Tag Archives: Product and Still Life

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Confessions of an Instragrammer. By Kevin Twomey.

@Kevin Twomey Instagram Photography

I love how when I see a Kevin Twomey image on Instagram, I never know it is his.  That is because he isn’t taking photographs of the things he does in his studio.  Instead he is photographing exactly the opposite.  And, being that he is a still life photographer, his world has opened up!   

Enjoy a recent blog post he wrote confessing his latest obsession.

“If you have not yet succumbed to the crack-like lure of instagram, all I can say is, don’t start.

It began simply enough, with me capturing stills on my iPad.  The iPad, as it turns out, is but a gateway drug: as a professional photographer, the limitations of its vastly inferior camera soon had me hijacking my wife’s iPhone to capture interesting images during our weekend hikes.  First, it was with her permission, but after I vomitously filled up her phone with my addiction, she cut me off.

I wandered the streets, desperate to fill that 16Gb void in my soul, and soon found a smartphone dealer who would sell me an iPhone. As a still-life photographer, I had been so used to the 4×5, taking my time, carefully crafting my shots, that using something a fraction of its size and weight was absolutely liberating!  I spent more and more hours under the influence of its euphoric filters, convinced that the next hit would yield that elusive high of PhotoShopped wonder.  I found acceptance in the Instagram community.

Instagram takes care of me.  It provides me with apps to nurture my creativity (first one is always free). It feeds my desire to observe and my obsessive need to shoot. After all, they are parented by Facebook, known for respecting -many- of the privacy filters they offer.  Except on January 17th.  Need I say more?

I can stop any time, though.  I can control it.  I’m not like those obsessive users driven to enter competitions, instacanvas and type-those-endless-keywords-on-a-scren-so-tiny-you-might-suck-it-up- your-nostrils-if-you-look-too-close.

It is just that it is my civic duty to mentor the social media generation, to impart professional wisdom gleaned from years of practice.

Or so I tell myself, as i watch my images flash by on my niece’s iPhone, shared and re-shared in a blindingly-fast display of teenage thumbwork.”

To view more of my instagram images please go to :  kevintwomey.com/instagram

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Heather Elder Represents Rethinks the Agency Portfolio.

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Last year, we decided that it was a good time to create an AGENCY PORTFOLIO.  We had a fantastic group of photographers and many opportunities to show it off.  We didn’t want it to be a typical group book that had a section for each photographer.  While we like those and they are always very strong, we wanted ours to be a little different so that it would stand out more at events such as Le Book’s Connections.

What we came up with was a portfolio divided by SPECIALTY instead of by PHOTOGRAPHER.  We liked this idea because it allowed us to showcase the type of work our group can offer while allowing the viewer to file our group away by different specialities.  Of course it is always our main goal for a creative to learn who our photographers are and what they shoot individually.  This will never change.  But, by offering an alternate way for them to view the work in our group, we are opening up another opportunity for them to remember the work.

More often than not the Agency Portfolio is shown in conjunction with the individual portfolios so if a viewer is interested in seeing more, they can choose to do so right then and there.  This is particularly helpful in a setting like Le Book Connections because there are so many books to view and it can get overwhelming for some. We have found that our agency book provides a breath of fresh air in a crowded market.

Take a look for yourself and see.  It is no mistake that we chose the song, Breathe by Sia as the background music.  Enjoy!

Click here to see the video of our Agency Portfolio

Click here to see the video of our Agency Portfolio

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Don’t “Freak Out” – you can now see Hunter Freeman’s portfolio on video.

As with the others in our group, we have created a video for Hunter Freeman’s portfolio.  And, in keeping with his style he chose a song that will make you chuckle. Hint:  See title of this post.  And, to add his own brand of humor, the song is performed by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.  Check it out below.

Hunter Freeman’s Video Photography Portfolio

If you would like to see Hunter’s portfolio in person, please email us here.  And, to see more of his work.  Be sure to link to his website.

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Haven’t had a chance to see Kevin Twomey’s portfolio up close and personal? See what you are missing.

As I mentioned in our first video portfolio post last week, it is pretty rare when we get to send out a portfolio for a request. Nowadays, they are used mostly for portfolio shows and events.  It doesn’t make them any less important of course.  In fact, I would argue they are even more important now.  They are rarely seen so when they are they need to shine!

We thought it would be great if more people were able to see the portfolio so we asked Marc Viarta, a videographer, to video tape someone reviewing Kevin Twomey’s portfolio.  We added some fun music and posted them to Vimeo.  We will be adding Kevin’s video as well as others from our group to our websites soon.

If you would like to see Kevin’s portfolio in person, please email us – we would love the request!  And, if you would like to see Kevin’s website, please link here.

Link here to see Kevin Twomey’s video portfolio

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Birth of a Gummy Bear

When the trend started a few years back where photographers started learning to shoot video, many people wondered how a still life photographer could utilize video and still make it interesting.  Kevin Twomey has shown once again that it is entirely possible to do so by exploring yet another interesting subject, The Birth of a Gummy Bear.  When I asked him about it, here is what he had to say.

“I look at food as a still life challenge, asking myself how I would represent it in a way that stimulates the senses beyond the predictable “mmm, delicious”.   How might I evoke an emotional, rather than salivary, response?

The gummy bear imagery emerged after toying with ideas for a holiday card a couple of years ago, where I explored the after-effects of destroying
candy (mostly by smashing them to bits).  Experimentally melting some pieces, I saw how beautiful they looked as their sugars liquified.  That
led to the microwaving of gummy bears, which then led to my seeking a more precise way of melting: the hair dryer.  As I strategically melted the
gummy bears for my still shots, I noticed how beautifully the thick liquid flowed.  The dynamics were so compelling, I had to film them, not just
melting to their demise, but in a way that celebrates the creation of the beloved candy.”

To see more videos by Kevin Twomey, link to previous blog posts about other videos he created or to his website.

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The People Burn Project – An artist works 8 months to create a sculpture just so it can be set on fire.

People Burn Project - Kevin Twomey, paper sculpture

© Kevin Twomey – http://www.kevintwomey.com

Kevin Twomey recently worked on a project that was unlike any other he had experienced in his career.  It was called “The People Burn Project.”  A project created by Fitzgerald + Co. for Bulwark, a company that make flame-resistant clothing.  Their message is powerful, “Because people aren’t fireproof.”

A mere description of the project could never do it justice so be sure to link to the Bulwark site to watch the 8 month time-lapse video, review the  stills from the day of the burn and to watch the video about the project.

Here is what Kevin had to say about the project:

“In April I went to Los Angeles to photograph a paper sculpture, 16’ in diameter, built by Jeff Nishinaka, an incredibly talented, world-renown artist. Taller than me by a couple of feet and as long a van, the structure took 8 months to build, 2 days to piece together, 2 days to photograph in the studio,  but only minutes to burn.

The project was part of a campaign, created by Fitzgerald + Co. for the company Bulwark who makes flame-resistant apparel. The message was wonderfully simple: paper is no less fragile than life.

With a very tight schedule, needing to photograph numerous angles in a day, we decided we would turn the set into a giant 16′ lazy susan and spin it around until we got the right lighting and camera position. It was a perfect and simple solution.

Artist Jeff Nishinaka had created such wonderful detail and character in the figures that the lighting approach for these figures was obvious:  bring these figures to life by bringing out as much detail and dimensionality as possible.

After the still shots of the sculpture were complete it was dismantled and reassembled in a quarry outside of LA. The final step to this project was filming it while it burned into nothing. Watching this was quite extraordinary. As it was burning I glanced over at the artist. I figured he would be sad to watch so many hours of his work go up in smoke but I was surprised to see that he was enjoying the process from beginning to end.”

Kevin Twomey - People Burn project - Paper sculpture

© Kevin Twomey – http://www.kevintwomey.com

Kevin Twomey - People Burn project - Paper sculpture

© Kevin Twomey – http://www.kevintwomey.com

Kevin Twomey - People Burn project - Paper sculpture

© Kevin Twomey – http://www.kevintwomey.com

Kevin Twomey - People Burn project - Paper sculpture

© Kevin Twomey – http://www.kevintwomey.com

Click here for Time Lapse Video of Paper Sculpture Creation

Click here for Video Interview with artist and information about the project

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See why Kevin Twomey connects his shoot with a pelican to The Chaos Theory. Check out the images and video and see if you agree.

© Kevin Twomey

After the success of Julianna Baggot’s book PUR, Grand Central Publishing released the second book in the series, Fuse.  And, once again,  Kevin Twomey had the honor of photographing the cover.  And this time, it didn’t feature butterflies.  It featured a pelican.  When we asked Kevin to share some of his experience with us, here is what he wrote.

“There are times when I become so wrapped up in the technical challenges of an assignment that not until its end do I realize how inspiring it was.  The photographing of a pelican’s wing for the cover of Fuse, the second book in Julianna Baggott’s post-apocalyptic trilogy, was just such an assignment.

From the photograph, you can see the impressive 8-foot wingspan of Neptune, the year-old pelican we had the pleasure of showcasing for this assignment.  The relationship with his trainer, Joe Krathwohl, was heartwarming; the pelican toddled behind Joe everyplace he went, even waiting outside the bathroom door for him.  Joe’s knowledge and passion for his work soon prompted us to bestow upon him the title of “bird whisperer”.

But what really inspired me was the turbulence generated by the powerful flap of his wings.  It brought to mind the chaos theory quote about how a bird (or butterfly) flapping its wings can affect the future course of weather halfway around the world.  It generates the indescribable feeling of being at the source of something simple yet incredibly powerful, and not yet knowing in which direction it will go.

And how privileged I felt to be able to capture that moment, from our chaotic environment of passion and expertise and inter-species relationships, when the bird flapped his wings.”