Happy Easter You Guys!**
You remember Amanda Sunshine right? It seems as though I do a shoot with her every time I swing back to Michigan to visit. It never hurts to have pretty friends with fun wardrobes that are always willing to model.
**Okay, I know it’s not Easter yet, but I got excited. I mean… we made this photo back in December and I’ve been sitting on it since then. Cut me some slack :)
Growing up I had toys to be sure, but my main stockpile of action figures were the 3.75” GI Joes. There were a few Ninja Turtles & He-Man figures in there but for the most part I was working with Legos, Construx and Lincoln Logs. All of which were pretty sweet.
No regrets (I had a pretty good spread) but damn some of the action figures you can find today are simply amazing. This Iron Man looks rad but I was a little disappointed because it isn’t highly articulate-able (you can’t even move his legs, what the heck?) so he was clearly designed to look cool on a shelf more than it was meant to be actually played with.
My trusty boots.
Eleven years, two continents, all possible conditions and innumerable miles. These boots have taken me across the US & back more than once. Dozens of camping & hiking trips, hundreds of gigs, and easily a few thousand miles by motorcycle.
They have served me well, and though it pains me to admit it… its time to move on.
Confession time…
I haven’t had my bicycle out for a ride in a solid four months. Which is a shame because it’s been beautiful the last few weeks.
The main problem is the currently non-functional rear brake. It’s a fancy hydraulic disk brake system - so it’s really nice to ride with, but also a little extra time and effort to repair when it has issues. Every time I think “Hey, I should go for a ride” I quickly decide I’m not in the mood to make a mess in the living room and instead usually decide to go for a walk instead.
I probably should have been taking care of that instead of working on these photos ha.
I don’t wear watches. I’m a digital kid, and am rarely more than arms length away from some sort of gadget that can tell me the time, date, current status of the lunar cycle and declination/inclination of the sun… so I’ve never found watches particularly useful**
Of course, about once every two or three years I get one anyway.
Sometimes as a gift, but mostly because I get it in my head that I should try to be “fashionable” and that watches are good male “accessories”. So I wear it for a good week before becoming incredibly irritated with having something attached to my wrist. (seriously ladies - I don’t know how you can deal with those bracelets, let alone watches).
And here we have exhibit A: acquired at an outlet mall somewhere in Florida a few years ago. I was in Orlando for a Microsoft convention (back in my corporate IT days) and needed to kill some time. The outlet mall was in walking distance from my hotel and I apparently had some cash burning a hole in my pocket.
And so the cycle begins anew. I wore that thing for 2 weeks, then put it in a box where it’s been living ever since. Until today when I was in the mood for a shooting project.
**except that one time in the fifth grade when I totally got busted for cheating a math test with my super sweet casio calculator watch. Man that thing was awesome. I’m still terrible at long divison though.
Admittedly not near as much personality as Vince the Velociraptor (who set the bar pretty high) but I’m definitely happy with how this came out. Too bad I haven’t actually been out for a nice long motorcycle ride in quite a while since it’s pretty difficult to haul camera gear (so commuting to shoots is out). Ah well. At least the helmet looks sexy on camera.
As part of my continued effort to shoot more still life & product images… I did what I always do when I’m bored. I got a new toy legitimate tool for my photography.
In this case it was a set of really nice macro extension tubes… and an awesome new dino friend, Vince the Velociraptor.
Ohio Americana
Spent a little bit of time in Ohio a couple weekends ago, while on my way between Georgia, Michigan & Back. While I usually prefer landscapes/americana photographs from out west more than any other part of the country, I wasn’t in a hurry on this drive and made time for a few stops.
Playtime with Amanda Sunshine.
My good friend Amanda and I took a short hike along one of the trails in Grand Ledge one my recent trip back to Michigan. It was beautiful. As was she. It was a nice afternoon.
Have you guys met Chris Knowles yet? He’s gotten a lot of action here lately, and for good reason. He’s a sick-nasty designer with more interest in creating a work of art than a commercial advertisement - and it shows.
We did a session at my place not to long ago, working on some headshot lighting techniques I wanted to nail down and I realized that he had to be the kind of guy with a very interesting work space. Chris was quite generous in welcoming me in to his personal sanctum for a few hours, and I’m glad he did.
