From the sky- Cameraphone shots.

Here's some shots from my trip to Annapolis this weekend. Those flight attendants weren't about to make me turn my phone off and not take pictures up there.

Enjoy!

-m

Let's rethink this: Christmas

Earlier this year I got to write an essay in my comp class about Christmas-- what it was and what it has become. I got to explore the history of the famous icon of Christmas, Santa Claus right? Unfortunately yeah, that's what Christmas seems to be about nowadays. This holiday, once devoted to adoration and preparation for the Son of God, is now about, "stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists" according to the group devoted to returning this sacred holiday to its original meaning, Advent Conspiracy.

This video can explain what they are all about way better than I can:

Have you ever thought about why we give gifts at Christmas time? Have you ever wondered why this Christian holiday was commercialized as it has been?

People in this world lack the necessities to living, and we're all wrapped up about getting the most 'expensive-just-cause-it-has-a-brand' product. Let our society have a change in heart this Christmas season. Let's give.

There are so many ways to give back this season. Just two that come to mind is the awesome photography project Jeremy Cowert has come up with called Help-Portrait. Another awesome way to really provide is through WorldVision. This group is most known for its child sponsorship program, but for the Christmas season, more options are available for giving. You are able to give cows and pigs and sheep and safety and Bibles and chickens and musical instruments and hope: WorldVision's Christmas Catalog.

Maybe some photos next time around, but this stuff is way more important than some stinkin' photographs.

-m

The Mocha Club.

I am so excited to talk about this exciting way we can serve those really need our help, especially in this Christmas time. I recently joined this awesome group of people who are emulating Christ in giving a helping hand.

I am a fan of coffee, and yeah mochas. Well, white chocolate mochas with the occasional peppermint if I'm feeling extra Christmasy. The Mocha Club's whole deal is that for the price of two mochas a month, you can (with the help of the thousands of people already serving) build wells in Sudan or provide hope for a single mother in Africa by providing job training, counseling, and clinical aide or schooling for a child that would usually not have that opportunity or help to those with HIV/Aids (which in some countries is 1 in 3 people) or provide care for orphans without a home, a life, or hope.

The contribution is $7 a month. "Our vision is to provide a way for people who don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa. Our community-based website allows members to start a team and invite friends to join them in giving up the cost of 2 mochas a month to support their chosen project" Your involvement in this group is up to you-- you can be a supporter just by donating a small portion of the resources our God has provided you with or this group gives you and opportunity to get our of your room and make this stuff known!

So pray about it. Let the Father guide you in your giving, and if this seems like something you could be apart of, join a project and lets make a difference. Here's a link to their home page: Mocha Club

-m

Some exciting news, a couple shots, and a website.

Hey Guys!

A buddy of mine and I have some pretty exciting news that we can't really talk too much about, but we're really really excited about. 2011 Seniors- keep a look out for us as we're giving Rockdale County's seniors a choice about senior portraits. For the first time in a long time, you will have options. Much much more on this soon to come. Anyways, here's a couple shots from the turkey week.

On a different note, check out Conyers First United Methodist Church's website. I've had the pleasure of helping the folks out there with some web work and we just finished a redesign that hopefully will be simple and clean for the user this Christmas season.

Also-- who else thought Auburn would pull through?!

-M

Round 2 on Product Photography Starting...Now!

This is my second take on product photography. The first item or brand I pretended to shoot for was maybe the most famous brand, certainly the most recognizable brand, Coke. I shot the two photos on my white seamless and went ahead and made a fake ad for the huge brand. It was kinda fun to pretend I had a client named Coke. Anyways, let me know your thoughts about the ad! You can see my first shot at product work here.




The second piece of product photography is vastly different, and It's more of what I hope to be doing in school the next couple of years. The subject for this piece is a coffee table prototype, made 1/4th scale out of cardboard. I designed this table for my dorm room and plan to build it over the Christmas break. I'm so so so stoked about making it a reality! To take this prototype and practice product photography, I shot and designed a very simple truck, or portfolio spread, for the coffee table.


Anyways, I've had the pleasure of shooting a bunch this week, and I'm so excited to get back into it all! I'm also so excited about building this table and then photographing a proper truck for it, this time including developmental sketches, prototypes, and the real deal.

-m

Who, me?

Here's a couple shots of me. Coming out of like a three month time period of not shooting, I started back shooting some good 'ol self portraits.



I always have trouble getting the focus spot on with the self timer. I got some ideas from the great Dustin Diaz about getting that sharp focus on the eyes even without standing in place. He suggests to place a light stand where you'll stand and focus on the metal tip. With my lack of extra light stands, I used a broom. Yes, a broom.



Also inspired by Mr. Dustin Diaz, I experimented with using water in the portrait. His use of the water can be seen here. This guy obviously has been really influential in how to make killer shots with fairly inexpensive strobes.

Product Photography?

First of all, I'm alive. I've been swamped with school work (I go to Auburn University) and have put photography on the backburner, which means this blog hasn't gotten much attention in a long time. That will change. I am really excited about a bunch of photo shoots coming up! As I really try to find my niche in the photo world, I'm really just experimenting with a little bit of everything. In taking advice from Mr. Zack Arias , I'm going to work on really focusing my work down to one or two areas. This is kinda tough for me as I really love shooting diverse things- from live shows to portraits to children/baby portraits.

In an attempt to experiment, I've decided to try my hand at product photography. As some might know, I'm at Auburn studying Industrial Design, specifically product design. A large part of this field is imaging and product photography- getting that product to look oh so good that you must buy it. So just to say I've tried to shoot it, here's my try at product photography.


The set up was really simple- just one SB-600 speedlight in a 21" reflective umbrella camera high and left. I only have one phone (and i don't even know those colors really exist), so all the color is done in post.

P.S. I'm so stoked to say that I just joined the Mocha Club! More to come on that.

#8 and Chase's Update

Chase posted a blog post with some awesome new things regarding his "The Best Camera..." campaign. He released his book, "The best camera is the one that's with you", the new Best Camera iPhone app, and a new photo community where everyone can submit their cameraphone shots- even the big guys like Chase and Zarias participate. The shots here are AMAZING, go check them out.

On a similar note, here's my #8.

-m

7th

The Sixth

Warrr Eagle! Here's a quick grab from the game last night- amazing game.

-m

cameraphone #5

Cameraphone #4

Cameraphone Series Update: #3

any Auburn folks know where this is?
-m

#2

My second of the cameraphone series inspired by the great Chase Jarvis.
-m

Day 1- Toomers Corner

In an effort to keep my photographic gears turning while I'm busy with school, I decided to follow Chase's lead and post a photo a day (or every couple of days) from my phone's camera. Here's a quick snap from tonight at Toomers Corner after beating Mississippi State. Such a good morning, afternoon, and night full of football!

enjoy,
-m

I Promise!

Promise Tangeman (that's her name, forreal), an awesome fine artist, graphic designer, and photographer I follow, had a sweet idea to run a online art gallery. Her work is a huge source of inspiration, and it's really cool to see one of my pieces on her cite in the gallery. Check our the gallery and take a gander at the awesome artwork everyone else has there too!

http://promisetangemanblog.com/fine-art/online-reader-art-show-is-here

cheers,

-m

Help-Portrait

Hey guys,

I moved and all for school (more about this at a later date), but I still love taking pictures. This is what i'm doing on Dec. 12th. You?

-m

noah

I love taking photos of babies and kids. I'm not sure whether it's the challenge of really getting to capture the moment instead of giving the subject instructions and suggestions, or if it's getting a kick out of what the mom is saying/singing behind me to make the kid smile (and not eat rocks)!

Whatever it is I love about shooting kids shots I don't know, but it really is probably the most fun I get to have taking pictures. I really think I would like to expand my photography in this direction, so if you know any babies that have mom's that love pictures of their little ones, let 'em know about me! Anyways, less talking and more photos: Here's my friend Noah and his cool parents.

-m
(click to see best image)

Senior Preview: Lauren (again)

We recently finished up the senior photo session with the on-location photos. Here's a few to wrap up my senior portrait season before I head off to school this weekend!

-m

(see on FLICKR or click for best image)

Pano divided by 3

(sorry for the bad pic, just a quick webcam pic)

I love framing prints and making my room into a mini photo gallery (and one painting, i guess), well to me at least. I hang my prints in a timeline sort of fashion, so going down the wall seeing how my work has grown, matured, and just plainly changed really is fun.

I got a couple of shots i really wanted printed while I was at the beach. I have tried to print panoramics, and it really never ends up like i want...besides its super expensive and never framable it seems. In an effort to try something new and experiment with a sectioned photo, I broke this black and white pano into 3 seperate 5x7's. I framed them with some cool black glass frames we had around and will hang them in the new dorm (war eagle!).

ya like?

-m

matt

FLICKR.

vacation 2

(click for better image or see FLICKR)

vacation 1

Here's a little photo update from our vacation:
-m

(click to see full size and see a different pano at flickr)

Senior Photo Preview: Lauren (studio)

I like doing senior photos. Its pretty fun. We got to finally complete a portion of Lauren's senior shots last week, and i'm pretty excited and proud of them. Enjoy!

-m

(view on flickr for optimum viewing experience)