New Lens

I sold my Tokina 12-24 f4 and purchased the new Tokina 11-16 f2.8 this past month. I loved the 12-24, but it was just too slow with a max aperture of f4. The new 11-16 is both wider and faster, and is just a solidly built as the 12-24. I shot this photo on my way home from work last week, it’s a public boat slip on the wicomico river.

Turbodorks get together, Mangohick, VA.

This past weekend I drove the wagon down to see some friends from turbobricks in the Richmond VA area. Had a great time and watched some friends consume copious amounts of Highlife. Why they would bother with such a subpar beverage is beyond me. However, it made for some nice photo ops. There were lots of DSLR’s there, so I was able go full out photo nerd for most of the day; I was even able to play with some new gear. Thanks Todd.

Seamless white with Brian the Funny Magic Dude

So I finally broke down and purchased a 9′x36′ roll of seamless white paper to practice on. I built some light flags out of some pieces of plywood I had laying around and hung the paper from the ceiling of my garage. After rolling the paper out, I laid 2 4×8 sheets of tile board for Brian to stand on. I got this tip from Zach Arias’ white seamless tutorial he did on his blog months ago. I shot a lot of photos due to the fact that Brian wanted to do some animations, however I’ll just post a couple. I learned a lot during this shoot, and realized I need a new lens that doesn’t suck on Seamless, since all of mine do. I also realized I need at least 1 other alienbees strobe to light the background, the speed lights just don’t have enough juice. So if anyone wants to buy me another Alien Bees B800, hit me up! At anyrate, I look forward to shooting some more seamless white.

Easter Proofs

I was able to shoot my sisters family on Easter Sunday, which turned out to be quite the challenge due to kids being hopped on candy and less than ideal scenery.   I tried to keep the angles low and utilize the falling sun to my advantage.  Overall, I’m fairly pleased with the results.

Peach Fuzz identity

Working on a logo for Peach Fuzz [handmade cloth diapers]. Still in the development stages — comments/thoughts are quite welcome.

Metz’d Up Volume No. 1

Two straight weeks of production work gave me an itch to do something a bit more fun and interesting. I grabbed an Anthropologie catalogue I saw lying around, a few black pens and markers, and began bastardizing what was originally beautiful photography and clean design. For me, humor is an equally effective outlet for pent up creativity — so, inevitably the resulting work wreaks of my twisted sense of humor.

I had such a blast that I quickly gathered all the other catalogues laying around to produce future volumes. I don’t know how to categorize this — maybe simply sketches and funny thoughts is a solid description. Possibly more polished versions could be considered art or design — for now, I’ll call it fun. Try it for yourself — laughter is guaranteed.

Here are a few selects from METZ’D up Volume No.1.

creative exercise: chicken, revisited

As I mentioned previously, it was only a matter of time until I reworked the chicken piece I did the other night. Instead of using solid colors for the fills, I used photos of food to create similar colors. I used cauliflower for the white, black beans for the black, diced tomatoes for the red, corn for the yellow, and coffee beans for the brown. I also changed the type from “Buk buk buk” to “Yum yum yum,” which I think is A. funnier, and B. more fitting for the theme. Hope you enjoy:

“yum yum yum”
photoshop
8 x 8

creative exercise: chicken

I haven’t done much creative work lately and have been feeling bad about it. I’ve been getting tons of ideas from the art/design/screenprinting/etc. blogs I subscribe to. I was reading a Juxtapoz interview of an artist named Carlos Dias, got an itch to do something, so I scratched. I’m pretty sure this will get revised down the road. I just wanted to get something down. Enjoy.

“buk buk buk”
photoshop
8 x 8

creative exercise: owl

I saw some posters and such on OMG Posters of owls and birds and I got insprired. I was thinking this would lend itself nicely to a series of birds or animals in general and possibly a future screen printing project once the press is back up and running. Enjoy.

“who?”
illustrator
5.5 x 8.5

Christmas present for the wife

I had been thinking about a design for a few weeks previous to completing this project.  I wanted it to include a tree to represent our newly-formed family and a photo or illustration of my wife, Holly and our 4 month-old son, Ben. I was also looking to make Holly so happy, she’d cry. It worked. Here is what I came up with (click to enlarge).

“Benjamin Daniel Gatton-Yohn”
photograph + photoshop
10 x 14