Foliage Study / B&W / iPhone 4s

Fellow Columbia College prof. Shane Q. and I have been hanging out a bit. He's fairly new to the area and looking for good documentary subjects, so I decided to introduce him to one of my favorite decrepit locations here in Columbia, the old state sanitorium.

Thursday, we found portions of it nearly completely overgrown with weeds and trees. It proved to be a nice test for the iPhone 4s, since I'd been shooting video all day and didn't feel like bringing a large rig.

Ahhh, abandonment porn! So overdone, but so fun...

College baseball: Benedict-Claflin

Wow, I haven't updated my site in a while, mainly because I've gone far down the rabbit hole of ham radio. I haven't been taking a lot of photos either, but I did get hired for a freelance gig at my former newspaper this weekend. I was really nervous about getting back in the saddle and shooting for a publication again, but I'm glad I went.

The gist of the story is that Benedict College here in Columbia built their own baseball stadium from the ground up. The coaches designed and constructed the field themselves, based on college baseball regulations. Saturday, they played their first game at the new location.

The only downside to the day is I scored a wicked sunburn. So much for predictions of gray skies and rain. It was hot and sunny at high noon. 

Louisville, After the Apocalypse

On a recent trip to Louisville, I was astounded by the lack of people in the small historic neighborhood where we were staying. Even on the drive into the city, I noted a lack of traffic, an eerie stillness, and the shaky feeling that even those folks who were still here may just be lost souls.

Of course I exaggerate. But truth be told, Louisville was nothing like what I expected. Sure there were lots of people down in the more modern part of town. But in this pocket of the old quarter, it was block after block of urban decay, with only a bar or restaurant dotting a corner to signify anyone might be there.

Two separate afternoons, I walked several blocks around our inn and imagined an apocalyptic narrative as I snapped photos. I never saw another human on the streets.

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Louisville, December 2011

Equipment used: Leica M3, 50mm Summicron, Kodak Portra 400 NC, Plustek OpticFilm 7600 film scanner 

Moon over Columbia

Ninth Street Bridge, Columbia, S.C., Dec. 2011

Halloween Bash: 701 Center for Contemporary Art

A former student of mine, Kat, who does a lot of marketing/social networking goodness around the area, recently asked me if I'd be willing to come out to the Halloween Bash at the 701 Center for Contemporary Art to shoot some images for their "Casket Photo Booth." It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

The "booth" was basically a "green" pine box coffin with a nice staged area sponsored by the folks at Greenhaven Preserve, a cemetery dedicated to green burial. The photo area was pretty popular once folks noticed they could actually jump into the casket and have their photo taken. I was amazed at the variety of costumes and over-the-top behavior. I ended up turning in more than 300 images for Greenhaven's Facebook page. 

A couple of my favorites are below:

I tried to keep the lighting simple. Originally I'd planned to go with underlighting for a ghoulish effect, but it became apparent early on that the situation was unpredictable. I went with two softboxes instead. The main was camera left and the other was at right and low at a reduced power for fill. Everything was shot with the 24-70mm f/2.8L.

With a volunteer assistant fetching me subjects and beverages, and lots of great planning by the event organizers, this was one amazing event!