Hooray! #MoreLightHours

Yup...It's FINALLY March and the feeling of Spring in New Jersey took its sweet ass time getting here. With this new season comes some new things of course.Incase you didn't notice the title, feel free to holla atcha guala and follow me on a few new social mediums: Twitter & Tumblr.

Secondly, I did some minor work for Renegade Hip Hop and had some time to check out their recent show in East Stroudsburg, PA with Mac Miller. Crowd was real harsh and the only performances they didn't 'boo' at were Mac Miller's and Renegade's haha, so much love to them for always doing their thing and always killing it.

Slacking on some video gear has me being stingy on adding videos to my repertoire, but fortunately for me my wonderful lady was in attendance at a poetry jam I took part in earlier this month.

I wrote about a minute worth of lines because It was my first time and I wanted to get it over and done with before I choked. Lo and behold....I STILL choked haha. Regardless, it was great to see the local poetic talent. Shout out to Janelle for organizing the event and everyone who attended / participated at NY's Finest. I've never publicly shared what I have written so it was an overall positive and unique first experience. Supporting creativity is a big thing for me, especially when it comes to creatively expressing yourself through different avenues.

A major part of why I decided to participate has to do with the book that I plan on publishing.

In my previous post there was a mention of the book but I held back the details. Generally, it is a collaborative project between myself and other artists. As of now, there are 3 individuals that I am currently collaborating with. Essentially, I'm going to be photographically illustrating another persons form of art.

Real talk...this isn't a project that will take a week or even a few months to complete. I look forward to each and every step of the process because I already know how dope this book is going to be.

Be safe people.

Middle of Febuary? Already?!

I know I know its Febuary and its been awhile but it's a new year and things have already been going better than the previous. I've been running around doing work for a few websites, portrait sessions, and brainstorming ideas for some personal work which I'll get into later. The website has also gotten a few small upgrades with the in between time that I have had. A noticeable improvement is the Proofs/Store section to my site. I'm still in the process of configuring the Store section because of available print and quality options. Also, I configured the site to look, and operate better in full screen mode than it had originally so if you find time...Hit that F11 key when your on the site to get the full experience.

Also updated were the transitions and a new menu. I'm having a problem deciding what kind of layout I want for the 'Eye Candy' menu. It has been a thorn on my side to try to make it exactly how I want it. Another push to move towards Adobe InDesign? I think so...

Speaking of 'Eye Candy'....Through some networking I realized that there are a lot of people using some form of the words 'Eye Candy'. I have gotten used to having my URL and am quite happy with it, but it's time for a change. As far as what the new URL for my site will be? Probably something a little more simple.

Another needed change is the look of my business cards. Overnightprints.com did a great job of handling my order but I feel like I have grown out of the look that my current business cards have. I want these new ones to reflect where I am now and where I'm headed. I have some great ideas for it involving different textures which can manipulate light. I am a photographer after all and a business card is the only first impression you get to make sometimes so I want it to be amazingly unique.

Now onto the personal work. At the beginning of the year I told myself I wanted to publish a book. I also told those around me that I want to make this book a collaborative effort between me and other artists. I put the idea in the back of my mind to focus on other things. A couple weeks later I was fortunate enough to meet someone who is passionate about their form of art as much as I am about mine. We have already started to get the ball rolling and I'm extremely excited about it. Thats all the info im giving out about the book at this time so when I do another update I'll be sure to shed some more light on it.

Another collaborative effort I have in the works involves another photographer and my dream car. Needless to say I'm excited about that one too haha.

I like how life conspires to get you where you want to be so in saying that, I want to thank everybody now who has supported me and what I do. Even if you visit my site for a minute, I'm just happy you made an effort to get there. LEH GO!

Shoot with Paul and upcoming things...

So much for that update huh...Been so busy with work and trying to do new things lately that I forgot about my blog for a bit. I've gotten some new equipment but still nowhere near where I want to be. As always I make things work (shout out Tim Gunn) with what I have and my images always end up great right from the camera.

For example, this shoot with Paul inside of a giant yellow pipe. At first things were a little eh. Had a miserable day at work and I had planned to shoot earlier. Got out of work later than I had expected, hit traffic, and had to turn around at some point to get the property release form for the shoot that was left behind. Oy vey! I showed up a little grouchy but ready to get down to business. Since it was getting dark I had some trouble focusing which was driving me up a wall. My biggest enemy was time. The shoot was planned in just a few days and I relied on daylight too much. I fixed the low-light-focusing situation and thankfully that will never happen again.

As for the upcoming things: A variety of Pit-Bull Terriers and their respective female owners, a bar in Hoboken, a firehouse in Little Ferry, and a calender.

More about it in my next post!

Shoot with Sophie!

Let me start off by saying that I have never shot a toddler for a portrait before.That being said...WOW! What a task!
I've always remembered the famous saying in show business, that you should "Never work with children or animals". Just because they're unpredictable. As a photographer photographing a child,in my opinion,this saying could not be farther from the truth.I had learned that to get what I wanted from Sophie,I just needed to let her do her own thing for the most part(with a little push from her mom).She was very smart and capable of understanding direction.I was making myself nervous by thinking about it too much before the shoot. As soon as I walked in the door and saw how adorable this little girl was,I knew it was in the bag and we were going to get some shots to be proud of. The shutter kept going and everything was feeling great...of course until spongebob squarepants came on.Distractions and a childs restlessness do not mix,lesson learned.

Overall we came out with great images.Sophie was the cutest and funniest little girl I've ever met,her makeup and hair were perfect[thanks to her mother],and my girlfriend,Chrissy, did an amazing job handling my requests and being a wonderful assistant.