Chris Crumley Blog

It's interesting how you can read about a driver by paying attention to their car.

This Mini Cooper is color coordinated with the owner's kayak
The kayak is a single seat and only one set of racks
The Mini is an "S" version for upscale performance
Even with the "S", the small car hints of Green
You can't see them at this angle, but the dash area by the steering wheel is populated with added instruments
The Station Wagon version is in concert with hauling the kayak and related gear
Check the license plate message
The sum of it isn't conclusive, but it is interesting and I love the whole package

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Gold shoes against a summer sky. Not much more I can tell you about this except it's on the bow of a boat on a nice summer day.

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This was an exercise in contrasting red with a clean bright white. We had a choice of white cyc or seamless in the studio or a white boat deck. Opted for the boat deck.

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We did an underwater session with Jessie King West a few weeks ago. Some of them have come out of post-production; this variation came out this morning.

Jessie is on the cover of my Wet & Underwater portfolio (on-line version at chriscrumley.com); a photo from some time ago. She's all grown now, but started modeling for me when she was 11-12 doing some of the Swimways Pool toys work. Her mother is an incredible athlete and architect; Jessie is similarly athletic and is following an artistic path.

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Modern dancer Kristina Skjelberg underwater with blue flowing fabric. We shot this early last month, but it's just coming out of post-production.

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The day after one of the cupcake studio sessions, this was the scene on the refrigerator shelf above the milk. Moments after, picture the plate empty.

Yesterday was the soft opening of creative director, graphic designer and cupcake entrepreneur Carla Peay's Just Cupcakes store in Hilltop West, Virginia Beach. I was there to wish her well and grab some cupcakes for a nine-year-old's sleepover at the house.

The headline for Carla's most recent ad was "mmmmmmmm." I second that.

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Looking out the window of my studio-on-the-farm last Thursday, this was the scene and home to one of the farm workers. I liked the plant rows leading my mind's eye right into the house. Or, into the front room satellite dish.

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Unlike the creatures in Jellyfish Lake in Palau, Micronesia, the jellyfish in Crystal Lake, Virginia Beach sting. Nevertheless, they are hauntingly beautiful, especially when they cluster together and hardly an inch or two separates them. It happens this time of year in the warm shallow tanic-brown water of Crystal Lake and other places around Virginia Beach.

I've been threatening to get in with them with the housed Canon EOS-5DMkII and, finally, yesterday, I did. I felt the smooth tops of their domes brushing against my hands and arms, but evidentially missed the stinging parts.

Now that I've done it once, I want to do it again and experiment with different angles, optics and light.

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Our peanut farm studio had no parking issues, no stairs, no elevator. We backed up to the front door and moved inside.

One short freight train rumbled through midday.

A few farm trucks and tractors rolled by and their drivers checked out what was going on through the open door.

Otherwise, it was just quiet country with a little Lennon, Dylan, Rush, Morrison, Cohen and Buffalo Springfield in the background.

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Last week's peanut packaging shoot with art director, Larry Peak, was a little out of the norm. We needed open peanut field images and well as product close-ups so combined them into one day on the client farm two hours away from Virginia Beach.

We used my standard location kit with the addition of some seamless rolls, reflectors and other tabletop items. They went in a vacant cinder block farm building beside traintracks and surrounded by fields of corn, soy beans and peanuts. Fans and an open door were our air conditioning.

We shot the close-ups with the medium format digital tethered to a hooded MacBook Pro which also provided us with varied tunes from the Wonder Boys album. It was July 2 and hot, so a cooler of water and Zero Coke kept us hydrated.

Such variety; I love this business.

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Yesterday was one of those crazy days where ten things were happening at once, there was a crowd in the studio and the new mermaid tail arrived a day earlier than expected. Funny how everyone dropped everything, out pops a knife and the box got opened.

Christina was the first into tail and it was a loose fit on her. Laura Russell was in the studio and is a little larger than Christina, so we put her in it and the fit was better.

The tail is a work of art and was done by movie special effects artist Adam Martyn in Hungary.

We're anxious to get it underwater and shoot stills and HiDef video. There's a lot going on, so it might have to wait until Friday or Monday. Stay tuned.

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