This is a "how to" I put together for the image "Seduction and the Rose Queen". The inspiration for the image stemmed from the very first portrait image shown in the video of Jasmine kissing the frog bones. She was never wearing the dress, that is from another shoot from another model. Once I know which portrait I am using to create the image then I know my angle/perspective that I need to match to for the rest of the images. Elements are extracted from various photos by either color keying them to isolate the desired object or painfully cutting them out ( called roto work ). Also I like to gather environment images on cloudy days so there are no distinct key lights ( the sun). The portraits were all shot in my studio. All digital manipulation was done in PS3. The final image is +4K in size.
I have been inspired to create little vignettes of story ideas I have in my mind lately. The stories are incomplete and feel like my dreams leaking out for all to see. This one is titled "Remembering Another World".
A long time ago in a place far far away I used to only shoot film. One of my favorite types of film to shoot was Polaroid Type 55 Film. Sadly, this film is no longer even being made and is becoming very hard to get a hold of. I loved it so much because for about $2 pre sheet you got a 4x5 polaroid and negative film from one image. One of my favorite images taken with Type 55 was a portrait of my good friend Benjamin. Here is the image.
This was shot with very shallow depth of field. The blue cast was done in post ( digital ) but that was the only thing done digitally altering from the original.
So one of my favorite LA designers is Skin Graft Designs. They have a wonderful Victorian Punk feel to their clothing. You can learn lots more about them here:
I have had the pleasure to shoot with them on many occasions, and truly find their creations inspiring. You can see many fashion images on my main web site in the Fashion section, but here are some more that are not on http://www.tinydragonproductions.com
so there you have it... I truly hope I get to work with them again in the future. Jonny and Cassidy are amazing guys!
This is my favorite video I created for an online music festival for NIN. The second person in the vid is actually me ( I am allowed to cameo if I want to ) with the longest my hair has ever been. It is not that long any more, and now the color is different... but I digress. If you are or know of any bands looking to do music videos then point them in my direction, cause I am looking to do more creative filming.
I have attached images below of some of my favorites from the shoot. My good friend and makeup artist Brianna Ford came over with her pink hair too, and well I just had to shoot her with the Elmo.
I have had the pleasure to photograph Calpernia Addams several times now. Calpernia is an actress in Hollywood and a wonderful friend. Calpernia has been in several feature films and has quite a long list of television credits as as well. You can find out lots more about her here:
Here is one of the videos I shot and edited for the NIN music video festival. The model is the beautiful Gizel.
I like to think of this video as an experiment in motion with beautiful results. The music of NIN adds to the eery sensual tone set by the repetitive yet random motion of her golden strands swaying back and forth. The slow motion footage plays backward giving Gizel the appearance of being underwater, then the footage repeats forwards to ground the experience.
As an artist I constantly hear that everything has been done before... blah blaaaah blaaaah... but you know what... not everything has been seen at 300 frames per second... so I am here to fill that much needed gap on all our eyes. Even mundane acts and observations become beautiful art at 300fps. Here are the first few tests I did with the new slow motion camera.
Jumping Undies
see it in high resolution here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc8tfkioGvs click on the watch in high quality button.
Oh what fun I am going to have with my new camera! What would ya'll like to see at 300 frames per second? Lemme know... and maybe you'll see it pop up here soon.
and just to wet you whistle a bit... next I will be posting slow motion fire spinning....