Artist vs Photographer

Today I enjoyed both the beautiful fluffy snow in New Jersey and the slush and puddles of the city.

This morning I had a meeting with the program coordinator at a center for active seniors in New Jersey. We discussed photographing the center, the members and the variety of activities the seniors enjoy there for a fundraising calender and photos to display within the center. I'm really excited to begin working with them in March and I'll keep you posted on the progress.

After that there was some routine errand running and then a trip into the city for an event held at the Aperture Foundation, "Zoe Crosher and Jan Tumlir in Conversation". Here's the brief description of the talk:

On the occasion of Aperture magazine, issue 198, featuring Jan Tumlir's article, "Femme Fatale: Zoe Crosher's reconsidered archive of Michelle duBois," Aperture is hosting a conversation exploring self-invention and role-playing as told through personal photographs, and what comes of the great "archival theme" in the digital era.

It was an interesting discussion based on Zoe Crosher's work, which I haven't seen but would like to. She showed slides of her work and the installations, but regretfully that is never the same as actually seeing it in person. The subject of this art is a woman named Michelle duBois. Hearing Zoe speak about her made me wish I could know her. The work tells a story of her life, one really lived to the fullest with few regrets, complete acceptance of each aspect of life, and zero judgment of others.

There were a lot of pieces to the installation that were discussed, one portion I found interesting involved photos of Michelle where the people surrounding her, always men I believe, were blacked out of the image. This brought up a number of interpretations and concepts but Zoe said the main reasoning was to keep the focus on Michelle, to show how interchangeable the others surrounding here were and, on a practical note, due to lack of permission from the men to use their image.

During the question and answer portion at the end, a comment was made that was slightly off topic of the specific work she'd done but I found to be really interesting. It was touching on the idea of identity and was something along the lines of people being offended by being labeled as either an artist or a photographer when they identity as the other. For example, if you consider yourself to be an 'artist' and I introduce you to someone as a 'photographer' there may be some level of offense.

I think this peeked my interest because I identify as both. I consider myself a photographer based on my photo work and an artist based on my drawing and painting. I can't imagine anyone who considers themselves a photographer to mind being labeled an artist, but I can imagine someone who considers themselves an artist, who uses photos in their work, to be insulted by the label of photographer. Photographer is a title that can possibly come off in a way that describes someone that captures reality and doesn't necessarily delve into concept and interpretation in their work. I know photographers that truly think about and inject meaning into the images they create, but I'm speaking about the interpretation of the title.

I definitely feel that photography is an art, but I don't think it would ever occur to me to introduce myself as an artist when speaking of my photography. What are your thoughts on the this? Do you think their is a difference? Do you identify as artist, photographer or both?

Portrait of a Food Stylist

Photographed the lovely Lauren LaPenna today. I've been wanting to start a small project, simply photographing my friends, and Lauren was looking for a picture for her website, so it was good timing! Here's the first one I edited.

Website Updates

I redesigned my website with a slightly different look and feel. It now offers more galleries and more room for growth. I'm really excited that it's completed!

Check out my newest gallery, photography from Coney Island.

Coach

My first day working in the archive at Coach, as a Photographer and Digital Assets Independent Contractor!



The archive contains samples of products created by Coach dating back to it's creation. I photograph pieces by influential designers, such as Bonnie Cashin, and create digital records of their work, from purses and wallets to sketches and advertisements.

DecadenceDesigns

I photographed the products created by DecadenceDesigns for her online catalog and promotional materials.

A variety of products, decorated cigar boxes, knitted scarves and vases, wind chimes and more were shot, most of them on a grey gradated background, with prop styling on some items to demonstrate the potential product uses. I shot the majority of DecadenceDesign's inventory formatted for her online catalog.

BFA

I am a RIT Graduate with a BFA in Photographic Illustration: Advertising Photography, with a minor in Business Marketing and Concentration in Communications.

College is over! (Unless of course I decide to go back and learn more, but that isn't a current plan of mine) Every year of my life that I can remember has been made up of school, with breaks in the summer and winter, it's an incredibly strange thought that that's over. I'm so excited about what's up next. I plan to move to NYC and start on my path to shooting professionally. It'll be an adventure. And as cheesy and cliche as it sounds, just because I'm done with school and formal education, doesn't mean I'm done learning. Especially with the field of photography, school is just my starting point.

At least now I have a paper saying I know what I'm doing!

RocBoxing

I have recently wanted to photograph a different subject, just to add some variety. I wanted to experiment with a less styled and grittier looking images and I was inspired by the boxing profession. Today I went to RocBoxing, a local boxing gym, with a Q Flash, stand and camera. Everyone was so welcoming. I was able to shoot a couple of the boxers there, one of them was even from the junior levels.

I really would like to continue with this. I'll be graduating soon and leaving Rochester, but I'd like to find another gym and actually have time to form more a repore and comfort level with the athletes training there.

The images from this shoot are in my Portrait section until I can make a larger project from it.

Catch Him If You Can

Photo shoot with Yuri today.

In old time black and white films when the cops chased criminals they used multiple spotlights to find the thief in the dark. We did an editorial shoot experimenting with this idea. The spot lights were the lighting source and we arranged them in a variety of ways. One of the shots I liked most has three lights searching for him along a plain wall, the bottom light only catching his foot in the air as he runs away. I'll be pairing this shot with a close up on his face, lit by another harsh spot.

Photos can be found in the Editorial section of my site.

Lauren

While in NYC recently I purchased the book Individuals that GAP created out of shoots for its advertising. I loved how the images really captured personality along with the beauty of each person. It made/makes me want to attempt shoots like that.

With that in mind for my photoshoot with Lauren, I kept the lighting simple and soft and also had the wardrobe stay simple and comfortable even. The images are quieter then a lot of them from the book but I enjoy the simplicity. This is another idea I'd like to continue on with.

Beauty and Boxing

Photographed Kathryn today. Our shoot encompassed two different looks/themes. The first was a set of beauty shots. The lighting was kept soft with a balance of shadows and midtones and the focus was on Kathryn as well as some handcrafted jewelry.

The second set of images was done with a fitness/boxing theme in mind. We worked with a simple background and utilized a couple props for the theme, a punching bag and gloves. The shots range from a woman who portrays a ring girl, with a sporty look in heels, to the look of a fighter in training. The images all still have the element of beauty but accent the body in more of an athletic way.

Images will be on my website in the Editorial and Beauty sections.

Rose Wine

Photoshoot today!

Jen came down from Buffalo to model and Melissa Stillman did makeup. The makeup was applied in a way that compliments the color palette of a rose wine and her hair was slicked back to complete the overall desired look. Jen was a wonderful model to work with and I really like the beauty shots we produced. They can be seen in the Beauty section of my website.

Dramatic Cheekbones

Photoshoot today with Robert Adams. We shot a variety of images, changing the styling three times. This is my first experience with male fashion photography. He has dramatic cheekbones and I chose to light in a way to accent that and produce an image with some visual drama.

Photos from the shoot can be seen in the Fashion section of my website, as well as on Robert's profile with Model Management Inc.

RocLoop Article

RocLoop posted an article covering the shootout, "‘Psychotic’ photo wins RIT pair $600" Accompanying the article are images of Mike and I during the shoot and the winning image.

Psycho Win

RIT hosts a shootout, a one day competition in the studios where students get a couple hour time slot to set up, shoot an image and break down to portray a theme they announced in advance. The photo had to be submitted, unedited, right after the shoot. This years theme was 'Psychotic' and I partnered up with Mike Fiske to portray the theme. We had done the shootout last year, the theme then was 'Dream', so we had an idea of the pace of the day.

We enlisted the help of Melissa Stillman, makeup artist, and Vanessa Murphy, our model, to put together the image we had in mind. It was a crazy couple of hours, hair and makeup was in the process of being done in the schools hallway as we ran in and out of the studio setting up the seamless, lights and camera. A frozen pigs head was bought the night before and was still not completely thawed but sat bagged outside of the studio until right before shooting, styling it was incredibly interesting. It was just a hectic, fun experience. Then, to top the experience off, we received a call later that day..

We won the MAC Group Shootout!

We were completely ecstatic, and our photo was posted in the School of Imaging Arts and Sciences. The image can be seen in the Editorial section of my website!

Metallic Beauty

I decided I want to experiment more with lighting and while skimming the internet found some beauty shots where a photographer utilized fluorescent lighting tubes to light the model. I searched for a while looking for a way to use fluorescent lights without the housing behind them that held the wiring and was told by a couple hardware stores that what I wanted wasn't possible.

I'm not overly knowledgeable about the wiring of lights and specifically about disassembling fluorescent lights, so I developed my own solution.

The first shot I did with this lighting was of a model, Melinda, with a copper colored theme. I used copper leaf for an accent on her skin and obtained a copper colored background with a flow instead of being flat. She was wonderful to work with, despite the time constraints of the shoot, and I was incredibly happy with the results.



The second shot, which I did earlier today, was similar in styling except with a gold theme, a bit more time and Calico modeling. I really love how these have come out and it's something I'd definitely like to experiment with more.

Wrangler

I photographed and designed a mock advertising campaign for Wrangler Jeans, which was completed today. The photography, processing and design were all worked on to add to the identity of the brand, as well as create a playful campaign, to speak to the working male market segment. The images can be seen at Michelle Girard Photography in the product section.

Updates

Added new images to my site. One set of Mike dressed in a simple leather jacket and posing by the train tracks and graffiti wall in downtown Rochester. The second set of Fatima posing in a variety of ways with a couple different looks in the studio.

Nature and Beauty

Here's a shot I composited for another assignment in Retouching Beauty. The theme was Nature and Beauty. I was trying to come up with ways to talk about how we, as humans, hold ourselves apart from nature more and more through technology and the things we create.

You would never guess what the bubble was created from!

Retouching Beauty

Back at RIT, after a summer of London and Six Flags Entertainment. One of my photography classes is about examining the idea of beauty in general and within our culture. The assignments allowed for us to work with whatever subject matter we chose and we explored meanings behind images, beyond the pretty aesthetics.

Brandi modeled for a beauty shot.

London Fashion Shoot

In the Notting Hills area in London we had the final photo shoot of the trip. We were once again split into small groups to work with a model and I could not have been happier with the model our group was able to work with. Our model, Lianna Fowler represented by Ford Models, had so much energy and so much positivity to run with. Styling/Clothing was changed three times during the shoot. I started with a beauty shot of her outside of the infamous London telephone booth.



Then after lunch we set up in an alley way nearby that offered a number of backgrounds and spaces to work with and capture different feelings and moods from.



I have so many amazing photos from that shoot and it really opened my eyes to something that I could be passionate about shooting.

**When I returned home from London, I was flipping the channels on the TV and came across "Britain's Next Top Model" which had been filmed before my trip to London and I watched for a moment. One of the models caught my attention and it forced me to watch the marathon all the way through, to see Lianna Fowler win.