So, recently, my camera has been going everywhere I’ve been going. It’s been a while since I’ve been like that. So it’s just been a joy to see what I’m capable of in day to day shooting… Some of my recent shots: Enjoy!
So, it goes to show, that even in this economy you can get a job. After working with Brows on upper 15th to take pictures of their clients on a freelance, they now want me to start taking portraits two days a week. At affordable pricing, Brows and I are offering quality portraits for Facebook pictures, business head shots, Christmas portraits, modeling portfolio shots and anything else you can think of.
Here are some examples from the first shoot I did with Brows:
Wow, I’m loving this image!
-R
I am currently working on getting some posters out to an awesome frame maker here in Denver in trade for an awesome bike frame that I could not otherwise afford. Here are some of the fruits of my labor:
This first one is my obvious fav choice. All this image took was a hand held flash and some fun on Chris’ part.
This one is fun, but the timing is a little off… I do like the editing and exposure on it though.
This one is my least favorite, but I’m proud of it none the less. And not for reasons you could guess. I was holding the flash in one hand and super expensive camera in the other while riding on a crazy trail: “Look ma, no hands.”
Chris Sulfrian, the owner of Generic Cycles, is the subject of my images. You should definitely check him out at GenericCycles.com
For those of you who have known me a short time, or just miss some of my older fine art, here’s a much needed taste. This series, Spiritual Night Abstractions, is the birth of a revolution in my photography. I was influenced at the age of 16 by a wonderful photographer Chris James, whose work is based exclusively at night. He taught me a wonderful formula for developing black and white film to achieve excellent shadow/highlight detail in such contrasty conditions. I eventually moved to color slide film because of the wonderful color that can be achieved through the different color temperatures emitted by lights at night. The most commonly found, being orange/yellow, other wise known as sodium vapor lights. On top of the different light sources, there are different films that perceive the light to be a different color. With these different films, the color can also change from brand to brand of film. It is a fascinating playground for a photographer:
Here is an example of the different colors found at night. The yellow is the sodium vapor as interpreted by the film. Of course we see that light as orange with our eyes. The Skate Park is lit by florescent lights. The film interprets that as green.
This is the same sodium vapor light that is found everywhere as seen through Fuji Film T64 (the “T” representing tungsten, for tungsten lighting). Notice (how could you not), how everything has turned blue! I got sick of that yellow after a while. Not wanting to have a portfolio of yellow images, I mixed up my use of film to create variety.
This image is of ice, at night, with a sodium vapor lamp a few yards back. It is taken with Kodak’s EPY T64. In comparison, there is a huge difference at night between how the two films react to light. In my final conclusions after working with these films. Fuji is a better film. I love the green that the Kodak gives off…. but the Fuji Film scans soooooo much better!
This is image is the result of a sodium vapor lamp (would have never guessed, huh?), but I have done some tweaking to the images to make the yellow appear more golden. I also forced the green that used to be in this image into shadow. This created a more dramatic atmosphere for this image.
A side note, all of these are shot with a 6×7cm, medium format camera. Some of these shown here (two of them) have been blown up to be 4×5 feet in print. They are beautiful (and for sale). Film is really the only medium to take such images with. Digital has not over come some of its problems that make it impossible to take long exposures with… In addition to a comparable camera being $40,000 in price.
-R
5280 just published 16 images of mine in their Top Dentist issue. It was an honor to work with 5280 (Jena Platte and Kent Odendahl) considering how professional they are. Here are some of the fruits of my labor, 500 miles and 16 different locations later:
As you may have read in my last entry, I’ve been working with 5280 to shoot about 17 different shots. And no, these 17 different subjects did not travel to me, so 540 miles later, I had completed my task for photographing 5280’s Top Dentists. Then it was on to photoshopping the images. It was a wonderful experience and a great job to have. Also, working with 5280 was wonderful. I couldn’t have worked with more professional and responsive people.
Unfortunately, I can not display these images until the magazine is published. So, you’ll just have to wait to see the photographs 
In the mean time, I have for you a shoot I did last sunday. It was for an album cover and project that David Dinsmore is working on:
Then, just before we broke down, we got a few pictures of the crew. This is Addie:
It was a wonderful and fun shoot to work on. I consistently get from other people that my shoots are fun : ) I really enjoyed it myself. Course, this is very much what I like to do as far as photoshoots go. I’m waiting, waiting till I can get those jobs that I love. Fashion, night abstracts, maybe both!
-R
ADCD, the Art Director’s Club of Denver, put on a wonderful show of great designs called the Paper Fashion Show. I was lucky enough to be a part of the whole thing. I photographed on a set all 37 models at the show. I had noooo idea that I would be up to my knees in models waiting to have there pictures taken. I shot 1,100 images over the course of a little under 4 hours. Some of the images are displayed below:
Things have been looking up : ) Between photography work and assisting jobs, I’m officially making a living… for this month at least. Who knows what next month will hold. 5280 just called, they want me to shoot 20 images during the month of April. I’m so excited. It’s a great job. It will be a demanding one, coordinating with 20 dentists to get many shots. Not only will it be a photographic challenge, but it will be a production challenge as well. I’m excited to meet the demand of this job and in the process prove my worth to 5280 and hopefully many other potential clients.
These are two images from a recent shoot I did for Fly Magazine. It has been a wonderful process shooting their monthly fashion spread. It has taught me to deal with higher pressure situations. Many times Fly does not give me a heads up on the shoot so we end up doing things last minute, but even under this pressure I am able to pull together an idea and work efficiently to create images I can feel proud of.
It’s a learning game at this point… And I do feel like I’m falling behind because of my lack of abillity to shoot because of financial pressures. When I lived under my dad, my money would go towards just photography. Now it goes towards photography, rent, fixing my pedicabs, paying debt, buying food, etc… I’m sure you get the point. It’s hard sometimes to be creative while trying to lead a real life. I feel like at times, my life can be stifiling …and thus why I say it’s a learning game. We never stop learning…
I had the idea that I would put together a fashion shoot like I’d never done before. Having a good hold on lighting, I now venture to do more creative things with my fashion. I projected a move on to a white backdrop while lighting my model with a gridded soft box from above with a boom. The end results:
I look back over the 1,200 images I shot that day and think: I could have done this differently, but all in all, I feel it was a very strong shoot. And it will be followed by more of a similar quality.
-R
