Down to Earth – Olly Howe
Introducing Olly Howe. Easily one of the best designers I have ever come across. And not to stroke my ego too much, but that is a huge compliment. So you can imagine my thoughts when Olly emailed me asking to collaborate with one of my latest photoshoots. Very very very very humbling.
I have never given any of my high-resolution photoshop files to anybody… ever. But I didn’t hesitate a second when Olly wanted to do his magic work to one of my Great Recession composites. The end result blew my mind. The attention to detail is just absolutely STAGGERING. Just look for yourself.
And a rundown of some of my favorite work displayed on his website:
Reason #14 why I’m a huge fan of Olly is he’s been featured in Advanced Photoshop magazine AND Computer Arts. My top 2 magazines for design/photoshop… well worth the $15 price tags. I’m looking forward to working on future projects with Olly, and if you want a photoshoot taken in LA, and further edited by Olly… well you know our contact info 
PlasticPrinters.com Praise
About 2 years ago I made personalized business cards for my job as Art Director of Import Tuner Magazine. The boring company-provided white cards with raised type just wouldn’t cut it in my world. I stumbled upon PlasticPrinters.com and I had to wipe the drool from my keyboard.
Transparent plastic business cards? My creative juices just hit afterburners! I chose the frosted/transparent material for a diffused look. After a couple of design tweaks, and very friendly customer service at PlasticPrinters.com I had a stack of practically indestructible and conversation-inducing business cards, sweet!
The cards have never failed to get a “whoa!?”, “nice!” or a “where did you get these?!?” comment. Someone has even asked if they double as a credit card… I wish! But in a way they definitely make me more money. Compared to the flimsy plain white company cards issued throughout the company, mine are the envy of the office.
What’s even sweeter is one of my co-workers just informed me that my card is displayed on the printer’s front page of their website! Well not front and center, but I feel a little fuzzy seeing my design on the front page of an outstanding business that receives literally 1,000s of submissions a year. Screenshots for proof 
Los Angeles Gets a Bath
Los Angeles gets on average 15 inches of rainfall a year, which is roughly 35 days out of the year. And on those rare 35 days, the rain is comparable to a bird bath at best. Taking full advantage of my new place smack dab in the middle of downtown LA, I grabbed my rain coat, tripod, camera, and headed down to the streets… Because today sir, we have rain!
At first I started on the streets. I figured the sooner the better. Probably not the best idea to stroll around downtown with a nice camera after midnight ya know? Who knows, I’m growing a thicker skin day by day to the “amenities” offered by LA.
After roaming around the streets, I headed up to the rooftop of my building to get some more shots. My camera got very intimate with a Ralph’s plastic grocery bag.
Livin’ on the edge
It pays to be my friend. Clinton has now been in front of my camera 3 times. Previously with a gritty downtown LA theme, and also a cowboy/western theme. This time he wanted a fashion theme. I wasn’t sure what he was going to wear until he knocked on my door… Pointed black shoes, grey wool slacks, leather gloves, and a matching grey wool beret? 1920’s here we come! Which would go PERFECT with my loft’s atmosphere since it was built in the 1920’s and well maintained since then.
Most notable about The Chapman building are the beautiful 13 floors of marble stairway. You just don’t see that anymore unless you’re in a 5 star hotel. I was trying to get a lot of depth, so placing Clinton at the very edge of the frame while looking down gave me the look I wanted.
The roof is the main attraction of any downtown building. A quick jump over a neighboring wall and we’ve been transported from The Chapman’s green grass, lawn chairs, and jacuzzis to a tattered and worn down roof… perfect for that old rustic feel.
Clinton survived the “jump” Of course the above image is a composite. One of him jumping, and another over the edge of the building. Now personally I turn into a spineless puddle of mush when it comes to heights, so crawling over the railing and hanging my camera 5′ beyond the ledge made me just a tad queezy. But I’m very happy how this image turned out.
On to the behind-the-scenes shots.
My lovely trusty and beautiful assistant Lauren snapped some shots on her iPhone of the stairway. Just goes to show how beautiful and well restored this building has been kept for over 80 years.
The finished shot spans 3 floors. On each floor was an AlienBee strobe. Since the marble is practically white, the power had to be set relatively low, and constantly adjust each light to get the balance I wanted… With each tiny adjustment meaning I had to climb 3 flights of stairs, I got a decent workout in!
Pulling back from a ledge shot you can see what I was working with. Yes I wasn’t lying about shooting on a ledge, that 2nd photo wasn’t a composite folks! Mad props to Clinton risking his neck for a shot! Where I’m taking the picture from is just about how close I like to come to a high ledge! Both feet on solid ground. Also note that in the final pictures, I edited out most modern elements such as cars and new buildings.
I’m very happy with how this shoot came out. So how about getting in the Christmas spirit and give the gift of comments
Art Walk – Downtown LA
A walk down a not so beaten path. Or should I say an unfamiliar path for my camera. The land of f/1.4 has been unknown by my camera until this night! Linhbergh, his cousin Grady, Lauren and I drop down the elevator and step outside a block to stroll the now famous Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. So famous that the starving hipsters are tweeting about the “douchebags” crowding the streets. Don’t worry I won’t be tapping your PBR reserves, and besides life is too short to not drink Guinness and wear sperm count-reducing skinny jeans. Sorry for the mental image.
Anyways like I said I was walking with my friends, and Grady graciously lent me his 50mm f/1.4 lens (I was using the G.I.JOE plastic 50mm 1.8 up until then) and I felt like I was using a camera for the first time! The difference between f/1.8 and f/1.4 is more than I imagined.. which gave me lens envy that Linhbergh was 2′ away from me using the blackhole inducing 50mm f/1.2. Enough nerd talk, here are a few snaps I took throughout the night.
The image above wasn’t taken on the streets of the Art Walk, instead it was taken 5 stories up in my loft. Because not only is art displayed on the Art Walk, there are also price tags attached to most items on display. This piece by Patrick Haemmerlein stopped me in my steps. I LOVE the broken collage look, mass (made of thick wood), and the fact that it’s truly a one of a kind unique piece of art. I’m sure more of his work will end up on my walls soon.
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk is held every 2nd Thursday of every month. If you decide to make it out there, drop me a message!
Import Tuner cover build-up video
Hello YouTubes!
Hearing my voice is freakin’ disturbing… Do I really sound like this? I’ll blame it on my room acoustics.
My buddy Jeff Creech, the cover car photographer for this issue, proposed for me to do a step-by-step guide on how the Import Tuner covers are pieced together. The idea had been itching the back of my brain for a while so this felt like the perfect opportunity. I’ve done a lot of covers in my 5 year span of being an Art Director, so why not go an extra step.
Since the Import Tuner covers literally take 4-5 days to complete because of back and forth company approvals and basically lots-o-work, screenshots were taken over the time period and pieced together later instead of doing a time-lapse video. It’s a lot to cover in just 7 minutes.
…and yes I know I accidentally said “if you have any questions, hit me up, i’ll try to ASK any and all that I can” at the end, sigh lol.
At the time of this blog post, this issue is on newsstands.
World of Whirlcraft
Another shoot at my new pad in downtown LA (freakin love this place!). This time with Lyz. Short and sweet is her name, and her personality is just the same. Believe it or not she’s an avid World of Warcraft gamer! I can hardly get my sister to play Halo 3, let alone coax a model into playing one of the most addictive life-ruining, insomnia-inducing game in existance! You can never tell a book by it’s cover… well, sometimes, but definitely not in Lyz’s case.
For this shoot we collaborated for a jumping shot. Once the shoot was confirmed, I ran down to Big 5 to buy a trampoline… and how sick would it be to hit the rooftop button on the elevator and have the shoot on top of LA? Yea that’s what I thought too. Obviously these are highly photoshopped for the end look.
We tried a couple of outfits, the white “dress” worked best for the composition. I used 2 gridded Alien Bee 1600s flanking the model, and the Alien Bee ringflash for front fill… next on my ever-growing gear list are a couple of softboxes. It’s easier to see why the pros need assistants!
LA on fire
Enjoy the sights from the rooftop of my new loft in downtown LA. Those aren’t clouds, that’s the San Fernando Valley getting smothered by ash. There’s a downside to having perfect non-rainy weather everyday in SoCal, and you’re looking at it. The terrain get’s so dry, a simple spark can set off a raging 1,000+ acre fire. Luckily the wind is playing in my favor and my lungs get to breath the natural pollutated air of LA instead of thick burnt ash.
Click for high-res shot
From neat to street
Time to break in my new AlienBee lights (1 ABR800, 2x AB1600), and trusty PocketWizard transmitters. I feel like I’m just picking up the camera and shooting cars 5 years ago, and feel that inspiration and drive once again. So now it’s shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot. Not all of my shots will be exactly what I want, but eventually I’ll get closer to that goal.
Next on my list is Jolin Barot, middle name Ripped. Not an ounce of fat on this joker! Makes my 75-rep push-ups and 50 mile bike rides seem like an exercise in relaxation. But first the “neat” shots, all button’d up and iron’d out sitting on the couch in The Chapman lobby. One great thing about photography is you can take a normally mundane location, add a little bit of lighting, and turn it into a portfolio piece. While shooting this location, at least 20 people walked inches behind my back doing their daily business.
Now the street shots. Same guy, sans the shirt, and literally 30 paces out the back door from the lobby. And instead of loft-dwellers, we had bums and liquor store employees passing by.
A few steps back shows what I was working with. Shooting against walls can be tough when trying to pull off rim lighting. But like i said shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot.
Big thanks to Tanisha from Lowrider Girls for hooking up the shoot, and of course my girlfriend Lauren for assisting me again and again and again. Click over to my main website to see the high-res shots.
Hello Marchesa, goodbye Speedlights!
1 Craigslist post, $500, and literally 2hrs later, 3 of my 4 Canon speedlights were sold. I’ve finally made the switch to PocketWizards and AlienBees. Not the creme of the crop as far as strobes are concerned, but way more consistent and powerful. But more about that nerdy stuff in a future post.
Introducing Marchesa, being honored with the FINAL shoot using the family of speedlights. And I can’t think of a better farewell shoot. After getting Marchesa’s (Mar-ches-ah) name right over the phone, we were volleying ideas back and forth about our upcoming shoot. I’ve been dying to try this spot out down by the Long Beach ports. The area is an industrial playground, so when I saw this small patch of vegetation under a freeway underpass, my mind was racing.
After some testing around with the lights and compositions, I was hooked on these pipes surrounded by palm bushes.
Shooting through the palms, which gives the photo more depth. Oh ya I shaved my head mom.
Moving a little further back, and Marchesa being a little more brave, I aimed for a super wide angle shot. Personally I think it’s much more challenging to pull off a successful image where the subject is small, rather than filling most of the frame.
Again big props to Marchesa for getting a little dirty to make the shot. It’s not as easy as it looks.
A setup shot showing the scene. The forward-facing tripod had to be edited out in the final version.
One happy customer! Looking for a tall model? Well, I’m 6′4″ if that tells you anything. You get the idea.
The next shoot you see will be with my new lighting setup. View my website for high-res shots of this shoot.
