This last weekend I took a little road trip to Stevens Point, WI to catch up with my cousin Phil as well as meet up with my friend, Sarah. Sarah and I have been keeping in contact and met via social networks such as Instagram and Facebook. Even better yet, we have mutual friends! I swear, the older I get, the smaller the world gets. It was refreshing to hear only good things about Sarah before meeting her from those mutual friends. I also am a huge fan of her work. She even surprised me with an awesome gift when I arrived! (picture below)

http://instagram.com/p/U7tLbLFxEi/

She told me that it is supposed to signify our lives.  They start small and simple and as we grow older we understand more, have more control of what we do and have more responsibilities. All the little things in life become important to us as everything we know becomes larger and more intricate.  If Sarah is reading this, I hope I did the description of it’s meaning a little justice here.  She was short and sweet about describing it’s meaning.  It found a great home in my cubicle at work to keep my mind calm yet enticed by the awesome colors and patterns.

Great Shots From Saturday

What the Heck Happened?

How Did You Get Those Shots?

We simply used dry flour from the grocery store to create an almost surreal mist, fog, or cloud effect. There was a slight breeze at times, but understanding the wind’s direction gave us much more control over the effect we wanted. Not only was wind a factor, but proper throwing of the flour as well. We first tried throwing it out of a cup, which resulted in thicker, chunkier and more projectile masses of flour, which is eventually how my face got caked with it in the pictures above.

Trial and Error is Key

Once we started to throw out of our hands, we began to get more of a cloud type effect out of our attempts. The subject would throw as well as an assistant to the side to fill the frame with more cloud formations. I was a little nervous about getting all messy because I also had to handle my gear as well. It was actually fairly easy to remove the flour from the camera and my body by just simply patting down with a hat, scarf, or some kind of fabric. The trick is to stay away from moisture. Luckily it was winter here in Wisconsin, so we had a dry environment to work with. It was also nice to have the snow as additional accent to the perceived matter created by the flour. As time went on, we learned to manipulate the flour, we were able to get better shots and not just a huge mess. Sometimes a huge mess can be a beautiful thing though. I will definitely be utilizing flour again in my shoots especially in different seasons. I am also looking to add water to the mix to make it more textured as well if desired.

A Few More Favorites

One More Thing

So I have been progressing, processing, and discovering my style lately and I am excited to announce that I will be sharing some great techniques that reflect upon my style with you soon. I will also make some great Photoshop actions and possibly Lightroom presets available to you. Everything from blending modes, gradients, adjustment layers, curves, sharpening, noise reduction, and much much more.  I wil also be documenting my journey into conceptual photography through my new project POEMS, which is more of a visual diary of emotion than anything with a due date.

If you have any questions on this post, feel free to ask in the comments or send me an email here.