Dans la nuit tranquille.

Night photography has always been one of my favorite sides to what I do.  A calm feeling comes over me as I head out into the dark of night, camera mounted to tripod, eyes scanning the sky, looking for the perfect horizon.  I set my timer to zero and with one finger on the timer and another on the camera’s shutter release, I press both simultaneously.  Even though I always have a timer that is keeping track of the length of my shots, for some reason, I still count in my head, one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…

 

what could happen in a split second?

I’ve been asking questions of and evaluating my photography lately.  What do I want to shoot and what does it mean after I shoot it?  Is it interesting?  Does it tell a story?

Looking through my work, I started to recognize some amount of order.  What felt very random before, I am now seeing form or structure.  A pattern has developed.  It certainly was not a fully conscious effort.  I don’t always go out with a plan, but there is a pattern.  It’s a pattern of time, broken into seconds, split seconds.  It’s a question.  A question about someone/something in the image.  Is she sad?  Are they in love?  What are they thinking about?  Is he walking home?  What is his name?  What is in her hands?  Are they lonely?  Do they know that I am here?

A moment, a spit second moment from a person’s life, that he or she probably has no recollection of and I own it.  By looking at the image, I get to remember a split second of time out of the life of a stranger.  I get to remember things that they don’t even remember about themselves.  A minuscule moment out of a person’s life, compressed to a 9.5″x12″ canvas.  I think that’s what it is and I suppose that’s what I’m trying to do…

The image demands the questions.  The story develops from the lack of answers.

Prints of these images can be purchased here… Evolvere Prints

New York, la pluie constante.

Traveled to New York again.  This time it didn’t just rain one day, it rained every day, sun up to sun down.(okay, it didn’t rain the first two days, but I was busy hanging with friends!)  Photographically, I didn’t get as much accomplished as I’d hoped, but I did get to spend some much needed quality time with two of my most favorite people.

I did manage to get a few shots while dodging the rain.  Have a look.

Also, these images will soon be available as prints.  Prints can be purchased here…Evolvere Prints!

Evolvere Prints

Hello everyone.  I’m happy to announce that I’m now offering custom prints, printed by yours truly, right here in my humble studio.  The prints that I am now producing are done on 100% cotton, acid-free, archival, fine art paper.  The papers that I use are 340g/m (wow, that’s thick!) and have either a textured matte or smooth matte finish with a natural white surface.  The inks used are Ultrachrome, archival inks.

Sorry for the technical hoo-ha, but some people like to know all of that stuff.  What is really important is how they look and I think they look amazing.  They have a three dimensional quality and richness in color that you just don’t see in a normal machine print.  The soft texture of the paper makes me want to rub it against my face. (I would not recommend doing this as it wouldn’t be good for the print, I’m just saying it’s soft!)

The images that I am making available for print can be found here…Evolvere Prints  I’m offering 5 different sizes ranging from 5×7 up to a huge 17×22.  All you have to do is pick the image you want and the size you need.  The prints will be signed and safely packaged by me and shipped straight to your hot little hands.  Prints come unmatted, but for a measly 20 extra dollars,  I will mount and mat your print for you! (acid-free, archival, museum rag board of course!)  Also, suppose you had a custom frame at home and wanted a print to fit it…well I can do that to!  Just email me the dimensions of the frame and you’ll get a custom sized print to go into it.

I haven’t placed every image that can be seen here on the Evolvere Blog, into the print gallery, so if you want a print of an image that’s not in there yet, all you have to do is send me an email (brian@thegoodmanphoto.com) and I’ll make it happen.

Evolvere prints make great gifts for yourself and for others.  Here’s a short list offering some reasons how and why. (*disclaimer* these are only suggested outcomes, no money-back guarantees!)

1. They could make your spouse forget they’re mad at you.
2. They could persuade your boss to give you that promotion.
3. They could persuade your boss to not fire you.
4. They’re good for Birthdays, anniversaries, forgotten anniversaries(whoops!), Xmas, bah mitzvahs, graduations or drop-outs, etc…
5. Art is cool.  Hanging art on your wall is even cooler.  People will be impressed how cool you are.

So, that’s my spiel.  Thanks for making it this far.

Now what would an Evolvere post be without at least a few photos?  So, here are a few photos of some freshly made prints.  Also, I don’t want to have to use Millie to beg, but I will if I have to.

la jonque avec les amis

My friend Joe has a farm.  I recently went camping on Joe’s farm.  On this farm he discovered a junk pile filled with many beautiful, disintegrated things.  We climbed and explored through the rusty pile of junk for a long time.  I found a woman’s shoe embedded in the ground.  I didn’t touch or move it for fear that it might be attached to a foot.  (things like that have to happen to someone and I wasn’t about to let it happen to me!)

Here are some images from camping at Joe’s farm including some junk, some Frisbee, and some moving clouds.

One Foggy Morning

Woke up one morning and looked outside.  It was foggy.  Packed my gear, got in the truck, and headed out to record it.  These are some of the foggy photos I came home with.

Stock Photography – business, technology

Breaking out of the usual Evolvere photo posting, I’ve decided to start adding some posts about my stock projects.  I’ve taken a lengthy break from stock, partly from not having a studio and also for being too busy with weddings and other photo hoo-ha.  Now that I have a studio again(it’s finally up and running), I can get back to my stock work.  I intend to give a little background info on the details of the shots and maybe even include a shot that shows my overall setup(bonus!).

I currently have stock portfolios represented through 4 different stock agencies.  I haven’t uploaded new images to them in quite some time, so my sales have slowed down over the last year.  To do well in stock, it’s really important to have a steady stream of images being uploaded to each site, so that your photos stay towards the top of the pile.  One site that I sell images on has over 8 million photos and if you don’t upload consistently, your images get shuffled to the back, where they get lost in a sea of photos.  It’s also really helpful to have a clear vision of what you want to shoot, what sells, and what’s been overdone.

In the stock photography world, business/technology shots are king.  If you look on any stock site, the most downloaded images are images of “business” type people, doing “business” types of things, with various pieces of technology!  Technology shots have been some of my best sellers and it greatly increases my sales if I add a real live human to my photos.  So, here are some “business” shots that Jenna(my main squeeze and model) and I put together in the studio.  They’re not the most amazing shots I’ve ever produced, but in the stock world, less is more.  It’s important to keep them on the generic side for a greater range of uses.  Stock photo buyers want the image to be super clean, no distractions.  One little distraction in the background can keep your image from selling, so it’s really important to keep a close eye on things.  These shots may be a little deceiving, it took a good deal of thought, to get the framing and lighting right for these shots.  One little side note:  leaving a computer monitor off in stock photos allows the buyer to add their own computer screen stuff to the image, so that’s why we left the screen black.

Okay, enough rambling for one post, here are some of the images…

Mr. Winter

Winter has finally reared it’s ugly head,  dumping a ton of snow on us and turning the heat down to single digits.  Okay, alright, I’ll admit it, the snow is pretty at first and people get giddy as school girls when we get our first big snow.  I can enjoy it for the first couple of days, then the realization that it’s not going anywhere, anytime soon starts to set in.  That’s when I start thinking of Texas, beaches, the desert, the inside of a volcano, or any other place where you can’t get frostbite on your nether regions.

Anyways, I put my ski suit on and ventured out to see just who was enjoying this new, white wonderland.  It was 10 degrees and I found that most of the people frolicking about were crazy kids, hurling themselves down hills on tubes and bits of plastic.  Great fun was happening all around me.  I shot photos until my fingers started yelling, “what the hell are we still doing out here?”.

Zombiepalooza!

Last night I attended my first Lawrence Zombie Walk.  Approximately 375 Zombies made it out for a lovely stroll through downtown Lawrence.  It was great fun and wildly educational.  Here is a list of some things that I learned about Zombies…

1. Zombies have a ton of fun.
2. Zombies like to smoke.
3. Zombies prefer brains but many of them enjoy ice cream.
4. Zombie babies are too cute.
5. Even Zombies have to obey crosswalk signals.
6. Zombies will smile at you, you’ll smile back, then it’s TOO LATE!
7. Loads of Zombies root for KU basketball.
8. Teenage Zombies are annoying.

**WARNING**  terrifying Zombie photos ahead!

Demolition Derby and the Midway

I recently attended my first Douglas County Kansas Fair, where I got to witness the wildly popular DEMOLITION DERBY(it’s hard to make this text look as ominous as the derby truly was!).  It was everything I had thought it would be, although not nearly as destructive as I had hoped!  I ended up missing a lot of the action, however, from spending too much time “people watching”.  I ditched the derby before it finished because the Midway was calling my name and it didn’t disappoint.  How is it that every county fair in the midwest has the same old games, rides, and weird carny people working the rides?  I was really surprised to see that even the prizes from various “test your luck” games are still the same.  Seriously, how many people are still choosing the Whitesnake or Bon Jovi mirror after successfully knocking the three milk bottles off of the table?  Weird.  I was happy to discover that county fairs really haven’t changed a bit.  It made me feel all comfy and warm, thinking back on all of the fond memories, as a sweaty kid at the Fair, hoping I would be taking home one of those sweet Poison mirrors.  Here are a few sights from the night…