Week 5 with ajbc photography (artistic port huron, michigan photographer

I'm not sure where all this Black and White is coming from...
It just seems right. 
This week I wanted to focus on an easy concept. No photoshop, no craziness, no time-consuming props. Just an "in camera" photograph. A lot of the time that takes more skill then a photo you spend hours tweaking with keys and controls in a program. 
I wanted to play with depth of field, lighting, texture, something abstract. 
When we took this shot I was very interested in how it looked and felt more like a painting then a photograph. I could picture someone drawing these forms and laying a piece out in this way. 
The circle is just a basket we held up (I love how it draw your attention right to her beautiful, sparkling, almost haunting eyes, and the fun abstract sguiggles is a just a branch I found while walking outside one day. 
All together, I feel as though it makes for an interesting piece.

Our more simplistic, softer concept below:

Last Call- week 4 with ajbc photography (port huron, michigan creative portrait photographer)

"Last Call" by ajbc photography
week 4 of the 52 week project

"Staring at a ghost across a table set for two,
This is the last call before the credits roll.
The charm of silver screen depression saturated in alcohol.
It's so seductive.
Filtered through tobacco haze.
It's so fucking intoxicating,
The way they glimmer through the grain and make dysfunction such a fashion."
-Every Time I Die

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Just like last week:
week 3
This week started with a different idea in mind too. 
That's the nice things about art- ideas form, forms take shape, shapes change. 
I'm ok with that. 
Here's the original concept, 8 images meshed in to one. When I was done I just felt like it was too much and the original concept and strength was lost, so I broke things down. 

Fly Apart- week 3 with ajbc photography (artistic port huron, michigan photographer)

Fly Apart.
It's a phrase you'll find in the Thesaurus for Explode.
I find it much more elegant and appropriate. 
The whole point of this project for me, for us, for ajbc photography as a whole is to get outside the box, be different, yet still be beautiful. Tell a story, BE the art, make people think. I'm super happy this week because I feel like we unknowingly achieved ALL of that, even though our initial idea got thrown out the window.  

Below is actually where the whole idea started. With the driveway, some white sheets, black acrylic paint, and a butterfly. We grew from there. Although the final image I chose wasn't what we planned on, it's always interesting to see what stems from what. And sometimes, even if it's "wrong" that's the best part about it. 

I obviously have to give HUGE credit to Taylor for being SO willing to help me with ideas, go outside in the freezing cold, "strip" down, and cover her hands in harsh black paint, all for the sake of art, all for the sake of exploring, all for the sake of letting our creativity explode. 
Fly Apart. 

Submerge and Emerge- week 2 with ajbc photography (artistic port huron photographer)

"Submerge and Emerge"

submerge |səbˈmərj|
verb [ with obj. ] (usu. be submerged)
• [ no obj. ] descend below the surface

emerge |iˈmərj|
verb [ no obj. ]
move out of or away from something and come into view

I think you subconsciously do things, sometimes. While forming the idea for this shot in my head, I wasn't all that sure where it came from. But after hours of editing, things started to emerge.
This image says a lot of things to me, and may say a lot of different things to you. Or maybe it says nothing and it's just a nice picture. That's ok too. But to me I see getting lost, I see submersion in to a new world, and I see freedom. Freedom was the last thing I saw in this image but it stands to be the most potent to me now.
I love books. I love reading, I love learning, and I love the feeling of escaping in to a new world for a short amount of time. A good book should make you anxious for that next time when you can sit down with it.
Last weekend we watched The Hunger Games for the first time. We immediately watched the second movie, and then the next day we went and saw Mocking Jay in theaters.
Right after that we went and bought all the books.
I LOVED the concept of the movie. This "big brother" watching over you, "protecting" you, all the while controlling you. Rising up and fighting against that, and that hope they talk about, that's so powerful. I suppose I enjoy the feeling of maybe being a bit of that rebel they talk about, somewhere mentally deep inside me.
Back to this image though. I'm thankful we have the freedom to makes movies that speak to their audiences in a powerful way. I'm thankful for the freedom to be able to read whatever I want, even if it puts the craziest of ideas in my head. And I'm thankful to be able to create art, no matter what the underlying meaning. I'm free to Submerge and I'm still free even after things Emerge from that submersion. I urge you to use that freedom. Submerge yourself in to a new world (even if that's just in book form), come back, and allow things to emerge, see things in a new light.

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Aside from all that deep stuff you might be wondering how we created this image and how I put it together. The images below are all in the 1 image above. I figured it took me about 20 different layers to create the final image, and about 3 hours of edit time.... for 1 image. And that's why I started this project, bc when would I have EVER made time to do that before for myself?