It’s HOT in New York! But so much fun. From High Lines to Jersey BBQ’s to Broadway shows to Brooklyn butterflies, I feel like I got more than my money’s worth over the holiday weekend in the Big Apple.
Tag Archives: City
Hooray! I got my first image published this spring. A UK-based digital photography magazine called Digital Camera Essentials ran it in a recent feature of reader images. Pretty exciting. For all the looking I did in bookstores on both coasts, I never found a paper copy. Of course, I receive two of DCE’s sister magazines in the mail each month, but have never subscribed to DCE. iPad to the rescue! Now DCE has an app…that lets you download back issues…so I downloaded it at 2:30am PDT today. The actual image can be found in the opening slideshow of my main site, Dana’s Eye. Now all I have to do is prove that it wasn’t a mountain of luck by making it happen again!
This weekend I met and photographed New Jersey-based recording artist Ant Grant and his producer, Tomas Ramos. Thanks to Akintayo Adewole, one of my closest friends and Creative Director of Akande Music, for making the introduction. Ant is a phenomenal subject and an even better guy. After the first couple shots, it was obvious he had done it before. In addition to being a recording artist, Ant is an actor, and was immediately comfortable in front of the camera. I could write a lot…a whole lot…about what I learned on this shoot. I experimented with shooting into the sun with high speed sync, was saved a couple of times by my new Lastolite diffusers/reflectors, pushed my flashes to the limit on a rooftop in 90-degree weather, stood on the ledge of a 5-story building to gey an intersection into the background, wished I had brought water (several times), pined for a Hoodman Loupe so that I could see my LCD in the blazing sun, fell even more in love with my 24-foot ETTL cable, and was VERY thankful that I bought the third set of 4 rechargeable AA’s. Actually, there’s a lot more that I learned on the photography side, but the best part of the day was meeting Ant, Thomas, and their manager, Darren. Yesterday was a timely reminder of how good it feels to be surrounded by like-minded Black males who are as passionate about their art as I feel I am about photography. A fantastic day. I’m looking forward to doing it again. And Ant does smile…I have pictures to prove it.
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HOTNESS!
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Wow, the photos turned out great man.
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Great work bro you are truly awesome man it was a lot of fun working with you. The time will come when we will be doing this on a major level and we’ll get back together like it’s nothing man all fun and jokes while creating a master piece…
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That sun flare, third image down?
OOF.
BEAUTIFUL work.
K.
People who have seen my work before know that I love to experiment with stitching. And HDR. And split-toning. So why not all three at once? For this image, I used a Canon 16-35mm lens. The final image is actually a stitch of 6 images taken while swinging the camera in a rainbow arc to create the severe distortion (pausing for each exposure, of course). Trinity Church stands in stark contrast to its much taller lower Manhattan neighbors. Its also surprisingly peaceful, despite its proximity to Wall Street; just entering the courtyard felt insulating. I worked a few blocks away in the late ’90s, but never set foot inside until this year.
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Looking for inspiration for a big client tomorrow to do headshots and I searched for your site….so glad I found it again….FANTASTIC work you have, I just had to say!!!! It totally inpires me! I’m ready to shoot now. Not that it will look THIS good, but it makes me ready to try
Beautiful work Dana. You have a girl, I’m happily married, so don’t take this the wrong way, but I would LOVE to meet you and talk photography one day…that would be the coolest!