B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards
Recently fellow graduates Damian Aching, Amanda Gardener and I had the opportunity to work the BET Hip Hop Awards for The Picture Group. The Picture Group is event photography company owned my famed entertainment photographer Frank Micelotta. They cover pretty much every entertainment related event all over the world. While there we were delegated the task of editing and uploading of the images to a server that would send them to every major media outlet. It seems simple but there was a lot involved to get these pictures up. The hardest part was getting the names of the guest who are attending. As any hip hop fan will tell you there is a rapper made every five minutes these days. So some of the people we did not recognize. All in all we did a fairly good job and hopefully we will be able to do more events for the picture group. Thanks to Paul Abell, Ben Hider,Brad Barket, and Adrian Sydney the photographers for the event that helped us out. Link here to see some of the event photos.
OK kids im baaaaaaaaaackkkkk!
Its been quite while since my lost post. Mainly because I been booth lazy and a little reluctant to blog. Consistency is the key to a good blog that people like to follow so hopefully from now on I’ll be back on my blogish. Since graduating( yes finally) I have been a little busy. Through a fellow graduate Amanda Gardener I got a job assisting sports photographer Paul Abell. He has a great post on Scott Kelby’s blog that talks about his start in business. We spent the day shooting the Georgia Tech Mens Basketball Team and staff for their press junket photos and team photos. I learned quite a bit from Paul about the proper way to shoot sports head shots and full lengths as well as lighting a full gym for team photos.(note to self I need more power and more lights). The crazy part was the prep time lasted longer the actual shoot. But it showed that if you prepare well before the shoot things run smoothly. Click below to check out some of Paul’s work.
My Final Portfolio
Finally after 2 years I have completed the Commercial Photography Program at Gwinnett Technical College . Below is a slideshow of my final portfolio( with the exception of 1 chrome from section B). It has been a long and very difficult journey but it has been as equally rewarding.
OMG= On My Grind
I am currently in my final quarter of school. My main focus now is shooting for my portfolio. 25+ images in very little time means I got to work very hard put forth my best images. For my specialty section I chose to do sports portraiture. Below is an example if images I’d like to create.
Wedding Mandy x Jon
This weekend I had an awesome opportunity to assist a classmate of mine Jenni Green shoot wedding. Its always nice being a 2nd shoot because it takes that “I got nail this shot” type stress off of me. I ran into some adverse conditions while I was there that helped me grow as photographer. One situation had me in basement with the groomsmen all in black tuxedos with very little ambient light and half the room was painted black. I had to figure out two exposures. One for when I used my flash away from the windows and one for when I would bring people over to use the window light to make group photo. I really liked the situation though. It got me use my problem solving skills I have learned at school. Below is my favorite shot from the wedding. I take no credit for this idea. It was all Jenni’s.
Chase Jarvis X Zack Arias
Recently before his Creative Live Studio Lighting Class Zack Arias sat down with Chase Jarvis and just had a conversation about his up coming class and his life as a photographer. At some point during this video Zack said something very profound( atleast to me it was). He said images he sees in his head are not the images he currently creates. Thats pretty amazing coming from a photographer of his caliber. The video is long so sit tight.
Joey L’s Mentawai BTS video
I really admire the things this guy is able to do so early on in his career.
Sorry Canon You Loose.
Recently I mentioned a possible switch to Canon product line. After some recent experience with 1dmkII I have decided to stick with Nikon and upgrade to a new lens. I choose to go the 17-55 2.8. I wanted to go with do it all midrange zoom because It allows to shoot multiple things within that focal range.(ie weddings,portraits,commercial).
Class Trip to Madison
This week for my architecture photography class we took a trip down Madison,GA to shoot some houses for assignments. My classmates Jeremy and Jenni and I all worked hard and managed to get both assignments done. We were to shoot a home over $300K and under $300K. Madison is an old town with a rich history . Most of the homes in historic district predate the civil war. One of the houses I shot was part of the underground railroad. I’d love to go back shoot some more for myself. Below are some bts shots.
