Night Fashion

I had a great time with model Angela from Elite. Myself, Cliff(stylist), and crew took off around the city to try out some night fashion photography. The shoot started at 5, but finished at 2:30 in the morning. We took everything we needed with us from hair and makeup changes to the many dresses for the day. We ended up changing her in bar restrooms and did a hair and makeup change in Levi's Times Square.





The "see-through" quality of the image was created in camera, not in photoshop. It's a 4 second time exposure with a battery powered strobe(with beauty dish) lighting her up. After the flash, she moves out of the way and what was behind her is also exposed. Fun stuff. I'll be shooting more of this style in the near future...possibly a men's story next.

Smokin!!!

I've been wanting to play with a smoking shot for some time now and recently had an opportunity to do so. Shooting smoke is a lot like shooting water. Every shot is unique. You just want to keep shooting to see what will come up next. It makes for a fun project. I believe I'm going to be playing around with this medium for a while and see what comes of it.

Evolution Continues...

...and the Evolution Project continues...

See the "Evolution Revolution" Post to see the story behind the work and the first series that got the project started. I'm currently looking for a gallery home for these images and the many to come. I've got more models, men and women being shot in the coming months, so keep a look out here for updates.

I've had the pleasure of working with more talented models for the project. Every time I shoot someone new, something unexpected and wonderful comes out. Here's a few more from the recent work.

Susie

Tove

Jasmin

Paola

Feel free to comment. More updates soon...
James

Evolution Revolution...

Well, I decided to kick start my "Evolution Project". I shot this first series in 2005. It's a fine art series that started out based on a contrast of Darwin's Evolutionary Theory vs. Adam and Eve(Bible version). Click to see larger versions(for all images below).

This is my version of "Darwin's Evolution"....Darwin's classic monkey develops into man theory.

This is the 4th image in the Adam and Eve series, "Original Sin", where Eve finally gets Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. The funny thing is in this case, art imitates life, where many times, man's spouses get them to do what they will...when they will it...hahahaha...but I digress...


Closeup on the 3rd image in the series of the Darwin's Evolutionary Theory. I loved the halting motion of this image. The hair also gave it a life and energy which I enjoyed.


This is a print from the second step in the series. What I loved about this image is the unbridled primal energy that she is exuding. This is EXACTLY what I wanted out of this series. I wanted to recreate the primal nature of man as we were thousands and millions of years ago. Back then the rules were survival of the fittest and "Last man standing".

So...that was October 2005. I had a show in Jersey City at Rikki Reich's "The Studio" and had a great showing of the work. It got a little press(below)

So fast forward to 2008. I've started up the project again. The project covers men and women of all races. The beauty of the mud is that it shows everyone as the same, as God intended it before man put his prejudices into the world.

I want to convey the range of primal emotions and energy that mankind has. Man has historically been a very aggressive species. I want those inner emotions to come out on film. The images from this are very strong and visceral(see contact sheets below). That primal strength and emotion is shown here in it's dark beauty.


So....I have started the project anew. I'll be adding to the project more frequently now. Check back often to see more updates...feel free to comment.

"News Flash"

News Flash is a women's story I did for Florida International Magazine for their September 2008 issue. I thought it would be nice to document the shoot for a behind the scenes look...

The Crew:
James Weber, Photographer
David Widjaja, Stylist
Kim Weber, Makeup
Miki Mori, Hair
Chris Miggles, Assistant/Set Design
Jason Koontz, Video

I'd like to thank Jason Koontz for his work on this piece. www.jasonkoontz.com. He did an amazing job videotaping and editing this for me.

Darkness Reigns

I've got a thing for darkness. There's something different that happens when the sun goes down and the lights turn on. No matter what night you go out, the lights will be different. It's an ever changing landscape that's just so rich. Take a look up when you're walking in the city at night. Look to see the lights in the windows. Each window has it's own story. I'll be exploring the city high and low over the next few months for this project. Here's a few from day 1.One of the problems I thought I would run into going out alone at night is getting approached, or even robbed of my camera. When I was taking this shot, ipod buds in ear, music playing, I hear this, "hello!". I turn to my right and there's this older homeless man watching me. He started telling me about when he had a camera, and can he see what I was shooting, etc. It was a mostly harmless encounter which ended well, as I talked to him for a little while, but it could have been much different. You have to keep an eye out, and maybe only use one earbud. :)

Gord-eous

I know, I should be shot for that title, but I've been naming fashion stories too long. How many times have you seen, "Flights of Fancy"....but I digress...

I bought these at a pumpkin stand in Long Island and thought their shapes were just really interesting. Not to compare these to "Bell Pepper No. 30"(Edward Weston's classic image), but I wanted to shoot something in that vein. Fine Art meets the Gord Family...another project I shot just cause...

Classic Beauty

This is a series that I shot as a part of a larger fashion story, but these few stood out to me individually. I think it shows a little bit of who this woman is. Strong in some photos yet soft and vulnerable in others. I love flowing elements in my work, especially in my fashion.

Welcome

Welcome to my random visual musings. I'll be posting up new and old work, random shots and projects that may not make it to my website that interest me.

About Me: I got started in photography by joining the U.S. Navy in March of 1994 to be a Navy Photographer. I went into the recruiter's office and said, here's the deal. Get me the photography job or that's it. I don't want to do anything else in the Navy. Call me if it comes up. Well...three months later they called, and I left for bootcamp in Orlando, FL two weeks later. After bootcamp, I was sent to the Defense Photography School in Pensacola, FL. I was given my choice of orders and chose Misawa, Japan as my first duty station. I had three wonderful years in Japan. Many of those experiences I'm going to share with you here, but there's sooo much scanning I have to do. I shot everything on film or chrome then, so that's one of my projects. As I get the work scanned in, I'll share it here.

At the end of my tour in Japan, they said I could do two more years in Japan, or sign for another year and a half and go to Hawaii. There really was no choice but to go to Hawaii for three years. Another amazing time, once more documented on film(scanning, scanning, scanning)...so there will be more to come from this period as well.

So then a friend of mine convinced me to come to New York and go be a starving artist there. I figured that was a good a place as any to start the starving process, so I packed my bags I went to NYC. Eight years and a bunch of ramen noodles later, I've survived and started a nice photography business here in NY. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

Thanks for stopping by and taking a glimpse through my lens.