So, grab a cupcake (with sprinkles), a candle, a few studio strobes, and we are all set!

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Arcade Fire CD Cover Mockup

Visiting Burn Photo, a digital capture and retouching studio

Fernando Decillis (left) stops by Portfolio Center to chat with us

Capture Integration stopped by Portfolio Center to show us some cool gear, this is John playing with some kinda contraption that is basically just a digital back attached to a lens. I didn’t catch the name of it, because I was geeking out on Capture One software…

Chris plays with a Hasselblad with a digital back

Morgan shows what a lunchbox is when we visited Morel Studio Support

A large selection of nice Profoto gear, available for rent from Morel Studio Support

Morgan showing us how to use a Crankstand at Morel Studio Support

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Some recent snapshots from school

I didn’t do much photoshop to these, just a few little color adjustments.

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One Light, Six Looks

Author Portrait: create a black and white portrait, at twilight, of an author for use in promo materials

Artist Portrait: create a portrait of an artisan in their workspace for an ad

CEO: create a portrait of a young hip CEO for a magazine article

Kitchen Composite: Shoot a kitchen then shoot a studio portrait and composite them together for an ad

Country Music Singer: create a composite of a country music star with a beautiful background for promo purposes

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Deliverables for Environmental Portraiture

1- White on White
This was my favorite image of the quarter and also the first one I shot.

2- Something Shiny

3- Mixed Lighting (mine is strobes mixed with sunlight)

4- Three Light Portrait

This one is my roommate Shaun. He kissed a moving car while riding his bike a few days before this picture was taken.

My critique panel seemed to like these images and the head of the photography department sent me an email saying

“Great critique! You’ve made some long strides this quarter. The panel was impressed with your lighting for 2nd quarter. You have a good sense of what’s good and what’s not. You didn’t try to sell us something that wasn’t good and we appreciate that. I loved the white on white!”

I’ll post the pics from my Environmental Portraiture class tomorrow!

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Deliverables for Intermediate Lighting

The one below is some of my friends from school, (LtoR: Stewart, Sam, Missy) working on a poster project many many weeks ago. You can see my laptop in the background with a pretty picture on it. Yeah I did that on purpose!

The next three are from Lighting Class. The first one is in our studio at school, and the second and third are at a studio here in Atlanta where we sometimes have class!

This one is just a random shot of one of my studio setups for a photo I took. I’ll eventually post it online, but for now, just know that I had somebody sitting in that chair and I got a great portrait of them!

The one below is from my illustration class called Perspective. It’s pretty interesting!

This last one is my friend and classmate Monica. We were out shooting on location and I was standing in as a model while she set up the shot, I just shot this one from the hip without looking through the viewfinder and was pleased that I actually got a halfway decent shot!

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Random recent photos from March and April

The above photo is Leigh Anna, my classmate in our Location Portraits class. The photo below is my class (taught by Joel Silverman- center, red shirt, big camera) in Wynn Park learning a little about natural light portraits. I like this class a lot and look forward to really getting some good portrait practice.

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Leigh Anna and Location Portraits

Inside the building were all these old canisters labeled Civil Defense Carbohydrate Supplement. Some were rusted out and empty.

Some were still sealed up and not rusted. So I was pretty curious about what a Carbohydrate Supplement was, so I busted one open to take a look.

Turns out, it’s hard candy. I ate one to see what it tasted like and it tasted the same as any other candy I’ve ever eaten.

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Carbohydrate Supplement Circa 1963

Last week was big item stuff like a bed and desk. This week I bought a bunch of little things I needed like lamps and shower curtain rings. Also last week I bought a new camera and lens. I bought the Canon 50d and the Canon 24-70mm 2.8 L lens. More on that in another post…

I think during the month of January I’ve single-handedly kept the economy going. Now I need to plug up the hole in my bank account.

School is going well. I love my assignments and am working sort of hard on my homework. I’m in an Intro to Photography class and I’m kind of slacking in there because I know everything that’s being taught. However, I am paying attention to the way my teacher is teaching it, so that I can become a better teacher of photography. He does some stuff well and other stuff not so well.

I must confess I haven’t been getting up at the sunrise lately. It’s been pretty cold in Atlanta and it’s very hard to wake up. So, in return I have been putting in extra effort for my sunset shooting. I feel like I’ve gotten a few really good images lately. I would share them, but… well… I just don’t feel like it.

I’m in a photoshop class too. I’m learning a lot and getting comfortable with some stuff that I definitely should have already known. Photoshop is one of those things I knew I needed to get some training in. I knew a lot, but wasn’t professional level yet. With this class and then the next photoshop class, I feel like I will be a true photoshop ninja. However, I still don’t really like working in photoshop, so I’m going to keep trying to get it right while I’m shooting.

My Illustration class is going well. I’m learning to paint and my teacher makes me feel good about my efforts even though I can tell I’m even worse at painting than I am at math. I might never share my painting efforts with the world. I don’t want to lose my few readers.

I’m getting around Atlanta without having to consult a map now. I pretty much know the major roads and have figured out when not to be driving, although sometimes it can’t be avoided, because most of the time rush hour coincides with the rising and setting of the sun.

I signed up for Netflix. I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile, but haven’t had a stable address. However, now that I’ve got an apartment, I’m all about watching some dvd’s. Before you bust my chops for watching movies while I’m supposed to be doing school work, let me point out that I’m in a visual communications school. My teachers are constantly assigning us to watch specific movies or a certain style of movie. I’ve already watched two movies about painters with a third on the way, and two films about the Vietnam war (for my first big photoshoot). Watching movies is a big part of being a visual artist.

And because I like to post photos with each post, here is a shot from the official New Student Welcome party a few weeks ago. The theme was “Hollywood”. I present to you the Spice Girls:

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School Week 3

Here he is teaching us something.

I have to shoot everyday as the sun comes and as the sun goes down. Subject isn’t that important but the lighting is very important.

Here is me walking around in Atlanta looking for good light.

Here’s another one of me taken by me classmate Lauren.

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Natural Light Class

But the advice I decided to follow went something like this: “If you’re going to invest a lot of money in something, what is going to get you the highest return on your investment? The answer is Education.” In this souring economy, I can’t think of a better place to invest my money. Not that I actually have any money to invest. I’m funding this with student loans. It kills me to think about the debt, but I’m confident in myself and know that I will be successful and shouldn’t have a problem paying loans back as long as I can get a halfway decent job out of school.

The school I chose is called Portfolio Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a small unique school geared much more towards corporate communications than fine art. It’s not a degree-granting program. They offer a professional certificate in one of six majors, photography, design, art direction, illustration, writing, and media architecture. The program takes two years to complete and when finished I should have a portfolio of images that stand up to even the harshest of critiques and will show off my ability to create unique and effective images under almost any circumstance. I should also have the knowledge to be a professional in the field of digital imaging technology.

I first heard about this school several years ago when I randomly stumbled across a graduates amazing final portfolio website (definitely check it out!). He writes answers to some FAQ here.

The school makes a particular effort to teach students skills beyond the technical. Students learn to become creative thinkers and problem solvers. This is an idea I really cherish and I think I will be pleasantly surprised at exactly what my own brain is capable of.

Because I know you are probably thinking it: Yes, I’m still interested in video production. Yes, I’m still interested in journalism. Yes, I’m still interested in technology training. These things all will continue to be a part of my lifestyle and career, but right now, focusing on photography is what is most appealing to me and what I want to be the foundation of my endeavors.

I have orientation on Jan. 2nd and classes start on Jan. 5th, so I’m hitting the books very soon and I can’t wait! I do plan on continuing this blog while in school, but I can’t be sure of how much time I can devote to it. I would love to say I will post all about my assignments and what I’m learning but I get the idea that I’ll be pretty busy with school (and probably work) so blogging will have to be lowered on the list of priorities. I will probably try posting once a week or so, but again, no promises!

I’ll have my hands full, but I feel strongly that this is the right step for me and I look forward to seeing what the future holds!

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I’m Going Back to School!