Q & A time with Andy!

So got a question from someone... Posting it here is in no way to make fun of them, but to spread the answer around like a person would spread butter on bread. Or in my case, stir it into mac n cheese (the generic brand).

"Hey, this might be a random question but I am new to the cities and am trying to start doing studio photography. I was wondering what you started with when you began studio shooting. I What type of lights do you prefer or backdrop material?"


Lights and backdrop don't really matter all that much - just as long as they look professional and get the results you want. I know that's not as sexy of an answer as it could be, but it's really the truth. Sometimes I want the hard light off my point and shoot film camera, other times I want something off of a bare studio head, other times I want something bigger and flatter. It all depends, but it can all look good.

As far as starting out, and I'm very serious, just use a white wall in an apartment or room. There is a lot of new work happening at the coasts using this, and I guess it is or it's starting to come into fashion. So I'd start there, get an umbrella, some kind of studio light (if you're doing a lot of shots using on camera equipment isn't the best, unless you like burning out flashes and buying new ones), and just setup a space in your home/apartment.

If you don't like that as a background, and I'm not a great example of this, but get some fun fabrics or sparkly stuff and set that up 5-10 feet behind the subject (for headshots), works great.


But in short a person doesn't need anything big and fancy to take good pictures. In fact, I trade big and fancy to "stand in front of this wall" for half my shoots.


Anyway, I hope that helps someone out there! It's sushi time!

Whisky Park - Work was finally put up!

Finally made it to Whisky Park http://www.whiskyparkmpls.com/ and saw the final images from our pin-up cowboy shoot a few months before. These things are large and take up the whole entry way! Seriously, large!

As always it was awesome to work with Mackenzie Labine who is a great stylist and makeup artist (she works at Hair Police as a day gig) and just a great team all in all. Also a thanks goes to http://www.shealink.com/ for working with us and helping realize the vision.

Pics below, and yes, I carry a Droid around with me rather than a huge camera.

Teknodoll lookbook!

http://clients.andrewthomasevans.com/teknodoll.pdf

There you have it, one of the most important things a designer can do for themselves! I'm not just tooting my own horn either, but seriously, it's all about marketing, and to market a designer/company needs to have something to send out.

What we did for Jolene and Teknodoll, or what I did, was to try and keep the photography simple, clean, and to show off both how the suits could be worn but also the urban lifestyle that she wanted to portray.

Due to her experience with lingerie and bra design, and maybe a bit due to the lookbook Jolene is starting a new job in LA starting very soon!

Thanks to Elle, Megan, and Liza for being models, and my friend Pam for makeup!

Some of us take pictures in the dark!

So I have to give credit to my friend Karl Johnston who lives way way way up north in Canada and takes pictures of the Northern Lights. This guy is lucky that he can view them, since we don’t get much down here. So those of us who like to be out at night are forced to find other stuff to take pics of!

He is over at - http://www.karljohnston.com/


For the rest of us we are left to bridges, buildings, walking about town, and trees!

If you’ve wondered what iso 12,000+ looked like on film, this is it! My RB67 is limited to a 1 second shutter, and due to this I have to work with what I can to get an image. (Ok, I can go longer, but it’s a pain, and it’s less of a pain to drag out the 4x5, which is what I’m going to start doing.)

Again I’m putting up with the limits of my camera, and it was pretty dark, but it’s a pretty cool gritty image of the Mill City area in Minneapolis.

This is from a friend and I walking around Loring Park before or after getting some beers – I forget – anyway I got some pretty cool shots with more up on my website!

I guess this is what happens when I’ve had a few drinks and think that wiping off my snow covered lens with a wool glove is a good idea – it isn’t. But, it’s a pretty cool effect, kind of along the lines of putting Vaseline over a lens.


A lot more low light images up on my website! http://www.andrewthomasevans.com/

PARKING METERS!

So some of us have these silly projects from time to time… I know photographers who take an image a day, or pick one topic and do a series on it. Well, I went out and started a parking meter series – for no more reason than I think they are cool and fun to take pictures of!

=D

Enjoy!

I had to walk back to get a picture of this!

So now and then I make the mistake of leaving my camera at home while I walk about and do stuff downtown. This was one of those days – another day was when I saw a squirrel run up the side of a apartment building with a grocery bag full of something or another…

Anyway, I had to run to the post office downtown and, it’s weird, but I never took notice of the IDS Building from this intersection before. Even though I walk around there all the time, many times a week.

So at 4pm I pretty much ran back, 13 blocks or so, got my camera, and ran back. All that running took about 30 min, stitching two images together at that angle took about 3 hours.

It’s a pretty dope print though, and pretty huge!