Inspired by Owl City

If you have followed my Facebook or Instagram feeds you will know that one of my personal projects is my series on creepy dolls.  The last couple of weeks I feel as if I have taken these photos to a whole new level.  The first started with the photo I took in an abandoned factory in Paris, TN.  I loved the way the photo turned out.

So after this photo, I started to look for more inspiration.  One of my favorite artist to listen to to get my imagination blooming is Owl City.  Their music is so interesting with their sound and what they sing about.  I was listing to them the other day while at work, occasionally jotting down ideas as they spawned in my head.  I was listening to Plant Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOq8rzY5rF4.  While the link does not take you to their official page, it is an opportunity to hear where my inspiration came from and just maybe you can see in the photo where that came from. 

Plant Life inspired by Owl City

While this imaged did require some post processing, it was not a lot.  I took a few photos while I was building this image as a little behind the scenes.  I dropped my fiancé off at work and was driving by the lumber display and saw some new privacy fence boards that were fairly cheep, that would work for the image I was trying to create.  I threw 20 boards into the back of my tiny little Chevy Spark and headed to Kroger to get some wildflowers.

After I gathered everything I needed, I headed back home to get everything set up.  I decided rather then bringing all of the lumber to the lower part of the house where I usually do my studio work, I would set up in the garage instead.  Turns out that was a great idea, however I had to make several trips upstairs with all of my lighting and camera equipment, but at least the mess of the shoot was contained in an area that could be swept outside.  Here are a couple photos from the setup.  Mind you these photos were taken with my android phone where composure and exposure was not the objective, they were meant for a behind the scenes to the shoot. 

Everything was ready for the shoot.  I went to out to my car to grab a model (doll).  My fiancé does not let me keep them in the house for understandable reasons.  I opened the trunk,  I had a broken doll, a boy doll and a doll with no eyes.  I had to get another doll.  I made a quick run to the thrift store down the street and ended up walking out of there with three dolls.  The photo above shows the setup with the new doll.  I tried to make a dust using baking powder and cigarette ash to make it look as if the doll had been lying there for a while, but that idea did not work out very well.

I finished the shoot just in time to go to dinner with my fiancé and return what I didn't need after the shoot. 

I hope you enjoyed this behind the shoot.

Sunflare

Recently I entered a photo competition on Gurushots with the theme sunflares.  If you havent heard about this site, it really is a fun competition site.  There really isn't prizes, it is much more for exposure than anything.   When you post a group of photos to the competition, you have to vote on the other photos to gain exposure on your photos.  I was scrolling through the photos and saw many starburst that quite honestly looked like they were added in Photoshop.  The sunflare looked too perfect to be real.  I didn't vote for them because I felt that it was not appropriate to the competition. 

I know feel as if I was too harsh on my judging, here is why.  I just recently purchased a Sony A6300 camera, call it an upgrade of sorts from my Canon 70d.  I went out last night to catch a sunset picture.  I was driving around about 10 min before sunset and finally found a spot to take the photo.  It was one of the many old graveyards in the area.  I lined up my shot and fired off a couple of practice shots to make sure I like the composition.  I happen to catch a sunflare in one of the test shots.

I knew there was a sunflare in the shot, but I didn't really see how good it looked until I got back to the house and started going through the photos on the computer.   It was amazing, in fact it was so good it looked like it was photoshopped.  I started thinking about it and realized that I was judging Gurushots too harshly for fake sunflares when in fact they were most likely natural, but with a lens similar to the one I shot with.

I shot this with the a6300, using the kit lens, with an aperture of f16.  It turned out great.  Thank you Sony for developing such a beautiful lens.