Sketch, 2010.

Yogurt Lids, 2010.

Index Image, 2010.

Index Image, 2010.

Index Image, 2010.

Trader Joe's Bean and Cheese Burrito, Extra Firm Tofu, 2010.

I may reshoot this and move the right umbrella over a bit, or remove them entirely. This construction may not need the extra element.

Tide, Purex, Pine-Sol, 2010.

Eddie Bauer Queen Size Insta-Bed, 2010.

Auro Boot Socks, 2010.

Trader Joe's Microwavable Mac & Cheese, 2010.

Index Image, 2010.

Inverted Miller Genuine Draft.

Miller Genuine Draft.

Starbucks Komodo Dragon Blend Coffee.

So after my initial attempt at shooting the product images I'm working on with strobes, I ended up with 8 very badly underexposed sheets of 4x5 film, and a very, very bad headache. I'm still not sure what went wrong, but after scanning my film in the EXACT OPPOSITE manner I would normally scan it, and alot of playing around in photoshop, I ended up with this. Not so bad, if you ask me. I think maybe my lighting on the left side of the image was a little darker than I'd like, but I hopefully can fix that fairly easily. I may go back tomorrow morning and scan the rest of the images I left out because I didn't think I could get anything from them.


Anyhow, just in case anyone notices anything I may have done wrong when setting up the strobes, here is a little overview of what I did when shooting these.
-I had the battery set at full power (1600 watts) and set at the symmetrical distribution setting, with two lights set up. I'm using a friend's speedatron brown line kit.
-I had one light set up on the left shooting through an umbrella, roughly at a 45 degree angle from the object. I also had the same wattage light set up at the same angle on the right, with a softbox.
-I metered the light with the light meter facing the camera, the light meter on the cord setting (the lightning bolt with the c). The ISO was set for 160, which was the speed film I was using.
-I had the bulb cap on, not the conical cap with the flat meter. Could that be my problem?
-I plugged the cord into the meter, metering the light with the light meter actually touching the objects I photographed. By touching I mean laying flat against them. I made sure the meter read the same throughout the image, since I don't have a digital camera to preview the light.
-I then plugged the cord into the lens (schneider symar 210) and took the picture, the lens set at f16 @ a 15th. Obviously I took out the dark slide.

Any thoughts on what may have gone wrong? Anyone? I know I know a bunch of 4x5 photographers who know how to answer tech questions...

Reshoot, with strobes.

Trying a new approach to the packaging images. I've never shot strobes before, and don't have a digital camera to preview how the light looks, so this could be quite the undertaking. Let's see how this turns out...

A better version of recycling

Thermal Underwear Packaging

Three Weeks of Recycling (Give or Take)

New Work, New Color

Some new images I've made since moving to Chicago. Very much works in progress, but whatever. Oh yeah, I'm shooting primarily 4x5 now. Who knew?

Check In

So this seems like a good time to reevaluate things, as I'm preparing for a big move from New York to Chicago to start grad school in the fall at Columbia College Chicago (so psyched!). At this point, I'm thinking I'll be using the blog to post new things I'm working on, and not just defined projects, and think about new ideas. Sometimes I think Facebook has made posting people's work I really like kind of obsolete, but whatever.

some thoughts:
-looser photographs. things might not have to be so defined all the time.
-subtitles. i love the idea of adding subtext to an image that may or may not be related.
-invest in a hasselblad. my mamiya is sometimes hard to focus through the viewfinder because it's a little dark. does this basically mean i'm blind?
-photographs of people alone at bars / awkward people not quite part of a conversation / people lingering.
-go outside.
-photograph rainy days.
-photograph the holes in my walls as i patch them up.
-junk pressed into the sidewalk.
-buy more john divola books.
-make more text pieces.
-maybe the photographs of my ex's should have subtitles? like in foreign films?