June 27th, 2010 admin
I attended the party hosted by A+D – Architecture + Design Museum>Los Angeles for the release of a new book by ORO editions titled a5 LOS ANGELES. I’m excited that five of my images of Kuhlhaus 01 produced for James Meyer of LeanArch were published. At the time when I made these images, I devised a new and time consuming photographic technique for these photos. Their value continues to get mileage published in various books and website worldwide.
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June 7th, 2010 admin
Well, not really.
Without going into specific details, HERE is an example of 11 steps to the final image. You can see that by blending many exposures into 1 that I’m able to show more detail than would otherwise be possible. I’m also color correcting for individual areas lit with different light sources; tungsten, fluorescents, and daylight. It also allows me to hide some elements I’d rather not show. On this particular view I had to select from 49 frames, exposed over several hours while visualizing the combined single image. The last image #11 shows the the final retouched product.
This differs from typical HDR* in that I’m exposing and color correcting for different areas of the scene, sometimes up to 3 hours of shooting while the light is changing, and then meticulously “blending” those areas together. The downside of all of this is being at the tripod for several hours per view and then up to 10-15 hours of sitting in front of the computer display processing and compositing the frames together for one final view.
*HDR is a wide exposure bracket shot in fast sequence and then combined by computer software to capture details from shadows to highlights. It doesn’t correct for varying color temperature lighting. Depending on the software used and how much you pump up the volume (tone mapping), it can and has been excessively abused. The results look otherworldly, to say the least! I don’t produce these style images.
The images of both Tourbillon Boutiques on my website are examples of exposure bracketed images which have been convincingly processed. Because the scenes were mostly tungsten lit, I could manage the color correction in a single bracket, without the need for blending.
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February 9th, 2010 admin
I just sold off most of my major film camera gear on eBay including a Canon EOS-1n, Hasselblad 501C medium format kit, and a Sinar F 4×5 kit with case. These cameras served me for a long time, as far back as 1985. It was kind of a mixed blessing. On one hand, I miss the bygone era of having that analog film and the ease of client delivery. Shoot it, drop it off at the lab, pick it up and edit, deliver it and hope it doesn’t come back damaged. And it most always did. On the other hand I don’t miss the storage and scanning of all that gelatin. In the film/digital transition period (1993-2002) I would try different film scanning methods like Kodak Photo CD and drum scans from newly formed service bureaus. If I was gutsy, I’d even deliver one of my Photoshop “enhanced” files to the client by burning a floppy or CD and then FedEx the disc.
From 2002 until now I’ve been shooting strictly digital, which means that the lifespan of the DSLR camera body has declined dramatically from its film counterpart. Film itself used to be the upgrade. Now it’s digital sensor and in camera processing technology that I yearn for. I’m also now the photo lab. The countless hours in front of my Mac processing RAW files and constantly learning the latest wave of hardware and software is both fun and exciting, and a total time suck! But the ease of delivery has improved tenfold. I can send a high resolution “original” off to far corners of the world within an hour. And oddly enough, the “film look” (better known as clumpy grain and high contrast) that I used to despise is somehow still spoken in this brave new digital world as the holy grail of digital post processing prowess. I guess old habits die hard.
It was great to see the transition, I look forward to new improvements, but sometimes it’s just sad to see it all go.
R.I.P.
film
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January 29th, 2010 admin
Please have a look in my Recent Projects gallery to see 3 new images of the Tourbillon Boutique in Crystals @ CityCenter Las Vegas.
The images are quickly circulating the web too:
tourbillon.com
crystalsatcitycenter.com
perpetuelle.com
elitetraveler.com
affluentpageluxuryindex.com
pricy-spicy.com
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January 29th, 2010 admin
HERE
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January 17th, 2010 admin
I’ve returned from Las Vegas with my gf Teri and we enjoyed our stay. First night was a free upgrade in the new section of the Hard Rock Hotel tower, which was very cool with a view of the strip. Then we stayed at Vdara for two nights to be within short walking distance of my job at the Tourbillon Boutique in Crystals at the CityCenter.
These are some images and videos I shot during off hours of the job. The locations include Aria, Vdara, and Crystals, along with the Bellagio, The Strip and Downtown. The videos are rough cuts straight out of the camera and my first experience using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II for shooting video. I obviously needed to read the manual regarding exposure locking control. I have since gotten it wired!
STILLS
VIDEOS
I’ll be posting the finals from the Tourbillon job once the client embargo has passed.
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December 30th, 2009 admin
2010 is already looking up! I’ll be shooting for Tourbillon / Swatch again, this time at their new CityCenter Las Vegas location in Crystals. I’m looking forward to seeing the complex. It’s supposed to be quite a sight.
Have a safe and Happy New Year. And please don’t drink and drive. Call a taxi.
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October 11th, 2009 admin
I just completed 6 views of a beautiful house in Manhattan Beach and the new Old Venice restaurant. I’ll have images on my site soon. Please check back.
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July 2nd, 2009 admin
Four of my photos of Lean Arch’s Kuhlhaus 01 are published in the the book Casas Ventana by Parramón ediciones in Barcelona, Spain.
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