Day 354 - Project365

Oh how I could get used to having coffee brought to me in bed, breakfast made and having the water front only a short walk out the backyard. But… like Guinness, good things never last. I had decided not to drive home last night after the exhausting day of shooting. By the time we had finished chatting in the back by the fireplace, enjoying a cold organic beer and explaining why breasts make getting a internet following much easier, it was 10:30.

I still had the blog to write and I could barely keep my eyes open.

I went up stairs to start recalling the events. I wasn't more than 2 minutes into the blog when Leah comes out of her room, plops down and announces that she is going to my website. "great, now she's going to go through my site and realize I can't spell!" Luckily she did notice the fact that I am a photographer first and writer second. She offered to help correct the blogs from the last two days. Something I never turn down since a 3rd grader can spell better than me and that Leah writes a column for a magazine and that makes her qualified in my eyes! I decided it would be best to take a shower and let her correct in peace. Knowing my tendency to butcher the English language coupled with my lack of sleep. I wasn't too sure how much peace she would get reading my raw blogs.

25 minutes later I walk out, and she's still going. Of course, I thought she was about to tell me there was over 500 mistakes. Luckily there wasn't too many and I breathed a sigh a relief.

Fast Forward back to the future! With the smell of fresh coffee next to me, I decided to get up after only 8 hours of sleep. My body and brain were clearly in opposition of my rash decision as every muscle in my body refused to function normally. I pushed myself to make it to the bathroom and into the shower.

The steam from the shower was causing the sun streaming through the blinds to create beautiful rays of light. That, coupled with the hot water was enough to wake me up. If I was capable of multi tasking in the slightest way, I would have drank my coffee while showering. However, knowing that i'd end up wasting my hair with hot coffee and drinking shampoo, I opted to avoid that catastrophe.

I had to forgo a formal breakfast and substitute a day old muffin. Leah, Patty, Gary and I headed down to Boynton Beach to check out the Graffiti wall. I was hoping that Marcus had finished but was sad to see that it still needed a few more hours. Not long after we arrived, we were approached by a young man with dreadlocks reaching his mid back. Wearing a bright red T-shirt and donning a respirator, we knew right then that he was a nuclear physicist conducting research on the growth cycle of mushrooms in heavily industrial areas of the south each continental United States. Well that was my first guess but turns out he was an artist and a pretty damn good one at that. Chan was the one responsible for the incredible mural we had been staring at for the past 10 minutes. Being one to see opportunity when it presents itself, I asked Chan if he would like to participate in a impromptu photo shoot. He was more than happy and soon after I was setting up for the 354th time this year. Gary looks at me and with a half serious, half sarcastic tone says "why can't you just take a picture? why do you always need all this gear" My response was simple. "well, if that were the kind of photographer I was, you would have never hired me!" It was funny because sometimes I ask myself the same question! "damn it michael… just grab your camera and take the damn shot!" never works!

I looked for the only shade in the area to setup in. It just so happened to be in front of Marcus's Mural. Chan seemed apprehensive about posing with someone else's art but I assured him this was only for the black wall and shade and that he was going to be removed and put in front of his art.

Standard procedure for me… bust out every piece of gear I own, fumble to set it up a for 3 hours only to shoot for 2 minutes and the break it all down. Have I told you I have a near un healthy obsession with Photography? Seriously, I have gotten crazy fast at setting up. I remember the first day I got the Alien Bees. It must have took me over an hour to figure out how to get the damn things to flash!

I may not have taken 3 hours to setup but I did only shoot for 2 minutes. I knew what I wanted and didn't want to waste Chan's time as I think he had 62 more murals to paint before dark. No shit, this guy is fast! So fast, that some artists, advise him to slow down! Its odd that people have the conception that the longer something takes, the better is will be, especially with art.

Painting with Spray cans for only the past 5 years, this 28 year old master of his craft started when a friend suggested he paint something on a wall during a BBQ. He had been been painting with airbrush and brushes for 6 years prior to that. Sometimes its something as small as a suggestion that plants the seed of inspiration. This is another form of art that I have a lot of respect for. Not only because I know what kind of skill goes into it, but also what kind of endurance it takes. I spray painted a 2'x4' board solid grey and by the time I was done. My finger and forearm were burning from what felt like a gallon of lactic acid build up. Chan, Marcus and the rest of the graffiti artist seem to be able to paint for hours with out the slightest hint of discomfort.

So, after grabbing the quick shots of Chan I shot several 5 shot HDRs of 2 of the garage doors he had painted. The two murals in the shot are not really next to each other. I slapped them together with the magic of Photoshop.

If you live in the south florida area and want to check the crazy amount of art in the Boynton beach area, definitely check out the ActivistArtista Bay Gate Project at the Boynton beach art district.

You can check Chan's work out at www.Chanimalart.com

Oh and if your read yesterdays blog you know that I had crazy hair to mask out… what a nightmare. I wanted to rip my own hair out, strand by strand! By far, the hardest, most time consuming and tedious masking job!! I wish I could say I'm done.. but I have 3 more crazy hair shots to prepare for backgrounds. Fun… wow!

Lighting:

AB800 Med Gridded Softbox at both 10:00 and 2:00. full power
AB800 Beauty Dish Boomed overhead at 6:00 1/2 power

Triggered Via Cyber Syncs and Commander.

Heres a quick source file for this shot.


Click on image to enlarge