wedding shoot

I came back last night full of energy! The wedding was so much fun. I wish Matt and Lisa all the luck in the world!

 

  The primary shooter was Melissa St. Laurent and we learned so much from each other.  I taught her about her camera and she taught me about wedding photography. (She just made the switch to digital)  She wants to work with me the future!

  During the reception I tried something totally different, using my wide angle and the pictures came out fantastic!  I got the idea from one of the TA's at school, Chris Shelley.  He is the one that suduced me to the dark side of photography.  I was taking portrait class and he came in and started playing with the wide angle lens and got me hooked.  Here is an image from that day.

 This is Howard and he in one of the film instructors at school.  Everyone who has seen this shoot loves it.  (Well, except my wife)  His friend's and family all think it looks just like him.

Gregory Crewdson’s work

  I have been checking my blog stats and I cannot believe the number of hits that I have been getting b/c of my Gregory Crewdson’s  post.  (Sometimes over 100 hits per day)  That is just amazing.  That magic of the web.     I found another blog on wordpress referring to Crewdson's work. 

http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/gregory-crewdson-beneath-the-roses/

He is much more articluate then I am.

Daniel Doke/ Pictage User Group

Last night I wend to a Pictage User Group Meeting at CDIA.  They featured speaker was wedding photographer Daniel Doke.  This guy was fantastic.  I learned so much from him and got great inspiration.  I was worried that my self diagnosed ADHD would interfer with my photography but it turns out Dan has the same issues.  (he is also a little shy like my self.)

One thing he talked about, which is a new term, is depth of light.  It is kind of like depth of field but instead of focus it is all about light.  He also talked about playing with the white balance to give his images his own look.  I am going to take to heart some of the things that he talked about and try it with my own take on it.

http://www.dandoke.com/

My first unoffical wedding

    

Last night was my first unofficial wedding shoot.  ( I was a shadow shooter.)  Gina and Chris  were the couple that was getting married. They were obviously in love and I wish them both the best of luck.

     I cannot tell you how much fun it was.  I cannot believe that I am working my way towards doing this as more of an income source then as a hobby.  I am going to be getting paid to do something that I love.  My father worked at a job for too long that he did not like.  (He got to a point in his life he had to stay working for Raytheon because he was going to get a pention.)  I promised myself that I would not put myself in the same position, working for a paycheck only.

  On a final note, my stores will be stocked tonight, before I go to bed.  Do not be afraid to purchase anything!  A portion of all sales will be going to The Children’s Tumor Fund.

Store front open! (well almost)

I am happy to report that I am opening up a store front on Cafe Express as well as Blurb.  At this time I do not have anything there but I hope to have something by the end of the weekend.  (I have a wedding to shadow shoot on Saturday night and that has all of my attention right now.)  But here are the stores.

http://www.cafepress.com/john_roy_photo

http://www.blurb.com/user/johnroyphoto

Who the heck knows where it is going to take me.

Gregory Crewdson

Watching CBS this morning, they featured a photographer named Gregory Crewdson. He creates dream like states in his photos that are unbelievable.  He spends hours creating his dream photos and they sell for big money.  His prints are limited to 10 images and they start at $80,000.  So he does million dollar photo-shots.  He does a lot of "staging" in his images, a little photo shop work but they are really great at getting a story across.  He still using film, large format.  (8x10)  Check out this image that i found on another person's wordpress blog

http://lartenvalise.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/04beneaththeroses300dpi.jpg

That image says so much.  It makes you wonder the man's story.  My first impression is a sales person who's car has broken down in a small mid-west town.  My old boss use to have a car like that one.  (I am in sales)  Look at all the lines in the image.  The telephone lines, faded crosswalk.  I know that I am rambling here but everytime you look around, there is something to see. 

His work kind of reminds me of Walker Evans urban landscapes where lines always meet.  I hope to be on the same level as Greg one day.

One last image to look at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/images/crewdson.jpg

Just stare at this iamge for a while.  Notice how all the traffic lights are yellow.  The traffic light poles line up with each other.  The tax man sign on the left.  (We always have to pay taxes.) Just keep looking and you will see something new.