The Art We Breathe

Coffee

2008-11-17T14:07:00.002-05:00

I shot this for a brochure that contains a map of all the independent coffee shops in Gainesville, FL.

JPG - Vote Now!

2008-10-19T14:20:00.005-04:00

Hey, I'm giving JPGmag another try. I have two photos in the running and I could use your votes!

You have to sign up for an account at JPGmag.com in order to vote.

Thanks!

Theme: Severe Weather

Theme: Beloved

Senior Portraits - Paul!

2008-10-16T16:43:00.006-04:00

Seniors - When you get your senior photos done with The Art We Breathe, there's no huge cheesy "2008"s or standardized backdrops—you get a photo session that is tailor made for you.

Click Here to Sign Up!

Even though the Summer Senior Portrait special is technically over, I'll honor those rates if you enter this code in the comments box when you sign up: BLOG1016

Here are some shots from my latest senior portrait session with Paul:

Wickett Groves - More shots and behind the scenes!

2008-10-09T14:59:00.003-04:00

A while ago I posted shots from a shoot I did for class (Click here to see the original post).

Well, here's the website I designed - Wickett Groves.

Here are a few more shots from that shoot and some behind the scenes photos:

These first two did not make it onto the site, mostly because of time constraints. I had a very limited amount of time to design the site, so I didn't get to include as many photos as I would have liked to.

These next ones are of Kade, the one-year-old son of my models, Phil and Krystal. He really enjoyed playing with the oranges:

Here's the main shot that I used for the front page of the site, without the background removed:

And finally, here are the setup shots:

My makeshift boom stand - a ping pong table!

And here's a close-up of the umbrella:

Jake La Botz

2008-10-03T14:16:00.006-04:00

About a month ago I had the privilege of meeting and taking photos of Jake La Botz. Jake is an excellent blues musician and actor. You might recognize him from his most recent role in the new Rambo movie.

In recent years, La Botz has been touring the country (and now Europe as well) playing in tattoo parlors. Last month he played and did an interview at Anthem Tattoo in Gainesville, FL.

La Botz was very relaxed during his interview. He definitely knew what he was doing!

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the interview:

Here are some shots from the show:

Wickett Groves

2008-09-26T17:37:00.003-04:00

I'd apologize for my lack of posts recently, but I think if you read my previous post you'll understand that things have been a bit crazy lately.

Anyways, here's a preview of a project I did for school. It's for a site advertising a fictitious Blood Orange grove. I'll hopefully be posting more of these (and the website that goes along with it) soon:

I Love You Mom, You Will Be Missed Dearly

2008-09-06T17:00:00.003-04:00

Early this morning, my mother passed away. Although I am not in the state of mind to share all that's on my heart, I will at least say this—

My mom was a giver. All of her life she considered others above herself. She will always be loved and dearly remembered.

I take great comfort in knowing that my mother loved Jesus above all else and is now enjoying the presence of God! Though her body has died, my mom—her spirit—lives on and will continue to live forever.

I appreciate everyone's prayers and support throughout this ordeal.

I love you mom!

Janet Cloutier — November 19th, 1960—September 6th, 2008

Photoshop Tutorial (class project)

2008-09-03T15:01:00.003-04:00

Well, school has started again (hence the less regular posting...sorry).

So, while you wait for me to actually process some photos (I have some interesting ones coming soon, stay tuned), here's a project I just finished for school.

I designed this photoshop tutorial site for my Web Design II class. Enjoy:

Self Portrait - New Strobe Test

2008-08-26T20:54:00.004-04:00

I just bought a used Sigma EF-500 flash and wanted to put it to the test.

Here's the rundown on how I lit it—

I used the new flash as the main light, diffused through a white umbrella. The rim lights are created by snooted Vivitar 285HVs behind the subject (me!) at 45º angles.

The Vivitar strobes were triggered by Cactus V2s and the new strobe was triggered via its built in slave (it fires when its sensor sees another flash pop).

Pre-Fay Sunset

2008-08-20T15:46:00.004-04:00

I always love the weird weather that comes along with tropical storms and hurricanes. The low, quickly moving clouds often make the light change in ways we usually never see. I happened to look out my window yesterday evening and saw the following sunset:

Biplane

2008-08-19T13:50:00.001-04:00

Dirt

2008-08-17T23:48:00.006-04:00

I went for a walk the other day and discovered an interesting area just outside of a newly built neighborhood. They're digging it up, I assume to put in some more houses at some point.

This first photo is a 13 image stitch. It reminds me of Horseshoe Bend in Colorado. ^^^ Click on Photo to See a Larger Preview^^^

The Transaction

2008-08-09T15:01:00.003-04:00

Click Here to see more photos from this shoot

My friend Ian is in town for a few weeks and I wanted to take some portraits of him while he's here. The other day I noticed a tipped over train car on a back road to my house and decided it would be the perfect place for a photo shoot!

So, last night around 9:30 PM we headed to the train car and I set up some lights. Since it was pitch black out there, I used a high flashlight to focus. Sometimes I ended up using the flashlight to add a bit of warmth to Ian's face.

There was a surprising amount of traffic on that road, and we must have looked really strange to passers-by...

Speaking of which, partway through the shoot I got a call from some friends of mine. They asked me where I was, and I said I was doing a shoot. They said, "By a train?"...you get the picture.

So they turned around and hung out for a while. Naturally, I took a few portraits:

Kyra and Tim's Wedding

2008-08-05T01:37:00.003-04:00

I just posted photos from Kyra and Tim's wedding on my Facebook Page.

Raccoons!

2008-08-03T16:25:00.002-04:00

The pool at my house has been drained for quite a while now, waiting to be painted. The other day (ok several weeks ago...) some baby raccoons decided to swim in the rainwater that had filled up part of the deep end. So, while they were enjoying themselves, they were kind enough to pose for a quick portrait session:

This one enjoyed the pool light.

Posing for a close-up...

Then it was time to go...and no he didn't make it up the ladder. He ended up going up the stairs in the shallow end.

Chicago

2008-08-01T17:29:00.003-04:00

So it's taken me a month to get these up here, but here they are—photos from my trip to Chicago.

The first night, after watching Wall-E (which I thoroughly enjoyed), my sister took me for a drive around Chicago. I decided to experiment with some motion blur, so I lifted my camera up out of the car through the sun roof, strapped it securely to my arm, braced it on the roof, and shot away:

These are from Gino's East. The whole interior is (intentionally) covered with it:

I also got to check out the Threadless store which was awesome:

Reader Challenge: And the Winner Is...

2008-07-31T21:33:00.003-04:00

And the winner is: Natalie Seidel!

The Answer: RocketFive Photography

Congratulations, Natalie. Pick out which photo you want and I'll get you your print!

Thanks to everyone who tried! If there's interest I'll do more contests like this in the future.

---

I started RocketFive Photography before I had ever done any kind of paid shoot. I liked the design alright, but I soon realized that the name was not something I would want to stick with.

Thus, The Art We Breathe was born...

Reader Challenge: Get your answer in now!

2008-07-31T10:17:00.002-04:00

Between the first clue and the second clue, I have effectively given you the answer.

THE FINAL CLUE: Put the answer from the first clue together with the answer of the second clue and plug it into google.

That's right, my original site is still up, it can be found via google if the correct search terms are used.

The first person to comment with the correct name or post the link to the site wins!

---------------

The Art We Breathe on Facebook
In other news...The Art We Breathe Photography is now on Facebook! This is where I'll be uploading my most recent photos, including this gallery of photos from a recent show I went to:

Click on the photo to see the gallery:

Reader Challenge: New Clue! Bigger prize!

2008-07-30T14:28:00.008-04:00

Ok, the first clue was this: What do Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Esnault-Pelterie, and Robert Hutchings Goddard have in common?

Answer: Rockets

Here is the second clue. It will lead you to a number:

1. The current Roman Catholic Pope is Pope Benedict _____.
PLUS
2. The number of Spartans who fought to the death at the Battle of Thermopylae.
MINUS
3. The number of Psalms in the Bible.
DIVIDED BY
4. The atomic number of helium.
MINUS
5. The year of Clay Aiken's birth was 19___.

EQUALS ________.

Type your answers in the comments. Oh, and by the way, whoever gets the final answer right (i.e. not just this clue) will win a free ~~8x10~~ 11x16 print mounted on matboard!

Reader Challenge Update

2008-07-28T15:10:00.005-04:00

Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945)

No winners so far in the Reader Challenge. Nobody knows? I'm going to make this interesting then. Here is your first clue:

What do Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Esnault-Pelterie, and Robert Hutchings Goddard have in common?

Type your answers here.

Reader Challenge! Win a free 8x10!

2008-07-26T16:04:00.003-04:00

Photo by Beth Cloutier. Taken in 2005.

It's hard to believe, but I've been shooting now for about five years, and shooting professionally for about three years.

I'll give a free 8x10 print of any photo from my site to the first person to answer this question: What did I originally call my photography company, before The Art We Breathe?

i shall imagine life

2008-07-05T18:12:00.003-04:00

I was in Chicago, IL and Bloomington, IN this week. I'll post a few shots from Chicago soon. First, a few shots from an impromptu photoshoot in Indiana. I was in Bloomington visiting my friend Kyle.

When I arrived at his house, one of the first things I noticed was a metallic lamp with a red bulb hanging from the ceiling above a chair. I filed it away in my mind as a possible photograph location.

After a great Turkish dinner at a quaint restaurant called Anatolia, we went back to the house and listened to a few LPs from his awesome record collection.

Then, feeling nostalgic, we decided to go out in his back yard and catch some fireflies...ah, the memories...

(Note: fireflies are hard to shoot, especially without a tripod! you can see them at the top left and bottom right of the inside of the jar. Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Anyways, back inside, I noticed the light fixture again and asked Kyle if he'd be willing to sit in for a photoshoot. He graciously agreed, and here are the results:

BTW...Kyle is really not a creepy guy, he's just really good at appearing that way in photos!

Apartment Shoot

2008-06-24T18:23:00.003-04:00

These are from an apartment shoot I did the other day:

These first three are HDRs created in Photomatix using three exposures:

These next two are both 4 image stitches stitched in Photoshop with photomerge. This was my first shoot using strobist techniques to light up interiors:

Paint Me Irrational - Category Five Photo Shoot

2008-05-27T20:37:00.004-04:00

Here's a video from a recent photo shoot I did with Paint Me Irrational:

The Short Version:

The Long Version:

And the results:

New Music! A Lowland EP

2008-05-14T16:31:00.005-04:00

My new EP, "A Lowland EP" is now available for download! You can download it from the player below.

The EP features 7 songs that I have written over the past 7 years.

The first track, "I Hate Goodbyes", is actually a song I wrote while a part of my former band, The Dropowtts. The lyrics were written by Phil Seidel.

The songs are mostly piano compositions, and a few have some keys, guitar, and drums added in.

The last song, "This Day Shall Bring", was intentionally recorded very Lo-Fi. I recorded it entirely with the built in microphone on my Macbook Pro and mixed it in Garage Band. The percussion is literally pots and pans (whatever I could find in the kitchen that made noise...).

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this EP. Look for a full record before too long (hopefully!).

I'd love to hear what you think!