Not Our Living Room: Now Online!

I'm very excited to share with you all that one of the films I worked on a few years ago is now streaming online! Not Our Living Room, a short film directed by Christina Raia of CongestedCat Productions, is as suspenseful as it was fun to work on, and I love how the final film turned out. Not only was the cast and crew fabulous, but I also got to reunite with one of my fellow Penn State Alums, Adam Jepsen, who I photographed back in our college days! His costar is played by the talented Rob Ceriello, another stellar actor I've worked with over the last few years (and who has been a wonderful test model for me!). Not Our Living Room's screened at a variety of festivals, but will also be showing at the Macabre Faire Film Festival in January if you want to see it on a bigger screen!

But for those of you who can't wait until January to see it, Not Our Living Room is now available on vimeo here - check it out!

And in case you missed it, here are some of my favorite behind-the-scenes moments from on set; what an amazing and talented group of people to work with!

My Fashion Photography Challenge!

A few months ago, I had a fun but unusual writing assignment for a photography blog. They gave me the challenge of creating a fashion shoot on a $200 budget, the goal being to emphasize the ability to produce quality imagery on any price point. While it was definitely a tricky assignment, it also proved to be both engaging and entertaining in unexpected ways, and was a nice way to shake up my typical photographic approach. 

Selecting all the equipment you would need (including lighting) with only $200 to spend is a near impossible task, but I eventually elected on a metal backdrop setup, a muslin backdrop, and a continuous light source. While not ideal, it fit the parameters of the assignment well, especially given the high price tags associated with strobes or speedlights. The continuous light was not as bright as I'd hoped, but given the brand I had to use and the price point I was restrained by, I could only set expectation so high. 

Several of my wonderful actor friends were more than happy to be my test models, and I am pretty impressed with what a solid job all of them did; it certainly made my job easier! While it was supposed to be a challenge, it certainly allowed me to focus on making the setup work rather than purely focusing on posing, which was a welcome change of pace. We of course treated the shoot with the utmost level of professionalism, but that doesn't mean somem fun outtakes with stuffed animals and balloons weren't to be had as well. A big thank you to all of my friends who helped me out with their fantastic modeling skills (Lauren A. Kennedy, Rob Ceriello, Shannon Terrel, and Neil Brown) and can't wait to see what the next assignment brings!

"Not Our Living Room:" Promotional Stills

This post is long overdue, but I am happy to say I am finally getting it out to you all! Back in August I was finally able to work with the immensely driven and talented director Christina Raia on one of her two upcoming shorts, Not Our Living Room , written by her fabulous partner in crime  Kelsey Rauber. I also was lucky to reconnect with fellow Penn State Alum Adam Jepsen, who stars in the short alongside Rob Ceriello, both of whom nailed their parts as brothers dealing with unusual and unexpected circumstances. While I've had the Behind-The-Scenes images out for a while now, the editing process for the promo stills took a little time, so I am happy and proud to finally unveil them to you! To see more of Christina and Kelsey's projects, as well as great indie film events, make sure to check out CongestedCat Productions, the producer of Indieworks (where you can find me almost every month!).

Side Note: A few promo stills have to wait due to some pretty substantial spoilers, but as soon as the short's premiered, I'll be sure to share the ones still under wraps. Hope you all enjoy these as much as I do!