Take a moment to look at the world through my eyes

I just wanted to sharewith you an over view  have been doing this year. A small snippet of what I have been up to. Enjoy!!!!!!!

In Progress

I am always in progress whether I am working on a series of images for a particular project or working through a simple edit from a portrait session. 

I absolutely am addicted to beauty. Small problem it takes up a lot of my time. Big problem as my wife describes it I have been given the beauty in so many different places. I can as easily find myself lost in the eyes of a young woman as I can in the amzing beauty of an autumn blossom.

My work is always evolving and developing and I am always working on something new. There are a huge number of projects are constantly in progess that grow at pretty rapid rate. I find myself regularly influenced by so many different aspects of life that are just so simple and yet amazing.

It's Been Too Long

Seems like it has been forever and a day (actually two months and a little change) since I last posted on my blog. Life as we know it gets in the way sometimes. Last night I went out to the movies with my wife of nearly 14 years. We went to go see For Colored Girls. I had been advised against going to see this movie but I felt and still feel secure enough in my relationship to handle an piece of cinema out there. It's a pretty well known book of poetry that was turned into a play and now into a movie. While I came away form it with all of the trauma I have sean heard experienced or caused dredged up thats not at all what stuck with me. It was just beautiful to see I love the way so many of the heightened emotional moments became some incredibly inspiring still images in my mind. I have always been drawn to the power of human emotion throughout its spectrum. I have to be honest and say this movie is not for everyone. For some it will just leave you angry pr depressed to see all of the pain filled within it. It al depends on your perspective. One of the things I hope people come away from this with is understanding  that while the cast of this film is all black, the issues presented in it are not race or culture specific.

Working On The Integration Of Everything!

I hope everyone will like the new integration. I am attempting to make the relationship between my blog and my site as seamless as possible. This is proving to be not necessarily a difficult endeavor but definitely a time consuming one. It will be good though I think to have these all connected making your experience all the more pleasant. Of course I have been working on a lot of projects and making strides in developing my time management to help keep myself on to of the things I need to take care of. I hope that you will enjoy following me along this journey as I make things work a little smoother.

"Project Freckle"is moving along smoothly with several of its sister projects in their beginning stages. I still think and work very similarly to the way I did when painting was my primary medium. (painting hasn't disappeared by the way once i get this ship sailing a little more smoothly i will have the brush in hand again) I have been fortunate in having a great response to the project and the people interested in being a part of it.

model: Kimberly Lewis

Keep an eye out for more project concepts to be released as time passes.

There will be a link to the project 365 which is almost complete. Just a month or so to go. 

The High Key Portrait

Creating a high key portrait is not as difficult as it seems.

The range of tones in a high key portrait are predominantly on the light end of a histogram. If you think of a graph where the far left is black the center is a middle grey and the far right is black. The largest portion of tones in the image would fall on the right of the center of this graph.

Lighting the dramatic portrait using chiaroscuro.

Creating a dramatic portrait using chiaroscuro is actually a much more simple process than it may seem.

Chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body. The influence of my years as a painter bring with them a great affinity for this type of lighting. In photography this is often referred to as low key photography. When used in portrait photography, the term “Key” refers to the overall tone of the final photograph. The elements of the portrait that play into the tone of it are the color of the background, the color of clothing used and the color of any props or foreground elements. Portraits that have a consistent key generally have much more of an impact that those whose elements are not consistent.

Valencia Bey

This is one incredibly talented woman. It is truly a pleasure to have her as both a friend and a client. If there were ever a prime example of what a tryly vibrant personality looks like she would be it. The photo shoot seemed more like fun than work. That's one of the great things about this job, getting to know amazing people.

In 2006, Valencia produced her debut CD, Heart of a Brown Girl, a diverse folk/rock CD that is, according to WXRT-Chicago’s Richard Milne, “a little bit of Tracy Chapman with more of the big wailers like Odetta.” Most comfortable with her voice and her guitar, her acoustic performances have been called intimate and moving by her audiences. She performed briefly on the folk music circuit, sharing her music with appreciative audiences across the U.S., receiving favorable reviews and gaining new fans.

Her latest project, Coffee and Conversation, is a blend of genres – rock, blues, soul and jazz – and its themes of sunshine and loss, love and pain appeal to a broad audience. The project is currently a CD Baby recommendation in the Rock: Adult Contemporary music category. Valencia has been recognized for her songwriting by the Academy of Gospel Music, VH1’s Song of the Year and the International Narrative Song Competition.

Heart of a Brown Girl received positive reviews. “I’m Falling” received national airplay and was featured on WXRT – Chicago. Valencia has appeared in the major motion pictures “Quebec” and “The Express”, as well as several independent films. She has also graced the stage, in the role of Lutiebelle in “Purlie Victorious”. She also produced the Positively Acoustic songwriting series, which featured songwriters across the globe in an intimate environment where they shared music with positive themes as well as the stories behind their songs.

If you want to hear a breathtaking blend of jazz, blues, soul, rock, and gospel you need to click here and give this artist a listen.