Spec

What is this?

Is it an illustration or a photograph?

The answer to those questions is: Yes!

Each piece has been individually photographed with the same light. The shadows have been duplicated in Photoshop with paths and each part is indiviually controlled on it’s own layer; even the paperclips. Now the art director can tweek the file to his heart’s content. This kind of digital work can look real when the photographer knows the end result and all of the light matches.

This was a job I did on spec for a friend who has his own design firm. I'll have to wait and see if the company chooses this direction or one of the the others he has presented. Still, it was nothing but fun to make. If they go another way, maybe I'll put it up on Alamy. We'll see.

Why I love Digital

I didn't shoot this image. Actually, my wife did. What you see here is my own back, covered in 140 little cups of allergens.

This all began in late fall when my entire body broke out in tiny itchy red spots. I rarely go to the doctor and I am nicely healthy but when the spots began to move up to my face, I was convinced to get checked out. Here is what we discovered after spending three days covered by these tiny cups: I am super sensitive to formaldehyde. I figured that was a good thing to be allergic to until the doctor handed me a 100 page list of all products that contain formaldehyde. Just about everything. I have now had to modify my very comfortable life. I found some products that don't contain formaldehyde, things like soap and shampoo (harder than it sounds), and pretty quickly my itchy spots went away. So why do I love digital photography? Why because the doctor tells me that 25 years of B&W darkroom work has led to my sensitivity to formaldehyde.

The good news is that all of you young photographers who have discovered photography since the digital age will most likely never have to modify their lives to avoid formaldehyde like I have to. Just one more reason to love digital!

Pharmaceutical Still-life

Why would a food photographer find himself shooting still-lifes for a pharmaceutical company? In this case there were a number of good reasons.

1) They agreed to my price so I could be a happy shooter.

2) The art director was a friend.

3) Food photographers can shoot everything very well and

4) No one else wanted to book me that day.

We drove out to Pennsylvania in the Taurus with the gurney full of studio equipment. We stayed over night so that we could get an early start the next day and shoot all day in a corporate conference room. We ate well. I have known Clint, my friend from Morgan Design, for many years. We were able to be totally comfortable for the two days that we were together. So there it is: One day + shooting, one day retouching, a happy client and money with a camera. What could be better than that?