Chris Crumley Blog

Cancer seems to be affecting nearly all of us somehow, so being part of finding a cure is a no-brainer. One group intimately involved is Lynnhaven Dive Center (aka Lynnhaven Adventure Outfitters) and ADS (Advanced Diving Supply/ADS Tactical). This year's D4AC, a two-day event at LDC beginning Friday, April 20, has a goal of $75,000 that is passed 100% to cancer research through sales, donations and auctions.

One item in D4AC 2012 is a commemorative t-shirt. Robby Smolen, a graphic design talent at ADS, needed a diver silhouette or outline for his design, so I gave him a number of image choices from my 191,000 image database. The resulting graphic is the diver outline filled with the cancer ribbons we see everywhere.

The SCUBAPRO-clad diver model is Christina Macfarlane.

See http://www.ldcscuba.com for more information.

Permalink

Still working on vintage hat project. This week and last, we're doing the research on materials, sources and creating a data file on each hat. Some of the veils needed replacing after 100 years, so we found a source of material in New York and will replace those needing it this week.

Here, Melissa Kuhlman is wearing a black velvet low-profile hat with horsehair wisps on her left side. It was made in Canada exclusively for G. Howard Hodge, 5th Avenue, New York.

Permalink

On location at the bar in the Ocean Boulevard Restaurant in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a magazine Creative Director and I designed this image and did the digital capture. Then the shot wasn't used for the issue.

It's typical to overshoot for an article and when the layout is full, the unused images become "outtakes."

This is an outtake, but I like it. So, here it goes.

Permalink

I'm chuckling after my conversation with tail-maker Eric Ducharme (themertailor.com) earlier today. Our tongue-in-cheek color banter went from "Red Sea" to "Maroon Magenta Sherbert" to "Wild Cherry."

The model is, of course, Kristi Sherk. She's no stranger to these pages, cover and centerfold model for the premier issue of Mermaids & Mythology magazine, principal female model for the Hasselblad 60 megapixel digital back product launch shoot and others.

Headpiece and earrings were custom made for us by Christina Macfarlane at BOHOBO (bohobocollective.com)

Permalink

Had a minute between paper projects and wanted to try out some new software. A folder of Erica's images were handy since I'd just made a print for her.

Now back to the other work.

Permalink

Played boat Captain for some friends yesterday doing some photos of redhead and Loreal model Chelsea Taylore on the boat "Photoship 6.0" on Broad Bay in Virginia Beach. The day started out Spring-Perfect and evolved to chilly-foggy-misty-windy for our session. Chelsea braved all of it on the bow (with no complaints) and her lips only quivered between frames. I love gutsy models.

Playing Captain was a favor to Chelsea and young photographer Will Manning, a student at John Hopkins.

I shot a few frames when they were finished; a little experimentation using the Elinchrom Quadra Ringlight and Singh Ray 8-stop Neutral Density filter on a Canon system. I tweaked the color pallet of this frame. It doesn't do justice to her red hair, but some of that will come out later.

Permalink

This week was partly dedicated to working on a vintage hat project with Chuck Guthrie. We have access to what must be the mother lode of hats from the very early 1900s. Some are in a museum and others were gathered from Virginia Beach attics. They are mostly in perfect condition, still in their original hat boxes. We are making a photographic record of the entire collection.

In this frame, Melissa Kuhlman is wearing a wide brim hat by G. Howard Hodge, Fifth Avenue, New York made with straw, velvet and black tulle.

There is some rich history to this collection and we'll document that history as we make more photographic progress.

Permalink