The ‘Short Story Stills’ section is something I’ve been working on for a few weeks now.  Each entry is a new series of images that I’m using to stretch myself creatively, both behind the camera and from a production/direction perspective.  In 20 images or less I’m trying to tell stories that have a beginning, middle and end.  And everything is fair game; they can be complex, sexy, funny, adventurous…you name it…if the story can be thought out effectively, I’m going to try to shoot it.

Here’s a few stills from the first three shoots in the series.  Each idea is a collaboration.  The basic concepts for each shoot are planned out ahead of time, but are also completely malleable during execution.  Everyone has a voice; photographer, models, makeup artists and any production assistants we have on hand…the more input, the better chance we have of making something awesome.

Gotta tip the hat to Chantel, Beth & Casey for being on the business side of the lens for these first sets.  A major thank you to Daniel Oz and Chelsea for the backside production on shoot’s two and three…and of course Connie for helping make these ideas realities LONG before I ever pick up a camera.  With all sincerity, everyone of you have been crucial to the success of these shoots and I appreciate your help in a way I’ll never be able to explain.

Thanks for checking them out!  Hit the link in this post or at the top of the page to see each story in its entirety.  And, if you feel so inclined, share them with your friends and cell mates.

Now, time for me to get back to my brats, sauerkraut, cheese curds & funny speaking friends.

Peace, eh!  Yah-sure, ya-betchya!

Other stuff:  I’ll be adding a new section to the blog soon called, at least for now, ‘Artist Articles’.  The basic idea with the AA’s will be to introduce whoever reads this blog to some of the people that inspire me outside of photography.  They’ll definitely have a heavy lean towards music, as I find a lot of inspiration in not only the music itself but what it takes to WANT to be a musician.  Hope to have the first of these up in the next couple of weeks.

I’ll also be moving forward with my ‘off-season’ shooting project soon.  Once that’s moving I’ll have piles to blog over about a 12 week period…or as long as it takes to get the first series done.  The concept is cool…here’s to hoping I can pull it off the way I see it in my head.

…and I should have some info about the 300 Almost Naked People II shoot soon as well.  We’ll have some fun for a good cause all over again!

So, before I pack it in I wanted to quickly post some shots I did recently with Christina.  She’s crazy fun in front of the camera – VERY ENERGETIC – and ready to go that extra bit to make an image cool.  She rocked a collection of hats into a dress just for the shoot! Dig it!

Rock on!

First – this was a team effort all the way around.  Jeff H was all about the nerdy support on quite a few fronts…and did some sweet audio engi-rigging as well.  Thanks Jeff.  DanO was both crucial & essential to this video ever getting done.  Without him on board it would have taken months for me to find the time to get the editing.  That, and he knows stuff I can only dream of.  More so, he’s an awesome photographer and rockin image editor.  That definitely pays off when trying to finish the look of a project.  More than most people, DanO sees images from some of the same perspectives I do (and a whole bunch I never think of).

Second – I didn’t go into 2010 thinking I’d be interested at all in shooting music videos.  After a few bands asked if I’d be interested I started realizing that always saying ‘no thanks’ might not be the best answer.  (Hmmm…might be fun?  Probably be an adventure any way you slice it…)  And, Pan.a.ce.a hadn’t ask…so I asked them.  No expectations…let’s just see what happens. I was still in possession of that little handy Panasonic GF-1 on loan from Barry & Cathy Beck.  It shoots 720HD video and kicks out images that rival any camera for quality.  Sweet…camera for shooting, funky little wide angle lens and a super heavy tripod to act as a poor man’s steadycam.  This entire video was shot with a point-n-shoot camera and it worked well for what we asked of it…

Don’t be afraid to try something based on the false limitations you put on yourself, and don’t be afraid to fail.

{this concludes our current brain-purge…back to editing}

Rock on!

This Sunday we’re taking a crew down to Daniel Oz Studio’s in Philadelphia to stretch our creative bones and try some new ideas out.  While I’ve had the opportunity to work with Pan.a.ce.a a number of times covering live shows, we’ve never gotten together for the ‘real deal’ promo images.  So that’s goal number one for this weekend.  Rockin’ out a new series for the guys should be enough; but enough is too cliche…so we’ve set 2 other moderately lofty goals for the shoot as well:

1. Shoot our first music video
2. Live stream the event (and not embarrass ourselves in the process)

I’ve had a number of bands ask me about shooting music videos for them since January of this year…as I’ve never done this I’ve kindly declined more times than I’m starting to feel comfortable with.  Pan.a.ce.a, on the other hand, hasn’t ask, which is why I asked them.  ”We’ll get your new promo images guys, but give me a couple more hours of your time, and let’s shoot a music video and see what happens”…that was pretty much my pitch.  They agreed and here we are; trying something new, challenging and exciting.

So, with the video idea agreed to I threw the last curve – “let’s live-stream some of the process of shooting promo images and part of the video shoot.”  Let’s make it something people might want to take a peek at.  The guys were in and we started laying out how we might pull it off.  What follows is a brief timeline of what you can expect to see when you tune in on Sunday:

LIVE FEED SCHED:

12:30-1:00 – Band Radio with slide show of stills
1:00-1:45 – Live feed of promo images
1:45-2:30 – Band Radio
2:30-3:00 – Live with Pan.a.ce.a Q & A
3:00-4:00 – Band Radio
4:00-4:?? - Live feed of first two takes
4:??-?:?? - Band Radio

During the slots listed as ‘Band Radio’ you’ll be seeing slideshow images of the band submitted by friends and fans while listening to the entire Pan.a.ce.a discography.  This is were Pan.a.ce.a fans can get involved in this production.  While the guys have a pile of images to work with for these slide shows, the more the better.  If you have any shots of the band handy feel free to post them to the bands Facebook Fanpage.  We’ll take them from there and incorporate them into the feed.  It’s a great way to BE part of the day. The breaks from the live feed also give us a chance to make changes and do the boring stuff that goes on behind the scenes.  So, from 12:30-some time after 4pm on Sunday you’ll be able to tune in and watch the goings on.

We’ll be getting more info out over the next couple of days with the address of live feed – it’ll be a few places and we’ll make sure you can find them all.  Following us on Twitter is a good way to stay up on what’s going on during the shoot as well – the studio Twitter account is @StudioDPhoto and you can follow the band at @PanaceaRock.

That’s about it for tonight…thanks for reading and we hope as many of you as can will be tuned in on Sunday.

Rock On!

The first 6 images here are from Monday down at DanO’s – his studio is in a huge complex that makes my brain swim with ideas, often WAY more than I can cram into one or two shoots.  The second series of 6 are from yesterday.  My hat is off to all of these awesome ladies for putting up with long days and crazy uncomfortable shooting weather.  You all rocked out some great images.  Thanks for making life fun!

Rock On!

http://www.studio-d-photo.com

Man it’s taken a long time.  Like, I meant to get this done BEFORE the season got going.  Obviously it didn’t happen.  But I have finally managed to get the new studio website up and running.  I’m pretty sure this is Version 4 since the first www.studio-d-photo.com hit the net some time ago when I still had a real job.  Let’s give it up to Dan O @ DanialOzPhoto for the first 3 iterations of the website.  He’s been my go-to homie since back in the dizzay!  Everyone should have a walking encyclopedia…just don’t take mine!  :P  DanO has been there for anything I’ve ever needed when it comes to websites and whatnot…My hat is off to your superior gray matter my friend!

There’s still a bit to do, but the basic site is up and working.  New galleries with both old and new images.  Still rockin ‘Acclimate’ from General Fuzz as the sound track to the site.  That song is still the closest thing to sound perfection my ears have ever heard!  Check it out at http://generalfuzz.com/ if a get a second…

Thanks for checkin’ out the new site…

Rock on!