Twelve-month photo challenge: Levitation

For 2016, I'm participating in a 12-month, theme-based photo challenge with fellow North Carolina photographer Sunny Lee and Chicago photographer and studio partner Bill Whitmire.

The first month theme is Levitation, and above is what I came up with.

The story behind the image is not exacted like I would like. The image is kind of documentation in a way. You see, we've decided to leave our studio space for another one, and this is a way to honor our studio with a going-away hurrah.

We move into our new space February 1.

For this image, I worked with model Danielle Maddox. I've wanted to work with her for about a year now, and finally got up enough nerve to ask her to be a part of this project. I knew I wanted someone athletic, as the process here is having her jump in the air and land on an air mattress.

Plus, I love Danielle's sense of humor than comes across in a lot of her work. She's got that sassy, fun, somethin' somethin' that shines through, and I love working with people like that.

I bought and used Atmosphere Aerosol for this shoot, but the way I did my lighting ended up overpowering it, so it doesn't read in these images.

I lighted the scene using a large stripbox over head and some front fill and a light in the rear left-hand corner to embellish the sun rays.

Below are behind the scenes photos taken by Bill Whitmire.

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Corporate commercial portraits for ALIST Magazine

We photographed some corporate editorial portraits for a client to submit to ALIST Magazine, a magazine that focuses on Asian Americans.

We were limited to shooting in a conference room at the client's offices downtown Chicago. During our 2-hour shoot, we were able to setup and capture many images, but some standouts are below.

One key ingredient of the shoot was our flexibility. The client needed to keep working while we were shooting, so there were long portions of time in which he was on the phone or needed to leave the set all together.

Enjoy.

Catching up on Wittefini vLogs

I've embarked on a vLog mission. I'm challenging myself to assemble at least one vLog per week featuring things we do, whether personal or professional. 

It's my attempt to capture our memories, ones that we'd lose to oblivion otherwise. We complete so many fun and exciting projects week to week, and I feel like I look back and the only things I have to remember them are a few photos or videos from the experience and an invoice. 

Time moves fast. This is my attempt to run after memories with a small butterfly net and see if I can capture one iota of what happens in our lives. 

I need to catch up on some of the vLogs that I didn't post here yet. They descend from oldest to the newest. 

Stand by as we figure this whole idea out and craft our distinct take on video blogging in this way. 

Enjoy. 

Portraits with Contrast Group

If you asked me what my dream photography job is: my answer would be, "Photographing people in beautiful spaces. 

When the Interior Design firm at Contrast Design Group asked us to photograph them in the Haworth showroom at the Merchandise Mart, I shouted, "Yes, please!" 

I love photographing luxury furniture and spaces. 

I absolutely adore photographing people. 

Mixing those two passions = nirvana times heaven times euphoria = blissland. 

I'm particularly fond of the above image as it represented a personal vision that I was able to design and execute. It's about four photos combined into one. Enjoy more of their images below. 

As of this blog posts writing, they haven't completed their new website, so I'll likely not share the image to Facebook or other social media, but I was too excited not to blog this now. 

Jamie Graham Fabrics and their newest catalog of fabrics

Tina, our assistant Luis and I recently trekked to the great state of Michigan to photograph a catalog for Jamie Graham Fabrics, a bespoke fabric company established with a vision of creating new and distinct patterns and designs based on traditional Scottish tartans, plaids and weaves.

We wanted to post a few of the photos we completed that day. For a behind the scenes video look, go here. 

Enjoy! 

Team Wittefini takes SOFA

Tina and I concentrate our focus on the luxury interiors market. It's not always our goal to secure events, but we enjoy shooting events that fit within the framework of our spectrum. 

SOFA Chicago is one of those events. It's an art show featuring some of the best -- and most creative -- sculpture, glass, paintings, fiber, etc. 

Two years ago I attended the show for the first time, and Facebooked an update that read, "I'd like to photograph this. It's so inspiring." 

The very next year we got a call from the marketing team asking us to shoot it. On site, the team LOVED Tina -- they thought I was okay -- and asked us back before we left. 

So we came back this year. Knowing what to expect, we were sure to gather some video for ourselves. I threw together the below vLog for your viewing pleasure. 

Behind the Scenes vLog: Photographing Jamie Graham Fabrics

Jeremy here. 

Drop to the bottom of the post and press play if you would like to leap to the vLog. 

Otherwise, read on: 

I've been doing video professionally since 2003. 

After Tina joined my company back in 2008 or 2009, we video logged (or vLog'd) many of our work experiences. Back in 2011 or so, when we started sharing studio space with Bill Whitmire, I continued doing it as much as possible. 

For whatever reason – circa 2013 – I couldn't find time to vLog with our company's rebrand to Wittefini. Probably because we were concentrating a lot of effort on picking up new accounts with mainly interiors or portrait needs. 

Through some self reflection, some inspiration from other vLoggers, and a couple requests from colleagues, I've decided to start vLogging again.

Why?

Because.

Just because.

Because it's fun. 

Because experiences – once had – are gone. Gone forever. Vlogging is an incredible way to document memories, either professional or personal or both. 

Since Wittefini experiences are a merging of professional and personal, it makes sense to attempt to capture our story, if for no other reason but for ourselves. 

If you want to follow along, that's awesome. Please do. But it's not my motivation. I realize there is a level of conceit involved here. Narcissism even. Who cares about our lives? 

There's an undeniable level of pompous vulnerability to artistry, and -- good or bad -- art means putting yourself out there. 

This process will be to keep track of our lives, our progress, and quite frankly, our process of aging. How we looked 10 years ago, now and 10 years in the future will change over time. I, quite frankly, want to see it. 

I also want to do it to develop my story-telling ability. Via investments and declaration, we're amp'ing up our video game. For the past 5 years, we've concentrated on photography and it shows in our portfolio. My roots were in motion picture, and right now, our projects are 75% photography and 25% video. My goal is to create an equilibrium of equal parts photo and video. 

I also want to do it as a self-introspection. I get the idea that if I'm constantly trying to tell our story, it encourages a sort of honest reflection that may be lost to life's fast pace if not captured and retold in this way. 

Enjoy our first return to vLogging below. It's a behind the scenes video featuring a recent shoot for Jamie Graham Fabrics. 

I'm hoping to produce a vLog per week, if not more. We'll see how that goes. They will post here on our blog.

Enjoy. 

#Team #Wittefini 

Corporate Interiors: the Gloster showroom at The Mart

We recently photographed the Gloster showroom at the Mart downtown Chicago. 

Gloster is a luxury outdoor furniture manufacturer based in Virginia. They feature clean, modern lines and it's some of our favorite Casual furniture that we've ever seen. Their brand could appeal to an interior at times. 

The goal of the photos was to show the showroom and how its designed, so that they can share those images with retailers who will design their floor sets to look similar in their stores. 

The process used to photograph these spaces is quite epic, and these images are the result of blending 30 to 40 images together. I promise to create a behind the scenes some time soon on how we approach our interior images. 

We also took a little extra time to photograph their award-winning furniture with their awards. 

Likely the most luxurious dining room we've ever seen

We recently worked with one of our favorite Interior Designers, Joey Leicht, to photograph a dining room in an on-going project he's working on in Winnetka. 

We're in love with this home. It's situated right on Lake Michigan, and it's a home that if I had an unlimited home budget, I'd be tempted to buy this one off the current owners. 

This dining room is simply epic. When Joey was designing the custom table, he wanted something inspired by fashion designer Tom Ford. He loves how it appears black from certain angles and blue from others. 

The large cabinet is custom from Ebanista. Tina and I were recently in The Mart's Ebanista showroom, and you'd be stunned to see what the base model looks like. It's about 1/16th the size of the one in this room. The glass is clear. Joey clearly has a defined vision when he approaches each element of his room designs. 

From the walls and sconces to the chandeliers, ceilings and chairs, this room is meant to impress.

And it does. 

Enjoy these images from our shoot. 

Commercial promotional photography for McCormick Place

Two weeks ago, we were hired to photograph the rooftop gardens at McCormick Place. 

The folks at McCormick teamed up with the people over at Chicago Botanical Garden to plan the Midwest's largest farm-to-fork rooftop garden. According to their website they yield over 8,000 lbs of farm fresh plenty including bets, kale, carrots, lettuce, peppers, beans, and herbs. 

While we were there, we saw lettuce, tomatoes, jalapeños, eggplant, basil, rosemary, mint, Anaheim peppers, and bee hives. The bee hives are incredibly fun to experience and photograph. 

Enjoy some highlights from our shoot below. 

A butler's pantry, kitchen and breakfast room in Lincolnwood

Tina and I recently photographed a butler's pantry, a kitchen and a breakfast room at a home in Lincolnwood for one of our favorite designers Joey Leicht. 

I couldn't be happier with how these turned out. The contrast and elegance of darks to lights are something to really admire. It's fun lighting dark colors, which absorb light in a way that can be, well, frustrating. Without light, there's no detail. But with light, it changes the appearance of dark. The eyes are more capable to see how dark things are, but cameras are mechanical and less forgiving. 

When I photograph spaces like these, it's difficult to shoot medium format at least for me. Our Hasselblad doesn't perform well when exceeding ISOs of 200 to 400. I need more low-light sensitivity from higher ISOs. So in these cases, I use our Canon 5D Mark III fitted with a 24mm TSE lens. I also do some close up shots with a macro 40mm or a 50mm. 

Another approach we take on projects with Joey is that like to balance lighting fixtures with available sunlight. These two light sources generate two very different colors of light. If we let the lighting do its own thing, we'd come away with mediocre photography. Mixing light makes the gray of the cabinetry look grayer in the sun and bluer in incandescent light. 

This also affects the whites in this space as well. Whites appear yellower the further you get from the windows and bluer closer to the windows. So unless I turn all the lights off, I get improperly balanced lighting. So it's incredibly important to use photography tricks, multiple exposures and photo retouching to deceive the viewer and achieve these kinds of results. 

Enjoy. 

A couple portraits of the artist Show You Suck

Last month, I photographed the rap artist ShowYouSuck at JBTV studios. 

I’m impressed by a lot of talent that goes through JBTV’s doors, but seldomly am I wow’d. ShowYouSuck — on the other hand — blew my mind.

Like always, I arrived during sound check. I could already tell there was something special about him. The stage was decorated with a large slice of pizza. Pizza’s my favorite food to make.

Insta-love.

Then he broke out into a sound check song. I have no idea what it was. I couldn’t identify it if I heard it on Spotify. But it was great.

Backstage by the greenroom, I introduced myself. “Hi, I’m Jeremy,” I said reaching out my hand.

“Hi, I’m Clinton. Nice to meet you.”

When an artist with a stage name introduces him or herself with their real name, I think it’s really damn cool.

I told him about taking his portrait and he said he could do it right then. So we took about 8 frames, and here are two shots that meant something to me. 

In the studio: corporate head shots for DHR International

One of our favorite clients is DHR International. They work with us to capture many of their head shots, which is almost impossible, because their staff is not only large, they are spread throughout the world. 

This head shot is of one of their new managing partners that we photographed a couple weeks ago. 

When he left our studio, he was so complimentary of our space and of Tina and me for hosting him. We love capturing portraits, and I love working with Tina who is excellent at working with our talent to help them feel comfortable quickly. 

We've been so busy lately that I've had no time to blog. But I will be scheduling several new posts to hit over the next week. 

Enjoy. 

Capturing commercial interiors: Davis Furniture

Two weeks ago, Tina, Ben Rodig & I worked with Davis Furniture to capture their NeoCon-ready showroom in both motion and still. 

Tina and I concentrated on working with the Davis team to grab still photography while Ben worked with them on capturing motion. 

Tina and I edited the footage and released the below video for them, and above are a handful of photos from the shoot. We love their clean, modern look, white walls, beautiful contrast and detail. In fact, their attention to detail is so stunning, it inspired the way I approached every photo. 

Enjoy. 

It's almost the ides of June

On Saturday, Tina and I photographed a showroom space at the Merchandise Mart for Davis Furniture. 

It was a fun shoot. Davis Furniture features some of the finest in Commercial furnishings and just being in the space evoked a sense of awe and creativity. 

What was fun about this shoot was that they insisted on natural light. Which I would rarely agree to completely, but I must admit that it's a joy to work like that occasionally. 

We're excited to deliver our work to them. In the meantime, enjoy these two sneak peeks. 

And, yes, that is Tina on the left giving us a sense of space and 

Welcome to the new and improved Wittefini.com

During one of the busiest times of our year so far, cybercriminals attacked our old website and wiped it out completely. 

This news is hard to stomach. I feel like the site was damn near where I always wanted it to be, but I just didn't have the right images and video to showcase until this year. 

I've used our old host since 2003, and over those years, I've had a few issues with getting hacked. But this one took the cake. 

So I've moved our Wittefini site to Squarespace. Hosts like Dreamhost should probably take note. They need to keep better security over the sites hosted on their servers. 

In the meantime, I'm having to rebuild our site from scratch. This post is a quick welcome and a place to add some of the work we've been doing.