The Fandom Nerdlesque: Infinitease Promo Photos - 2019

February 11, 2019

The time is finally here! For anyone who has been following me on Social Media the last few weeks you have probably heard me teasing these series of images. For you and those who may not have known alike you are all in for a treat.

I was contacted by my friends over at The Fandom Nerdlesque (who if you don’t know are an Atlanta based collective of nerd-themed burlesque performers from all across the country) asking if I wanted to be a part of the marketing push for their upcoming Marvel Themed Show (being performed at the time of this blog post on Friday and Saturday THIS WEEK..HINT HINT…TICKET LINK AT THE END OF THE POST…HINT HINT).

After some very brief talk of concept, we decided that the end goal was to emulate the famous Marvel MCU posters that have been coming out regularly. It wasn’t until we were on set going through photos that I thought about using some various forms of compositing to create artificial backdrops for each character.

**Jet Spiegl - Matt “Daredevil” Murdock**

Final poster design by Evin from Apologue Media. He did a FANTASTIC job of throwing everything together into an amazing final product. Be sure to throw him some love as well!

Additional poster design by Kali Fornication (You can see her link above under her Thanos photo).

Get your tickets here!

For a peek behind the curtain as to how the sausage was actually made, keep reading below.

I’ve done some experimenting with various forms of compositing over the last few years. For more of an expert’s view I would make sure to check out the work of Renee Robyn or Clinton Lofthouse. Anything I have learned was very much learned by watching both of these amazing artists at work.

The first part of the recipe was making sure that the subject of the photo was lit properly. In the case of these Marvel photos I needed 4 lights. A Key in a 3’ Octabox, a fill in the form of a 12” beauty dish, and two 3x5 softboxes as rear kickers.

That setup lent itself to a photo like the below.

by using content aware fill you get one of the following photos below.
One worked better than another:

Screen Shot 2019-01-21 at 10.19.28 PM.png

Spoiler alert, it was this one that worked much better.

Afterwards I roughly followed this tutorial from DIY Photography to mask the image

Click the photo above to read an in depth article that I assure you is WAY less scary that it looks.

After masking its then just a matter of sourcing an appropriate background, and then adding any needed tweaks to it to fit the image at hand, and then several hours of refinements…the process of which I don’t have photos of because I didn’t think to take them.

If you would like to see a more in-depth step by step, let me know. I’d be happy to work something together!

Andie - 2019

February 05, 2019

A lot of the same things that were said about my previous post can be echoed here. I met Andie last year while being introduced to Julie, and we were supposed to shoot then.

I’m super happy that we were able to meet up this year, and I’m glad we had some extra time to talk day jobs and other interesting activities. I don’t want to share too much info to you internet strangers, but let’s just say this, this lady is doing some fantastic work and has really found her calling.

I’ve been trying to get this up for over a week now, but have just been crazy busy. So without any further ado, ANDIE!

Julie - 2019.

January 29, 2019

I first was introduced to Julie a year ago. A friend of mine let me know that she had some friends coming into town for the Days of the Dead horror convention that wanted some new photos taken. After some brief Facebook conversations back and forth we decided to shoot some basic headshots during the convention.

However, it just wasn’t meant to be. A wave of food poisoning hit at the least opportune time, so we decided to push things back. When the convention came to town this year we decided that we would revisit the offer.

We only had about 30 minutes of working time before it was time for the VIP party, but I am still very happy with how things turned out.

This was also the first time I used the portable V-Flat system from V-Flat World. I have to say I am very happy with how portable the whole system is, and can’t wait to learn how to use it better.

Rivers - 2018.

December 31, 2018

If you don’t know Rivers Langley yet, you should.

Rivers is a stand up comedian from Auburn, Alabama currently based in Los Angeles. I was introduced to him through his podcast The Goods from the Woods, which he shares with two other smart and hilarious individuals (as well as a rotating cast of equally funny guests).

After being hooked by the southern-fried podcast, I quickly followed Rivers on Twitter where we occasionally would tweet back and forth with each other. We met in late 2017 while he was home visiting Alabama, and I am happy to consider him as a friend.

This year, he announced that he would be having his usual holiday show, and I knew I had to act while I had the chance. In exchange for the hours of entertainment he has facilitated for me over the last few years, I wanted to shoot some portraits in return.

Rivers and I both loved the backdrop of posters created by the Standard Deluxe team, so we set up and quickly had to rattle off a few shots. I think this backdrop, while a little busy for standard head-shots, creates a unique look for a very unique person.

I’m super stoked to share these photos as my last set of 2018:

Be sure to check out Rivers in the video below, and make sure you follow both him and The Goods’ social media accounts for some great comedy.

And of course, be sure to share the attitude of gratitude, because if you don’t then fuck you.

Big thanks to Scott over at Standard Deluxe for allowing us to shoot in his home/place of business. It was super awesome seeing all of the artwork, and I am stupid-jealous of your library. Can’t wait to be back in Waverly for the next adventure.

Happy new years everyone, see you all in 2019 with more great photos and exciting stories.
-B

Top Photos of 2018 - An UNEXPhotography year in review!

December 26, 2018

So here we are, it’s that time again. Another year has almost come and passed. 2017 was a HUGE year of firsts for me (I mean, you can see that here if you like, just make sure you come back), and even if 2018 wasn’t as huge, I still accomplished several new things.

Unlike last year, I only averaged a shoot every 1.85 weeks this year, but I still was able to create some quality work and capture some quality times from my friends and clients.

The year started almost immediately, I was at a company meeting for my day job and was challenged with a team of my peers to make a series of images. I’m not sure if I ever actually shared this with anyone since most of my work is portraits and not abstract works, but I still liked how this one turned out.

I was hired to shoot some photos for one of my cosplay clients, and after wrapping I just wasn’t done yet. I had built a very simple and basic lighting setup against a blank wall and asked Kat to step in for a few shots after she finished with a shoot of her own.

I still love how these turned out, and I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve ripped myself off with a similar lighting plan on several shoots after this one.

It also just occurred to me that I never posted any of the final images from the shoot I was hired for. Unless one or two made it to Instagram.

The final images that were delivered to the client were drastically different than this one, mostly because their vision was something very specific (even if it wasn’t really my cup of tea in the end). But I’m still very thankful that I was allowed to experiment on some final images after we shot what was needed.

A short time later I had the chance to shoot New York Burlesque Royalty Nina La Voix while on a business trip. I was happy that she took the time to respond, and actually took a chance to meet up with me in my hotel room for a shoot. We captured a couple of different set-ups that day, but I still love how this image came out.

Zachary reached out to me again to document some photos for what would become the second of his Talon’s Grasp series. We shot this book cover almost exactly one year to the day that we shot his last cover in 2017.

And of course it wouldn’t be a shoot that involves Zak without some out of context snaps that actually end up looking pretty good.

Where would I be without Dom inviting me to shoot concerts that he books when they come through town. I didn’t get to be at as many as I would have liked to this year, but I still love the photo of JD from Grendel as well as the below photos of Ghostfeeder’s guitar player (I never did catch his name) and Peter Turns Pirate frontman Neil.

I need to partner with Dom and make sure I can schedule my time around more of his shows. They are always a good time.

Around this same time I was given the chance to work with Tru Facade and take some of her first burlesque performer photos. She has grown so much over this last year, and I am so happy that I was able to be there at the literal beginning.

In a first in a LONG time I was invited to be a part of a few different art shows. Kate AKA Artetak did a great job at stoking my ego by actually wanting me to be a part of some of the great shows she has held this year.

But of course where would I be without my subjects. Big shout out to Roux for playing ghost in my entry to the “Occult” themed show, and Kali Fornication for being willing to be tied up by a bunch of random cables for my “Sci-Fi” entry.

Put on your best “monster truck voice” because, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. I met Sunday when she came along for a birthday brunch of mine this year, and knew that at some point we had to work together. Sunday has a great look, and I’m so happy of the work we made together. Can’t wait to shoot more.

I’d be completely lost if I didn’t mention my local Atlanta burlesque family, I didn’t do as much work for them this year as I would have liked to, but that doesn’t mean that 2019 won’t be different. I’m working on a few special things…so stay tuned.

I spent a week in Germany this year for Photokina. This is the second time I’ve been out of the country, but I am already seeing a trend. When in a place where I don’t speak the language I seem to let street art speak to me on behalf of the people who live there.

Sometime I’d love to spend a period of time in Europe just walking around taking photos of stickers and spray paint. Maybe the occasional bicycle as well.

I had one of my blog posts picked up by two international photography blogs (so you don’t have to). I’m still riding the waves of this since it hit me basically out of nowhere. I’m so entirely thankful that two publications thought so highly of me, and I hope that I can leverage some of the contacts I made during this process to get the opportunity to try and review more products next year.

Also (and I’m sure I’ll be posting about it later) keep your ears open to hear my goofy voice on a podcast in early January.

For Halloween I partnered with Courtney from Courtney Walters Makeup to turn her partner Taylor into a spooky skeleton. I loved this shoot, it was so simple yet so expressive. And of course I love how excited people get when I turn their living room into a makeshift studio.

Courtney and I will be collaborating on a few different projects in 2019, so please stay tuned for that.

Keep your eyes peeled for a stand-alone blog post of this gentleman right here. LA Comedian and Podcast host Rivers Langley.

We squeaked in this shoot on the friday before Christmas and I was able to finalize everything while I had some downtime at home. I should be getting that post up pretty soon, so I’ll save my comments for then.

And of course, where would I be without my friends who love the work I do so much that they ask me to be a key part of their special moments:

Jessica and Thomas

Erin and Preston

Jesse and Rachel

I want to make sure that I give a big Thank You to everyone I have worked with or have talked about working with this year. And also a huge thank you to all of you who follow this blog (or at the very least catch updates as they come through your social media feeds).

I don’t want to put the cart before the horse but I’d like to say that big things are coming in 2019 one way or another, and as always I’d love to see you all there for the ride.

From me to all of you and yours, Happy Holidays and a beautiful new year!