Photoshopdi Sogno Photography | di Sogno Photography

Hi all! I know, it’s been a while, but I must admit that I’ve been busy making images, getting some continuing education, shooting a couple of personal projects and taking some mini vacations. So, where to start? How about with the continuing education…

Photoshop World Orlando, Florida

A few weeks after my last blog entry in late March, Ann and I took a week off from work and traveled to Orlando, FL to attend our first Photoshop World (PSW) presented by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. The number and scope of the educational courses presented by some very big names in the photography business was just overwhelming. So much so, that Ann and I only duplicated one course and we still wish that we had been able to clone ourselves to attend additional courses. Those however, will have to wait until next year. But we both came back energized and with our creative juices pumped.

We went down a few days early for one of those mini vacations, getting over to SeaWorld and Universal Studios amusement parks prior to attending PSW. We enjoyed SeaWorld immensely, particularly the dolphin and sea lion/walrus shows. Over at Universal we caught the Blues Brothers visit, listened to some great jazz and watched the street dancing. Our lunch at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant was a definite parrot head experience. Yes, we even made a stop at the Hard Rock Café for dinner prior to leaving the park.

Making Images

It seems as though something is happening with the economy and business is coming back a bit. I’ve been very busy taking a lot of head shots, for everyone from real estate agents; to HVAC company owners, to PR/Marketing folks. Here are just a few.

Now a shameless plug, if you or someone you know needs a new or updated shot, we have revamped our product and it now includes two poses in print and web resolution on CD for only $140.00. That’s a deal folks, so call for an appointment!

Four Generation Shoot

We had a location shoot on Mother’s Day, it was a family of 20 that included four generations, ranging in age from two infants that weren’t quite there yet, to about 88 years. They were a blast to work with and even fed us some great BBQ after we were done packing up.

Thanks to Joyce Forgoston-Bogrow for requesting the shoot and setting this up. According to Joyce, this was the first time in many years that a full family image was made.

Personal Projects

After returning from PSW with my creative juices flowing, I set up a couple of shoots in order to bring my vision to life. My first idea was to put together a shoot with a body painter and model. It was to be artistic in nature and mimic some of the great masters of the cubist era of fine art. vOn a Saturday in April it all came together. vLynn Cole did the body painting and Sally Klein was the model who agreed to be painted. In order to get some images to make composites, I shot Sally for around 30 minutes prior to letting Lynn take her. It took Lynn about 3 hours to paint Sally in the cubist look that you see below. People who have seen this image, tell me they like the juxtaposition of a work of art looking at a person as a work of art! There was a lot of fun had that day by all and when Sally got home, in her body paint, her son couldn’t quite believe it was her and that it would come off. She told me he gingerly touched her cheek to see if it was permanent! How cute was that!

Another project involved working with chiaro-scuro to do some figure studies using just one light. Chiaro-scuro (Italian for light-dark) is a technique that has light areas next to dark areas in an image. A model I shot a few years ago posed for this series of images and this is just one I really like.

Another Mini Vacation

The middle of May brought our anniversary and we took a long weekend and stayed at the Stonefort Inn in Chattanooga, TN. This was recommended to us and let me tell you, it is well worth it. It’s an old hotel converted to a bed and breakfast with only 16 bedrooms. A great place and the breakfasts are truly gourmet!

During our stay, we took a day trip from Chattanooga to Lynchburg, TN. I bet some of you know what’s there. It’s the home of the Jack Daniels distillery and it’s in a dry county. Talk about a dichotomy! The tour was interesting, particularly with our ‘good ‘ole boy’ guide. I never knew that maple charcoal could add such a great taste to the whiskey.

We stopped by the White Rabbit Bottle Shop at the end of the tour and came home with a commemorative bottle of single barrel Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey. We haven’t opened it yet, but we are thinking about having a few folks over for a taste testing with the other Jack Daniels products that can be found at your local bottle shop.

So as you can see, I’ve been busy lately and really enjoining it. Until the next time, take care and call if you’d like a portrait or need some images to update your web site. I know, I know, another shameless plug!

Cars and Characters…

This past holiday, we went to our old home town of Cincinnati, OH to catch up with some family. Knowing that each 4th of July, the city of Aurora, IN (near Cincinnati) holds a judged car show, I made sure to bring my camera along. (Like I ever go on a road trip without it!) There were many different types and ages of cars there and I felt that two of them stood out from the rest.

The first was this 1957 Chevrolet Corvette. It was finished in a beautiful red/white and of all of the ‘vettes there, my attention just kept coming back to this one. Probably because it was almost as old as me! The only nit was that the mechanical restoration wasn’t original. Even with that, it still grabs me even in a vintage black and white image.

The second one, that I thought was the most unique car at the car show this year, is a 1929 Chevrolet 3-Door Woody. It is totally customized with a 327 cu. in. engine bored out to .060 over the standard cylinder size and has 3 two-barrel carburetors . For those that don’t understand car-speak, that is a modern engine that has been made larger and more powerful to give better performance, not gas mileage.

The owner of this vehicle seems to be honoring our military personnel, past and present. The chalkboard dedication says “In honor of all our Military Hero’s, POW * MIA”.

He displayed what is called a Soldier’s Cross. It’s often placed at a spot of a fallen soldier and represents the final march of the last battle – items the soldier no longer needs. It is also displayed as a memorial to those who didn’t make it home.

The fuel tank seems very dangerous indeed…surrounded by .50 caliber rounds and fragmentation grenades! And his passenger (below) has a very ominous stare.

Since this was over the 4th of July holiday, I suppose the sentiment was well meant, but some of the imagery was fairly gruesome. I guess the owner was trying to add a bit of reality.

Speaking of unique things, I captured this individual walking around at the car show and I thought he was the most unique person there. After all, how many people do you see walking down the street with a pet Boa Constrictor wrapped around their neck! Unique INDEED!

All in all, it was a fun morning at the car show.

Saving Memories

A few months ago a friend of ours lost her mother to an illness. While going through old photos, she realized that she didn’t have any photos of her mother other than snapshots taken at differing times in the past. She asked if I could take a couple of the images and help her save some memories by creating a formal images from the snapshots.

She wanted to use this image because of the great smile on her mother’s face. The original 4×6 image was taken about 10 years ago and her mother and friend appeared very small in comparison to the whole image. To separate her mother from her friend, and create a formal image, the crop needed to be very small. After scanning the image to a digital file and cropping, a lot of the original film grain could still be seen. This meant that it wouldn’t be a clean, sharp image, so I cleaned up the scratches and dust spots and softened it a bit to remove the graininess. Printed on water color paper it looks more like a piece of hand drawn art rather than a photograph.

This image of her mother was taken at their rehearsal dinner. I cropped in a bit to help remove the background clutter and added a vignette. That almost completed the work but her face was a bit washed out by the flash, so I hand colored it to make it look more natural. And that finished the work on the images.

Our friend purchased both a desk size and wall size of each image. I am glad I could help her save some memories.

Head Shots

We’re still doing a good business with corporate head shots. Even with a slow economy, folks understand the need for a professional image and are coming in to have me create it. Remember that the image you show on your website or collateral, IS the image people see of your business. Make sure it conveys what you want it to!

That’s all for now. Be sure to follow us on Twitter or become a fan of our Facebook page! You can also follow all updates by subscribing to the RSS feed on this page. Take care!

It’s June Already!

Unique cars, characters and restorations!

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