Archive for February, 2012
Photos as paintings (but still photos) (and back again)
To be honest with you, I was creatively depleted when I shot these for Dar F.M. last November. Thankfully the gang put in a real team effort and we got the shoot done. After all, cousin Emily was visiting and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dress her up! Of course we wanted Ali (again) for the shoot and her houseguest Karen also gracefully agreed to humour us. So, after sorely neglecting to process these photos for months and months (sorry gang) the imaging switch in my brain has finally flipped on again (with a vengeance) and I’ve been working on these (obsessively) for days! I approached these photographs in a painterly way. I focused on colour blocking with a very specific palette and edited each image with special attention its shadows. Overall, I wanted the colours to be vivid but not overly saturated. My approach to texture was a little different, instead of the concrete textures I usually lay over my images I sourced the journal pages I photographed last week. I’m pleased with the end result of these photos — they’re a pleasant departure from our past Dar F.M. editorials.
In the absence of paint and going outside
Well, I’ve gone and done it. I’ve injured my ankle and I’m housebound while house-sitting. Thus, anything that I did not have the foresight to bring with me (PAINT!) is out of my reach. I was looking at my old sourcebooks (which I did have the foresight to bring) and they’re so vibrant with colour. They’re messy and reckless and it made me feel a little nostalgic. In the absence of paint to indulge in this nostalgia (because you should always indulge it in winter) I decided to take some stills of my two new books and give them a sentimental tinge all of their own (good ole photoshop!)
I’m making you something.
Making with purpose! Left: an old image from China reworked for a mix-CD cover. I think it will fit neatly into My Hometown, Your Hometown. Right: a new image of Dar — with bangs! This will likely make an appearance in the Loved Ones.
Rad travel
I travel a lot for work. It’s a rare occasion that I travel just for the sake of it. In the fall I went to Florida with my brother Curt (as a side note, I think he’s pretty rad). I took this shot under a palm tree in our parent’s yard for my series The Loved Ones.
Photo thoughts
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I always felt like the new year really started in February because it takes at least a month to pull it together after the holidays. This year I have reserved February as a month of quiet work. It’s going nicely as I sort through all the shots from the fall that were neglected.
These particular photos are of Catherine whose house I happen to be occupying this month.
