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.

finally an updated website

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

website

So during my winter break I have been doing a lot of work to my website, none of which has been uploaded to my server, because instead of doing it piece by piece and doing it that way, I want the big update to be one huge, well super-huge update. I have changed my layout 5 times this break, only to go back to the original 3 days later. My goal is to have a super simple and elegant website. Although I do find web designing to be quite fun, I run into a lot of issues along the way. My biggest issue being forgetting how to do something, and realizing that I forgot my dreamweaver book up at school, so I watch tutorials on how to do it, which is great, but it takes absolutely forever! A great place to watch some tutorials for dreamweaver can be found here : http://www.adobe.com/support/dreamweaver/tutorial_index.html . The best one that I have watched so far has been the one about planning out your website, which can be found here : http://www.adobe.com/support/dreamweaver/layout/site_planning/ .

Throughout my past four years in school (I'm graduating this coming May of 2010), I have learned a lot, obviously, about photography. I think the best thing that I have been taught outside of the technical side of photography is how to market myself. From learning how to market myself as a business I have learned the importance of websites in this digital based world. The great thing about having a website as a photographer is all the "free" advertisement it truly is. And by free, I don't mean a free space on the internet, like with flickr, but its a free way to tell other photographers, editors, magazines, companies etc. about what you are as a photographer and a glimpse at your personality. It also show how i see the world through a camera.. But, at the same, with just how important to have a website it is, it is just as important to have a "in hand" portfolio, a real, professional portfolio because seeing a photograph in person is 100% better than seeing a photograph on the internet. Besides the website and the portfolio, you also need promo (promotional) cards. Promo cards are probably the most fun things to make, once you chose a layout (choosing the layout for my promo cards literally took a week). They are mailable little cards to be sent to whoever you would send your portfolio to, they also make for wonderful Christmas cards! Then of course, you also need normal business cards, and lastly a resume. With all of these tools, along with my photographic skills and knowledge from my schooling at RIT, I am truly ready for the real world out there, wherever I end up, and I'm excited. But, for right now, it's time to head back to school for my last quarter and a half of college.

Also, Happy New Years Eve! My resolution for this year is too shoot more photography for myself more often!