One of the many joys of being an artist is the ability to tackle many art forms. I am a designer, photographer and a musician. A lot of my personal art (art I create for myself) is abstract in nature. This is a sweet release from the corporate imagery I work to create everyday. While personal projects are easily put on hold in order to finish up client work, I’m making a true effort to complete a couple personal projects this year.

I’ve posted a couple piano jams on this blog and I’m excited to announce that I plan to expand these jams into a full album in 2012. My abstract piano jams are completely improvised and never repeated. Some melodies and notes make repeat appearances, but I enjoy sitting in front of my piano and playing whatever flows. The next step is to record these abstract jams.

For a musician that means time in the studio recording your tunes. For a graphic designer that means designing an album cover. For me, that means doing both of those things, YIKES! I’m ready for the challenge and can’t wait to share my progress. Check back for updates as I venture into album production.

I love photography that’s simple therefore, I am drawn to only using one light. This weekend I took a couple friends a blue light gel and my Nikon SB700 speedlight on a photographic adventure. The results were more than expected with an added punch to my urban photographs.

The Power of One Light Photography

The simpleness of one light photography makes it an outdoor photographer’s dream. The equipment is minimal yet you can achieve dramatic results. The above photos were all shot with one SB700 covered in a blue gel set to the left and the sunlight. The set up can’t get much easier unless you only use ambient sunlight.

Colors to Boost Drama

Adding colored gels to your speedlights really add drama to any photograph. They mimic stage lighting used for theater productions. For this dance photography lover, it doesn’t get much better than reproducing theater shots outdoors! By placing the colored speedlight to the left of the subject and using the ambient sunlight on the right, you get a balanced photograph that isn’t too blue. You can also move from high key to just a rim light effect when you adjust your shutterspeed and aperture accordingly. You can also vary the distance between the light and your subject to deepen or lessen the intensity of the blue light.

I would highly encourage any new photographers to master one light before moving onto others. You’ll be surprised how much easier it is to carry around one set of lights and get amazing effects. Once you’ve mastered this technique you can add more lights to your kit, but it’s definitely not mandatory!

Share your one light photography uses or tips in the comments and keep shooting!

While challenging, this has been a very rewarding and fun project. As artists, we should always try to evolve our skills and sometimes that means stepping outside of our normal routine. I’ll share more fairy tale photos soon.

Balloons offer a great photo opportunity. Not only are they a rare photographic event, you have the opportunity to capture them in the day and at night.  I always lean toward low light or night photos for the challenge and to better familiarize myself with my lenses and settings.

Final Result

After taking a short vacation deep in the seclusion of the mountains, I came back with some new photos!  Sometimes a relaxing jaunt in the woods is all it takes to get the creative juices flowing.

Update! Buy Art!

Now you can own the above photo in the form of a fine print complete with frame or canvas print! Choose between a variety of print sizes, frames or canvas prints from imagekind. Thanks for supporting art!

What is an Abstract Piano Jam?

For over a year I’ve been playing a stream of conscience like melody on the piano. There are no written notes and each time I play, the tune varies slightly from the last time I played it. I play what ever comes to mind and whatever my ear picks up as wonderful sounding key combinations.

The best part about this type of piano playing is how it clears my mind and eases away the daily stresses. My artwork has always been about abstraction to distract from the corporate imagery I work to create on a daily basis. This piano tune is the same only through music instead of visual arts.

I am pleased to announce the launch of a new website for Jessica Brody’s young adult novel My Life Undecided. The site welcomes readers to post questions to the world just like her character in the book.

With Jessica’s beautiful knack for integrating her books into real world experiences (especially social media and the web) we were able to build a unique experience for her readers. Check it out!

The best part about this type of piano playing is how it clears my mind and eases away the daily stresses. My artwork has always been about abstraction to distract from the corporate imagery I work to create on a daily basis. This piano tune is the same only through music instead of visual arts.

Enjoy a short minute preview of my piano tune as it streamed from me to the piano keys.

Beautiful color and awesomely smooth animation enhances the viewer’s experience as the movie opens with a song and dance number mimicking synchronized swimmers. As birds swoop and dive into the Brazilian jungle the star of this tale eagerly watches from his tree.  Just as this little blue macaw preps to join the jungle festivities, all the birds are quickly snatched from their home and taken overseas to America. Rescued by a little girl named Linda (Leslie Mann), the blue macaw grows up in a loving home all the while loosing touch with his natural habitat and bird-like ways. The duo are inseparable friends and embark on a life together tackling everyday chores while running a bookstore in Minnesota.

One day Linda and Blu’s (Jesse Eisenberg) lives are changed when a Brazilian scientist named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) visits them and informs Linda that Blu is the last of his kind and he needs her help to keep the blue macaw species alive. After some consideration, Linda and Blu decide to do the right thing and head off on their adventure to Rio de Janero with Tulio. Blu quickly learns that he doesn’t have the bird skills that so many like him seem to possess… like flying. He meets Jewel (Anne Hathaway), his arranged mate, and doesn’t quite get things off on the foot. Needless to say the two have a love and mostly hate relationship through most of the film. Blu and Jewel are then snatched by bird smugglers (poor Blu can’t seem to catch a break here) who hope to make a fortune on the rare birds. But, what would an animal film be without an evil bird? Thanks to a white cockatoo’s inside job,  Blu and Jewel are chained together and thrown into a cage soon realizing their future is not long for this world.

The two birds quickly discover they must put their dislike for one another aside if they ever hope to survive. Thanks to the help of fellow bird friends they meet along the way, Blu and Jewel set off to find freedom. Meanwhile Linda and Tulio work to find the missing birds as they embark on their own adventure through the busy streets of Rio.

The quest continues at the heart of the Carnaval parade featuring giant floats and dancing chaos. Eventually the birds reconnect with their human counterparts and Blu and Jewel’s relationship elevates to a new level.

Rio is a visual feast that really captures Rio de Janero, especially the Brazilian landscape and Carnaval celebration, beautifully.The passion and real life relationship creator Carlos Saldanha has with Brazil and the characters of Rio make this movie memorable and extra special. The story moves quickly with lots of action scenes sprinkled with bouts of comedy along the way. In the end this magical film sends viewers on a wonderful voyage of fun and adventure for all ages.

More Rio…