GXU Images

Bill Allard Workshop

Sat, 19 May 2012 20:23:45 +0000

I’m in Day 2 of a 3 day Bill Allard workshop focused on learning to ‘see’ better and to take more journalistic style photos (at least that’s what I’m focusing on in this workshop). Our first full day consisted of a morning spent photographing the Charlottesville farmer’s market and the Bellair Farm. We had about 6 hours to shoot, select 5 images, and present them to the class and Bill, unedited (for those that know me, know how difficult that is for me). I decided to post the five images I selected below, along with my edited photo after hearing comments.

In this photo he told me to eliminate the tent poles and buildings on the left (that’s a theme of this weekend so far, cut away extraneous elments), and he wished my DOF was a bit wider and more focus on the strawberries.

This photo he just didn’t like at all. I believe his words were, ‘there’s not much you can do to make this any good’. Sigh…, and that’s the realities of a public photo critique by a world famous photographer. I like the idea behind it (even if he didn’t), that this sets up a story about strawberry picking on the farm. No?

I got the impression that he didn’t mind this one too much. He wanted me to step to the left a bit more to separate the woman from the tree behind her, and to bring down the highlights a bit.

Not my favorite photo, but I thought Bill Allard would appreciate the cowboy hat. I should have shot it vertically as he suggested, and I upped the contrast a bit and toned down the highlights to even out the overall exposure.

This is another one where I liked the idea, behind it more than he did. I made the crop he suggested, but I think that changes the story a bit too much.

PVCC video

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:00:08 +0000

I finish up the graphic design program at PVCC tonight, and wanted to share a promotional video for the program that I and a few other students have been working on. Bridget Moriarty handled a majority of the writing, Marshal Camden worked on the design pieces you see in the video and music, and I did the photography and editing. We shot this at 3 frames per second at the Black Box Theatre at PVCC. A majority of the video editing was done in Photoshop.

Dzy

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:43:57 +0000

The last of my Paris shoots, but the most challenging on a few levels. Dzy and I communicated for a few weeks before I arrived, and we had to find a good location to shoot, the right outfit, and a make up artist all before I got to France. I had a single light and a softbox with me (a big thanks to Nick Silvester for helping me with this one), and we spent a few hours wandering around the 4th adrossiment getting these shots. Add in a slight language barrier, and the fact that we attracted crowd everywhere we went, and it was quite a shoot.

Caroline

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:51:11 +0000

Caroline is an young actress that I met one morning at an outdoor market in Paris. We spent a few hours wandering around the market and the side streets working on some editorial style photographs. This was a unique shoot for me as a photographer as I didn’t bring any lights with me on this one (not even a reflector). I really liked the photos we made together, and look forward to incorporating more of this style into my book.

To see more: Caroline in Paris

Marlowe in Paris

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:23:05 +0000

While in Paris, good friend Joel Codiamat let me tag along to his shoot with Marlowe. She’s a Charlottesville native in Paris with a modeling agency and was kind enough to join us on a cold, windy, and raining afternoon. Thanks Joel, and thanks Marlowe.

New Sites

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:20:13 +0000

I’ve spent the past few weeks updating my website and re-arranging my online presence. I’m trying to narrow down the focus of my work, and for me that starts with what I show online and how I show it.

I split off my business & corporate design and photography work into one site: gxuimages.com

I’m going to focus my photography work in the near future and am going to start with the fashion and glamour photography I’ve been shooting lately: p.gxuimages.com

I’ll keep posting regularly to the blog, http://p.gxuimages.com/blog/, and also to a few other online sites:

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gubilla
500px: http://500px.com/gxuimages
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/GXU-Images/151371628229581

Let me know what you think of the sites and the content. As I narrow the field of what I design and what I photograph, I’m hoping to improve the quality of my work. I’d like to spend my summer focusing on improving the quality of my work.

Johanna

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:28:30 +0000

Shot these awhile ago with the help of Marcus Hyde over at Studio 8 in Richmond. Johanna’s a talented model from the Miami area.
MUA: Kelley Farlow

Ashley L

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:07:54 +0000

Ashley L drove up to Charlottesville one weekend not too long ago so we could do some test fashion and glamour photos. This is what we got.

Ashley

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:34:19 +0000

Ashley and I met a few months ago at a studio model workshop, and after shooting a few images together we knew we’d have to schedule a full session together. The photos below are the result of that session together, along with the help of Nikki Benedikt as the MUA.

Paris in the rain

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:43:05 +0000