The Sky came down upon us converging with the Earth in a Day.

Dusk before Mountains.
Mornings before Mountains.

City Scapes

This series was done about a month ago when I was still working in the studio at school. I've recently been given an 8x10 view camera from the photographer I'm working for, and I wanted to test it out. I decided upon an optical illusion, something that can only be done with a view camera. The process of coming up with an idea to be an illusion was quite difficult. I didn't want to just make some lines or shapes, I wanted something more thematic. I chose a city scape, the idea of people falling off buildings has been something I wanted to work on, but until recent had no legit way of doing it. To make the buildings I drew what my city would look like on a piece of transparency paper, and then projected it through the back of my camera. The subject could stand anywhere in the scene, which would make it look like they are floating somewhat in mid air. I used slide film and scanned it in. Then in photoshop I combined some of the scenes together. Ialso have obviously added some clouds and rendered the buildings some colours. This was done to further enhance the illusion, as well as create this surreal city scene. The whole process took about two months, from idea to finished image. Even though it took so long to finally finish these images, I couldn't be happier. The first time using an 8x10, in the studio, doing an optical illusion, and I actually got somewhat promising results.

Old Monday

I made this picture on a Monday off from work. My third Monday to be exact. Its a picture of paper and glass using window light on my porch. Its just some shapes. It kept me busy for a few hours.

Etherial Ellinson

Took this picture while I was walking Maya with Christy at Ellinson.

Portraiture

The last few weeks without an internet connection has been rough. Being able to only use it when I was on campus was difficult.

This next series is a study of projections we use when asked to have two different states of mind. One, a smile and laugh. The emotion of happiness, having the time of our life. Some people, when asked to project this in front of a camera, take it seriously. They thought of something that made them happy. Other people were asked just to smile, no emotion tied to the action.
The other four are solemn, and the are the exact opposite of the first four. And as with the first four, some were asked to look seriously, others were asked to think of something serious.

Mantel Project

I finished my mantel piece project. I'm moving into a new apartment in a few weeks, which got me into studying different mantel pieces. After looking at some for about two weeks, I dove in
and made some of my own. Its a contemporary outlook on what we project themselves as when they know what the intention of the photograph is. Many people try to act serious if you tell them to do so, but putting the idea that it will be displayed somewhere, like perhaps above a fireplace, the person will begin to project themselves differently. While I was photographing my subjects, I talked about things about them they would want to project, if they wearing any jewelry, or how pretty their hair looked. I also included myself, because I had a need to project myself about my mantel as well.

Shopping Carts

During the months of May, June and July, I drove around stores and shopping malls that once were good businesses, now struggling in the current economic condition. Shopping Carts is a study on business and the economy, using the shopping cart as a symbol for how poorly these businesses are doing. Once very profitable stores near the Jersey Shore, these shops have now started to close early and forget the tourists. The reason for these being shot at night is to help create this eerie mood. Most of these stores would still be open till 10PM or even 11PM. now, at 9PM, they are closed and abandoned.