Women of Folklore: Joan of Arc

This was one of the hardest shoots of the entire series.  The chain mail was done by hand, the armor is knee pads and ankle pads spray painted silver, and the cross was acquired last minute from the antique store next door.  I'm happy that the costume pulled together at the end.

Model: Sam

Costume: Lexie Bragg

With the guiding voices of Saints, Joan of Arc won many battles for France to drive out the English.  After being captured, she was convicted by the church for heresy and witchcraft, and burned at the stake. She was later found innocent and declared a saint.

Finding costuming for this was very difficult.  There were a lot of variations of her armor, and not very much standardization.  I decided to do what would be easiest, and luckily, the costume shop had chain mail!  The sword was stolen from a friend.  

I wanted to show the "holiness" associated with Joan of arc.  I added the back lighting to give her a halo, and a more modern play on the gold circle around the head.  She is holds a cross in one hand and her sword in the other to show the importance of religion and the sword in her fight.

I want to give a big thanks to the costume shop for letting me borrow the chain mail.  I would have been so lost without you!

Women of Folkore: Antigone

Although Antigone is second in the series, she was actually my first shoot.  I started with Antigone for one simple reason: her dress is a curtain and it was easiest to make.  

Model: Lavender Marie

HMUA: Alicia Marie

Costume: Lexie Bragg

Antigone chose to follow the laws of the Gods over that of men, and was condemned to death for her treason.  In one final act of defiance, she took her own life instead of the long painful death to which she was sentenced.

Antigone holds a shovel and a pitcher-the shovel to be used to dig a grave for her deceased brother, and the pitcher to be used in the sacred last rights as required by the gods.  Lastly she wears a belt-one she will use to help forge her own fate. 

 

Antigone Dancing Maenad, Callimachus

A lot of research was done to get Antigone's dress right.  Her dress is a doric chiton-a fashion statement that I actually really like!  Her hair was also styled in a tradition curled up do.

 

 Madonna de los Palafreneros, Caravaggio

For this series I decided to use chiaroscuro, or intense light and darks; as often used by Caravaggio.   I have long loved the lighting used in Caravaggio's work, but was also inspired by his use of biblical stories placed in contemporary settings.  His goal was to bring biblical stories back to life by making them more relatable with simple background, contemporary dress, and to remind those of their importance with dramatic lighting.


I want to thank my model and makeup artist.  You guys were totally awesome to work with.  Thank you so much for the opportunity!

Model: Gretchen-horns test shoot

Meet the fall fairy.  What started out as a test shoot to see the appearance of the horns under a flash, took on it's own individuality through the amazing modeling of Gretchen, and makeup by Alicia.

I really had no ideas when we started shooting.  All I knew was that I wanted to continue practicing my lighting, and I didn't want to do the shoot "half way."  Gretchen really took the shoot into her own hands, pulling off all the grace and beauty of a greek statue. 

I liked the photos so much, I decided to photoshop her into a new location, one that would really help tell it's own story-something beyond just a "test shoot."

The horns are made from tinfoil, paper mache, string and paint, duck taped to a headband.  You will be seeing them again later!

Model: Alicia for H&M

As of late, I have been working on my lighting styles.  I like to think I do good lighting-but I never mix it up!  And since I pride myself on my studio work, I have taken it upon myself to improve my work.

I wanted to mimic an H&M add-specifically the Lana Del Rey set, as I love the soft colors and light-because they are always at the top of their game.  They really know how to look at their subject and mold the lighting around them to make them-and their outfits-look the best.  

I photographed my makeup artist (Hi Alicia!) in some of her own H&M attire.  We listened to Lana Del Rey and had a fun time trying new poses and working together on opposite ends of the camera. 

Overall I think the shoot was a lot of fun.  My lighting (and her hair and makeup!) look amazing. 

Model: Lighting practice

After a long hiatus I am finally making a return to photography.  My current challenge is to improve my lighting. 

Chiaroscuro

Hard Clamshell

Clamshell

Creative: Temptation

Every year Carroll has a Graphic Design competition.  I shot this photo specifically for the photoshop section of the competition. 

In Scottish folklore there is the Seelie and Unseelie court.  The story goes that the Unseelie court will lure humans down into the fairy world.  Once there, the humans are persuaded to eat the fruit-and once they do, they can never leave, giving the Unseelie court prisoners from which to draw their energy.

 

I made it into a fake movie poster because I wanted to play between fine art and commercial photography.

 

Here are the photos that went into the making of the final project

 

  

The crown and claw were both made of hot glue, and

then painted with yellow paint and gold nail polish. 

The background was hand drawn, scanned, recreated in illustrator,

then printed and made 3D by staggering the paper on cardboard.

Thanks Alicia for the makeup, and Marissa for her awesome modeling!

Model: Nick

Nick wanted me to do a photo shoot of him being a bad ass.  That happens to be my specialty. 

52: Week 51

 Week 51 was a Christmas shoot!  This is Danielle (again) who had laid claim to my next creative shoot.  This weeks shoot was based on Sugar Plum fairies/the Christmas queen.  I realized I hadn't done a shoot that required a good deal of editing for a while, so I decided to challenge myself.  This shoot was really fun, and one of my more intense shoots.  We stole the strobes from the studio to shoot in the chapel, but my teacher originally gave me the wrong combination to the lock, which lead to 5 people attempting to crack the code, only to end up calling him at 8pm to get the right combination.

The costume is all from the costume department.  The flower in her hair is an ornament, and the candy cane scepter was made by me!

And this is my lovely assistant Marissa!  She is a freshman photo major at Carroll who asked for my help in photography.  She was kind enough to work with me this shoot, and model for me while testing the lights.  This shoot would have been a lot harder without her help, so thank you so much Marissa!

52: Week 43

Week 43 was done pretty last minute, as the week was super busy!  Luckily, my friend Sonja came to the rescue to model for me!  I went into this having pretty much no idea what we were doing, but after watching my fill of this music video, I eventually came up with the idea of an up and coming rock star with the stage lights behind her.

Week 43

   

The stage lights are spot lights that were in the studio.

And here is a glamor portrait

Misc. Chair attempt I

For my photojournalism class, we had to take 50 unique images of a chair.  This was attempt 1.

Photo Journalism: Meteor Shower

The Perseids Meteor Shower took place this past Sunday and Monday, offering an unique photo opportunity.  I will admit, that although I like to pretend I am a photo journalist, this meteor shower kicked my butt.  Not a single meteor is visible on a single photo!  I guess I just had bad aim.

Jamie, thanks for staying up with me all night to watch the meteor shower (and supplying the location and smores and stuff...)  I haven't slept in 36 hours, and it was totally worth it.


My shutter was held down by a hair band and a tape dispenser, so don't ask about my shutter speed.

Week 33

(the roof is the shelter we were staying in.  The glow is from our bonfire)

 

Where we watched

 

The only other photo that worked

52: Week 31

In the renaissance, an artist would raise his skill by copying as exactly as possible a masters work.  For this week, I attempted a similar theory with lighting.  I currently feel a little lost, like I'm not getting better, and had hoped that this shoot would help deal with some of those feelings.  However, even though the model was great (thanks Kathy!), and clothing was perfect, I couldn't get the lighting to a place I was happy with.  But thats what the point of this experiment is, to push myself!

Week 31

Inspiration

Inspiration 

Model: Alison

Alison came to me with one request: Take her portrait in the style of David Bailey.   David Bailey was a famous celebrity photographer in the 1960's, doing most of his work in very contrasting black and white photos.  Alison is a big fan of his work, and one of David Bailey's most famous subjects, The Beatles!

Alison, I hope I captured you in a way that makes you think of David Bailey.  You were a pleasure to work with, as always!

52: Week 27

You may not know it, but I have worked with this fine model before!  She was the girl hidden under all that glitter from my Dragon photo shoot!  This time we decided to do something a little less messy, but just as fun!  We decided to play in the Chapel, and with the clamshell lighting I used in my last self portrait shoot.  Danielle rocked it all!

Week 27

Danielle, thank you for rocking out this shoot, you were a lot of fun to work with!

52: Week 25

I have been thinking about this shoot since the end of the school year.  I even had my model picked out!  Finally I decided that it would be this weeks 52 photo.  This is Rachel, who we have seen before in my 52 week project.  She was a gymnast for many years, making her the perfect model for this shoot.  Thank you so much for modeling for me Rachel, you did wonderful!

Single exposure, multiple flashes.

Week 25

15 seconds, 3 flashes

30 seconds, 6 flashes

Test run, 15 seconds, 3 flashes

Thanks Alicia for being my button pusher!