David LaChapelle

     At the beginning of the school year my friend Tiffany introduced me to her favorite photographer David LaChapelle. I was blown away. The first thing that pulled me in were the colors and his use of saturation in his photos, it's like looking into a candy store. Then you see his often  crazy, bizarre and unusual subject matter, mixing the ordinary with the fantastical, the beautiful and the ugly. His sets are amazing they are works of art in themselves.

      Recently in my photo seminar class at school we watched a documentary on LaChapelle that was really interesting. I didn't realize that Andy Warhol was his mentor and gave him his first job as a photographer in the 80's at Interview magazine. David LaChapelle has now photographed for many large publications including French Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone he has taken pictures of iconic celebrities including Cher, Courtney Love, Britany Spears, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Eminem and Michael Jackson just to name a few. He has also branched out into film work, documentaries, and has done music videos for many big name celebrities.  More of his work can be seen on his website: http://www.davidlachapelle.com

Visiting photographer Janelle Brooke

     Recently in my Photo Seminar class at Suffolk Community College we had a professional wedding and portrait photographer, and alumni of the photography program offered at Suffolk, Janelle Brooke come and talk to us. Some of the things I wrote down:

- Her most common wedding package costs $10,000 This includes:

                 1. A full 10 hour day of coverage with two photographers
                 2. $350.00 print credit
                 3. 40-50 hours spent editing and retouching the pictures
                 4. An engagement photo session for three hours at two different locations
                 5. Within 6 weeks the CD of edited images from the day will be given to the couple
                 6. Guarantee that the couple will get their completed album by their one year anniversary


- Marketing and Branding are very important, make sure your brand ties everything together.

-She spends about $10,000 a year on advertising, this includes magazines ads, ads online, maintaining her own business website as well as a website that clients can view their photos on, business cards and other promotional pamphlets and cards. 

- She also maintains a blog and facebook page for her photography which she said is a great way to get free marketing and promotion.

     I really enjoyed having her come and talk to us, especially since she is a graduate of Suffolk.

Janelle's website: http://janellebrooke.com/

Wedding Photography Fact Sheet

                                                Factsheet

1. You must invest in a professional wardrobe suitable for attending weddings while not being overly dressy or unpractical.
2. You must have a personable and friendly demeanor with clients and guests while remaining professional.
3. There are several categorizes of wedding photography, most photographers use a combination.

                         A. Traditional, consists of classic posed wedding photography. These would be the pictures of the wedding party posing either after or before the ceremony and other classically posed pictures of the bride and groom. 

                        B. Photo-journalistic, these are the candid not posed pictures that help to tell the story and atmosphere/mood of the event from a more journalistic point of view.

                       C. Studio, this is a more fashion based style where the bride and groom would come to the studio or an on location spot, not necessarily on the same day as the wedding, to take contemporary posed well lit and thought out photos. and sometimes the studio will provide hair and make-up. Often Couples will meet in the studio or on location for engagement photos.

Holidaze

I love my family. I love holidays. However both of them can be stressful, especially when you throw being a full time student and a part time bartender into the mix (and waste of time job interviews at Sears portrait studios). Also I thought it was Thanksgiving Break not Thanksgiving Break But Tons of Homework. So amidst turkey comas with dreams of apple pies, trying to juggle all this homework, figuring out work/ school schedules for next year, and everything else we deal with, take a moment to breath. And watch this super funny video that my littlest brother showed us while he and my other little brother and mother were visiting from Vermont this Thanksgiving.

Erik Johansson

I found this video while screwing around online and thought it was really neat I love optical illusions.

You can check out his website and more of his images here:   http://erikjohanssonphoto.com




 Vanlig frukost made in 2008 by Erik Johansson

Beetlejuice

                                        
                                                                       
                                                                            from

                                                                        Beetlejuice

                                                                     a Tim Burton film

Hurricane Sandy

       

       This is my old street in East Northport, NY. Unfortunately I took a bunch of pictures before realizing that my camera was not on auto focus like it usually is (super annoyed with myself!), lesson learned. Also I think I really need glasses...

CD project for Digital 1

     Bursting by Bassnectar.
One of my absolute favorite artists! I've been lucky enough to see him perform on the west and east coast his music always inspires me.


(please ignore the video and listen to the song it was the only one I could find)

here are a couple of my final images...

My third concept was going to be of a balloon exploding but I couldn't get it to come out right with the amount of daylight that I had left when I shot it.

Jerry Uelsmann

                                              

"Untitled" 1982

Jerry Uelsmann. I think his photos are beautiful and amazing, I love black and white photography; the fact that he produces all his work from multiple negatives in the darkroom is so cool and inspiring. I have a poster in my room of  the photo to the left, I bought it at a used bookstore in Arizona years ago.

"Untitled" 1976

                                                                                                                                                                  You can check out his website at:  http://www.uelsmann.net/                                                                                       

You can check out his work in person:

OCT 11/2012–JAN 27/2013:

Works included in Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

You can also see this documentary at the photo expo, attendance to the film's debut is free.

 Jerry Uelsmann & Maggie Taylor: This is not photography, a Documentary Film Premiere
Friday, October 26
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

" Tree Goddess" 1994

                                                 

Jim Lennon Studio Visit

Last week our class took a field trip to Jim Lennon's studio. It was inspiring to see someone who is a successful professional photographer and to hear what he had to say. One of the main things he discussed was the importance of being a good business person. And of course with that comes good communication with clients and anyone else. A good point he made as far as negotiating that stood out to me was to steer the conversation away from money towards photography, talk about something you know and you will sound like a smart and knowledgeable person. He also said never to do a shoot for someone without getting paid, someone that wants you to work for free is never going to pay you. Of course there are exceptions to this friends, family, charity etc. I can't wait until I get to the point that I'm being paid to do something I love!

Weekly Timesheet

This past week for class we had to keep track of everything we did and how we are spending our time. I felt like it was bad timing since I've been sick all I did all week was go to class and work pretty unexciting. Not to say that my current life normally is exciting but...

Commack H.S. 9/11 Memorial

 I photographed my first event this month, the 9/11 memorial service at Commack H.S.

Here are a few of the pictures that I took...

A lighter moment amidst a day of remembrance.

                                                     Marine Corps League Detachment 792
 

                                                      A day that will not be forgotten.