DMTNT

DMTNT 2011

Aaaand we're back. I love the new site for so many reasons. It's bold, it's beautiful, and does a great job of showing off the work without too many bells and whistles. Unfortunately, it's just wasn't a good fit for the blog, so RedTown has returned to its happy home and I have to say, it feels really good.


And to kick off our return, I'm happy to post some photos from a recent shoot I did for a good friend's band DMTNT This duo turn out some pretty intense electronic metal which sounds pretty amazing.  I totally dig their adventurous soundscapes that are both technical and challenging while just skirting the edge of aural overload. You really should check out their tracks but to get the full effect you really have to see them perform live.


I instantly knew going into this shoot was that I wanted to pay homage another electro/guitar shredding duo whom I'm really big into: RATATAT.

Ratatat

I often reference other photos I love in the work I do. Not only am I inspired by great photography (as I think all good photographers are) but I often find that when I see a photo I love, I want one of my own in my portfolio. While I consider these two photos to be very different from each other, I think it goes without saying that the inspiration is clear. This isn't to say that I'm always trying to make my own facsimile of someone else's photography when I work. And I'm certainly not trying to make any claims that mine is an improvement over the original. In fact, one of the key things I love about Ratatat's photo is it's retro snapshot quality, which is clearly absent from mine (I think it's fascinating how I'm drawn to photographs whose style IS so different from my own). But I do argue that being open to other photographers' work and acknowledging how the images you respond to the most affect your own vision is a good thing.

Normally I like to go into any shoot having already worked out any technical unknowns. It looks bad when you show up for a shoot and don't have the slightest idea how you're going to get the image. But when you're working with friends, sometimes you just want to try things without worrying about how unprofessional it might look. If ever there is a time to make mistakes and try to learn a new process, this is the time to do it right?


This shoot was challenging in that I'd never shot a photo where the main source of light was from a projector. There were some instant unknowns like just how much light does a projector put out? Will I have to shoot super wide open and still only be able to hope for 1/4 sec shutter speed? Then there were conceptual issues to work out.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted to project a barcode, but somewhere between first concept of the photo to execution, I had complicated the idea by wanting to project weird color charts, or old Magnum press b&w photos. Once I tested out all these alternate ideas and found them all to suck and returned the original concept, it all just clicked. Not only was the graphic quality of the black and white lines eye catching, but it was a far more symbolically appropriate image that fit better than any of the other images that night.

early reject

The key to this shoot was to approach it with a firm idea, but be flexible to change my vision when challenges presented themselves. Frankly, the final product is miles away from what I originally imagined, (the original concept included a fog machine and more lights) but because I knew where I ultimately wanted to take this photo, and was able to learn as I went along, I was able to create something that surprised and excited me while staying close to my original concept - an important skill when working for any client.

After nailing the money shot, I had 2 more portraits I wanted to do for the fellas:

And that's it! It was a fun night full of learning and making some killer photos. A big thanks to DMTNT for being super chill and hugely patient while working out the technical details of the shoot on the spot and for being able to hang for hours until we got it in the can. Check out DMTNT's music and be sure to check back here on the blog as I have much to catch up on and plan to be posting more in the coming days/weeks.

It feels good to be back!

Portrait of the artist as a young man

Photo taken by Maria Davis on the first day of my 28th year.

What can I say

Laura

Great shoot today! Laura Penn (www.laurapenn.com - hire her!) is a Chicago actress with a great personality, beautiful smile and a very youthful look. Looking at her images on her website, I could see she had all that covered well enough. I wanted to make her look a little more glamorous and grown up. She showed up right on time (talk about professionalism) and came fully stocked with wardrobe and makeup ready to get to work.

When the shoot got started I began to get a little nervous. The photos were ok, but nothing was getting me excited. We tried some different poses, and we laughed a bit to get us in a good mood, but the image I had in my head still wasn't showing up in front of the camera. Maybe I couldn't make her look anything other than "cute". She has a lot of energy and every shot I took either showed too much youthfulness or the pose was too cheese. I had my work cut out for me.

But I learned something important today. As the shoot progressed, she became more comfortable and I found what looks were and weren't working and became more comfortable giving direction. Soon we had a great rhythm and was firing away some great photos shot after shot. So the lesson I take away from the shoot is this: it's never the model's fault if you're photo's aren't coming out the way you want them to. Sure you may find it challenging at first, but with a keen eye, good communication and an ability to adapt to the shoot to fit the model, you will always come away with something great.

Thank you Laura for being such a great model today. I hope my photos help get you a great gig!

Self Portrait

Testing light for a shoot I'm doing today in studio and decided to bust out the hassy for a thru the viewfinder self-portrait. Kinda fun...

A Rose by Any Other Name

From the camera

One of the many problems I face as a budding young photographer is finding my style. What is style? How does one go about finding it? I know that I need one if I'm going to be successful and distinguish myself from the thousands of other very talented young photographers working out there, and yet, I can't help but feel like I want to try it all. I think I definitely have a visual preference; I certainly like moody, usually single-lit images. And for the most part, I think they speak to me in a way most of my more "production heavy" photos don't. I think this is generally the case with photography. The dynamic image is usually bold and brash, allowing us to see in stark unflinching contrasts providing us with a dramatic, and therefore different, view of the ordinary. Single-lighting provides that contrast and the old axiom "less is more" seems really appropriate in the case of photography. But even though I think photography is 99% about the light, it's also 99% about the subject. And according to my fuzzy math, that's pretty legit. Where most of us go wrong is that we choose the wrong light for the subject, or vice versa. Light is the best tool I have for telling my story visually, but I also know that without a good subject, or the appropriate combination of the two, no one really cares what I'm shooting. A photo is just a photo is just a photo, until it's a photo.

For this post I wanted to share some variations on a single image that came from a recent shoot with Jeff. Hands down my favorite model so far and I can't wait to throw some actual paying work his way, because the guy is great. He poses well for me and I think he has a great look. Can't wait to work with him some more in the future. But for this shoot, I can't seem to decide which style I want to process the photo. To make it especially challenging, I've chosen a difficult photo in terms of its shortened dynamic range and very high contrast. I thought it would be fun to see how effective my PS work would be at changing the visual style of the image. I think I have a favorite look from the five shown, and I think it's thanks to exercises like this that I continue to form my style. Enjoy.

Color Corrected - plain jane

B&W - Moody

Desaturated - Subtle blueish hue

cross-process

retro color funk?

When it doesn't go your way.

Working with a flexible and patient model can make all the difference in the world. I recently did a shoot with a new model named Alberto as part of a series I'm working on featuring night time scenes throughout the city. Unfortunately for Alberto, it being February and well after sunset didn't really click in my head until we arrived on location to do the shoot and our teeth instantly started chattering. To make things worse, the wind was driving through this underpass like we were in a wind tunnel (go figure) and I was having trouble with my lighting. So after wasting 20-30 mins with my head on backwards, and my fingers frozen from fiddling with the equipment, and poor Alberto spasming uncontrollably, we finally were able to start shooting. And luckily for me, Alberto really sucked it up and gave me some great poses. Unfortunately for both of us, I wasn't able to get as many solid photos as I would have liked, so we end up with a less than great collection of photos to choose from. That said, I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned here about working with models who take this seriously enough to put up with freezing temperatures and photographers who aren't 100% on. I may not have a lot of options from this shoot, but I did get a few solid photos instead of going home completely empty handed. Bravo Alberto for being a sport and I can't wait to photograph you again.

Band: Nimikri

In the spirit of sharing and enriching the blog experience, and because our fans demand it, we're going to be a little more loquacious with each post. Pretty pictures seem to me to be so much more impressive when you're given a chance to understand more. So, from here in, we'll do our best to talk about the why and the how of each photo we post so you learn, and with any luck, become inspired to try some of it yourself.

To kick it off, we have a pretty cool post for you. This weekend I had the opportunity to photograph a band called Nimikri. (www.myspace.com/nimikri) As you can see from their blank myspace page, they're in desperate need of an image (and a bassist and voc alist, send them an IM if you're interested).

Like most good shoots for the beginner photographer, this one started thru the magic of Craigslist. I've been having a run of decent luck there, finding people to photograph on a pretty consistent basis. Not nearly as many people skipping out on me at the last minute like last year *knock on wood*. There really is no excuse to not have a respectable portrait portfolio when there are so many people online looking to trade services and be apart of your project. It's a simple matter of mutual back scratching, and so far, people get that if they're willing to play along with my bizarre photo concepts, they usually go home with some cool photos.

Portrait: Ashok