“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams

This shoot was pure luck. It was November 2011, and while i don't remember what our original idea was, or why it didn't work out, like my murder shoot, we improved and decided to do a "damsel in distress" theme by the train tracks. I honestly had no idea of what i wanted or what i was going to get from this shoot, but the results were beyond incredible. Not realizing the night before we had lost an hour, sunset started around 3ish, which is when we left to hit up the town of Oneonta to take these pictures. The sun and lighting was absolutely breathtaking. Salina helped with makeup and hair for my model Damaris Medina, and took me to the area they had been thinking about.
We started on the rocks that were surrounding the river, and then later moved to the tracks, where the sun's bright and vivid golden hues light up and reflected the metal rails. It was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen, and i felt so lucky i was able to capture it. The light was so vivid but yet so soft that it created a dream like quality that made the images look like part of the surrealist movement. What was even more awesome, was that i barely had to touch them in photoshop, not only was the quality of the images so much better then my usual work, but the colors and lighting were already so vivid, doing too much to the photos would have taken away from them.
These photos also played not only the idea of a damsel, but also of strong women and their power within themselves. Such as the picture to the right, showing the strong, fierce woman punching her fist to the air at the open road ahead of her showing the courage to face head on whatever may be coming, and not need any ones assistance. I thoroughly loved this work, was really proud of it, and considering it was one of the first shoots i had just winged and let whatever happen happen, i couldn't have been happier with the results. I was able to play with lighting, capturing it in different areas and ways in many of the images throughout the shoot (the tracks, Dee's blouse, the river, the rocks, her face, ect). I hope you guys enjoy looking through these and like them as much as i did! :)

Labels: courage, dramatic lighting, dream, fashion photography, fingerprints photography, golden hour, nature, powerful women, river, rocks, strength, sunset, surrealism, train tracks

“There is nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept.” -Ansel Adams

For our photo III class, we are required to enter a contest that is run by Hartwick's Pine Lake Campus. They chose a theme or question, this years it was The Human Question. To enter, the work must answer the question from photos at the lake. I went at Sunset with my friend Andrea, and combined nature with portraits. However, what i ended up entering was the main picture of the lake which was lit up at beautifully at Sunset, as a huge background with pictures from my first shoot of the year with Taylor and Alex with the body paint as a diptych on top of it. We did not place, but i was okay with that. This contest forced me to work more with nature and landscapes which was a push out of my comfort zone and i was happy with the work i was able to produce.

Labels: fingerprints photography, golden hour, Hartwick College, monet, nature photography, Pine Lake, Pine Lake Photo Contest, pond, portraits, trees

“New York is definitely haunted. Old lovers, ex-boyfriends, anyone you have unresolved issues with you are bound to run into again and again until you resolve them.” Sarah Jessica Parker
When Halloween is on a Monday night, you have no classes but photo at 1:25 on Tuesday, and you really don't want to go out and deal with all the insane celebratory drunks, what do you do? you do a photoshoot! Originally, this shoot was supposed to take place in a friends of mine's bathroom, who had bloodied it up as a prank on her housemates. However, when that didn't happen, i asked my friend Justin whose and R.A. on campus, if i could use one of the bathrooms if i cleaned it up. Thankfully, he said yes. I went out and bought fake blood, grabbed my good friend Salina, and we started to transform my wonderful model Hannah Foster into a dead girl. Not only during this shoot, did i not have my smaller lens to work with, i also was missing my larger memory card. Thankfully, it worked out, and by having to use my bigger lens, as difficult as it was, the images came out much more dramatic and i was thrilled with the outcome. Salina with her amazing artistic talent helped me make a murder scene out of the entire public bathroom. Not only was this not at all what i had originally planned, but it was almost a completely different shoot. However, we made the best out of what we had and with all our improvising ended up creating something magnificent that became a huge hit throughout my entire school. The florescent lighting added to the eerieness of the shoot, and also brought a glow to her already super pale face. I used a vignette to help draw the eye in and add a more supernatural feeling to the images. Besides the actual composition of the photos, i really liked the stories behind them. I was able to take the pictures to show different stories which were up for interpretation. In some, Hannah looks like the victim who is stuck haunting the bathroom. In others, she looks like the murderer - which can also be seen as cutting herself or internal battles within a hurting individual. In addition, there are some where she looks dead and is yet again the victim, but not a ghost or menacing. Just, dead. The photograph to the right is one of my favorites. When I realized I was going to have to do it in a public bathroom, this was the first image that came to my mind. I was really lucky i was not only able to recreate is successfully, but also make it so eerie and disturbing. This one is the least posed, movie like, or fashion like of them all, and it shows my more artistic side which rarely comes out. I entered this one, the first image above, and the image below in a juried show and all three made it. It was really exciting, and they were loved by many. PS: Yes, the clean up did take FOREVER. (Justin High is amazing for helping until 4am)


"The work was hauntingly and disturbingly beautiful. It was thought provoking, and as gruesome as it was, the images were so powerful and intriguing, you couldn't turn away." - Phil Young

Labels: blood, fashion photography, fingerprints photography, ghosts, halloween, haunted, haunted bathroom, juried show, murder scene, portraits, wilder bathroom