Notes from the Studio
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1|132012
Editors' Choice
The latest issue of Macworld Magazine gave me the chance to use my new 100-400mm lens. San Francisco is the perfect city for it! Every neighborhood has a view.
It is crazy how many tourists come and go to famous landmarks. They take their photo and then on to the next spot. I guess I do the same thing when visiting other places. As we waited for the sun to go down, we were asked by at least 7 tourists to take their pictures.
Here are some photos I took from the same spot at full zoom.
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1|112012
The Brokenmusicbox Single
The Brokenmusicbox has a new single out, "We Will" from their upcoming album. You may remember their first album from when I used the song, "Time," for my video, "Macworld Cover Creation."I was very excited they asked me to collaborate on the album art with them. The photography on the single is a teaser of what the photo will be on the full album. I was also lucky enough to work with Amy from A1 Design on the album design. -
11|292011
city lights
It's always fun when we collaborate with clients and come up with bright ideas. This time we captured the luminance of lamps against a city background for the Dec/Jan 2011 issue of Dwell Magazine. It took a few extension cords to get all the lamps lit. We also got to roam the streets of downtown San Francisco pretending we were tourists and photographed various city backgrounds.
You can find it on newsstands or zinio.com
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10|312011
Clutch Bags With SF Magazine
Now that the we finally got the blog up and running with Posterous, we are playing catch up with a few new blog posts of recent work. The September 2011 issue of San Francisco Magazine includes three of my photographs in it's "The Trend" section. This time, we got to work with fancy, designer clutch bags and incorporate fruits and vegetables. Shannon Amos (stylist) came through in the clutch to provide good quality and photogenic produce.
Read it for free at http://media.modernluxury.com/magazines_san_francisco.php or download their free app for your iPad and iPhone at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/san-francisco-magazine/id370424626?mt=8
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8|022011
Dwell: Desks
For the September issue of Dwell magazine we photographed desks. We worked with a set builder to make custom pedestals, which looked great but moving things around was no easy task! When asked if we could move a pedestal "a little to the left" we had to really question if it was needed. When we did move things, it took considerable effort not to scratch the floor or anything. Even with all the heavy lifting it was a really fun job. After we assembled all the desks Jamie, the editor, tried them all out for her story.
For the September issue of Dwell magazine we photographed desks. We worked with a set builder to make custom pedestals, which looked great but moving things around was no easy task! When asked if we could move a pedestal "a little to the left" we had to really question if it was needed. When we did move things, it took considerable effort not to scratch the floor or anything.Even with all the heavy lifting it was a really fun job. After we assembled all the desks Jamie, the editor, tried them all out for her story -
7|142011
DIY Macworld
Rob and Kate from Macworld were on set for the "Do It Yourself" feature of the magazine. Kate doubled as the hand model in two of the photos. In the spirit of "Do It Yourself" I ended up making a rig to support the iPad Kate was holding to help keep it in the same spot. It made lighting and focus a lot easier. In the photo of the audio system I created the wall with a sheet of foam core, which made it easy to cut a hole for the outlet which the Airport Express plugged into.
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7|072011
Dwell House Party
Who doesn't love a House Party? It's always great working with Dwell, this time it was especially cool because we got to work with their kids. We spent the morning organizing various playhouses and lighting. I decided to use a more spotted lighting arrangement to add some depth to the photo. In doing this I had to predict the areas where I thought the kids might play. Once the kids arrived we let them play as I snapped the photos. After that we had them each play in predetermined areas so that all the kids were evenly dispersed among the playhouses. Of course once we got a successful photo, all the adults jumped in to join the fun! You can find the issue on newsstands now.
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7|052011
Snakes with SF Magazine
When SF magazine approach us to photograph snakes and shoes I was very excited. Michael my assistant wasn't, he has an extreme fear of snakes. Luckily the snake handler (what a cool job title) from the Academy of Science took care of all the snake handling. This helped keep Michael on job.
I knew that the snakes weren't going to be cooperative so I built a set to be modified on the fly. The light was also set up to be pretty forgiving. The one thing I didn't foresee was the snakes twitching every time the strobes when off. Because of how the snakes reacted to the lights, the snake handler limited our time with each snake. We were only able to photograph each snake 10-15 times, which meant I had to really think before taking the photo. The snakes moved fast exploring their new environment. Nothing was off limits. They curled around light and stands, slithered up the plexiglass, knocked down the shoes and two took bathroom breaks on set. One snake even got stuck through an open toe Alexander Wang sandal that we debated on cutting the $900 shoe. Luckily, he freed himself a couple minutes later. If we are to shoot snakes again in the future, we will photograph them using HMI or hot lights instead.
You can get the magazine on newsstandsor read free online at
http://media.modernluxury.com/magazines_san_francisco.phpor
orread free on your iPad at
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/san-francisco-magazine/id370424626?mt=8
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5|182011
SF Magazine Hanging Watch
I got the call from San Francisco Magazine to photograph a watch...but not just a typical watch photo. They wanted something monumental and fun. They wanted something in line with my Donut series. After work on my way home I saw the cranes in the ship yard behind my building. I thought, "How cool would that be to have a watch hanging from there?!" The contrast of a pristine, slick watch with the gritty, rustic shipyard would be awesome. I presented the idea and they loved it. Below is a behind-the-scenes photo taken with my iPhoneso it must be real!
You can get the magazine on newsstands
or read free online at http://media.modernluxury.com/magazines_san_francisco.php
or read free on your iPad http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/san-francisco-magazine/id370424626?mt=8
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5|052011
Macworld Beyond Cable
For this feature, Macworld wanted to showcase each product from the review in their own setting. In order to keep the set budget down, we got furnishings from West Elm and Ikea in exchange for giving them credit in the magazine. For the opening photo, we didn't hang the TV on the wall because we didn't have a wall bracket. As a stand in, we used a foam core cut out. This allowed us to see how the TV would look in the photo as we worked on the crop. We also only had one chair so it was photographed in each position. Unfortunately, the nice floor didn't make the final layout because of the crop.
Check out the magazine on newsstands or at Zinio.com
