Photo Spread

Magazine

So I've got some of the Petra Nemcova up on the website. Check it out. I've gotten the editorial back from Emma, it's in the newstands now. Looks great! Here's a layout idea for the next shoot that I'm sending off to them today. Just a rough sketch.

Petra Nemcova and Fashion TV

Today I had a fabulous photoshoot. I shot the supermodel Petra Nemcova for a Fashion TV special on her life and her life after her survival of the Tusnami in Asia. It was really lots of fun. Besides Fashion TV I shot with her also for a Czech TV documentary and a Slovak TV documentary. I have to say Petra is such a wonderful person. Kind, friendly, down to earth and very personable. As you can imagine it was pure chaos 'on set'. Although we hardly even had a set as we got kicked out of our location!!!!! There were about ten camera men filming us working so I was constnatly tripping and bumping into people filming us.

I can't post any pictures yet as they have to first go through her press agent, but when they are done I'll put a couple up in my portfolio for sure.

The fashion TV program on Petra should be a special that will play on repeat for about three months.

Yey!

Worse News

In worse news, I've been calling Marielles phone but now a message played first in Arabic and then English informs me that the phone is cut off.

Terrorism

I have been to egypt before. It's a fascinating country and wonderful place, but it's not a place to fool around in. I went there on my own when I was still a teenager and I remeber landing in cairo at midnight thinking, "who on earth in their right mind would sell an air ticket to a teenager to a place like this?"

Anyway, my friend and new stylist- Marielle was talking to me about Egypt and in particular about Dahab because she was planning to go this week. I told her that personally, Egypt is incredible, but I wouldn't be going there right now. It was rough enough as it was. Places like Dahab are really fascinating but the tourist climate there is a delicate balance. It's like an illusion of safety and normality it what otherwise is a bizzare mix of chaos, ideology, beauty and violence. I remeber days spent eating nothing but fresh fish sitting in little restaurants on the beach looking across the Gulf of Aquaba at the distant hills of Saudi Arabia. But let me tell you, I saw some horrible things out there in the desert only a few minutes from the idylness of the 'city'. When you ride out into the desert and once you leave sight of the city trully anything can happen to you.

The point of all this is, I said I didn't think it was a good idea but she and her boyfriend went anyway. Now there was a huge bombing where they were and nearly 200 people have been injured and some 20 thus far kiled. I've sent her a message and tried to call her but no answer. All I can hope is that she is okay.

Polaroid

City of a thousand spires

So I had a long editorial shoot today. Whew! Am I tired. 12 shots. Yeah, you heard right- 12. Thats equivalent to about 15 pages in a magazine. (Several two page'ers) Thats a ton. I think we will only use 8 pages though as some of the images aren't up to snuff in my opinion. Lesson learned: seriously need better lenses. Problem: they simply cost too much. To bad I can't just rent a digital back and some phat Hasseblad lens!

Anyhoo. Looks great. Although I don't want to look at it for another couple nights. Right now, I want to burn it to DVD and go to sleep. Or go out.

I'll probably go out.

Black and white.

The more I look at this black and white the more I love it. I mean, really love it. I've been trying to figure out how to do that 'dark skin' black and white look for AGES and I think I got it. Quite excited, this will be a technique of choice for the next few photoshoots.

Black white color.

Nothing seems to be going right today. I'm struggling to get paid (like always) and I'm trying to get myself up to speed in terms of other work. Everyone I know also is going crazy while I'm only concerned with trying to get the best possible photography.

That said, I did this today. I love it, and might shop it around as a 'mini-editorial'. It's lovely I think. The catch is, it's even hotter in black and white. But who knows. I can't think anymore for today.

Today

Today is one of those days where I just wish I had a pair of rollerblades.

polaroid

not much to say. Piper plane. The girl is the girlfriend of a big Soccer star she herself is pretty famous. She was quite nice to work with (I was only assisting on the shoot this was taken) but she was quite surprised when I said I hadn't heard of either her nor her boyfriend. Honestly, I don't follow stuff like that.

Lips and Self portrait.

Look at these lips. Then look at the teeth. I can't believe someone actually has such perfect teeth. The girl is 16, but still. Those are some incredible chompers.

Second shot, that's me. Self portrait. This is a tiny crop of the eye from a full portrait shot. Thats some incredibly clarity for digital huh?

Is it just me or...

Are we really going crazy? In the news- a Marine returning in full uniform from the war in Iraq is detained because he is on the terroist watch list and isn't allowed to fly. And at the Univeristy of Georgia, ATF federal agents aprehend a student dressed as a ninja while he is comming back from a Pirates VS. Ninja's party on campus. Link.

Tears from Street

I scaned two of my tears from Street Magazine. Here they are.

MAkeup

This is Renee at work with her huge makeup table and the model.

Beauty

I shot an 8-page beauty story for one magazine today in studio. It was a lot of fun and pretty relaxed. At this point I've shot so much beauty it's something that I can do without stressing about the lighting, which leaves me more time to double check the work that I am doing and to try and make sure it's as good as it can be.

This is a shot of me doing something I shouldn't actually be doing. That is, using a camera lens as a magnifying glass to check out a Polaroid up close. Looks pretty good.

EFF and SPY

The EFF or Electronic Frontier Foundation has taken AT&T to court because it turns out they have been working with the NSA to illegally tap perhaps millions of phone lines and billions of bytes of internet traffic. The article is here. The idea that companies will work with spy agencies to deliberatly circumvent our own laws to spy on us is disgusting.

picture shot

Renee, my main partner in crime and makeup artist put together a slide/show/video thingy of pictures we did together. There are a couple that aren't shot by me, but otherwise it's mostly stuff we did together. Anyway, the 'motion' makes it all look awesome. I mean, stuff that I didn't even like previously now looks hot.

Link.
Speaking of hot, I got a copy of a magazine I shot for in the mail yesterday from hong kong. Yeah. That's hot.

STREET

So my editorial stuff came out in Street magazine this month and it looks great. I mean, really good. There's something about looking at something on a monitor and then looking at it on a printed page that makes all the difference. Especially when printed it's much larger. It has so much more depth! Anyway, I'm really happy with the results. Also because it shows my fashion style of shooting which I haven't been able to do for awhile. And I like it!

Random

Whoa.

My friend sent me a link of a picture that was taken of me while I was at some party. I'm actually up in the VIP lounge with just one girl and a table of goodies.

Link.

Babe theory?

This is a pretty silly idea, and probably a little sexist as well, but it's a funny read. Supposidly there is a political theory all about how political movements that are supported by beautifull women are more likely to succeed. The thinking is essentially that the more beautifull women are involved in protests or political movements, the more men will become involved just to be around/near/look at said women. Hence Eugène Delacroix's famount painting "Liberty Leading the People". It's a curious read. Link.

wrap

So we wrapped the st@rbucks commercial yesterday. whew. In the end I ended up getting a real 'part' meaning you should probably be able to see me. Rather then just being another one of the dancers I lead in one section. So we'll see. Either way, my two or three miliseconds of fame are enough for me. It's my second National USA commercial (I did Powerbar last summer) but my first really huge commercial for a big brand. It will run for about six months in the states. Probably everywhere. There are two spots, one is an office spot (which I'm not in) and the other one is the dancing spot. Trust me, it will be cool. At one point there are a few hundred people dancing in the street and it looks awesome.

Just glad to be a part of it.

Beyond that, it was an amazingly cool production. Often commercials are so stressed becauase of the short time period that they can get miserable reallllllll quick. But this was a blast, from start to finish. So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go take a hibernation from people, clean my flat, and catch up in my real life.

I guess that about all the coffee I'll be selling for now. Although I had a casting for NesCafe last week, so I guess you never know!

St@bucks Backstage,

So here are a few cell phone snaps from shooting today. I know: blurry, grainy, etc... I actually kinda really like shooting with a cell phone! I do wish it had a bit better quality, but it's almost the LACK of quality that makes is so much fun. I think a five megapixel cell phone camera might steal a little something from the 'moment' of the picture. Honestly they almost look like video prints.

Green Screen 2

So here are three picks from a commercial I did about two weeks ago. It's the green screen shot. The shot of another model being cool, and me, totally decked out with fake tatoos and glasses, leather pants, leather shoes, etc... Enjoy it!!!! (It's so going up on myspace!)

SORE!

I am really, so, so, so, sore. I love dancing, but I'm no professional dancer. You should see how fast these girls (and guys, although the guys not at well) pick up moves. It's like, they see it once and then they are rocking it. All the way through the whole routine. I can keep up, but it takes some serious extra rehersing on my part to get it. That said, I'd really love to keep dancing after this. I feel like this is my best shot at really getting back into shape, but also getting into AWESOME shape.

Which is the goal.

Because the summer is comming and the beach is CALLING MY NAME!!!!!!!

Choreography

Wow.

So today was first day of choreography (am I spelling that right?) and MAN, I have not been giving dancers enough credit. Thats some HARD work. I had no idea I would be spending seven hours straight dancing some tough step moves today.

That being said, I don't believe I've yet had a funner film/commercial day. Compared to those days when you do nothing but stand around for HOURS on end, bored to death, at least we dance all day. Its hard though. Most everyone else is a professional dancer and of course they are all over the place. It's hard work to keep up but, really, tons of fun.

Starbucks

So I got a small role in a starbucks commercial. It's not a lead or anything like that. Rather, I've ended up as a dancer a-la those old swing-dance gap commercials. Except I'm not a dancer and everyone else is. One of the girls I've befriended just recently got off three years in STOMP. And here I am, looking a bit bewildered.

I'll admit it's cool, and I'm doing it for the coffee, but really when I went to the casting I didn't have any idea of how busy I would actually be now. I'm planning two big editorials one shooting next week and the next the week after. It's a lot of work and I've had to push some of the burden off onto my makeup artist Renee and production. I'll be busy for four days (!!!) doing this commercial. Which is actually quite a long time. So, I'm a little bit regretting getting involved. I work till the crack of dawn Monday morning, and then I have to have my own casting to find four faces for an editorial I shoot on Thursday.

That's work for you! You either have too little, or too much!

Web Hits

Did you know that I get over 15,000 Unique visitors PER MONTH at this webserver? I do nearly 20 GIGABYTES of data transfer a month of people looking at stuff. Crazy huh?

lighting test

This was from a lighting test I did today. I'm still thinking about exactly where I want to take it. I shot both digital and film so I'll probably hold out for the film before I come to any conclusions on it. The shoot was super fast though. Maybe 3 hours tops. I've been trying lately to simplify the beauty process or extract the detailed bits that are the most important. I think as of today though, I've pretty much finished with experimenting with this white background beauty lighting. I got it. I'd like to move on and maybe do more full body, or throw some fashion back into the mix.

Oh, and surprisingly, this is shot with tungston lights. Handheld. (So it's not so perfectly sharp when you look at it closely). But works so nicely that I will keep it in mind for the future. For sure.

Runway

I'm not a runway shooter, nor much of a 'party' shooter. I find it hard to appreciate the randomness of the situation and the uncertainty of the conditions. It's not my lighting, nor my posing, nor my idea, nor under my control- what so ever. That being said, there is indeed an art to it, and the people who do it well, do it really really well. So last night I went to a runway show, just to take a look. Supposidly my camera excells at events like runway, but because I always use it in studio, I'm really not familiar with it in such situations.

Interview

As a part of a special for one agency I work with (Unique-One, they represent Petra Nemcova) I did an interview for Slovak Television as an American fashion photographer in Prague. It was cool, I did it all in czech (impressive, I was nervous!) and today I had to do a 'fake' photoshoot to look like I actually do work. Neat-o.

Summer and Apartment

So, my roommates moved out last week and once again I have my flat to myself. I forgot how large it was though and now by myself I find that perhaps it's a little, *too* roomy for just me. Before I loved the idea but now I find that I have two extra rooms that I don't have any real purpose for. I don't shoot in my flat anymore and I only sleep and have my computer in one room. I also don't own any furniture (just a futon) so there's not much other purpose for the two rooms besides pacing space.

To be honest, I don't really need this large of a flat anymore. I love it though because it's sandwiched between the two largest parks, high above the city, on the second to top floor with a nice balcony and a view for miles. The bathrooms a bit small, but that's my only honest gripe. Anyway, I've ruled out a new roommate. Simply put, I'm a bit too eccentric to live with people regularly 24/7. I'm also a homebody, my bedroom being my main office so I tend to feel disproportionately entitled to the space when I live with others.

That being said, I will buy my first real bed soon, so I will have an extra one (futon and mattress). I'm not looking for a roommate but I wouldn't mind some company or someone to help split up the rent. That's an open call for any old friends who have been thinking about visiting prague- there's plenty of room to crash for a couple weeks if your interested. I'd love to show you around the city and just generally hang out. I'm not the most active of 'outgoing people' but I keep pretty interesting company and find it easy to stir up some excitement.

I'm also looking for summer subleters if there are any takers. I'm thinking about spending the summer in spain building my portfolio and shooting on the beach so if your interested let me know.