I’ve known Matt and Julia for a couple years. Matt and I used to work together and he mentioned that his wife, Julia, wanted to dip her toes into some modeling. After a few strike-outs with creepy craigslist folks, Julia stopped by for a portrait session. As you’ve probably figured out. I don’t exactly do glamour shots. My set up is … spartan? … yeah that’s a good word. I’m low-tech, hi-drama, or at least I try to be. Here are a couple shots from the shoot. I also did some shots of her with the Zeiss folder with the hazy lens, keep your eyes out for a post once I get the film developed.

For this shot, I used a really slow shutter speed with my flash and allowed the flash to flare a little bit. I think it has a fuzzy, smooth, dreamy quality that I like.

Two lights in this shot, one directly under and one making the shadow from behind. The shadow of the hair on the texture of the wall looked cool.

I visited Cavanaugh’s Irish Pub in West Chester last week to take some shots of Leroy Ellington. He is a the current Mayor of Amelia, a suburb town of Cincinnati. Despite his best efforts, the powers that be are trying to dissolve the town. He would be out of job and the services and government of the area would be split up among the surrounding areas. If the resolution passes on May 5, it would be the first time in Ohio history a village has eliminated itself through a petition drive and citizens’ vote. Anyway, the bar was dead and the backgrounds were all very dark, so I took a lesson for a weird photojournalism book I read in college and included the light source in the photo. If the backgrounds are really dark and the story can handle an artsy, flared photo, it makes for a good technique. It’s one of my favorite ways to avoid the “head floating in space” problem. And the wide shot sort of shows portrays the man standing alone in the world.

I covered the Eco Go Go Fashion show on Fountain Square yesterday. It was a lot of fun. One of the questions I asked someone I was interviewing was “why do you use a bicycle?” I was looking for that “I toured the garbage dumps outside Mexico City and it changed my life” type of answer, but he simply said “Good Looks.” I laughed along with him and his friends. Then I sampled his “Good Looks” statement and made it the vocal track of the techno soundtrack I compiled for the song. Hope he doesn’t mind, he he he!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me2lPVNFz1I]

So my loving girlfriend bought me a Brownie Six-20 which has been adorning my shelf for the past few months. I broke it out for Easter. I remember seeing all those old shots of my parents as kids in those dreamy landscapes. No thought of composition or exposure, just the joy of saving the moment of the Easter dress and the egg hunt. Well, I think my photo education may have ruined that a little. I was constantly wait for the girls to turn into the light and was worrying about the accuracy of the viewfinder. But I still had a good time and was shocked when I picked up the film and saw how well exposed it was. Here’s a shot of my niece, Cadence.

Here’s yet another installment of alley photos from my random wanderings around town.

This was shot with the Rollei 35. This next shot is a color version of the vine photo that was in black and white early. Spring has brought the sun higher into the sky allowing sunlight to reach the wall. The color is much better and some green buds have sprung out from the vine.

For CityBeat’s annual Green Issue, I headed to Park + Vine. It’s a little hard to classify the store, but the specialize in all things green. They carry great products made from recycled products, a ton of organic products and clothing made in an environmentally consious way. I was there for the clothes. I was able to shoot two models showcase two outfits. The models were great, the clothes looked good. I was used my typical lighting set up with two Vivitar 283 flashes. The rimlight in both photos was bare and direct. The key light for the in-store portrait was bounced in an umbrella. The keylight for the doorway photo was direct, but through a window. Hope you enjoy.