Really, this is just a test post, my blog is supposed to automatically post to tumblr as well.

Anyway, here’s a version of album art I’m putting together for a mix I’m creating for designers.mx:

“A horror film?” asked Nate. He sounded surprised.
“Yes, a horror film. We need a place to film it, though.”
“Well, we’re headed up to Nick’s cabin tonight. And it has this disgusting, awful bathroom… No one’s been in it in 20 years, seriously. Why not there?”

Who could say no? We recruited everyone that was aroundish (Hikari arrived from Philly), and made plans to convene at Nick’s cabin, to create a horror film.

“But why?” wondered everyone involved to themselves.
“Because!” I insisted. My logic was sound.

My Mercedes didn’t have any heat, and it was already dark. And snowing. And Hikari and I were running late, of course.

So, after a 45 minute drive, we turned onto the dark, wooded road. I had a sneaking suspicion that my car was awful in the snow. Sneaking, like an elephant on rollerskates. Obviously my car couldn’t take a mountain road covered in snow, but that didn’t stop me from trying.

And failing. Definitely failed that attempt. We did get further than I thought, but I wasn’t entirely sure where we were, and as it turns out, snow does not get lighter the higher up you go. So, after successfully wedging my car into a malevolent ditch, Nate and Nick came down to help me un-stuck my car… which, proved to be pointless, so we just kinda got it off to the side, and took of the rest of the way on foot.

By the way, much like the disgusting, awful bathroom, Nick’s cabin hadn’t been occupied in 20 years. And the first thing he  pointed out and proceeded to freak out about for the remainder of the night was the seven or so fresh bullet holes decorating the walls of the cabin. The holes were fresh, but they didn’t imply any attempt to aim. Whoever had shot them could indeed hit the broad side of a barn, or cabin in this case, so I immediately begin devising a new way to insult their aim, should it come down to that. You know, just in case they come back, run out of bullets, and I need a one liner to whip out before doing something that would be awesome and super effective. Specifically what? I had no idea, but the framework of a plan was good enough for me. I’ll just figure out the details later. Kinda like this horror film.

So, Nick and the others set about heating up the kitchen via a massive wood furnace, while Hikari, Nate and I begin filming. My HVX runs out of space for footage in about 5 minutes, and I had to rely on Nate’s Canon for the rest. We go through the entire thing, the girl lost in the woods, wandering up to a creepy cabin, walking inside, finding a killer waiting for her, and then—! Well, the killer had to leave early. Her mother was sick or her kids were misbehaving or something along those lines. Right before getting to this epic bathroom we planned the entire thing around. Gah!

So, with the creepiest bathroom in rural Pennsylvania right there, wanted to be filmed in, we had to get creative. So, Hikari, Nate and I turned it into a fashion shoot, themed around horror. Sadly, Nate’s camera ran out of batteries — likely my fault — but my D90 was good to go!

So, these images are the result of the horror film with no ending. They are the things our heroine found within. By the way, there is nudity, making this NSFW, depending on where you work.

It’s been a bit.

UPDATES:

-I’ve just gone through and updated/resized all of the thumbnails — now the main blog page will open right away.

NUMBER OF PHOTOS:

I was curious, so here’s what I found.

-On my laptop – According to Picaso, Google’s excellent photo program, my website has 609 phootgraphs, I’ve processed 5,272 processed photos, 26,717 photos on Cinemoxie’s website, and 20,118 photos I haven’t even gotten to yet.

-On the Mac – Since 2010, there’s 10,253 on the external drive, and 12,890 on the harddrive.

-Negatives/Slides : Hmm. Ok. Well, sitting on my desk are three 35mm b&w rolls waiting to be processed, and a box of slides. My old and overstuff negative binder has 42 sleeves, all full. Next door in the old office is a box of miscellaneous color negatives and slides (I’m guesstimating about 15 shoots, and about 10  shoots on slides). Anyway, breaking it down:

-35mm: 42 + 15 + 3 = 60 x 36 =  2160

-chromes: 1 + 10 = 11 x 36 = 396

= 75,859 digital, and  negatives.

TOTAL: 78,415 pictures.

And I know, for a fact, that I have hundreds of lost photos sitting around on old harddrive or in old folders. A poor memory is a great way to turn old things into a new experience. Although, I mean, holy cow, 78 thousand. Daunting, when you have to go through all of them to properly finish a few projects, (mostly, Cinemoxie).

Anyway, here’s one of them, taken from Andy and Emily’s wedding last summer. No watermark, because it’s just some flowers in the sunset. Nothing to write about in, say, a blog. Hrm. Ha, no, I mean, it might not redefine modern photography, but I like it. Details about it, like the sunflare, mild grittiness, the out-of-focus background, are ‘comfort areas’ in photos for me. Plus I’m super obsessed these days with shooting into the light source (especially the sun). Little things like that, all watermarks of flavor on the way to really defining my personal artistic style. But I’d say this is more of a personal entry, kinda like an entry in a diary, versus something published for the public to digest. So, why am I publishing it? Well, that’s a question for another entry— this generation’s openness. From everything from old school platforms like xanga & my-diary.org, to modern outlets like facebook & twitter, it seems our privacy is less important than the desire to share our inner selves, perhaps if only to prove that they even exist.

… I think I’m getting a bit too philosophical. It’s a flower & a sunset, man.

And, anyway, I really enjoyed Andy and Emily’s wedding. First one, ever, I think, that I was in. Can’t say enough how awesome that was. Turns out, those people I professionally watch in weddings almost every weekend of the summer really are having fun. And, besides, if I take time to go through the 78k photos first, I’ll never ever get to posting anything. So, here ya go :

First shoot with the fascinating Hikari.

This story starts purely film noir. It’s an early night, 8:30 or so. I sat in the corner of a nearly vacant Cafe Fresco, sipping a triple espresso, it’s raining and I’m certain I hear a deep bluesy jazz playing somewhere. I’m jotting down the most pressing points from my to-do list for the ninth time in a notebook.

Step 1: Write down what you need to do.
Step 2: Do it, as soon as possible.

That’s the secret to doing anything you want in the entire world, by the way. Start with where you are right now. You don’t have to figure it out, just accept where ever you are and say, very well then, this is me. Then decide where you’d be if you weren’t there, by conscious choice. It has to be specific. Then, with two clearly-defined, real points, you just have to plot out the course of action. It’s so simple.

Carrying on: I was early—look, I don’t know how— and she’s a little late, so I like her already; although espresso goes so quickly, and I don’t want to drink it all before she arrives. I suppose that’s rude. I mean, I dunno. Seems like it would be.

She arrives by taxi. Very interesting, no one does that, not in central PA. If your car breaks down, you ride a cow. She has dark features, she’s wearing a sweater-vest. clearly she wasn’t a local. I was… surprised. That she existed. Like a tunnel hidden under ivy, you don’t see it coming, and even then, you don’t really see it, until you’ve leaned on just the right section of the wall, lost your balance and toppled comically inside, and now the plot can progress. Plus she looks straight out of western Europe or perhaps the middle-east, but she’s Japanese, European. Different. Interesting. Going places.

Going places, such as Philly, in a week, permanently.  Figures.

We got along instantly….. and I ran out of time for this post. More to come. Anyway, here’s a pic.

less wordy, more just pics. Goes back and forth. I think it’s based on the amount of rain-to-sun intake. Sun = pics. Rain = words.

I dunno.

A nice fact, though. Per shoot, shot for shot, economically speaking, of pictures worth the taking, shooting film versus shooting digital, film/chromes win without even the slightest challenge. Even the one picture that I accidentally scanned in wrong turned out to be amazing (try and guess the odd-man (woman?)-out)

Here’s one more teaser from the shoot, plus the entire gallery is available by clicking here.

Also, word on the street has it, comments on the pictures are deeply appreciated.

Anyway, I’ve a butt-ton of things to finish for cinemoxie, so in the meanwhile, here’s a quick teaser from a recent shoot, during a beautiful light-filled weekend in late August.

kissed

her

skin

and

I

said sarcastic things about it. HA!

To see the full gallery, click here.

Spidezilla.

Stupid things won’t stay out of my shoots. So I shoot them. And they just keep on going. Like zombies!

GAH.

Ok, back again. Mansion on front street.

Amanda, our wonderful fit model, was able to come in today. So we shot all the stuff we weren’t able to the day before. Front and back of thirty or so jeans, shirts, dresses and coats.

Then Amanda and I, starving, walked to Sandwich Man. I had a rueben, she had an Italian sub, which she loved. And she’s serious about Italian subs.

For me, when it’s something as standard as product shots, the real shoot happens between the shots. With products, you need to have good, consistent lighting and framing, but that’s about it. Creativity really comes out when you’re just trying stuff. Seeing what happens. Exploring. I don’t take good pictures, I just come across them. Camera just happens to be in my hand at the time.

Here’s a couple of those shots.