Eye to Eye

The two loves of my life!
Both images were shot with my Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 macro lens.

[click image for large view]

Finally Updating!

Hello everyone!  It has certainly been a while.  I apologize for being so lax when it comes to updating my blog!  But here's a little bit of an update:

As most of you may already know, I am staying in beautiful northern Jersey, literally minutes away from New York City and I am interning with commercial photographer Zachary Goulko!  I'm not even a month into my internship and I have already learned so much - from little post processing tips and tricks to seeing what goes on behind the scenes when putting together a shoot (it really is quite the production!) to getting to assist on an eight-page magazine spread shoot.

It really is kind of surreal, being here on internship.  It seems like not too long ago I was logging 12-14 hour days in the photo department, leaving every night reeking of photo chemicals.  The other day, I was speaking with someone, explaining why I was up here.  I nonchalantly was just telling him how I'm here for two months to work for and study under this photographer, and that my fellow Commercial photography students were spread out around the East coast doing the exact same thing.  He then jokingly said, "Well I'm nowhere near as cool as you."  I had to ask what he meant and he replied, "Well you're out living in New York for two months, working with a photographer and doing what you love.  I'm kind of jealous."
With those words, everything came into perspective.  I guess I have grown so comfortable with the idea of everyone leaving to pursue their dreams that I never really thought twice about it.  But what we are doing really is amazing.  We are getting the chance to do what we love and I am so lucky and so proud to be able to tell people that I am studying photography at Randolph Community College.

It really is thanks to you guys, my fellow students, that I am so proud of this school.  You've made this past year the best experience and I can't believe what little time we have left before we graduate and all go off to do big things!  Being out in the "real world" has really made me realize how much I have learned under the careful guidance of our amazing team of instructors and I want to thank everyone for making this the best time of my life!

Love you all!
XOXO
Holly

First Attempt at Time Lapse!

We had a time lapse assignment for John Rash this semester and I really actually enjoyed this project!  Turn up your volume and enjoy this 27-second long video (:

The Third & The Seventh

Last Tuesday, we had photographer Clint Clemens come into our school and speak.  He was an excellent speaker and had a lot of great things to say.  One of the main points he touched on was how the photography industry was moving to CGI, or Computer-Generated Imagery.  It was totally mind-blowing; scary, yes but so incredible!

So sit back, turn your volume up and hit the 'full screen' button on this video.  The whole thing is CGI.  So unbelievably beautiful:

Self Promo #6: Pumpkin Bread

For my very last promo of the semester, I decided to try something a little different.  All five of my previous self promos have involved a model of some sort so I wanted to do at least one that didn't have a person in it!

I love this time of year; autumn is my absolute favorite season.  And pumpkins are one of my favorite things in the world!  I did an ad for Starbucks' pumpkin bread and am pretty pleased on how it turned out.

Self Promo #5: Musician Matt Siegel Promo

My friend from high school, Matt Siegel, contacted me for some photos for his album coming out next year.  I happily agreed and then realized that I could use him for my fifth self promo, also!  He's a very talented musician, accompanying his ukelele with his amazing voice.  His sound is kind of acoustic folk-y, drawing inspiration from influences like Bon Iver and City and Colour.  I wanted to match his style of music with the photographs so I chose to have him barefoot and outside in nature... Hopefully, I achieved what I was going for!

Self Promo #4: Makeup/Beauty [FINAL]

I posted just one frame from my shoot with Andrea last time, so here's my final image!

Playing Art Director with Pringles

In our lighting class with James, we had to shoot a Pringles ad.  We got into groups and each had to design a different type of ad for Pringles.  For example, we had to either design an ad that would be on the aisle of a store or a dynamic ad that showed the texture.  Then, we each shot another group member's design.  That way, we were able to shoot one idea while being directed by the person and also, we got to play art director and direct someone else on the idea we came up with.

Here is the photo I shot, with direction from classmate Emily McNeal:

Contrast Creative: Behind The Scenes!

I worked for this great communications company called Contrast Creative in high school and from time to time, I still get to assist on shoots.  Over break, I had the chance to shoot some behind the scenes shots during a production.  Here are a few of the crew and cast working hard:

Director and camera man consulting.

Matt, the sound man!

Prepping the "patient" (actor).

Mike Milstead, standing in.

Mario the makeup artist, working his magic!

'Like' Contrast Creative's facebook page!

Let's Light Some Paper!

The other day, we got an assignment to shoot paper... Exciting, right?!  No, but really, it wasn't that bad.  We had to shoot higher end stationery, lighting it to emphasize texture and dimension.  We were put into groups to produce two shots -- a standard, "boring" shot and an interesting, dynamic shot.  I was lucky enough to work with Paul Budde, Richard Valle, and Emily McNeal.  Here are the two shots our group produced:

Grand Asia Market

The other day, I took a trip to the Grand Asia Market with my parents in Raleigh, NC.  I used to go here all the time before other Asian markets opened up around the area but I hadn't been back in a while.  I was out shooting the morning before we went so I had my camera in hand and decided to snap a few shots while we were in there!

They sell so many little trinkets and cute items!  So many different, carved Buddha's.

I love all the different, unique produce they sell!  So many great colors and textures! 

And of course... There were about a million different types of rice! 

I love their cakes, too.  The bright colors and fresh fruit -- they all look delicious!

Self Promo #4: Makeup/Beauty

Had an extremely successful shoot in the studio the other night!  It was my fourth self promo of the semester and I thought I'd get more familiar with studio lighting.  I'm extremely happy with the results, so take a look.  This is just one of four of my final shots.. I will post the rest post-critique!

Model: Andrea Young

MUA/Hair: Jennifer Gneiting

Post-process: Holly Rose Mann




LIGHTING SETUP DIAGRAM:

Would You Believe Me?

Another self promo!  Here's a sneak peek:

[click picture for full view!]

Oh, the Places You'll Go

This past week, the commercial students headed to downtown Greensboro for a class.  We had a great time shooting and roaming around, then joining up for lunch at Mellow Mushroom.  In this post, you get to see some of the lovely faces that I'm with all day everyday!

And.. These are also some of the people I will be heading to New York City with on October 26!  The whole second year photography class (along with several instructors) is heading to the PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo on a school-funded trip!  This will be my first time to New York City -- I'm so thrilled I can barely contain myself!

L-R: Brandon Warren, Andy Cloer, Daniel Storment

Left: Richard Valle / Right: Myself and Natalie Lowdermilk

Teacher John Rash and fellow student Richard opening the bill for lunch.

Yes, that's my teacher.

The best people in the world! Brandon, Walker, Natalie, and Kayleigh!

Some of the group!

Credit: Justin Icenhour

How Time Flies...

So I got to thinking earlier, about how far I've come since I started the RCC photography program a year ago.  I look around and see all these first year students, excited to find out what's ahead of them and I can't help but be a bit jealous!  I, myself have grown so much both as a person and a photographer, but I am also blessed to be surrounded by such talented, inspiring, and encouraging people -- fellow students and instructors alike.  There really is no better place on earth to learn this skill and I feel like I'm finally somewhere I belong.

It really is unbelievable that a year has flown by, and I'm sure this next year will go by even faster!  With our first internship coming up in a little over a month, I'm starting to realize how soon I'm going to be out in the real world on my own.  I can only hope and pray that I will stay in touch with the people I have come to know and love.

I know, I'm probably jumping ahead of myself.  I've still got quite a bit of time!  This blogpost is a bit heavy for such a lovely, summer evening; so for now, I suppose I'll sit back with my Starbucks and enjoy this long weekend!

Windows to Our Souls

My friends and I have been messing around with my macro lens and seeing what our eyes look like!  It's crazy to see all the little fibers and holes in our irises.  Take a look!

My right eyeball:

Jon's left eyeball:

Josh's left eyeball:

Natalie's left eyeball:

Self Promo #1: Perfume Advertisement

For my first self promo shot, I decided to do a perfume ad for Britney Spears' Curious.  I was going for a nighttime, magical, fairytale type feel and hopefully I achieved it!

Model: Caroline Simmons
Shot with: Nikon D90, 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

Lighting: One Nikon SB-900 speedlight camera left shot through umbrella

This shot was a composite; one photo of Caroline's torso and then two other photos make up the image of the perfume bottle.

Photo Resume

The first assignment of the semester: photo resume!  This was my first draft; the final version will be posted soon!

Headshots of Maria

So I had a nice long summer break of two-and-a-half weeks.  Over break, I had a couple of photography-related jobs, one of which was to shoot headshots for the lovely Maria!  Maria has acted and modeled for years and was in need of some acting headshots.  Here are a few shots we came up with!

Kitten Love

Preview for my summer semester portfolio:

Ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep

Our last weekly in my small format class was 'painting with light'.  I chose to use a super long shutter speed and I had my subject in the foreground lit by strobe and in the background, someone ran around with a lighter, lighting it up in different places.  It kind of gave it a firefly, fairytale look and I was pretty pleased with it.

Black Bow Affair

This is a re-edit of a photo from a shoot that I did with Andi Jurczak last semester.  I want a tilt shift lens so badly!

I Was Framed!

Our weekly in our small format class was framing.  We had to use elements within the scene to create a frame around our subject.  I went into a local flower shop to find this amazingly bright and colorful place. Luckily, the woman working inside was very used to RCC photo students coming in and taking photos and she was kind enough to let me snap a photo of her.

Another shot from the shop:

Happy Birthday America!

Our assignment in my digital class this week was "Americana" themed. Of course, it being the fourth of July, I took some firework photos. Enjoy!