Parker Matthews - Photographer

Marksmen 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:40:00 +0000

We used several of these nicely contrasty black-and-whites to break up the book.

THE YEARBOOK IS OUT NOW, so to celebrate, here are some of my favorite photos from the 2012 volume of the Marksmen, after the jump:

"Only 30 pounds? Bring me more!" - John*

This one ran in black and white, though I prefer the impact of the pink.

Too Strong

Another one that I liked better in color

And some that aren't from the black-and-white series:

We actually have a kid who works at Chuck-E-Cheese

For a science fiction story

The new choirmaster

A huddle during a rivalry game.

*John did not say this.

February ReMarker: Women

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:13:00 +0000

Cover, Women, 3 Feb. 2012

ESD Basketball Rivalry, 3 Feb. 2012

I hijacked the camera of one of my sports photographers for a minute...

Women, 3 Feb. 2012

Women (with Riley Graham), 3 Feb. 2012

Trade: Parrot for a lens?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:35:00 +0000

What's the market value of a parrot?

December ReMarker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:10:00 +0000

Main Cover, Financial Aid, 9 Dec. 2012

Special Section Cover, Entitlement, 9 Dec. 2012

Feature, Entitlement, 9 Dec. 2012

Feature, Spencer Bruno, 9 Dec. 2012

Feature, Diabetes, 9 Dec. 2012

Some tearsheets:

Dream Big Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:46:00 +0000

Gotta love that early-morning light.

I don't know if I've ever seen such concentration.

The proud MVP.

The Marksman

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:20:00 +0000

Introducing The Marksman:
Private schools aren't all law and order. We have our fun. The goal of this project is to show a number of my friends and classmates doing what they do best - messing around. I chose the black to let the personality shine through, and while many people see us as all the same because of our uniforms, I think these images beg to differ. I'm starting with these four, with many more to come. Check them out here.

September ReMarker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 06:27:00 +0000

THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE PAPER is out the door now, so here is some of what we did. The above shot was for a science teacher with a new sci-fi focused English class. I used three lights, one softbox high to the right, another just below the camera (practically on-axis) for fill, and another light with the standard 7" reflector behind him for separation (more noticeable in the wider shots).

These two were for the cover. We ended up using only the top one. (It's pretty clear that the bottom one is of the editor of the paper). The story was about binge drinking. We chose Jim Beam for its color - it gave us a great color palette throughout. For lighting the bottom one, I used one softbox from directly above him, with another a stop or two down off to camera right for fill. For the top one I just nuked the background with a couple of lights.

These are from a story about a student who competed in horse-jumping in Europe over the summer. Going in, I didn't know much about horses. Now, I know that they can fly. The shot on the right is lit with a softbox without the front diffuser above right, just low enough to get into the eyes below the brim of the helmet. Fill comes from a softbox to the leftish, close to the camera.

This one was fun. It's a massive photoshop project, nearly a 1 gig file. There are some things that need to be fixed, I'll admit -- a lot of the reflections need to be redone. But as far as a pure photoshop creation I thought it went pretty well. We shot them standing on a black table in front of a series of chalk boards, which I extended in photoshop using samples from an image without the students, along with bringing the table back to meet them and adding the horizontal bar where they meet. For the actual lighting, I used two skim lights from either side, along with 2 softboxes right next to each other (to simulate a bigger one) about 10-15 feet above my head. I'm a good distance back from the students as well, maybe 20 feet. The students were members of the medical club, and the photo was for an advice piece that ran in the commentary section of the paper. Huge shout out to my assistants Riley and Michael for helping set this one up.

For this one, the story was about a language being phased out. I had a strobe bounced off the walls to the left and right. I popped the strobes when the shutter opened, then had the students leave the frame during a long exposure, giving the ghosting. A little photoshop later and I'm done.

I'm looking forward to the next issue... but for now, here are a couple of tearsheets:

Speedlites and Cardboard

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:59:00 +0000

Gayle with her subjects in her studio

WHILE ON VACATION IN COLORADO a friend (at whose house I was staying) asked for a portrait or two to promote her new business. She's an artist who takes old antiques and makes abstract macro photographs of them - it's hard to describe but very impressive.

I would have liked to have lights to work with. Unfortunately for me, I don't always get what I would like to have. Unfortunately for her, it meant all we had was a 430EX II speedlite. I found some white posterboard laying around and got to work. ~~She doesn't have her website up yet, but when she does I'll post a link below.~~ It will be at www.lookstudio.net.

A more serious pose in front of one of her photographs

A somewhat less serious pose in front of another of her photographs

More Airplanes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 05:27:00 +0000

MORE FROM THE US SPORT AIRCRAFT shoots - they asked for some photographs to adorn the walls of their hangar's lobby, possibly black and white or with subdued colors.

Just outside the company's previous hangar, we found a cool building and got to work. On a side note, I forgot gaffer tape, so we used aluminum aircraft tape to attach the cardboard gobos to the lights. It's cool stuff - like aluminum foil with a sticky side (and it works very well). I used the gobos to get the rounded, spotlight look without actually having a grid or a spot.

Setup for the shot below. The above had the ladder farther to the right.

The direct lineup. I love the look of the taxiway.

My New Job

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:27:00 +0000

I am now the official photographer of Dream Big Soccer!

Portrait: Michael Loewinsohn

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:08:00 +0000

I'LL LET THE CAPTIONS SPEAK for this job - my first using a pack-and-head system.

The finished product

Yours truly. I'm not sure whether I was shooting a basketball or being a ninja. I'm not good at either.

My assistant, Michael, positions the subject, Michael. This got confusing quickly.

The setup - Three equal-power heads off a Novatron 1000Ws pack, two bare, one in an umbrella for fill.

This one can speak for itself...

Pre- and post-photoshop of the second select from the shoot.

New Gear

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Yesterday I came home to a new 7D and 24-70mm 2.8L, and, needless to say, they're both awesome. The 24-70 is my first L lens, but hopefully not my last. It's insanely good, as is the 7D. I had borrowed friends' 7Ds before so I knew what to expect there: near-perfection. I'm looking forward to using it from now on, mostly for journalism. And as soon as our yearbook comes out, I'll have a few of my favorite photos from that uploaded as well. Click through the jump for photos of the new stuff.

Photos of my new baby (shot with the G12 - one of the best point-and-shoots ever):