightly tapping on my window. It is a quiet peaceful sound that I have always found comfort in. I decided to take some time to myself today; to get up slowly, stretch, take in all the recent changes to my surroundings, and give my cameras a little bit o' love.

Here's some of frames I grabbed from my meanderings.

Smoke Signals

2009-11-11T09:49:00.004-05:00

Yesterday thanks to the wonderful Megan Carrie yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing street runner Dave Conk. This guy is a crazy man. Yesterday we did all modeling in the studio, I hope that sometime on a visit down here we can capture this guy in action.

Thank You Sunshine

2009-11-10T11:10:00.005-05:00

While the draw of warmth and sunshine can be quite appealing, it was really the impact these people have had on my life that brought me down to the sunshine state. I watched them through magazines and videos for years before even getting the chance to meet them.

One of these people inspired me to wakeboard which has been an eight year event that's changed the course of my life.
One of these people were the very person that inspired me to pick up a camera.
One of these people has helped guide our business and made me laugh so hard I cried on numerous occasions.
One of these people changed my life forever, teaching me about health, balance, friendship, business, photography, and so much more.

All of these people I'm proud to know and have in my life.

Over the past two years I've been fortunate enough to call them friends and even my sunshine family. It's been an incredible journey thus far, I've learned so much and been so inspired not just in a photographic realm but in life. Thank you to some incredible people and some good times.

HELP-PORTRAIT

2009-11-06T18:51:00.007-05:00

I was at work for Josh today when he pulled this up on his computer... I thought it was brilliant. Now I'd like to do my best to make this happen for Portland, Maine. Let's get as many photographers together as possible and make some magic for people. It's going to take some planning and there isn't a lot of time between now and December 12. Here's what we are going to need to pull this off:

A location to setup

Volunteers to help keep things organized on the day of

Hand held white boards to write peoples names and contact info (so we can get them their prints). We'll need one for each photographer set up.

Let's do this quality style and have people make an appointment and have a whole 30min to an hour in front of the camera. Let's give them a fun experience!

Let's see if we can get some local companies involved to donate food or money to have on site

Maybe make it a 2 day affair?

What about people with no transportation? Could we get donations to for cabs to pick them up/drop them off?

Let's Rally this thing Portland!! Make some magic happen!!

Post in the comments any more ideas you may have or if you're willing to help out or know someone who will.

Everyone, Meet Dustin

2009-11-05T22:23:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago Meg and I did a model test with a model Meg found on Model Mayhem, enter Dustin. We found a couple neat little spots right in downtown Orlando, one of them had a nice thick graffiti coating. Here's some of what we came up with.

To The Skies!

2009-11-05T22:16:00.003-05:00

The time is ticking and moving day is near. In the midst of tieing up loose ends and shooting a lot, I've gotten a bit behind here in the blog land. A few weeks ago I flew home for my brother's 21st birthday. I fly all the time and rarely take my camera out its home during travel. I thought I'd mix it up on this trip. I flew up during the day and back during the twilight hours of the evening. Here are some shots from both.

Support Your Local Farmer's Market

2009-10-17T14:43:00.004-04:00

These folks are great, and they have great products. You can get the freshest organic products, at a reasonable price, support your local economy, and save the planet all in one trip to a farmer's market! Wee!

We did an engagement session today in Winter Park and they were also having their weekly Farmer's Market so we perused around a bit after and did a few shots of the couple in the market. It was a good time. Then again, I've never been to a Farmer's Market that wasn't.

For more information on a Farmer's Market near you, check out: http://www.localharvest.org/

Light'n It Up!

2009-10-17T14:34:00.004-04:00

Ever since we moved down here I've been wanting to photograph some lightning. Now you would think this would be an easy task to accomplish, especially here in the lightning capitol of the world. However, I hadn't. Until last Sunday. We were photographing a wedding on the beach in Clearwater and off in the distance the sky was lighting up. Since it was the reception and everyone was eating and we were having our little break I decided to try a few long exposures to see if I could get anything. This was my favorite.

Self Portrait Time

2009-10-17T14:17:00.004-04:00

Wee. Happy self portrait time. It's been a looong time since I've done a self portrait session. Its been a least two years and in those two years here in the Sunshine state I've lost 50 pounds and chopped my hair, and rescued a kitten. Oh and I had yesterday and today off so I'm sure boredom is a factor in there somewhere.

HTML Dictionary for Photographers

2009-10-06T16:03:00.008-04:00

That's right, we live in a world that lives on the internet. Internet dating, shopping, texting, social networking, etc. There is really no need to ever leave your computer. Which can be convenient, but also means that now a physical portfolio isn't nearly as important as your website or blog. Your .com address is your virtual store front. Ok, so what?

So because my brain is not so good and I am a nerd who does a fair amount of hacking myself, I decided to make a list of all the tags and html code info I look up most frequently. I won't be explaining where to put it in the code at this juncture, think of this more as a web reference guide.

The list is pretty short now but as I think of more stuff I'll add it to here. If you have questions or want particular refereces let me know and I'll post about them.

Create a Break in Text:

Bold your text:

the word or phrase you want bold

Italicize your text:

the word or phrase you want italicized

Link:

Link Text here

To open a link in a new window:

Link Text here

I don't know, hopefully these few are helpful, as I think of more I'll add more.

We Are a Class Act

2009-10-06T00:09:00.004-04:00

Yup, nothing but the finest here. Here's Megan photographing a model in our backyard, yes she's in boxers, yes she's wearing an olive garden P.A.C.E shirt, yes that is Rague Sauce from BJ's acting as a sandbag. Why spend $35 on a sandbag when you can shop at BJ's? Food makes for good dead weight, plus you get bonus points for edible equipment.

We are awesome.

Anywho, I digress. Here are a couple behind the scenes shots and a couple I captured of the model. I just have to say, our house is a photographers dream. We have the most gorgeous sunsets that fall perfectly between two orange trees with spanish moss hanging down, inside the perfect studio space. Man I will miss this house for sure. I'll check in with Megan and see if I can get a couple of her frames to share with you folks. Stay tuned.

Let Me Catch You Up

2009-10-05T23:48:00.001-04:00

Being the somewhat obsessive person that I am, I was going over my blog and realized if this was your first visit here, you probably don't know much about me or what brought me to this point. So consider this the abridged version.

I fell in love with wakeboarding. I'm not much of an athlete. So I picked up a camera. I fell in love. I got a few odd jobs. I had no idea what I was doing.

So I decided to go to school.

Graduating from the 'prestigous' Hallmark Institute of Photography I had all the technical knowledge one could hope for fresh out of school, yet I was as green as the grass in The Trueman Show. Scoring a job at the local camera shop in Portland, Maine proved to be a good idea. I learned a lot and met one of my best friends there, also someone who had all the artistic knowledge that I so greatly lacked. We knew each other 6 months and up and left for Florida, the sunshine state, what could possibly go wrong someplace so perfect?

I scored a job working for the very man that practically inspired me to pick up a camera, Josh Letchworth and started a business with my best friend Megan Carrie in Winter Park, FL. We did just about everything; Weddings, Portraits, Commercial, Editorial, etc. We had a good time. We also happened to endure a week with no water, close calls on rent payments, late electric payments, basically we just barely scraped by. But we were hell bent on making it happen.

So we moved into a house with room for a studio. Sweet. Our rent was only an extra $200, why not really? We moved to Sanford, FL. Where we have a studio, Florida Room, and I kid you not Orange trees in the backyard. Life is good.

As time went on, it has become more and more evident that we aren't able to put the focus that the business neeeds into it, because we were too busy juggling our part time jobs. So we've made the decision to return to our roots and split the business. Megan is headed to Philly and I'm headed to Portland, Maine.

Yes it is bitter sweet, but aren't all big changes? Change is scary, but good.

Thus is the start of a new chapter. A new climb. And I'm WICKED pumped bub. New Englandas he-ya I come!

Hold up. We're still here in the sunshine state till November 17, 2009. Which means you'll be seeing plenty of palm trees for the next month. Enjoy it.

Hats off To Pet Photographers!

2009-10-05T22:35:00.001-04:00

Well, for those who aren't familiar with the story of Benne, he was a six week old kitten when I rescued him from the perils of the Olive Garden attic space. He's been keeping us on our toes to say the least. He was tearing around the studio one day when I decided it was about time I clicked a few frames of this little cutie for the folks back home. Let me just say, photographing a kitten is like photographing a 5 yr hyped up on a bag full of candy halloween night. Just crazy.

Kids Are Cute

2009-10-05T16:55:00.001-04:00

Kids are cute. I know I'm stating the obvious here but its a fact that hasn't always been so obvious to me. When all the talk of heading back up north started I began to wonder what exactly it was I wanted to do. I was going through all my images and found that I always had a good time shooting kids. So I started shooting them some more. Meet some of my more recent subjects.

Bitten by the Bug

2009-10-02T12:41:00.001-04:00

That's right, I've been bitten by the Vampire bug. I too have been bitten by the Vampire frenzy that is currently spreading through our culture. I never thought I'd get into it until one day at the gym, just out of curiosity (and a tinge of boredom on the bike) I borrowed the book Megan was reading just to sample a few pages. She was reading the Anita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton and if you've read any of her books its near impossible NOT to get sucked right in. It's like CSI of vampires! So naturally I got hooked and I read the first of the series and now I'm reading the novels that HBO's "True Blood" series is based on.

Ok, so what? So, with Vampires on the brain I noticed that my friend Justin looked strikingly like a vampire. I told him I thought he'd make a super sexy Vampire (he didn't believe me) but he was a good sport and said he'd let me photograph him anyway.

Josh Letchworth, my boss and good friend, loaned me some gear for the weekend and I was itching to use it, I was working lunch at the Olive Garden and so was Justin, we both miraculously had Saturday night off and I couldn't think of any way I'd rather spend my saturday night than photographing Justin as a Vampire. I know, I'm a nerd.

As soon as I punched out I darted across the street to the mall to purchase fangs for my lovely model and face paint that would never get used. Than I booked it over to Josh's to pick up the gear; a 7b, a couple of heads, sand bags, light stands, a magnum reflector and a beauty dish later and I was on my way.

As soon as I got home I started putting my scene together in the backyard. Megan also had Saturday night off so she stepped in as a lovely model while I figured out my lights.

Here is a shot of the scene with no lights.

I started with just one light, the beauty dish high and off to the right. I liked the light on meg but my background was going dark, wasn't crazy about that.

So I put another light on with a magnum reflector and hiked it up all the way, about 10 feet up into a tree aiming down onto the orange tree and ground behind Meg. Sweet.

By the time Justin had arrived the sun went down and we lost our golden rim light. So I took one of my mono 300 watt heads and put it behind Justin for a similar look. Realizing then that it was silly for me to want to have photographed him with the sun up because any good Vampire junky knows the sun would surely kill our lovely Justin. And that would be no good. Once I had my digitally captured Vampire I did some pixel pushing to get the look just what I wanted and to pull some of the skin tones out to give that lovely "fresh dead" look. Below are some of my favs of Justin the Vampire. Let me know what you all think.

A New Chapter

2009-10-02T12:31:00.002-04:00

So as many of you may know, I'm about to start a new chapter in my life and especially so in my photographic career. The sunshine state has been good to me the past two years, I've learned and grown a lot. But now it is time to move onto a new chapter, a new adventure! On November 16, 2009 a moving truck will arrive in our drive way to collect all of our belongings and on November 17 we will being our trek back to the north east.

For those who have been following over at pixyblog.com may know, I love pixyblog but it has its limitations. I'm creating this blog here so that I can post just text if need be, or news on gear I've found out about, videos, or any other meandering I run into. I will continue to post to pixyblog probably once a week as an "inspirational corner" just an image with a quote. So don't worry, if you like that format its not going anywhere.

This blog is marking the start of that new chapter and a documentation of all to come. I hope you enjoy tuning in as much as I enjoy sharing with you.