Creepy Christmas

So I have a producer friend that does a "Creepy Christmas" card every year. She asked if I would shoot it for her, so I obliged. Didn't know how strange and creepy it would actually be. Ha,ha. It was a lot of fun.

Large Art Piece

I was asked to create this art piece for an event a couple of weeks ago. The tough part was that I only had a couple days to shoot, edit, and print them all.

Here were some other stipulations I put on myself:

- composition had to be simple and clean

- I had to leave lots of space for the attendees to interact (draw, color, paint, scribble) on the images

- the images had to be strong on there own, but also go well together to make the overall piece look nice

- I had about a 25ft x 10ft space to fill

Anyways, here is how it came out.

Great Video

The Light of Day by Simon Biswas from FlakPhoto.com on Vimeo.

Just saw this video today by Simon Biswas. It is a simple video, but very impactful. It is really a beautiful piece.

Dallas Art Power Players

Here are three portraits I shot of some amazingly creative people in Dallas. Check back later for a cool "video portrait" of Damon K Clark. I interviewed him about his passion for jazz and shot some cool footage of him. Hopefully I'll finish it and put it up here soon. He had such a cool style. I really wanted to raid his closet when he wasn't looking. Thanks Damon for being so cool about it.

All four of the artists I shot were really great.

shooting Shawn Marion

Me and my buddy Shawn. Ha, ha... I'm not real sure why I am shaking his hand like I just won an award from him or something. I was hoping to get a shot of us chillin in the hot tub with cigars hangin out our mouths, but he wasn't up for that (actually he probably would have been, he was real cool).

I shot some portraits of Shawn Marion (Dallas Maverick), and some interiors of his house yesterday. He was surprisingly very laid back and cool. He was pretty much up for whatever. I shot him in his dj booth of the club that was in his house. And I shot him in front of his amazing shoe collection (4 walls worth). His house was ridiculous. I'll put up some shots after it is published in Jan. It was a great shoot.

The set is all ready

So I shot a couple young artists for an editorial piece on "up and coming artist" coming out in Dec. Here are a couple outtakes they aren't using. Maxey Whitehead and Joey Folsom are in Theater here in Dallas. Maxey also does voice over for Funimation. Both were really nice. Joey had fixed up this entire house into a sort of interaction theater in 25 days. It was really sweet. It was perfect for me to come in to take there portrait and already have an awesome set to just place them in and shoot. I didn't have to do anything. I put up one head with a gridspot and just started shooting. I really like how they came out.

It's so good!

I've been getting into shooting video and doing a couple cool projects lately. Some dealing with "video portraits" and some videos of musicians. Here are a couple videos that have been inspirational to me. They are La Blogotheque "Take Away Shows". Go to vimeo and check them out. There are over 200 videos of amazing bands: Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, Damien Jurado, REM, St. Vincent, The Antlers,...) I spend hours watching these.

Take Away Show #104 _ TOMI LEBRERO from Vincent Moon / petites planetes on Vimeo.

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Dean Martin

Here is an editorial spread I shot of Kristy Stubbs and her house. She has these amazing Dean Martin chairs. Seriously, like bought them from his family. They were around his dining room table. Anyways, my assistant and I were talking about getting our picture taken in Dean's chair and Kristy overheard us. Before we knew it she had brought out a class of scotch (excellent tasting by the way) and a pack of cigarettes. She said we couldn't take our portrait in Dean Martins chair without these "must have" props. She was super cool. She has amazing art in here home, listens to great music and couldn't have been more kind. And to top it off... when I was leaving she brought me the rest of the 18yr old Glenfiddich bottle, and said "here take the rest (half a bottle), I don't drink it". It was a great shoot.

Here's to you Kristy...

Jonsi

Kelly and I went to the Jonsi (lead singer of the Sigur Ros band) show. It was amazing. I had heard a lot about the visual element that he was going to have. It went so well with his music. I love it when there is amazing music accompanied by amazing visuals. It is so impactful, combining the two.

This one shows an amazing visual story in the background.

This was the ending of the show. Freakin sweet...

Enough about me...

Alright so I get tired of talking about myself so much on this blog, so I will be putting up other things that interest me and hopefully you. Probably video stuff and great music, but it will all have a visual aspect to it. Since that is what I do and absolutely love. So hope you enjoy.

Interiors

Just a couple interiors I shot for Modern Luxury recently. It was a beautiful place in the One Arts Plaza. I loved the "hands" sculpture.

Art of Skateboarding

I was invited for the second year to be apart of a benefit group show called "The Art of Skateboarding". All the artists do an art piece on the back of a skateboard deck. It is really an amazing show. Last year there were like 200 artists that participated, and some amazing pieces. The decks are all auctioned off and the $ goes to the Scottish Rite Hospital.

My wife was going to do a deck also this year (shes an amazing collage artist), but she didn't have time after working so hard on the Deep Ellum Community Gardens. So I asked if she wanted to just collaborate with me. So we used a photograph of mine, and she put a collage piece on that she thought fit well. Then I resined over the top of it. Turned out pretty cool I think. I asked her why she chose the image with the "private parts", and she told me "Lovie, it's just anatomy." Ha. I said " I thought this was suppose to represent us... I feel a little vulnerable."

The show is Sat. Nov, 6th at Southside on Lamar. Hope to see you there.

ishow continues

So the ishow at PDNB has been extended because of the "popular response we have received from the public and press". Pretty cool. So if you haven't seen the show, you should stop by and see it.

Here is one of my shots that is up.

Here is the video that was apart of the "live performance" during the opening. It is a continuation of the story I am telling with my images from the show.

Everything is shot and edited on the iphone.

LCA video

So I've been shooting some video work lately. Here is one of the projects I shot for a private school, Lucas Christian Academy. They were really great to work with.

LCA Short Version from boBustin on Vimeo.

New Website

New website up, check it out.

www.justinclemons.com

Death Row

I shot a story for Marie Claire UK that just came out this month. The article was on two men on Death Row. It was definitely one of the most interesting shoots I've ever shot. It's extremely weird to know that both men are now dead.

Both of the guys seemed very normal and were really polite and nice. I talked to Michael for a while, waiting for the guards to move him. His dad passed away a month earlier, and my dad had passed away a couple of months before. So we talked about dads, and there influence on our lives. We talked about wanting there approval in all the things we do, and how fortunate we were to have good dads. It was a really good talk.

If you get a chance, you should read the article, it is extremely interesting. One fact that stands out to me is that..."You can send 168 kids through Harvard with the amount of money it takes to kill one person on Death Row."

Seattle

Last week I...

flew into Seattle

set up a permanent gallery of my Liberia work at Orphan Relief and Rescue's headquarters

had some great microbrew and played shuffleboard with some truly amazing people.

It was a great week!

iShow

So here is the info on the gallery show I will be in. I'm really excited to be in this show. The idea is that we are artists because of our eye, and not so much because of our equipment. It was a blast shooting for it. To be honest, it was a little intimidating though. I did question if I could make "art" worthy work from a camera phone. It was a great experience. And I'm thrilled to be in such great company. Some fantastic photographers are apart of this.

Hope to see you at the show.

3 Cool girls with 3 cool cribs

I shot this editorial story about these three women and there cool, well designed homes. I shot their portraits and interiors. It went really well and all three women were fantastic.

Colorado

So we just got back from Colorado last week. It was amazing! We go every summer. I caught 37 fish the first day, fly fishing. That wasn't so much skill as it was stupid fish. So much fun. My niece and I had home made boat races. She won.

Here are some shots from the trip. I think I've got the cutest grandpa and daughter ever.

Hotel Zaza ad

Here is one of the ads that is coming out for Hotel Zaza that I shot.

Eric from Banowetz + Company was great to work with. Jobs seem to go so well when you click with the creative director. And Lauren from Zaza was fantastic. Couldn't have asked for a smoother shoot (well maybe except for the short rain delay). I'll post more as they come out.

Modern Luxury Cover

I shot this months Modern Luxury Cover. I don't really shoot a lot of food, so it was a little funny that I got the cover. I've shot food before, but my focus is People and Places. I really like how it turned out.

I shot some of the shots inside as well.

They actually ran this shot in Black and White, but I liked it in color so much more. I just think that the mono-tone background with the bright red salmon looks so good. I won't complain though since they gave me the cover.

The chef offered this to me after I shot it. Oh my... it was so good! I also ate the strawberry dessert he made up. Needless to say I didn't eat lunch that day.

Later that week I also came home with the biggest pork chop I've ever seen(about the size of my head), after I shot it for the same story. Turns out I like shooting food... Ha, Ha.

Congrats Kristen

My first assistant and friend Kristen, got married to a great guy this weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better assistant for the past couple years. She is a great photographer in her own right. I shot her engagement images for her wedding gift last week. Jordan was pretty nervous about being in front of the camera, but did awesome. He's such a rockstar, seriously.

They turned out pretty cool, so here's a few of them.

St. Ann Court

I've been shooting a lot of interiors/exteriors lately for some reason. I don't mind, It's kind of nice after shoot so many people for a while. I like the mixture. Shooting spaces is more laid back and slow paced, tweeking a light here and there, moving a tripod slightly. Shooting people is much more intense, fast paced, making conversation, many more elements in lighting, it gets your blood flowing. So to shoot both, is really nice. You got the "thrill" and you got the "chill". Okay, that was a little dorky....

Here is some recent shots of St. Ann Court I took for an editorial client recently.

Old School Critique

Well, I had a great time the other night. I was invited by a photo buddy to an "old school critique", it was actually called "Deep Fried Photography". It got the name because the idea is to eat Babes fried chicken (best in Dallas), and critique each others recent photography, that we nailed to the fence. It was awesome, reminded me of my old college days. Some photographers that showed were Steve Wrubel, Allison Smith, Scott Hagar, Steven Karlisch, and couple others.

I love this picture of Scott (with an awesome beard) checking out my image.

Shakespeare in the Park

I just shot an editorial portrait of Raphael, who runs the Shakespeare in the Park here in Dallas. Here is an outtake of the shoot. Really cool guy, we had a blast shooting it. And I'm not just saying that cause he gave me free passes for the summer shows. He really is a genuinely nice guy. So Kelly, Ellah, and I will definitely be at Shakespeare in the Park this summer. You should join us.

April issue of Modern Luxury

Here's a quick portrait I did for the April issue of Modern Luxury. I was afraid that the architecture was going to make it tough to light, but it really wasn't an issue at all. It's pretty much an octabank on the daughter and a spot with a 30 degree grid on the mom.

Ren on Americas Next Top Model

Funny thing....I am skipping through some channels on TV. I come across Americas Next Top Model and recognize one of the models. It was Ren. I had shot with year a couple of years ago. She was really great to work with, and we got some really nice stuff that we were all pleased with.

Here are a few of the shots.

Modern Luxury March

Here is a tear from the Modern Luxury Magazine March issue. I really liked how the portraits turned out. Both groups were extremely nice and very easy to work with.

Actually, something that was also very nice.... the writer Rebecca Sherman emailed me and told me,

"I keep meaning to let you know how much I appreciated your outstanding photography -- especially the portraits -- for the architecture story I wrote for Modern Luxury this month. I was thrilled at how good it looked, and just wanted to express my thanks."

Its great when someone takes the time out to stop and email you a very nice compliment. A lot of times we (photographers) don't get a lot of feedback when everything is done so fast these days, and not many people take much time to let you know what they really think.

Wonderful Machine Spotlight

Last week I was a featured photographer on the Wonderful Machine Spotlight. It is an emailer which goes out to about 8,000 clients, including European, Australian, and Latin American prospects. I've been real happy with those guys, they are doing a great job.

The best man I knew

My father passed away suddenly last week. He really was an amazing man. Here are some photos of him I found this weekend that I liked a lot. Love you pops.

Everything fades away...

Well, we had around 9 inches of snow this weekend in Dallas. It was the most snow we have gotten in over 30 years. So you can imagine the snowmen that popped up by every kid in town. Every other house had a unique snowmen prominently displayed. I thought it was very interesting watching them slowly melt away over the last few days, so I captured a few today in that process.

Communication Arts Magazine

Well, I made it in the 50th Advertising Annual of the Communication Arts magazine. Pretty big deal for us photog's. It was for some work I did with Terminix. The ad campaign actually won twice, once in the Consumer Magazine Ads and in the Online Advertising sections.

Gotta give a shout out to Boxcar Creative, fantastic people to work with. Thanks you guys.

Here's a couple tears from the mag.

The sun is falling...

This is from an editorial shoot I did recently. They didn't pick this shot, but it was my favorite. I was only able to snap like 5 or 6 shots before the sun was behind the trees. My assistant and I were laughing because I'm desperately trying to get Cliff, the subject ( wonderful house stager, and very kind man) to get into place, but he kept talking on his cell phone or wanting to change things in the shot. I just kept thinking, okay I've got about 30 seconds of great light. We got a few safe shots other places in the house, but this "close call" was my favorite.

Ellah's turning 1!

Here is Ellah's Bday invitation I've created. Just thought it was funny and I'd share it.

This is her 95% of the time. Seriously, she is the best baby. Just didn't want to misrepresent her on my blog with just a picture of the Bday card. We had to work hard at getting her mad face.

Art House

Here is the "Art House" I posted about earlier. It's published in the January issue of Modern Luxury.