My Little Hole in the Ground

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:19:25 GMT

Halloween, she is upon us. The haunted houses start opening this weekend. In celebration, here's a new photo. Enjoy!

Evil Jack

If you are so inclined, you can check out more of my Halloween shots on my Flickr page here.

Halloween is coming!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:04:58 GMT

So, I was able to attend the Chicago premiere of Trick r Treat, and it was a fantastic movie. Definitely worth picking up on Blu-ray when it comes out.

Between that, and seeing that the local Halloween stores are beginning to hire, The Halloween Spirit has started to hit me. It should only be a matter of weeks until the stores open, and I can officially get excited without coming off a bit odd.

Woot!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:43:34 GMT

I've uploaded the next part of my Dinosaur tour at the Brookfield Zoo. It's all about the Stegosaurus, baby!

My Flickr stream will be updated daily with the next part of our tour of the Mesozoic era! Check it out here.

Dinosaurs!

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:35:56 GMT

So I went to Brookfield Zoo today with my finacee and some friends, and they had a special Dinosaur exhibit going on. And since I've been a fan of the Thunder Lizards since I was young enough to know what a dinosaur was, I was excited. How ironic that I took more than double the amount of photos of these guys than the actual animals! I'll be cobbling together a story on Flickr with the shots I took. Here's a preview!

You can follow along here.

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:57:44 GMT

I've been in California since Monday doing software training, and I miss my home and family. And the sheer awesomeness that is Chicago.

But, I have taken some pics. Here is one to share of Laguna Beach:

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:27:13 GMT

It's not often that I'll post non-horror photos, but science fiction is my second favorite genre. I'm a sucker for space battles, and particular space ships. One of those happens to be the NCC-1701 USS Starship Enterprise. I've always liked the design of the original Constitution class ship, but it felt very 60's to me (for obvious reasons). I was very happy to see the new design for the reboot, and was very happy to add the toy to my collection. I think I may have one more in this series coming, but here are two shots I took with it. Everything was custom built in photoshop, including a majority of the lights on the ship.

I hope you enjoy!

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:22:59 GMT

Oh, Young Frankenstein. I forgot how great you are as both a spoof and homage. I might need to upgrade to Blu-Ray. I wonder how much better of a transfer it is?

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:20:12 GMT

Hey everyone! Been gone for a bit due to work and the holidays.

First, an announcement. I got engaged on Christmas Eve! The wedding's not going to be for a while (we're focusing on moving together first), but we've been dating for almost 3 1/2 years. and it felt right to go to the next step. I'm super excited for the day, but for now I just need to focus on saving up for it. Plus, it'll be an October wedding, which means I'll get to infuse it with some Halloween awesomeness (probably more the reception than the ceremony).

Second, I finally took some photos today of one of the greatest characters yet to grace the silver screen. If you haven't heard of the film Trick 'r Treat, then you owe it to yourself to look it up and get excited. There've been some serious delays in getting the film released, but it's starting to get one-off screenings, which gives me hope that it will come to Chicago, or finally get a wide release. I got this guy for Christmas, and I'm really happy with the way this shot came out.

Shot in my light box, and then given some Photoshop magic. I have a couple more of him at my photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/boogeyman13/. Enjoy!

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:12:25 GMT

Agony

Pain

So, I've been looking at the Pillar of Souls that I was able to build from the second series of the Hellraiser figures from a few years back, and I've been wanting to shoot it. There was enough detail to possibly be interesting to shoot close up, but not enough to get too close. I was looking at it again tonight, and these two shots came to mind. Threw some Photoshop magic on these two shots, and voila. It's a bit more abstract than I usually shoot, but I like how they turned out, overall.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:23:43 GMT

Leatherface has always been my favorite slasher. And this is my favorite version of the character.

As always, feedback is appreciated.

Enjoy!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:05:04 GMT

So, there's still hope for this country after all...

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:19:11 GMT

It sucks going to a bar, being drunk, and not having your significant other there to do naughty things with...

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:52:46 GMT

Since my first lame attempt at shooting this series, I knew there was something there, untapped. So I went back and got this:

I like it much more. Simple two-light setup, with some Photoshop trickery thrown in. As always, feedback is encouraged, and there's more to see at the Boneyard.

Enjoy!

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:21:52 GMT

I repeat...

Halloween is coming

That is all.

:)

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:15:03 GMT

Halloween is coming...

That is all.

Stripped

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:34:03 GMT

It's been a while since I posted anything to my journal, so I thought I'd share this.

Let me just start by saying that I LOVE this shot. Ive been trying to figure out what to do with her since I first started shooting my Hellraiser figs, and this isn't the shot I had intended to shoot when I started. I did get the other shot I wanted, but I think this one came out much more strongly. It's a single candle for light, and then playing with blurs and blending in Photoshop. I think it's one of those photos that just click while on set, and came out beautifully.

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:00:45 GMT

So, I've been in a funk the last few days. I thought I was heading into one of my dark moods Thursday evening (I was listening to metal in my car after work, and I could feel it coming), but then it didn't. But I've been kind of blegh since then. And today I think I've had a couple minor anxiety attacks. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I really hope this isn't the form that my moods are going to be from now on. I was used to the way things were, and I learned to deal with and use it. But this new pattern... blegh.

So apparently my photos are a hit for certain people in the German community. I've found a few different blogs that talk about me and my work, and have some of my pictures. From what I've been able to translate using net translators, it seems like it's good stuff they're saying, but sadly, I only speak English, bad Spanish, and even worse Japanese. :) No German in my vocabulary.

I think I need a vacation. Before I got this job, I was either unemployed or making really crap pay for the better part of the last three years. I'd like to get away for a bit. I've been West, South and Northwest, so I'd like to go East. Up through Michigan, and out towards Maine and Massachusetts. I really want to see the places that inspired HP Lovecraft, Washington Irving, and Stephen King. And maybe go down the coast a bit on the way back to Chicago. Of course, a trip like that would necessitate a lot more time than I'm accruing, and a lot more money than i have. But I can dream. :)

It's getting warm enough that I can start shooting outside now, too. Which means I get to start all over again, and learn how to shoot other things besides my little plastic men. :) I've got some ideas, but nothing concrete yet.

I could really just use a couple days for whatever, and not have a set schedule. Just go out and do whatever.

Sequel: Freddy Krueger

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 05:22:53 GMT

and the original

I wanted to attempt to recreate his nightmare boiler room this time around, as well as give it more realistic lighting and make it more sinister. And I think this one comes across better, and is a bit truer to the character. Definitely like this one more.

Ophelia Pain

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:37:23 GMT

I've been feeling lately that I've been taking too many pictures on black. It's been becoming an aesthetice crutch. So I've been trying to use backgrounds to vary things up, and add some texture to my shots. Well, lst night, I decided to go the opposite route, and use all white for a background. Plus it gave me a chance to play some more with my lightbox. The result is:

I used a strong backlight through one side of the lightbox, and a darker diffuce from the other side. I also used a larger aperture to get a smaller dof, to soften out her body a little. 10 minutes of tweaking in Photoshop, and voila. And I have to say, I really like this shot.

I got featured on Dead Lantern!

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:29:36 GMT

I had to show the mini-monsters this. I got featured on DeadLantern.com, a fantastic horror podcast. The guys there put on a great show, and everyone should check them out!

Yay for photos!

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:04:15 GMT

So I finally bit the bullet and picked up a lightbox yesterday with with to take photos. There's a camera shop across the street from where I work, and I went over there during lunch with the intention of buying a mini tripod to get some closer, more dynamic shots. Well, one thing led to antoher, and I ended up picking up a portable lightbox that folds in on itself, and comes with two halogen lamps, two cloth backdrops, and a (not nearly as good) mini tripod. It was on sale, and I've been thinking about either buying one or kit bashing one together, but it was going to end up being about the same price. So when I got home last night, I tried it out, and I LOVE having diffusion from my light sources. I didn't get to play with it too much, but here are the two best shots I took:

I definitely can't wait to try doing some set building in this thing (it's 20" x 20" x 20").

Jason Voorhees, Pt 3

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:21:04 GMT

So I was requested to take a shot of Jason. The two I'd done previously were okay, but not great. So I decided to completely redo this guy, and try a completely new style. This is inspired by a comic book cover, and I think I've finally taken a shot of this guy I like. It feels much more realistic, and has MUCH BETTER lighting than the previous two attempts. Was done in my studio, and the layer of rain was added in Photoshop.

Chicagoland! You have so much, but...

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:24:57 GMT

Why can't I find a good music store around here? It's sad when I wish Tower Records was still around. Their prices were crap, but at least they had a decent selection. I want to pick up The Creepshow and Creature Feature's debut albums to add to my Halloween/Horror music collection, but no one's selling them around here. Not even Hot Topic. Man, I remember when Hot Topic wasn't quite so corporate. Now it's Emos'R'Us. And Best Buy supposedly carries Creature Feature! But not in their stores. It's truly a sad day when you attempt to go to a Borders to look at their music selection. Blegh...

Work's cool, but keeping me rather busy. But the pay's good, and I have full medical coverage, (including life insurance for those of you who were waiting for the right time to bump me off), so I can't complain.

I wonder if my wash is done... *Wanders off*

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:26:26 GMT

Coding HTML can be very frustrating...

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:25:08 GMT

Why is watching videos on Youtube of people getting the crap scared out of them so freakin' hilarious? Does it make me a terrible person that I'm most likely going to do it to my hypothetical kids some day? Or is it a bad thing that I'll think it's hilarious and giggle about it for weeks afterward?