Plastic Surgery

This shoot was for a plastic surgeon in the Philadelphia area who wanted artistic photos of specific body parts for his website.  The catch was that the photos needed to be of his patients, so we had to rent a studio near his office and work with non-professional models.  It was an interesting shoot to say the least, but the doctor was happy with the results and the ladies had a good time.  Here are some that I can show:

Hard at work!

Empty Bowls

I photographed Juliette at Yada Yada Pottery for Pulse Magazine.  Her group donates bowls to "Empty Bowls" every year, and raised 10K for the charity last year.  I shot her with a ring light from overhead, after meticulously arranging bowls around her head.  The hard part was not falling on top of her while leaning over so far!

I've learned how to create a tilt-shift effect in Photoshop to throw focus where I want it.

Doug Hays, Metal Sculptor

It's been months since I've updated, so here we go...
This was an editorial assignment to shoot Doug Hays, a metal sculptor.  I love this kind of dirty, industrial stuff, and Doug was very patient and helpful.  The tough part is controlling the available light so that I can re-light it my way.
As it happens, this piece he's working on ended up being the legs to a conference table at the First Green Bank that I'm shooting tomorrow.  As the comedian Steven Wright says, "It's a small world, but wouldn't want to paint it".

My trusty assistant, Mike

Now shooting video

Capturing motion has been a great new learning experience that I really enjoy.  My first two projects are now complete and can be viewed with the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX-sGe-d1yw
This first one is a web video to show the capabilities on the Windhorse Wellness Center.  I designed the shots, camera moves and lighting, and the client supplied the voice-over.  Editor: Dan Dennis, Camera assist: Kelly MacMahan, Lighting assist: Mike Ratrie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VWPy4SdFU
This next one is music video for local singer/songwriter Ruth King.  Same credits.

Spain/Portugal

Here are some photos from our 12-night Spain/Portugal trip:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100957696235748014455/Spain#  Most were taken with my Canon pocket camera, but some with the iPhone.    

My father’s brother lived in Madrid for most of his life and I was able to visit him during a post-high school European trip I took in 1975.  Franco was still alive at that time and Spain was not much more than a Third-World backwater, mostly known for being inexpensive.  Things have changed in 35 years.  As hopefully the photos will show, Spain is now a vibrant, modern country.  What the photos do not show is that Spain is leading the world in creating a renewable energy economy, and everywhere we went there were arrays of solar panels and giant wind turbines on mountain tops. 

Our tour took us to mostly historical sites (which makes sense) so you’ll see evidence of Roman, Moorish and early Christian civilizations.  At one point, Muslims, Jews and Christians all got along fairly well until someone thought an Inquisition would be a great idea.  One of the ways they learned to tell the heretics from the “good” people was to put ham in the food and then see who would eat it.  To this day, ham is still in everything.  I ate it, just in case.

In reviewing these photos I found that I have a fascination with store window displays.  Seems to me that you tell a lot about a country, and what it finds important, by what it displays.  I think you’ll find some of them amusing. 

I also have a strong interest in Catholic idol worship, and for this, Spain rivals Italy.  Seeing the faithful at Fatima, Portugal was quite eye-opening—it’s sort of a Catholic Disneyland.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima  In 1917 three kids reported seeing the Virgin Mary, and now people come from all over the world to be cured of various ailments because the site has a reputation for miracles.  Sliding great distances on your knees evidently helps the process, and you can purchase wax replicas of hearts, lungs, arms, legs, children, or whatever ails you, and then if you throw it on the fire you have a greater chance of being cured.  Some people who have done this have been healed, but I have a feeling modern medicine would greatly increase your odds.

Steve

Holly Yoga

Thanks to our great model, Holly, my wonderful wife, Rachel, for her help with styling and yoga poses and Synergy the Studio for the location.

Muscle

Chris had just completed a body building competition and we photographed him and his sister Nicole at a local gym.  Thanks to Mike, once again, for his invaluable assistance.

Rayonier

I recently spent 2 days shooting in northern Florida for a forestry company.  They wanted lots of images of their employees doing various things amid the vast stands of Pine Trees, along with details picked up along the way.  Once again working with Patrick Golden from the Jacksonville agency, Burdette Ketchum, was a great experience.  Last I heard, the client was having trouble figuring out which images to use, and that's a compliment. 

First Kentucky Trust

This photograph was shot for a First Kentucky Trust brochure designed by Martine Cameau at Cameau Design.  This wonderful family was a delight to work with and I hope the final image makes that obvious.

Ballerina print special

I just posted a print special on my facebook fan page  www.facebook.com/SteveWilliamsPhoto
http://fineartamerica.com/weeklypromotion.html?promotionid=61648
It's an 11"x14" canvas wraped print for $44--such a deal!

True Value

Updating the blog, not something I've been very good at lately.

This is a shot I was hired to do for the True Value annual report.  The location was a mock-store at the Orlando Convention Center, so that made it pretty interesting trying to light this scene and stay out of everyone's way at the same time.

The Mermaid

I had the good fortune to photograph a real mermaid recently.  Mermaid Melissa does this for a living and seems more comfortable under the water than above.  All of her moves are beautiful and she can hold her breath for long periods of time; a real prerequisite for this type of photography.  She can be reached at www.hireamermaid.com 

Mushroom Man

It's been way too long since I've updated this blog!  Here's an example of "out of the box" lighting for an editorial photo for Pulse magazine.  I took our subject into a wooded area, set the camera to "Tungsten" light balance and then had two helpers light him with flashlights.  One light is aimed at his eye behind the magnifying glass, while the second is hitting the mushroom.

Here's the setup.  There is very little Photoshop work here, just a little cleanup here and there.

Moffitt Cancer Center

I recently shot a number of testimonial portraits for the Moffitt Cancer Center.  The brochure was designed by Husebo Advertising:  www.husebo.com