Found Image, Feeling A Pulse, Celebrity Lifestyle and Some Other Stuff

Scene At A Street Fair ©2010

Every now and then while searching through the image archives, you find images or portions of images that catch your attention and were previously overlooked. Such was the case yesterday, while looking for images to fulfill a stock request for an inflight magazine, I came across an image (several, actually) that fit the needs of the request. In the bottom left corner of the one of the overall photos, the scene posted above caught my eye. It occupied no more that maybe 10% of the overall image, yet when cropped & isolated... this section of the photo began to fall apart and take on a very painterly quality. I'm no fan of attempting to transform photographs into anything that appears to look like a painting, generally speaking, thru the use of Photoshop® filters, etc. I'm a photographer... I make photographs. If I wanted to paint, I'd paint (given I had one iota of skill or talent in that medium. I don't). That said, the simple act of isolating and cropping a small roughly 1"x 2" section of the overall image file and then resizing it to 8.5"x11" created the textural feel. No PS filters and only slight Levels adjustments were used. This is how it ended up and I rather like it. 


For the past couple of months I'm happy to report that there seems to be a slight pulse newly evident in the commercial & editorial photography world around these parts. Between the political campaign image assignments booked in June & July, several new advertising jobs and quite a few editorial assignments & stock requests, I'm cautiously happy to report that the cash hemorrhage of the past seven months to keep the studio afloat has, at least temporarily, come to an end. Should the trend continue, it looks as though we may again be restored to a state of grace and something approaching profitability. 


Earlier this week, we received an assignment to contribute to a portfolio of architectural & interior design photographs of an island home owned by a well-known star of screen, stage & tube. The home had already been photographed previously by two other local photographers... the work they produced competent. Being that the home has recently been put on the market for a cool $19 mil. and listed by the exclusive Sotheby's International Realty, part of the marketing strategy involved publishing the home in the beautiful magazine Sotheby's Portfolio. And, while the previous photographers did a competent job of portraying the super-sized scale of the property, there was really nothing in the previous work that defined the intimacy & fabulous interior design of this home or told the story of the direct beachfront location on one of Maui's finest stretches of sand. Monday, assistant Barry and I arrived in the early morning and worked to just before sunset capturing images more suitable for the editorial layout of Portfolio. Posted below are a few of my favorite images of the day. Just got word yesterday that Portfolio has now seen the new work and has committed to publishing a full editorial feature on the home. Word also came that one of the images is in the running for the coveted cover position of the magazine, competing with two other luxury properties.

Next week, an advertising job for the Merriman's Hawaii Restaurant Group, operated by innovative & renown Chef Peter Merriman, is on the books. Now to keep this new momentum going indefinitely.


To that end, a couple of much needed projects that have been put on the back burner for the past year or so due to lack of funds have been moved up to front burner status. The big one... a major portfolio reorganization, is now underway. New, brushed aluminum, screwpost binders complete with logo laser-etching and a ream of fine, high-quality printing substrate to match have been ordered and should arrive by the end of next week. The culling of images for portfolio inclusion has begun. Once completed, it's time to board a plane and make the rounds to put in face-time at all the major Oahu agencies & design firms as the last email promo campaign generated several calls for the book from agencies & designers I have yet to work with. This effort should contribute greatly to keeping to work ball rolling!