Day 209 - Project365

"Everything but the kitchen sink!"

I've tried starting this blog about 5 times now only to erase what I've written. I feel as if I've hit a creative wall after last nights shot. I usually like to start my blogs out with a creative twist of words that grab your attention and attempt to make you smile. Today instead, all I have is a sad ass excuse for why I'm not dancing with the words.

This afternoon I arrived at a meeting to create all the graphic art for the Happy Campers foundation's Ghouls Gone Wild Party. If you remember or follow my work you know that I had recently completed a fairly large shoot with them. Their graphic artist dropped out and I offered my services for a 2 fold reason. 1.) I was worried that some 2nd rate graphic artist would grab the job with a few portfolio pieces that looked decent only to disgrace my work with sub par graphic work. 2. I love extra money.

Not more than 2 minutes into the meeting Karen says "I have something for you better than the gowns from the shoot" you see, the gowns we used for the shoot were acquired from several different spots. Half were donated and half were loaned. The half that were loaned were only going to be stained with a washable substance. Unfortunately and quite ironically the washable substance turned out to be anything but! We had now 10 or so ruined Hospital gowns. Fortunately, I had snatched up the remaining un tainted gowns for future use and now would give them up in an effort to replace to ruined ones.

In trade for the gowns I was supposed to get an equal number of the ruined ones. Karen had forgotten them but instead brought something that she hoped would make up for it.

She simply turned to me and said "I forgot the other gowns. Instead, would you like to barrow my 24mm-70mm Lens?" My face instantly lit up like a child on Christmas. How odd that just as I needed a new lens, this one pops into my life. The last time I needed a hard drive and one "popped" up (thank you Nicole)! It makes me wonder what would happen if I started hinting towards the fact that my Macbook is starting to shit the bed!! (hint hint)

Anyway, Karen said that she just wants to see the lens make some kick ass pictures and that when I'm famous she can get her lens back. Well, she sure made my day! Just as my other lens was getting softer and softer this lands in my lap! Not sure I'll keep it till I'm famous but it will sure be nice to have a decent lens to use while I save to purchase one of my own!

So, I had done an epic shot for day 207 and wasn't sure I'd be up for another marathon for 208. I can only laugh when I say that now! Joyce knows better but I'm still naive. I wanted to get a shot of the lens while using the lens at the same time. I didn't want to use a mirror. I was stuck since there really is no way to get that shot.

It only seemed fitting that I'd showcase the gift just as I did the Hard drive. This shot originally started out as a joke. I was going to incorporate every one of my favorite elements. Fire, smoke, fog, clouds, rain, water, stars and or course birds. I didn't think it would all work together yet was going to try anyway. It wasn't until I saw the Sucker Punch cover that I realized it was possible. That cover had smoke, fire, birds, and clouds all in the same shot. Why not add water and rain!

I shot the main elements with 2 lenses. I was shot with the 24-70mm which was a dream! Crisp, clear and fast! The actual shot of the lens was taken with the 28-105mm USM which isn't a bad lens by any means. Its just like comparing a Chrysler 300 to a Bentley.

So how do you get from a simple shot of the lens and myself to what you see. Um… a lot of photoshop! I dug deep from the archives and pulled out every element and atmosphere that I had.
Fire and smoke from Day 35
Rain from Day 52
Stars (with you really can't see) from Day 108
Clouds and Sky from Day 193
City Skyline from outtakes from Day 144 and finally water from Day 208

Drag all that into a single comp and you have one cluster fuck of an image. At one point I was so lost I was worried if the shot was even look good. The last thing I wanted was a joke that was… well… a joke!

Of course, as always, I don't give up until it comes together. Tonight however, Joyce decided it would be good for me to get a deadline. It was 3:40am and I said I needed 2 more hours. She instead gave me 20 minutes and like a shuttle countdown made sure I was aware of each passing minute. Luckily I was nearing the end of what I could realisticly do. During the last 20 minutes I did however, add the flaming and crumbling Miami skyline! An addition Joyce wasn't happy with. All she said was "REALLY" with a strange look on her face. "what it doesn't look good?" "no, it does look good" she said! I did manage to pull it off. Well, sort of. I wanted to add billowing smoke and a more complete skyline. Maybe a plane crashing or a space ship! I did really want to add a shark in the water but since I've yet to get in the ocean with my camera, I have no stock of sharks. I'll have to work on that! I have video footage of when I swam with sharks and turtles and other sea shit like that, just no stills.

The file, like always took forever to save. This time even longer because I had shot both elements in portrait orientation to maximize usable resolution. I didn't reduce the image size and instead just widened the canvas making the shot 3888 high and over 5500 pixels wide for a file just over 1.5 gigs!

I'm now hungry and getting shaky. I'll be off to grab some nourishment before getting more work done and of course… Day 210! I've seemed to develop some sort of sick pattern. For some odd reason I take a picture everyday! I think I may have a problem!

Lighting:

AB800 Med Gridded Softbox at both 10:00 & 2:00 Full power
AB800 Beauty Dish Boomed Overhead at 1/4 Power
Triggered Via Cyber Syncs