Lifestyle Photography: Boston

I am heading to Cape Cod for the long weekend. Before I do, I want to share a few new photographs I made. Have a great long weekend! Stay safe.

This first photograph was shot for the silhouette, but in post, I played around with some new light leak actions I am working on. Fun stuff.

I love photographing people. Especially doing head shots. I've been playing with light and a specific backdrop I have in studio. #notjustablackbackground

Recently I did head shots for a child actor who needed to update his comp cards.

Fitness and Lifestyle Photography

Fitness and Lifestyle photography are two avenues that I do not have much experience in. In fact, I will be the first to say that while I develop my portfolio and have been adding fitness and lifestyle work, I am seeing challenges that I have yet to encounter. Fitness photography is beyond a niche, it is a lifestyle in of itself. They always say, (I am not sure who "they are", but they do say) know your subject matter. Having spent years in a gym still isn't enough for me to know the subject of fitness. Working with a fit model is still not enough to get the images that I am looking to produce. Studying, reviewing, and shooting has been great, but I am seeing that I am kind of at a wall. For me, this is encouraging. It means that I am aware of my restrictions and am willing to surpass them to get the work that I want. From what I have seen, most fitness and lifestyle photographers specialize in those areas. They know their subject matter, posing, and lighting through and throughout.

Now, you must be wondering, what is the point of explaining all this? Well, it is very simple. I am not perfect. As a professional it is important that I am transparent. Future clients want to see that I am willing to take on new projects and new ideas. Being able to admit that something is not your strongest means you recognize you see the weakest points and will take them and make them your strong points. That is exactly what I am doing. When I spend hours searching photographs, shoots, ideas, inspiration, I am always impressed with fitness and lifestyle photography. Especially lifestyle. When you can produce a shoot that elicits a connection, a visible emotion with a brand, you're directing people in a way that requires a lot of talent and energy. I have a profound respect for the photographers that are capable of this.

Below are a few photographs from two recents shoots. One in studio and one in Boston.

Real Estate Photography: Yea, I shoot that.

For a number of years now I have been shooting interiors and exteriors. Whether it is for a client or because I am fascinated with the architecture or the design of a building/home, I find that it is a subject matter that I quite enjoy. Often times I have a client that will request portraits of their staff as well as have photographs made of their facility, office space, work space, or just elements of their building. Shoots like that are always a hoot. Additionally, I shoot for a few real estate agents/brokers. I have been able to get into some pretty nice homes and capture some great images of living spaces.

Here are two links: Interior photography Exterior Photography

World Autism Day: Portraits of Autism

 

I have made a few posts in the last few years about my brother who has Autism. Today is World Autism day. April is Autism Awareness Month. Today I was visiting him like I do a few times a week. I wanted to make some portraits of him that show a bit more of who he is as a little person.

"My name is Johnny. I can not tell you that I have autism, as I can not define what autism is. I was born on December 1, 2000. I was premature, underweight, and almost died due to being so underweight. I was airlifted to Boston after being delivered via emergency c-section. After 47 days in the hospital I was allowed to go home. The first year of my life I developed fine. I was like any average child. Close to being a year old I started to have seizures and mild strokes. During those moments my family was unaware that I was changing. My brain had sustained damage during the first few months of life in side my mother. It was later discovered that I may have had a massive stroke while developing in my mothers womb. The next few years of my life were filled with tremendous set backs. I have been developmentally delayed. My family argued constantly about what to do, what we should do, what we shouldnt do, or how we should and do things. I have an amazing older brother whom I look up to. I have nick-named him Yellow Bee. He gives me high fives and that makes me happy. When I was younger, about 4-5 years old he stood me up and gave me a light push on my back. Those were my first independent steps. He encouraged me and believe in me that I could walk, when others did not. He saw in me a strength and wanted me to work for it. My mother has always been reluctant to let me take those steps. She is scared. Scared that I may fall and get hurt. Which came true two years ago while at school. I was left to walk in front of the class, by myself in a walker for those who can not hold their balance so well. The teacher was supposed to be next to me the entire time. She was behind the class. The wheel got stuck and I fell of the curb. I broke my wrist, as it was strapped into the device. My face hit the ground and I broke my nose. My family, my brother especially was so upset, mad, and very scared for me. He is always worrying about me. You can see that my nose has been broken due to how I hit the ground. It makes me sad. I like school, basketball, going for a ride in my brothers truck. I have a hard time eating food. I hear everything that is said to me. I try talking to people, but sometimes that just dont seem to understand what I am saying. I have a hard time getting words to form the way they do, the way they talk to me."

Taking care of someone with autism has challenges but it comes with an advantage. It give me a different perspective on the world. I constantly try to imagine the world through his eyes. My brother and I have an unspoke language. When we make eye contact at times, we understand each other. It is like a visual telepathic conversation that we engage in. When we make eye contact, it is like we are speaking, saying things to each other. It is hard to explain, but never-the-less, it is one way that we talk to each other. As a photographer, I am by nature an observer. I watch. I understand through watching. I understand by observing. I have been observing him for years, trying to discern what he is doing, why he is doing, what is life for him. The conclusion, due to the language barrier, the speech impairment, I may never know. The idea of not knowing is quite painful, as I want to ask him questions, such as, what are you thinking? why are you doing that?  and receive an answer. Some questions can be answered by spending time with him, but honestly, it is hard. Understanding his words has taken years of development on both our parts. My mother can understand him much better than I can because she has such a fearless presence with raising him. My mother has devoted her life to raising him without conviction, doing her best to give him life, a place to live, and making sure he has what he needs and wants. Autism by some peoples standards might be a bullshit disorder, disease, label, but the truth is, autism is another characteristic that make my brother as different as the next person. Autism is, who my brother is and what he lives his life with. I am proud of my brother for being as much of a influence to me as I am to him. If you have someone in your life or know someone with autism, try and envision the world through their lives, you might be surprised what you learn.

GoPro Hero 3+: Photography

I bought a Gopro Hero 3+ Black  a few weeks ago. Let me say, as a camera I love it. Its small. It can be discrete, but most importantly, it is a tool that is purely for intuitive play. I have yet to figure out the wifi, but I am still impressed. Here are a few stills I made when I was in New York City (not my photography, but an awesome site) last week. I took a day to travel down with friend and Creative Economy Coordinator for the City of Holyoke, Jeff Bianchine. We were there to view the exhibition and work of Jerome Liebling at the Steve Kasher Gallery.  Equally it gave us our first chance to see the famous Highline. I have been anxious to see that for some time now. Even more equally, I am excited to shoot there. (fashion, some day)

Food Photography: Featured on The Food Network

It occurred to me sometime between adding the photographs to my website and right now, nearly a week later, that in addition to hosting the photographs for my site, I should put them on the blog. Total space cadet move right there. After deciding to post them, I had another flatulent brain moment, "dummy, why don't you see if you posted the film from last year, too? Well. Here I am. Posting both the photographs and the film. WTF am I talking about? Well, a quick note. Last April I filmed "Deposit." (Below) "Deposit" was not intended to be a film. I have been working on a feature doc for the last year and some change. I made a point to coordinate with the dude in charge of "Deposit" A Pop Up Restaurant in Holyoke, MA. For two nights. Two singular nights combined to form a partial weekend, a Friday and a Saturday at the beginning of April 2013, "Deposit" was a dinning experience that fused art and food. Western Mass does not have such a venue in which food and art are wedded together like a hipster boiler maker, a lethal drink my friend Rory has been concocting. Truth. Western Mass has some places where you can get a large slice of pizza, some re-heated burritos, a few fine meals, and occasionally something semi creative. Overall, this area lacks what was bestowed upon us.

Two Chefs, Jeremy Kean and Philip Kruta, Co-Owners and Founders of Whisk, (pop up restaurant and awesomeness) and their team, artfully and skillfully produced what was nothing short of incredible. During the two nights, people such as foodies, artists, hipsters, the politicians, the creatives, the business owners, the friends of friends, all sat and partook in an experience of art and dinning. Each guest was an element of the final product. With or without knowledge, they were part of a social practice of dinning as art. While the literal form of art, paintings by The Banner Queen, Amy Johnquest and another Chap, name escapes me at the moment, hung in the vast openness of a former bank/ Tables fill the void of what used to be lines of pre-economic melt down Bank of America cogs. The space really is a diamond in the rough. A restaurant belongs there. So if on the off chance you are the new owner of the building, do your best to fill it with a restaurant.

As I said, I was there to film the event. I was there to capture the ambiance and produce some images and video for my film, (untitled and undiscussed at the moment.) Half way through the first night, it dawned on me that what I was capturing was a lot larger than my first thought. It needed to be its own film. So, I told Brendan. The genius behind the idea of bringing a Pop Up Restaurant to Holyoke. He agreed. The film was born. I shot stills and video the first night. Stills and video the second night and conducted interviews as well. It took me a bit of time editing it together as I am no Ken Burns, though I did meet him and hand him one of my photographs a short time prior to "Deposit."

What you will see is a film that captures the splendor that was "Deposit."

Moving forward a few months. I received an email in late 2013. It was a request for the photo of Jeremy (seen below) to be used on The Food Network's show "Guy's Grocery Games." Of course Jeremy can use the photo! The show was to air on January 19th. I am happy to report that Jeremy won. It was so fun to watch Jeremy compete and win. I kept saying, "I know him, I know him! He just served us!" Well, maybe not so jovially, but he did just serve us a few weeks prior to the start of the show. As I said, these dudes have a pop up restaurant. Located in the North End of Boston, they are serving something that not even Whitey Bulger could whack. If you are in Boston, I suggest you look them up, you wont be let down with dissapointments...!

And yes, those are safety "deposit" boxes in the lower safe of the bank.. Awesome, I know right??? Well it was fitting as much as it was metaphorical.

This was among what was served at "Deposit."