Jake Garn Photography

New Blog for Jake Garn Photography!!!

2009-04-04T01:24:00.006-06:00

This blog is officially retired

But do not panic. You can find my brand new website, and blog at -> www.jakegarn.com

Oh, and what does 50-cent have to do with anything? Well he stars in my newest photoshop tutorial that will soon be release on my new blog!

-Jake

PS - Be sure to resubscribe over there, unfortunately this blog is done... but the new blog will be updated MUCH more frequently!

What is Real?

2009-02-09T04:28:00.008-07:00

I've been playing with inserting textural backgrounds into my images lately, as you may have noticed in my latest "Halo Series," which can be viewed in it's entirety here. I have attempted this technique in the past but abandoned it when I couldn't get it to look real enough, this time I think I'm getting pretty close. I included an enlargement so you can get a closer look.

Background textures were created by Princess of Shadows at DeviantART and were used by permission. Check them out for yourself at http://princess-of-shadows.deviantart.com/art/victorian-dreams-texture-pack-84323858

CarbonMade - Fantastic Portfolio Site!

2009-02-07T18:13:00.005-07:00

So I just stumbled across what I think will become my favorite place to showcase my photography portfolio. It's called CarbonMade and it is the simplest, cleanest, and easiest gallery site I've ever come across. Oh, and I come across a lot of them, it seems like once a week a I get an email from a new one that wants me to start an account there.

Perfect for photographers looking for somewhere to showcase their images (with a free option to boot) and even more perfect for fans that just like to view fantastic art. Oh, and as a bonus I just posted a sneak preview of the new series I'm in the middle of finishing right now, the "Halo" series, named for the ring of hair - not the video game. Check out my gallery here - jakegarn.carbonmade.com

And start your own gallery at www.carbonmade.com and feel free to link it in the comments here!

Bare Series

2009-02-04T19:03:00.004-07:00

My latest series to be completed, the "bare series." Not to be confused with the similar sounding "bear series", which apparently has led to a couple of misunderstandings. No Bears were harmed, nor even used, in the making of this series. Not because of a compassion for bears mind you, simply because bears didn't seem to be available.

Styling and makeup by Paula Dahlberg.

The worst Photoshoot. Ever.

2009-01-27T03:54:00.005-07:00

I shot these images over five years ago, they were taken roughly one hour before the night took a horrific turn for the worse. This is the story of the worst photoshoot -- EVER!

First, I must say that Katherine is probably the main reason I eventually became a decent photographer. I started shooting her in 2001 and it is still my pleasure to shoot her almost eight years later, I'm shooting her again tomorrow as a matter-of-fact! She has been a tremendously good sport and the mere fact that she even still talks to me after what happened five years ago is insane, thank you Katherine!

So, onto the story. We drove towards the Nevada border, about 40 minutes west of Salt Lake City before turning off at the Dugway exit. For those of you that don't know, there is NOTHING at the Dugway exit. Just a long paved road that leads to a military nuclear waste plant and the skeletal remains of a long abandoned gas station.

We arrived and shot a couple images at the gas station while a lone, broken down semi-truck, along with it's driver, watched from a distance. Eventually his watching made us both feel a little weird so we decided to explore further south, down the single lane road. We discovered what appeared to be an ancient, dried up lake bed. It was solid as a rock so we drove out and shot until sun-down on the crackled dirt. With a completely unobstructed view of the setting sun, and a bright white giant reflector at our feet we were able to capture some amazing face shots and continued shooting until the sun disappeared below the horizon.

That's when the trouble started, as the sun went down the air unexpectedly cooled very quickly, and by the time we made it back to my car we were both freezing. I loaded up the gear and we set off to leave, but there was trouble. The once cement lake bed had become a mushy mud soup, after making it about two feet my Xterra was sunk to its axles in thick, dark mud. So, we got out and dutifully did a little digging, and a little pushing and a little peeling out and within minutes the three of us (Katherine, the car, and I) were covered in mud. It would have almost been funny if it weren't for the biblical swarm of mosquitoes that started to arrive.

I have no idea what these mosquitoes ate when there weren't people stuck in the mud because there wasn't a living thing in sight, yet suddenly every mosquito in a 10 mile radius was charging into us. It probably didn't help that my car was bright yellow, and apparently the mosquitoes LOVE yellow. The ones that weren't distracted by vigorously attacking me and Katherine were attaching themselves and covering the yellow paint almost completely. We dashed for safety inside without even spending a split second thinking about all the gloppy mud we were wearing. We slammed the doors and immediately realized that oh, about a million mosquitoes followed us inside.

Did I mention we were too far in the middle of nowhere for my cell phone to work? Well we were.

Back to the story. This is the part where Katherine lost her ever-loving-mind. Instead of calmly killing the bajillion mosquitoes (the million from earlier had kids) and then thinking through our situation like reasonable adults she just jumped out and started running like a crazed lunatic. Screaming, and swatting. Swatting and screaming. I figured she would eventually realize her mistake and turn around and come back, but she didn't. She made it to the pavement and started running towards the freeway, swatting and screaming, screaming and swatting.

"Great," I thought to myself. Now I have to follow her because we all know this is how horror movies start, and I didn't want someone to kill her. I needed to keep her alive as a distraction for when the killer came after ME! Juuuust kidding... mostly.

So off I went, into the sea of soupy mud and starving mosquitoes. She had a good quarter mile lead, and since she was absolutely out-of-her-flipping-mind she had a good deal more adrenaline than me so as we ran the mile or two or three back to the freeway she kept putting more and more distance between us. Plus I had to stop to pick up her shoes, which apparently abandoned her when they realized she had gone insane.

As it got darker and darker I started to wonder what our plan was. Maybe we'd eventually get cell phone service closer to the freeway, maybe we would have to spend the night in the car, maybe we could throw shoes at the passing cars on the freeway until eventually one of them stopped... about the time I started wondering what Katherine's arm would taste like I realized something that scared the living piss out of me! The trucker was still there! The trucker was getting out of his truck! Katherine was talking to the trucker! Katherine was GETTING INTO THE TRUCK! All joking aside, this was seriously starting to sound like a horror movie.

Now I started running like I was insane! Mosquitoes started splatting against my face, the five extra pounds of mud on my shoes started exploding onto the pavement, brown goo sploshing about with every powerful step like I was throwing rocks into a sewage treatment plant.

It seemed like an eternity before I reached that truck, but when I finally did Katherine was still alive. Visibly terrified (her sanity had just recently returned) but alive. We shared the truckers passenger seat and made a one-bar cell phone call to a tow truck, which was a half hour away (assuming they left at that instant - which they didn't).

So for the next hour or so Katherine and I were regaled by tales from the most well-meaning trucker in the world, who, by the way, was waiting for someone to come fix a flat tire. When he found out that we were there doing a photoshoot he pulled a photo album out from under his seat. I know what you're thinking, we had to look through boring vacation photos, and Christmases, and photos of the kids... but you would be wrong. We happened to pick the trucker that had been to the "Testicle Festival" just last summer. What is the Testicle Festival you ask? Well, we made that same mistake, and that's why he pulled the album out.

The Testicle Festival is apparently an annual event where the oldest, most unattractive people in the world all gather together for a big pile of naked posing for inappropriate photos. I have no idea who develops photos taken at the testicle festival, but that person should not be allowed to develop photos anymore.

Katherine and I, of course, had to act very impressed by this photo album. One, we feared death and the even greater fear was being banished to the mosquitoes outside. We over did it though. Our impressed act was so convincing that the second album made it's appearance. The second album was comprised of photos taken by said truckers wife, and yes, this time the trucker was in the photos.

Why is it that when you are attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes they never have the courtesy to suck the blood out of your eyes?

Yay! The tow truck is here!

"There is no way this truck will pull you out of that mess." So says the only nearby authority on tow-trucks.

Fast forward through the next two hours as Katherine and I are piled into the front seat of a tow truck on the drive back to Tooele to pick up a damn SNOW CAT, then the drive back to the mud death pit of mosquitoes, oh hey the Testicle Festival guy is still here... "Hello! Thanks for letting us see your kibbles and bits," we yell as we pass him by.

Now onto the search, in pitch darkness, for my car. Mind you we have no idea where we drove off the road. This part of the story takes a really, really long time and it consists of Katherine waiting inside the truck as me and the snow cat driver drive around the muddy lake. Katherine is too scared of the mosquitoes to step outside and every minute we spend away from her I can't help but think that she is a goner. For sure, she's a goner. "Oh, there's no way she's going to make it," I think to myself.

Finally! There's my car! Oh, my what a depressing, muddy sight. The snow cat easily pulls it onto the pavement, I climb into the muddy tomb and start driving to pick up Katherine's body... wait! She's still alive? This horror movie has a HAPPY ending!

Well sort of happy. 7.5 hours after arriving we are leaving with a camera full of stunning photos. We are tired, itchy, muddy... but alive! Now for the 40 minute drive back home to make the whole ordeal just a tad over eight hours.

Katherine, you're the best! I'm glad you lived.

Video Tutorial: Using Adobe Lightroom to White Balance your photos

2009-01-25T00:26:00.005-07:00

Not the most exciting tutorial in the world, but we'll build on this basic foundation a bit later! I should also mention that this technique can be done in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) as well, just open a RAW file with Photoshop and ACR opens automatically. It's a slightly different interface but the idea is the same!

Published in "Photos Idea Design Magazine"

2008-12-15T02:19:00.006-07:00

Unfortunately I have no idea if they quoted me correctly since it's from Asia and I don't speak Mandarin. When the magazine arrived in the mail I was pleasantly surprised at what a beautiful publication it is! Thanks to all the beautiful models and talented hair and make-up artists that helped make the photos!

How to Photograph a Girl in an Aquarium

2008-10-20T03:36:00.004-06:00

First, you need to develop an interest in tropical fish whilst in Junior High, after much cajoling convince your parents to let you procure a fish tank.

Enjoy the fish for a long time, but eventually start to neglect them until the tank is only half full (thanks to evaporation) and your starving fish are nourished mostly by the grime inside the tank.

One day, during your sporadic weekly feeding, you will notice that all of the fish have perished. The sense of loss is enhanced by the sad realization that you are horribly unqualified to ever have children.

Eventually the fish aquarium will be cleaned and years later a family member (in my case a brother) will desire to care for fish of their own, you willingly lend them the fish tank with a knowing grin silently predicting how their experience with the aquarium will end.

Two years later the fish aquarium is returned, now you can both reminisce on the fate of the poor fish under your respective care. After spending about 30 minutes too long trying to wedge the wooden fish aquarium stand out of the back seat of their car, the aquarium finds a resting place in the garage next to the lawn mower (which reminds me, when is my cousin going to come mow?)

One bored saturday afternoon while your wife is napping you may be tempted to find a model willing to shoot with you, she says she has a couple hours to spare and is "On her way," but asks, "What do you have in mind?"

Good question...

For some reason you notice the aquarium. Sitting there, a lonely tombstone to many loved, then neglected fish. You think to yourself, that would be a great idea, but there is no way a girl could fit in there.

You ask your wife, she agrees, a 29-gallon aquarium is not meant for a human body. So you move on and shoot another idea, and towards the end of the shoot you mention that you had once thought of shooting in the aquarium but abandoned the idea due to physics.

She claims she can fit in there, she is offended that you thought otherwise. Which is ridiculous because the aquarium is really not that big. She proves you wrong and before you know it you are hauling buckets filled with warm water out to the garage to fill the aquarium as your wife watches, shaking her head in amazement. Aren't we all.

Indoor Flea Market

2008-09-10T14:21:00.002-06:00

It almost takes the fun out of things when you actually have PERMISSION to shoot in a building facing an imminent demise. This long abandoned building seemed to have quite a history - home to a meat locker in the basement (sounds sketchy I know), a mexican restaurant and a strip club turned sports bar and then indoor flea market, and the history shows in the decor.

I received a phone call late last week from a city employee that had been using the building for some training and as a viewer of my blog he wanted to see if I'd be interested in shooting there so I called Carli and we headed over to meet him there and see what we could come up with.

This is the result.

Digital Makeup -- Before and After

2008-08-05T13:26:00.005-06:00

Here are a small sampling of portraits showing the different types of retouching I do in Photoshop. Many times if I do not have a makeup artist scheduled I will simply ask the girl to come with no makeup on and plan to do it later. Other times, as is the case with Cassie in the green tube top, a very talented makeup artist named Kristian did a fantastic job, but we wanted to shoot several concepts and it was simply quicker to change the color in Photoshop. And sometimes, in the case of the image with the thistle weeds - even the plants need a little makeup. :-)

Click the photos for a larger version.

Ruinous Decay

2008-07-25T21:32:00.006-06:00

Inorganic Decay is very interesting to me. I love the evidence of a bustling past, the idea of complete abandonment and the extreme toll that seems to occur when a place is simply... left. Which is what makes the discovery of this location an absolute gold mine in my book!

Located about 1.5 miles from my front door it's an abandoned school of some sort, since it's probably trespassing I won't mention any more about the location so don't ask, but lets just say we found a way into this completely boarded up building and discovered that what appeared to be a small brick structure is absolutely giant! Two floors of long hallways and dozens and dozens of rooms in various levels of muck and grime. Some are pitch dark and some are lit by broken sky lights. Some rooms smell like 'yard sale' and some smell like 'hillbilly farmer's market'. Some rooms are beautiful with vintage wallpaper and some are absolutely creepy, like the one with a whole bunch of baby dresses strewn about with the words, "Satan was here" scrawled across the wall in thick yellow paint.

What better place to bring a couple of models, a talented wardrobe designer and a half dozen gorgeous hand-made dresses! A big giant thank you goes out to everyone for having the absolute worst cell phone rings in the history of creepy cell phone rings. As you are wandering long, pitch black hallways with two weak flashlights there is no better sound to hear than a slow melodic whistling eight rooms over when your party of six is all a short arms length away... that split second it takes to realize it's a phone in someone's bag is not a pleasant split second to say the least.

I'd say the creepiest experience occurred shortly after the shoot in the purple dress and pearls, we had found our next room (the white insane asylum type room) and I went back to collect all the lights to re-set them up. (PHOTO TIP! I used a Lumedyne 1,000WS strobe with battery pack for this entire shoot) I walked back, by myself, and collected the light stand, battery, camera, and then I noticed an almost new bright yellow backpack sitting next to my camera. I was positive that it wasn't there when I set up everything so I figured it belonged to one of the girls so I picked that up too and made my way back down the long hallway. When I arrived back to the group I set everything down and held out the bag expecting its' owner to thankfully take it from me, instead I got a bunch of odd looks. The bag belonged to no one. In a house of ruinous decay somehow the one pristine object found it's way next to my camera...

Models: Kenzie and Cassie, Wardrobe by: McKell Maddox

Updated Website!

2008-05-19T02:47:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I swear I'm trying to make time for them. In the meantime, take a gander at my brand new website with completely updated galleries!

www.jakegarn.com

Delicious Times Two.

2008-04-10T05:56:00.001-06:00

My series of models with food continues to grow, here are some highlights from last month.

-Jake

Evolution of a Photo

2008-04-04T20:23:00.003-06:00

One subject I haven't touched much on is the advantages of shooting in RAW format as opposed to JPG and using a RAW editor (like Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Bridge) to make exposure and white-balance corrections before doing the final retouches in Adobe Photoshop.

I have included five images that show the RAW image, then with corrections applied in Adobe Lightroom, and finally the finished image after Photoshop. I'll be talking more about this process in a future post. For now, notice sometimes there is a major change and sometimes it's just a subtle change, depending on the photo.

As always, click on the thumbnails for a larger version.

"Reflections of Christ" - A traveling exhibit.

2008-03-27T01:35:00.004-06:00

I know it's probably odd for a Fashion Photography Blog to mention a photography exhibit depicting the life of Jesus, but someone sent me a link to this slide show of fine art images and I was absolutely floored.

You know how sometimes while looking at a painting you just can't believe it's not a photograph? Well, for the first time ever I'm staring at these photographs and I can't believe they're not paintings. The control of light, the emotion, the narratives are all absolutely compelling. Kudos to the actors, photographers, stylists, musicians... everyone that was involved. My hat is off.

So for the first time on my blog I'm linking to another photographer's work, I hope you enjoy.

See the slideshow here - Reflections Slideshow

Modest is the Hottest.

2008-03-26T16:16:00.003-06:00

Nicole is one of my new favorites, not only is she gorgeous but she's a lot of fun to shoot and is getting better at it with every new project. One of my favorite things about Nicole is her absolute insistence on complete modesty in every single shoot. As an artist sometimes I am guilty of bending the rules of modesty that I maintain in my life outside of photography. I am a church going, active practicer of the Mormon religion - and for those that don't know modesty in dress is part of our lifestyle.

In Nicole's very own words, "Modest is the hottest." Of course that can be argued by some but with these photos she definitely makes a strong case!

That being said, enjoy these new examples showcasing the technique of "faking an HDR image" that I demonstrated in my last video tutorial.

Tutorial on Faking an HDR Image

2008-03-19T17:42:00.004-06:00

The readers have spoken, after much anticipation here is a tutorial on my image titled Farm Supply. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer** In the video I do start with an image that has been color corrected, it did not come out of my camera that way (even though that's what I said). I will do a future video tutorial on basic color correction!

My Next Video Tutorial

2008-02-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

All right, so I'm giving the power to you, my loyal viewers! Take a look at my images and tell me what you'd like to see explained in my next video tutorial. No secrets, no limits. The image with the most votes gets a tutorial, pure and simple! Though I do reserve the right to show you the same techniques with a different image, but never-the-less, you'll learn something!

How to Vote
Take a look at my images - the most complete library is available at My DeviantART Gallery and leave the name of the image you'd like to see explained in the comment section. Pure and simple!

Happy Voting!
Jake

PS - I appreciate everyone's comments and subscriptions, please keep sharing this blog with your friends, family and even enemies. The more viewers and subscribers I get the more I'm inspired to continue adding content. Hint Hint. :-)

What I learned on the Red Carpet Part II

2008-01-24T04:38:00.001-07:00

50 Cent has Nine Bodyguards, and a REALLY Nice Watch.
50 cent Performed at TAO Park City for MySpace Nights, presented by T-Mobile Sidekick LX

When people are about to walk down the red carpet we get notified by the Public Relations person in charge - sometimes the notification is who they are and how to spell their name, and other times it's a warning that we shouldn't crowd 50 Cent because he has 9 bodyguards and they WILL intervene if 50 Cent is crowded. Good to know, thanks for the heads up. Why anyone needs 9 bodyguards in Utah is beyond me, but I shot the image of 50 Cent and watched him get interviewed by E-TV right next me, and sure enough, a couple bodyguards were shoulder to shoulder with him during the whole interview. Even though we weren't warned about it I tried not to make eye contact with any of his security personnel, I just tried to act casual... but when you're trying to act casual you start feeling suspicious, at least I do, so then I started worrying that I looked suspicious. Then I thought to myself, "Why should I feel suspicious, it's not like I'm going to try and rob 50 Cent..." But then I noticed his watch and for a split second I thought to myself, "I wonder how much that watch would weigh me down if I started running with it." And then I realized that if I was wearing a watch like that around town I'd want some bodyguards too... and come to think of it, I'm pretty sick and tired of people crowding me.

What I learned on the Red Carpet - Part I

2008-01-23T03:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'm supposed to do this, but I'm doing it anyway. I shot at some of the hottest parties in town during Sundance in Park City over the last week and it was a blast! I met photographers from L.A., New York, the UK, Washington D.C. who all flew in to cover events in my very own back yard. They all do this for a living, for me, well it was my first time and when a celebrity comes down that red carpet you have to be ready because you only get one chance - and as you'll see, sometimes you don't even get that! There are lots of mini stories and lots more photos of celebrities, but I'll give you a couple highlights (with photos) and I apologize in advance for plastering my name all over them, but they're very expensive images and I don't want anyone using them for free! If you do want to purchase them, feel free to contact me and I'll refer you to the appropriate place.

Paris Hilton - Take One.
Paris Hilton at the Turning Leaf Lounge in Park City during Sundance.

Here's how it works - Paris Hilton was hosting a private dinner at the Turning Leaf Lounge on Saturday night, and on Friday I received a confirmation that I was on the list of photographers set to shoot her arrival. The dinner was set to start at 8:00, we were asked to check-in at 7:00, and as usual I was on-time. One and a half hours later after waiting outside in the 20 degree weather the PR person finally arrives and sets us up inside, but then the fire marshal shows up and he decides there are too many people inside (VIPs apparently inevitably bring more people than planned and you can't tell them no) so they decide to move the media line outside. There was about 8 photographers and 2 TV crews, and when we all spilled outside onto the sidewalk and set up in a line it started to attract quite a crowd and since a crowd wasn't necessarily expected security was VERY unprepared!

When Paris arrived sheer bedlam ensued. By bedlam I mean one photographer was knocked to the ground as the public surrounded Paris, all the while we were all trying to get the shot we needed. You can get an idea of how unsuccessful I was by the image on the left, some photographers had more luck though and got exactly what they needed - but I was on the wrong end of the line, way too close to her when she got out of her car so I was in the middle of the crowd. Security pulled her inside as fast as they could and that was that.

Well, our PR contact was working very hard on getting me back inside to get the shot I needed but Paris' manager didn't want to pull her away from the party just yet - so I, along with a couple other photographers, had to wait some more... did I mention how cold it was? Finally after about a half hour our PR contact came out to talk to give us a status update and suddenly one of the other photographers (the only girl) absolutely lays into her! I mean she was really letting her have it telling her how poorly run the event was, how there wasn't enough security, or enough barricades and how she was knocked down - when she was done berating our PR contact the photographer stormed off and our contact (now pissed) started going back inside. Me and another photographer stopped her and told her how retarded the other photographer was (which she was) and after a couple minutes our contact firmly stated that she was going to make SURE we got our shot. Minutes later a team of security is instructed to stand on either side of us a keep the crowd out of our view finders, Paris was leaving momentarily and they asked her to stop and make sure we could get a photo of her just outside the door... she exited, bedlam ensued, and security held everyone back - and I got my shot! Off to the next event (which I was now an hour late for)... to be continued.

Digital Make-Up

2007-12-30T01:58:00.002-07:00

Applying Make-Up, Without any Make-Up

2007-12-30T01:58:00.001-07:00

For this image the make-up was inspired by a clown fish hiding inside coral, and since a make-up artist wasn't available I did the next best thing. I have included some before and after images, as well as a video tutorial showing some of the simple techniques I used in Photoshop. Enjoy!

Everything Old is New Again

2007-12-15T03:32:00.000-07:00

A quick technique to give an image a stylish old-fashion look using adjustment layers in Photoshop CS3.

1/17 EDIT: I uploaded a larger, higher quality video. I'm still learning about optimizing videos for the web so bear with me! :-)

Model Suicides - The Series

2007-12-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

I did a couple of these images (Silly String Suicide, and Suicide by Scarf) independently and then it occurred to me, I absolutely loved having fun with such a taboo subject! People hear the name "Model Suicides" and cringe, then they see the images and smile or even laugh out loud. I think you're going to see this series added to in the near future, I already have some more great ideas bouncing around. :-)

Photo Retouching: Dodging and Burning

2007-12-02T04:05:00.000-07:00

One of my blog subscribers in Poland wrote me to request a video tutorial on this portrait of Nicole. He wasn't the only one to request more detailed tutorials so I finally broke down and recorded this one. I hope you enjoy!

** edit 12/3/07 - I made the video larger based on your feedback.

Simple Art of Photo Retouching

2007-11-27T05:43:00.000-07:00

Post production (retouching) plays a huge role in producing my final images, but that behind the scenes action is rarely seen, unless you happen to be sitting by me in my office while I'm at work. So, I decided to give everyone a sneak preview into my world of retouching.

Farm Supply.
Normally I would shoot this image while lying on the ground facing up towards the model, from a low perspective you can create the illusion of longer legs - but the building was being prepped for demolition so the ground was covered with glass and I didn't feel like cutting myself. So I cheated. In photoshop I changed the perspective that could have also been achieved by simply laying down, as you can see I also did extensive work in the entire image to give it a much more painterly feel - some refer to this look as HDR (High Dynamic Range) which I accomplished here through extensive dodging and burning, and several overlay layers. No filters were used except for a single offset filter applied to one layer which was then overlayed to sharpen the edges a bit more.

LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Spinning Sunset
In this image we were literally shooting directly into the sun, which created a very tricky exposure situation. If I exposed for the model then the sky would be almost pure white, but if I exposed for the sky (which I did here) then the sky was correct but the model was too dark. With digital cameras it's always easier to adjust an underexposed image than an overexposed image, so I opted to expose for the sky and fix the rest later by brightening her up!

TOP IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Portrait of Nicole
With such an exquisite face there's really not a whole lot I can do to improve upon it, so I decided to give the entire image the look of a timeless painting to match her timeless beauty. Since we didn't have a make-up artist for the shoot I cheated and enhanced her eye shadow.

LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Whiskey Bucket
Sometimes all an image needs is an extra bit of POP to set it apart. Some dodging and burning with some exposure correction. Again, the original was slightly underexposed so that I wouldn't lose any detail in the sky.

LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Trailing Scarf
This image was shot in pitch dark with a single battery powered strobe. To light the bridge and the model ideally I would have had to use multiple flashes, but on this particular night my assistant was unavailable so complex light set-ups in the freezing cold (it was November) were out of the question. So I boosted the light in photoshop and again added an HDR look to the wood, and her clothes.

LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Soaking Wet Sky
Speaking of cold, it was literally about 38 degrees outside, with wind and rain to boot. But the sky was absolutely unbelievable so we couldn't resist. We quickly set up a single flash, which my trusty assistant held high above his head so we didn't have to bother with a stand and we shot a couple dozen frames in about five minutes, and then got back into the warm car. Once again, with a proper amount of time we could have achieved a better lit scene, but I opted to fix it in photoshop later. I also put a bit of wind in her hair, using custom hair brushes by trisste-brushes.

LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Out of Control
And for the opposite of cold we have fire! For this image I combined fire from a different photo to boost the flames and increased the orange glow on her sides, obviously I also extended the wall behind her.
LEFT IS BEFORE, RIGHT IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Gasoline Car Wash
Alas, I'm not nearly irresponsible enough to have a model spray actual gasoline onto the ground as I quickly snap off images and fire electronic flashes in her direction. The color spectrum was added with a simple gradient fill, one of the most overused tools on any computer program - but here it works! I get asked at least once a month if that was gasoline or a rainbow of some sorts.
TOP IS BEFORE, BOTTOM IS AFTER - click thumbnail for a larger view

Thanks for viewing, these are just a small sampling - if they're enjoyed I'll post more later.

Ms. Tutu

2007-11-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

Simple. Unique. Beautiful. When the three combine then I am happy!

Landis Lifestyle Salon

2007-11-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

This was my second photoshoot conducted inside a studio... ever. It is also my first time using more than two flashes. Shot with an Octodome for the fill and two spots behind the model on either side and a large white reflector just barely out of frame below each image. Three hairstylists, a make-up artist and an eyelash stylist all teamed together to create the fantastic styling, the only direction from me was to incorporate plants and flowers into their work. It is a near impossibility coordinating schedules with around ten people for a shoot like this to happen, but this one was well worth the effort!

I have to give Mike from Element Studios a special thank you for allowing us to use of his fantastic photo studio and talents, and as always he was a blast to have around for the shoot - not to mention a great help!

Winter is Coming.

2007-11-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

The rain soaked dirt road may look nice and cozy but looks can be deceiving, I was freezing and I had two shirts and long pants on, poor Nicole almost killed over. Luckily Chris, my trusty assistant, worked very fast in getting the light set up and to save even more time we skipped the light stand and he simply held the flash up. But don't feel too sorry for him, the shoot was a quick one, even though Nicole should be used to the freezing Utah air I didn't want to take my chances. Nothing worse than having to stop by the emergency room in the middle of a shoot... or so I hear.

Stripes and Sirens

2007-11-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

When Morgen laid all her clothes out I knew it was going to be a great shoot! I love bold colors and I love stripes and I love leggings and she had all three! A bright bold location was just yearning to be paired with the bright pink so we packed up and headed out for a night shoot. Across the street from a used car lot, this tiny yellow building quickly became a point of interest for multiple car salesmen as they casually inched their way closer and closer to to watch the shoot unfold. But then a random pedestrian stumbles across the busy four lanes of traffic on Main Street and the police and an ambulance are quick on the scene, really quick on the scene actually. We can't really be sure what happened to the pedestrian, but I'm pretty certain he wasn't hit or anything major, but with an ever growing group of emergency vehicles on one side, and a beautiful girl on the other the salesmen were in quandary - their solution? To wander back and forth across both corners of the car lot trying to ascertain which was more interesting. It was highly amusing but we nailed the shot, picked up and left leaving them yearning for more. Sorry boys but we had an abandoned barn to visit!

The Middle of Nowhere

2007-11-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Shooting at night is a lot of fun, a little bit cold but a lot of fun. My favorite night time locations are the one's in the middle of nowhere, that really look spooky. The trouble is in the middle of nowhere in pitch dark these place truly ARE creepy. Your eyes play tricks on you, every little sound makes you turn and look... at the end of the shoot we pack up as quickly as we can and hope we make it back to the car intact. I used a battery powered strobe with either a snoot, a bare bulb, or a 1-stop diffuser for all these images. In one of them I added the simple addition of the on camera flash with an attached diffuser for just a bit of fill.

Night Time Playground Hunt

2007-11-08T01:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the problem, the switch to Daylight Savings really screwed me up. All the appointments I had set for on-location shoots were now an hour too late and suddenly in the dark. Well, luckily that doesn't stop me! When Jessica showed me the fantastic purple dress I knew that finding a swing to shoot her on was definitely a good idea, what I didn't know was swings at playgrounds aren't necessarily a requirement anymore. When did this happen? Is McDonald's really making the children so fat that youngsters can no longer enjoy swinging with any sort of faith in the structural engineering? What a travesty! After visiting three separate parks, all at night, we finally found one with actual swings. We set up the light and got the shot.

Then the tricky part, she wanted something spooky so I decided on a location I've wanted to use for a long time... the bus/wall in an abandoned shed in the middle of nowhere. Yes, this place exists. I don't know why but it does, and I LOVE it. It was cold, it was dark, and we only had one flashlight to navigate our way through the mud and brush but I think this shoot was well worth the effort. After that we finished up at a separate park with fallen leaves and then a trip to Dairy Queen. All in a days work!

Flora

2007-11-08T01:15:00.000-07:00

Flowers are beautiful. Women are beautiful. And can you think of two more over-photographed subjects in the world than beautiful women and flowers? Neither can I, so I thought I'd combine them. I really wanted to stay away from the trite and the obvious, and go for something that was unique and creative. Though I did get the third degree at the flower store - "These flowers don't really match" and "Are you sure you don't want us to add some baby's breath for a bouquet?" and "Sir, will you please put all that money back in the cash register?" :-)

Country Glamour

2007-09-13T02:51:00.000-06:00

For me, taking photos of extremely beautiful women is a balancing act between trying to make a stunning image and at the same time avoiding making the image overly sexualized or even crass. Magazines with scantily clad women plastered on the covers are hard not to notice but their prime audience is men, that is not what I am after. While obviously both genders can, and do, enjoy images of all tastes I am after the subtle attraction of understated beauty rather than in your face sexuality.

Anytime I shoot a girl with clothes that reveal more of the body than you normally see (outside of a beach of course) that balancing act becomes a little more difficult. You'll notice that we avoid the poses that emphasize the chest or the backside in favor of the simple elegant poses that display more of a soft femininity rather than exaggerated sexuality.

Take a magazine like FHM which is geared towards men and compare it to a magazine like W which is mainly geared towards women. They both showcase beautiful women but the approach is as different as night and day. Rather than objectify women with sexuality I attempt to celebrate beauty. The latter style seems to require a lot more style and creativity and is tremendously more difficult to achieve, it is a goal I strive for and I hope that my attempts are recognized by the people that view my photographs.

Silly String Suicide

2007-09-13T02:46:00.001-06:00

It had been raining earlier in the afternoon, but about an hour before the shoot the weather cleared and it looked like it was going to be a fantastic day for an on-location outdoor shoot. When we loaded up the car and started heading out a light drizzle started, and within ten minutes it turned into a howling torrent. We opted to shoot inside an abandoned house but when the lighting started hitting all around us, and very big tree branches started cracking in half and falling nearby we decided to abandon the abandoned house and head for a safer location... but that meant coming up with a concept on the fly. This meant a trip to Wal-Mart was in order.

Not long after that we started the search for Silly String and Bubble Gum, both items were surprisingly difficult to locate but eventually we paid and were on our way back through the doomsday weather, which by now we had heard the airport had closed and a funnel cloud was spotted nearby. Yikes! But the shoot went on! And after seeing the results I'm sure glad it did!

Fill Flash and Available Light

2007-09-05T03:42:00.000-06:00

I love keeping things simple. When I first started out in photography several years ago I shot only with available sunlight. Eventually I added a small on camera Speedlight, then a reflector, then some large indoor hot-lights, and finally some battery powered strobes for on-location shoots. A very simple, and somewhat inexpensive, Lumedyne 1000 watt strobe was used as a fill flash in all these images. After the sun set I used the strobe as the main light and brought in the reflector for the fill.

The Dizzying of Nicole

2007-08-23T05:02:00.001-06:00

Three images, one 2ish hour session. Some people may think it's inconceivable to only get three images in 2 hours, and others will think that 2 hours is barely enough time to nail a single concept down let alone three. The truth is I shoot hundreds of images in every session I do. 267 for this session to be exact.

I go through all those images and narrow down my favorites, in this case the field was whittled down to 44 choices - a much more manageable number. I guess I could run those 44 images through color correction, fix a couple blemishes and call it a day, a lot of photographers do just that, but that's not the way I prefer to do things. We didn't start a shoot to get a series of pretty good images, we're after that one great shot. The one that turns heads.

So I go through the smaller list of images and select my favorite favorites, and then it gets tough. When I have multiple candidates for a single concept I put them all on my screen side by side and stare. Sometimes I recruit my wife over to offer her opinion, sometimes I decide I need to combine my favorite part of each image together, and there is the rare occasion that two images from the same concept makes it through the selection process. More often than not a clear winner emerges and that winner is finished in Photoshop. After all, pushing the button on the camera creates only a rough draft of the image at very best, at least that's my opinion.

And in the end, I hope that all the mosquito bites, all of the slivers, all of the back road driving, gray-line trespassing, and making poor Nicole spin until she almost fell over was worth the effort. In some cases hope is not necessary, sometimes the photos turn out beyond even my expectations... this was one of those occasions. You gotta love this stuff!

Last minute shoot.

2007-08-21T04:42:00.000-06:00

For this shoot we used a brand new location and shot until we ran out of light. The profile image of Nicole against the white crackling paint was shot in near darkness with mosquitoes completely ignoring the repellent as they bit constantly at any exposed skin they could find. Why mosquitoes even bother with me in the presence of such beautiful women is absolutely beyond me, my only explanation is that mosquitoes simply must know something that other people don't... and that is that I am delicious!

The Un-reality of Shay

2007-08-21T04:34:00.001-06:00

The camera (and all the lights and equipment that go along with it) can only create the rough draft of any given image. The finalized version occurs in the darkroom, or in this day and age, the computer. Every image I make is perfected in Photoshop using dozens of different techniques, but usually I try to keep the edits hidden and indistinguishable. That was not the case for this series of shots, but you may be surprised to learn that the image of Shay in the lake required virtually no Photoshop other than some color correction and exposure adjustments. That's because most of the work for this image was done right there on the shore of the lake just after sunset.

It was a team effort. I had my camera on a tripod partially in the pond and set the exposure to a full 30 seconds, immediately after hitting the button Chris, my assistant, manually fired the flash at Shay. Then she got out of the water and Chris flashed the now empty lake. We then painted the shore and water with flashlights giving it that orangish glow. Of course we did this dozens of times and by the end Shay had become fairly adept and getting in and out of the mud fairly fast!

Dirt and Beauty.

2007-08-21T04:30:00.000-06:00

Katie and Mindy at the Creepy House. There are so many different things to shoot here and I'm going to be so sad when it gets demolished. The construction of a housing development is literally edging its way within inches of this favorite location of mine.

The Old Barn

2007-08-09T03:10:00.000-06:00

I had two cancellations in a row, one yesterday and one tonight. Last night I took advantage of the free time and saw the "Bourne Ultimatum" with my lovely wife, it was good times. Tonight I felt like shooting, so I posted a bulletin on Myspace at around 4:00 stating that I had an opening and to contact me if you wanted to shoot. Within a half hour I had several options, including one random friend of mine who thinks he's hilarious (I won't mention any names) - I went with Sarah. Sorry Rob, maybe next time...

We went to a new location, an old barn filled with very old things. My kind of place! I took my assistant's advice and climbed the old silo. Sarah had to lay in the dirt with the spiders and other various bugs while I leaned over the ladder as far as I could just to get the shot, we argued for quite awhile over who had the more dangerous assignment and frankly, I don't see how crickets and a smashed spider even compares to climbing an old abandoned silo whilst carrying a camera.

It turns out lighting inside a silo is pretty tricky. We decided to go with a simple Canon 580ex with an attached diffuser held about 6 feet below the camera - in other words, directly under my feet. In fact, we used the same flash for all the other images as well. Not bad for such a little guy, which just goes to show - it's not the size of your flash, it's how you use it. :-)

Vintage Jewelry

2007-08-06T04:46:00.000-06:00

It quickly became apparent that Shay and I had a serious energy deficiency when we started the shoot. She had been filming and working all week long with hardly any sleep and I had a record breaking amount of appointments in the previous two weeks leading up to that evening. This was going to be my night off, but Shay wanted to shoot and if someone can let me know how to say no to such a beautiful girl then please let me know.

With zero clouds outside it was ridiculously hot and bright, horrible conditions for shooting whilst sleepy. So Shay pulled out her bag of vintage jewelry and we shot inside. Now that I'm looking at the images I'm pretty certain I don't really need to learn how to tell her no, I think things worked out perfectly!

A Skunk Sighting

2007-08-06T04:36:00.001-06:00

I have seen an Alaskan grizzly bear charge into the water less than twenty yards away from me. I've had sharks swim past me while scuba diving. When I was six I was bit by a very mean Doberman Pincer. But by far the scariest animal I've ever encountered is a skunk. There is just something about those stripes that will scare the ever living humanity right out of you.

When we arrived at the location for our shoot I got out of the car first and started exploring, I made it about ten feet away from the car when I saw it coming straight towards me. I spun on my heals and charged back to the car screaming for everyone to get back inside, the panic in my voice was highly disproportionate to the actual dangers we faced out in the middle of nowhere, but as I dove into the car (hitting my arm on the door quite hard) I breathlessly exclaimed, "It's a skunk!" Not more than ten feet away it was way too close for comfort. The skunk ignored my antics and crawled into a small drainage pipe and disappeared from view.

I found out that even when the skunk leaves you completely alone you still lose a tremendous amount of street cred by screaming like a child and running away, it's a good thing I didn't have too much street cred to begin with.

The Old Hammond House

2007-08-06T04:17:00.000-06:00

This is what happens to a pool with ten full years of neglect. It's the weirdest thing, a house upwards of 15,000 square feet including a racket ball court, an indoor hot-tub, steam room, dry sauna and more flights of stairs than you can shake a stick at has been abandoned for close to ten years now. The 'No Trespassing' sign is clear as day on the front door so we didn't shoot inside (and I'll never admit to exploring the interior!) but the pool, well there is no fence so it's fair game!

Nicole only brought four things to wear, all of them brown. This made selecting the perfect location a lot more difficult for me than it usually is, brown is a hard color to make exciting! But not surprisingly Nicole absolutely shined in our shoot at the long abandoned pool, and though I wasn't very happy at first, I'm very glad she forced me to use all brown.

Shay and Nicole

2007-07-31T01:46:00.001-06:00

All of these images are from the same three hour session, but let's talk about the fire shall we? We had planned to use the burnt down building but I wasn't quite sure of the best way to keep it interesting. The old grill was already there so we were going to haul it inside but the ooomf factor was still missing. That's when I decided to call my awesome wife Jenny and see if she would mind bringing us some gasoline, a lighter, and of course a fire extinguisher. Ah, what an awesome girl she is!

Now armed with the essentials we doused some gas into the grill and lit it on fire, now we were talking! At the end of the shoot I got to use a fire extinguisher for my first time ever, it was a lot of fun and made me wish I had more, non-life-threatening, excuses to use it! Maybe you'll see fire in some future shoots!

Playgrounds and Goldfish

2007-07-31T00:55:00.000-06:00

Most of the time I don't like to pre-plan ideas for a shoot, I'm a spur-of-the-moment-inspiration kind of guy. But for this shoot it all started with an idea, peanut butter to be precise. When Carly arrived for the shoot I knew that there was only so much I could do with peanut butter so I let inspiration take it's course and settled into the usual pre-photoshoot routine where we lay everything they brought onto the couch and I stare at it. After contemplating it long enough we got in the car and started to drive, I still wasn't sure where we were going but I knew it would come to me. Chris Tittle, my assistant, suggested a location we had scouted weeks before with a river, lots of foliage and stuff like that, sounded good to me! So we parked and I picked the outfit for Carly, a denim sundress, striped leg warmers, white furry boots, and striped gloves. As we were walking down the trail to the river I couldn't stop thinking about how much her outfit cried out "playground", but at the same time I knew any park would be full of kids this time of day... eventually my internal argument won out, we turned back up the trail and walked about five minutes to the playground.

After putting on a fashion show for all the young girls at the playground, who excitedly pointed us out to their moms, we headed to the grocery store for Peanut Butter. Carly wouldn't stop asking me why I seemingly randomly bought some goldfish crackers too, I guess she just doesn't understand how inspiration works! :-)

Katherine

2007-07-20T03:13:00.001-06:00

In 2001 Katherine was making smoothies in the Newgate Mall in Ogden. That's where she caught the eye of a model scout working with me on a project, the 2002 Calendar of Utah Girls. The calendar has long been forgotten but by far my favorite result of making the calendar that year was discovering the beautiful Katherine.

For the last six years I have shot Katherine more than any other model I've ever worked with. She is amazing, and over the years as she has become a better model I have been inspired to become a better photographer just so I could do her justice.

I know I'll never forget the time we were shooting on a rock solid dry lake bed until the sun set. We quickly discovered the lake bed remained dry only because of the sun, once it set we were literally in the middle of nowhere with my SUV sunk up to it's axles in the thickest mud I've ever seen. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out our options when the swarm came. I have no idea what the mosquitoes out there normally ate but tonight they found a feast - us. By the way, if you are picturing a swarm of mosquitoes right now and it is anything less than a swarm of biblical proportions then you are imagining all wrong, I have never seen anything like it, nor will I ever again. At first we sought refuge inside the car, but when they followed us inside it didn't take Katherine long to call it quits and just start running. I seriously have no idea what her plan was, we were at least a mile or two from the freeway with no services within 30 miles in either direction but she didn't care - she just ran. So I figured, I'd better run too.

Her commitment to the run was much more intense than mine, I trailed behind her at least a hundred yards and it sure didn't help my speed having to stop and gather up her shoes that she lost along the way. Lucky for us a trucker was parked right off the exit with a flat tire, just sitting there waiting for his company to come change him out I guess. He invited us into his truck and proceeded to show us the worst picture album in the history of the world, I won't go into details but suffice it to say they were his travel photos, captured during his visit to the "Testical Festival" in Oregon. Nice.

Several hours later a snow cat arrived (turns out they are expensive to hire) to yank my car out. First we had to find it though. It was not a small lakebed and with no moon it was pitch dark. After a joyous, longer than expected ride through the feature-less field of mud we spotted the saddest looking vehicle ever. It was listing to one side as if it were a giant, leaking ship in an ice-berg laden ocean, clawing at the surface to stay afloat. I thought the poor car was going to break in half when we started pulling it out. But out it came, and after our five hour ordeal we dragged our muddy selves back inside for the half hour drive home, during which the ever vigilant Katherine constantly smashed mosquitoes on every solid surface of the interior.

So what does all of that have to do with last nights shoot? Well last night when I asked Katherine which photo, of all the photos we've ever shot, was her favorite she referred to a black and white close-up we shot that very night, while the sun was high and the ground was firm. Sometimes the best images are worth every bit of suffering they require. And other times a photo really isn't worth taking at all - the Testical Festival sure comes to mind.

Syrup Breath

2007-07-18T18:49:00.000-06:00

The enigmatic Shay was feeling left out. As she was sitting in my kitchen one day with myself, Michael Dean and Mark Slagaowski (two other fantastic Utah photographers) she made it clear that she was tired of seeing so many other models get filthy dirty on shoots with me - watermelons, chocolate, pineapples, and marshmallows (just to mention a few) - while she stayed nice and clean. I told her I was running out of food items to plaster models with, undeterred she suggested syrup. I had briefly thought about syrup in the past but I figured the combined stickiness and gooiness would be a complete deal breaker so I never really brought it up.

Fast forward to weeks later Shay leaves a myspace message reminding me that she hasn't forgotten about our syrup conversation. So, she was subsequently covered in syrup. As per her request.

Dead Grass & Lush Leaves

2007-07-18T18:46:00.000-06:00

100 Year Old Cemetary

2007-07-18T17:55:00.000-06:00

When a new model arrives for her very first shoot with me she has no idea what type of shoot we'll be doing, where we'll be going, or what exactly is in store. The reason is simple, I don't know either. Shoots with new girls are never preplanned. She walks in and we lay all the clothes she brought across the room and I stare. Sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for several minutes. Inside my brain I try to match the clothes I want to use with their perfect location.

After staring at her clothes for a longer than average amount of time it came to me, the cemetery. I've never shot there before but that's the fun of it. Towards the end of the shoot a van pulled up with the official markings of the cemetery, the assistant announced that the shoot was probably over. I walked to the van and met the driver halfway. I put my charm in overdrive (yes, us males have charm) and two minutes later we were back to shooting, now with official permission.

I opened the images in Photoshop where the finished product took another turn, though I wasn't planning it the images turned goulish, surreal, even macabre. This is what happens when you let creativity happen on it's own. It takes you places you couldn't have otherwise predicted.

The Creepy House 2

2007-07-10T03:18:00.001-06:00

If you haven't done so already, read the previous post titled "The Creepy House" because this is a sequel.

After discovering the Creepy House almost three years ago we have returned dozens, if not hundreds of times. Each time the house becomes a little more destroyed, more fantastic antiques go missing, and lately structures have even been burnt to the ground. It's a tragedy, but I promised more stories about the creepy house so I'll talk about Halloween night 2005.

We went to the creepy house after dark, at about 11:00 with a group of about ten people. We stood in the center of all the buildings in the dead of night, no moon so it was almost pitch black. I told the story that I related in my first post, most of the people there thought I was making it up as I went along (I wasn't) so it was very difficult to get through the story with all the sarcastic interruptions. By the time I got to the part about the light turning on we had been there at least 20 minutes, but as I said the words, "and then the light turned on" I pointed at the light and at that second the light TURNED ON! Not before, not after. It was at that second. To this day I have been unable to explain how the light came on, there was nobody there, I've never found a switch... nothing.

Tonight we brought Carly to shoot at the Creepy House, we had a great time and as you can see we made some wonderful images - both inside the house and out.

The Car Graveyard

2007-07-04T03:35:00.000-06:00

Just when I begin to think that I'm running out of good locations we stumble upon this, the Car Graveyard! You can expect to see many more shoots from this location, but for now enjoy these new images of Katherine and Holly!

The Creepy House

2007-06-28T00:58:00.000-06:00

A very commonly asked question is, "How do you find your locations? Do you just drive around looking for them?" The answer to this is yes, that's exactly what I do. A couple years ago I was driving clear out towards the middle of nowhere and came across a long dirt road so I decided to see where it led to. As I pulled around the bend into a large patch of trees I was absolutely blown away. Spread before us was a small patch of wild grass surrounded by old, abandoned buildings including a beautiful Victorian era house. Inside the garages were covered wagons (seriously) old iron wrought beds, antique bathtubs and other treasure littered the grounds. It was like we stumbled on a house whose owners left and simply never came back twenty-years earlier. It wasn't called the creepy house yet, but after my first shoot there the name would stick. Two years later this is still one of my favorite locations to shoot and I still haven't used up all my ideas... but this is the story of how the creepy house became the CREEPY house.

Our first shoot there was with a beautiful model who was just as in awe as I was, we explored the grounds and I called her over to look inside a broken out window into one of the bedrooms of the house. Inside was a wicker chair, balanced on top of a small book case with the ancient wicker unraveled and pouring down the sides like a wooden waterfall. The site was eerie and beautiful. We sat in front of the window and chatted about who would make such a modern day sculpture inside a forgotten bedroom. Then we continued the shoot, I sat inside the front doorway but the door, off its' hinges and propped against the door jam kept getting in the way of my "shooting" arm. I complained out loud about the stupid door and shortly after an old light above the garage TURNED ON! It's hard to emphasize how strange this was based on the state of the house and on the obvious length of time it had been abandoned. Why was there a working bulb with a working timer LET ALONE electricity to this place? It was at least 300 yards from any other house that I could see. I stopped shooting and told the model to turn and look at the light, and at that exact moment the light went out. A tiny chill ran up my spine. I pegged it as a coincidence but it still was very strange.

The next day, less than 12 hours later, I returned with my girlfriend (now my wife) to show her my discovery, I called her over to the window to look inside and to my surprise the room was completely re-arranged. Though odd, this didn't strike me as impossible since anybody could have come and moved it, but it really hadn't been all that long since I was last there. I glanced towards the front door and my heart jumped. The door which I complained about was now standing straight up blocking the entrance to the front door. Everything I had talked about out loud (including the light) had been rearranged from the night before. Still a coincidence? Quite possibly but the incidents were adding up. The weirdest thing of all was yet to come, sitting in the exact spot where the model was standing for our very first shot the night before was an old Polaroid picture of a young man laying on the couch, the picture was dated 1971. I have no idea how it got there, I went home and checked the shoot just to make sure it wasn't there the night before and sure enough... it wasn't.

Later on I found out the house is widely believed to be haunted by the family that used to live there... that was only my first experience with the creepy house, there are many more experiences that have been very difficult to explain.

Trespassing!

2007-06-25T00:47:00.000-06:00

My general rule is this - no "No Trespassing" sign in the vicinity then it's free game. I'm not sure this strategy will hold up in court, hopefully I never get a chance to test it, but as we were shooting at the top floor of this beautiful abandoned house a voice yelled from downstairs, "WHO'S HERE?"

Obviously this gentleman was upset, we were intruding on the house his grandfather had purchased in 1918, five short years after it was first built. But when he turned the corner and saw what it was that we were up to he suddenly became our best friend, after a brief history he left us with an admonition to be careful, and we were.

Broken Sunglasses

2007-06-22T02:58:00.001-06:00

The beautiful Shay. The first shoot I did with her my flash bulb broke, the second time I shot with her I lost a lens cap. I didn't dare imagine what would happen for the third shoot, and sure enough my sunglasses (purchased less than three weeks before) did not last through the shoot in working order. Though I'll admit it was me that smashed my head into the low hanging beam in the run-down barn, it was definitely Shay's presence that influenced the outcome. She denies it, but there is an undeniable trend.

Sure I had a pretty major headache for an hour or so, but it was the destruction of my glasses that made me the most sad, they weren't cheap... not at all. Two things worth spending money on if you ask me - a good pair of shoes, and a nice pair of sunglasses. The store I bought them from had a 6 month replacement discount, basically if you break them in the first six months you can buy the same pair at half price. It still hurt to pay half price but at least it was better than paying the full thing. Driving home I did what anybody would do, I called random people and complained about my bad luck (Shay's bad luck actually) and since my own mother was the first to be around to answer the phone she heard my sob story. But wait! She reminded me about the American Express guarantee, and since I did buy the original glasses with my Blue Amex card she suggested I call them and see if my glasses were covered. And HOLY CRAP, after an eleven minute and twelve second phone call to Amex (including hold time) I was given a claim number and told that the full purchase price would be credited BACK to my card within 48 hours!!!

So in effect, breaking my sunglasses allowed me to buy them for half price, maybe I had Shay pegged wrong from the beginning... could she possibly be GOOD luck?

Sizzle.

2007-06-19T11:57:00.000-06:00

Assistantless, due to my assistant being a slacker, Carli and I set off on our own to shoot at some of my favorite locations, one of which recently burned to the ground. After shooting in the ashes we moved on to the white barn, only to notice that poor Carli was literally covered in black charcoal smears! Ooops. I guess that's what happens when you make someone stand in a giant pile of ash for close to 20 minutes! So, I told her to do her best to wipe off the little amount on her face and oops again, I forgot to tell her to first clean off her hands... now it was much, much worse. I ran to the car for a water bottle and a towel and came back to help her get cleaned up, but by the time we took care of it the sun was practically set. So the remainder of the shoot (everything in a white tank-top) was literally shot in very dark to pitch dark conditions. Of all the days to not have an assistant... but I think we pulled it off wonderfully

Night Time Dugouts and Old Bath tubs.

2007-06-12T03:07:00.000-06:00

Shay is beautiful, but Shay is also very bad luck. By "very bad luck" I don't mean in the real world sense of very bad, but in the sense that my otherwise insulated life only very rarely faces bad luck of any sort - except for flushes on the river when I have a set of aces - but that's another post.

The last time I shot Shay was the last time my favorite flash worked, the Lumedyne 800watt battery powered strobe. My assistant is also mysteriously unavailable for any shoot I do with Shay. Which is weird. So, tonight we had to shoot assistant-less, and favorite flash-less. Which meant I had to be creative. All of the shots were lighted with a single Canon 580EX - mounted to the camera with a bracket. As you can probably understand by looking at the images, I am quite impressed with the results. Sure, I've had and used the flash for years but for some reason it just worked better than usual. Maybe Shay is better luck than I originally thought, maybe I owe her an apology. But on second thought - I think she owes ME a new flash-tube.

We went to my newly discovered abandoned house, my favorite old church, and a new location for me - a little league dug-out. Bad luck or not, I think you'll see more of Shay in the future, she is a blast to shoot! Even though the cop seemed to keep driving around the park, watching us. Stealth-like and creepy. But I can't say I blame him, if I saw Shay in a dugout at night I'd watch too... just not creepily and stealth-like... I make way to much noise to be stealthy. :P

Misdemeanors and Photoshoots

2007-06-01T15:06:00.000-06:00

My assistant Chris Tittle and I were driving around looking for a new location when we stumbled on two old houses in the middle of old downtown Layton, I've probably driven by them hundreds of times in my life but I never bothered to pay attention. They both looked like they may be abandoned so we stopped to investigate.

Our deductive reasoning skills slipped into high gear as we started the arduous task of determining if someone still lived there, sure we could probably just look into a window but we're just not rated high enough of the creep-factory scale to go start looking into windows of unknown houses. Chris pointed out that there was a full garbage can by the garage, nearly overflowing. Once again, not obsessive enough to actually sort through garbage but I couldn't help but notice the box on top was extremely faded, like it had been sitting out there for weeks, a very good sign! A trip to the front door and the pile of weather worn phone books resting there was another good sign, good enough to warrant a quick peek in one of the windows at least.

One glance inside and I knew we had to shoot there, vintage appliances, vintage cabinets and vintage wallpaper - absolutely perfect! A quick visit to the neighbors told us that the owners had rented the house out for years but it was vacated months ago, nobody knew who the actual owner was though... not good. We started considering our options, we could go down to the County Registrar and locate the owner that way and ask them permission to shoot there... but Chris (who rates higher on the creep scale than I do) notice one of the windows was not locked. Now we had a moral dilemma on our hands, do we respectfully trespass and sneak some photos doing absolutely no damage - OR - do we spend a few hours tracking down and contacting the owner and risk getting turned down? Well, just as luck would have it a car pulled up as we were contemplating our next step. Her family had owned the houses for decades and she was getting ready to demolish them... and sure, we could take photos there, but she mentioned we'd better hurry! No problem there, we returned with a model less than an hour later!

-Jake

Px3 Competition!

2007-04-30T16:53:00.000-06:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WINNER OF PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris

Jake Garn of United States was Awarded Second Prize In Px3 Competition.

Paris, France, 30-apr-2007, Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3) announces winners of the 2007 competition.

Jake Garn of United States was Awarded: Second Prize in category ADVERTISING for the entry titled, " Local Haunting ." The jury selected 2007’s winners from thousands of photography entries from over 85 countries.

Px3 is juried by top international decision-makers in the photography industry: Jérôme Ormieres, Art Director of BDDP & Fils, Paris; Simon James, Publishing Director of EC1 Publishing Ltd, London; Carol Johnson, Curator of Photography of Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; Gilles Raynaldy, Director of Purpose, Paris; Kenan Aktulun, VP/Creative Director of Digitas, New York; Naomi Cass, Director of Centre for Contemporary Photography, Australia, Steve Fine, Director of Photography of Sports Illustrated magazine; Chiara Mariani, Photo Editor of Corriere della Sera Magazine, Italy; Arnaud Adida, Director of Acte 2 Gallery/Agency, Paris, Susan A. Zadeh, Artistic Director of Eyemazing International Contemporary Photography magazine; Jeannette Mariani, Art Director of 13 Sévigné Gallery, Paris; Bernard Utudjian, Director of Galerie Polaris, Paris; Tom Meerman, President of the GKF/Dutch Photographer's Association; Adrian Leeds, Director of Adrian Leeds Group, Paris; Scott Mc Kiernan, Director of ZUMA Press, Inc. and Publisher of DOUBLEtruck Magazine, Los Angeles; Agnès Voltz, Director of Chambre Avec Vues, Paris; and Alice Gabriner, World Picture Editor of Time Magazine, New York.

Winning entries from each major category (Advertising, Photojournalism, Book, Fine Art, Nature, and Portraiture) are exhibited in Paris at the prestigious 13Sévigné Gallery in June/July 2007 and published in the high-quality, full-color Px3 Annual Book, which is distributed to galleries, agencies, publishers and bookstores worldwide.

The Search for a Yellow Umbrella

2007-04-26T03:39:00.000-06:00

My PDA/Phone has been possessed by the minions of pure evil. Why would Rosie O'Donnel want to possess my personal electronic devices? I have no idea, but whenever I type something into my calendar random letters appear. I can't control it, I've tried everything. When I scheduled this shoot for Monday night I assumed my trusty Treo organizer to store the details just fine, but alas, it failed me. So I had no idea who I was shooting until I opened the door.

In walks Shelley! And what was she carrying but an originally made dress, created with plastic and safety pins. This is my kind of girl. It only takes me a few seconds to decide a yellow umbrella, plastic dress, and rain clouds are a fantastic combination - but I have no idea where to buy a yellow umbrella. So it's off to Wal-Mart.

My personal Wal-Mart is the super center variety, which means it's huge. You can buy car tires, a frozen pizza, a lawn mower, get your oil changed, a home entertainment system, a diamond ring and a Big Mac all at the same time. Ridiculous. So obviously we have no chance at finding an umbrella on our own, we have to walk clear across the store looking for an employee to ask. The employees were so hard to find that a RANDOM STRANGER asked me if I knew where to find school supplies. He knew I didn't work there, he was just desperately hoping I would know where they were - I didn't - but I pointed anyway. What is it about the human desire to help even when we're positive we're of no use?

Finally we found a Wal-Mart lady and asked her, sure enough, she knows exactly where they are which is absurd! I can't even tell you where the remote is in my OWN house and these people know where every item is in a store the size of three football fields.

So, all the way across the store we find a pretty much empty rack of umbrellas. No yellow ones. Dang. Off to the next store.

Three stores later I'm trying to convince the model that the umbrella isn't a good idea in the first place (we both know I'm lying) but we decide to give Walgreens a try. Now we're trying to beat the sun in it's slow climb towards the horizon so we don't waste any time asking a cashier where the umbrellas are. "Aisle thirteen, halfway down the aisle, left side, bottom half of the shelves." -exact quote, these people really make me sick.

No yellow umbrellas, but we spot the perfect shade of lime green, we argue over which shade of lime green is best. We don't have time for games so I grab one, pay for it and we are off to the races.

I call my assistant and tell him we're swinging by his place to pick him up (it's on the way) and we're cruising along the street when we spot the perfect meadow. We unload, set-up and start shooting. What a perfect day - and screw the yellow umbrella, green was much better.

pineapplehat

2007-04-18T02:32:00.000-06:00

Steps for creating your own pineapple hat photograph:

Step 1.
Find a willing, beautiful model.

Step 2.
Go to grocery store and pick out the perfect pineapple, pay particular attention to the leaves.

Step 3.
Put back your selected pineapple in favor of the model's choice which is far superior - wonder how you missed it.

Step 4.
Purchase pineapple, but have a story ready for why you are purchasing a pineapple at 10:30 pm with one model and one photo assistant. The cashier WILL ask questions.

Step 5.
Cut pineapple in half while model fixes her hair and make up. Carefully hollow out the inside of the pineapple and dry it with paper towels.

Step 6.
Start trying to fix all of the now broken leaf tips that you ruined whilst cutting and hollowing it.

Step 7.
Model will finish her hair and tell you that you probably didn't need to hollow it since she doesn't have a cone head. Realize model is right. Feed her hollowed out pineapple so she stays quiet.

Step 8.
Photograph pineapple hat wearing model.

My New Blog

2007-04-01T04:25:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my new blog. Here you will be able to find information and photos from my latest shoots and maybe I'll even post tricks and tips... keep your eyes peeled and if you like what you see be sure to subscribe!