Hey all! Another composited image to share. Keeping the model edges clean sure makes these a lot easier. Selecting wispy hair and the like is very difficult to do well, can be done, but try to avoid too much of it so as to help build more realism in your composting efforts.

Cheers!

Chuck

Steampunk image selected for prestigious Berg Fashion Library.

For Immediate Release:                                                                                                            For More Information:

February 1 2013                                                                                                           Contact Julie White,

                                                                                                                                                HipBrand Group

                                                                                                                                                205-222-2375

Birmingham Photographer Chuck St. John Selected For Inclusion In

The Berg Fashion Library – The Authority on World Dress

(Birmingham, Ala.)—Local photographer Chuck St. John is no stranger to national exposure as his glamorous images have graced the covers of fashion magazines around the world.  With studios in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Birmingham, Ala., and clients across the globe, St. John’s latest accomplishment is in his words “a very big deal.”  An image he originally shot for last year’s February issue of B-Metro Magazine has been selected to be in the permanent collection of the Berg Fashion Library, the first online portal to offer comprehensive coverage of dress and fashion around the world by providing access to interdisciplinary and integrated image, book and journal content.

The editorial staff of B-Metro wasn’t familiar with the fashion style “Steampunk” when St. John approached them in the summer of 2010 about doing a feature of alternative fashion but they soon bought into the idea and the shoot was planned for October of that year.  “When I turned the assignment in, they loved what I shot,” said St. John. 

What was planned for an interior editorial spread landed on the cover of B-Metro and when it hit the streets, the Birmingham fashionistas took notice.  The issue that ran the Steampunk cover and feature article received a lot of attention,” said St. John.  “A behind the scenes video of the Steampunk shoot has over 4,000 hits on YouTube and the issue that ran the Steampunk cover and feature article won a Gold Addy Award in 2012.”

After the Addy win, B-Metro received lots of email from other city magazines around the country praising the boldness of the step, according to St. John.  “There are so many talented fashion people here,” he said.  “It was quite a hit.”

The exposure St. John received for his bold and creative style has now garnered the attention of the authority on world dress, the Berg Fashion Library.  “Apparently the curators had wanted to include the Steampunk genre for some time,” he said.  “But they wanted something shot as a collection, which we did.”

                                                                        -more-

Birmingham Photographer Chuck St. John / page 2

                  The Berg Fashion Library is a unique online portal at www.bergfashionlibrary.com which offers fully cross-searchable access to an expanding range of Berg content collections—including the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion which is the first single reference work to explore all aspects of dress and fashion globally, from pre-history to the present day.   Its mission is the same as that of most major museums:  to enhance discoverability of collection content throughout the world.   Subscriptions are available for universities, schools, public libraries and organization as well as for individuals.  It is promoted as a treasury of fascinating insights into people and cultures all over the world allowing searching and browsing by place, period, themes, textiles and much more.

                  According to St. John, he became fascinated with Steampunk after growing up watching television shows like Captain Midnight, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers in the 21^st Century, Captain Video and Commando Cody and Captain Nemo on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.  “I was totally intrigued by all the cool costumes and the gears and ‘clanky’ stuff,” he said. 

Steampunk originated during the 1980s and early 1990s, and incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and speculative fiction.  It involves a setting where steam power is widely used—whether in an alternative history such as Victorian era Britain or Wild West-era United States or in a post-apocalyptic time—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy.  Steampunk also refers to art, fashion, and design that are informed by the aesthetics of steampunk literature.  It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner.”

St. John started shooting fashion in 1981 while living in the Miami area.  “That was in an era where every department store had major shoots going on all over South Florida,” he said.  “I often tell people that the importance of photography in fashion is what allows far flung audiences to be introduced to the vagarities of the fashion world.

“Without it, I doubt that Steampunk and other genres that are more esoteric would see the light of day beyond their initially small fan groups.”

The February 2011 Steampunk feature in B-Metro Magazine can be viewed at:  http://b-metro.com/steampunk/808/.  To view the behind the scenes video showing the process of photographing a feature on Steampunk fashions, visit http://youtu.be/lhRSHi1Z-fM. 

Chuck St. John’s Photography clients have included Bacardi, RJ Reynolds, Revlon, Sports Authority, Breeders Cup, Henig Furs, Cadence Bank, Miami Dolphins, Aliant Bank, B-Metro Magazine and Adamson Ford.  For more information or to request high resolution Steampunk images, call Chuck St. John at 205-266-0918 or visit www.stjohn.net.

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More compositing-fitness

I am working on using compositing to show some fitness work and it's pretty evident that this look would work well for any manner of fitness or athletic campaign. More to come...

Compositing...

I don't do many composite shots but here is one I did for a new model here in Birmingham. Finding locations is always a tough job but it the winter it's even more of a challenge. The solution is compositing. I will try to do more of these coming up so of you have questions, by all means, drop me a note.

Cheers!

Chuck

I beg forgiveness as I've had my blog spammed consistently since April so I think its all better now.

Did a test shot with one light yesterday on someone I think is really going places so I thought I'd share. Again, one 42" umbrella aimed straight at the floor . . . Did a red filter conversion but otherwise it's right out of the camera with no editing.

Meet Sierra...

He is risen!

Yep..not dead just yet. I've been totally remiss on posting here.

So..recently, I shot a feature for B-Metro Magazine using Mary-Margaret McCord. BIrmingham Fashion Week ran a calendar that I shot. They asked FaceBook people to vote on the most popular and Mary-Margaret came out on top.

The feature styled by Theadora in running in the current issue of B-Metro. Here is a swipe comp of the images we used.

Hope you enjoy!

Chuck

New work

Seems like the medical business is keeping me busy. Since we rarely have the luxury of using professional talent, making good use of what we have is key. Keeping the non-pro people confortable is easy if you give them something normal to do. Supply a lot of encouragement to just enjoy the moment and ignore the camera...and the assistant..and the make up people..and the wardrobe people...and the art director...and the craft services truck...and the, well you get the idea.

Cheers!

New ad shots

Been so busy, my blogging has taken a back seat to shoots and edits. However, I will post a few back to back so here we go;

This one is a shot from an ad campaign introducing a new concept of at home health care. The Company is called "Always There" and is based in the Birmingham Alabama area.

Shot this my my home kitchen ( two lights)

Cheers!

Editorial work

Here is a link to a B-Metro piece I did with Tracy Robinson, fashion guru extraordinaire!

http://b-metro.com/brandi-belcher/2251/

Brandi Belcher is a super nice subject and a great person to know.

Cheers!

Always keep in touch...

For those that think it doesn't matter; I send e-cards to my client base and to those I want as clients every 6 weeks. One guy that I worked with years ago was still on my list and I had sent him another card a few days ago. Today, he called with a phenominal set of shoots to do. So, for those that don't think it works...staying in touch that is...it truly does.

Good Kharma that goes around comes around :-)

Sabrina

Sabrina (lives in Hong Kong) visits about twice a year. 6' tall model with great visage. Here's a beauty shot we did this week. One light-great make up.

Keeping it simple

Cheers

Interior

I rarely shoot interiors...not what I usually get called for but a new client (Joelle Salon in Birmingham) asked B-Metro Magazine for a shoot and here is what I did. There was no supplemental lighting as I did HDR techniques plus some ACR enhancements to make the place look pretty cool.

My emphasis on keeping it simple. No lights + tripod. Knowing what I wanted before I shot made these images very nice

Cheers!

Steampunk; The rest...

Here are the spreads for my Steampunk feature in B-Metro Magazine. For those curious types, each shot had only one light ...total.

Cheers!

Steampunk

Well folks..here is my steampunk feature that I've been holding my breath for...here is the YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhRSHi1Z-fM

I am attaching also the cover of B-Metro Magazine in which all these cool and fun images appear.

Cheers!!!

Alabama Horse Council Annual Horse Show

Hello all!

Spent the weekend shooting the Alabama Horse Show in Montgomery. I had a booth set opposite the world famous trainer Craig Cameron where I had a selection of my horse images. A lot of folks signed up for email information and I booked a number of private horse photo sessions along with making a very nice connection with another trainer to provide images for their advertising program.

I've attached a few images from the show. I hope they show the flavor of how kids are a very big part of this event. Observant viewers may notice the lighting. It comes from opposite sides of the arena. I put up 4 strobes (two on each side about halfway up the stands) and rigged them with Paul C Buff strobe receivers which I triggered with a transmitter mounted on the hotshoe on my Nikon D3x.

Cheers!

1.1.11

After feeding and tending to my horses on this first day of the new year, I saw this chilly, nicely grim image of my ranch that I just had to capture...with my iPhone.

Last blog entry coffee winner? Heather Durham!!! I'll be sending that Starbucks or O'Henry's gift card.

Happy New Year all!!

Cheers!

Freezing Rain

When I have a client that knows how to dress fashionably for the crummy weather we're currently being subjected to...one just has to rip through a few frames.

So...Here's Lindsay. 29º and freezing rain. Old timey kind of mood all done with ambient light.

Cheers!

ps Don't forget...make comments and the winner get's a coffee gift card! Lindsey Griffin was last weeks's caffeination.

It's all about coffee (well, it's marketing really)

Ok.been a while. My Bad.

I was sitting around trying to think of how to get some people to make comments on my blog. I was sippin a cuppa joe at Urban Standard here in the Magic City and I figured, if I could reach out and say, "Read my blog and I'll share a coffee with you.", maybe I'll get some hits here.

Hmmm...so, here's the deal. Every time I get responses on the blog (nice ones, I hope), and if there are multiple responses, I'll write your email address on a slip of paper (you need to give it to me for this to work). I'll drop them into my University of South Florida ball cap, mix 'em up and pull out a winner. I'll send that person a card from Starbucks for a free cuppa coffee.

Hope you like this idea. Any others are welcome

Cheers!

Made in the shade

I know I posted yesterday but had to include this too...

While photographing kids, I reminded my self that they can do totally unexpected things...like just stand there. Jullian was the most patient and agreeable child I photographed for the children's section of a knitwear catalog that I just had to post this.

To make matters easy, I worked in light shade, no reflectors but nicely color balanced.

Simple...

Cheers!

Chuck

Plumeria

My wife, Elaine, picked up some Plumeria seeds while we were in Hawaii a couple years ago. Finally, the bugger bloomed! Here is a snap shot I took of it. I'd never seen one before but it sure is beautiful.

Shot is the shade...simple but pretty.