Brogan Photo

So its been a while

2008-06-11T18:56:00.002-04:00

Yea, Its been a while.

Here's the update.
I didn't get into Mass Art, I think mainly b/c I was trying to start in the spring and two because I too many photo credits and would have to retake a lot of classes.

So Long story SHORT.
After a lot of deliberation and changing my mind.

I decided to go to school at UNCG for the spring semester as a visiting student and took some art classes and a cinema class. I fell in love with the school and regained a new love for my home town of greensboro.
So. Again after a lot of thought, I decided to stay here and go to UNCG and get my BFA in Design. I wanted to do studio art but I figured having a degree in commercial photography and design would be a more lucrative decision in the long run.
I still plan to move to Boston after I finish my BFA degree... in like 3 or 4 years. haha
but

I am now interning at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative in downtown greensboro. I LOVE it. I did my final photo shoot here for my photo class I took at UNCG and just became an intern. I am a documentary intern and document all the happenings and people here - along with doing many other things. One of my photos will actually be in the News and Record paper in the next week for the Urban Green Gardening that is happening here at Elsewhere. I am actually going to get credit for this internship at UNCG as well.
I am moving to Greensboro with a friend I met in my spring design class in August.

Life is moving forward. I'm really happy I've figured out what I'll be doing in a year... I didn't know where I was going to be or what I was going to be doing for a long time.

I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated... I'm kind of bad at keeping up blog willingly. Idk why.

Anyhow. I really miss RCC and everyone there!

I'll try and start updating more!

Massachusetts College of Art

2007-12-02T23:45:00.000-05:00

so.
I haven't posted in a long time.
but
I am hopefully going to find out where I will be living in a month this week.. but a letter in the mail from Massachusetts College of Art.

I had a great internship. I had a great summer and got a lot of great shots..I graduated in August and now have an Associate degree in Commercial Photography.

I work at Moe's southwest grill now waiting on this letter since september now.

I will hopefully move to Boston this month and Start at mass art in January.. if not I will stay here in NC for a while longer and work and then move to Boston in the spring. and hopefully start at Mass Art in the fall. as a junior.
so.

that is what is going on in my life.
just thought I'd update.

I will post some of my recent work soon.

=]

BOSTON! the city.

2007-03-28T10:44:00.000-04:00

I have been posting all of my photos in my other blog on wordpress, because its my more personal blog and the photos aren't really "professional" all the time, just about my trip and my experiences up here. I have posted TONs of photos as well.

but I thought I'd post some things to give you guys a taste of Boston and what not.
I have taken probably at least 6 gigs of photos or something.

I also have gotten to shoot some in the studio here (days on which they work on post work, I get to shoot in the studio and use whatever I want and work on my own photos/read photoshop books and practice! Its killer!) and have shot tons of the city. (( I will be posting in a different post - my stuff from the studio to some extent) I have tons of shots of strawberries with a macro lens of John's (my photographer) with daylight and fill... I'm stoked! ))
and snow!
all kinds of different things
but I'm going to post photos from when I got here to now.. all sorts of things.

the back of this building was so awesome... this was on the way to eat lunch off tremont st. my first day ( yes, tremont st in boston!)

this was the resturant in which we ate for lunch off tremont, called aquataine. it was a lovely french place. (I was feeling photojourn that.and I kind of have been since i've been here.)

this is Cathedral Catholic Church right near my aunt's apartment on Washington St.

this was inspired by Julia Dean. I was exploring around where I'm staying in Boston, In the south end and I saw this lady walking down the st across from me, she was this adorable old lady and I waited for her to walk right there and captured it. thank you julia dean! heh I also desaturated it some because it was so cold out, that is how it felt outside.

this was walking back from lunch... and I LOVE BROWNSTONES! and there are a billion one way st. signs and they always manage to get into all my shots. but I love these old buildings.

the view from the top of my Aunt's building! I LOVE BOSTON!

these following shots were shots from the first weekend I was there... walking to newbury st. - shopping central! its only a few blocks away - about a 20 mintue walk and it was lovely out. chilly but lovely..

this was walking down berkley st. to newbury st and this churck was beautiful with the way the sunlight was hitting it... I love this city. the sky was BEAUTIFUL that day.

this is Boston public library on dartmouth st. - heading back from newbury st..

the famous Trinity church! right across from the Boston Public Library.

a really cool reflective tall building right to the right of Trinity church... I didn't up the saturation or anything. It was that cyan that day.

SNOW! It snowed 8 inches almost 2 weeks ago now I think...

I shot this outside on the porch of my aunts apartment... and I used this really awesome "lomo" action I downloaded that makes your photos look cross-processed/ like you used a lomo camera.. I really like it but it only makes certian images look really cool - it doesn't just work on EVERYTHING. but anyhow.
SNOW.

*INTERNSHIP!*... the reason I'm in Boston in the first place. haha

This is where I work. Dock 25..... 25 drydock ave. in the marine industrail district in the Boston Design Center... right off the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal.

the entrance to the building... we are on the 6th floor!

** in the studio** part 1.

these are some shots I did of some left over apple blossoms from a shoot - that the stylist left here. they have an amazing little daylight section of the studio. with lovely old windows.. and amazing daylight.

lovely daylight and apple blossoms. <3

I didn't do TOO much editing on these, just levels and saturation adjustments really. nothing crazy.
BUT I have been learning A TON about photoshop and loving it. There are so many ways to do the same thing in photoshop, its riduclous!
I have read a few books they have up here and have been walking John and Steve do post work... I have been learning a ton about different tools and how to do things I kind of already know how to do - better in photoshop.
Its a great internship - the people are super nice and fun and I'm learing a ton and having great experiences.

<3 enjoy my photos and let me know what you all think!

I miss you all at school and I hope everyone else is enjoying their internship as well!

Goodbye Apt H in Asheboro, NC

2007-02-27T00:28:00.000-05:00

I moved out of my apartment in Asheboro near school this past weekend..back to my parents house.. and I have lived there since May 06. ( I had moved there from another apartment in Asheboro..)

I am about to go to Boston for a 2 month internship that I'm totally stoked about.. and I needed to move out of my apartment in Asheboro to do that..

I took this photo last week while working at home on the computer for stuff for school around 4pm someday.
It really caught my eye for some reason.. the light was just really pretty coming in the way it was..

So I got my camera out and shot a few - like we photographers should do when we see something like that we would believe to make a great photo.. or we think should be a photo. Which, I know I don't do as often as I should. but.
I did it this time.

I desaturated it almost 50% in photoshop to give it a more interesting, graphic, older look. I like it.
Its a really simple photo but I didnt really have anything super interesting to post.. so I'm glad I shot these. =]

Its a simple photo... and a nice ending to this apartment that I called home for quite a while.

I will miss Asheboro but I'm totally excited about Boston.

I gave myself a goal to shoot at least one photo everyday while in Boston. and post it here or my other blog.
so keep a look out for Boston photos!

Business Portrait (process post 4)

2007-02-27T00:11:00.000-05:00

These are shots from the last shooting assignment for chuck.. we had to shoot a business portrait with working enviornment showing in the background and put it on a magazine cover in Indesign...

I was really stressed out and got this assignment via email from Chuck because he was sick.. so I called my dad up and asked if I could come photograph him at his office that afternoon. This his is actual office, how it was. He is a CPO at Starmount Company. I did all the type and what not by myself in indesign.. I found the smart money font!
I also should have added text to the side with his name and CFO of the year.. I did for print. I didn't turn it in like that but.. things could always be better like I always say. I was stressed and running low on time.. but I should have slowed down and thought about what I was shooting more. I also should have thought about the cover more and what to put on it.. but I spent a lot of time with this in indesign and tried to get the type nice so I didn't have to scan in a mast head of a magazine.

I shot it at my dads office in greensboro... I used alien bees and had a softbox to the left of the camera.. and kind of up high tilting down..
exposure: 1/60s @ f/9.5

********************************

These are some process photos..(I forgot to shoot some of my business portrait)

These photos were at our commerical classes field trip to Kreber on last monday in High Point.
We went with James' class and he gave us already shot product and we( our group of 5 of us) had to put it together and shoot 5 different shots for a 2 page spread... and here are the shots of our set up..

Here is the shot produced from this set-up at Kreber...

These are shots from Sarah's Canon 5d.
exposure: 1/80s @ f/9

we had a light bouncing on the left out of a v-board and another bounce board on the right of the table.. we also had a light coming through a duratrans in the window. I think the duratrans really helped save our shot(we were kind of in a rut with it and it was really bland and boring..) It really helped give it a sense of time and place.. and opened it up. Even though its not really in the shot much, but I think it really adds something. I made the pretty drinks!

Let me know what you think!

Asheboro!

2007-02-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

Last week, we had to go out and shoot an object for james in random places that had certian specfications for the shot.. a scavenger hunt of sorts.

While out shooting around Asheboro for that assginment... I took these shots. These things and places called out to me to be photographed while I was walking around so I did just that, for myself. I like them.

Both of these shots were taken off Church st. in a sort of back alley - behind the old Straight A tattoo shop.
I really love the randomness of the chair. and I really love the saturation of that blue blue door against that red brick.
I love downtowns and the random old things that they hold. Its also nice to get to shoot the things you see and say "that'd be a great photo" instead of just passing them by.

Its the simple things that make me happy, really. =]

I will kind of miss Asheboro. haha.

exposures: blue door = 1/250s @ f/5.6
chair shot = 1/250s @ f/13

Enjoy.
Let me know what you think.

Kelly Corset 2 (process 3)

2007-02-19T22:09:00.000-05:00

These are some other shots I have from the corset piercing shoot.

I have been told by at least 3 people to post some of the photos that show her full piercing because they would like to see it and not to be afraid to post them. So I shall.. and If this kind of thing grosses you out, I'm sorry. You can look away but I hope you still enjoy looking at my photography.

Here are the shots.

This image doesn't show it completely.. but its another one of my favorite shots. These are the first few kinds of shots I was doing at the shoot - with the mirrors.

This is her full piercing. anyhow.. these mirrors were very helpful to create a more interesting shot without her having to look back at me and it just be her back. I should have moved her hair but I was focusing on the piercing and it was getting late... so that is for the excuses for it not being perfect. haha.. These were all shot at the Green Bean coffee shop in Downtown Greensboro.

Here is another shot that I like, that doesn't have to do with her piercing on her back. I think she has really pretty eyes and I forgot I had this shot - So I thought I'd post it. Her eye make up is a little messy on that one eye but like I said - this shoot was more about her piercing so. This was shot at the bar across the street from the green bean, I don't remember the name from it but its next to McCoul's pub. they had these really awesome old wooden and glass doors and stair case that we shot on.
enjoy.

Okay ignore this next shot - We have to do a few process posts during the semester required by our teacher for our multimedia class - in which this blog is required. We haven't had many shooting assignments in our other classes so and the ones we have had.. I have forgotten to shoot my set - up to show as a process post here on the blog. SO I drew one in photoshop.
you can laugh. its okay.

I just shot it with a soft box, up high on the right and tilted down. I used a bit of fill light from another alien bee I had bouncing off the ceiling on the left.. farther away.
sorry I don't have actually photos for it - this wasn't an assignment for school, it was a personal fun shoot SO yea but. anyhow.
SO there is my cheesy drawing.

exposures: first shot - 1/125s @ f/8
second shot - 1/125s @ f/6.7
third shot - 1/30s @ f/9.5.

pringles

2007-02-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

This was the first assignment from James this semester. We had to be in a group and design 8 different types of product shots and our products were pringles.

The next week, we traded our designs with another group and shot the shots that the other group designed. Here are my two shots that I had to do, nothing that spectacular. but hey. I shot and edited them with in 5 hours. I think they are pretty fun shots.

This was a shot that was designed by Doug and when we designed them, we weren't sure if we were going to have to shoot them or not. Doug had designed a shot with the pringles man in it, which wasn't possible to do. I thought of doing a silo type thing of a person eating pringles instead and while editing them, I layered different exposures of the shots and made the pringle and the can pop out of the silo with a layer mask.This was a simple product shot, using an interesting angle. Rachel designed this shot and she said I did her shot perfectly. =]

Exposures: shot one = 1/125s @ f/22
shot two= 1/125s @ f/16
both shot in the RCC studio with bronocolor lights.

let me know what you think!

Joint Project Shots

2007-02-12T20:51:00.000-05:00

We are doing a joint project with the graphic design students... we have to choose a product/service and shoot it and they design layouts, magazine ads, billboards etc.

I haven't really been happy with this assignment(with what I've produced for it), but I'm sure when its all put together in the layouts that it will all look a lot better.

We did a place called Southern Supreme, located in Bear Creek, NC.
They are famous for their fruitcake and have been on Good Morning America. They also have hand made truffles, chocolates, jellys, gift baskets and cookies. Its kind of like a small town version of the fresh market.
We are actually doing this for Southern Supreme, they might actually "buy" these shots and designs from us.

^ this shot is going to be used for a billboard. its crumbs from a fruitcake and the ad is going to say something about how tasty it is.

I'm not quite sure what this shot will be used for, but its probably going to be used for a magazine ad and/or on their website. They are their handmade truffles.

Exposures: shot 1 - 1/125s @ f/16
shot 2 - 1/125s @ f/9.5
They were both shot in the studio with bronocolor lights.

I haven't really been that happy with what I've been shooting lately. Things could always be better, but they serve the purpose for the ads and show the product nicely.

let me know what you think!

Kelly Corset

2007-02-05T23:09:00.000-05:00

this weekend I got the chance to shoot a girl, named Kelly, getting a corset piercing(we shot her getting the piercing and then we had a "fashiony" shoot afterwords).. which is what you think it is. 18 piercings on her back, 9 on each side.
a piercing that looks like a corset.. I don't want to post any of full shots of her piercing on here because I don't want to scare certain people away from my blog who might not think its as beautiful as I do.
I have many more shots of her back with the full piercing but these are the few of my real favorites from the shoot actually. She is a pretty girl.

but she looks like a new age pinup girl.

I really wanted to just shoot her as a pinup, more so than her corset piercing but later on down the road we are going to go all out and do a pinup shoot and do her hair and get awesome outfits.

I actually did do photoshop work on these. I remembered the skin smoothing trick and played with it some to give a softer, smoother look.
I was actually editing these to send to her and then I was playing with the second one and saw this crop out of it and was playing with the color temperature in the RAW window and really liked this setting for some reason. It gives an classic pinup feel and it really works well with that blue wall. I usually don't manipulate my photos like that much with the color balance but I just like it.
(you can also see the top of her piercing in this photo as well.)

I shot these at the green bean in downtown Greensboro on Saturday.
with my fujiS3, 24-85mm lens and alien bees. with a soft box.

I'm happy because I didn't think I got any thing that fabulous out of the shoot, but here we go. I had other ideas in my head, but the day didn't go exactly as planned and so I had to work with what ended up happening..I'm pretty happy with these two and I'm really liking what I did to the second one - I haven't had that great of a result in playing with photoshop in a while. its a good feeling.

let me know what you think!

Jewelry - process post 2

2007-02-05T19:32:00.000-05:00

So. our second assignment for chuck was to shoot jewelry. on 4x5 chrome, which I hadn't done since the beginning of last semester. it was definitely a nice refresher - I miss 4x5 sometimes. I'm definitely a film girl at heart.

I'm going to go ahead and say - my film looks a lot better than my scan. and I did a 3f scan! so I don't know. things could always be better. I haven't been very happy with what my end product is when I've been shooting lately.

I'm decently happy with this but like I said, It could always be better.

^ this is the 3f scan shot, raw. no photoshop. SEE! the 'base+fog"!

^ this is the final edit.
its the same scan, photoshopped(for flaws, color,etc). I wanted to try and layer together some different exposures but I had moved my necklace and my "circles of confusion" are different in every shot just about. so it didn't really work out. I had to adjust a lot(while shooting, the necklace kept moving so yea). I don't really like this crop b/c we had to crop it to 8.5" x 9.5"in photoshop and it makes it look fat. and too wide. but.
ALSO. something happened where the right side of the necklace was hanging forward too much towards the lens and happened to get out of focus - I had schiemflugged a bit. but nothing drastic. and my bellows seemed to have been "bellowing" a little bit(haha, no pun intended!) so. not too sure what happened. but

Here are my process posts, my set up.
I had to use 2 bellows!(w00t) and 2 extension tubes.
I shot with a 210mm lens
and fuji provia 100 chrome 4x5 film. on a sinar f1.
exposure: 1/4th of a second @ f/5.6
broncolor lights.
Soft box on the left and a hard light with a blue gel on the background.
fill card on the right side of the necklace and fill card below the necklace.

for the background - I also added (after I shot these process photos) Christmas lights to the background hanging on a Matthews stand to get the lovely 'circles of confusion' in the background.
Chuck said to make it up close and dazzling and that is what i did. I took me a while to set it up and I was bored with just the blue background and so I rummaged thru the prop room and found some Xmas lights and put them in the background to add some pop and glitz to the shot.

I am decently happy with it. It took me 5 hours to set up and shoot. so I hope its at least decent. ha ha

Let me know what you think! <3>

Robotz!

2007-01-29T17:57:00.000-05:00

So over Christmas break I decided I wanted to start a 1950s toy windup robot collection. I have three so far.
I had alien bees one night in the past few weeks and decided to shoot them and have some fun! I kind of bought them for that reason as well, and just to give myself another excuse to buy them! but

Here are my robotz!

aw robot love! hehe

All shot on my kitchen table. with a softbox as my background. and a shoot-thru umbrella to the left/front and slightly photoshopped for levels, etc. and some dodging/burning. shot with my fujiS3 and a 24-85mm lens.
1.) 1/125s @ f/13 (again with these made up f/stops!)
2.) 1/125s @ f/16
3.) 1/125s @ f/13
4.) 1/125s @ f/9.5

Those are my robotz. it was nice to shoot something for myself, that I really have been wanting to shoot - and actually doing it. haha if you know what I mean.
These are very me! I love my robotz! this is the first shoot I've done with them, but def. not the last one - that is for sure.

Let me know what you think! <3
thanks!

Dessert (process post 1)

2007-01-29T17:25:00.000-05:00

This was our first assignment for advertising photography with chuck this semester.

It was dessert. and I watch the food network all the time - I love to shoot food, eat food and make it when I can.
It finally gets to pay off! hah.
I actually saw the recipe for what I made on the day we got the assignment. It was on the food network. I made mocha phyllo cups.
they are pretty and they taste good! double whammy!

this was my shot that I turned in for the assignment. it was actually the first shot I took vertical (it was supposed to be shot vertical) we had to crop it 9x7.. it makes it look a little fatter - but the plate wasn't really needed on the bottom any how I guess. I shot it in the studio.. with bronocolor lights
fuji S3 pro.
24-85mm lens
1/125s @ f/9.5. (don't you love how digital cameras make up f/stops?)

I'm pretty satisfied with my results. but for some reason when I put it here on my blog it looks a lot more desaturated. So I'm not too sure about that buttt... here are my process posts. of my set up while I was shooting. I used a soft box far off to the left and another light on the wall for bounce back light. and some fill cards.

so there you have it! my dessert!
let me know what you think! <3

randomness from over internship/christmas break

2007-01-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

Well. I shot more than I thought over the 2 month internship and Christmas break..

and here are some of the random things I shot.

all shot with my fuijS3 pro!

these are some flowers that I shot - I had just got my new FujiS3 pro (which I LOVE ) and I wanted to use it and test it out. it was about the 2nd or 3rd week of internship, maybe? I know it was in early November 06 and I shot them at the gardens in Greensboro off Hobbs road, I think. it was really pretty..autumn was gorgeous!
THANKSGIVING! I gave myself a little assignment and I decided to document my family's thanksgiving. we always have tons of people at my parents house. we had 20 I think. my dads and my moms family was there. and I wanted to capture my family and our thanksgiving, which is always interesting and fun. there are always tons of people in the kitchen.. I shot a lot that day. there are so many interesting photos, I was kinda proud of myself, I went photojourn style and really got into it! here a few of my favorites. ABOVE: is my nephew Aiden, he had just turned one. I really caught this photo and its adorable! Above: This is my Aunt Donna, that lives in Boston and my other aunt's daughter - my cousin, McKenzie. They were hugging and I was sitting at the table looking for what to shoot next. and I really caught this moment, I really like it. I debated on whether to cut my mom out of the background, but I liked the composition of the foreground so I didn't crop it - let me know what you think!

Of course! I went to the Zoo over Christmas break I believe with my friend Jess and I used my 70-200mm lens and caught this great shot of these cute monkeys! This one stood out to me, I don't really like shooting stuff like this at the zoo because everyone does and it isn't really THAT hard. but i liked it.above/below are shots from a "series" I decided to do alone one afternoon over Christmas break, I believe it was in the beginning of this month. I went to Coleridge outside Asheboro - where I shot that series of Dustin for "fashion" for James and where I shot my panoramic with Ronnie. I love this place. I went back and did a series of myself. A self portrait series.
Shot with my fujiS3 pro and my 28-80mm on a tripod. self timer.

who thought you could use slow shutter speeds in the middle of the day? yay for f/22! i have a few more like that but, I've leave that at that.
Those are my photos from my break.
and internship I guess. I didn't actually get to shoot anything on my actually internship - with the photographer or anything.

SO that's what I've got... I'll be posting more because I'm back in school and its back to the 2 posts a week! so keep looking!

Thanks! and Let me know what you think/if you have any questions.. comments are always welcome and appreciated!

=]

whirley gigs

2007-01-18T13:50:00.000-05:00

I went to visit Ronnie over the christmas break in Raleigh and went to shoot these HUGE whirley gigs in the middle of nowhere outside wilson, NC.

These were my fave shots i'd have to say, I have a few others. I posted more on my other blog, but this was my favorite, I shot it in B&W and color and I really like it both ways. they are two slightly different shots, because I didn't convert the color to B&W I shot jpegs so I shot it in B&W, I wanted to see what my camera could do with B&W. and see if it was any good or not. and well, it isn't too bad - but I'd rather shoot traditional B&W FILM If I'm going to shoot B&W! but...

I shot into the sun, behind the whirley gig(back lit, ew!).. with a flash to make all the reflectors glow that are on the whirley gigs. these things are covered with them... this place is also known as "acid park". they actually turned out pretty cool.

here is a nice overall shot of the place. there are tons of them and they are pretty old, quite interesting.

Its a pretty neat place, I shot it with my fujiS3 pro and a 28-80mm lens. and my vivitar flash.
it was about 3 pm.
or so.

Those are the whirley gigs

Look it up, go there, its a really cool place.
I wish we could have gone inside the fences. but oh well - perhaps for another time.

Let me know what you think!

hair masking technique

2007-01-05T13:10:00.000-05:00

Here are the photos we had to do last semester for John, the hair masking technique in digital class.
I really liked mine. I thought I did a pretty decent job, and I'm not sure why I haven't ever posted them.
so here they are.

they were shot with a d100, 24-85mm and broncolors in the studio and the backgrounds were just shot with natural sunlight and the same camera set up.

let me know what you think!

alex the silky chicken

2006-12-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

my friend Jess has chickens and they get fresh brown eggs everyday. they have a silky chicken, who is adorable and named alex. He is fluffy and has feathers on his feet. and i brought my camera down to the chicken pen. I liked this shot and thought i'd post it. i liked out it came out, it was kind of a snap shot.

it was shot with my new fuji S3 pro and a 28-80mm lens.
natural light in open shade.

thanks. lemme know what you think!

last 2 self-promos

2006-12-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

these were my last 2 self promos, 5 & 6 in early october, i just haven't posted them yet.

anyhow. both of them were illustrations/conceptual.

self promo #5.. It was supposed to be a fall type thing, but it wasn't me, so i found some toothpicks, that i wish were pins and had some fun. and i like it. shot it with the phaseone back on haaselblad at school in the studio with broncolor lights. a soft box and background lights.

self-promo #6. conceptual as well. Say anthing's song "chia-like, i shall grow" inspired me for this photo, i am very pleased with how it came out. I saw it in my head, there is a line in the song that is "..like a photograph that bleeds.." and that is how i saw it and i'm so happy i was able to peel it out my brain, thru my eyes thru a camera and get it out how i wanted.
i shot it in 2 hours. at my apt, with a soft box as the background and light up really high in the front. I used a d100 with a 24-85mm lens.

Sorry its been a while til i've posted these, I was debating on whether i wanted to. I am very happy with #6. It is my favorite and i'm proud of myself that i could get it out of my head like i wanted, that doesn't always happen.
anyhow.

I miss all you biomed, photojourn and portrait kids! I can't wait to get back to school in Jan.
hope everyone is doing well.

Let me know whatcha think!
<3>

Apt H

2006-11-19T17:54:00.000-05:00

This is a "stop motion/animation" video I made towards the end of the summer semester one day at my apartment in asheboro.

I shot it with a D100,24-85mm in one day. and put it together a while ago.. i just recently figured out how to compress it enough in Imovie to put it on the web.

anyhow.
check it out. It was the first one i did, it has tons of camera shake in the photos, but my purpose was this movie and the idea. It is me.

enjoy.

let me know what you think!<3>

fun in the studio

2006-10-11T13:56:00.000-04:00

I was shooting in the second year studio last week.. doing some headshots. and Ronnie and Troy started to play around and I had some fun!

It was shot with a D100 + 24-85mm.
In the studio.
with broncolor lights.
I used 3 lights. The shadows were really neat and this was pure fun.
I had a few others that I liked but they were almost too silly to post.

Anyhow...
More to come soon.
this is the end of the semester and I'm about to go out on internship on Oct. 18th.
and I'm ready. I am almost OUT of ideas.. and I can't FORCE myself to be creative so its stressful right now.
trying to get things done well and turned in before I leave.

Enjoy!

<3>

Blueberries.

2006-10-05T19:18:00.000-04:00

these shots were from my photographer inspiration assignment for James a few weeks back.

The first one of these is the one I turned in for my assignment but I didn't post because it wasn't due yet - I wanted to show it in class first. Anyhow.

I think these are pretty decent portfolio pieces that might even go together... I really liked that shoot and I thought I got a decent amount of good photos from it.
here are my two favorites:

These were both shot with a D100, 24-85mm lens and broncolor lights on a light table in the studio.. one or two softboxes.

exposures: the first one posted was shot at f/13 @ 1/100s.
The second was shot at f/22 @ 1/100s.

Not much post AT all went into these photos - which is what makes me feel GREAT! I maybe did a levels adjustment and some color balencing.

I haven't shot that MUCH great portfolio items this semester but I def. have quite a bit more to add to my portfolio - that will be continue to form over the next year or so.

anyhow. so there is my last REQUIRED post for John Rash..
but you haven't seen the last of me!
I'll continue to post over internship and what not! keep up with me!

Let me know what you think! <3>

headshots for James

2006-10-04T08:28:00.000-04:00

These shots were for a headshots assignment from James. We had to shoot a person and create 6 different headshots. those were the only specifications that he gave us.

So I did some kind of unconventional.

I shot Amy Trull. She is a theater major at UNC-Charlotte. These were shots for her actual new headshots(& my assignment. heh!) - so it made it a little more fun and exciting to shoot. She was very happy with a lot of the shots. I ended up shooting about a 1gig card and a 512 card of her. I have quite a few favorites of her.

I shot them all with a D-100,24-85mm.

above: shot at 1/125s @ f/4 @ 200ISO.

above: shot @ f/13 @ 1/100s.

above: shot at f/7.1 @ 1/13s

above: shot at f/13 @ 1/100s.

all of the above photos minus the first one were shot with alien bees. one with a softbox.
the first one was shot with natural light and a fill flash.

These were my favorites from the ones I turned in for James.

I guess these COULD be considered portfolio. I will probably only put 1 or 2 of these in my book, if that. But here is my 1st 'portfolio' post.

James said the really upclose one isn't a good headshot.. I know that. I just really think she is cute and she fit perfectly into my frame! Her eyes are gorgous. I just liked the shot - I will post the shot she uses for her actually headshot later on - apparently people are prefering tighter headshots these days. (not THAT tight, but.. tighter)

I just liked it. I was happy with this shoot afterwords, it was fun and I was really happy with the results I got.. I'm not that BIG of a fan of shooting people but I'm starting to like it more and more!
I actually didn't have to do much post work on these - slight level adjustments, brightening some backgrounds a little, getting some stray hairs here & there - and brightening her eyes up a bit. That is all. It feels good when you don't have to do a TON of post work on your photos.

Let me know what you think of these.
<3>

process post 2

2006-09-28T20:03:00.000-04:00

I did these shots in the studio while I was shooting my phones for my self-promo #4 a while ago...(its pretty much the same lighting set up..)
The giant lightbulb was something else I had rented from the antique store.. I really wanted to use it. so I did.
This mannequin belongs in the prop room and he is my favorite. I had an idea kind of like this but couldn't think of anything else to attatch the light bulb to his head or make it look like the light bulb was a big idea, his head or something like that...

I used black photo tape to attatch the bulb and added some tape on him to make the attatching of the bulb to him with the tape the 'theme' kind of.. I like black photo tape =]
this is me messing around in the studio and being creative. I wouldn't even call it portfolio.. its just thought process - being creative. I do like my idea, I'm sure if I put more thought into it -- this idea could evolve and become better and I'd have a better way to go about shooting it. I would def. try and light the glass better.. Its hard to light the glass in the shot because of how I have it attatched to the mannequin - I didn't spend a HUGE amount of time shooting this so I might do two different shots and put them together in post in the future sometime.

here is the process shot..

this is the result of that is:

This was shot with a d100, 24-85mm lens @ 1/125s @ f/13.. with broncolor lights in the RCC studio.

This is the first "personal" thing I've shot really in a good while.. Its hard to be creative with personal work with so much that we have to do for school. I still try and keep my imagination and creativity flowing all the time.

There are a few things I would do differently next time perhaps..This is a working idea and I just wanted to see what it would look like when I got the idea out of my head...I need to find a lamp for a bulb that size to fit in - so I can really play with this idea. I really like mannequins..I want to a series of things with them - I just have to find somewhere I can get them.

anyhow.
let me know that you think.
<3>

interesting product shot

2006-09-27T08:37:00.000-04:00

This assignment was for James this week...

Here are the specs from the blog for it..
"..For your assignment you will research specific lighting and special effects techniques on the web and apply your findings to a common household item. This item could be a shoe, a basketball, a bowl of cereal. Anything that we could all recognize and would easily find around the house will work. Next, do the research. Look at all of the options from the perspective of achieving a result you have not seen before by trying a technique you have never tried before.

This could include light painting, home made light modifiers (lots of web sites show how), cross processing film, or using selective diffusion during exposure. Either way, the idea is to create an image that has much more going on visually than simply showing the subject well. Basically we are trying to compensate for the subject by making the image exciting in other ways.."

I tried to shoot this assignment last week and I didn't have any brilliant ideas and I wasn't happy with what I shot - It was cheesey. I tried to shoot a toaster "killing" toast.. I used a teeth shaped cookie in the background with a red gel on it, had the burnt toast in the white toaster and had the cord from the toast with a knife in its prongs "stabbing" the toast.. It was a decent idea but it just came out looking lame, cheesy and unprofessional.

So I went back in the to the studio monday afternoon and brought a few things with me... and I really favored my vintage black patent leather shoes.. and I wanted to use them. I tried a bunch of different things with them and toward the end of the shoot I had the idea to put one of my shoes in side the pink fishnets I had brought with me. played around with, and stretched things out..

this is what I came out with.

shot with a Nikon D100. 24-85mm lens. in the studio on plexiglass with bronocolor lights.. softbox and a bare head on the background. exposure was at 1/125s @ f/27, ISO:200, focal length was at 35mm.

It isn't one of my BEST shots I've done so far, but I like it okay. Its good for the time I had to do it and the slight lack of inspiration I had with this assignment (for some unknown reason.) I thought the panty hose just look really cool stretched out over the shoe and OUT past the shoe against the bright background.. I just wish I had had a soild idea for this assignment instead of fooling around with items til I figured out or got something I liked and really thought mostly fit the assignment..

This could be an ad for the pantyhose or the shoes... or both.

Let me know what you think =]

Self promo #4 (process 1)

2006-09-21T13:25:00.000-04:00

these shots I did in the studio the other night..
they are for my selfpromo #4 assignment, its kind of an illustration/conceptual shot..
I rented these rotary dial phones from this great local antique store..

If you know me, you know I LOVE everything vintage and love shooting antique and vintage anything/everything. So this was fun, the idea actually came to me while walking thru the store looking for something to shoot.

These are unedited, I haven't done any photoshopping on these really.
the background wasn't as white as I wanted when I looked at them in bridge, but they were on the little LCD screen.. I don't know why, I think because bridge corrects them.. So when I take off all the auto exposure checks, it fixes most of the background effect that was happening in bridge - it was kind of a vingetting effect.. Ill end up fixing the autoexposure & editing them slighting post.

here are the process shots.. to show I lit it and my set up.

here are some of the actual shots..

all of these were shot with a d100, 24-85mm also a 17mm lens. I used broncolor primo pack, a soft box to light the phones and two heads with reflectors to light the back ground.
my original IDEA was the first shot with the 3 phones.. I like symmetry, asymmetry and lines and design and stuff like that.. the second shot is one of my favorites because they are two of my favorite colors, its close up, and the design is nice - also I like the light(I kind of wish the highlights in the phone were a bit softer or not so hot) .. its kind of cute! my phones are cuddling! heh.

so anyhow.. I really liked what came out of that shoot.
exposures: 3 phones - 1/100s @ f/8.
bottom shot - 1/100s @ f/9.
I shot them on white Plexiglas.. it didn't become as white as I like it to.
Oh well.
I might try it again sometime with just white background paper..to see how different the results are.. perhaps less shadow and I wouldn't have that reflection.
because I shot in the cove, the background is really white so I figure I would just use the white sweep and light it up..

I am pretty happy with the results, I might do a little more editing on these and I have to pick my final shots of all the ones I shot ( I might go with my original idea or do something kind of different..we'll just have to see) - the assignment is due MONDAY! so perhaps I'll post my final choice then..

enjoy =]

Lifestyles computer

2006-09-21T12:55:00.000-04:00

these shots are from client #4 for photo illustration.. the assignment was to shoot a lifestyles computer shot. Its mainly to shoot for stock photography...

the shot needed to show a sense of time, place and a relationship between the people in the photo(needed to have 2 or more people in the photo)...and was best if it showed the computer screen as well..
I don't think this is one of my better assignments that I've shot, but I didn't think as much as I should have.. I should have shot from more angles and thought more about shutter speed..
I'm decently happy with these - I photoshopped them slightly. I did some levels adjustments, selective color and a bit of masking with selective focus..
but not anything MASSIVE. So I'm pretty happy with them.. I know I can always do better though.
anyhow.I just realized that my boyfriend (the male model in this shot) is wearing the same shirt as he was in my shot for James with my mac.. again. how weird.

the one above was shot @ 1/100s @ f/5.. at 24mm with a D100 with a 24-85mm lens. outside.. all natural light.

this was shot also with a d100, with some fill flash, 24-85mm lens, 1/125s @ f/4.

The models in these shots were - Dustin Overcash, Kirk Overcash and Cecil Overcash. (*thank you! =] )

we had to have 5-10 shots total to turn in, I turned in 7.
I know I could have done a lot better with this assignment if given it again, but It wasn't as inspiring as other assignments that we have had.

let me know what you think =]

New watermark!

2006-09-17T11:47:00.000-04:00

I finally made myself a personal watermark instead of having just "Â©2006 Kathleen Minton".. I really wanted to add some personality into it.

I made the watermark with the wacom tablet that my boyfriend has.. so its actually my handwriting which is kinda neat!

here is a photo I shot Spring Semester 2006 for my layout in design lab so I can show you the watermark on a photo.. I made it into a stamp in photoshop so its much easier to put the watermark on my photo.
anyhow.

its says "Â©2006 KBM" which are my initials.
hurrah!

just was semi- excited about that. so I thought I'd make a post to show it off.
anyhow.

hope everyone is having a great weekend..

=]

photographer inspiration

2006-09-15T11:53:00.000-04:00

I shot these last night in the studio. what i shot was an assignment for james about being inspired by a photographer.."this assignment is to really explore what it is about this photographer that inspires you, and create an image of your own in honor of their style."(from his class blog) - I chose Lisa Adams. She is a photographer in charlotte. Here is her website.

I really wanted to do an internship with her but she doesn't really take interns.. so. anyhow.

She is well rounded, bold and sharp. She has some period work and then clean, modern, colorful work. She is great all around. there is something, or everything that i just like about her work. its weird.. when I was shooing I felt like I was just shooting for myself, for fun- not for an assignment, so I say she inspired me to do well and enjoy it. It was nice.

I honored her style by using a colortheme thru out the photo, I've noticed that she tends to do that - have a lot of same colors/tones in a photo. I liked doing that and I don't know why I haven't before because I almost always corrdinate my clothing. I'm excited.
I like what came out of that shoot alot.. and that feels good because it seems like that hasn't been happening to me lately. what makes me feel really good is that I won't have to do a ton of post work on these because they are how I want them straight out of the camera for the most part - which ROCKS! (that hasn't really happened in a while.)

anyhow! here are two photos. (these ARE NOT two of my FAVORITES.. I want to save my favorite blueberries shot for my actually assignment, its better than the one below.)

These two photos were shot on a light table in the studio, with 2 broncolor softboxes.
Camera: D100
Lens: 24-85mm macro lens.
Exposures: - for blueberries= f/18 @ 1/80s(white balence was at fluorescent to get that slight blue tint!), For oranges=f/20 @ 1/80s
ISO: 250.

these haven't been real edited in PS, slight spotting and some color balence. that is all. =]

I miss film sometimes.

let me know what you think <3>

Client 2 - headshots

2006-09-13T08:23:00.000-04:00

*Character study portrait*
these shots were for our client #2 assignment for chuck.. we had to have a stark white background and the model had to be from belly button up. (at the lowest) it could have been closer in or not. the model had to be recognizable.
We had to shoot it on medium format transparency film and scan it in - and put it on the server. I ended up scanning in 13! It takes me a while to really decide.

These are the two I couldn't decide between and ended up turning in both of these, but ended up using the one without the glasses for my final single image for the assignment.

both of these shots were shot with a Mamyia 645, kodak E100G transparency film(shot 2 rolls), exposure @ f/8 @ 1/60th of a sec.. I used a soft box on the right and moved that around a bit and occasionally a fill card. The subject was about 25ft away from the back wall sweep which was lit with 2 umbrellas (creating that white white background) I shot them in the RCC studio. All lights used were Broncolor lights.

I did minor photoshop adjustments to them, the bottom one with the glasses I did some retouching on the right eye glass to take out the soft box. I really liked that one because of the can-did expression. ( so i wasn't really shooting to reduce the glare then) The first one is the one I ended up using because of his stare and how his eyes look. its almost like a drawing how well his eyes and shoulders line up in the frame. I am a fan of the subtle split light as well.

The model is a first year photostudent named Matt Bell. He has quite the amazing beard!

Let me know what you think of the photos! <3>

Self promo #1&2

2006-09-07T17:50:00.000-04:00

these are two shots that I did for my two self promo assignments.

they are photoshopped quite a bit, but i like them. i am pretty happy with the results. i just wish i didnt have to photoshop as much.. the first had more photoshopping involved than the second.
self promo #1. its an illustration. or conceptual. can be used for anything - great for stock. shot in the studio with broncolor strobes two. on each side. ISO 320. f/16 @ 1/90. 24mm. (d100) I reallly HAD to photoshop this to get the look I wanted, and i added that slight green cast because i have a slight obcession with green. ha. who knew?

self promo #2. snow peas. food photography. stock. anything. food magazines, recipes. i LOVE food photography. shot at my apartment with alien bees, and a soft box and a d100, at f/16 @ 1/45sec. at 35mm.

both of these were shot with a D100. with a 24-85mm lens.

I like them, I dont like how much I'm now having to photoshop. its weird to do that when coming from straight film and so traditional. I like it buts it going to have to take some getting use to and I don't wanna fall into that "oh, that! i'll fix it in photoshop" I don't want to be that person, but time constraints kind of force more photoshoppin than i'd like to be doing. but any how.

let me know what you think bout my fotos! <3>

product & aspirational shots

2006-09-06T08:40:00.000-04:00

these shots were for lighting clinic with james.

we had to do a product shot to show all the 'bells & whistles' of the product - all the buttons and such and then an aspirational shot to show the lifestyle, the idea of the product. how the product could possibly make your life better.. he gave an example of the newport ads - happy couples in a field or on a beach having fun. no cigarettes around. the product doesn't even really need to be in the aspirational shot necessarily. it needs to make you feel like you NEED to have or want that product.
anyhow.

the product I chose was my mac G4 powerbook. I didn't have to go out and buy the product for the shoot and it wasn't hard to show or dimenstrate the lifestyle of a mac user. i really took the lifestyle thing for the aspirational shot to show you who uses it and how "cool" you can be if you have a mac. (haha)

here is the product shot. I actually had about 10 product shots, but james only really wanted ONE but I really turned in these 4. and yes. photoshop was involved in these shots, very much so the pen tool. they were shot with a D100, 24-85mm lens, with broncolors and a broncolor farrell light.
i had these done saturday night (they were due yesterday) and then as i tried to save them to a CD, they became aliased (this happened to me spring semester, its TERRIBLE) and i was up til 1am again photoshopping somewhat sloppily on these. but james seemed to like them. i know i can always do better.

here is the aspirational shot.

for the aspirational shot, MOTION had to be involved in the shot. it had to incorporate the product or something about the shot had to involve motion.

this is my boyfriend dustin. he modeled for me. i chose him because he is an actor and can model very well, plus he has long "artsy" hair which shows what kind of people might use a mac.
we shot it at the greenbean coffee shop in downtown greensboro on saturday.
the light is all available light(with a D100,24-85mm lens - about a 1/2 sec exposure or so) and this to me really portrays a lifestyle of a mac user pretty well (some what stereotypically but you know).
i like the way the motion of the coffee cup draws you up to his eyes, which can't even come off the mac for a moment to sip his coffee.
he is so into what he is working on, or reading on the internet on his wonderful powerbook.
i got the comment that is kind of editoral, and this might be true.
but I like it.
i think it portrays the lifestyle and the idea behind it of a mac user pretty well, like the assignment said to.
I believe my idea was pretty successful for the assignment. i think maybe added some other light might have helped and i planned to do that but i didn't have the tools i needed to do it, like i wanted to so i didn't.

let me know what you think <3>

lens baby

2006-09-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

ok.
i want a lensbaby.
yea i know they are sort of a novelty but i want one. they are so fun to play around with and you can really get creative with it.. its not as sweet as schiempfluggin' with a view camera or a tilt shift lens - but its pretty neat.
i wish the (as they call it) the sweet spot, was a little better or larger.. and i also wish the aperture was a bit easier to control.
i put these two photos together in photoshop for fun...
shot with a nikon original lens baby. with a D-100.

the shot on the left was shot at 1/30th of a sec and the aperture ( i am guessing b/c i didn't put any of the aperture rings in the lens baby - metadata says f/1.0.) it is a complete manual lens, you move around the sweet spot(the focus spot) with your fingers ( as seen in the other photo). the ISO was 400. and i shot it in my bathroom with available tungsten light.

the shot on the right was shot @ 1/30th of a sec and the "aperture" was at f/1.0.
i really guessed where the focus spot was with these... and i just reshot them and moved the sweet spot to where i thought it would be. (where i'd want it)

--- these are some outtakes and stuff i did(of me) while messing around shooting a self promo assignment of snow peas for chuck at my apartment and put together in photoshop...

i shot it with a D100 with alien bees with a soft box on it.. its side lit and i tweaked the color in photoshop to make it more green.
RIGHT - f/13 @ 1/45th of a sec. @ 42 mm on my lens. ISO 200
alien bees with a soft box.
LEFT- f/13 @ 1/45th of a sec at 42mm lens. ISO 200.

thats it.
lemme know whatcha think <3>

2 weekly photos- baked goods

2006-08-28T18:37:00.000-04:00

these are some of my test shots from my client #1 assignment: BAKED GOODS!

they are italian vanilla wafer type cookies. they are tasty.. hope i made em look that way!
let me know what you think.
(these were shot with natural daylight on a d100. with a 24-85mm lens.)

<3

Colored water continued..

2006-08-25T08:54:00.000-04:00

Hola.
These are the last three words from the colored water assignment from spring 2006. This one above is "PLAIN". They are all shot on 35mm transparency film in the studio. These last 3 from the series of 4, are shot on light tables in the studio.
this word was "COLD/cool". They are colored ice cubes from an ice cube tray.

this word was "BOLD".

(thatisallfromcoloredwater!)

I am now in my Fall 2006 semester at RCC, a second year commerical student. There will be much more to come, all continually improved work. Summer semester 2006 taught us all a lot, it was the hardest semester of my life - but i did great and worked hard. I can't wait to see how much I have and will continue to improve through out this next semester from these photos from Spring(second) semester at RCC.

I will post more current work from summer semester soon and will be posting a lot of work from this fall semester 2006.

<3

Welcome!

2006-08-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

Welcome! I am a Randolph Community College commerical photo student. This photo was taken in spring semester 2006. It was part of the colored water assignment and the word was "warm/hot". It was shot on 35mm transparency film.

DUE 8/25/06: This is a good 'portfolio' piece because its one of my favorite shots that i did earliest here @ RCC. It has vivid color and a nice compostion. This is a representation of how i am moving and learning with my photography, if you look at my current work, its similar to this but better technically and shows my progess and how well i have learned since I've been here.