Making Something From Nearly Nothing
July 22, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Today was planned months ago. The image ideas and how to execute them had been thought about over and over. It was going to be tons of fun and hopefully produce some really awesome images…images of some really motivated and exceptionally fit individuals hittin the Appalachian Trail…
…looks like we’re going to have a few more months to plan that out. Doh! Someone in the PA government decided it was time to close Winter’s Trail (one of the on-ramps to the A.T. in NEPA). Yeah, we were confused… but mark one down for scouting! This past Tuesday morning Mike D, Mary and I got a super early jump and headed up to the A.T. to be in position for sunrise. The plan was to be ready when first light hit, assess what we’d have time to do and come up with some shot ideas based on the possible…with a touch of the nearly impossible.
So that WAS the plan. When we drove up around 5:30 and found Winter’s Trail closed. Lots of fences and chains and a whole bunch of ‘go away’. With some quick goat thinking we moved on to two other locations that Mike and Mary knew of. Unfortunately nothing was really working for what I was hoping to shoot…and least not like the A.T. would have.
Feeling slightly less that satisfied with my early morning adventure, I headed back to the ‘Wick to figure out what to do.
Relief was found near the bottom of beer (I know, how many times has that happened, right!) The fine folks at Bandit’s Roadhouse came to the rescue and let us use a warehouse they own to get the shoot done. Having just shot there on Monday, ideas were fresh and ready to go…albeit COMPLETELY different ones from what we wanted to do on the A.T.
Yesterday, less than 24 hours before the shoot, it hit me that I might try something a little different this time. Rather than get right into the workout shots, I thought we’d work into them. The warehouse has some awesome old offices, relics of workdays paste. It was begging for a shoot. I dropped Julie, Seth & Andrea the news and asked them to whip together a look for the office. They rocked it…with very little notice they all put together some great looks.
Kat came in on makeup for everyone and the rest of our team for this shoot (Connie, Erin & Steph) played key roles in making sure it all worked. Thank you Julie and Matt from Brandit’s Roadhouse for helping on location needs. And major props as always to the rest of the team today…thank you all for kicking ass! 
Basically I was trying for a linear progression in the images…a story board sequence of sorts. From the dulldrums of the office to the energy and excitement of LIFE being lived. As this was my first attempt at it, there are some obvious deviations from the time line that could have been done better. But all-in-all I’m pretty satisfied with that part of the shoot, and I’m really stoked about the images. We’ll take what we learned from this and give it another shot on another shoot some time soon.
Rock On!
…and a few more recent images
May 24, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
…is this ASAP enough?
Joey & Jamie’s Vegas mind-melt gave me some time to work up a couple of posts I’ve been wanting to do. Nooooo, not WHILE in Vegas…you can get a lot done on a 3 hour flight! Here’s a few from Connie’s most recent modeling shoot.
How much does she ROCK for getting the hair dyed dark just to do this shoot the way I’d pictured it in my head? Every shoot seems better than the last with her…and that’s a damn good thing! :D Once again, thank you Kat for rocking the makeup & general shoot assistance.
And here’s a few from the most recent band promo shoot I’ve had the opportunity to work on. 1 Hot Mess is 1 rad crew of people to have on the opposite end of the lens. Connie and Kat rocked out the back end of this shoot as well. When the 3 of us are firing on all cylinders, life is GOOD! Thank you to everyone involved!
Updates & Band Promo Images
April 25, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Spending this rainy Sunday editing and getting things around for next week; the last few have been a whirlwind of activity. I think summer showing up early put things into high gear before I was ready. Oh well…”here’s to being busy” I guess! :D
The Berwick Mural Project got underway fully this weekend with the start of Alley Art. I made it for about an hour and a half of painting, but Connie and a few others put in some spirited 6+ hours of constant painting. The wall is fully primed and things are moving on that. It’s cool watching this come together. Connie has put a tenacious pile of effort and time into making sure this moved forward. Congrats to my main homie!
This Wednesday night is also the first of the Small Group classes we’re holding in the studio in the coming weeks. There’s 1 seat left in each of the 3 evenings if anyone is interested. Connie and I are pretty excited to be doing these. She gets to host, I get to jibjab about photography all night – it’s like when peanut butter & jelly first hooked up!
Here’s a few band shots from recent…always enjoy working with musicians. Mixing arts is becoming a new hobby for me I think.
Like these guys do – Rock on!
Body Art: Paint & Glitter
April 14, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
READ THIS FIRST
A quick thank you to everyone that stopped down for the www.300AlmostNakedPeople.com teaser video we shot last week at A Perfect Blend. Between the test shooting on Wednesday and the real deal on Thursday we got a pile of cool footage. Annie B. rocked the editing and the vid is currently with Andy Z. for audio and sound effects. The plan, right now, is to have it posted Sunday morning for anyone interested in checking it out. We’re getting to work on a 90-120 second promo piece in the next week or so…drop me a line if you’re interested in taking part in that.
I really appreciate everyone that’s been getting involved in this. It’s all about having fun and putting to use the amazing skills and talents of the people I come into contact with every day. It doesn’t take much to make life way more interesting…get up, get out and DO IT!
The images linked here depict artistic representations of nude bodies. If this type of art offends you, please DON’T look. I respect that it might not be for everyone – to each their own, right? Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Every once in a while I get to stop working and try something different. These three shoots definitely fall into that category. I’ve wanted to do some body paint shots for a while now, but the logistics of getting willing participants, at least a partially baked idea and of course an artist all together at the same time makes it a tad challenging. Again, with just about everything I shoot, I learn a TON of stuff when we’re pushing the boundaries a bit. Like, make sure the room is TOO warm…cause people standing around naked will get cold after 3+ hours, pretty much for sure. Ellie and Steph are total champs all the way, and a HUGE thank you goes out to Olivia Jacobs for her rockin paint skills and patience. Working with all 3 of these awesome people was a great experience.
And Kat was back for more makeup fun, this time on the ‘human discoball’ glitter shoot that Courtney and I have been hitting around for a while. We rocked a totally awesome set of images and everyone walked away pretty stoked about this one. And lastly, thank you to Connie and Corry for all their help with Courtney’s shoot – it is mucho appreciated!
…and yes, the studio DOES look like fairy’s exploded here…gotta love me some glitter!
Enjoy!
Teaser Commercial Bodies Needed
April 5, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Hey…just a quick post asking for help from anyone with a few minutes on their hands. This Thursday evening starting at 6:30pm a couple of us are getting together down at A Perfect Blend during their Open Mic Nite to shoot a little footage for the 300AlmostNakedPeople.com project teaser video. We need people willing to stand still for a few seconds. We’re shooting body parts for a montage clip that we’ll be posting on YouTube and on the project sight. If anyone is interested in being part of this, show up! Shoulders, legs, hips, feet…etc. That sort of thing. (Just to cover my butt, you gotta be 18 to play along…thanks for understanding)
Connie (who can be reached at 570-578-9412) will also have some info about the Berwick Mural Project, and an opportunity for you to paint something THURSDAY NIGHT @ A Perfect Blend in support of the project. Painting starts in Euclid Alley on Saturday, April 24th. Hope to see you at Open Mic Nite on Thursday for more info.
That’s about it…if you’re interested, we’ll see you there…if not, thanks for reading anyway! :D
Rock On!
Berwick Mural Project Involvement
March 24, 2010 by vard · 2 Comments
Anyone like painting – REALLY HUGE things? Connie has been interested in getting some murals in Berwick for quite a while now. She’s working with a small committee of local people to get it done. They have the support of the borough and building/location owners as well. What they need is help. If anyone reading this feels like getting creative in a BIG way, drop Connie a line at 570-578-9412 and let her know. It all starts on the 24th of April! THIS IS HAPPENING this spring/summer…might make for a nice creative outlet project! :D
The Nationwide Insurance building wall
Prime location for some public art (decent photography on the 2nd floor as well, I’ve heard 
)
Berwick Theater wall
Another cool spot with a lot of viewing opportunity
BIDA wall on LaSalle St.
I’m excited for this one. LaSalle’s already got a lot of character…this could really go a bunch of cool ways!
Euclid Alley (The Start of Alley Art)
This is the spot that started it all for Connie. She’s wanted to do ‘Alley Art’ since back in the day. Alley Art exploded into the Mural Project as more and more people wanted to help. If you spend any amount of time downtown, you’ll probably hit up Euclid Alley. Another really exciting wall waiting for some paint.
YMCA Retaining wall
Looooooooooooong and narrow…visually interesting possibilities here!
If you’re from the area and can visualize each of these spots, think about all of them done up in murals. What a cool, creative and interesting picture of Berwick that is. Come be part of something fun!
