Articles Tagged with: art

Transitions

Wow – The last you heard from me on the blog I was selling off a bunch of gear, and then… Nothing.

If I wasn’t me and I saw that happen to another professional, I’d think that they gave up and closed shop.

2014 was my best year in the photography business yet, but by the end of it I didn’t appreciate that fact at all. I realized that the sole reason I got into photography was to be creative, and I started to become bitter at a lot of the business side of things. I already run a very busy consulting business and I was burning the candle at both ends. I hired staff to run my other business so I can focus on being more creative, but guess what? I ended up managing those people, which took up even more of my time.

I also began resenting requests to recreate what clients saw on social media from other photographers. I couldn’t help but think “Why don’t you find the person who shot that and hire them instead?” Combine that resentment with people contacting me for jobs and saying things like “I love your work but I don’t want to spend a lot of money” or the constant requests for usage with no compensation.

It’s more than enough to make someone walk away.

But I’m not walking away. I’m transitioning my focus.

I’ve been saying no a lot. Not to jobs that make me nervous, but to jobs that I’ve tried before and realized are not for me. It’s not about what I’m good at, it’s about what I love doing. If I’m not loving the work, there’s no point in doing it.

I don’t want to capture templates of life.

I wan’t to capture real moments and authentic emotions.

You know, actual life.

Furthermore, I want to create. But how do you create something using real life? Once I direct a subject, or manipulate a scene, aren’t I manufacturing reality and creating something that wasn’t there naturally? How the hell do I interpret a real emotion or moment and make something out of it without betraying the authenticity of the medium?

I just don’t know.

But I’ve got to ask myself, do I even care about the authenticity of the medium in that way anymore?

I do care about capturing life. I do care about making art. So I began focusing heavily on something else while looking for answers.

I found a group of artists from all walks of life, both amateur and professional, who attend drawing from life sessions at different locations in the area every week. I tried doing something I’d never done before – Drawing live models. The focus on drawing a timed sketch of a human is not on the exact realistic representation of the model. It’s about the gesture. It’s about the body language. The essence of the subject is more important than anything else.

I really liked this one tonight - Mary at #TheArtistsLoft in #MountPleasant

15 minute #sketch #FigureDrawing #graphite #fabercastell #livemodel

Pastel #FigureDrawing from life #20Minutes

Like photography, technique comes into play. There are also tools of the trade (although pencils and paper are pretty accessible in comparison to lenses and lights). I do find myself “geeking out” over a brand of pencils or a type of paper. It’s part of who I am. Give me too many pencils and I’ll stress out over which thickness is best for whatever I’m drawing. It’s just like packing too many lenses for a job. I make better work when I limit myself (I hope that sinks in one day). The gear is all a noisy distraction.

I also started to practice drawing from photos again. When there’s more time to draw, I find that the muscle memory of drawing gesture from a live model is taking over first. Once I realize that I have time to relax, I’m able to focus on the technique again. The more I practice both drawing live models and from reference photos, the better I’ll be equipped to capture both gesture and accuracy without even thinking about it.

Here’s a pastel drawing I recently made from a reference photo:

Trying a different medium tonight. #Pastel #FigureDrawing #PhotoReference #fabercastell #Strathmore #Female #Nude

This is a piece I made for my wife using a photo I took years ago as a reference:

Pastel Elephant Drawing for Amy by Joseph W. Nienstedt

So, what does this all mean?

What I’m looking to create photographically and through drawing and painting is starting to come a little more into focus for me.

I know I want authenticity, but not technical authenticity.
I want emotional authenticity.

But how do I achieve that? I guess the simplest way is for me to believe it first. I have to believe the image. If I know I’m not being genuine, then chances are everyone else knows too. I’m a terrible liar anyway. The challenge is to take that authentic gesture, or emotion, or general essence of whatever I’m trying to capture and use my technical skill to push the envelope. I need to marry the real with the surreal but not force it.

So while all of this is swimming in my head and weighing on my heart, I happened to catch a very inspiring talk at The Citadel last night by an artist and gallery owner named Robert Lange.

As he told his story and talked about his craft, I was mesmerized. Here’s a guy who’s clearly gone through all of this shit already and is still struggling with identifying himself to himself. I know it’s not necessarily news to most people that artists don’t tend to settle, but the honesty he used in conveying that was enlightening.

He reflected on his college years and how he worked harder than anyone in his classes – Staying up all hours working on his paintings and making work that looked exactly like his subjects, and when it was time for a critique from working artists, they all told him that art wasn’t for him. They said he lacked soul in his work. So, feeling dejected, he decided make paintings of his puppy and his fiancée because he genuinely loved them and they made him feel good about life. Lo and behold, when the artists saw these new paintings, they praised his work. They could see his passion through his brush strokes – He just needed to paint what he truly cared about.

He showed us the different bodies of work that he’s created, and his natural progression of creativity covers 15 years of artwork. 15 years is a long time, but it’s also a blink of an eye. It’s easy to download a band’s whole catalog of music, or see an artists whole portfolio of work and get discouraged. We get this instant gratification but lose the sense of time that went into creating that work. We immediately think “I’m nowhere near as talented as that guy” and put down our camera/guitar/paint brush in disgust.

There’s something missing in conveying that time in the creative world. The journey is just as important, if not more important than the work for an artist. In the end though, the work is what lives on. It’s sad until I think of the current popular culture of people being famous for being famous. When they die, there’s no work to show for their fame so their fame dies with them.

During Robert’s talk, he mentioned that photographers should take as many portraits of strangers as possible. He does that to capture people off guard and being themselves. If he uses their portrait to create a painting, he sends them a print of that painting. They have no idea that he’s going to do that either, so there’s no pretense to it for them – I imagine that they’re just signing what amounts to being a photo release and then months later a print of a stunning piece of artwork shows up at their door.

After his talk, I ran to my car and grabbed my camera. I decided as the talk came to a close that I would take his portrait. Who knows, maybe I’ll make a painting of it one day…

Very inspiring talk from @paintdifferent of @RobertLangeStudios at #BehindTheLens tonight at #TheCitadel - I took his portrait when he was done #CHS #CHSArt

So, what exactly is it that I’m transitioning my creative focus to?

I’ll let you know when I find out.

Until then, I’m going to enjoy capturing the search.

Thanks for reading.

-Joe

Creating Shelly Waters’ Imagery for Drive

The road to the image above was long and hard-fought. The shoot was a total of 773 images, including test shots and all. Some days you have to work harder than others. There have been more than a few times that the first few images of a shoot are the strongest. Sometimes you have an immediate connection with your subject, the light is right, the mood is clicking, and the stars are aligned. Other times you have to build. You create a foundation, you lay the concrete and build up on top of it one piece of timber at a time. The end result is hopefully something you’re proud of. Those images seem to have a special place in my heart, mainly because I knew what it took to get there.

It’s not the subject’s fault either – Obviously the image was/is in them all along. It’s just that some days are harder than others. The trick is in working your way though those days and going back to the basics of everything you know about relationships, art, and technical ability.

If a person starts off a shoot by telling you that they’re terrible in front of the lens, yet when you’re talking to them beforehand they’re full of energy and charisma, you know that they’re full of crap (I mean that in an endearing way). But, they don’t know that. It’s time to become a creative psychologist and figure out the problem and create a solution. You pull out your potato peeler and start peeling back that tough skin.

I loosen up the subject and ask them to do some awkward things that get them out of their head. I make sure the music is making them move when they think I’m not paying attention. I pull out some strange props or ideas to see how they handle it…

The hair/make-up artist is a valuable tool to break any tension. It’s a person who you can bounce ideas off of and he or she can be a real confidence booster when they start getting excited.

Amanda Rose assists Shelly Waters

But, once the subject starts to open up, then I start to act like a personal trainer – It’s my job to keep pushing the subject to their limit. I’ve gained their trust and now I’m bending it as far as I can. I’m forcing them to react by shouting, laughing, dancing around the set… Whatever it takes to get their personality to appear vividly in a two dimensional photograph.

At the end of any job, I ask myself “How was the experience?”. A shoot like this one was long, but it went by quickly. We struggled but we ended up laughing. There’s a valid reason why I love shooting people, and it’s simply the human experience of it. My day is filled with little interactions, but when I can work so intimately with another person I barely know in such a unique way and come out with a memorable experience as well a piece of art, that’s a good day on the job.

Here’s Shelly Waters’ new cover artwork for her latest record, “Drive” (click here to go grab a copy from her website):

Studying Through Sketching

Here is #sketch no. 2 of @emmawatson that I got a little more ambitious with #drawinglaceishard #moleskine #sketchbook #art #graphite #drawing #draw #pencil #fabercastell #emmawatson #orlando #florida

One of the most important things I’ve learned about photography is that the equipment is not ultimately important. The overall image is. I’ve hammered it in so many blog posts that I’m not even gonna bother linking to them here. Just choose any month from the right-hand list and you’ll find me ranting about some facet of photography that has nothing to do with lenses or light modifiers.

Tonight's #sketch is of #AngelinaJolie - I dig her more now than ever for promoting women's health #art #sketchbook #moleskine #fabercastell #graphite #pencil #draw #drawing #portrait #girl #actress #bighair

So, I’ve recently rekindled my love for drawing with graphite – Something I did back in high school but never really pursued again until now. The whole process has inadvertently turned into an advanced lesson in portraiture. I scour through Pinterest feeds looking for faces that move me, and before I know it, I’m studying. I’m learning about which photos appeal to me, but more importantly why they appeal to me. Expressions, quality of light, overall mood, etc.

Tonight's #sketch of @nottildaswinton was made in 3 different airports and caught the attention of the TSA (in a good way). #TildaSwinton #moleskine #sketchbook #art #drawing #draw #graphite #pencil #portrait #face #actress #artist #woman #girl #shorthai

Once I’ve settled on a portrait to sketch, I then get a chance to slow down and really tear the image apart so that I can put it back together again. Every facial feature, every shadow, and every highlight gets meticulously recreated.

Tonight's #sketch is of @gilliananderson #sketchbook #moleskine #art #drawing #draw #graphite #portrait #hair #pencil #fabercastell

I even started adding my own little adjustments, such as the tears in this sketch of Benedict Cumberbatch that I did for my daughter:

Tonight's #sketch of a sad #BenedictCumberbatch @cumberbatchb was commissioned by my daughter @frostymac for a school research project. #art #moleskine #sketchbook #draw #drawing #graphite #pencil #sherlock #necromancer #fabercastell #portrait #tears #fa

The real trick is in translating that inspiration and effort back into photography. I find that getting people to slow down with me is helping me get some deeper images of their faces. Here’s an photo I shot recently after a head shot session where I just asked Christina to relax a bit and look at the camera without any predisposition. Just take it easy and let the face tell the story without forcing it.

If you want to keep up with what I’m doing in my sketchbook, follow me on my Instagram feed

Lazy Days of Summer

This has been the longest I’ve waited between blog posts since I’ve launched this site – What happened? Nothing at all. I think the distractions of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, etc have been satisfying my need to communicate in a very basic and concise way. I’ve also been busy with my businesses, my family, and trying to enjoy the summer (albeit a wet soggy one so far). So, I’m going to share some of my photos since last we spoke on this old blog of mine…

That photo at the top was taken this weekend. For the first time since summer began, we made it out to the beach! I went specifically to capture a sunset on Sullivans Island, and I didn’t come home empty handed. A few days before was the 4th of July, where we went to Folly Beach to check out the fireworks. Here’s a shot I made that evening:

More importantly, my brother-in-law & his girlfriend are having a baby, and Mira’s finally started to look the part of an expectant mother:

I’ve also been shooting lots of headshots and commercial stuff. During one shoot for a local veterinary hospital, one of the vets may have posed for a shot of her latest tattoo…

Dr. Davis' new tattoo #DSLR #Nikon #JWNPhoto #Tattoo

Speaking of headshots, it only took a year to get Dr. Colleen Boylston in front of my camera again to update her headshot:

I’ve recently started watercolor painting stuff on a whim. I found some $12 kit at the bookstore and found it utterly relaxing and fun. Here’s a close-up of one of my creations:

Another watercolor painting based on another photograph I made - This one was at Kiawah Island in the spring. The pollen created a lot of cool shapes on the sand. #watercolor #art #painting #CHS #Kiawah

I had one of the most unfortunately soggy and stormy beach weddings ever to shoot, and the couple certainly made the best of it. Here’s a shot of their muddy feet underneath the gazebo on Sullivans Island:

I continue to add ink into my left arm. Margo has been a blessing in this department. She’s really turning my arm into a fleshy art gallery, and I couldn’t be more excited as I have a lot of skin to color in before this sleeve is done.

Adding background to my arm tonight - As always @MargoVenomous rules! #roadtofullsleeve #Tattoo #water #Flames #patchwhiskey #CaiaKoopman #TatianaSuarez

Of course, we took another trip to Disney World. I believe this was trip #4 on the year (I got the family annual passes this past Christmas). In an effort to keep things fresh, I’ve resorted to street style photography of people in the park. I love this shot because it truly doesn’t look like we’re in a theme park (which is not an easy feat to pull off):

We took a trip upstate to Freedom Weekend Aloft to check out the hot air balloons. I may have had drank some bravery during the festival as I was running right up to the balloons and snapping away. This was my favorite balloon shot from the trip:

As far as my other favorite past time is concerned (live music), there has been no shortage of fun this summer in that department. One of the lowcountry’s best events is the annual First Flush Festival out on Wadmalaw Island. This year’s headliners were Old Crow Medicine Show and they were pretty damn awesome.

And I couldn’t help but take advantage of the scenery at the tea plantation and the tattooed attendees. I love this shot of to willing subjects:

Over at the Music Farm, on of my favorite singer/songwriters, Ryan Bingham put on a kick-ass show:

Those are just some of the highlights of my summer so far. I’ll be back to regularly updating this blog now that I’ve had a little break. Thanks for having me back. TTYS

There’s No Bad Art

The Charleston SC Gallery Art Scene In A Nutshell

All art has a voice, and sometimes that voice is in some alien language that I can’t understand.

On Friday I had to park quite a ways away from my destination while doing some work downtown and found myself walking though Charleston’s art gallery district. Now, this isn’t a blanket statement of the Charleston art scene, but there are a plethora of galleries that sell only paintings of Egrets, Blue Herons, & old Charleston buildings. Like most of them. It’s weird, really. A lot of these paintings look like the stuff you get at Hobby Lobby, or the art section of Wal-Mart. Obviously, there’s a huge market for this stuff too, because real estate downtown isn’t cheap and there are a lot of these galleries.

So, I got to thinking – what if I took one of my shots of a classic doorway of an old house on Church Street and put some birds in there. Maybe an Egret and a Blue Heron. And then, a quick click of the Oil Paint effect in Photoshop and… BAM!!! Mainstream art! Print it out on some matte paper, sign it and add a few artistic embellishments with a paint pen, and then throw it in a metal document frame from Garden Ridge that costs $5.99. Take that bad boy and hang it in plain sight and… Profit?

Nah… But if you happen to find your self on a “royal” street corner in the next day or two, please help yourself to this fine piece of artwork by yours truly. Maybe someone will sell it to one of the many people who like paintings of birds and houses and give the money to the Center For Birds of Prey.

If you do happen to see it, please send me a pic of it!

BTW, I have a lot of friends who love to photograph birds and take photos of classic Charleston buildings, hell, I obviously do on occasion as well (the source material for that masterpiece up top wasn’t stolen – it’s all mine). I don’t mean any disrespect for your love of birds and stuff. Well, that’s not entirely true, I guess. I’m making fun of someone’s art. That’s pretty disrespectful. So screw me, I’m a jerk.

Just remember the golden rule of art: If everyone likes it, it’s not art.

***UPDATE***
OK, the print up above was gone very quickly, so now I’ve put up a new one. This is an iPhone shot of my awesome dog Jackson running through my yard. It’s called “Run Jack Run“. I put it up here while attending Second Sunday on King Street:

Run Jack Run - Second Sunday on King Street 3.14.2013

Go get it if you want it!

Ink & Art

This photo at the top here is of my newest tattoo and it’s based on a painting by Tatiana Suarez called Rosa. The tattoo was done by Charleston tattoo artist/genius Margo, who currently inks at Holy City Tattooing Collective.

Check this out – This is the original painting by Tatiana:

And here is an iPhone shot of the tattoo right after Margo finished:

She interpreted the painting so well, I’m in awe of her skill. To watch her mastery of color and shading as I see the image come alive on my skin – It’s just an inspiring process.

Margo also recently did this tattoo for me, which is based on a creature from one of Caia Koopman’s paintings. The little guy looks like he’s gonna take out my Patch Whiskey monster tattoo:

This is what Caia’s original painting, entitled “Bad Bee” looks like:

And the Patch Whiskey tattoo was done late last year by Cristian at The Queens Ink Tattoo in, you guessed it, Queens, NY:

Here’s a shot of the original by Patch Whiskey, which was painted on a vinyl record:

And here is Cristian Neamtu at work on it:

The reason for this is not to show off my tattoos, but to show off the artists involved. The Patch Whiskey and Caia Koopman ones are like small little bite size samples of their bigger work, which in Whiskey’s case is usually the whole side of a building, like this:

And Caia’s work is filled with little details that could stand on their own, but are usually part of a larger story involving a pretty woman. The Tatiana Suarez tattoo at the top of this post is the largest tattoo I’ve ever gotten, and it really does capture what I love about her work. Her paintings have such emotion in them and they’re sexy and soft. Her Brazilian and El Salvadorian heritage mixed with American pop surrealism makes for work that I find highly attractive.

I actually have an appointment set for next month to do an even bigger piece featuring another one of Tatiana’s paintings on my forearm, but I got a little too eager and visited Margo on her shop’s walk-in day this past weekend and pretty much monopolized her time. The reason I chose “Rosa” was because it simply reminds me of my wife Amy (and her similar birthmark on her bicep). I’m sure my wife would kill me if I posted a photo of her topless, so you’ll have to look at this lovely head shot instead :p Needless to say, I’m a lucky guy.

So, if you’re a fan of my Facebook Page, you may have seen a post recently calling for models, designers, & stylists. I’m putting together some ideas for personal work and really want to capture some of the inspiration from my favorite artists and do something on my own terms. I’m excited to meet up with a friend this week who I’ve worked with in the past and bounce some ideas off of her. I’ll be formalizing my plans soon, so come back!

Now, here’s a concise list of the people involved in this post:

Tattoo Artists:

Margo Karolides AKA Margo Venomous
Facebook
Holy City Tattooing Collective
Cristian Neamtu AKA Cristian Zink
Facebook
The Queens Ink Tattoo

(both are kick-ass painters as well)

Artists:

Tatiana Suarez
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Caia Koopman
Website
Facebook
Patch Whiskey
Website
Facebook
Twitter

Lastly, I’ve got a Lowbrow/Pop Surrealism board on Pinterest that I pin lots of my favorite artwork on. If you’re a Pinterest user, please go ahead and follow it.

Merry Christmas 2012

My friend Mira gives the most thoughtful gifts – This is so awesome that I can’t even express how cool I think it is with the right words. She took one of my photographs and created a collage with it that’s just amazing. I just have to share with you all.

Here’s the photo that she used to base it on:

We have some really cool neighbors also who brought over treats for our dogs. Meiko posed for a little thank you shot, holiday jerky in mouth:

Finally there’s this:

My wife Amy is like many people – she hates the Christmas pressure of buying gifts for everyone. Her random gifts throughout the year are the best though. She randomly picked this up over the summer and put it right outside the window where my desk is so that I could look up and watch the birds every once in a while as I edit photos. It’s a perfect gift, and it was given without any pretense or holiday pressure.

Thank you Amy, Mira, and my neighbors Ricky & Evelyn – and Happy holidays to all of you!

Coastal Carolina Fair Photo Contest 2012

I was super excited to walk into the photography/art building at the Ladson Fair Grounds this week to find that my photo above, taken for Eco Fitness in Mount Pleasant, won 1st prize in the division 1 photo contest at this year’s Coastal Carolina Fair! Two of my other photos received honorable mentions as well.

This is one of my favorite shots I made this year, which was at the Change For Change benefit art show:

This third entry was from the photo shoot I did last month for Stella Nova Salon & Spa. I’ll share more about that shoot in a future post.

While I was extremely flattered to receive these awards, the big win for my family was to see my daughter take 3rd place in the division 3 contest with this photo that she made during the recent Worldwide Photowalk:

Photo by Mackenzie Nienstedt

And she also received an honorable mention for this photo:

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Photo by Mackenzie Nienstedt

We had prepared my daughter as best we could for a loss since this was her first time entering an art competition like this. We did the same with my son Kegan, who had entered a 3-D art sculpture through his art class at school. So when she won, it was truly a fantastic moment as a parent to see her surprise. Not only that, but Kegan received a 1st place ribbon for his piece as well!

Photo by Amy Nienstedt

What a fantastic day for our family! We are so proud of our kids, and it made the rest of the night a blast as we were so happy about the contests. I left my DSLR at home for this trip, opting to hang with the family instead of hanging behind the lens. I did have my iPhone and couldn’t resist snapping some shots like this sunset using iOS 6’s new panoramic photo feature (be sure to click on it to open up a larger version):

My wife, who had been having one of “Those” days, turned it around completely at the fair. I love how happy she looks here:

Finally, I have never had a caricature done of myself before. I was walking by the caricature booth, and this pretty young artist was looking at me with puppy dog eyes. She enticed me! Well, not really, I walked over and asked her how much. I’m sure she was thrilled to have such an easy ~~target~~ subject. So without further ado, here I am as a cartoon:

Caricature from the Coastal Carolina Fair

I think everyone needs a little bit of kitsch in their life, it makes me smile. I’ve got a lot more to share with you all, so check back soon!

Change For Change Portraits

The 2nd installment of the Change for Change Art Show has come and gone, and organizer Darryl LaPlante did a fantastic job of putting this whole thing together. Don’t let this bad ass look fool you, the man is a giant softie:

I had originally planned on attending and checking out the festivities like a citizen, but after a photo shoot got rescheduled at the last minute I decided to lug out my gear to the Mixon Barn and setup a portrait studio to work the show like a soldier instead. I had about 3 hours to plan the whole thing out, including designing & printing up these fliers to hand out:

Setup under a canopy strategically located between the bar and the porta-potties, this is where I made all of these photographs:

Show Me The Pictures

Sooooo, if you are one of my ~~victims~~ subjects, you’re wondering what I’m doing with all of those portraits we made. Well, on Facebook, you can check out the whole set here. Please go ahead and like my page and tag yourself or your friends in the photos. Share the whole album with your friends!

Also, If you really dig the photos, you can purchase prints of them here. Profits from the sale of these portraits will go to Change For Change to benefit Water Missions International. If your significant other got his/her portrait made, you pretty much will get the best Karma points in the world for buying him/her one of these, so get on that!

Here’s a slideshow of them all:

I definitely had a blast interacting with everybody. Some familiar faces, some new ones, and some I didn’t even know that I knew. Some of the Charleston art scenes’ best were on hand and I had a blast talking shop with them all.

Since there were also some talented local photographers in attendance, I was able to hand my Nikon over to one of them. Ryan Belk took over shutterbug duties and snapped this shot of me:

It’s nice being on the other side of the lens every once in a while. A beard like mine demands to be seen!

Thanks again to the organizers – I hope we made some loot for the cause 😉

Change For Change Art Show Recap

Last night was the Change for Change Benefit Art Show at the Music Farm. It was the first show of this kind organized by Young & Free SC. The rock club was transformed into a DIY art gallery and was showing some of the Charleston area’s coolest underground art.

The art show focused on attracting the college-aged youth of Charleston and introducing them to what the local art scene is producing and offering a lot of it at affordable prices.

And the art wasn’t just on paper, it was in your ears and mouth as well. The Music farm exploded with the sounds of Heyrocco…

Next up, Meet The Sky took the stage:

I also had a blast hanging out with photographer buddies Robert Donovan and Jonathan Stout, who have proven to me that the best photographers have great senses of humor. Here’s a shot of BadJon Stout getting ready to devour some meat perfection from Hello My Name Is BBQ:

And Robert Donovan shows off his “Hey Ladies” pose for the camera here:

I’ll update this post with more info on how much $$$ was raised for Water Missions last night – It was for a really good cause and the organizers did a bang-up job on their first swing at this.

As usual, I took a bunch of photos which you can view in a set on my Flickr Stream.