Jeffrey Scott French

New Blog Address, Mobile Site And Store

2009-11-22T01:25:00.006-05:00

----- ATTENTION! THIS IS THE LAST POST AT THIS ADDRESS! -----

All posts, old and new, are now at http://www.jeffreyscottfrench.com/blog and feed://jeffreyscottfrench.com/blog/feed/

You will be automatically redirected to the new blog. If not, just click the link above!

Update those bookmarks and RSS feeds: all posts from now on will be found at http://www.jeffreyscottfrench.com/blog. If you need to update your RSS reader there is a handy button just to the right there that will hook you up. I've kept the same look and feel for the most part, but I've moved the whole blog over to the WordPress platform so that I can do more fun things here in the future, and also to have more control over where my images are being stored. Thanks Blogger for helping me thus far!

You may have noticed already (since its been up for about a week or so off the main portfolio site) that I also now have a store. There are currently only two items available but more are coming. You can pick up a Hidden Lake composite print or, for the first time ever "Condensation Trails" as a 40x20 inch canvas gallery wrap. As always, you can still just contact me directly if you have questions or want to purchase anything.

I also just built and launched a mobile compatible version of www.jeffreyscottfrench.com so if you browse to my site on the go you should be automatically redirected there. If you have an iPhone, Android phone or any other mobile device let me know how you like it via the comments here.

Another "Portrait Sessions" post is coming up shortly. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Portrait Session: Casey de Pont

2009-11-18T23:50:00.003-05:00

This will be a quick one, lots of things to do this week. More on that later, once I've actually finished it!

Casey and I spent a rainy afternoon together in Brooklyn while she was getting ready for a party that evening. We kept the atmosphere casual and I just worked around her as she prepared some delicious mushroom bruschetta that I would unfortunately not get to taste, as I had elsewhere to be that night. Casey was wonderful to work with, all smiley and happy all the time. It actually took us quite a few attempts to get the above no nonsense expression. Kept the main light - my Lastolite Ezybox mentioned in the last post - about head level to push the light in to her face better and popped another flash in the back to use as either fill for the room or a highlight as I saw fit.

Shot both of these with the camera on manual and speedlights on TTL. I can't really decide if I like using the flashes in TTL or not. It is nice when the subject is moving and the light levels need to change, but other times I really just want the steadiness of "this-is-exactly-how-much-light-you'll-get" manual mode. It was interesting to play with nonetheless, and changing it all from the menu in the D700 makes it super easy to try it out when I have the time.

Good things coming later this week!

Portrait Session: Mari de Monte

2009-11-13T23:12:00.004-05:00

I have some pretty nice friends, perhaps the best. It's true, really. Case in point: On my recent trip to New York and back I asked several friends to allow me to make their portraits and not one of them declined. And honestly, I don't remember any of them protesting the notion more than "Me? Are you sure?" if they objected at all. My good friend Mari agreed to sit for a session with me the day after I got to Brooklyn. These are the images that we made:

Now, if you're a nerd like me, you might like to know that I shot this session, and the next three sessions that I'll be posting over the next week, with a new toy. I ventured to the B&H store in Manhattan to stare in wonder and then to eventually buy this Lastolite Easybox Hotshoe 24" speedlight softbox. It's a mouthful of a name but it's a wonderful little accessory for off-camera, small flash photography. First saw one in action while in Montana for school when my buddy Thomas picked one up. I was envious ever since and have just now caved and bought one. For me at least, it is well worth owning one. I shoot a lot with speedlights and up till now was making do with umbrellas for portrait scenarios. This light modifier has already become my staple for enlarging and softening my light, especially when lighting people. My only gripe with it was that in order to use it with an umbrella adapter/moveable angle adapter you need a double spigot - envision a double sided threaded bit at the business end of a lightstand - which would be a nice include in their kit, even if they bump the price of the kit $5. Basically if you want to angle this thing at all other than 90 degrees using a straight stand, you need one.

Check back for the next installment of Portrait Session in a few days. If I'm feeling artsy-fartsy I may draw up a basic lighting diagram for how most of these sessions went. Be warned though, it really is pretty basic, both in technique and in my ability to draw.

Teaching Little Fingers To Play...

2009-11-09T22:34:00.004-05:00

Here's one last photo from Central Park. Jaclyn and I, like countless others that afternoon, spread a blanket out under the warm sun on the crest of a knoll in the lawn known as Sheep Meadow, unpacked our lunch and gazed up at the beauty that was around us. Sundays are about her only days off, so we were both glad the weather was gorgeous. I told myself to make more portraits this trip, or at least make more images of people if candid moments presented themselves. So trying to keep that goal I proceeded to annoy almost every one of my friends I visited. Whats more, I put the results up on the internet - lucky them! Below is another frame of Paula on the beach in "deluxe-bury" just a few miles from her Marshfield, Mass home.

And here are a few from an afternoon at my sister's home. I'm not entirely convinced that she lets her kids play on the piano as readily as they explained to us they could, so when she had stepped out for the afternoon and it was just Uncle Jeff and Gramma left, they made sure to enjoy themselves. As you might imagine, all of their musical selections were played forté, especially the pieces that required all six of their hands. Adaline stayed the longest at the keys, teaching the glow-in-the-dark bats she received for Halloween how to play. I'm glad I will soon be living a lot closer to them.

Incidentally, the title of this post is the name of a record - a pretty good one at that - and you can hear a song from that band (The Creature Comforts) right here: Showboat

To Everything There Is A Season

2009-11-05T14:41:00.004-05:00

In the last post, I had just left the shores of Maine to drive through the turning foliage back to my hometown near Syracuse, NY. Driving through New England in the Fall was also one of my life goals, and Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont did not disappoint. Most of the woods through which I piloted my car were at peak color, or at least looked it to me, and I stopped a few times to make some images. The real intent however, was just to enjoy the drive; the colors streaming by on the backroads that climbed and dipped and swung through the rural towns, most of which had seen three centuries or more of Autumns and have still managed to not be overrun with strip malls or giant box stores.

It's amazing how much I took for granted the cycles of nature when I was living in them, especially the changing of the seasons. Part of that may have been that Spring, Summer and Autumn always seemed so short compared to the lengthy, harsh winters of my hometown in Central New York, and thus I felt like the actual transitions took too little time to go from Summer to Fall to Winter and too much time to go from Winter to Spring to Summer. Or maybe it was completely average compared to other cities in that latitude and I was just feeling slighted for no reason. Either way, now that I have lived in Florida and am subject to what is basically - to me at least - "nice Summer" from October to April and "sweltering Summer" from April to October, visiting the Northeast in October reminded me how much I missed actual seasons. Don't get me wrong, I'm fairly certain I will not be spending my years in the snow belt of Upstate New York any more, but I am definitely longing for a little more variety, as well as the opportunity to wear a sweater now and again.

After a couple nights in Syracuse I climbed aboard a rail car and watched the world wash by outside the window while I was taken to NYC. Traveling by train was yet another of my life long goals, and Im not sure I could have picked a better time to do it. We followed the Mohawk River east to Albany and then turned south along the Hudson and followed that all the way to Penn Station, in the heart of midtown.

For me, the best part of riding the train was being able to just sit and stare as the scenery blurred by on the other side of those tinted glass portals - something which is not easy (or safe) to do while driving. As we descended with the water through the Hudson River Valley the colors deepened with us. These trees, having been spared the frosts that a lot of New England had seen, had not yet had their leaves bitten by the cold morning air, browning and robbing them of their full glory until finally letting them go to drift down to the earth. These leaves glimmered with their full, radiant hues.

I spent an afternoon in Central Park with my good friend Jaclyn (a few pictures of her next time) on what might have been the last warm Autumn Sunday of the year. The entire park was adorned in it's seasonal colors and it seemed as though most everyone who could come out to enjoy them were there. Late afternoon sun poked through golden branches and dappled the sheltered grasses that were now littered red and orange and crunched as you wandered through them.

Of all my memories of fall colors, from my time in the Northeast, in Montana and in countless other places, Central Park held its ground with the best of them, which made me all the more grateful to have witnessed it.

48 Down, 2 To Go

2009-10-23T23:43:00.007-04:00

I am currently in New York, New York - "the town so nice they named it twice" - Chelsea, Manhattan to be specific. I left the southwest shores of Florida two weeks ago for an adventure and am currently in the middle of it. With a quick stop in Myrtle Beach to grab Steve Stockin, some beers and a nights worth of sleep, the two of us shot up to Philadelphia to grab friend Mike, more beers and 1 hour and a half performance by Them Crooked Vultures at the Electric Factory, which yes, was amazing. And then my real adventure began...

I have traveled the contiguous 48 States many, many times, but a few had evaded me. Maine was the last on my list (other than Alaska and Hawaii of course) and I got to check her off my list on a crisp October morning, in perhaps the most perfect of scenarios.

I had driven from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts to stay a few days, visit some old friends and experience the heart of New England in Autumn. My old friend Paula and her man Matt were lovely enough to put me up for a night, and Paula showed me around the next day and graciously tolerated my camera in her face as we explored her neighboring beach towns. The coast was exactly as I had expected it, except better in every way. Sunny with a stiff breeze, wet sand and a blueish hue that seemed to saturate everything with a cold, sad flavor of a deserted New England beach in the Fall. After a day at the edge of the Atlantic I headed to "Boston proper" - as Kaleena had put it - to meet her for food and drinks. Then I made the late night drive up 95 into Vacationland and nestled into a rented room a few miles off the highway.

In the morning I found my way down to the coast to brave the thirty-some-odd degree weather plus wind for a glance at the North Atlantic. I can understand why so many have been drawn to a life out there past the horizon, on the cold and rolling waves of a seafaring vocation. I then turned abruptly and drove off into the woods of Maine to be surrounded by the gloriousness of a New England forest in Autumn. More on that next time.

A Sad Post

2009-09-27T19:13:00.004-04:00

This is rather sad for me, so it will be short.

As many of you know, UPS Freight damaged my installation piece, Hidden Lake, on it's return trip from Montana after the Day 231 show in Missoula. Somehow during transit they managed to puncture and break open the (custom built) shipping crate. The piece was insured and after some lengthy discussions (about a month's worth) UPS Freight agreed to settle the claim in full. Unfortunately their policy is that if they settle for the full amount, they own the damaged cargo. UPS Freight came and picked up Hidden Lake, I said my silent goodbyes to the project, and now it's gone, more than likely to be destroyed. It was not an easy decision, but having to choose between keeping a damaged piece I had worked on for over a year or letting it go and moving on, I chose the latter.

If you saw the piece in Montana, then consider yourself lucky. Hidden Lake was shown only once and was available for viewing for 56 days in June and July of 2009. The piece was and always will be a one of a kind original work, so I will not be re-making it.

In addition to the original installation, there was a total of 17 composite prints made at 30x10 inches that represent the piece. Four have been sold already, and I am of course now keeping one for posterity, which leaves 12 signed prints remaining. The remaining prints bear the title "Hidden Lake" in printed form and my signature in archival ink, which I signed on Friday June 6th, 2009 shortly before the opening reception for Day 231 in Missoula, MT. I did not number them when I signed them, so they are not numbered now, and there will not be any further composite prints made once these are gone. The remaining 12 prints are available for $125 USD plus shipping and handling to your location. To purchase a print you can contact me through the blog via a comment or via my contact info on my portfolio site.

Still Life To Pass The Time

2009-09-06T18:59:00.009-04:00

The other night I found myself both a little bored and with a favor to return, so I decided I would see just how rusty my still life and product photography skills had gotten. A local acrylic shop that has helped me quite a bit with some projects was nice enough to help me out again by providing some information to a third party about working with acrylic in hopes of better educating this third party on the material. In return I offered up a photographical flavored favor and they sent me home with a small 8 inch acrylic dish that looks very interesting in person but was falling a little flat in their homemade product shots.

The acrylic shop informed me that what makes this dish so unique is that when light passes through transparent/translucent acrylic, not all of it makes it out the other parallel surface. Some of that light gets kicked around between the two surfaces until it finds another perpendicular surface to escape from. This meant that I knew ahead of time that I wanted a light overheard directed into the center of the bowl as a source to enhance that effect.

I started out with a SB800 and a HONL grid on a lightweight boom directly over the dish, but the grid wasn't tight enough. I switched to an eight inch snoot, also from HONL, and stayed with that for the overhead spot. (For more on my love of HONL check this post for some preliminary light tests I did when I received these lovely modifiers.) I worked varying amounts of fill in but never really got what I wanted and after playing around with this bowl for a few minutes on white I quickly realized that I needed to go black.

Swapped out the white backdrop for black and immediately liked it better. I then discovered that the catchlights in the bowl were reflecting so well that the ribs of the umbrella I had been using for fill were now fairly distinct, and distracting. Since I dont have one of those fancy softboxes designed for small flashes (yet) I brought out the 5 in 1 reflector and took it down to the diffuser core and placed that between the umbrella and the bowl and voila! nice, soft, even catchlights. A few tweaks here and there with light levels, a minute or two to rough in the idea in post and make sure its what I liked and I was ready to shoot the final options. Here, along with the top image, is what came out:

Final images are 1/200th @ f/22 ISO 200, overhead light at 1/128th the other at full. And here is an ~~awful~~ awesome lighting diagram of the final shot because I, as always, forgot to shoot the set up:

Updates: Portfolio and Real Life

2009-08-23T22:54:00.004-04:00

Quite a bit has happened since the last post, even though its only been about a week and a half. I guess I'll start with probably the news that was the most consuming for me over the past days:

Hidden Lake was shipped back to me via a freight carrier and on its journey from northwest Montana to Southwest Florida the shipping crate was broken open. I don't want to get in to too many specifics, but needless to say there was damage to the piece, and the carrier and I are currently going through the claims process and trying to rectify the situation, even though in reality once any part of an original one-of-a-kind piece of art is damaged, it pretty much can never go back to the way it was. If you don't understand that concept, and a lot of people don't so don't feel bad, then I'm just glad the person hired as the third party inspector for the claim did. Hopefully the process will keep moving relatively quickly and I can be back with an update on that situation quickly.

So that was last Wednesday, and then just a few days later, my ever trusty (and babied) Macbook Pro went to sleep and never woke up in the morning. Luckily most everything is backed up (sometimes twice) and so Monday morning I dropped it off to get looked at and was subsequently told that the mother board had died. Google search tells me that a MBP motherboard replacement runs about 1200 bucks, so of course thats wonderful news. A collectively splendid five days or so, as you can imagine. The least expensive way to fix the laptop is to send it to the mothership and have Apple fix it, so I agree and off it goes. Apple however has run out of the necessary part and estimates 2 weeks of wait time for their next batch from overseas. I'm a pretty patient guy but just the thought of trying to work from my 2002 Titanium Powerbook G4 to do anything other than check my email made me want to pull my hair out. Enter the MacMini, my first non laptop macintosh, which is what I am currently working from, and while it is brand spanking new, it is still not more powerful than my 18 month old MBP. So when I get the laptop back the mini will be turned into a media server.

So that was a lot of words to read, and if you've stuck it out this long, then I promise to keep the rest of this brief. The above image is one you may have seen if you follow me on twitter, in fact both of these previews were seen there first, so you might want to follow me there if you are an impatient person. I printed this at 40x20 on a canvas stretched over a 1.5inch frame, and although this first attempt at printing on canvas came back a little dark, I still really like the quality and presentation of this image on this medium. I'll be offering this as a print soon, so if you are interested drop me a line via the comments/email/twitter/facebook/phone/text/telepathy - though telepathy might not be the most reliable.

I've also updated my portfolio site with new images in the site preview (opening slideshow), Fine Art category and a new project titled "Drifting" of which the above is a portion. Although the intricate details on this project are not finalized, I do know that this is what it will look like displayed. Images are based off of an 8x12 inch print and scale up to 60x40 for the largest prints. As you can imagine, it will be fairly long when it is displayed properly. For the full experience visit www.jeffreyscottfrench.com and if you like what you see, share it with a friend.

Today Is Almost Over

2009-08-11T21:52:00.008-04:00

After a good 5 weeks of no news from me, I'm back.

Florida has been very hot and rainy lately. Its good for the plants and what not but not my favorite kind of weather really. Quite a change for me from last year's rather dry Montana summer. Hard to believe that was a year ago, and now RMSP has taken down my first gallery show and has sent it on its way back to me. Hidden Lake should be arriving in its custom crate back to me sometime tomorrow, hopefully no worse for its travels.

I had the opportunity to fill in for Beth Wild - another local Sarasota, FL photographer - when a regular client of hers asked her to shoot an event on a night that Beth had previously booked elsewhere. Beth was nice enough to give me a heads up and put the two of us in touch, and I had the privilege of documenting a surprise 35th wedding anniversary. It was a fantastic evening all around, and despite the warmer than average event hall everyone had as much fun at an anniversary party as I've ever seen. They even brought their own disco ball! Lots of dancing, smiles, hugs and love for and from everybody.

On the nerdier side of things, I ran across an article the other day I wanted to share with anyone who might need it. The article is on Luminous Landscape and is a quick review/comparison of the Eizo ColorEdge monitor line vs Apple's Cinema displays, but might as well be vs any non-professional graphics monitors since the comparison points are pretty general. If you're a photographer its worth a read, there are some fun facts in there - like why so many prints come back from the lab darker than you expected. The short version, however, is that the more expensive Eizo is better. Go figure.

I am currently planning a trip to NYC for the end of August to visit my long lost friend Jaclyn who I have not seen for more than a few hours at a time since 2004 (at least thats what it feels like). She is currently the Director of Operations at Chelsea Frames, a staple frame shop in the art district of Manhattan, and because of this her vacations, especially around the holidays, are short. I also have an ulterior motive in visiting, though. I am in search of a new home. Sarasota was never meant to be a long term habitat for me, and while I enjoy the warm weather, nice beaches and utter lack of snow (bonus), it is ever more apparent to me that it is not where I should be right now. Having visited New York City for short spells previously, and barely getting a taste of what living there might be like, I thought it might be best to spend ten days or better and really sink my teeth in, so to speak. So while I am visiting friends, some old, some less old, I will also be trying to get a feel for whether The City is the city for me.

A few final notes about non-photographic life and I'll put this post to bed: I went to the cinema the other night, by myself, to see a very lovely Miss Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer. What a refreshingly well made movie. If you have the occasion to see this film, I recommend it fully, be it on large screen or small. Its worth your time.

Also worth your time - all 14 seconds of it - is the following offering from Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones. Really looking forward to this album.

I think thats enough for tonight. If you need me I will be outside watching the annual Perseids meteor shower and wishing I owned a telescope of some sort.

Amy & Steve Get Married

2009-07-05T21:25:00.009-04:00

I had the opportunity to be a second shooter with Darren Spurgeon for the wedding of Amy and Steve on June 20th, 2009 in Ft Lauderdale. Darren was a great guy to work with and I could see why Amy and Steve chose him to document their engagement and wedding day. I spent a good part of the pre-ceremony time photographing Steve and the guys getting ready from their poolside suite at the Ritz Carlton. The balcony opened directly out onto the pool where the families of NY Yankees' players enjoyed the waning afternoon sun in the shadow of the hotel while overlooking the gorgeous Atlantic. The team was staying at the hotel, and no I did not get any photos of anyone. So that was the setting for the outdoor wedding ceremony, though you'd have had a tough time getting Amy and Steve interested in the club from NY, mostly because it was their wedding day but even more so because both of them work for the PGA tour, where they met a little over two years ago, and golf is pretty much the air they breathe. Needless to say, their wedding had a slight golf theme, with things like golf balls sitting in tufts of grass for the place setting name tags.

It was a gorgeous evening for a beach wedding, even if the beach was seven stories down, the view was all the better for the height. Classical guitarist for the ceremony, gentle breezes, gracious shade and that azure Atlantic back drop combined for a picture perfect South Florida wedding.

For more images from Amy & Steve's wedding visit Darren's Blog

Virginia And Ben

2009-06-21T22:45:00.008-04:00

Way way back on the 23rd of May, I had the pleasure of second shooting the wedding of Virginia and Ben in Gainesville, Florida. I was working with Lindsey of Pure who is based out of Gainesville and just wanted someone to come with her for the day and get some "extras" from a different perspective while she would be otherwise busy working from her own vantage point. I had a great time working with Lindsey as well as meeting Virginia and Ben and have been wanting to post these images from the day for a while, but have been just crazy busy. So tonight, as I am getting ready to sift through some images from the wedding I helped with yesterday, I figured I better take a few seconds and post these. Long overdue, here now (finally) are: Virginia and Ben!

For more Virginia and Ben visit Lindsey's blog here and here

I Left My Heart in Missoula, MT

2009-06-18T18:30:00.009-04:00

Some towns just have a way to draw you in and keep you wishing you had more time there. Missoula is definitely one of those towns for me. Even when I am leaving, knowing that I have to move on, I am thinking to myself "I'll be seeing you again soon, but not soon enough." In case you're just joining the discussion here, I just came home from a wonderful ten days in Montana centered around the opening of a show title Day 231 at the gallery of my alma mater, Rocky Mountain School of Photography. You can read about the show in the preceding posts and/or check out the video at the end of the current post for some details on what went (and is still going) down in Missoula in regards to the show. This post is about all the things that happened around Day 231.

above: Mission Mountains looking East

Steve and I got into town on Monday the 1st and after some brief delays, checked into the hotel, got some food, ran some errands and rested up from the four day marathon drive from SC/FL. Monday night was dinner and beers and getting reacquainted with the locals. Tuesday we started installing the show in the gallery and stayed and worked until they turned out the lights and locked the doors. Then we enjoyed some sushi and the company of great friends just down the street. Wednesday we continued the installation process and picked up friend Kim from the airport. Kim was the first of 6 friends to arrive from out of town for a mini-reunion based around the opening on Friday. Thursday was finishing touches and Friday was the opening with reception. Celebratory drinks followed with dinner, of course, and fun times consisting of recalling old memories and making new ones lasted well into the early morning Hey, when you work on something for six months you're allowed to party a little when it's done, right? On Saturday, Steve and I talked to the 2009 RMSP class and answered questions about our show, what its like going through the course, being an RMSP graduate, and spending time in Montana. Sunday was farewell brunch for almost everyone, then a great afternoon of snacks and drinks on the deck at the Post with Steve and Jenny (Donna Dangerous from GTG) who is beautiful and awesome and seems to have tons in common with friend Steve. And then by seven o'clock that night I was the only non-local left from the weekend. Luckily, I was saved from my solitude by Kerri, her visiting mother Jeanne, and Tom through an invite to dinner. Oddly enough I spent at least some part of each of the next three days with this group, as I was staying at an extra room at Tom's villa (yes, an actual villa!) and Kerri and Jeanne are just irresistible : )

Monday I started venturing out on my own a little; meeting with Marcy James, lunch with Bob McGowan, chatted about future projects with a local couple who showed some interest in my work during the opening reception, intended to drive out of town and shoot but the rain kept me in and working on what would become the video below; that and playing rummy with Kerri and Jeanne before enjoying a home cooked meal for four. Tuesday I managed to get out of town and drive up the west side of the Mission Mountains to continue shooting for a long term project I started last summer during school. I ended up driving back the east side of the mountain range to check out Swan Lake and The Mission's eastern face. Stopped and made some images along the way and decided I need to revisit the area during the winter, hopefully sooner than later. Wednesday I stopped by the Missoula Museum of Art to experience Kerri Rosenstein's installation with a few less people than had been crowding in there over the weekend. Then, after some lunch, I headed South down the Bitterroot Valley on what I thought would be just a sightseeing/reconnaissance trip for future projects when I inevitably return to Montana, but I actually ended up stopping and shooting quite a bit. I really love the green version of Montana in the late spring and early summer and between the friends and the scenery I contemplated moving to Missoula many times during this trip.

above: view of Wyoming from Montana looking Southwest

After some goodbyes Thursday morning, I began the somber trip home, which will be covered in another post, because that part of the trip has somethings in it which needs more time to put together. I did stop a few places on the way out to make some images though, including the Wyoming/Montana border on I-90. I'll leave you with this video of the installation process of Day 231 and a few images of Montana from the trip. If you're still reading this far into this post, then thanks : )

above: Swan Lake and the northern tip of the Mission Mountains looking West

above: Trapper's Peak and the Bitterroot Mountains looking West

Day 231

2009-06-15T19:13:00.008-04:00

*So I just got back home last night, and if I was a little more organized on the road (and was having less fun and thus more free time) I would have posted this over a week ago. But alas, I was having far too much of the best kind of fun to do something as mundane as a blog post, so please excuse the lateness.*

Day 231 opened June 5th 2009 at Rocky Mountain School of Photography Gallery. The title of the show is a reference to the number of days since both Steve Stockin and I graduated from RMSP's 2008 program. We installed the show the few days prior to the opening with Ghost Town Girls taking the right half of the space and Hidden Lake taking the left. The reception was kind of whirlwind; talked to a lot of people, got to meet a lot of the 2009 students and pretty much enjoyed myself with friend Steve and many other RMSP 2008 alumni. You can read some of the press we received for the show here, here and here. I'll dedicate another post to the overall awesomeness that was the Steve and Jeff Montana Adventure 2009 in a few days once I've caught my breath and sorted through the images and memories enough to regurgitate them here. For now though, here is some pictures I grabbed to help illustrate what the show actually looks like installed. Many thanks to Kim Dresser for the window title shot.

Live! From Missoula, MT

2009-06-01T21:59:00.003-04:00

Today Steve and I arrived in Missoula. Four full days in the car for me and three for Steve. We coasted into Bozeman, about three hours east of Missoula, last night around 10 local time and spent some time with our friend Sarah before getting up this morning to finish out the journey with a relatively short drive. Both Steve and I are on twitter and have been updating from our phones on the drive out. Keeps you busy when there is not much to do in the car for 12 hours a day. You can read up on all my updates (whether you are on twitter yourself or not) from twitter.com/jeffreyfrench and I'll be continuously updating this week on our adventures and progress with the show.

The gallery posted the write up for "Day 231" on their page this weekend, so if you'd like to see some more info on the show, have a visit here: http://bit.ly/day231

I took a lot of snapshots with the camera phone to post to twitter, but I also brought out the big guns a couple times. I grabbed the following shot in South Dakota just after sunset. We were going fairly quick, about 82-83ish, which is average out in the great wide expanses of the plains and western America. I slowed the shutter down and just let the grass lands and fields melt by in the twilight. I grabbed this off the camera and did a quick edit on the laptop, which has never really calibrated well for me so please forgive any color issues. Obviously I'll revisit this image when I get back to my workstation at home. Hope you like it all the same!

The Steve and Jeff Montana Adventure 2009

2009-05-27T19:32:00.005-04:00

Also known as the "We're driving to Missoula to put on a gallery show and hangout with a bunch of awesome friends!" road trip.

It's Wednesday evening and I am getting the final few things in order for this trip. Sometime around 10 am tomorrow I'll be putting a very heavy shipping crate in the back of a minivan along with a suitcase with enough clothes for 2 weeks and, of course, my camera, and then driving to Myrtle Beach to pick up Steve. I'm really looking forward to this trip and getting to spend some fun time with friends from across the country. We should be in Missoula by Monday the 1st and installing our respective pieces of the show on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday (if it even takes that long). I'll try to keep you updated on here if I can, but I know I will definitely be on twitter/facebook via my phone during the drive so if you're on either of those, look for info there too. My handle on twitter is @jeffreyfrench

I'll definitely have some pictures up on here from the install and what the real piece looks like on display, so check for those on or about this time next week (wed/thur). Hopefully I'll also get some grab shots of the reception up as well, even if only from my phone's camera. If you're in the area the gallery reception is from 5-8ish Friday June 5th at 216 N Higgins Ave Missoula, MT at the RMSP Gallery, and is open to the public, so stop in and say "Hi!" to Steve and myself and see what we've been up to.

As a side note, the work presented in this show is for sale and although Steve's pieces will probably fit nicely on a normal sized wall in your home or office, at nearly 20ft long Hidden Lake (my piece) might not. Fear not though, for I have thought ahead and will have some 10 in x 30 in prints representing the full piece available as well ($60 each, print only, +S&H if needed), though they will not be on display. I'm bringing 15 prints with me that I will sign and have for the reception and keep at the gallery until they are all sold or the show ends. After the original 15 are sold, unsigned prints will be made available. If you're reading this and would like a print but can't make it to the gallery, leave a comment here and the gallery and I will arrange the sale/delivery.

I am very excited for this show/trip/adventure and will try to share as much of it as I can, so check back!

A Short Break

2009-05-17T00:48:00.003-04:00

So I have been basically working on Hidden Lake and getting this gallery show ready everyday since before my last update, which was a while ago. Almost a month actually. It is coming along well though, and in the grand scheme of things I'm nearly done. I have to assemble five more panels and then its finished, so barring anything awful happening it will be finished in 5 days (assembly is averaging one panel a day). I looks good, I'm not gonna lie. If you already follow me on Twitter, you'll have seen some of the progress as it happens which is fun. At least its fun when I remember to take pictures : )

Friday however, I took a break from the plexiglass and Positionable Mounting Adhesive and had some fun behind the camera again. It was only for a little over an hour due to some tight schedules, but we had fun. Hopefully I'll get to work with these fun and talented young ladies again in the future when we all have a little more time and my head isn't totally consumed with preparing for a gallery show. Chanel and Janice (red hair) are on their way to NYC this weekend for meetings with agencies this coming week. Here's a handful from the session:

My First "First Friday"

2009-04-18T15:59:00.008-04:00

In early December last year, I got a phone call from Neil Chaput, founder of Rocky Mountain School of Photography, from which I had just graduated in October. Neil is a fantastic guy and I expected the phone call to be just a "hey, how are you" kind of phone call, and it kind of was in part, until he asked me to be part of a joint project with none other than my good friend Steve Stockin. Neil explained they were making some changes at the school and the gallery that they own and wanted Steve and I to take part in what was to come.

Long story short: I will be having my very first gallery show at RMSP Gallery opening Friday, June 5th, 2009. I'll be showing my Hidden Lake project as the main piece of my show and it will be there for June and July. I've yet to do anything on this scale before so as that first friday is coming up quickly, the excitement is building and the nervousness / anxiousness is growing. I'm very excited to be making the trip back to Missoula, MT for the opening, and I'm looking forward to seeing many old friends again while I'm out there. Visit my main website for more info on Hidden Lake.

Steve and I have the honor of being the first students to exhibit at the reinvented RMSP Gallery, not to mention being only their second exhibitors. Eileen Rafferty has her show, entiteld "grow" on display there during April and May, and I must say I'm a little intimidated to be following her. For more info on the gallery and the current show go here.

Emma

2009-04-11T23:39:00.006-04:00

Emma and I go back a half decade or better. When I first met her she lived in Michigan, and I in New York, and now 5 years later we both find ourselves in Florida. A few weeks ago I drove a couple of hours to visit her and get a tour of her new city, which is much less commercialized than I had anticipated, and generally just catch up and hang out. It was fantastic to see her again and spend the day exploring with her.

I had of course brought my camera and had asked her to make some images with me, and since she's a good sport she agreed. Emma has worked with a few other friends of hers that are also photographers, like Eric Wimberly and Allister Ann so she isn't unbearably squeamish in front of a camera like most of my friends are. I haven't done an official survey or anything, but she's probably my most photographed friend. Here's a few frame I made of her from that afternoon, and again many thanks to Emma.

The Latest From Me

2009-04-06T19:08:00.003-04:00

After not shooting for 7 days, I decided I needed to just go out somewhere and find something. I'm not big on flowers or gardens or the up-close-nature-still-life, but there are not very many "grandscapes" here in south western Florida on account of it being flat and mostly covered with housing developments and strip malls. However Sarasota does have a kind of oasis in Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and finding myself with a free pass, I decided to go.

It was nice, and there were lots of flowers there for sure, but I wasn't as overwhelmed with the need to make a thousand images like I am at some of the places I find myself. Not to say that Selby is not fantastic, because as far as botanical gardens go, it pretty much is, and it is one of a kind here on Florida's Gulf Coast. I my self am just not super into photographing flowers. I did make a few frames that I like and they had a very wide variety of things that were new and interesting to me that I had never photographed before and for that reason I will probably return there to make some additional images in the near future. For now though, here's what I returned with:

JSF.com v2.0

2009-04-01T23:57:00.007-04:00

I updated/refreshed my portfolio site at www.jeffreyscottfrench.com so if you are so inclined, have a look. I like this version the best of anything I have had so far. Clean aesthetics, large pictures, more personalized feel to it. I've been working at this revision on and off for a few weeks now and i'll tell you, if/when I find a service to build and host my site that is both as customizable as I am used to, and is in my price range, I am using them. This is definitely one of the things I don't want to have to spend a lot of time on for my business. < / rant >

I mentioned I went to NY at the beginning of March but didn't say why. I was in a band for 10 years and we had a lot of fun and made some records and drove around the country in a van many times and made tons of friends and it was an amazing experience that I'd never trade. As all of us started to focus our efforts in other areas beyond music we decided to put an official close to the band with a couple of farewell shows. They were amazing shows, and for me there is nothing like playing music with my best friends. I set up a remote camera for one of the shows, and managed to grab a couple decent frames before the vibrations jarred the focus ring out of position rendering the majority of them severely out of focus. Lesson learned? Gaffers tape / lock the focus into position somehow. The camera is mounted on a ball head, mounted to a Bogen Super Clamp (love those things), and clamped to a beam just above Josh's head, center stage. D700 with the DX 10.5mm fisheye.

Radio Poppers vs Pocket Wizards

2009-03-28T16:19:00.006-04:00

So when PW released their TTL capable remote flash triggers about a month ago, I was very interested to know how they compared to the Radio Poppers that were recently redesigned a few months prior. Having no excess of money and also no "IN's" with either company, I resolved to wait for someone else to test them and make a report.

The folks at TriCoast Photo have done just that, in an 8 video series released via their You Tube channel. Comprehensive and technically centered (as it should be) the videos aren't going to win any golden globes, but they are going to be a definitive resource for photographers looking for solutions to off camera flash.

Here's the link to the post on their blog and here is the link to the first of the 8 videos on You Tube.

Thanks guys for taking the time money and effort to not only test these comprehensively but also to document your efforts in order to continue to educate the masses out of the kindness of your hearts.

Another Reason I love My Nikon

2009-03-24T02:06:00.005-04:00

Something I just realized: if you're a nikon shooter using CLS and you hold down the Depth of Field Preview button your remote lights will turn on their modeling/preview function and give you a few seconds of preview for where your light will fall. If you dont know what the DOF preview button is then check the diagram in the manual, its on the front just in-board of the shutter release. I had absolutely no idea this was possible. I basically now have *useful* modeling lights on my SB-800's. I stumbled upon this while I was trying to understand shooting TTL with these puppies a little better than I already did. I'm glad I decided to stay up and dick around some more instead of going to bed.

If you're curious I was using a D700 with pop-up flash in commander mode and a pair of sb-800's.

My Niece and Nephews

2009-03-21T21:54:00.009-04:00

Do you remember what the season's smelled like at the house you grew up in? It's amazing when you stumble upon that scent again on a sunny afternoon in mid march.

I just got back from a trip to NY (the reason for which I will explain in another post when I am less excited about the photos I'm posting on here). On this trip I got to spend a few wonderful hours with my sister's family in the backyard of our old house, where she now lives with her husband and three young kids. I made a promise to myself recently to just take more pictures and not worry about if they are all going to be amazingly lit or perfectly composed before I even pick up the camera. I even put the camera on "not manual" which took some doing for me. I never really liked letting control of things go to the camera, even if it is really good at it. But there I was in the backyard with kids running around and their were faces in direct sun and then shade every 3 seconds as they ran around me in circles... so aperture priority it was.

Central New York can be very unpredictable in March, and this sunny 60 degree day was proof. The ground had just thawed and only a few patches of snow remained where the ground had been shaded by the neighboring trees, but even those were melting quickly, adding to the squishiness of the ground. My sister's kids are adorable, and these images feel like they could've been from an era before she and I (not much older than Eliot and Ada are now) had ever wandered the backyard on our first spring-like day in that new house.

I Made This

2009-02-25T22:58:00.004-05:00

Most of you that read this know that I attended the CT courses at Rocky Mountain School of Photography in 2008, and a little while ago I was tipped off that they are using one of my photos (that I gave them of course!) for some promo stuff for their upcoming classes/school year. I thought they'd use it for a little while and get something else, but apparently they like that one cause its still up. Here it is in there site

I shot this on one of the first trek's out into Montana with my new friends from RMSP. We went to "that barn" (ask about it if you don't know) and of course it was gorgeous and decrepit and completely new to us and so we all took lots of pictures. I made this image with Steve and Kim in it and every time I look at it I remember that rush of excitement that happened whenever we went out somewhere new with our cameras. I'm really missing the friends I made in Montana this past year. I'm also glad to be going back there, almost a year to the date that I shot this image. More on that to come.

edit:Andy from RMSP told me that this shot is also being used as an ad during the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. So, that's pretty cool too : )

Zack Arias Via Scott Kelby

2009-02-20T04:06:00.005-05:00

If you are a photographer, or any kind of artist, watch this:

Zack Arias

A Preview

2009-02-17T22:47:00.003-05:00

I've been rather quiet on this blog, which is probably a good reflection of me in real life as well. Been doing a lot of thinking and dreaming and thinking and imagining and thinking and planning and thinking. Not sure where all it will lead just yet, but that is what's been going on here so I thought I'd share. My favorite subjects as of late have been without much substance, though entertaining (to me at least) nonetheless. They're pretty and quick to leave and usually leave me squinty-eyed and sore from straining but I almost love them all the more for that.

Here's a preview of what will one day become something from me.

New Toys!

2009-02-04T23:31:00.018-05:00

After wanting these for over a year I finally broke down and bought them. I first heard about HONL light modifiers for small strobes through The Strobist sometime in 2007. Since then I had tried making some of my own modifiers but they were just a little too DIY to be easy and dependable enough to use regularly, so with the magic plastic card in my wallet I ordered up some stuff from Mr David Honl.

I received those in the mail today and since no one was around for me to annoy I put them to use in a fairly controlled setting on a wall just to see what they do. Since I know quite a few people who also like HONL's stuff I thought you might like to see the results, but as a warning these aren't pretty. They are however, completely nerdy.

All images were shot with a Nikon D700 using a 24-70 lens and a SB-800 mounted on camera. Camera was set to f4 1/200th iso 200. Flash was set to 1/128th (manual) and 105mm zoom. Both were on a tripod 5ft from the wall.

First I shot a reference image to see what 1/128th @ 105mm looked like at 5ft.

Then I pulled out the Gobo. This is basically a card that "goes between" the light source and the camera and blocks off part of the beam of light from directly encountering the lens, ensuring all light in the image is reflected from the scene. I mostly wanted to see just how much these Gobo's flagged the light. HONL makes there Gobo's so there is about 6" x 4" of usable area (1" of velcro attachment strip makes it 7x4) with one side reflective so it can be used as a bounce card as well. Here is right, left, bottom and top with the reflective side in.

Then I flipped the card around and did that again. Not much difference but is noticeable, especially if you are trying not to push any extra light in the direction of the non-flagged side of your strobe. Again, right, left bottom and top.

Then I took the other Gobo I had ordered and put them left/right on the flash head, first reflective side in, then reflective side out. (I told you this was nerdy)

As you can see above, its not a lot of light from the reflective sides being in but there is a difference and if you're using different colored gels or are at lower power settings or closer ranges the fall off could be needed, so I thought i'd put it in here.

I also picked up both snoots from HONL. I've used the 5" shorty snoot before and I definitely thought it was a good deal, so I knew it'd be worth it to have the option of the 8" one as well. Here's a comparison.

The open space on the wall is about 4 ft across, so the 8" snoot keeps all the light tightly packed into a roughly 3 foot by 1.5 foot oval that loosely matches the shape of the flash head. You can bend and reshape the open end of the snoots to create a different pattern to suite your needs (gotta love velcro), but this is what you get just throwing them on there.

I also got both flavors of grids, mostly because I had no idea what each would look like compared to the other, and also because who doesn't want options? The grids need to sit off the flash head a little (so they don't melt when you are blasting away with your flash) but HONL sends instructions with them on how to do that and keep them secure at the same time. First up was the 1/4 grid. It produces a nice circle of light about 4 feet across, with a really quick fall off. The first is shot at 105mm zoom on the flash head, the second at 24mm. As you can see you don't gain anything by changing the zoom, so just leave it at max zoom for a nice tight beam.

Next I loaded up the 1/8 grid. Same nice tight circle only the 1/8 concentrates the center down to about 2.5 feet. Again at 105mm and 24mm.

The wide zoom position throws a much less intense (2 stops or so) beam with the grids but the whole coverage area is essentially even. There must be a happy medium somewhere in the middle. Looking at the falloff from both grids the best place to set the zoom on your flash (assuming you can) might be somewhere towards the higher end maybe 70 or 85mm. This may be of little concern in practical use, but knowing is better than not knowing I think, so I'll keep tweaking it and see what happens.

If you found this interesting or worthwhile or you did a better job at comparing these items then let me know!

The Advantage Of A West-Facing Beach

2008-12-12T01:42:00.004-05:00

I'm sure you've all been in the place where you just aren't shooting anything. You're just not, with no real reason for not shooting either. Call it uninspired, busy, lazy, whatever. That was me earlier this week, and for most of the week prior. The area I currently live in is pretty much suburbia, and also very flat to boot. No countryside, no rolling hills, no mountains not even a decent river with a bridge.

I do have a beach though. It's a top ten rated beach. It's gorgeous, soft sand, free to the public and faces west so there are tremendous sunsets almost every night. I know all of this very well because I've been there a lot. I love the shore of anything really, it almost always makes me feel better, so I go just to go. I've also taken some great pictures there too which would make you think that I'd want to be there all the time with a camera in hand. It's actually for that reason that I usually don't want to go and shoot there. I don't want to keep producing the same images. I went anyways. And it was different and good and fun and I came home with some good stuff which I had not already taken on some other day.

As it turns out there is some truth in that quote I heard in school about not waiting for inspiration. Here's what I got out of forcing myself to shoot. Any of you (assuming someone other than myself reads this) have a similar experience lately?

Model Mayhem

2008-11-23T16:47:00.004-05:00

So, since I basically know no one here in Sarasota besides my parents, I decided I would start looking around for models who were interested in shooting portraits for their portfolios and mine as well. I signed up on Model Mayhem to see if I could find anyone locally who would be up for some low key shoots. After looking around for a while and not getting anywhere I kind of put MM on the back burner as a resource. After RMSP I updated my page and took another look around still not getting much response.

Someone however, found me. We set up a shoot and it went really well. It was a little weird to be the only one on this side of the camera after 5 months of group shoots and having an assistant at almost every set. It went really well though, just had to slow myself down a little and make sure I was getting lights and reflectors where I wanted them, which was difficult without the help of modeling lights. More thinking, less chimping. Anyways, the shoot went really well and got some great images out of the session. Here's a few of them to check out.

The Notebook

2008-11-17T18:47:00.007-05:00

Those of you who went through SI this summer know that we all were required to get a little journal for a certain class. I got mine more so because it was required than because I thought I'd use it. It's black (of course) and full of a manilla colored paper. I went to purchase this notebook with thoughts of having to write down "Dear Journal" entries full of meaningful insights into the way my brain works with light, shape and color. I was so completely not into this notion that when the most physically appealing size style and color of journal presented itself with only graph paper in it I was not really concerned that I wouldn't have a traditional ruled paper to divulge all these wonderful revelations on.

Turns out, I actually use the damn thing. Not exactly ever day, but I am using it. And it's serving it's purpose as a keeper of idea and information. Also, as fate would have it, I'm making good use of the graph paper thats inside it for drawing diagrams and sketches ("as you do"). I guess the moral of the story is to just go and do and see what happens even if it feels tedious and forced, and someday in the future you might be glad that you did.

On a completely different note; I made this frame at the beginning of October this year and it's been floating around my head ever since. I've wanted to put it up somewhere for a while now but didnt really know where/when, so here it is. It had just been raining/windy/stormy and then it just stopped. You could see the end of the storm (or whatever) just moving across in front of you. Kind of neat. ps: I lost in checkers and had to buy lunch.

also as it turns out, white on black is pretty nasty on the eyes for reading. the color scheme may change around a bit on you. don't be alarmed.

The Post RMSP Experience

2008-11-16T17:30:00.007-05:00

Having been on such a mental high with all the physical and mental stimulus of the RMSP programs its no wonder that a lot of students are feeling a little out of sorts, if not outright down, after our 5 months in Montana. I thought I'd maybe relay where I am and what I'm doing, not so much as a "here's what to do now" but maybe to just inform some other people going through this post school slump as well.

I'm in Sarasota, FL, hold up with my family for a short time as things are getting sorted out and batteries are being recharged before I start in on running a portrait studio with my best friend and fellow RMSP grad Steve Stockin in South Carolina. My days have been spent organizing, taking inventory, digesting and reminiscing about the past 6 months of my life. Well not all of my days, some of my days I dont do much of anything, really. I have managed to shoot a few times. I've even scheduled a shoot for next week with a local model just for practice. I'll post some of those when I get them. Everything seems to be moving slowly, though the days keep falling away relentlessly. I miss the frenetic pace of this past summer, though I'm sure that my body is enjoying the less stressful month it just went through. Oh well, if one thing is certain, its that this won't last long either. So, here's some pictures of some birds!

The Real Deal

2008-10-06T22:50:00.004-04:00

So this past Saturday, Steve and I ran a full on shoot, complete with multiple models, wardrobe, makeup, location, lights, props, plus a kick ass theme (which was Steve's brainchild). It went amazing. Steve ran a session around a B-Movie theme with some bad girls kickin' ass, takin' names and on the run from the law. My session was a little less thematic; more along the lines of just some pretty girls in cute clothes in a beat up run down setting. We drove up to Garnet ghost town for the setting which worked out perfectly. Steve and I had never been there so it was a crap shoot to us, but we figured it'd be worth the chance, plus one of the models we hired for the day said her family had a cabin up there still (her great grandmother's I think) and seemed pretty confident the location would work. It worked beautifully, really. We all had a blast and came back with some amazing images. Plus it was great to know that Steve and I could work as a team, organize and run a professional shoot, pull it all off and come home with some top notch shots besides.

- JSF

First Week of Fall

2008-10-02T17:53:00.003-04:00

Its officially Fall, and I am still in Montana. As long as the snow holds off I think I will enjoy it quite a bit. I am missing my Central New York colors though, since this part of Montana is mostly evergreens its really not what I'm used to seeing. I did make it out with intentions to shoot the leaves the other night though and after some hunting I came home with the following.

It's still early on for some of the heartier trees so I'm sure it will be a little more dramatic in the coming weeks.
This weekend will be devoted to non-nature however. Steve and I will be shooting in a ghost town for a few personal projects of our own and just to have some fun. It's been almost a month since we've both had a large scale formal shoot to be involved with and we're both getting antsy. I'll be sure to post some results from that when we get them processed.

- JSF