Catching Up: New Website and Photo Exhibition
The month of March was crazy busy for me. So crazy that I wasn't able to really get any posts done. In fact, as much as I kept wanting to post and keep up, was exactly how often I got pulled away from being able to. March brought a lot of projects for me. So many that I just couldn't get a post out. Now that we are in a new month, projects have ended and I am moving forward with new work. One of the major projects for March, which came very fast at the end was the launching of the new site! Yes! I know finally right? It feels like yesterday I started JeffreyB. Photography, when really it was one year ago. Last April, 2011, I started JeffreyB. Photography as a website to host my personal work. Over the course of the year this transitioned into a site to host my business and a small collection of the long term projects I have been working on. The story of my site goes back to last Sunday. Sunday March 25. While attending a coffee hour for a friend running for State Rep, I got to talking with another friend of mine. Jim Chevalier. Jim is a smart cat who knows his stuff. I mean KNOWS his stuff. By stuff I mean web, "geekery" stuff as he calls it. He builds apps, sites, and can make things do things, on the web. Discussing with him the idea of getting my site together in a week and having it up by the following Friday, the opening of a exhibition I had been working on for 3 months, seemed like a novel idea. Boy did Jim pull me back down to earth, and fast. "You make great photos, concentrate on that and I will get you a site together by Friday. It is my goal." I told him I would email him tomorrow, on a Monday, and we would talk. Over the course of emailing, less than 50 electronic mail conversations, and a few hours of Jim's personal time a site was born. What makes this such worthy project to discuss was how Jim creatively made things, do things. You can check out his project page here, where he discusses how he made it happen.
I suggest taking a look at my Projects Page. I have been discussing At First Sight, A Social Documentary about Kris Wanat I wil be adding a few more projects in the coming months, but for now, I am content with showing what I have been working on for the last 2 years to 18 months back.
Halfway through March I was requested to do an engagement shoot for a friend and her fiance. I had a lot of fun shooting at the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke Ma. I have made done a few shoots there, both for the museum and for functions that have taken place there. Chris and Lisa were a fun couple that came in with a list of ideas and made for a great shoot.
Going back to the exhibition I had open last Friday. On Friday March 30th Landmark Illuminations opened at Open Square. One of the ways that I prefer to define what Landmark Illuminations was, besides a photography exhibition, is as follows: Landmark Illuminations is an exhibition of images that convey the fleeting, transitioning moment of the Holyoke Public Library. The exhibition was both display and auction of the images. I made available a certain number of prints, both framed and matted as well as a set of limited edition prints, just mated. The goal was to raise money for the Library's Capital Camping, a fundraiser to gather a certain dollar amount needed for the Library's construction and renovation. I spent roughly three months working with a committee to bring this exhibition to its goal successfully open it. On Friday night when the doors to the event space closed, we were surprised and delighted to find that just over half the exhibition had been purchased. 19 pieces sold and the dollar amount raised was just past $4000.00. As a means of social practice and social investment, the social practice being the making and displaying the photographs, the social investment being, all proceeds were donated to the Capital Campaign Fund. This was an ambitions project that consumed a lot of time through the month of March. A project that I was happy to create and work on. As a sub form of social practice, I had a lot of assistance from other local business, including The Muse Custom Framing, Sutter's Jewelry, Open Square, and the committee of members I had been working with. Their time, effort, and energy was both supportive and beneficial to seeing our goal become complete. A special thank you goes to Bob Gordon for donating his time to photograph the event to share with everyone that couldn't be there that night.
The next couple of weeks shall be fun. I have a bunch of in studio portrait sessions book and look forward to sharing them. I would like to close with an image that means a great deal to me. I came across this portrait of my grandmother while searching for a few other images. It dates back to 2008, before I had left for Boston. It is an image that captures he smile and her soul.
The Last Day of February: The 29th Day
I have heard a bunch of people wishing others a happy leap year. It seemed strangely peculiar to me, but it is a happy day. Western Mass has not really had any snow this year. Is that a testament to global warming, or just an off year?? Either way, my camera hasnt been far from my hand as I have been commuting around doing a few things, errands, getting lunch. I am posting a quick photo, one that was made as the snow first began to fall. I shall have more to post this evening.
The early stages of the snow created a mood. It appeared as fog rolling in from a distant rain storm approaching, but it was snow falling lightly.
Northampton Ma.
Social Documentary: Kris Wanat
I am 90% done with the worst editing project I have ever encountered. I had a large set of images that needed a new background. It was a very time consuming project that has kept me from working on a few other projects. One of the most major is the completion of my website. I am way beyond my deadline, way beyond the due date, not that there was one, but yet, there was. Now that the editing is done and the ordres are being filled, projects are back on track. I have been working a little bit closer with Kris on the completion of this project. I still find myself making photographs and doing less writing than I thought I would be. Last week I made a few images that I have not yet made. You can see below.
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Kris, at times, is not just a friend. He takes the role of personal trainer, friend, councilor, and intern. He assits in the studio on an as needed basis and helps with other things that come up. We have been training harder this past month, more than in the years past. I had to take a little bit of time off from the gym during the late summer and fall because of being so busy. As much as my work load has been full the past two months, I have been making a healthy balance for time in the gym. Being in a good physical condition helps keep a healthy mind and can assit in a healthy balance in work.
I decided to make a few photos while in the gym. The gym makes up a large portion of our schedule and social interactions. Since the beginning of this project, November 2010, I have never turned the camera towards him in the gym. But, as I have been wrapping up shooting, I decided to capture a few images of him in the gym. I have also captured a few recent images of Kris using some of his devices for seeing.
As the project moves forward, we are both looking into foundations, such as The Foundation Fighting Blindness, American Foundation for the Blind, and The National Federation of the Blind. The goal of our project is the bring awareness to retinal degeneration and generate some resources and revenue to assit in finding a cure. Within the next month everything will have been completed and hosted on my website. You will be able to read the full story and see all the images.
This Afternoon: Fleeting Moments
This afternoon I spent the last few moments of my cell phone's life, battery was dying, franticly capturing the sunset through the window of the restaurant. It was a frigid day. Not the kind of day you want to be outside walking around. I did spend a few brief moments outside, walking from store to store in Northampton, trying to find the right attire for an upcoming wedding. It was cold. The New England-ness could be felt in the air. If you arent from the area, you other wise do not know that the weather changes so frequently, that on a good day, we could see two different types of weather roll in. I wasnt interested in capturing the weather. Nor was I interested in making an image that conveyed the sense of cold. Instead, I was interested in capturing light. In a recent interview, I described how I see light and how light is a huge factor and motivator in my work. If it wasn't for light, we wouldn't be able to make photographs, let a lone see. I have formed a visual relationship with light and apply the qualities of that relationship to my photography. Without light, I wouldn't be able to see the compositions that I capture.
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Nikon D800 and D800E
Welcome to a new kind of camera. The Nikon D800 is here, but wait, a D800E? I have been awaiting the validation of this NIKON RUMOR, with anticipation, for a while now. I have had a number of conversations with friends and pro's about the release and the rumors to be, but it has finally been released. And, not just one, but two!, TWO models at once. Nikon has stepped it up and put together what seems to be an impressive and serious machine/s. Two class leaders, being the highest resolution full frame dslr out, how can you can you compare? Well, unless you are shooting with a Mamiya, Hassi, and a Leaf back, I am not sure that you can. I look forward to welcoming this baby into my life, studio, and business.
Don't take my, suggested, word for it, read the impressive reviews..
Fashion Photography: New Works
Over the past two weeks I have been doing a large editing project that has kept me from posting a great number of ideas and topics. I have however, had a few moments in between to do few shoots. Here are a few samples from some work I did on Saturday February 4th. Fashion Photography, portraits, and head shots.
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