I used to work in a blanket factory

but it folded

     This is my favorite blanket, and I still don't understand it. I chose to use it in the fabric assignment for my product lighting class. I wanted to photograph it in a way that made it stand out for it's weird texture. I have no idea what to call this type of blanket, but it is the perfect horror movie night companion. It started storming while I was in the studio, which was oddly comforting. It had a way of keeping me calm when I was stressing about what I needed to do and how and when I was going to do it. I put off working on this project for a while because I thought it would feel like a chore, but I greatly enjoyed playing around with lights and modifiers without fear of creating a scripted scene to meet assignment requirements. The only thing I felt was difficult about this assignment was trying to figure out how to position the fabric without making it look like a raggedy heap. The picture above was after my temper tantrum, during which I angrily rolled up the blanket and threw it back down on the table. Much to my irritation, it looked better in a burrito than it did when I folded it. The second picture, however, was after I tried to fold it again and got my ring caught in the fabric when I was setting it down and I tried to smooth it out without refolding it. Again, it looked better than what I intended to do. 

     As Bob Ross taught me, "We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents."

Horsing Around

     I met my brother in Greensboro on Saturday for the 34th Annual Mustang & Ford Powered Show. We had a great time admiring every single Shelby for a minimum of five minutes and pretending to know just a little more than we actually did when we had to talk to people. I loved the atmosphere of the show because everyone seemed to have a deep respect for the history and tradition of Mustangs. I could have spent days listening to owners talk about modifications and fond memories of their cars and how much of their lives they invested in pursuing their own dream car. 

     My favorite cars were those that displayed a model of the car somewhere because it showed the pride owners took in maintaining every detail of the original condition. Most owners chose to leave their model cars either on top of the cars or inside the car where they could be seen without being stolen. The best placement of them all was under the hood of the Mach 1. The shaker hood provided a kind of spotlight on the model car, which also provided clear context for the hood design for those wondering why they can see the sky through the car. 

     I had a lot of fun with this photo because the detail in the model is so fine that it could be mistaken for a full scale Mach 1 in what could, in turn, be the world's most intricate showroom.

     Also I just really like Mustangs.

Are You Available?

     I had a product lighting assignment that was to be shot in only available light, which could either be outdoors or window light. I'm a huge supporter of air conditioning, as well as soft, directional light, so I chose to set up in my window at the apartment. I bought a thin sheet of black poster board and propped it up to create a curve that resembled a small cyc wall. The window was camera left, and I had a large piece of white foam board to camera right to fill in some of the shadows. I love the detail in the glass dip pen, and I liked how the smooth glass stood out against the surface of the box behind it. I set this up the night before and shot it as soon as I woke up, so I'm a little confused about why I used the settings that I did (f/14 @ 1/4  ISO320). I'm usually a morning person, but something was clearly not working for me at that moment.     This was the point at which I remembered the assignment sheet specified that we were not to use highly reflective objects such as glass. 

     Oops.

     I immediately went to the kitchen and grabbed my salt shaker and pepper grinder because I thought it would be clear what they were without being too traditional. I used the same setup, and I really like how it turned out. I was at f/7.1 @ 1/8  ISO160, which makes a little more sense than the first picture but not a great deal. I liked that the grinder had a smooth finish but still showed enough grain to clearly see that it was made of wood. I also kept the apple salt shaker in the background to show that the subject was a pepper grinder since it might just look like a wooden pear with a strange handle-ish thing sticking out of it. I thought if it was displayed as a set, they could be easily defined as salt and pepper. 

     Unfortunately I had forgotten them in my room when I left for school in the morning, so I was very confused when I started cooking lunch. It served as a friendly reminder that sometimes I can get a little too caught up in the moment. 

Light Painting No.2

     Your real friends are the ones that let you drag them into fields at midnight and force them to do manual labor.
     All joking aside, I am always grateful to have friends who are willing to set aside time for me to work with them and help me with my get everything done for school. My best friend, Seth, let me set up camp at his barn in the middle of the night to work on a light painting assignment for my small format class. Since he was getting off from work, he met me in Winston to buy a remote for my camera, which eventually worked really well for me.
     While we were waiting for nightfall at his house, he insisted we watch Zombeavers, which was about how you'd expect based on the title alone. Two hours and a box of fruit roll ups later, we headed down to the barn. I originally set up on the other side of the barn, where I had flare from the moon and weird reflections from the horse trailer, Harry Trotter.
     I moved to the other side of the barn and was immediately inspired by the three stall windows. I shot this on June 11th, which was the day of the Belmont Stakes. Most of what I do is a direct result of my sense of humor, and this project was no exception. I had the right gels with me to light the stalls like a traffic light. I thought it would be a funny tribute to horse racing without being over the top. The hardest part of setting up was trying to create a reasonable horizon line. Nothing in the entire area is flat, and I was set up at the bottom of the wonky hill where the barn was perched. I ended up moving in and shooting at 30mm so that the distortion would make everything more cohesive. I also lit the rest of the barn to appear inviting and to show the hay bales, which ended up balancing the orange light coming from behind the tree line. I spent most of my time running around with a headlamp looking for filters or caps that I'd dropped while I was running around like a hooligan.
     I enjoyed working on this more than I thought I would, and I'd definitely do it again (but next time with more pockets).
    f/11 @ 457s (about 7.5 minutes)  ISO200

Allie Jr.

     My brother John has always been there for me. Likewise, I've always been there for him, a bar that has been raised this past week. His girlfriend of almost four years, Allie, is currently studying abroad in Peru. Her birthday was Monday, so he ordered 4ft cardboard cutout of her so that he could still throw her a great birthday since she couldn't be home.

Family Portrait

He arranged with her parents so that we could bring Allie Jr. over for a quick family shot. We got both of their dogs to cooperate with us in exchange for treats but never at the same time. I took pictures of John holding the door for her and driving to the party after she was in her seat, which she only fit in sideways. 

Cardboard Courtesy

John bought a cake, candles, and a set of party hats so that we could throw Allie Jr. a memorable birthday party. John cut the cake and offered it to her, but she didn't take any. I guess she just wanted to make sure everyone else got some first. He surprised her by posting the entire series on her birthday, and she thought it was hilarious.

Let Them Eat Cake

Happy Birthday, Allie!

Painting with Light

"Painting is by nature a luminous language." - Robert Delaunay

     The third weekly assignment for Small Format is a photo that uses the only the light from our own flashes, which are set off to illuminate different areas of the scene during the same exposure. Isabel and I wanted to practice our timing, aim, and flash settings while we could help each other figure out an effective system. We each shot different scenes within the apartment; this image was shot at f/5.6 for 30 seconds at ISO 200. I wanted to see how much ground we could cover in thirty seconds when we could only move in the dark, so I had my camera at 35mm as close to our front door as possible.

     One of my youth leaders from my church back home had given me three Kodak gel filters (No.15, 25, and 58) that she bought from the RCC bookstore when she was in school. I thought the best way to see the effectiveness each flash location was to have a different color light in each area, which worked rather well. This style is not what I'm looking for in my final image, but it was a lot of fun to play around with ideas and techniques in the comfort of our own home (and pajamas).

I'll Bring the Cracker Jack

     I shot my first baseball game of the summer, and I had a lot of fun with it. I'm glad I got a head start on it so that I have plenty of time to fit in several more games. Unfortunately I have never sat through a baseball game, so I wasn't sure what to look for and definitely forgot to keep track of the score. It was a pretty good start for me to practice timing and settings, and I am excited about improving my skill set over the course of the summer semester. 

     As the sun went down, the lighting of the field became inconsistent, but I liked the rim around the mascot, Fang's, face. This picture made me laugh, and I adore that most baseball mascots are equal parts cute and creepy. 

     f/2.8 @ 1/1000  ISO200

Giving a Wide Berth

     I usually don't have a problem with personal space issues around people with which I am familiar, but I wanted to practice taking photos of people at the distance we are expected to use for our stranger assignment in small format. This photo of my fellow student and roommate, Isabel McLaughlin, was taken at 35mm, which is the longest focal length we can use for the project. I enjoyed playing with different angles while I was very comfortable with my subject, who was also comfortable with me getting up close and personal. I think the wide angle will encourage me to take portraits with more personality and a greater sense of humor because I like playing around with the distortion.
     f/4 @ 1/80  ISO320