Titles

So I'm sitting on my lunch break and really thinking about something that has been bothering me a lot lately (that I also mentioned a few posts ago), is the idea of what am I aloud to title/call/label myself as?! Up to just a few months ago I was a photo student at RIT, and with the thought of someday calling myself a "photographer" this satisfyed/pleased me, but now that school is done am I said photographer yet? I am shooting but not for any cause, magazine, etc. I have a job as a retoucher, and this girl I work with is constantly calling herself photographer when she doesn't even own a cell phone with camera capabilities... That just seems wrong to me. She argues that the whole process is the photography, where I argue that the whole process is to lead to the solution of the final image. But honestly Im not even comfortable calling myself a retoucher, even though I soend 9 hours a day in front of the computer touching up whatever is thrown at me. Perhaps this is just an undeveloped thought and I'm just way impatient?! But hey, just a thought... Also it's so annoying when you can hear other people chewing, really destroys my appetite

robotz

Check out this witty titled blog post!

oh jesus, its been over two months since my last post. It's seemingly a new trend with me to forget about writing, then apologize to my blog about how long its been. But some things have changed since I've last updated, for one, I GOT A JOB!! I'm working for Lord & Taylor in their imaging department as a retoucher, and i love it, not going to lie, i seriously love this job. The computer lab/office that I work in reminds of a hybrid of ESP/K Lab, its the community of ESP with the quiet of K lab. The job is funny in the fact that it requires me to dress up every day and I feel that I've become a bit of a fashionista, I wear make up everyday now (I even won a free bobbi brown make over!!) and I make sure that my hair is nice, i dress nicely, a bit of a change from college i suppose. I'm definetly enjoying post grad life... finally. I feel like this is what I worked toward, my goal has been met in some way and I'm proud of myself! There are 6 of us in my department, we all sit together, but nobody talks, we all listen to music and instant message each other even though we're all in the same room.... in the same row... right next to each other... sign of the times?! technology? 2010? I love the art world, I love the photo world, its really awesome being in a place where everybody enjoys the same things you do even though you're all diff ages, you went to different schools, different areas of studies... I know I went in the right direction :-)

I really want to go to Madrid to see this new exhibit going on from Von Hansburg, a room full of mirrors and lights lining the walls, its suppossed to confuse your visual senses. I find this interesting because everything I do is visual, although you can argue that everything everybody (who isnt blind) is visual, but I feel its different for an artist. (Am I aloud to call myself an artist yet? a photographer? a retoucher? do I have a title yet?) Above is a picture from the exhibit, how cool is it!!!?!??!

Recently I havent had too much time to shoot because I wake up at 5:30 every morning, to get to the train my 6:45, then leave work around 5 to get to the train by 5:15 and home by 7, so during the week im exhausted. but every weekend i try to shoot, and if I not im planning one and researching. this weekend I started planning one for tin toy robots. I've been fascinated with old roboots for a while, I found some amazing ones at this store called Jazams in Princeton, which is by far the most amazing toy store I've ever been in... ever. It was around when I was a kid, but not quite like how it is now. It has every single speciality toy you can think of. I saw not only what I wanted to get but also every single kind of baby doll from porcelin to play, toy cars, stuffed animals of all and any animal ive ever seen... but I found what I was looking for, and I'm very excitedto get this shoot going, its going down tomorrow, so hopefully everything goes well.

and I end on a photo that Ive done to continue my pouring series, this time its a gourd, with a paint/honey mixture.... it smelt awful.

technol-0-geez

I went to North Carolina and I came back with these two things along with a WWII gas mask, and a ceramic marionette horse, haha. You know, normal souvenirs. But I enjoyed finding props and I'm actually excited to shoot them, it helps my imagination to spread and the ideas to poor in. I don't think I get inspiration like most other people who look and look and look at pieces of photography. I think I get more inspired by the object when I see it... which sounds really corny, but is really true.

Dominoes, Screws and Spoons... oh my!

Baked Goods

A couple of months ago I photographed for a local baker in Cazenovia, New York named Sherri Miller (who is also my boyfriends mom). She makes some awesome desserts that are very good! She put some of my images up on her facebook fan page for her company called Profterols, go check them out, and if you live in Syracuse area and need desserts contact Sherri!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=140639319280387&v=photos

tweet tweet

It's been a while... again, opps! I'm finally starting to shoot again even though I've had my strobe kit for nearly a month (oops again)! But, in my own defense the fuse burst when I was doing a test shoot with them, so finding them was took a while, and thankfully they're cheap. Also, I've been collecting props... I litterally a have a bag of stuff that I don't need but have so I can shoot! Slowly starting to get work, I'm working at a small online company as their in house photographer/retoucher, but its not full time, and although I love it, I'm still looking for more work

First post grad shoot coming up!

Bought some props today, just checked UPS tracking and my lighting kit is only 30 minuets away from my house in Parsippany so hopefully will be here tomorrow morning *fingers crossed* , and I got my props ready! Here's a picture of the cassettes ready to goalso, check out this video http://vimeo.com/12353796 , it makes me want to be a hair stylist!

the graduated life should be a tv show title...

I have found myself saying "so this is life after college" a lot lately (and I know I'm not the only one, thank you twitter...). Still no job for me, but desperately looking, really thought I had this one retouching job in the bag but I didn't. Also, I hate to admit this... I have barely taken any photos since graduation, and this needs to change, ASAP! My lighting kit will be arriving FRIDAY if all goes well and that is the day I will be back up and running, the day that I make some beautiful art ... after I go prop shopping first. I have so many ideas in my head... and in a notebook... I have to shoot them!
I found the image above online, and I really think I need to shoot a dead fish. Whenever i see images of dead fish, I feel inspired! I can't explain it, I know its just a dead fish, but I see the scales, the color... I see something that is gross that I might be able to make look beautiful and appetizing. I'm thinking about shooting it on a light blue background (to mimic water), but I'm not positive on the type of fish I'd like, I could do a nice halibut, or perhaps mahimahi!

Also, my website WWW.JESSDAVISPHOTO.COM will be updated soon, keep checking it out!!

It's been a while, huh?

Hello blog, I've missed you so. So, I've graduated from college (and kind of in denial about it). Mostly, I've been trying to figure out how and when I'm going to be able to shoot in a studio again, I miss it already. I'll be assisting again this summer in the city, which is awesome, and hopefully it'll have more hours, and be more of just a summer job. I've been applying for jobs all over. I actually got an interview!! but, alas, that did not go over well. Well, I DID get the job, but they only wanted to pay me $10/day. Yes, thats right, $10/DAY, thats $1.25/hour (give or take a few pennies)... it costs me $21 to get into the city, then an extra $8 for the subway (about) every 2 days, that would put in $19 of debt as of the first day of work... so needless to say, I declined the job in hopes of something better coming my way, and I hope it does... SOON. I hate sitting on my ass. And now being a grad, makes me feel useless without a job, even though its only been 5 days.

One thing that I've been told to do after graduation is to keep on shooting, keep my eye strong and sharp. My strength is in the studio, so I'm going to purchase fairly in expensive strobe kit. The brand name is SP studio systems... it's no profoto or braun color, but hey, from all of the reviews that I've read, its supposed to be a great starter strobe kit.

Now I grace you with a summer photograph of a flower

exploring textures

This is a Morpho Butterfly. Not really sure where my inspiration for doing this shot came from, I think I have just always found butterflies to be really beautiful in color and I just wanted to shoot it. Can't I shoot something just for the sake of shooting it? Sometimes inspiration isn't always that inspiring anyway...

testtubes

a photo i made for my dad, who is a scientist

Kill your television!

Today I shot an old television

The portfolio book

As graduation is approaching faster and faster, the importance of certain things when it comes to photography are really starting to seem more and more relevant. Thinking about taxes... like real taxes, not just paying for the little bit that wasn't taken out of my paycheck from Maggie Moo's, and car payments (although my car does not exist yet, these will start)... but honestly all of this is to deal with starting Monday, May 24, 2010. Before graduation, one major thing I have to think about for starting off my career is having a good book. The portfolio book gets sent to people you hope might hire you, or that your agent (if you have one) sends out for you to get work. Along with a good book, you now need your website, and some photographers, agents/reps, etc don't even accept or care to look at your books anymore and just go straight to your website. And although this is a fact, you still need that hard copy, beautiful portfolio book. There is something special about being able to flip through a portfolio, touching the pages with your fingers (which one day will ruin those prints...), seeing the ink (if digital print) lye on top of the paper, whether glossy, matte, pearl, whatever, there's a feeling that you get when you look at somebodies book that you do not get when looking at the computer screen. Another thing you have to think about, how will this portfolio book fit with your work? how will it relate to you? how will it show whoever is looking at it, that its unique because you're unique. Most photographers opt. for a black book, which is beautiful, it really is, and I know that half of my graduating class will go towards having a black book. But a black cover i don't feel is me. My images aren't the brightest in colors always, but they aren't mute either, so I wanted a color that I felt represents me and my work. I chose brown, to be exact its called "Chestnut Destiny" (chestnut brown), and its a fake leather just to save some money, but looks just like it. There are many portfolio companies, but I chose to go with a company called Brewer from New York city, because I heard amazing things about them, and from their website I loved the work that they produced. It was a big purchase, but I'm super excited to recieve it!!! (2 weeks!!!!) In my mind I think once I receive it I'll feel like a real photographer... here is a swatch of my brewer book color

Pouring liquids

Pouring water in a bucket of water is harder then it looks, end of story.

This shot is for my food photography class in which we the directions were simple, illustrate liquid pouring, it could be a splash, or simple as pouring milk into a cup with some cookies. for this assignment though, I wanted to make it more my style then the general "food style" (and by the way, if you want to see some amazing food photography, check out my friend Anna's website http://www.annarossphotography.com/ ). I feel my style is more graphic, and hard edge (because of the lighting that i like) then the average food shot, sooo for the past assignments I've gone by the book, and now its getting boring, now its about what I like more, and I like this more then the shot i did of milk pouring into a mug with cookies scattered around.

For the water I used the same lighting technique that I would use to get black line as i would with glass. The interesting thing about water is that although its nothing like glass, lighting properties, I feel, are all the same. The reflectiveness, the shiny, and the elegant feel you get from the two things are almost identical in my mind. Along with my lighting set up for the black line edge, I gelled the background lights for the color, and also individually gelled the water a bluish color. Hello color, i love you.

Also, if you haven't checked out my website yet, I just reupdated it (again) 10 minuets ago!! http://www.jessdavisphoto.com go check it out!!!

On a side, and completely not related note, I am in love with The Flaming Lips, if you don't know them, check them out because they're amazing, and you probably already know some of their songs, one of their songs " do you realize?" was in a car commercial a couple of years ago

WEBSITE!

It's true! My website is updated... again! Go check it out! http://www.jessdavisphoto.com

I've got an idea, where's my lightbulb?

Strange fact about me, I'm obsessed with spray paint. I am always looking for an excuse to spray paint something. I think this all began when I used to spray paint stencils onto t shirts and other clothing, I've even spray painted on a purse once. I also frequently try to think of ways i can spray paint props... and when I can actually can, I take full advantage of it. FULL. So, let me start from the beginning. I had this preliminary idea for lighbulbs growing out of grass as if they were the trees, very surreal and fantasy. Plans changed with i couldn't find turf and minitures that I felt would help out this project. So for the time being I just bought light bulbs of different shapes and sizes. When it came to shooting day I still only had the lightbulbs, but I also had spray paint in my locker, so I thought why not spray paint these lightbulbs and if something comes of it, then it does. I played around with different painting techniques and found that I liked a frosted look much better then a fully coated look. This is my outcome:
Way different then the sketch as it started, but needless to say I'm happy with it. Hopefully my next idea will turn out the way that I have it sketched out.

I've also been working on my website, and hopefully today it'll be done... again.

My inspiration on the left, and my version on the right.

New York City

I am in NYC for the week for one of my classes visiting different representatives of the photographic industry, should be fun!

Drippin'

This is another shot from one of yesterdays shoots. It's normal lipstick with nail polish dripping over it, then several shots put together to get the right highlights and drips all in one shot, or compositing. This shot particularity is 3 shots composited together. I got my inspiration from this image:(http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/88205507/The-Image-Bank ) From this inspiration, I developed my own swing on it, and made it have more a concept, a conceptual version. I took something that normally wouldn't be covered in nail polish, and developed the same feeling as the basic nail polish shot. I did a small series of these with only make up, lipsticks, mascara, lip gloss and eyeshadow, and hope to make it go past just make up. I'm thinking about expanding it to all different objects, not sure exactly what yet though. I'm also going to be using one of the images from this shoot for one of my promo pieces that I will be taking on the New York City trip that we will be going on in one week from today!!

To go back to what i was saying before about compositing; it's a fairly easy technique that is done in photoshop, but can be time consuming. The easiest way to do compositing is to plan ahead. This is the easiest way to do it because then later on in post, if you don't plan that out, it can be veryvhard to do, and often you won't have the piece of the shot that you may have wanted there. I often will have a sketch of what i want my image to look like before even starting the shoot, before I've even bought props, etc. So once I do get to the studio to a shoot, I will know what I want to achieve and therefore know what I need to do to achieve my shot whether it's in post or if I need to do post work (photoshop work) later on.

With this being the last year that I am here I am really trying, as much as possible, to be shooting, trying new things, trying new techniques, building a portfolio, and at the same time having a good time while doing it all.

mish mosh apple sauce

Today I was a busy girl. I shot three shoots (two of which were personal shoots), I ordered a set of business cards (lets hope they arrive on time...), designed three promo cards, and then proceeded to edit the shoots... needless to say, this is the first time all day I've had time to sit down.

One of my personal shoots I did today I originally just wanted to do some classic styled beauty shots of make up, but then I got this idea of pouring things on top of the make up, to play off of color and just to have fun and experiment. I'd say that this was one of the more fun shoots that I've done all year... although I made a huge mess, and my fingers are stained, along with the floor of the studio in building 7... but hey, who's not to say that wasn't there before! Anyway, now that I'm off topic...

I also shot an assignment for my food photography class. I decided to shoot waffles, because I love waffles, and honestly I wanted to eat them after I was done shooting, and they were amazingly good! So here is an example of one of the images I shot for today:

portfolio and sequencing

bought a portfolio for the New York Trip and I've begun sequencing for it!!

Food Photography

It's official, my last quarter of college until "real life" starts, has begun. So, I guess until this point I have been living a fake life... But either way, which ever facet of photography I take after graduation, I will be professional, and its getting excited to think about. I can't wait for what comes next, for where I end up, etc. it's an exciting time. Also, the weather in Rochester has been getting better, and as always for me, the sooner winter ends, the better!!

This quarter I am taking two shooting classes. The first is portfolio development, which is all personal projects, and I've got some great still life set ups in my head that I can't wait to start! The second is food photography. I have been wanting to take this class since my second year here. Allen vogel is a food styling genius... I will not be giving away his "techniques" (not tricks) here. He makes everything look so simple, and it makes me really excited to do this! Here's an example of the first shoot : Ingredients

it's spring

To celebrate the start of Spring, here's a picture from the winter of my dog, Max

finally an updated website

Make sure you head over to my website, there has been some major overhaul on the design : www.jessdavisphoto.com

type writer

Out of the many shopping malls in this area, the most common type of store you will find is a goodwill or second-hand shop... where you will always find AWESOME things, good will is just amazing, you can really find anything you can think of (as long as you go on a r regular basis). The other week I found a turquoise typewriter... I have been wanting to get a typewriter for a long time, and once we found each other, I think its needless to say, the typewriter and I are fantastically in love... here is one of the shots of the shoot:

Rediscovering the old RIT 2

Here's to you, RIT class of 1922, and thats right just under 60 people in that graduating class. At my graduation, there should be about 1000 times that amount of people graduating.

Rediscovering the old RIT

(To start this off...) Overtime, obviously things change. We grow up, new buildings are built, and landscapes change...nothing is permanent in life, the same can be said about a place. In the 1960's RIT moved from its downtown, small campus, to the one we are in today, outside of downtown, and very large. Where RIT used to lay downtown, now has highway 490 running through it. Recently, I came across an article from npr about finding old photographs and finding their locations, and then comparing the two. http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/01/looking_backwards.html

This picture is taken in area that used to the central hub of campus. From the photo, it doesn't per-say look like this photo really belongs in this place, because the building that its taken in front of got a new face lift/makeover. Today the building is Rochester's public schools administrative building, then it was the clark building, the central hub of campus student life. The area that RIT used to be located was in the third ward, which was a fairly well to do area, but now when you walk around its run down... not the worst Rochester... but for sure not the best. And walking around this area made me think of what downtown would have been like if RIT stayed put, was RIT the demise of downtown Rochster? Or if RIT stayed, sure there would have been a major highway through the middle of it, but would the city still be as rundown all around it as it currently still is? There are no answers to these questions but for sure its something to think about...

slow food

I really hope that all of this legible, it's supposed to say Slow food. I'm pretty excited about this!! Each letter was photographed seperately, then I composited it together in photoshop
The shots below are from the local farmers market in Rochester from this past saturday

We're are living in a macro world, and I am a Macro girl

I am currently taking editorial photography. In this class the photographers work directly with a design major to create a layout that would go into a magazine, and that is exactly what our class is doing, making a magazine filled with our work! The goal of the class, is not only to make great work, but to get it into that magazine. The article that my designer and I are working on is about the slow food movement. The slow food movement was started in Italy in 1989 in efforts to ban chain food restaurants such as McDonalds and Burger King. Today Slow food has developed into a movement that is about preserving the local foods of that cultural region. Supporting your local stores, farms, and small businesses are all apart of this movement.

So, for this project, in order to keep up with the slow food movement, my designer and I went to the local Rochester Food Market... and it was amazing! Fresh food every way you looked and at incredible prices, we bought probably $100 worth of food for just over $30! We got, snap peas, carrots, parsley, mushrooms, lettuce, cabbage, artichokes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, string beans, brussel sprouts, radishes, scallion, tomatoes, homemade pasta, garlic, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, turnips and pears (the lonely fruit of the bunch). From going to the market, i never want to go a food store again for fresh food, at the market you can get not only vegetables, fruits and pasta, but fresh milk, eggs, cider, meats (chicken, fish, pork, beef), but also fresh bakery goods. the only reason to go to the food store would be for snacks.

Sterling Silver Silverware... say that 10 times fast!

Once again, it's been a little while since an update... but that's what happens when you have no time. Anyway, so today I set some time aside for myself to do some personal work. I have these old sterling silver silverware pieces with me up at school that I've been wanting to shoot for a while, and well I did. These are some of the (unedited) outcomes of today:

I decided to gel all of the lights, and each shot, I feel has a completely different feeling/mood to it. It always feels good to be back in the studio...