MATT TIMMONS BLOG

March 28, 2010

I just got back from Orlando, Florida where I spent the last week working at the Slickforce Mastering Retouching booth at the Photoshop World convention.  I really had a good time working with my friend and Los Angeles-based photographer Nick Saglimbeni & crew helping launch the DVD box set for his Mastering Retouching series to the public.  Nick has shot for many publications such as Maxim, and is currently photographer to Kim Kardashian and several other celeb-type individuals and companies.  What I like about Nick is that he’s a great creative mind, knows how to shoot production-style photo shoots, and has a good head for business.  So as well as myself being a contributor to his products, I also get to absorb some things from a professional with a similar background and a killer work ethic.

The Photoshop World convention itself was also really cool to see as well, and it was great to connect with some friend’s faces for the first time since I only knew people from emails and forums there.  I was a finalist among two other people in the Photoshop GURU awards for the category of ‘Best Photo Montage’, my first time entering a professional photo contest.  I didn’t get the award, but I am grateful to even be in the company of such professionals in the industry.   The NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) puts on a different theme every year for the convention, and this years’ was a KISS inspired rock theme, so everything looked like a KISS concert, complete with the NAPP instructors in full makeup on stage playing a real show.

We worked short hours, but for some reason were completely exhausted after each day.  There’s something about talking to hundreds of people about a great new product that drains your energy.  In the evenings, Nick would treat the crew to a 1st class dinner and drinks.  I have to hand it to him, he knows how to pick the restaurants.  From Japanese to seafood to Caribbean to, well even Olive Garden we ate like kings and enjoyed some fine cuisine.  The evenings were some of the funnest times I’ve had on a vacation.  The hotel was great, and I even met and conversed for a long time with Zack Arias in the hot tub one night.

The DVD sales went well, and I think there are a lot of people that are going to become some first-class retouchers in the short future; with more and more buzz being generated about Nick’s un-matched quality instructional series.  We’re looking forward to the next Photoshop World in Las Vegas in September, with a new DVD based on compositing in the works now also.

I only managed 7 hours of sleep in the 5 days that I was there or traveling which is a new record for me; so I’m completely out of it right now and needng to recover some sleep hours.  I couldn’t sleep down there because of the timing of things I guess, I don’t know, it was just strange.  I was kind of a zombie at times, until someone started to speake to me.  By the last day I couldn’t even conjugate sentences properly!  I was trying to describe the retouching material on the DVD’s and couldn’t come up with the words!  After a couple of drinks later that evening at Tommy Bahamas I seemed a bit more normal, but the next day on the plane ride home- I don’t even remember how I got here.

Other than the no-sleep thing, I really had a good time and the crew was really great to work with.  I’m already looking forward to doing it again.  Back to business as usual tomorrow!  :)

March 15th 2010

I was honored to be asked by the Project New Day committee this year to shoot the official ad campaign and the photography for the runway show for this years event.  For those who don’t know, Project New Day is an annual event organization that hosts the largest fashion runway show in New Mexico to generate proceeds to help A New Day Youth & Family Services.   They are a multi-service agency providing clinical services, educational programs and emergency shelter to low income, at risk youth and their families.  To be a part of something that helps kids in tough situations is something I’m not only eager to do, but gracious that there even is a place like this to contribute to.  I personally feel that everyone should give something of themselves to help others who need it- especially kids who need adults that will give them something positive to look forward to while growing up.  So when they asked me if I would be interested in shooting for them, I was quick to answer a whole-hearted, “You betcha”.

The ad concept was designed by a team of people made up of contributing businesses in New Mexico including fashion retailers, an ad agency, a modeling agency and many other companies who put it together.  They wanted two models photographed laying down, inverted to each other, shot from overhead.  Hair, makeup, models and wardrobe were all provided, I just had to get the shot.  So after putting together a scaffold-type rig to shoot an overhead from, we set up for an all-dayer.  Here’s where it gets interesting.

The day of the shoot while I’m on my way to the studio, a guy backs into by truck at a stoplight and crunches my front fender.  So I’m almost late to the shoot from having to do the whole insurance exchange dance, and it didn’t put me in the best of moods to start the shoot day.  Next I arrive at the studio and one of the committee team members informs me that the color theme changed and as of right now they’re going to do this other thing instead.  So I’m handed a list of exactly what models are supposed to wear what and how it’s supposed to look.  Ok cool, I can switch gears fast.  Next, the construction workers in the loft above mine begin their ultimate teardown and start sending chunks of concrete and dust through the plumbing holes right into the hair and makeup area.  Models and hair designers are scattering and refusing to go over there (can’t blame them).  So I call the building manager and they send over a maintenance worker to help me move my hair/makeup studio into another room where the workers aren’t above us.  Next my assistant Jason calls me and says that he is stuck at an insurance meeting and can’t make it for another 2  1/2 hours and I’m on my own for awhile.  Rats!  Only that’s not the four-letter word that I’m thinking.  The thing is, whenever things are going the wrong way, you still have to pull off a good shot.  People are counting on you.  So I never did lose my cool, I knew that if I didn’t keep a positive energy going, that there would be no excuse for a failed shoot.  So we commenced with the shoot, and everything went according to plan after the initial disasters of the day.  We had fun, the client was happy, the ad agency was happy, the models were happy and all-in-all it was a great end-result.  It’s like prepping your bike for a motorcycle race.  Even though everything might be going to hell in a hand basket in your pit area before the race, it doesn’t matter as long as you cross the line in first at the end.

I’m excited to see the ads when they come out in our local magazines, television ads, posters and whatever else they do, but I’m even more excited to be a part of something that helps kids who really need it.  More to come on Project New Day event, for now here are the behind-the-scenes.

March 6th, 2010

Here’s some behind the scenes from today’s new Gertrude Zachary billboard and print ad campaign.  We had an 8:30 am start time, and basically went all day shooting about a dozen or so different styling concepts for their various ad medias.  I know the quality of these behind-the-scenes shots kind of sucks, but the battery in the little camera we use was dead (forgot to charge it the night before) and so some of the shots I had to take with my iPhone.

They brought in about a hundred pieces of jewelry ranging in stone type and color.  The jewelry is just gorgeous by itself, but when we put it on our beautiful model Alma, it really gives it life.  The makeup, hair and styling can take some time, and amounts to about as much time as the actual shooting of each sequence.  As part of my job I decide whether the hair should be still, fanned, wet or brought up.  Our makeup artist for the day Whitney works on all the makeup designs and touchups, and Gertrude’s staff does the jewelry selection and styling, with input from me on what’s going to work best with the general shot concepts or sequence themes. The model follows the direction I give to bring out the energy, mood and overall essence of each shot as I see it in my head.  Is all a collaboration of creative and technical aspects that molds together to become what you see out on the freeways and in magazines.   Around noon we broke for lunch and had some pizza brought in, which always makes everyone happy.

As always, big thanks to the crew for such positive energy on set and for doing such a stellar and professional job.  Look for the finished billboards up around the end of March or so I’m guessing.

March 5th, 2010

Part of loving creative work is that you get to do stuff you like.  It’s always a good idea to shoot stuff for your portfolio and just get in and create new images to show your clients.  I found this mask back around Christmas time and it brought about ideas as soon as I saw it. We went in this past Sunday and shot it with model Audrey.  She has these amazing blue-turquoise eyes that I knew would just pop through the darkness of the mask surrounding them.  I came up with the makeup design including the lip jewels, and Audrey applied it herself as she is also a makeup artist on some of my shoots.  A big part of what I do is getting into the styling of a shot.  Wardrobe, makeup, hair, accessories- everything down to the shoes I get involved in.  It’s more than just setting up lights and taking the picture.  Sometimes trying to direct the model to do what it is I see in my head can be a challenge, but with patience and a positive energy it can be done.  More to come soon…