Sad day

Over the past few days it became clear that it was time for my cat, Jaromir, to be put to rest. His health has steadily deteriorated over the past 6 months, and it got to the point where it seemed more humane to have him euthanized than to keep him hanging on. This morning I made the appointment at the vets and at 1pm, I took him in.

I got Jaromir in 1990 when I was 12 years old. He was just a kitten and I picked him out because I liked his big feet. Jaromir had "extra" toes on each foot and his front paws looked like mittens. I named him after my favorite hockey player, Jaromir Jagr, who was then a rookie for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'd had lots of cats before, but Jaromir was "my" cat. In the first year of his life he was always ill and the vets could never understand why. He seemed to be consistently on the brink of death. But as that first year went by he steadily got better and eventually all of his maladies went away.

Over the years, Jaromir was hit by a car, got into a fight with a stray cat and broke his tail (which lead to having it amputated), and had other various injuries. In the last year, he lost his hearing and went blind in his right eye. Despite it all, he was a loyal companion. I spent more years of my life (17) with him, than without him, and saying goodbye was very difficult. I like to keep my emotions in check, but I couldn't do that today. I held Jaromir in my arms as the vet gave him the sedative and he purred away until he went to sleep.

Jaromir was always hard to photograph because he seldom held still. Yesterday, I knew what we had to do so I made a point of shooting some photos of him. With his ghostly, blind eye, his white fur yellowed with age, and his fading energy it was hard to get many good shots, but I wanted to share my favorite.

Goodbye, my friend.

Mother Nature is such a tease

Two days ago the weather in western PA was warm, it was raining, the snow was melting, the birds were singing. I was convinced that Spring was just around the corner. Last night we got 5 inches of snow. This weather is driving me crazy!

I want to start shooting "100" this weekend. It's so difficult scheduling people and getting them into the studio for the shoot. I have lots of feelers out so I'm sure it'll start coming together soon, it's just dealing with the hectic-ness that is life.

Tomorrow I'll be shooting wrestling again, this time at Rockwood High School. If you're there, feel free to say "hi". I should be easy to spot as I'll probably be the only guy with a big camera and flash.

Test shooting for "100"

I've always wanted to make a portrait of my friend and world renowned tattoo artist Mike Skiver. When I decided to proceed forward "100", I knew I wanted Mike to be one of the subjects and this afternoon I stopped by his tattoo museum to do see if he was interested. He is, and we're working on setting up an appointment this week. I grabbed a quick test shot of Mike (which isn't a very good photo seeing as how there are frames directly behind his head), and I also used a photoshop curve sent to me by John Setzler to give the black and white just a hint of warmth. Thanks, John!

I'm already in love with this project and can't wait to begin shooting in earnest soon. Hopefully I'll be able to post Mike's official "100" portrait in a few days.

Technical specs for "100"

Since I want to begin shooting for "100" as soon as possible (hopefully this week if I can convince my first subject to come in for a sitting), I wanted to get the technical guidelines sorted out and I'm almost finished.

"100" will be shot entirely in black and white. This was never really a choice actually. Art, to me, is b&w. What I am unsure of is whether it should be pure black and white or have a very minor tint of brown/sepia. I'm leaning toward pure b&w but that could change.

The portraits will all be shot against a plain white background. White is empty and clean and clearly separates the subject from the backdrop, which is what I'm after. A pure white background will allow the viewer of the images to concentrate entirely on the subject and not his/her surroundings.

I will also be using studio lighting for the portraits. While I love natural lighting, in order for the portraits to have a unifying look I feel they should all feature the same lighting set-up. I am keeping things simple though and will be using just a strobe and a reflector. I'm still trying to decide whether to fire the strobe into an umbrella or through a softbox. I'll have to do some test shots to see which I prefer.

So, I'm pretty much ready to roll. And I can't wait to get started!

Ready to Rumble

While my mind is overflowing with ideas for 100, today I tried my hand at an entirely new type of photography - sports. One of our family friends was competing in a wrestling tournament and I offered to shoot some photos at the event. Sharon and I arrived around 1pm to find the gymnasium packed with people. It was a little overwhelming at first, but we each staked out different spots and soon began shooting away.

The fast action involved in shooting sports offered up its own unique challenges and it took a little while to get the hang of things. Once the technical challenges were figured out, I had a really good time shooting and enjoyed seeing the passion the athletes displayed in the competition. Below are some of my favorites from the photos we took today and you can view all of the photos we took at the event at this link.

100

For months now I've been languishing over a photography project I've been wanting to undertake but couldn't define. While I feel being an artist is about freedom, at the same time I believe that you need a cohesive vision when beginning a project.

People have always been my favorite subject. I love the interaction and the connection that's formed when working one on one with another person. So I knew the project was going to be a series of portraits, but I lacked the focus I needed to really get the ball rolling. Over the past few weeks, I finally came up with the blueprint for what I believe will be my most significant work of my career (so far). The project is called 100.

100 will ultimately become a series of one hundred portraits of one hundred different people. But the real "hook" of the project is that each person in the project will be a different age, with each representing one year. As a result, the final series will feature portraits of one hundred people from ages 1 to 100. Ultimately, I would like to have the series featured in an art book and I'll also be looking into the prospect of some gallery showings.

I'm still finalizing the little details, such as whether I should shoot everyone in the series against a particular type of backdrop, whether to use studio lighting or natural, etc. but now that I've developed the "big picture", I'm sure the rest will quickly fall into place. I can't wait to begin and as always I'll post updates on the blog as the project progresses.

Cold hands, warm heart?

In Western PA Valentine's Day brought the worst snowstorm of 2007 and I barely made it out of the house to grab a few photos. While the treacherous roads and blowing snow certainly isn't what great romances are made of, I can't help but think the frigid temperatures would make it even more romantic to go home and spend the evening in the arms of your lover.

"Soul meets soul on lovers' lips." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Breaking in the studio

If you've been following my blog for the past few weeks, you already know that I'm redesigning the studio area in my home. It's about 80% finished and today I decided to break out some of the equipment and go to work.

My dad (who hates having his photos taken) grudgingly sat for a few portraits while I worked on lighting. I shot against white seamless paper and used a very simple setup, just a strobe with a softbox and a silver reflector. I'm waiting on some flash mounts, a new speedlight and a new lens and then I'll really be ready to rock, but this simple setup worked very well and as a result I got some nice portraits of my dad (the first professional photos he's had taken in about 20 years). My personal favorite is below.

Proofreader needed

Over a month ago I was in Johnstown, PA to buy subs from Em's Sub Shop. If you've never had them, you're missing out on the best darn sub ever made. I prefer the baked ham (no lettuce, extra hot pepper flakes), but you can't go wrong with any flavor. On my way to Em's, I passed a McDonald's restaurant and their golden yellow sign immediately caught my attention due to a rather glaring misspelling advertising of their "breakfast griddle" sandwiches. I laughed to myself and figured they would soon catch the error.

Since that day, I've passed by that particular McDonald's restaurant on 3 different occasions, and every time the error remained. Today as I headed to Johnstown, I made sure to take my camera. Surely, over a month later, they would have fixed the sign, right?

Cold as a witch's...

I won't finish that title, but you get the idea.

It has been so freaking cold this week. The wind chill early in the week was -30 degrees at one point. I don't know about you, but to me that is way too cold. Needless to say, I didn't venture outside unless I absolutely had to.

Saturday night was the huge benefit for DJ Jerry. I shot video throughout the night so Jerry can see the events as he couldn't be there. I never heard exact figures, but from the way it looked the benefit was a tremendous success. You couldn't have squeezed another person into Bailey's Circle 219 and the bids in the silent auction seemed very good. Local bands Whitehorse and Mr. Bickle rocked the house and everyone had a great time in honor of Jerry.

The only downside was that the room was so packed that I couldn't move around to shoot some photos. I did manage to great a few quick snapshots including one of a poster they made for Jerry's friends to sign and a candid shot of my good friend Mike (he's the one on the left) and a buddy.

The rest of the week was spent trying to stay warm and that was not easy. Today I headed to Greensburg to shop for a new strobe to use in the studio but came away empty handed. I'm ordering one online in a few minutes, but I hate having to get everything I buy shipped in. I try to shop "local" but I get frustrated when I can rarely find what I want.

Before I came home for the day, I made a quick stop in historic Ligonier where a week ago they held their "fire and ice" festival. Somerset's was rained out, but Ligonier lucked out and had cold weather so their sculptures were still in good shape. I was excited to grab some photos, but had never really considered the challenge of shooting ice in the snow. The photos of the sculptures themselves aren't anything to brag about, but I'm posting a few below. The alligator (or was it a crocodile?) was really cool, and I also took advantage of today's gorgeous blue sky to get a nice shot of the American Flag flapping in the wind.

Despite today being the warmest day of the week, my hands were hurting after less than 10 minutes out in the cold. Oh how I long for springtime.

Remodeling - day 4

Despite being dead tired this morning, Sharon and I still managed to finish installing the wood floor in the studio today. We still need to put the baseboard around the walls and finish putting the furniture back in place, but that's all simple stuff. Check out the new floor!

Saturday evening I'll be shooting video at a benefit for local celebrity and all around great guy "DJ Jerry". Jerry was recently diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma and his friends are holding a benefit in his honor at Bailey's Circle 219 in Somerset. Jerry is loved by everyone who knows him and it's my pleasure to lend my services to his friends. If you're interested in attending or would like to make a donation, please visit the DJ Jerry website.