In honor of this past holiday weekend I am sharing a few shots from a Christmas photo shoot I did with my cousins. My intention for this photo shoot was to get some good shots that I could turn into prints for my Aunt’s Christmas present. I did a few different sizes with hand-cut black & white mats.
I also wanted to do a non-holiday portrait for her to hang in the house year-round. I ended up creating a makeshift studio with two strobes & two umbrellas using their staircase to drape the background. I feel this worked out perfectly for the proper seating I needed and not even be able to tell that it took place on a staircase. I hope to be able to practice more studio photoshoots in the future, to make my photographs more refined.
Back in September I got the chance to visit Thomas Edison’s Laboratory and Home Museum for the first time. They were just reopening after remodeling since 2003. Since I had never been there before I took the trip with Andrew since he had been and knew a little bit extra about touring there.
Mr. Edison had contributed so much to the technology of his time, it interested me to see where he produced these creations. The weekend we went was the grand reopening with free admission and many other pluses. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of his study, laboratory, and workshop floors. Also including a guided house tour of his Glenmont Estate, where he and his wife are buried.
His study was a grand 3-floored room with many reading materials and even a retractable screen to watch films. There were 3 workshop floors to wander around, including a photography room complete with an original large format camera. Plus his recording room where all the famous musicians played to record on his phonographs.
On the way out we stopped by the laboratory, where many of the glass bottles grabbed my attention artistically. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed in, but got to see into the “Black Maria,” which was Edison’s moveable movie production studio. It was built on a track to be moved, allowing sunlight to always enter the opening in the roof, so they always had enough light to record throughout the day.
The tour of his home a few blocks away at the gated Glenmont Estate was just as intriguing as the laboratory. We got a full tour of just about every room of the house to see how Edison and his family lived.
I highly recommend this laboratory and home tour for any photographer or history buff. I will certainly be enjoying another tour of Edison’s Museum, especially when it is less crowded than on opening weekend.
In the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, I thought I would share one of my pro bono freelance projects. Earlier in the year I was commissioned by a member and friend of the Ukrainian League of Philadelphia to create a brochure explaining their hall rental information. I am also a social member of the club, so I felt even better in helping to support something I belong to.
I decided on a simple tri-fold brochure to display all their information. Copy was provided for me, as well as the images, which were taken by Andrew Yaniuk and Scott Kivowitz. After a few different layout ideas, a simple yet professional one was decided on. The executive board voted on the final layout and it was sent to psprint.com for proofing and printing. A week later the Ukrainian League happily received their batch of one thousand tri-folds.
Click below to see the final brochure or stop in the Ukrainian League of Philadelphia to pick up your own.
About a year ago I entered a green design contest to be published in “The Big Book of Green Design.” Finally I received a confirmation email that I had been selected to be published in the book by Suzanna and Anthony Stephens.
I was very excited when the book was released on November 17th, however once I got to see my work published I was disappointed to see that they printed my contact information incorrectly. I’m from New Jersey, not actually Alabama as was printed. I emailed them to inquire how this error happened and hear back now, everything has been settled for any future publishing versions of this.
I’m glad this design got published and gave me some recognition for my designing. My designs have certainly come a long way since creating this advertisement over a year ago. I have been published before for my photography, but this is my first time being published in a book and I am proud to be published in the same book as other New Jersey design agencies such as Rizco Design and Design 446 as well as friend and designer Ronald Cala II.
In honor of getting the good news today that I have now confirmed my next photography show in Summit, New Jersey. I’d like to share the time lapse setup video from the last photography show I had at Kean University in February that was created. Using my Macbook Pro and the Eyesight program, plus the time lapse feature on a Canon G10 camera we created a quick video of how we dealt with setting up all the photographs. I also have the postcard fliers advertising the show.
