Southern Illinois University/ Radio Television Digital Media Production

Here are a few of the projects that I was involved with over Fall 2015 semester. I either directed/shot/edited/acted or all of the above in these short films. 

some of my favorite stills from Carbondale

Blood Moon September 27th 2015

fun edit

Its been a while, But I haven't stopped creating

A lot has gone on since my last post. I finished attending Parkland College in Champaign Illinois, and decided to continue my education at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Due to these changes, I've been pretty busy, going to school full time and creating Digital Media content for various classes/clubs and even a show on PBS called Noise Gate. I'm going to try and update my blog on a more regular basis. I'll post some of my favorite images that I have neglected to post over the last few months. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you may have seen some of these before. I'll try and explain some of these images in a caption so there is context to what you are looking at.

This image is a composite image of several different images to create 1 image. I used Photo Shop to create this image. The goal was for the image to be as realistic as possible. I think for my first attempt at something like this that it turned out pretty well.

Next I will show a progression of images created in Maya and rendered in Mental Ray.

The 2 beach balls are the same ball, but using Mental Ray they had different HDR images applied to create the lighting.

These balls were created in Maya using Mental Ray's Sun and Sky System

The set of wine glasses were also created using Mental Ray and HDR lighting. The top set was a concept while the bottom set was a finalized version. I really enjoy using Mental Ray and HDR the images that they create are very impressive

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     Various video from Parkland College

This is my first simple animation in Maya

This is my first video using live action and compositing

This video was created for a final project, i created everything except the opening title, which is QuentinTarintino's

Shooting beauty with a blurry lens

For the first half of my Studio Photography final I was privileged to shoot the blonde bombshell Heather Johnson. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to convert the pictures to black and white. This would add high contrast to the shots and complement Heather's golden hair and fair skin tone. Once I had the lighting in place and the model ready, I thought it would be a breeze, but alas all things in the studio can never go as planned. My camera had a very hard time finding my subject in the low lighting, Even though I tried to manual focus, it was difficult to make the images sharp. The soft focus gave the pictures a glowing look reminiscent of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Here are a few of my favorite shots, and thanks again to Miss Heather.

The picture above will be submitted for my final grade

The picture above is a happy accident i had while adjusting my shutter

Paul and Andy go to the Mayor

Over the last few weeks my friend Andy and I have had the privilege of working with the Mayor of Champaign Don Gerard. Don is running for re-election on April 7th 2015, I couldn't have worked for any other candidate or politician for that matter. Don is a very different type of politician, available to the public on social media, he is very personable and has a great sense of humor. Here is the final draft of the ad we shot. GO TEAM GERARD 2015  

Another head shot shoot / Escobars work shoot

This week was filled once again with a lot of time spent in the photography studio and also a little time at Escobar's restaurant, where for a change I wasn't waiting on tables. The shoot at Escobars was especially challenging because I had to shoot during business hours . It wouldn't have been a problem but when I started shooting an intoxicated patron decided that he wanted to be involved. I was not pleased to say the least. It didn't matter much because as soon as he had arrived he had gone, and the show must go on.I also had another head shot shoot as well, my instructor told me that I am a little too "Fashion photographer"... I interpret that as "you're having too much fun" but thats how you get good shots, right?  And as always, here are a few of my favorite shots.

HEAD SHOTS SHOOT

Studio fun / head shots

For my most recent Studio Photography assignment I was asked to take head shots for a local actress, the beautiful and charming Cheyenne Drew. I have to say that this was my most enjoyable assignment yet, and its easy to see why. Cheyenne is easy to work with and the camera adores her. Working with someone that is comfortable in front of the camera takes a lot of pressure off of the photographer and overall the shots turn out much nicer because of that. Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot

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                             I told her to be "Kim Kardashian"

Slash / G'n'R / Jack Daniels / Gibson Les Paul, more (or less) studio time

 skip to 8mins in to see the most awesome guitar solo EVER
So today in the photography studio.... My project is a still life that pays tribute to the most rockin guitar god of the late 80's and early 90's .. Slash. The project required us to make a still life of our choosing, using the studio lighting equipment, using images straight from the camera without the use of Photo Shop. Once again our time was limited to 1hr of setting up lights, adjusting the lighting, and then finally getting the shot. Working with tight time constraints in the studio I tried my best to get the shot that I had envisioned, but nothing could measure up to Slash rising out of the ocean. I used as many Slash inspired props as i could get my hands on ... here are a few of the shots, enjoy.