Liz & Poppy // Liz & Belle
Northern Grade: Market for USA-Made Goods + Gear
Hosted By: Askov Finlayson + BlackBlue
Location: Grain Belt Bottling House
Nicollet Island
Fall Around the World
I had the fortunate opportunity to cover one of Target's corporate events this past week. Fall Around the World brought together both employees and family members for a night of food and fun activities. Unfortunately, I will not be able to display any photos taken at Target events that feature its employees, so I present to you what little that I can. Enjoy!
Apple Picking
Took the weekend away from Minneapolis to visit my alma mater and go apple picking. It was as much fun as it was delicious! It was a nice reprieve from my Nikon and got to explore some of the subtleties of the art of Instagram on my iPhone 5S.
Divinus
The Workbench // My 7 Essential Items
My workbench consists of 7 essential items that I really can't work without. Without them, it would be difficult to not only derive inspiration from, but also to retain any intelligible semblance of the thoughts running through my head. Inspiration can arise from a simple word (e.g. sonata ); but also a story, a picture, an experience, a color, a smell, a dream, and many other sources that we may come into contact in our daily lives. With the help of these essential items, I am able to capture an essence of the multitude of influences we are bombarded with, and transform them into a cohesive and comprehensive message that I communicate to my audience in the form of a photo. A photo selected is not just any photo, but a photo that fits the underlying tones and messages developed through the connections of each prior photo, creating a web of snapshots that tell a story dispersed throughout time and space.
With that, these are the 7 items that I work with:
- Nikon D80 // All the photos you see on my site (at least up until this point) have been shot with my Nikon D80, paired with either the 35mm f/1.8 or 50mm f/1.8 lens. This DSLR belonged to my father, and he passed it onto me almost 7 years ago. It is the lens, literally, that I look through and bring the world into perspective, trying to compress the magnitude of the world into a skillfully composed shot that is simple yet meaningful.
- Macbook Air + Photoshop CS6 // Any great photo that you see in a portfolio, on a website, or any publication has been, without a doubt, touched-up and edited to some extent in a post-production process. For me, that is mainly through my Air and Photoshop, tools that help me render my images into what you see before you.
- Moleskine Journal // You never know when a brilliant idea might hit you. Never hurts to keep a leather-bound journal close by to jot them down!
- GQ Magazine (Any Fashion Outlet) // Whether it's GQ or Vogue, taking a page from the masters is no easy feat. Fashion magazines certainly offer a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for whoever that opens them. However, nowadays tumblr, Pinterest, and blogs dominate, offering a plethora of meticulous collections of fashion and photography talent.
- iPhone 5S // While I'm not toting my DSLR, I'm always documenting my experiences on Instagram. #fomo
- Spotify // When editing takes me into the depths of the night, these beats keep me on track.
- Kindle // And when nothing else works, taking a break and losing yourself in a book is a sure way to take a step back and regain perspective.
Nicollet Ave
This quiet weekend, I decided to take a brief stroll down Nicollet Ave, a major street that stretches the expanse of downtown Minneapolis. Took a few prospective photos as I scouted for new locations of future shoots. Here are two shots that I took among many:
Presenting // sonata
sonata is the first project I have undertaken since the launch of my online portfolio. It is the culmination of a few select photos from the previous two shoots I have done with my friends Christine Huang, Sandra Hong, and Vivek Gupta.
A sonata, as popularized by Mozart and Beethoven during the Classical Periods, is the first movement of many in long works of classical music, such as a symphony, concerto, string quartet, and so on. Fittingly, my first project, sonata , will be a herald for many future projects to come in a symphony of photos that tie together my progress and development as an artist.
New Project // Outtakes: Part 2
in Project
The second shoot for my new project took me into downtown Minneapolis where a lot of interesting pieces of art and architecture are tucked away in various places. The crisp morning air helped freshen the mood as the fall season finally made its quiet approach.
This week, Vivek joined me on a photo shoot by the "Music Wall" mural at the old Schmitt Music Building. Here are some extra, behind-the-scenes photos from the shoot!
New Project // Outtakes: Part 1
in Project
This is part one of my newest project that I've decided to undertake. It'll take me to several different locations around Minneapolis and will include multiple subjects. As I proceed with each shoot for my new project, I will post extra, behind-the-scenes photos to document the day and any in-between moments I was able to capture.
This week, Sandra & Christine joined me on a photo shoot touring the sculpture gardens and the Walker Art Center.
First Post
in Life
This is my first post in this new blog on this new site for my new portfolio! I'm pretty excited to finally be able to get this endeavor off the ground and see where it takes me. For a photographer, it's impossible to include everything that was shot, and even harder so to cut out those beloved photos to meet a certain quota or aesthetic of the portfolio. As a result, this blog will help me document what's been going on in my life, my photography business, any new shoots that I've been doing, and provide those few extra shots that I were left out of my Portfolio and/or Projects.
I won't write too much for this first post as I'm still finalizing and tinkering away at all the settings and stylistic choices of this site, but I'll leave you guys with a photo I took in Chicago over Labor Day weekend!