I’ve been really, really busy with photography work lately, and it’s basically all between Rick and J Young! But that is good, as they involve two areas of photography I am not as familiar with, portraiture/fashion and architecture. To top it all off, both involve even more aspects I am not familiar with; shooting J Young has involved lighting heavily, causing me to learn how to use/position a reflector to bounce my flash, while balancing that with the natural light, and Rick’s stuff has involved a lot of indoor HDR, which I have very little experience doing. Both have proven a further challenge for the same reason: my gear is set up for landscape photography, as that is what I have felt most at home doing and honestly really enjoy the most. The 16-35mm is at home doing landscapes, as it is extraordinarily wide, but when things are closer to the lens, it distorts. A ton. That makes it tough to use in both areas of work, as you don’t want people to appear stretched and you don’t want crazy weird angles and distortion in architecture. I have had to use Photoshop’s Lens Correction tool a bunch for doing Rick’s work, and I have used mostly the 70-200mm for doing J Young. However, I have had to switch to the 16 for a few of the shots of J, especially the shoot today that involved J’s friend Koleone and a Maserati. They were scheduled to shoot a video that Paul and I were supposed to shoot stills during, but that didn’t end up working out that well… hopefully soon though. Anyway, the point of all this is I have realized that the ideal lens for the work I am doing would be the 24-105mm f/4L IS. That range covers EVERYTHING I need for doing J’s stuff, as I never need wider than 16 and never honestly go in all the way to 200mm on my current telephoto, and I would therefore never need to change lenses. The 24-105 also doesn’t distort at all, and also has built in Image Stabilization, making it a truly ideal all-around lens. I am most likely going to sell my 70-200mm and pick up a 24-105 fairly soon. Anyway, here are two shots, one of Rick’s kitchen, and one of his bathroom, both designed and art directed by the man himself. I’m currently editing 3 shoots of J Young, the 60-something HDRs of the Tidwell poolhouse, the HDRs of Rick’s upstairs bathroom, and the HDRs of Rick’s kitchen… I’m really not sure when it will all get done….

Rick's kitchen in all it's glory. And distortion.

And Rick's upstairs bathroom, an equally gorgeous space. The amount of textures, light, and detail really show with HDR.

I’ve been busy in Grant Park it seems. Rick Jones, my good friend and architect, and I have been shooting a lot at the park itself, which is all work that will hopefully help push the Conservancy to fund further improvements around the park. However, Rick is also working on a project in the Grant Park neighborhood, nearby the park. The house was built in 1906, and a store added on in 1925. Rick acquired the house in 1996 and has been working on remodeling and restoring the place from the ground up… literally. The original basement was used for storage, and had a ceiling that was maybe 6′ tall. Over the past few years, Rick not only designed an entirely new basement and supervised its construction, but he did so using materials that really make the space a welcoming, warm place to be. By taking the original bricks from the exterior and recycling them for use in interior spaces, such as the basement, and using hand-hewn wooden beams for supports, the atmosphere is at once fresh and new, yet evokes much of the building’s past. The ceiling was raised to 9’3 to accommodate people comfortably, and a fireplace was added which only furthers the sense of homeliness in the place. As Rick said, he envisions a pub or some other restauraunt-type setting there, but it is ultimately up to the eventual buyer/renter as to what will fill the space. It’s just a place that you want to stay in, exploring the texture of the old bricks, the beautiful wood, and the nice touches such as the keystone over the fireplace. I can’t wait to see it fully finished, with real lights and actual windows, and two matching doors flanking the fireplace. Rick has come up with plans for the entire rest of the building, which has two stories on top of the basement, and his ideas and vision are going to transform the place into a truly incredible space. I hope to go back soon and get some “in progress” HDRs of the space under construction; it looks really cool with just the frame of the house up in places, all of it in different stages of construction. This is also some of the first (successful…) work I have done with HDR indoors. It’s kinda cool! For now, here is what the contractors have dubbed “The Wine Cellar.”

Wide shot of the "Wine Cellar" with the windows covered.

Tighter shot of the basement, with windows open.