The exhibition also gave me an excuse to see Russia for the first time.The highlight of the trip was having the pleasure of dining with Marina and my host at the Russian Vodka Room. We shared our often differing, always strongly held, and mutually respected views of the world – from two very different countries and from two different generations – an experience worth the trip by itself.

The photos below that have my logo water marked on them are my images. The remainder are from the staff of the Manege Gallery who have my appreciation for providing such images to the artists who were exhibiting.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Marina without whom I would have never enjoyed this experience.

Please excuse the noise – many of these images were shot at the equivalent of ISO 51,200. Which, for non photo dorks, is approximately 64 times higher sensitivity to light (in order to shoot in darker conditions) than a typical consumer point and shoot. I actually rather like the way it looks as something about the grain and high contrast remind me of the mood of that evening.

Thanks for all the fun guys!

Danish beer has never been my favorite, but somehow it tastes better when drinking it in Denmark.

Visit the Gallery to see all images and order prints.

An Entire Week of Wedding Celebration

John & Katie are old college friends. This wedding was an amazing opportunity to document the entire wedding experience rather than just the ceremony and reception. The week started in SE Ohio with a bachelor party kicked off with a round of golf at Brass Ring Golf Course in Logan, Ohio. The bachelor party then headed to “Barton Meadow Lodge” a nearby Rental Cabin for two days of canoeing, board games, and libations. Returning to NE Ohio the entire wedding party met for a rehearsal at Rockport United Methodist Church where a minister from the bride’s childhood came out of retirement to guide them through the next day’s ceremony. Afterwards the families met each other, many for the first time, at Behind the Woods restaurant in Cleveland. The bride’s heritage is largely Irish, and the family and groom had recently taken a trip to Ireland, and brought back with them a love of Meade (honey wine) and a traditional Irish toast. The next morning I joined the bride at her Bridal suite at the Marriott to document the preparation of the bridal party. With only a few snaffus we made it to the church on time and the wedding went off without a hitch (though everyone got a good laugh when the minister managed to mispronounce the couple’s new last name). We took formal photos around the church (including the playground) and headed to Progressive Field (formerly Jacob’s Field) where the Cleveland Indian’s mascot Slider and a live Irish band helped the couple celebrate their first evening of marriage.

I have been asked by Марина Джигарханян the Head of the Department of Contemporary Art at the “Manege” Central Exhibition Hall, to exhibit my bodyscape collection at the Saint-Petersburg Photo Vernissag. This invitation-only photo exhibit, will be hung in September 2010 in St. Petersburg Russia. For the selection of my images to show I am going to depend heavily upon the process of social selection.

Here is the theme of the show (note: English is a 2nd language for the curator):
At the heart of fashion lies an individual style, and her world – a self-contained space, absorbing a wide range of phenomena. Through them a man expresses his attitude to external forms of culture: lifestyle, serving and table manners, cars, clothing, thus trying to show their place in society, their sexuality, location, class, status level and belonging to a particular group. Photocamera gives us an opportunity to capture different aspects of fashion, its endless cyclicism and change of artistic images, which always embody the era image in a clothing. This subject gives participants a wide opportunities for philosophical reflections and artistic self-expression.

Please vote by clicking on the stars below the photo and/or leaving a comment.

You can also see a larger version of each photo by clicking on that photo.

What is a portrait? Does the subject have to be facing you? Must they be the only one in the frame? How much of the frame does the person have to take up to be a “portrait”? Do they have to be looking at the camera? Do you have to be able to see their face?

I remember these questions coming up in a commercial photography class when I was studying photography at Ohio University. During the class we were required to take a “non-traditional portrait”.

This last weekend I accidentally relived this class. I had a camping trip with a group of 30 friends and took my camera along with no real goals – just to have it with me for whatever struck me. It was only after the trip when I sat down to edit the images that I realized that 90% of the shots were portraits. When I say this I don’t just mean that 90% of the images had a person in them – having a person in the picture does not make it a portrait. I mean that 90% of the frames captured something interesting I saw in their personality, mannerisms, or character.

I owe an enormous amount to the work of Stephen Kennedy, from whom the style of several of these images is blatantly lifted (hopefully with my own additional style mixed in).

This is the view of my new loft from December 31, 2009 to January 2, 2010.

Music by www.thomasdanewagener.com

It made for a great time, and some compelling images. The images below of myself were taken by my friend Chez. All the other photos are, of course, mine.

It’s just as intense the third time.

My friend Marcos trying to explain how it felt to be in the air hurtling towards the earth at terminal velocity.

Tom Manos is a top notch attorney working in entertainment law. He is revamping his website and contacted me to shoot some general purpose images of him. I can’t say enough good things about Tom. Even from casual interaction it’s clear that he is very concerned with the well-being of his clients.

What a fantastic way to spend the weekend.

I celebrated the anniversary of the Birth of America this year on the streets of South Beach’s Ocean Avenue. Those of us that live in South Beach are rarely found on Ocean Avenue it was nice to spend an evening in the shoes of the tourists.

The blurring in these images are from long exposures (the camera is taking the picture for several seconds).

Holga is a historical camera which was originally made to be incredibly inexpensive. Many photographers (especially those who began photography before the ultra-clean days of digital) are endeared by the Holga’s soft dreamy appearance.

Canon mount Holga lenses are available from HolgaMods.com.

Because the Canon sensor (it’s “film”) is physically smaller than the medium format film for which the Holga was originally designed the images do not exhibit the characteristic strong vignetting.

My visit was arranged as a glorified layover on my MIA-CLT-PHX-CLT-PIT-CLE-MIA-ATL-MIA-DAL-MIA circuit (all in two weeks). Still those few hours were very special. The big surprise of the day came when both my sister and sister-in-law announced they were each pregnant! The clan’s future now seems secure.

I often find my photographic creativity and my general mood go hand in hand. In this case I think the images show the relaxed, happy, and sentimental mood I was in throughout most of the day.

But when life gives you rain, make rain-aid. The below shot of the rain was taken at the Horseshoe Canyon; while not as colorful and dynamic as the shot I arrived to take I think it does hold meaning. Photography is many things to many people; to me the best photography evokes an emotion.

This image is a metaphor for all the frustration and disappointment of real life. Each drop is a set back and the out of focus clouds are that hard-to-shake vague sense of impending doom often found in the depravity of modern life.

The band sounded great and the event was a blast.