Author: Matt

08 Jan

Posted at 13:49h in Events
matty_12.11.10 249 Rain, the only hiccup in an otherwise perfect wedding, slowed to a sprinkle around 5pm. Originally set to kickoff at 4, the ceremony was pushed about an hour. The officiate began the ceremony with a couple blows of a conch shell. A great touch, but I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. All I could think about was that ridiculous Spongebob character, Mermaidman. He blew a conch and yelled, "sea creatures, assemble!" Anywho... with the sound of the conch, and Daymeon waiting for his bride in the alter, Leeann started to make her way down the path.

04 Jan

Posted at 21:06h in Events
matty_12.11.10 185 Spent a couple shutter clicks with both bride and groom in the dressing rooms. The beach house on the property was icing on the cake to an already great location. The bride prepared herself in a room that had this awesome bed, had all kinds of drapery and style to it. Naturally, that's where I placed here for a few shots. Of course... once you are all done up in a dress like this, flopping down onto a bed is messy, so the girls helped her out, got a great pic of that.

03 Jan

Posted at 20:51h in Events
matty_12.11.10 135 Upon arriving to the wedding location, it was like something out of a movie. You know... those weddings that make you go "pfff, that doesn't happen in real life." There are literally 40-50 people working on setting up the wedding location. A dozen large work vans parked in the driveway of the property, you don't even consider they are all for this one event. As I opened the gate to the property, I quickly realized that, yes, all these vehicles, people, and resources are all here JUST for this. Running around like worker bees, you could literally watch it all assemble in front of your eyes. All dressed in color coordinated shirts, as to differentiate the various job duties. A half dozen people assigned to just arranging the floral designs, a team of cooks, a team for setting up furniture, etc. All this for a wedding with 24 attendees. Of course, having CNN around pays off, and the coordination company pulls some strings, and upgrades every feature of the wedding. Let me just say, this was a difficult job. No, not as in, shooting the wedding "job." The job after it is all said and done, the job of selecting the "picks" of the bunch to give the newlywed couple. It was literally the coolest place and wedding arrangement I'd ever seen. Naturally this led to WAY more pictures than I would have liked to filter through. Of course, all of the photos turned out pretty darn good, I mean... look at this place! Hence my breaking the wedding into a series of posts. Even now that I've gone through and made the selects and shipped the photos off to the couple, it's hard for me to try and write one or even two posts on this experience. Too many good things in this bunch. Hey, it's a photo blog, get ready for some pics!

01 Jan

Posted at 15:14h in Events, Shoots
matty_12.11.10 029 The first stop of the day, Leeann's condo, to capture the bride and bridesmaid getting all snazzied-up. A girl has to look good on her wedding day, right? It was the first set of shutter clicks of the day, just a few of the thousands to be taken before I called it a day. Like I said in the last post, with CNN there to video the wedding, the wedding coordination company was pulling out all the stops, everything that Leeann and Daymeon (bride and groom) had arranged for the wedding months ago all got multiplied by the coordination company so they looked perfect for CNN (they did a pretty darn good job too, they got this event about as close to perfect as possible). That meant, among a slew of other free upgrades for the couple, Leeann had a duo of hair/makeup artists following her around all day. Not a bad perk, eh?

31 Dec

Posted at 13:31h in Events, Shoots
matty_12.9.10 120v2 A wedding, in December, in Maui. This gig was more than I could have asked for, timing, location, everything... It was a location and setup that was too good to be true. Stop for a second and imagine a tropical location, a place that is literally perfect for your dream wedding, now paint the picture. I'd bet the farm the picture in your head doesn't have anything on this place. In many ways it felt like a dream just standing there, able to be a part of the whole thing. It's a beach house, tucked right on the beach, and all you hear are the waves as they crash over the black rock formations and sand.

19 Dec

Posted at 14:38h in Events
matty_12.5.10 064 I covered a fundraising fashion show for Swish, a salon in downtown Tacoma. It was short and sweet, but a lot of cool hair and makeup concepts, the people at Swish definitely are on their game. It was my first visit there, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. It's a cool place, has a nice, fresh vibe as you enter. Lots of fun colors and things spread around the space, a location that I'd actually like to shoot in. I spent a couple minutes taking shots of the staff getting the girls ready. I've started taking a new approach with covering events... As much as I like to not use any lighting for events, as I feel that it's much more of a documentary approach to the photography rather than a staged shoot, but a lot of the times the lighting is just bad. Let me take that back... not bad, but terrible. Lighting is either so dim that I have to make adjustments to the camera to counter, and I get grainy images, or the lighting is really harsh, forming terrible shadows on the subjects. This location was half and half, the salon area had decent lighting, but the runway location what about the worse I'd ever seen. Hence the first time I started working with an assistant roaming alongside me with a light. More specifically, a hot shoe flash unit stuffed into a 2' x 2' softbox. Lots of people and busyness, so no light stands here. We were moving too quickly, so Alice, my assistant, hand-held the lighting rig. This gave me incredible flexibility and speed to execute quick, off-the-hip shots that turned out pretty good. Shots that look nice and crisp, and allowing a bit of lighting control over my rather out-of-control environment. If you are interested in this highly mobile lighting stuff, I have a post coming very soon that goes into great detail on this topic (also happens to be the same setup I used for the shoots on the Maui trip). Now back to the event...

14 Dec

Posted at 16:52h in Just for Fun
mattyAndyWave Still in Maui, loving every minute of it. The wedding event, as well as the trash the dress shoot, are over (pictures on this coming later this week). We scheduled a couple extra days to vacation in paradise after all the wedding busyness before we head back to the mainland. Anywho... had a fun story to share with you all today. Pictured above is myself (left) and my good friend, Andy (right). Yes, that is a wave coming right at us, and yes, it was quite a few feet taller than we were. Maui had just been slammed with a monsoon. Heavy rains and winds reformed the beach overnight, creating to what Andy and I were to soon find out the hard way - very high, hard hitting waves that only left a few inches of water for you to land in when the wave punished you. This was... about wave 4 or 5, and the biggest and last one we decided to try and take-on that day. Water, it's a pretty powerful force. Clearly something Andy and I didn't have a full respect for until we were completely owned and nearly drowned. We were in about the worst point for this thing too. As it hit, we were both instantly at it's mercy. It sent me directly to the floor, hitting so hard it knocked out any air that was presently in my lungs (which was most needed at this moment in time), and put me in a tumble of which I couldn't tell you how many times I rolled as I was still in the middle of the aquatic carnage. Andy didn't fair much better, as his body board was wedged under his arm and the sea floor, the water attempting to dislocate his shoulder.

10 Dec

Posted at 19:43h in Info/News, Just for Fun

Indeed, love is in the air. Daymeon and Leeann are gettin' hitched tomorrow, and you can see the excitement in their faces. I visited the wedding location yesterday for some quick scouting. The picture above is the private beach that is literally 15 feet from...

05 Dec

Posted at 11:49h in Shoots
matty_11.21.10 185 Tomasi, owner and designer for Tiare Floral Design, booked me for another shoot a couple weeks ago. We've worked on a handful of projects together, but the past shoots had been more focused on floral pieces he had designed. This shoot was about all of the raw materials used for the collective pieces, with the idea that we can showcase all of the different flower elements Tomasi uses in his work. With this showcased on his soon-to-come new website, it will give clients the option to pick and choose different elements, and with that info, Tomasi can create with the selected elements. The main objective with this shoot was to get close and personal with the different flowers. Enter the 100mm macro lens. This entire shoot was executed with this lens, and aside from a couple longer shots, I consistently maintained only 1-6 inches between the lens and the flowers. It was all about the detail, the color, and showing how spectacular these exotic flowers really are. Tomasi hand picks and has the flowers delivered to him from all over the world, so these are not the kinda of stuff you'll see sitting in your local Safeway.

28 Nov

Posted at 17:06h in Events
matty_10.30.10 007 It's when these annual events come back around each year that really freaks me out. I get the call to come photograph again and it blows me away it's already been a year since the last time I covered the event. I'm also grateful that a large bonus of my job is that I'm literally taking tens of thousands of photos each year, so I have something to show for the fast-passing sands of time. Anywho... another Tacoma Community House fundraiser has come and gone. They took it up a notch this year, making it a masquerade event, and fire and acrobatic performers were there to add a little spice.

16 Nov

Posted at 13:58h in Info/News, Shoots
matty_11.7.10 081 Yep, that's right. My photo studio in Bellingham is up and running, ready to shoot any day, any time. I bought a couple great props for the space, including this badass lounge you see in Myrriah's set here. I came across this lounge, never seen anything like it, had to buy it. I'm guessing it'll be a popular request for many shoots to come. I asked good friend and model, Myrriah if I could steal a couple hours of her time to help me break-in the studio with the first shoot. I've used Myrriah in quite a few shoots. I know that she'll give me what I need in order to accomplish the visual concepts that are floating around in my head. Plus having that long working relationship together, things just come together real easily, and we pump out some good stuff. This time around I simply said "so for this I want sexy with a pinch of attitude."

13 Nov

Posted at 16:14h in Just for Fun
catPrints2 No, I'm not talking about the good kind of prints, like photograph prints. I'm talking about animal prints, more specifically, cat prints. Long, frustrating story short, I'm getting my shower redone in my bathroom. We are talking complete teardown of walls, tile, underlying cement, and replacing it with all new stuff in the reverse order. So the project is coming to an end (finally), the new walls are up and the cement floor was applied. The contractor doing the work forgot to close the bathroom door after he was done working for the day, and my curious/pain-in-the-ass/relentless cat, Coal, decided to investigate the newly poured cement. Sure enough, I walk into the bathroom and see about a dozen cat prints pressed deeply into the fresh mix. Of course I'm thinking "Ok, so if I was a cat, I'd be curious, and I might take a step in to look around." Why would he continue to step after sinks a paw into cement? How about 12 or so more times? I really wonder about this cat sometimes. As mad as I was, I had to appreciate the humor in the situation and snapped a couple pics with a P 'n S real quick. Maybe he felt like leaving his mark, much like a kid will write his name in a wet sidewalk. Coal can't write so I guess a series of paw prints is the next best thing.

02 Nov

Posted at 19:08h in Just for Fun, Tips & Techniques
michael-jordan We all know who that man is, flying through the air, dunking a basketball. If you were to poll a bunch of people and ask them who the best basketball player of all-time is, I don't think any of us could argue that the masses would most likely utter "Michael Jordan" more times than any other name. No, he's not a photographer, but a prime example of someone who has failed over and over, yet he is the image of success. When you think of Mike, you think of thee best basketball player ever. Please watch the following video before continuing with the post.

29 Oct

Posted at 11:14h in Just for Fun, Tips & Techniques

inceptionHallway

Breaking from the Herd

It seems simple, right? I mean, you, as a photographer, just have to take pictures. How hard is that, how hard is it to just go take pictures? The hard part isn't clicking the button, it's not understanding apertures or shutter speeds, it's not even finding the time to go click that button, or enduring the bite of the cold wind as you work outside in the not-so-pleasant months of the year. For me, I think the hard part is the state of mind. It's being in "the groove," getting the creative juices free flowing, properly executing your unique perspective on the chunk of the world you are capturing in present time. It's creating photographs that are new, different, and refreshing to look at. We live in such a contradictory world. We live in a place where we are taught, either directly through our friends, family, and peers, or indirectly through magazines, news, and other media outlets how we should live our lives and think. It's the message that you are brainwashed with since day 1 of your life, "you will do this, look like this, act like this, spend money like this if you want to be happy and successful" (in a nutshell). We are taught to live by these rules, walls, and boundaries all over the place, to emulate that which is around us in both a personal and professional sense (coincidentally, we call these people who follow the rest of the flock "normal"). Yet, at the same time individualistic, out-of-the-box thinking is what people stop to appreciate, it's this thinking process that separates them from the rest. We tend to call it "breaking the mold" when something comes along and slaps us in the face, opening our own minds through other people's visions and creations. It's a really cool thing. Simply put, it's inspiring. In a way, inspiration for me is basically an escape from the mundane, it reminds me how important it is for myself to continue to create original works. Inspiration is my fuel as a photographer, it keeps my head in the right place, and keeps my work fluid and the ideas rolling in. For me, it's a kick in the ass to ensure I continue to think "outside of the box." It's a large motivator to keep me shooting, shooting personal work when I'm not shooting clients.

25 Oct

Posted at 23:53h in Info/News

Happy B-day, Blog. It's been fun, and kinda amazing you are entering your terrible 2's. Let's hope (for the both of us), it's not that terrible of a year. ;) This being the 132nd post, I'm quite proud, watching you grow over the last two...

25 Oct

Posted at 19:11h in Shoots
matty_10.20.10 068 So, I got an interesting phone call the other day from a girl named Hope. She wanted to do a senior photo shoot with me, cool I'm all for it. Next comes my standard question, "what did you have in mind, any locations or styles that sound fun?" The response, simply awesome. "I want it to look like I'm in a jungle," she tossed back. I'm sure a smile was detectable over the phone as I replied, "ok." The smile for a couple reasons. First, only a teenager would let that be the first thing spill out of their lips when asked what kind of shoot they want. Secondly, and most importantly, this is the stuff that makes photography fun for me. The challenges, even ones that arise by step-one in the profession of photography - the location. Brazil, maybe Central America, hell, even Miami that might be doable... but a jungle in Tacoma, Washington. Rare is a spot in Washington that screams "jungle," but fortunately a spot came to mind fairly quickly. There just so happens to be an exotic plant shop in North Tacoma, and the owner is extremely friendly, who had no problem with me shooting there. So, vuala, our jungle location is sewn-up, we were shooting later that week.

25 Oct

Posted at 15:22h in Shoots
matty_10.17.10 016 Spent sometime with Ray the other day, taking some senior pictures. He is also very involved in dirt bike racing, so he brought is motorcycle along for the shoot. The location for me was a no-brainer. I mean... I'm not liking the idea of Ray and his bike in the middle of the city. I'm all for contrasting subjects/environments, but I just didn't want to force this one. I decided on a wooded scene for this shoot. Ray is also flirting with the possibility of future modeling, so we shot these with a little more attitude than your normal senior photos.

24 Oct

Posted at 18:46h in Events
matty_10.16.10 249 I was in attendance for the Emergency Food Network's 'Amazing Abundance Auction' the other weekend, and for a couple reasons. Most importantly, I was there to capture the event. Secondly, I was there to enjoy the product which accounted for about an entire week of my evenings. That was the video I captured/edited for EFN for displaying at this event and future presentations. You can view that video by clicking here. I'd estimate about 500-600 guests in total for the event. Over the last year, I've pretty much established myself as EFN's photographer, which I've greatly enjoyed. This last larger project, which tasked me to visit all of the locations and aspects of EFN operations, I captured photo and video. A very humbling experience. At one point, I was capturing material at a hot meal site where those less fortunate came for a lunch. A middle-aged couple stopped and asked for a photo of the two of them. As I raised a $6,000 dollar camera setup to take their photo, it really hit me how lucky I was, and I almost felt embarrassed in a way. Here they were just trying to get a meal, and I had thousands of dollars of equipment hanging off my shoulders. I turned, took their photo, and they just went on about there business, didn't ask how to get the photo, they just wanted to be documented as part of the experience. This photo has touched me most through the project, I feel it's the best out of the months of photos and video that I captured. It's the pic below here.