A few weeks ago I was given the chance to photograph Matthew and Livia from The End Men and it was quite the experience. Matt and Livia made the actual photography very fun with their energy and enthusiasm, also hats.
I may have complicated things for myself by trying to get the composition I wanted I took a little fall down a gorge. It was all good though, my camera was protected and I was able to climb back into position. I was able to get close to what I wanted by wedging myself between two trees and leaning these images are the result of that little misadventure.
Later they invited me to their show at the Utica Uptown. It really dug their music so it would have been worth seeing even if I didn’t have my camera.
After a long hiatus I am revisiting one of my favorite subjects to photograph, dancers. Working with Amanda and Santina from Danceography Studios in New Hartford we collaborated on making some images. The thing I love about working with talented dancers is that they have a visual creativity and knowledge which can be tapped to end up with great poses and interactions.
Well it’s been a while since I last posted and what a hectic time it has been .Where has the time gone? I spent a week in the southwest of the United States then went right into the holiday season. It doesn’t seem like it has been that long, but it has been an entire month since I was last in a routine. Still reeling a bit, but I’m starting to settle now. I will have some photos from the south west posted eventually, though it was more of a vacation so I didn’t shoot a whole lot. Although I haven’t been doing a lot of visible work behind the scenes I’ve been getting a lot of things in order. One of the most obvious changes I have made is activating comments on this Blog, it requires some simple math but if someone has something to say they can now do so.
Happy New Year everyone maybe slightly belated. I have no resolutions, what I do have is a freshly purchased 7-foot umbrella which I am wildly excited about and a color checker passport which I am not as wildly but still moderately excited about. Why am I so excited? Gorgeous, glorious soft light, parabolicly directed anywhere I want it. Pretty much all of my other modifiers are small and were bought for a specific use. This baby though, isn’t small and I can think of lots of things I want to use it for/wish I had it for.
So to test it I got my sister to model for a simple head-shot. Not too shabby for a 5 minute set up.
We also did an outdoor shoot originally at her behest but I wanted to test the color checker and my new outdoor rig so it worked out for both of us.
Just finished my last Rugby game of this season out in Buffalo NY. Reminding me off a shoot I had done earlier in the season of the Uticuse Hellraisers and Utica Klubs for the Ruck Cancer Event.
I took the pictures of the Woman’s game and my father shot the guys game (which I played in). This is a short post because my hands are a bit of a mess from the game ad typing isn’t extremely comfortable. It’s a rough sport.
The photos are here -
Men’s -http://abrockway.smugmug.com/Sports/Rugby/2011-Klubs-v-Rangers
Women’s – http://abrockway.smugmug.com/Sports/Rugby/Uticuse-v-Buffalo/
I really enjoy working with musicians and in improvised locations and so photographing Emily was right in my wheel house. I was also provided two different opportunities to make the portraits; an indoor and an outdoor session.
The first photos were taken at Emily’s home using small hot-shoe flashes for light and gelled flashes for color. I was given time to set up and so I was able to use all light modifiers I wanted which amounted to a softlighter and soft box with a reflector thrown in as needed.
The second part of the shoot took place outside. Originally we were supposed to shoot at one location with a creek and nicely wooded surroundings but the creek flooded with all the summer rain and the park closed. So instead the shoot took place at an alternative park I took 2 one on a stand with a small soft box and one on a clamp and used the ambient as my third light and we walked around the park and found places to make these outdoor portraits. It went well and was an enjoyable experience. I really enjoy walking into new situations and having to produce a product. It’s more than photography it’s visual problem solving.
Since my senior year of college I have photographed football at first it was all college games and it was a way to stay active with the team after a season ending injury. After I graduated I was working but never shooting so I decided to photograph the games of my Alma-mater high-school New Hartford in a way similar to what my Father used to during my time on the team. It was a good experience all in all and served to get my name out to some people locally but the shooting itself I was satisfied with the work I did.
When this year started I shot the same way I always had but found it was creatively stifling in a way I didn’t understand. Maybe my standards had changed and just trying to document the games wouldn’t suffice. I felt a need to create a different image something that could evoke emotion in the viewer.
Football may only be a game but every game is full of little stories and I was so focused on the overall event that I was missing the little moments that made the sport special to me and other players.
I don’t know if I accomplished the telling of the story I set out to tell but I think artistically if not professionally I took a step in the right direction. I am still not satisfied with the way I shot but I think I was failing in the right direction.
I am unsure if I will continue shooting Highschool Football next season but if I do I’m sure to do it in a more sophisticated and pointed way.
Assignment to shoot a self portrait with a snoot which was good because I needed an updated self portrait now that my hair has grown out a bit from when I shaved my head a few weeks ago. To light it I set up a flash with a snoot to camera right as a key light angled to throw a catch light in the eyes. I put a hair light up as well to separate myself from the background and used a reflector to my left and another light to fill the shadows on the left side of my face.
I processed it into a black and white because I thought it popped better than the color version.
The result: 
For the club’s assignment this week we were set out to make an image of the colors of fall. The changing leaves are the obvious subject, so trees. This tree caught my eye as I drove home I’m not sure I effectively captured what was there.
For my second shot I wanted to get a different perspective on the trees so I decided to climb a tree for the first time in a long while. So with camera in tow I climbed as high as I could with out breaking a branch and falling into the clutch of evil gravity (my concern was for the camera of course) I had the wrong lens for the job, I went with a normal field of view when the subject would have been better served with a wide angle. So I ended up shooting across a creek into a different tree.
Last week I joined a local photography club. By joined I mean showed up at one of their meetings- late and was invited back. I am pretty excited to meet a group of people with like interests and my friends will be happy because I will have an outlet for all my camera nerdyness which isn’t them.Anyway there is an assignment every week and this week it was ‘broken glass’ my original thought was to go to Walmart, buy a cheap pint glass, drop it off a ladder and photograph it shattering. I scraped this plan for three reasons:
1) No assistant to help me drop the glass (I thought of rigging a Rube Goldberg style mechanism but I don’t think that would have given me the control I wanted)
2) It seemed wasteful to buy something just to break it.
3) I saw a broken window and sill on the other side of a creek while I was scouting a location for a portrait and thought I could use that to make something interesting.
So I went to the creek to find my window. It’s not until I get across the creek (walking across the water is just over my knees) that I realize my window is actually a television set with a broken screen.
So I used it as a mirror.
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