Klyment.com - Journal

Today I "met" Jeffrey Scott, the visionary artist behind the works of Factory 1019 in the One Model Place chat system. I've caught a few fleeting glimpses of his handle during the last year and but never had a chance to chat with him. Today I did. I had acknowledged his OMP Profile many months ago and sent him an e-mail but I didn't receive a reply. I had assumed that he had such a high volume of acknowledgements and e-mails that one small compliment was just a drop in the bucket for him. But today he told me that he liked my work and that he had acknowledged me. Though I find it difficult to believe that Mr. Scott would like any of my comparatively "sterile" works, I am still very flattered.

Apparently he's only been shooting for four years and he was painting and sculpting before this period. Irregardless, what he has already achieved I fear I may never achieve in my entire lifetime. His profile on OMP is by far the single profile which I admire most. I felt almost cocky not asking how he manages to create the images he seems to produce on a routine basis; often I feel the insatiable temptation to ask. However, even if he would be willing to divulge some hints as to what his secrets are I would prefer to learn at my own pace and discover these techniques on my own. Still, if the opportunity ever arises to work with Mr. Scott in any capacity I would do everything within my means to realize it.

Two nights ago I witnessed a rather unremarkable occurence of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights). The show was far less than spectacular. The sightings are usually rather colorful and much brighter than what I saw that night but I decided to try photographing it anyway. As you can see, only the greens seem to have shown up. The photograph was taken at ISO 100, F/2.8 with an exposure time of about fifteen seconds. Exposure time guessed from experience. I tried ISO 1600 but the long-ish exposure time produced a lot of noise which did not look very pleasant. Camera used was the Fuji S2 Pro. I'll try shooting another northern lights show with the D2X seeing that the D2X has a noise reduction feature that reportedly does a great job controlling noise during long exposures. This photograph was taken in my back yard. I'm guessing that the lights would have been visible from all parts of the city had it not been for the light pollution of the more populated areas of our municipality.

Scott's girlfriend Manchi organized a surprise birthday party for him at Boston Pizza on Calgary Trail April 30, 2005. Scott was my closest friend starting from year two of my university degree. He was still buzzed from the night before as him and his associates at KPMG were celebrating the end of tax auditing stuff with a "tax party". As you may have guessed, this individual has been forced into a life of boredom and monotony as an accountant. I kept telling him he should reconsider but he didn't listen to me. =P

Patrick suggested we get Scott a book about how to feed fussy eaters (Scott will not eat his food if individual components of his dish are touching and he won't go near sushi and most oriental food) but we couldn't find any good books that were in stock. I suggested we book Manchi in for a really sexy nude shoot and afterwards we'd make a large canvas poster for Scott on the Epson 9600 but Manchi turned down the idea on the basis that Scott's home was too small to fit anything of that size . . . among other reasons. Leanna, Patrick, and I ended up chipping in and purchasing an iPod Shuffle. Leanna picked it up and, yes, for the record, Leanna did wrap it. Thanks, sweetie.

I hope you enjoyed your party and your night at Stolli's, Scott. Happy birthday.

I wasn't able to go clubbing with the rest of the party since I had an assignment due three hours after we finished supper at Boston Pizza.

On April 25, 2005 I photographed a fitness model named Cathy. I was, admittedly, aprehensive about this shoot seeing that I was just starting to get used to doing fashion shooting but I couldn't resist: the prospect of very unique subject matter with a very enthusiastic and articulate individual promised a rewarding experience . . . and it was. I'd definitely like to work with her in the future though I'm having difficulty coming up with ideas for shoots. Anyone have any suggestions? Cathy competed in a fitness competition in Toronto at the end of April. Still waiting to hear about how that worked out.

Working with Cathy has made me think about getting back in shape more seriously . . . shortly after the shoot I recommissioned my cyclocross bicycle and replaced my worn out, crappy tires with a pair of much lighter, stickier, narrower, and faster tires from Hutchinson. Hahah . . . thanks, Cathy.

On April 17, 2005 I photographed a young, aspiring model named Tara Lynn. Her mother accompanied us during the shoot. Maurice did a fantastic job with hair, make up, and direction in studio and Huy was also present participating in the shoot as a photographer. I feel that Tara Lynn has an enourmous amount of potential. She's nearly 5'6" and recently turned 14. She just got braces for her teeth and has about 11months before they will be removed but she'll be ready to shoot again then. Tara Lynn's photos were photographed on one of the Old Scona Academic High School fire escape ladders, the newly-renovated Sir Winston Churchill Square, and, after the sun had set beyond salvage, in my studio on Roy's studio grey paper which he has graciously lent to the studio. The studio grey was tinted with a light magenta gel at about 1/5th of a stop below the key light. Some fill lighting was used along with a paint dryer to add motion to hair.

And no matter how I try to arrange these photos they still don't seem to be laid out quite right.

On April 16, 2005 Roy (link) and Cherrie booked my studio for a catalogue shoot with models Celia, Emanuela, and Reinalyn (sp?). The shoot was for Cherrie's new fashion line of which I can't remember the name. There were a variety of pieces ranging from casual and funky to very formal and extravagant. Some interesting fabrics and textures were used though my amateur eye for fashion told me that some of the black underlayers beneath some of the translucent fabrics may have given some of the pieces an unfinished look. Nevertheless, there were some good shots to be had. Emanuela went to my high school, Old Scona Academic. I believe she is a year or two younger than me. Roy was shooting with the Canon EOS Digital Rebel (300D) w/ the kit lens and with a Sigma 28-300 and also the Olympus Camedia C-5060. Shots on the dSLR were taken in RAW recording mode and I believe the Olympus was recording to JPEGs. Most of the shots were taken on a seamless studio grey 9' wide paper backdrop which Roy had purchased for this shoot. Additional photos were shot on a black muslin backdrop which belongs to my studio.

This news is rather late as I was trying to finish a few overdue assignments for two of my university courses. Also, the black corners in the photo are shadows from the petals of my lens hood . . . I didn't fully lock it in when I took this photo.