Been home in Colorado for a week and been working on my landscapes. I shot these with an infrared filter in Cripple Creek Canyon with some of my best friends. I’ve been having a lot of fun practicing with my Infrared filter I got, and looking to see the amazing effects it can create. 

I’ve been trying to experiment water with the IR filter because it makes really blue/cyan and then any thing green turns a lovely red or sometimes in bright light a white. 

Stay tuned for some other infrared shots, and other work I’ve been doing lately! 

May 24, Cripple Creek, CO 

16-35mm - f/16 - 30” - ISO 400

Hello! I have been so busy these past few months and have completely neglected my site! So I just went through and updated several areas. 

The following areas have been updated/added: 

spring 2017 lighting final - spring 2017 studio work - composites - night - portraits

Feel free to look around, and hopefully I’ll had new stuff shortly. Heres a couple photos of art school life: making the jewelry images and showing the composites critique

Well I had my first critique for my Digital Class, and even had to turn in prints! We had to choose a location, and go there on three separate occasions, and photograph anything interesting we found. It was a type of street photography, and it was really cool to see everyone’s locations and where they went. 

I went to the Western Stop on the Blue Line towards O’Hare, which many people thought would be boring. I even had my teacher comment on how that was a really dull area. Well, I made it my mission to make something interesting there, and I came away with some really good shots I thought!

We had to design a map of the area as well, and I had fun doing mine through Photoshop. The first photo is the prints that I hung to be shown in the critique. Overall, the critique went well, and many people commented on how it felt surreal or creepy. It was a pretty cool assignment, and a good way to see a piece of Chicago. 

February 12th, Western and Armitage, Chicago IL 

16-35mm - f/6.3 - 5” - ISO 400

Finished my first critique today for my Intro to Lighting class, and I have to say it’s been a ton of fun. My partner, Daniel, and I worked together on most of these shots. We could only use one light source, and had to play with direct, bounced, and diffused lighting. We set up the shots together, and would step in for each others shots. 

While I am in most of these shots, I retouched and worked with Daniel on the setups. I’ve already learned a lot about tethered capture, color cards, and metering for the color card. It’s been really awesome so far and this is one of my favorite classes at Columbia. 

I’m just super excited about my professor, who had a shoot for Nike after our class today. We went over multiple light sources today, and I assisted most of the time. Which is great, and made some contacts for future assisting jobs. Overall, been having a great time!

February 7th, Columbia Studios, Chicago IL 

 50mm - f/5.6 - 1/60 - ISO 250 - 1 KW Mole

I’ve officially lived in Chicago for a week now, and started my first classes today. And since everyone is asking, I’m doing good. I mean I’m trying to settle in and get used to the city, and meet new people; which unfortunately is kind tricky and is an awkward limbo state. 

So far I’m really enjoying Columbia and still stand with my decision to transfer. A feeling I have not gotten used to yet though is being surrounded by so many talented people. I don’t know if I’ve seen such a large congregation of very talented people in one place really. It inspires me while at the same time makes me feel very small. 

The hardest part though, is this new question everyone is asking me: What is your photography like and what genre do you shoot in? While this seems like a fairly easy one to answer, when an interviewer for an internship asked me, I was stumped. My work is very broad and I cover a lot of genres. 

I don’t do portraits only nor do I do landscapes only. I do whatever floats my boat. Some have said its very Fine Art based (which surprised me) and others have called it the foundation to Commercial. Honestly, I don’t really know what I want to be doing yet. I have a vague idea of what I am trying to pursue but I’m generally just a little lost. 

Hopefully when I start my studio classes it will even out, and I will figure out what my style is. But currently I don’t know how to answer the question just yet. And I think that is one of the strangest feelings I’ve had since being in Chicago. 

Also the story behind the photo, is this is Kathleen, one of my new roommates, and I asked her to sit for me. I was mystified by the fog settling in the city, as we watched from our apartment. I then wanted to see a person in the frame to give it some depth, and I was fiddling with my flash for a solid twenty minutes. 

Kathleen was a trooper though, and just sat while I figured out the best positioning of the flash and intensity; all the while sitting still for the long exposure. I actually really like this photo, even though it’s dark, but I guess my photography is dark. So lets go with that. 

January 20th, 15th Floor, Chicago IL

16mm - f/5.6 - 5s - ISO 320 - Flash 1/64

Phew! it has been an extremely busy last month, and I am finally able to sit down and catch up on my site! From finals in Boston, and then packing to move to Chicago, then moving in in Chicago, and Christmas and New Years and Doctor Appointments etc. I have been busy. 

But I have finally updated my site with new photos and kept it relevant. These photos were actually taken when I was running around in my home town in Castle Rock trying to catch up on errands, and we had a very cold frost hit us. 

Everything was covered in ice crystals, which is very unusual for Colorado. There was a heavy fog that wasn’t going to lift, and it was deafening quiet everywhere. It is moments like these that I love. It’s so beautiful, and I was able to take a few moments and reconnect in nature with myself and reflect. But I’ve always been a tree lover and love times in nature. 

The shots were a bit tricky because the sun was very bright, and pushing my highlights too harsh. With the sun casting reflections off the ice crystals, it seemed every shot would be too bright or too flat. I had to go back in later and correct it in post. 

But I love these photos; they show the quiet serenity of winter that I love. Winter is always my favorite time of year. I swear I was bred to live in cold temps. 

January 4th, Castle Rock CO

24mm - f/6.3 - 1/1600s - ISO 250

Just a couple quick shots, of my good friend Ethan with whom I stayed with over Thanksgiving break. It was nice to take photos of him in his element, and not as a photoshoot. Much more candid. I actually very much enjoy these photos, and think they bring out his personality very well. 

My favorite is actually him playing the guitar because he just quickly looked up after I said his name and has a good sense of his space and belonging. I also adore the lighting in it, with the lamp giving light off in the left. 

Again just a quick post, but I just love these portraits. 

November 27th - Canterbury NH

50mm - f/2 - 1/50s - ISO 500 

I was asked to do a shoot for a new fashion designer in the Boston area. And what a wonderful experience it was! The shoot was Geisha themed, and was wonderful to work with so many different people. We had hair, makeup, nails, stylist, director, designer, and myself all on set. It was so cool to have so many pieces of the puzzle coming together to create these photos. 

We lucked out with the weather in Boston, and had a really great day. I’ve been working on these photos for a week or so now, and have really been testing my editing my skills. We had a few mishaps with my light kit being picked up by the wind and flew into the river, to the models having to stay dressed (and those nail!) all day. 

It was such a great experience and exactly the type of work I want to do in the future. I love serendipity experiences just like this! Go check her out at Sydney Council Designs!

November 19th - Boston Public Gardens MA

 50mm - f/1.8 - 1/160s - ISO 400 

The story behind these images is a beautifully-hilarious one. A couple weeks ago I cooked some beets and while they boiled for hours on end, I noticed how beautifully red the water was. I did some research on dying clothing and decided to try it myself with an old shawl. While I was eating my delicious beets on a plate, I was simultaneously stirring in this shawl to the blood-red water. It was beautiful to watch the shawl turn light pink, then magenta then red. 

Since I didn’t eat all the beets I cooked, the next logical step was to add more beets to the mixture to make the dye stronger. I mashed up some beets and stirred them in, and left the pot and shawl to dye for several days. I would stir the conconction every few days to make sure everything was evenly soaked; and I was soon coming to realization of trying to clean this mess would be a process. 

Well the artist in me said this was not an opportunity to pass up, so the obvious thing was to take pictures of whatever happened. I found an empty shower stall in my college dorm, and brought my camera and flash. I made sure everything was all set, and slowly unearthed the sopping-wet-mashed-beet-fabric-mess. I flung it over a towel bar in the shower and proceeded to take pictures. 

As I was photographing, I was looking around and discovered that it looked like a crime scene. Red juice was all over the floor and splattered on the walls, and random chunks of beet had fallen on the floor. Quickly finishing up incase someone walked in and questioned what appeared to be a religious sacrifice, I began laughing at how ridiculous I looked. I was standing there with my camera on my belt, flash in my back pocket, trying to dump a pot of red water in the sink, the chunks had clogged the drain, and then this shawl was just hanging and dripping like a forgotten rag. 

Moral of the story is that it had been a long time since I had fully immersed myself in a shoot, and had random ideas and rolled with it; which is how I first got into photography. It was a nice reminder of taking chances and making messes and maybe an interesting image will happen. 

November 10th 2016 - Cambridge MA - College Dormitory Shower Stall

16mm - 1/60sec - f/4 - ISO400 - Flash at 1/32

I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on Friday, and loved it! I am related very distantly to Isabella and four it very interesting to learn about my history, and to see the amazing house she designed. However, the photos that are shown are actually from the new attachment to the house, and the amazing architecture, and then a lovely Dahlia that she loved. 

Recently I have been learning how to edit photos with a Wacom Drawing Tablet, and it has been so productive for me. I have loved getting into all of the details with the pen and dodge and burn it all. I love these photos even if they are so simple, and for myself I’m not very good at architecture. I have had a challenge with architecture photography, and I love how these photos came out. 

November 11th, 2016 - 4pm at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

16mm - f/4 - 1/80sec - ISO 800