Model Open Call: Milwaukee, Chicago, Madison

(Above photo of KjLyn I snapped at last year's runway show)


CASTING CALLS
4/11/09 Milwaukee: 6-7:30 pm, Milwaukee Art Museum
4/17/09 Madison: 3-5 pm, Sconnie Nation, 521 State Street
4/18/09 Chicago: Time tba, Chicago Sound Bar, 226 W. Ontario St.

More information and entry form at: www.wisconsinfashionweek.com

Frankie Vega live at the Cardinal (video)

I had my trusty point-and-shoot Fuji F30 at the Cardinal last weekend and decided to shoot some short clips of video. The clips are of the dancefloor as well as shot from the DJ booth which gives a nice behind the scenes look of the nightclub. This is my first (sad) attempt at video editing, but it was a fun little project for me.

Fashion Revolution 2009, Milwaukee

PRESS RELEASE

Fashion Inspired by Cultural Influence Takes Center Stage. Milwaukee Designers Set The Bar High For Creativity As Models Flaunt Runway Fashion With Flair

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 11, 2009)- Mind Over Matter Inc. presents The 3rd Annual Fashion Revolution 2009 to benefit The Fashion Revolution Scholarship fund of Milwaukee of which is available for students in art and fashion related degree programs. This is a runway fashion production showcasing a total of ten Milwaukee and Chicago clothing and accessory designers. Saturday April 11, 2009 at the Milwaukee Art Museum Baumgartner Gallerias, 700 N Art Museum Dr., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. Show time starts at 8:00pm. Opening dance performance by local professionals, REMIX, and musical performance by Firey Phoenix. DJ Kid Cut Up will be disc jockey for the night. Live video feed sponsored by Omanaman.The cost of tickets range from $30 to $50 vip packages.

"The Fashion Revolution is one of the main forces stimulating the fashion scene in Milwaukee", says Sheena Luckett-Dodd, the producer of the show. The Fashion Revolution celebrates it's third year rendering appreciation for the indie fashion market, artists, independent designers and models. Each production is tailored in it's own way to allow the featured designers a great opportunity to be exposed and celebrated. The 2009 production will take place in the Baumgartner Gallerias of the Milwaukee Art Museum; a large, spacious gallery adorned with striking white arches and a panoramic view of Lake Michigan.

The Fashion Revolution 2009 will focus on avant-garde fashions and ready-to-wear inspired by cultural influences around the world. Some countries being represented are Russia, Great Britain, India, and Egypt. Designers were encouraged to design true to their own style yet infuse the history and culture of a region they chose for inspiration. Sheena Luckett-Dodd, founder of Mind Over Matter Inc., and her team of coordinators organized The Fashion Revolution 2009 to expose not only the hard work and determination of the designers as they provide their creations for public consumption, but to also demonstrate how fashion is interpreted globally through different cultures and mediums. The introduction of the 2009 Fashion Revolution scholarship was based on the needs of students pursuing art and fashion related degrees as well as to serve as a support system for Milwaukee's emerging fashion community.

The 2009 revolutionary designs are created by returning designers Anna Hovet of Chicago and The How High Collection, and new designers Ends-Wealth Designs of Chicago, VGal Designs, Tia Richardson, Nandi, GG Collections, Sazzy Crochet Designs, Steffsko, and Lauren Reynolds.

The evening events includes the actual runway show, live performances, complimentary fashion totes and the limited edition Fashion Revolution magazine while supplies last. Post production celebrations will be held at Trocaderos, 1758 N Water in Milwaukee, WI. Live performances by indie hip hop group, The Cranberry Show. Admission tickets to The Fashion Revolution 2009 can be purchased online at http://www.thefashionrevolution.com, Studio One Photography or at the door. The 3rd Annual Fashion Revolution 2009 sponsors include: Studio One Photography, FashionableMilwaukee.com, 1HipHop U C It.com, Madison Fashion Week, Omanaman.com, 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, Showing Off By Hosea Salons, Sabir World Fitness, and Urban Chic Milwaukee.

About The Company: Mind Over Matter Inc. is a promotions and event planning company that provides the community with positive and professional entertainment. They produce upscale social events ranging from nightlife entertainment to family oriented workshops and events.

For more information email Sheena Luckett-Dodd at mindovermatterinc@yahoo.com, or call (414) 975.4892/ (414) 807.3275/ http://www.thefashionrevolution.com


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Second Generation iPod Shuffle review

I picked up a 2 GB Shuffle for $40 directly from Apple (refurbished) and it was a fantastic value. I already own a 1 GB first gen Shuffle, but the battery isn't what it used to be and it requires pocket space (buttons can easily get accidentally pressed in a pocket as well).

Second Gen Shuffles have a great industrial design. They are super small, the clip is extremely useful, and build-quality is excellent. Clipping the 2nd gen shuffle to a pants pocket is the way to go and it simply works really, really well. Weighing in at .55 oz. these are nothing short of amazing.

I can't say how long the battery life is or how many charges the battery can take before losing capacity permanently. I guess it's a bit unfortunate that the batteries are not user replaceable since I'm sure that will likely be the first thing to go on mine.

When I travel I intend to bring both my 2 GB Shuffle as well as my 1 GB unit. Both will be fully charged and loaded with music and at less than 1.5 oz. (for both) weight and volume are not an issue whatsoever.

The headphones that came with my 1st gen Shuffle are superior to the ones that came with my 2nd gen unit. They shortened the cord and made the earbuds bigger which quickly become uncomfortable. (I am an average-sized person). I strongly recommend picking up a pair of isolation earphones like Coby and Skull Candy make if you plan on wearing headphones for over an hour or if you have small ears. The silicon inserts are incredibly comfortable and they seal out ambient noise as well.

I chose the 2nd gen Shuffle over the 3rd Gen shuffle because I don't like the idea of proprietary headphones (you have to use the Apple remote earbuds) and I don't see the need for and additional 2GB of music. I ripped most of my music at 192 kps and the 2 GB Shuffle will hold 24 hours of tunes at that bitrate. This is more music than one charge will play since the battery is rated for up to 12 hours with a full charge.

The dock is nothing special. I liked the convenience of simply plugging the 1st Gen Shuffle into a USB port without needing a dock, but I don't think that engineering feat was possible in a design as small as the 2nd gen Shuffle. For the uber geeks, they disassemble the tiny Shuffle here.

Recent stock photo work

Reasonably priced stock photos have been selling like crazy in this economy so I've been shooting as much as I can for the segment. Here are some new images I've been working on both outdoors and at my Madison studio.


Boom box stock photo license


Computer keyboard stock image


Wind turbine stock photograph


Computer laptop stock photo


Samurai sword stock image


Piano keys photo

Let's talk white balance!

Years ago I thought I was able to figure out a shots color color correction in post. For the most part that's true-if I spend enough time working on a photo I can, particularly if I look at it next to another image with proper skintones. I know the approximate color temp. of my strobes (and hotlights if I'm using those).

I'll tell you what... that's a very inefficient way of working, and one that I no longer use. Instead I picked up a product that came highly recommended called WhiBal. The one I ordered is credit card sized and I keep it in a pouch in my camera bag. Once my subject is positioned and the studio lights are set, I take one shot with the calibrated gray card in the frame. Then in Photoshop RAW Converter I click the card with the white balance eyedropper and color in the photo pretty much snaps into place. The next step is to select all the images used with the same lighting setup and use the "Develop Settings > Previous Conversion" operation. It will quickly adjust the color temperature and tint to the color corrected image settings.

The reason I believe this product is superior to others on the market is simple. They use a SpectroEye Spectrophotometer on each card before shipping to measure the cards to be spectrally neutral. You can visit their site and watch the infomercials (which are surprisingly interesting), or you can just take my advice, spend 25 bucks and get your own.

One thing I'd like to add is that proper color balanced skintones are not necessary the most flattering tones. But once you know your image is white balanced it makes it much easier to do subtle color tweaks to make your image perfect!

New York City: Gritty

Here's a shot from 2002 scanned from a 35mm negative. Must be 400 speed film because it's super grainy. Nevertheless, I like it a lot and it is just how I remember the city. I talked a crazy cabbie into stopping the van on a busy bridge. If you're reading this Mr. Cabbie-thanks for stopping for me! Here's my review of the the negative scanning process by ScanCafe.
© Copyright 2002, Timothy Hughes. All rights reserved.

A new club

Today I joined a new (or at least new for me) professional organization called Editorial Photographers. It seems like a really useful resource for pro topics and quite frankly if they are crazy enough to accept me a member, I'm in!

From what I've seen so far the articles are excellent and there are a vast amount of practical forms/contracts, databases of photo buyers (editorial), informational articles and widgets for estimating pricing.