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This is where I was on 12/12/12 at 12:12pm – in bed. I got back from Brooklyn around 7am on Wednesday morning and immediately hit the sack. I had set an alarm on my phone for 12/12/12 at 12:pm with a note: “take pic at 12:12pm” some time ago and was awaken by the robot noises emitting from my phone. Luckily my camera was a foot from my bed, so I reached over and snapped this shot, then went back to sleep. Please excuse the black jungle on my chest. Where where you on 12/12/12 at 12:12pm or am?

I had the opportunity to shoot a stop motion photo-booth in Brooklyn, NY for Filth and Decay clothing on Tuesday. We had a blast doing this booth, I had some challenges in space and lighting to work with, but it made it all that much more fun. We set up a wrapping paper background, since I did not have enough space for my muslin backdrop, so at the end of the night I had a few people run in to the booth and rip the paper down. There are about 1800 photos from the booth that I will be tuning in to a stop motion video, it was so hard to just pick one for this project! Look for the video in a few more days.

I had a super busy Monday and didn’t really get a chance to snap a 365 until late in the evening. I have walked by this alleyway a few times and have tried a few different shots there, nothing really ever stuck with me though. This shot for some reason really grabbed my attention with the moody lighting. I decided to get a little weird with the post processing to give it a dark, yet colorful look.

I really dislike this freaking thing.

Some people think it’s a bit weird that I take photos of peoples feet, the back of their heads, and other body parts at clubs. I think it’s a different way to show the details of the night that sometimes go unnoticed. I loved this dancers sneakers and the forward energy the photo portrayed.

Since being introduced to this stuff by my buddy Andrew in San Fran, I have sworn by it every time I feel a little under the weather. As soon as I have the slightest hint of feeling sick, I drink 3-4 of these Emergen-C drinks and am all of a sudden back to 100%. Try it!

I noticed my tire was low when filling up on gas so I filled it up with air to spec then took the tire off to inspect it. This is why I was leaking, good ol’ nail through the tire. I removed the nail and plugged up the hole pretty quickly, but it looks like it’s time for a new set of rubber soon anyway.

Since it’s Christmas time and the lights are going up, I figured I would share one way of getting the Christmas bokeh balls in the background of your photos.
1. Zoom in to your foreground subject while getting as close as possible.
2. Make sure the Christmas lights in the background are at a father distance from your subject than your camera is. The farther away the Christmas lights are, the more of a bokeh effect you get.

I used to love playing with this Play-Doh so I decided to try and photograph something interesting including it. Long story short – taking photos of florescent colored Play-Doh was not easy and the results are meh. I still love the smell of a fresh bottle of Play-Doh.

My computer has been acting a bit funny lately and I am pretty sure it is because the hardware is starting to malfunction. This is why I have taken a few days to catch up with posting my 365 project photos. I am currently on the hunt for an editing only desktop and should hopefully not have these issues again in the future.

So this is what this years Movember mustache looked like. I can not lie, I can not wait to get rid of this thing and grow the beard back. It does feel good knowing our team raised $1,400 for such a good cause. Thanks everyone for your support!

This is a long exposure HDR image taken just after sunset near a old mill in New Bedford, MA (I am not sure the name of the Mill, it is the one in the same parking lot at the Howland Mill). I really love the color of the sky right after sunset with a long exposure. You get this really deep, dark, purple look to the sky.

I did a little research about New Bedford for the labeling and commentary to accompany this image and came across some interesting stuff on Wikipedia. Most of the crime stuff was really bad, but I found the Secret City nickname to be  rather interesting:

New Bedford appeared on America’s Most Wanted on February 11, 2006, for three unsolved murders: that of Marcus Cruz in 2001, Cecil Lopes III in 2004 and Dana Haywood in 2005, run as part of a report on the Stop Snitching phenomenon that has hindered police investigations nationwide. New Bedford is called “The Secret City” because of the Stop Snitching phenomenon. The show, broadcast on February 11, received good ratings, but “almost no” calls, being one of the first episodes, the first for such to happen. New Bedford has thirty unsolved homicides since 2000. Most stem from the ongoing feuds between the United Front and Monte Park neighborhoods. The gangs are located in the south and west ends of the city.

New Bedford natives Hector Barros and Scott Ross were members of the hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, led by actor Mark Wahlberg.

More about New Bedford here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford,_Massachusetts

Last week I noticed a small hole on the knee area of my favorite pair of jeans. I thought it would add some character to them, but with the 30 degree days – it’s not very comfortable. When I arrived home after running errands on Thursday, I noticed the little hole had become a big tear. Now I need to wear long johns or compression pants to wear these jeans, I think it’s time for a new pair.

I never used to be a coffee guy, but now it seems I can not start my day without a fresh cup of Joe. I liked the way the steam from the hot cup looked in the morning sunlight creeping through the clouds.

One of the buildings I work in has a warehouse in an old mill. The textures of the old wood beams always seem to catch my eye, so I figured they would make a good subject for this project.

One of my favorite not so healthy snacks has to be Goldfish. While I was munching on a bag of these awesome treats, I noticed the inside foil looked interesting and reflected the “fish” in an interesting way. I decided it would look even cooler with my flash under the gold fish, pointing towards my camera’s lens. I am overall pretty happy with the effect.

I made the investment in a large format professional photo printer on Sunday, so I just had to get that beast into a photo. Here she is printing out 4×6’s of some of my work. I can not wait for the 13×19 paper to arrive! I am slowly finding myself turning into a complete Canon fan boy, and I am ok with it.

One of the hardest parts about nightclub photography for me is capturing candid photos of people enjoying themselves, without them noticing me. I am shooting in a dark, smokey, night clubs – I have to use a bright flash, and I have to be very close to my subjects to produce a decent photo, which makes me very easy to spot. In addition to all that, most people do not have a very flattering facial expression when dancing their asses off. Sometimes there is this very small moment in between the “rage face” and the “posed face” where the person looks like they are in-between the two poses, something I like to call the “oh face”.  I’d like to think it makes for a timeless, organic, and emotional capture that can be looked back on as a reminder of the subjects younger days.

This is Michelle Yates, she is a super kind soul who helped us at our Movember fundraiser on Friday night. She helped us raise almost $150 for a great cause by passing out free mustache cookies and accepting donations. You should go make a small donation to the team at www.providencestache.com if you have not already done so. There will most likely be another mustache or two in this project!