So it has been a while since I’ve posted anything here. A lot has been going on since my last post. For those who know me personally, this may be old news. I moved from Washington to Erie for a bit and when that didn’t work out, I moved back to the Pittsburgh Area. I spent 2 years living in Beechview with an old friend. I had wonderful access to the City of Pittsburgh and photographed there often and frequently.  I got a job working in the West End for a company that had a data entry contract. That job changed my life for the best. I met a wonderful woman that I will be marrying on the 10th of August of this year.

2012 was a great year for my photography. Although the commercial aspect of the business was slow, I undertook a grand project that spanned an entire year. I started a Picture a Day project. I set strict guidelines for myself. Each day I had to shoot a new image for that day only. I had to shoot it between 12:00am and 11:59pm, edit it, and post it online. I didn’t even realize until the middle of January that it was a leap year. 366 images are now part of my 2012 Picture a Day project that I successfully completed on New Year’s Eve 2012. One of those images received a great deal of exposure and made it’s way around the social media outlets. It was a lucky snap of multiple lightning bolts above Pittsburgh.

In the summer of 2012 I met a great group of people that share my love of Urban Exploration. We visit old and abandoned places, capture images and document the state of things and share our view of these places with the world. I’m so fortunate to have met up with such a great group of new friends and talented photographers.

 

At the time of writing this, my fiancee and I have been in our home for almost a year. Oh, how the time flies. It seemed like only yesterday that we closed and took a picture of the two of us holding the keys to our new home.

I am now in the process of updating my antiquated website and building a stronger presence on the web. 2013 and beyond will see me concentrating more on my work, both commercial and personal. I will attempt to keep up with this blog to the best of my ability. Here’s to a great rest of 2013!

©2013 DivineMayhemStudios

So the Former State Pen in Moundsville, WV is apparently a super-ultra haunted place. It was shut down over 15 years ago and the tourism department has opened it up to “guests”. They have an overnight event billed as a ghost hunt on the weekends during the spring and summer. 8pm to 6am, bring your own illumination. Needless to say, I handed over the cash without a second thought.

I went with a friend of mine from college and her husband. It was awesome to reconnect with old friends, and even more so at a sweet place like this. After our tour and pizza (yes, they fed us) I went to work. Many open shutter-flash-light painting shots later (about 5:15am) I called it a night.

I met a lot of cool dudes that evening. I had an amazing time. I got to be in an environment that I haven’t been in for quite some time. I think I nailed these shots. I’m thinking about having an exhibition of them. I’m that pleased.. Here’s one, and the rest will come soon. Enjoy!

©2010 DivineMayhemStudios

A real stress reliever for me, the photo walk, combines a bit of exercise, photographic exploration and for me the challenge of limiting myself to one theme and lens choice. I think of a subject to shoot and attempt to keep myself within those bounds. People that know me well are aware of my ability to become distracted and photograph in one small spot for an extended period of time!
Yesterday, I went on a photo walk through town to capture a few shots of the emerging spring flowers. I took my 18-70 f/3.5 lens and my close-up filters. (I’ve come to discover that the filters aren’t of the best quality and they make me want an f/1.4 lens) The following pics are a few of my favorites from the walk.

©2010 DivineMayhemStudios

Apologies to all that have attempted to contact me via the contact form on the website. As it always happens, when you upgrade something (website, computer, etc…) something gets left out. One minor word in one line of code messed everything up. (actually 4 letters were the culprit!) The problem is now fixed on my end, Contact away!

©2010 DivineMayhemStudios

Matt and Beth are getting hitched in September at Oglebay. A photographer friend of theirs shot engagement pictures for them that they were very pleased with. She is in the wedding, and is unable to document the day. This is where I come in. They booked me to photograph their wedding and I am really excited to do so. They’re a great couple and Matt is a real character. I usually do an engagement shoot with my wedding packages, but seeing how they had already done one, I was kinda bummed out. I convinced them to come to Mingo Park for a brief session with Matt’s prized Harley. I needed to have an image to place on their guestbook table and some images to make announcement cards. We got some great shots, a few of which I’m sharing here. Enjoy!

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios

Here’s a few images from a recent wedding I shot with Pam from CasaualMoments Photography.

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios

Day Seventeen (1am)

So I’ve finished the light editing and have bumped the image count up to 465 with various additions, duplicate B&W and color images, and a few sepia toned thrown in for good measure.

I’m starting on the retouches that I couldn’t do in Lightroom. Photoshop is an old friend of mine and together we make some pretty fantastic things happen. This example is far from fantastic, but I wanted to share nonetheless.

I had an image that contained stray background elements that I could not creatively crop out at the time of shooting. Devilish power lines. Hideous!

Here’s the RAW file:
With some skill and control over frustration, I managed to rid my image of the dreaded power lines. I applied a contrast boost in a few color areas strengthening the red end of the spectrum. I warmed the image up a touch and tossed a slight Gaussian blur ring around the outermost elements of the image to get this:

I liked the image greatly, but also wanted to see what it would look like in Black & White. A few parameter adjustments from the “soft skin” preset in Silver Efex Pro and we have this:

And sometimes (just sometimes) you need to be selective:

I will keep all 3 edits and print them for the proof book. I believe that they all have their merits and deserve a place in the proof book. Let the bride and groom decide which they like best.

More to come!

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios

Day Sixteen

A few more images from the edits. I’m nearly done with all of the “slight retouch” images and moving on the the formals and images that really stand out. These will get an additional level of attention and polish.

And two of the gentlemen…

Stay tuned for more!

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios

A few more

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios

Day nine
I’ve gotten the number down to a more reasonable 429 images. That number will go up, but may lose a few as well. I usually include both a color and b&w image if I can’t decide between the two.

I have been averaging 60 images a day in editing, pusing a select few into Photoshop for some real polishing. Here are a few of my favorites so far.

©2009 DivineMayhemStudios