portfolio work

I've been looking back through all my older work for some gems to include in my present portfolio and it is quite arduous looking through so many photos. I have found that I stumbled upon my voice with photographs about a year and half ago and have been refining it since (it will continue to be a life long process). All the photos I love the most are of people, moody portraits, showing something on the inside that is rarely visible. I can't quite figure out if I'm executing the same thing over and over again, or if I'm just using the same story telling methods for each unique story. The thing with having a portfolio is you need to show consistency and not try and be a jack of all trades. I'm just hoping I'm going to be able to show enough variety.

I've restrained my self from updating my website portfolio or really blogging any of this new work. I'm not all together sure why other than I want to show it all at once. I want to put it out there as a complete package. heres a little of the new and old. I'm not sure If any of these snippets will actually fit in the flow of my book, but thought I'd just throw a taste out there.

Think Different?

I came across this old apple campaign and it got me thinking (no pun intended). what are they trying to say? It didn't take long for me to realize that the point Apple is trying to make is quite clear. These individuals were pioneers in their field and they all did great things. It's saying that they thought different, and were great for it....thus you should think different....and presumably buy Apple.

My conclusion is a little different from Apples. I'm not sure I see these folks as necessarily thinking different as much as just thinking. the catch phrase "think different" assumes that these people were intentionally trying to be different. I would contend that by virtue of them thinking for themselves they ended up being different. Those who aren't thinking but are mimicking, copying, trying to emulate, attempting to meet industry standards, or simply trying to make something will the most mass appeal so it'll be liked, aren't really thinking at all, they are just duplicating. Can you see the photographic cross over here? Trying to be different may not get you very far at all. But trying to be great by only judging your work by how close it is to others who are considered great won't get you much further either.

The individuals above just thought. That is to say they did what they believed to be great and weren't constrained with the standards or quite equally so trying to be different. When they did this their genius came forth.

Context

Are you paying attention?
This is a story the Washington Post did a while back.

"On a cold January morning in a Washington, DC Metro Station, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time about two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

[...]In the end, only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. When he finished playing, no one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell had sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100."

While it sounds astounding that so many people could walk by such a talented musician playing right in front of them, and believe me it is astounding, it shows the power of context. The context of Joshua Bell playing in a metro station was incongruent. Peoples expectations of what they were going to find on their early morning commute was not a world class musician playing one of the most beautiful pieces ever written on a multi million dollar instrument.

This leaves me with two realizations with photography.

1. some of the strangest people, places, and things can produce the most beautiful images if only I am able to see them for what they are, instead of their present context.

2. images thrive on context. where you show your images and how you show them can create a perception of how good they actually are.

These are healthy reflections for anyone working on their portfolio, as I am right now, and working on their presentation of themselves and their work.

shooting, editing, shooting

I've been in the process for the last few months of working on my book, that is, my photo printed portofolio that I'm gonna send out to agencies, reps, magazines to rangle in future work. Its been a huge learning process and I've found a lot of aspects of the business I'm in that I absolutely never knew. a book thats been a huge help has been Photographers survival guide. The title sounds a little cheesy and is kinda misleading, cause its really an informational guide, not one for survival. anyway...its great in detailing the business ins and outs of commercial and editorial photography.

I've been attempting to create the kind of work I want to get in the future by doing test shoots now that show how I tell stories with my pictures. Its been a lot of shooting, and will be a lot more, and even more editing on top of all of that. I'm excited for the end of this process when I'll have a sweet book that I can shop around to folks.

just a screen shot of a recent shoot i'm working on

Keith & Katie (dance party) Wedding

you know that crazy cool wedding dance video thats on youtube? well, think of that plus a wedding your actually at, a pretty cool bridal party, and an even cooler couple, and you get Keith and Katies wedding. It was seriously cool. they got busy at the Eagle Arie landing Golf course and then got down at the rose quarter for the reception. enjoy!

as a little addition...they had the coolest 12x12 300 page album. heres the cover.

Rich & Megan Wedding

finally posting this fantastic wedding that I shot this last August. Rich and Megan got married at Blue lake park and it was a gorgeous day full of sunshine, tasty lemonade, and straight up dance partyness. enjoy!

Baby Time!

I know I haven't posted in a bit. I still have 3 weddings to post and so many portraits and other photos that its kinda crazy. but, first things first. We finally had the baby....miss Ella Marseille Lavenda Memory was born on October 19th at 5:08pm and she was 7 pounds 1 ounce. as you can see she is the cutest little thing in the world and Lavenda and I couldn't be happier. she's two weeks old now and things are starting to come back to normal with work for me, so expect more posts soon.