The Digital Human - Ideas, images and stories

Rejuvenation

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:54:00 +0000

Hello All,

Man, it's been a long time for this blog. I kept it going for over a year but then started focusing on my other blog, The Napkin Dad Daily, and let this one slide. I am rejuvenating it now to be an avenue for you to see my latest commercial photography projects. There will be other elements as well, discussion, presentations, announcement of photo road trips, etc. But to start back up I will simply post some of recent photos and go from there.

Thanks and off we go!

Marty

Corporate photo

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:10:00 +0000

This is a story of connections. We went to this financial planner about 6 months ago for some advice. In the process I talked about starting my own business and the principal planner (the guy in the front) gave some off the cuff advice about how important it is to stay in contact with your real and potential clients. I took his advice and kept in contact with him and 6 months later got a call to do their updated corporate photos and website.

In the process of doing that I have now landed another contract with a husband of one of the other employees helping with his company's website.

Good Day Tulsa

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:04:00 +0000

My wife, Linda, took this while waiting in the 'green room' for me to finish the interview on 'Good Day Tulsa'. It is a morning show that follows Good Morning America here in town. I was being interviewed about my napkin being in Time Magazine and the napkin story behind it all.

The best part was that the interviewer, Kristin Dickerson, agreed to let me do a photo collage of her for my 'Velveteen Woman' project!

The video is not yet available online but when it is I will post it, or a link to it.

Good Day Tulsa, originally uploaded by Make Studio | Marty Coleman.

Tulsa World, 01-04-09

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:29:00 +0000

My local newspaper ran these two articles about the napkin drawings today. I feel pretty lucky that people have caught on to the story and the napkins!

Tulsa World, 01-04-09, originally uploaded by Make Studio | Marty Coleman.

My local newspaper ran these two articles about the napkin drawings today. I feel pretty lucky that people have caught on to the story and the napkins!

Local TV Interview with Yours Truly

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Artist in Time Magazine
Want to see what your favorite napkin artist looks and sounds like? Check it out!
I was interviewed by a local TV station about the Obama napkin and the napkin story in General.
It was fun!

Evidence of a Home Invasion

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:41:00 +0000

Here is the evidence we found early Christmas morning that Santa came to our house. The cookies were eaten, the milk dranken and one puzzle piece was tooken. Can you find the piece that is missing?

Christmas Construction

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:59:00 +0000

Christmas has to be constructed don't forget. It doesn't happen by itself.

New York, 1983.

Self Portrait with Christmas Helpers

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:51:00 +0000

I had three photos of this, only this one had the bicyclist going through. But I liked that we all seemed to be looking at him, even the mannequins and the little santa. I met the cyclist later in the day, turns out he is a friend of my daughter's so it was another connection.

Self-Portrait with Louis Armstrong Trumpeting in My Ear and Frida Behind Me

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:54:00 +0000

Taken in the bathroom of the Epic Cafe, where my daughter hangs out in Tucson. We waited there for two days for her to visit us and while we did we met a lot of her friends and made a number of new ones as well.

Time Magazine issue

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:03:00 +0000

Here is the Time Magazine issue with my napkin drawing in it. Woo hoo!

Special Edition, Time Magazine!

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:39:00 +0000

Hello All,

Just wanted to let you know that this drawing is in the latest Time Magazine! It is the ‘Person of the Year’ issue and it comes out today (12/19). So, go to your local newstand/bookstore/back alley and pick up a copy!

You will find it in the section dedicated to “Obama on Flickr’ that shows the big surge in images, drawings, graphics, photos that surrounded his election.

When Obama was elected I went looking through my napkins to find just the right quote and drawing to express my positive feelings about the event. I just couldn’t find one so I went into the kitchen, found a napkin, rustled up the only marker I could find and drew away! I posted it the morning after the election on flickr and here. Along with many others who posted election related material I got a huge push in hits on that particular piece. It also engendered a lively conversation about Obama, elections, hope, hype and other ideas.

Time found my image as a result (along with many others) and after a little bit of back and forth with them they decided to publish it. I am excited to have the image among those generated by people spontaneously happy and proud of our country. As I said in my blurb below the napkin, I am not talking about Obama’s politics when I say that. I am talking about our American ideals of working towards the best in all of us.

Here is the link to the napkin on the Napkin Dad Daily blog. I reposted it today.

I also just found out that the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography is featuring my photography today on their website. When it rains it pours, eh? Here is that link.

Thanks and keep in touch, ok?
Marty

Door with Woman Coming Through It

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:47:00 +0000

She was standing in the back of the vintage store, trying to step out of her closet into the real world. She had found her style, her look but she was still tentative about stepping into the limelight, about getting attention for who she was. But she was halfway out and you can't get all the way out without first going half way. I knew she would make it eventually.

Portrait with Smile and Eyebrows in a Store

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:18:00 +0000

She sold me the paper coasters in Tucson and had a trucker hat on and I asked if I could take her photo but without it on and she said she was vain but she would let me and I am glad she took the hat off because her eyes were cool.

Portrait of RM with Heat

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:53:00 +0000

The brilliance of the sun on her and the chair and the piercing nature of her look were so intense that not only was it hard for her to open her eyes, it was hard for me to not be blinded while taking the photo.

Portrait of CS With a Window Behind Me

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:16:00 +0000

The Model CS. I scouted out this area before she was done working so I knew I wanted to capture someone's face with the beautiful light in the tall windows behind me. She obliged.

Homesick

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:51:00 +0000

She was sitting across from me as I was holding down the fort waiting for our daughter while my unwife went browsing the little stores on 4th Avenue in Tucson. Turns out she was acquaintances with my daughter. I told her we were hoping her friends would watch out for her since we didn't live in Tucson and she said she would, but was leaving to move back home to Oregon in three weeks.

She had moved to Tucson to become independent and discover new things, just develop on her own, which she had done for 6 months. But she was homesick for family and felt that the lack of structure to her life in Tucson, without the familiar obligations and connections was very hard. Her Uncle was in the hospital and she felt bad not being able to visit him.

She is a good and strong young woman, I think she will have a great life.

Portrait in Reflected Light

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:11:00 +0000

She was at the front desk, then in the gallery as I looked at the exhibition. We got into a long discussion about the images in the show and that led to a discussion about my work which led to me asking her if she wanted to create some art with me which led to her saying yes which led us outside to take some photos I will use in a collage and also some straight portraits, of which this is one.

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:54:00 +0000

She was the saleswoman at the Vintage Clothing Store who was also a photographer and an artist and knew about the cool show at the Center for Creative Photography and she was right, it was great.

I loved her great retro style with the bobbed hairdo and the 'little house on the prairie' dress. Her face was serious but not morose, filled with intelligence and just a bit of world weariness. She was a student and had a lot of study on her plate.

At the Gate

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Our daughter was housesitting at this gated ranch in Tucson and we waited outside after our initial conversation.

She ended up locking herself in the house and asking us to call her landlord, who came down to help out. She also called the police who came and told us (which we already knew) that she was an adult and could make her own choices, but that they would go talk to her.

They were able to talk her out of the house and she came out the same time her landlord arrived. She agreed to go get an evaluation, but only if her landlord took her, not us, and report back to us later that day. And that is what happened.

The Unexpected Journey

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:52:00 +0000

My middle daughter went missing earlier this year. We believed she was in Tucson but had no communication for about 6 months. Her younger sister went to Tucson and found her. Her mother and I (we are divorced) followed a number of days later to talk to her about some issues.

Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:54:00 +0000

This is a drawing of my daughter, Connie. I am thankful today that her sister, Chelsea, traveled to Tucson to find her after she had disappeared from our lives for a quite a while. She found her and she is now going to come home to the family and get help for some serious issues she has. I am very grateful and thankful that she has been found.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digioreo/119905496/sizes/m/in/set-72057594085732122/

What are you thankful for?

The Application

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:37:00 +0000

I love taking photos of models getting ready for a shoot, it is almost more interesting and fun than the shoot itself sometimes.

She had been running around off-set wondering where her lip gloss was, so when she found it I followed her into the kitchen at the auto repair shop/photography studio and took some shots as she put it on.

We were having a photo shoot in an auto repair garage that adjoins the photography studio. We had someone in who was giving a tutorial on studio lighting. At one point he asked this model to do some poses on a divan/couch with her shirt pulled up, exposing her abs and belly button. I could tell she was a bit uncomfortable with that and was worried about what her parents would think, especially her father. The poses weren't exploitive as such, but they were on the cheesy side and I could tell she was a bit awkward about it.

Turns out she has the same name as one of my daughters and graduated from the same high school, a few years later. We talked a bit about her going to college and what she wanted to do. She seemed to like the photos I took off-set. I will have to ask her what she thought about the ones I mentioned above.

Long

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:14:00 +0000

Another image from my recent auto repair garage shoot. I found the scaffold to be much more fun than the set up studio situation they had put together so I had a model climb up on it and took some shots. I knew her dress was short, but I had no idea how short until she was up there. I actually had to make her move her legs a number of times so I didn't see her panties in the shot.

I manipulated this image quite a bit, just experimenting and playing with some perspective and warping tools to accentuate the legs that were already so obviously the center of the image.

Portrait with Wedding Ring

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:34:00 +0000

From a commissioned couples photo shoot. I jokingly suggested we go outside and do some shots among the leaves and bare trees, thinking she would say no due to the cold. But she was more than game and we came away with some fantastic shots of her.

November, 2008

The Girls in the Garage

noreply@blogger.com (The Napkin Dad) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:51:00 +0000

Our photo club was having a photo shoot in the auto repair garage that is attached to the photography studio where we meet. They had brought out all the lights and back drops into the garage to do a tutorial on studio lighting.

It was a bit too crowded to really hear what they were saying so I stole a few of the models and went to another part of the garage where I found a scaffold for them to get up on. I went up a ladder and got this shot, among others.

I had the camera on manual settings for a long exposure and then added the flash at the end to get the effect.