Somerset County Courthouse

I was bored the other day and grabbed some shots of the courthouse in Somerset, PA.

I really need to start photographing people again. I'm tremendously burnt out on shooting buildings.

Monday, Monday

This morning I was interviewed by Katrina Perkosky for a new alternative newspaper that will be launching in the Johnstown area in a few months. She wanted to discuss my "Abandoned" project and a bit about my work in general. Before she left, I also made her portrait for "100".

The photographer for the paper was Jacob Koestler and I also grabbed a photo of him taking a photo of me taking a photo of him taking... (yeah, I could run that joke into the ground forever). I'll post more about the article when it goes to print.

Just another Satuday, with a prom and a bear...

This afternoon I shot "formal" photos for the Shanksville prom. I don't usually enjoy formals because they're boring, but I brought some samples of fun poses with me and most of the students really seemed to enjoy trying something different. I ended up having a great time and saw several of my '08 senior photo clients. It's hard to believe they're graduating in just a few weeks.

After the prom, I was editing the photos when the phone rang. It was my neighbor calling to say that there was a bear in her driveway. I grabbed my camera and rushed over to her house to find a medium-sized black bear sitting in her lawn, eating bird seed. The bear made short work of her bird feeder before heading back to the woods. I was within 20 yards or so and got some shots before it ran off into deeper cover. It's the closest I've ever been to a bear and I have to say, it was pretty darn cool.

More from Abandoned

Yesterday I went to Johnstown to do some shooting for "Abandoned". The weather was terrible, but I needed to do some shooting in the city because a publication from Johnstown is going to be interviewing me next week and I needed something to talk about. While there, I found an amazing house that I'll blog about later today, but there were lots of other cool ones too.

Flaky people drive me crazy

This afternoon I was supposed to have a shoot with a local senior to do some awesome Trash Your Prom Dress photos. I blocked off most of the afternoon for her shoot and when the time came, she was nowhere to be seen. I tried to contact her and had no response. Why do people schedule a shoot and then flake like that? It drives me crazy because it means I just wasted a beautiful afternoon of sunlight and clouds waiting for someone who never showed up and I could have shot photos for another client.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens relatively often. Today was the "tipping point" and I decided that all sessions are going to need to be paid for in full prior to the day of the shoot. I hate doing that, but it's really the only thing that is fair to me and fair to my reliable clients.

Photo kiosks are the devil

I meant to post this blog a few weeks ago but forgot.

Photo kiosks - the kind where you put your photo CD into the machine, press a few buttons and a few seconds later it start spitting out photos - are pure evil. Seriously.

I used one of these kiosks for the first time the day before my road trip. I was printing a bunch of screenshots to use as reference photos to find film locations. The 1 hour lab was closed and I knew I wouldn't have time to wait somewhere else, so I decided to use a Kodak kiosk. Ugh.

The photo "quality" of the prints is just deplorable. The paper is thin. The colors are all off. The brightness/contrast was automatically adjusted by the computer in the kiosk, etc. etc. Oh, but I could spill grape juice on them and wipe it off and they'd be fine. (picture me rolling my eyes)

I sincerely hope none of my clients who receive their photos on disc are using these kiosks to get their photos developed. If you are - STOP DOING IT. I know the average consumer doesn't have access to a professional lab, but the photos spit out by those kiosks are beyond terrible. Please, use a 1 hour lab if you need them quickly. Better yet, use MPix or Adorama. The quality will be a million times better than that of the kiosks.

Okay, that's the end of that rant. :)

New boudoir shoot

I've shot boudoir photos for several new clients over the past few weeks, but due to the nature of the shoots most ask that I not post any on the website for privacy reasons. It's always nice when a client does give me the "thumbs up" to share their images, so I was pleased recently when Judy said I could post some of hers.

Judy was a lot of fun to work with and brought some great costumes and props to use in some of the shots. She had the photos taken as a birthday present for her boyfriend and she told me that he loved them. Here are a few of my favorite shots from her shoot.