Josh Owen- The Urban Gentleman

I (Matt) spent yesterday in Orlando with my friend Josh Owen. He is constantly dressed to the nines and can be found dancing at the most inappropriate times (one of the many reasons he is unanimously loved). We have worked together in the past, but I must say, this has been my favorite shoot with him so far.

He recently launched a website to share his men’s fashion prowess with the world. Check it: www.willardrandall.wordpress.com

Trinity- Projection Test

Recently we have been experimenting a bit with film and some new lighting techniques. Our friend and wonderful model Trinity was willing to help out with a concept we had projecting some of our slide film onto her as sort of a “real-life” texture.

We were elated to see the results from this “test”… enjoy!

DuckDuck + Film

Much of our work is highly produced- between models, stylists, creative consultations and intensive post-production. But while the hub-bub of meetings and visual production ensues, we also tote around good old 35mm cameras with us.

As many of you know, film has a certain nostalgic property to it that rings pure and honest. Below is a small collection of photos shot on a Kalimar SR200 (the Russian version of the popular Pentax 35mm) using a 50mm 2.0 lens and Kodak Elite Chrome 400 film. There is not a particular “theme” to the images, we just took them here and there as we pleased. Enjoy…

Side Note: if you are looking for a great place to learn all there is to know about film, purchase a variety of films/cameras, or connect with others who share an affinity for film- visit this website: www.lomography.com

Shapiro

We recently had the good fortune to shoot the band Shapiro. It was our most involved phtotshoot yet: 40 hours of pre-production, $250 on props and FX, 12 hours of production, and 30 hours of post-production. And all worth it. Musicians are definitely some of our favorite people to photograph because they’re down for whatever.

Very special thanks to Daniel White, Shapiro’s manager, for all the legwork he did with this shoot. We love you, Dan. :)

Neue Magazine Spread

Here are some photos we took for the recent issue of Neue Magazine:

Here’s some of the original photos, shot high above the hills of our beloved little city. These were originally slated to be the cover of the magazine, which is why we left space at the top and right sides of the photos. The title of the article at that point was, “10 Questions That Will Shape the Future of the Church”, which is why he’s holding up 10 fingers in some of these…

Thanks to Ben, Ashley, Stetson and Jeff for being our models. And a special thanks to Daryl Calfee for being willing to model on top of a freezing cold hill in the howling wind!

Portfolio here: duckduckcollective.com

Lynchburg and the Snow

We have recently received multiple emails from people asking questions like, “How do you keep from getting burned-out?” and “Where does your inspiration come from?”

Without going into too much detail (there will be a podcast soon covering those topics) I can simply say that when we are not working on a gig for a client, we are constantly looking to go out, shoot and have fun. No pretense involved, just grabbing our cameras, some friends and seeing what we can come up with.

Recently, Lynchburg has been receiving pretty epic snowfall. So we put on our winter coats, grabbed our cameras (covered with plastic baggies to protect them from the snow) and headed out to snap a few stills of our winter wonderland. Below are some shots of our good friends Karissa Grantham and Jeff Carl.

note: Incidentally, Jeff is a ridiculous singer/songwriter. Check this link to give him a listen.

Also, since we have been receiving buckets of snow from the heavens, we went out and had a snowball fight… here are a couple of frames of friends frolicking in the fresh powder…

Rob Bell

We had a chance recently to drive up to Grand Rapids, MI and shoot Rob Bell for Neue Magazine…

Musician: Jacob Zachary

Every other month we host a show at our loft called “Show In The Dark”. This month’s artist was Jacob Zachary.

After the show we all went out and took some photos… :)

We’ll be posting a video podcast (woot!!) called DuckDuck.tv tomorrow breaking down how we edited the middle photo in this post so check back then and/or click here to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Peaceandlove.

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Update: Click here to see the DuckDuck.tv episode where we breakdown the middle shot in this post.

Amanda & Kate

We haven’t posted in a while… partly because my best friends were visiting and I allowed myself the freedom to revel in their company. This is Ally speaking… and I must say, I have some beautiful friends.

One day we decided to walk around town and document as we went along. Here are some of the photographs that happened as a result of this day.

I love them. I miss them.

Actress Hilary Heath In Front of the Lens

While spending some time in Texas with family (Matt speaking) I worked on a short film with a few people I knew from the Dallas area.

Hilary Heath is a very talented actress who braved freezing cold water and trudged through muddy fields doing multiple takes to get scenes from the film done. Along the way, I was able to snap a few images. Enjoy!

We have also been shooting a bit more with a Polaroid Land Camera (using Fuji FP100c film) and have really enjoyed the results. Here are a few shots from the past few days:

Note: when you place your fingers on the Fuji Instant film before it is fully developed, fingerprints will be left (see examples below).

In a few weeks the collective will be back together from the holidays to take on January (which is shaping up to be an epic month!) and we will be posting a slew of new work. Have a Merry Christmas!

Humble Tip: Part 1

We recently did a photo shoot with rapper “Humble Tip” for an upcoming music video of his.

Not only was he a genuinely cool dude, but hilarious as well. Below is the evidence:

We will be posting more from this shoot later in the week. So check back!

Click here to check out Humble Tip’s myspace.

Brad Powell

We recently had the honor of shooting my dad (Ally speaking), Brad Powell. He is the Senior Pastor at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, and one of the best men I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

It’s also convenient that he’s a stud and is really easy to take photographs of. Enjoy :)

Martin Wedding

Florida is a second home to the us as we travel there about once a month if not more for work and to spend time with friends. Recently on one of our journeys to the sunshine state, we shot the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Haskell Martin. As you can tell, they were naturals in front of the lens:

This will be one of our last wedding posts of 2009. Early next year we will be working with Melanie and Haskell (the lovely couple pictured above) in creating the visuals for the launch of their new organic beauty product line.

Thanksgiving at the Salvation Army

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you’re enjoying your time with friends and family. We’re with our respective families as well. Matt is in Dallas and Ally and John are in Chicago. There’s a lot we’re thankful for this year but it seems appropriate to mention here that we’re thankful for you. :) Thank you for stopping by.

This isn’t a typical blog post for us, but here are some shots from a Thanksgiving celebration at a Salvation Army in the small town of Greenville, TX:

Awesomely enough, if you are ever in the area and want to help these guys out, you can contact them on their facebook page.

Cruise in tomorrow for another fresh blog post. :)

Click here to bookmark the DuckDuck Collective Blog.

Janette Marin

Our good friends at Hallow Tree Studios connected us with singer/songwriter Janette Marin for some photos. Her MySpace page is in the works, which we may or may not have something to do with, so we’ll link her website in the future once it’s up. Enjoy!

We post new content every day. Stop by tomorrow!

Click here to bookmark the DuckDuck Collective Blog.

Kawczak Wedding – Part 2

You can view part 1 of the Kawzcak wedding here: http://duckduckcollective.com/blog/kwczak-wedding-part-1/

Schaaf Wedding – Part 1

Here’s some speed edits from our friends’ John And Laura Schaaf’s wedding, which is still going full swing. We don’t normally post during the wedding but this place actually has Wi-Fi so we’re throwing caution to the wind…

Laura actually turned invisible and was kind enough to pose for us in the following photos:

Hope you enjoyed the quick peek. The dance floor is beckoning. :) None other than THE Jeff Pamer is DJ-ing. Win! Can you spot the Pamer brothers in this post?

Also, special thanks to the wedding planner, Crystal Whitaker. This wedding was stress-free and went without a hitch thanks to her personality and planning. We recommend her strongly to anyone getting married in or around Charlottesville, VA. For that matter, we also recommend the Clifton Inn. Partially because they have an unbelievably beautiful facility and professional staff — blah, blah, blah — but mostly because they have FREE WI-FI. We believe strongly this is the very best kind of Wi-Fi and that it should be everywhere in the universe, especially where we’re shooting a wedding.

Anyway. We post every day. In the future there will be more photos from this wedding and also a video. Stop back tomorrow. :)

Kawczak Wedding – Part 1

You can view part 2 of the Kawczak wedding here: http://duckduckcollective.com/blog/kwczak-wedding-part-2/

Ufema Wedding

Our very good friends Aaron and Bethany asked us to shoot their wedding and we enthusiastically agreed. We greatly enjoy working weddings, but we especially enjoy photographing our friends’ weddings.

At weddings we sometimes set-up a “crazy booth” (or as Matt likes to call it a “Shenanigans Station”) and at this wedding they took it to heart. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Check back tomorrow for another fresh post.

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Lifestyle Photography for Uncover the Color

This past weekend our friends Cole NeSmith and Shawn Romano invited us to Orlando to take some lifestyle photos for a stock photography website they’re launching soon called Uncover The Color. We wound up shooting over 3,000 photos. Here’s a preview…

Thoughts from this shoot:

- Shooting specifically for “stock photography” is freeing since just about any concept goes: happy, sad, contemplative, surprised, pensive, etc.
- Setting up cameras and lights is easy but directing/posing the models is really the variable that we’re finding most affects how happy we are with the final shot.
- Orlando is awesome. Up there with Brooklyn and Nashville.
- Seasons 1 and 2 of Battlestar Galactica made the 10 hour drives fly by. So good!

Special thanks to Jon Paul Douglass for assisting us with his lights, lenses, loft and muscles. Also, a warm thanks to Kate King, Tom Gustafson and Lori Gustafson for their hospitality. It was a pleasure.

Sundry iPhone photos from the weekend:

By the way, this blog will be updated daily now that our big video projects are finally done.

Vita Fashion Show: Fall 2009

A few months ago, we at DuckDuck cut our teeth as a collective by photographing the Spring 2009 Vita Fashion show in Lynchburg, VA. Vita, which is the brainchild of Sarah Simmons and Becca McCharen, began last year as an effort to not only display the ridiculous talents of local designers and stylists, but to contribute to and help grow the up and coming artistic community of downtown Lynchburg. Being a part of such an evening of style and art really excited us at DuckDuck about the potential Vita possessed as an artistic and communal catalyst for our city.

Last night, along with designers Becca Mccharen, Deidre Stone, Ashley-Elaine Hudson, stylist Sam Gravitt of Fusion Salon, and fabulous model choreographer Sarah Simmons, the DuckDuck Collective worked to create a night of chic style held in the Glass House in downtown Lynchburg by presenting the Fall 2009 Vita Fashion Show. Huge thanks as well to John Wyche and James Walz from Hallow Tree Studios for taking care of the sound and lighting. Pictures from the evening will be posted very soon.

We also wanted to enhance the aesthetics of this Fall’s Vita show and further highlight the talents of Sarah, Becca, Sam and Deidre. So we conducted a photo shoot with each artist to create some conceptual art pieces that conveyed each individual’s personality. After a week of editing, printing and mounting the images, we were incredibly excited to display the fruits of our labor to over 400 people.

Portraits from the East Coast

The last 30 days or so have been incredible. We’ve been everywhere from Tuscaloosa, AL to Brooklyn, NY searching for interesting people with stories to share for the Levi’s “Go Forth” ad campaign. It’s been quite the adventure. 10,000 miles later, here are some portraits of the people that have made our last few weeks so memorable.

Madi Diaz and Band

Spent the morning shooting Madi Diaz and her band. Check out her phenomenal music at madidiaz.com.

Model: David Marshall