Yesterday afternoon I spent an incredible day with my family at Harper's Ferry, an area where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia all meet at the border. It was gorgeous weather for December, and I left feeling thankful for my family, the experience, and everything I have.
I posted this photo to my instagram account (@spencerbodian), and will now be making a greater effort to post images I make w/ my camera as opposed to those I capture w/ my iphone. Stay tuned for frequent postings!
Justin Hilgart Body Building Shoot
Justin Hilgart Body Building Shots.
Orly Album Cover Design.
This is my idea for the front cover minus the copy.
I'm planning on adding text to this at some point. Orly isn't close to finishing an album, but I know he will eventually, and it's going to be incredible..
..Here's my idea for the back of the album. Potentially a vertical w/ the other half of the album listing tracks (idea credit to Allen Chiu, great thought).
This was for a class final project that was making an album cover and back using strobe light.
I worked around w/ a bunch of different ideas in making this duo of pictures. I actually started w/ the back cover image of the album of my roommate, good friend, writer, and musician Orly, looking possessed in the music writing process w/ whatever he’s writing levitating above his hands.
I wanted to parallel the mental process of writing for Orly using a photograph. I used a Nikon sb-700 Speedlight and a soft box low, and directly overhead Orly when I shot this, though not low enough that light wouldn’t spill onto the bookshelf, his hands, or the edges of all of the other props in the frame. I also wanted to focus the attention of the photo on him and his words. Having his head back in such a position in the low light gave him a somewhat possessed look, which I loved as soon as I saw it. The picture is dark, moody and I think it does a great job at showing the mind body connection, and tunnel vision that a writer goes through when they are in their zone of creativity.
For the second image I made, which I wanted to use for the front cover, I used a somewhat similar lighting dynamic. It was overhead, though to the right of Orly more, and placed just close enough that the light would spell onto the books and notebook lying next to him. The photo again is fairly dark. I wanted to portray the other side of expression and creativity that occurs to many a writer and artist. Writers block can be incredible frustrating to overcome, and I have seen Orly suffer from it before.
I think all writers and musicians/songwriters go through it; it’s perfectly natural to plateau every now in then. It’s over coming this that’s most significant, as failure leads to growth. I wanted the emphasis on the back cover to be the epic nature of thought and creativity, with the front showing the bleakness of writers block. In terms of color, I wanted a somewhat de-saturated look to emphasize the quietness of writing and being one with your own thoughts. All in all I really loved the outcome of both of these images. I set out with a plan and executed it almost exactly to my own liking; which I rarely do.
Profoto B-1 Strobe Portrait: Ousman Diallo
Concept: Reminiscence
Model: Ousman Diallo
Justin Hilgart Morning Pre-workout Stretching
Syracuse vs. Uconn Field Hockey National Championship
Loss is always a tough thing to depict in photographs. Yesterday afternoon, Syracuse took on the University of Connecticut Huskies and suffered a 1-0 loss in the D1 Field Hockey National Championships. I don't normally cover field hockey, but I couldn't pass up the potential chance to witness Syracuse taking their first ever Field Hockey NCAA championship. Unfortunately, the Huskies' defense was strong and the Orange weren't able to capitalize on numerous chances to shoot. The sadness one is confronted with at the end of a season has got to be one of the hardest things to deal with, and for seniors on the time, I couldn't possibly imagine how upset they might be. Thankfully, there are always two sides to things, as ends mark new beginnings. While this season is over, another one will start come next Fall, and thus the journey will begin again. I couldn't be more proud of how hard my school's athletes work to continuously fight for division and league titles year after year. #GoOrange
Interfaith Works Portraits of Jai
On Saturday morning, I shot an assignment for Jerk Magazine about Jai Subedi, a former refugee who spent 18 years in a refugee camp in Bhutan, and was able to create a new life for himself and his family in Syracuse, NY. Jai works for Interfaith Works, an organization that helps with assisting refugees in Syracuse and Central New York.
Marijuana Magazine
Got the opportunity to help out a friend with an upscale marijuana magazine she was creating for a class project.
Luke Rafferty
