Downtown Winston-Salem

"A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again." -Margaret Mead

Downtown Winston-Salem

The Nissan Building

Here is a little homage to my hometown. I felt like I needed a little switch-up from all of the outdoor/scenic type of shots, and decided to try out some cityscapes instead.

The Sail Inn Show

"The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Matt Noakes

James Lanman and the Good Hurt

James Lanman and the Good Hurt

Little Hurricane

I attended a show in March at the The Sail Inn, in Tempe, during my stay in Arizona. I was also fortunate enough to be able to finally meet James, who also happens to be my best friend's cousin. It is a small world, and it was comforting to be able to hang out with someone with a common connection to someone I missed so much while I was away. Not to mention, all of the bands that played are incredibly talented.

Grand Canyon

"It's like trying to describe what you feel when you're standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or remembering your first love or the birth of your child. You have to be there to really know what it's like. " - Jack Schmitt

This is from my drive back across the US. Instead of cutting straight east, I went north first to go visit the Grand Canyon for the first time. It was much bigger and grander than I ever would have thought was possible before I saw it. Unfortunately, I wasn't there at the prettiest time of day, but I still managed to get a few photos.

*Once again, please click on the image and view the big version!

South Mountain, Phoenix, AZ

"Am I willing to give up what I have in order to be what I am not yet? Am I able to follow the spirit of love into the desert? It is a frightening and sacred moment. There is no return. One's life is charged forever. It is the fire that gives us our shape." - Mary Richards

Here are two more panoramics from Arizona. They were both taken at South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona. The above image was taken from the top of the ridge line shown below. This was one of my favorite hikes while I was in Arizona, and there were hardly any other people there.

This image was taken from the trail head.

Please click on the image to see a bigger version. It is hard to see the detail otherwise.

Four Peaks

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books." - John Lubbock

I have finally started the process of working on some of panoramics from Arizona. This is the first one. At the place I was staying in Arizona, I could walk into the street in front of the house and look north down the street and see mountains. One morning I woke up and checked the mail, looked north, and saw the mountains were capped with snow, even though it was 85 degrees down in the East Valley that day. So, I took a drive up I-87, and took the Four Peaks pull off to catch this shot of the low hanging snow-filled clouds over Four Peaks and other surrounding mountains.

Please click on the image to see a bigger version. It is hard to see the detail otherwise.

Fun and Work in Flagstaff

“How do they taste? They taste like more.”
- H.L. Mencken

Here are some pictures I took while on assignment with Mark. I have been assisting a lot, and not shooting too much, except in my free time. I am embracing the opportunity to learn, but I am getting great delight when I do get the chance to go out in the world and explore it with my camera. Pictures are still the only way I've found to remember experiences vividly, and the longer I live, the more I am aware and thankful for this.

Amber Ale

Pizza Makin'

More Pizza Makin'

R2D2 oversees the brew master

Randall

This is Randall, from Flagstaff, AZ. He works for the National Forest Service, and spends 2-3 weeks at a time up on Mount Elden, just northeast of Flagstaff. He was extremely funny, and was a great subject. Not to mention, he was fun to talk to. Flagstaff was beautiful, and really cold. It had just snowed the day before Mark and I arrived, and still had quite a bit left on the ground the entire time we were there.

Arizona

"Dogs are not our whole lives, but they makes our lives whole." -Roger Caras

Winston lounging in the backyard of our AZ home.

Arizona!

"I live in the dry dusty desert
Where we're always short on water
And even if the sun fell upon us
It couldn't get any hotter.
~Linda Solegato"

I have become obsessed with Saguaro cactus. I had never seen one until I arrived in Arizona. There's something about their methods for surviving, and the fact that they can live to be twice as old as I'll ever even hope to live.

Saguaros have root systems close to the surface, so while they are so tall, the support system isn't as sturdy as other plants their size. To counterbalance this, saguaros grow their arms to help the plant be more balanced and stable. Saguaros swell when it rains, increasing their weight by nearly a ton. They have flowers, but they only bloom at night. The Saguaro is also a house for certain bird species (you can see the holes in the trunk from these).

Sunset at South Mountain

Click here for more Saguaro Facts

Personal Assignment #1: Food

"Education must provide the opportunities for self-fulfillment; it can at best provide a rich and challenging environment for the individual to explore, in his own way."-Noam Chomsky

In the past 2 weeks, I've driven across the country, from North Carolina to Arizona to intern with Mark Lipczynski. As of now, he is still out of town working on an assignment, so I am getting personal assignments from him, as well as the opportunity to meet, assist, and "shadow" other photographers while he is gone.
For my first personal assignment, Mark told me to find a recipe to make from fresh ingredients, and then to shoot these in their natural state, in altered states (chopped, sliced, ect.), in the final dish, and then after partially or fully eating the dish. He told me to pay close attention to how the food changes throughout the process, as well as how the image differs when a suggested human element is added. I did switch out one image (the image of the final dish), based on Mark's critique of what I showed him.
I shot all the images in the kitchen of the house I am staying in, with a mixture of natural sunlight and a clamp light with a daylight balanced bulb. Needless to say, I am missing the studio; however, this was also a good lesson in doing the best you can with what you have.

Fresh Oranges

Rice

Fresh Ginger

Raw Salmon

Fresh Asparagus

Sliced Oranges

Chopped Ginger

The Final Dish

Devoured

I will try to stay as up-to-date as possible while I am my two internships.

Colorado Film (2)

"I love not man the less, but Nature more..."-Lord Byron

Here are some more images shot while Michael and I were in Colorado. They were all shot on 35 mm C-41, processed at school with the Colex C-41 dip and dunk processor, and scanned. The last image is my dog, Winston.

Colorado Film(1)

"If the day and the night are such that you greet them with with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal--that is your success."-Henry David Thoreau

I shot these in August 2010 on a trip Michael and I took to Colorado. The first two images were taken from Rocky Mountain National Park. The last one is Carmen waiting to leave at our last campsite in CO. All of these were shot on C-41 and processed in the school's lab on the Colex C-41 dip and dunk processor and then scanned.

The Mask

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."-Oscar Wilde

I took this picture last August. I just got around the scanning some film the other day, and this was actually one that I forgot I had shot. Michael was out mowing the grass with this mask on at the end of the summer, and I sat on my car and shot this picture when he stopped for a break.

This was shot on C-41 and processed in our lab at school with the Colex C-41 dip and dunk processor. (Thanks Kevin!)

The Alchemist (2)

Shot at f/4, 1/60, ISO 12800.

Here are some more production stills from the filming of the music video "The Alchemist" by Jeffrey Dale Lentz and Jason Nichols (Taurus). See previous post for more details.

Michael and Paul discussing the next shot.
Shot at f/4, 1/60, ISO 12800.

Paul shooting one of the final sequences of the night.
Shot at f/3.5, 1/60, ISO 12800.

Paul filming a transition sequence.
Shot at f/3.2, 1/60, ISO 12800.

The Alchemist

Our big project for our Multimedia class this semester is to partner with a local band/ musical artist to create a music video. Paul, Michael, and I are working together with a couple that also happen to be musicians, and also happen to be Michael's close friend. The song is called "The Alchemist" by Jeremy Dale Lentz and Jason Nichols (Taurus).

I will talk more about the production and our concept when we are done with the music video, until then here are some production stills from our 2 late nights of filming.

All stills were shot with a D3s and a 24-85 mm lens.

Michael
Shot at f/6.3, 1/100, ISO 12800

Paul and Michael in the midst of collaboration.
Shot at f/3.5, 1/160, ISO 12800

About to begin take #1 of the woods sequence
Shot at f/3.5, 1/10, ISO 1250

Hauling equipment deep into the woods
f/6.3, 1/8, ISO 250

Downtown Greensboro from the top of a parking deck
f/3.5, 1/50, ISO 12800
*This last image was taken by Michael Hughes.

Extras!

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." -Emma Goldman

I shot this with a D300, 60 mm macro lens, at ISO 200, f/22, 1/100.

I shot this with a D300, 60 mm macro lens, at ISO 200, f/20, 1/100.

I shot this with a D300, 60 mm macro lens, at ISO 200, f/20, 1/100.

These are a couple extra images from the flower shoot. Just detail shots. I liked the way the glass was looking against the blue, back lit, with a bit of diffuse fill. They weren't planned, just the result of me getting lost in my shoot.

Red Rose

"A rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind."- Clive Bell

I shot this with a D300, 60 mm macro lens, at ISO 200, f/20, 1/100.

I shot this with a D300, 55 mm Sigma macro lens, PB-5 bellows extension tubes, at ISO 200, f/8, 1/100.

This is the second set of flower images I shot for macro. The rose definitely had a different feeling than the Gerbera Daisy did. Red roses are a lot more seductive and romantic, while Gerbera Daisies are more playful and cute. I thought they were a really good contrast for each other.

Once again, I am loving shooting the flowers. I have never been one to take a ton of pictures of flowers, even when I first started doing photography, but they look so much different in macro. I am having a good time exploring them more closely.