MY path

This image has a pretty personal meaning behind it. When I was leaving high school my brother had been going to SUNY Maritime which is a great school, we both have worked for the Fire Island Ferries for our whole lives and it seemed that I was destined to attend maritime as well. Clear to me now although it hadn't been so clear at the time Maritime wasn't my choice it was more of the choice the people around me including my parents had decided for me. After applying I started to realize it wasn't going to work for me, through out my schooling I was that kid who was always getting in trouble for whatever reason i've never been too good with authority. Maritime is a regimented school meaning A LOT of authority, you aren't allowed to have a tv, rug on the floor or posters on the wall. This was seeming a little too much for me, and I decided the best decision for me was to save myself some money and get my associates from Suffolk before deciding where to land. After attending Suffolk for two semesters I had to take an art class and I decided after always wanting  digital camera but never having the reason to go out and buy one that I would take Intro to Digital with Christine Amato. One day into class and I was completely hooked, I fell in love with creating images the process of it all and the final piece of art that come from only my imagination. Its something I never expected and something that I'm beyond happy about. Finding something that changes the way you approach life, something that makes you appreciate everything around you so much more. For me its my escape from this hectic world to go out and shoot and be alone documenting my experiences and all the moving parts around me. Creating something in my head and bringing that to life in a print to share with people and getting positive feedback is a feeling of accomplishment little known to me prior to entering photography. Photography as a whole has changed my life, helping me to focus as a student doing something I truly enjoy and being able to get my work done and enjoy it at the same time. I'd like to thank both of my Professors Keener and Cyr for all the help they have given me over the past year and half they have really helped me accomplish more than I thought I could and begin my a career for myself. Here are some of my favorite Images Ive take over the past two years. 

Janelle Brooke Photography

Last week Janelle Brooke and her partner came to speak with out class about her business and how she got started. Janelle is a wedding photographer who graduated from Suffolk who has succeeded tremendously in her field. She spoke to us and showed us pictures of how she started her business from her parents living room and would meet with clients there. She was very inspiring telling us that we can always figure out a way to make it work and how she put in $5,000 into getting the right equipment when she graduated and how important that was for her. She highlighted the importance of setting a goal for yourself like she had, to get x amount of clients for that year and then when she succeeded in that moving that number up for the next year. It is important to be able set a goal to achieve when moving ahead in your career. The one thing that interested me the most was that janelle has also began moving forward with her clients in taking baby pictures for them when the time came after the wedding. She takes all of her baby pictures without lighting using only a large reflector and sunlight from her sliding glass doors. Seeing the pictures I couldn't believe it and am lucky enough to try this with my girlfriends baby sister who was just born this past Saturday. Moving forward with her clients and doing baby pictures is extremely intelligent because being a wedding photographer means you get to do just their wedding once (hopefully) and thats the end of your business relationship unless you take that next step like Janelle has. Heres an image I took using only a reflector of Kiera and her father Ray.

A Silent Struggle

For our final assignment in Studio this semester the only requirements we had were to put together a small body of work from two to three studio shoots over the last two weeks. 90 images for a contact sheet and 3 or more 11x14 final prints. Ill admit I may have pushed this assignment off longer than i should have and this caused me to be extremely rushed shooting the entire assignment the day before it was due. When I initially went into the studio I had a little bit of an idea to do a good vs evil theme using a beauty dish and soft box along with two background lights. When I began shooting I wasn't happy with the beauty dish and decided to switch back to panel lighting as it hasn't let me down yet. Once I switch I was of course happy with the lighting and finished shooting with ease. In the end after being rush I felt that my final images came out great and I was extremely happy with my final Images.





 

Camp Hero Graffiti

A few months back me and my girlfriend decided to go check out Camp hero in Montauk. Camp Hero was once a World War II army base which includes a massive radio tower which attracts many who are are interested in the abandoned and decaying. I was mostly excited to see the radio tower up close for the first time as I have seen it from the water and beach for years. When we got there I found myself more intrigued by the amazing graffiti work that lined the bottom of the tower. There were so many colors and the detail was exceptional. Graffiti is something that intrigues me partially because ill never understand how well these artists paint with a can of spray paint and get such perfect lines but also because graffiti seems to always be changing, someone painting over somebody else's work partially creating collaborations whether thats what they intended to or not. I spent most of the time photographing the graffiti and some deer who stumbled upon us while we were there. I look forward to going back and seeing what new graffiti awaits.

John Messinger

Last week John Messinger came to speak with our class about his work. He does his work using an old polaroid camera which I thought was very interesting as it seems polaroid along with film are both dying off in an age full of digital technology. Which he did touch on talking about how Fuji film had just discontinued fp-100c which was his favorite along with many others. Luckily for John he actually partnered up fuji film for the Photo Plus expo and got his hands on a very large amount of the film prior to it being discontinued. Johns work is fantastic the way he brings together all of these small images to create one large very abstract and intriguing images. He was very inspiring and made me feel like the world was wasn't such a scary place and it can be conquered. He had a lot of views that I share as well like to keep pushing and trying to accomplish whatever it is you want no matter what you have to do. Heres some of his work.

Twin mountain

Back in June me and two friends set out to hike 4,000 feet up to the summit of Twin Mountain. It was a 9 mile hike to the top and of course 9 miles back. We left Long Island as the sun rose and drove 4 hours into the heart of the Catskills in upstate New York. We started hiking by 10 o'clock and after 5 hours reached the peak. The hike was grueling with a 2,000 foot elevation gain in under 2 miles but the view waiting for us was well worth it. We had lunch and hung out on what seemed like the top of the world for hours admiring how beautiful the world surrounding us was. 

Steel Wool

When I first entered the field of photography, I began looking through hundreds of images on the internet looking for anything to get the creative ball rolling. I stumbled upon something I didn't understand at the time. It turned out to be a picture of someone spinning steel wool. It was amazing, I couldn't understand how it was done and that's what intrigued me. I started looking at more and more and  I began seeing these magnificent images people were coming up with. I knew I had to give it a try. After getting the basic concept down, I took to the night to try something I never knew would become my favorite type of photography. To me these aren't just pictures, they are creations of my mind. Visions only seen when the shutter closes and the camera processes what has just happened. When I first began it was very simple, drawing letters and simple shapes but I realized that it was not necessarily the steel wool that made the images appealing but the background and how certain surfaces reflect the light and are illuminated by the burning of the steel wool. During an assignment in Digital 2 Professor Cyr asked us to do a final project that would be a small body of work which had to have meaning behind it. I was puzzled as to what I could do with my steel wool pictures while also bringing meaning to them. We talked and he asked me what the significance was of me being in the photos and I wasn't quite sure. I realized that I would weave myself into the background or foreground somewhere sometimes easily noticeable other times not so much. So I decided to go ahead and make my project based around how an otherwise boring photograph could be changed drastically with the introduction of myself and what I bring with me.

One of My first Steel Wool shots 

One of my Final images from intro to Digital 

Another Shot from the early days

Photo Plus

I was lucky enough to be able to go into the city to check out the Photo Plus Expo the Friday before last. I was looking forward to seeing Chris Burkard a Sony photographer who has had a large impact on my photography speak. Unfortunately he was speaking until 12:30 and we walked in at 12:32 I thought I had missed my chance. After walking around checking out all the booths set up I decided to go back to the Sony booth. I'm glad I did because when I walked in Chris Burkard was standing directly in front of me. Rather than just hearing him speak I actually got to shake hands with him and briefly speak to him. Meeting him was something I never thought I would have the chance at but for some reason we both walked back into that Sony booth at the same time and our paths crossed. Overall I thought the expo was awesome, I was in awe at the new technology that they had brought out and everything new in the photography world. I really appreciated the Sony and Zeiss booths in particular as I use and would recommend their products. 

Me and Chris Burkard 

The Sigma booth

A picture of a picture made up of pictures

Photoville

I recently took a trip to Brooklyn to check out Photoville. I was impressed with a lot of the work that was being exhibited at Photoville. I was specifically interested in work from Zhuoqun Jiang a photographer from the New York Film Academy. His work with headshots using very unique and interesting masks. His work interested me because I also like to take photos with models wearing masks and it was nice to see something that I could relate to at the event. A lot of the work there was very interesting and some of the displays that were put together were amazing. The location was beautiful and I enjoyed walking the Brooklyn bridge there and back. It was very nice to speak to many of the people who were showing work and helped to arrange Photoville. They were all very passionate and helpful with any questions I had for them