"Unhinged" Updates

"Unhinged" has been accepted into the Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Festival. I will hopefully fly down to enjoy the other films and meet people.
Also, we just found out that "Unhinged" won an Accolade Merit award! I will keep posting any news as it comes!

Photo Illustration

My last photo assignment we were given the chance to do whatever we wanted to show off our photoshop skills. I decided that I wanted to creep people out.

Unhinged Invitation for Photoshop

This is a mockup for a potential form of advertising for Unhinged during the forthcoming festival season.

Film V. HD

I love film like I love my wife and I'll never cheat on either of them. I had to shoot HD. I didn't like it. It felt alien. Not natural. Not human. People who don't know film talk about HD like its some kind of secret weapon. But for me the only place digital belongs is in post, where it can help unlock film's potential. Technology is good at making things better. It fails when it tries to replace or synthesize something that's already perfect. The fact is, when you shoot HD you hope it looks like film. No one ever shoots film hoping to emulate HD.
-Samuel Bayer.

New Divine Comedy Poster

This is the new Divine comedy poster where we spoof James Bond. I shot the images and my friend Katie helped tweak stuff in photoshop.

Interpretive Self Portraits

The first day of my black and white photography class a year ago I was asked what superpower I would love to have. I chose to be able to handle fire without being burned. This week's assignment in digital photography was to shoot an "interpretive" self portrait. I felt the fire accurately describes my stress at the moment and my hopes to withstand it without being charred. 

Daily Universe Newspaper mentions Unhinged

Check out the bottom of the front page for a picture from the set of unhinged: http://newsnet.byu.edu/pdf/

Select the date 10/24/08

Photoshop assignment

This week I had to combine several images together to describe what a perfect world would look like. This is what I came up with. All the images used I have taken over the last year.

Digital Photography Assignment

I had to photoshop some of my work into a magazine cover from scratch.

Divine Comedy Poster

I "photoshopped" this poster for the comedy troupe that I am in. I took the pictures of the people during practice, the rock on a trip to Zion's, and the sky from Brazil.

Photos from Juaziero

This older woman obviously was flattered by the fact that I took her picture. As I was shooting I kept wondering what stories she could tell me if we could have lingered there.


During the last few days of our trip we decided to go explore the dry "sertao" areas of northern Bahia. Logically Juaziero was my first choice. This boy lives in a small settlement outside of the city. He is collecting trash to recycle for money. Behind him you can see his family's mud home. The land that they live on they do not own, they simply built there and claimed it as their own.

More Photo Adventures in Salvador

There is always someone new to meet in Salvador. This week we came across this man, who happened to be skinning a huge eel. Normally fishermen are poor but when our friend saw we were quite impressed he pulled out his brand new cell phone (that puts mine to shame) and showed us a whole folder of pictures of his favorite catches.

Its hard to work when the world around you is so amazing.

Photos from Cachoeira

Yesterday we went to a rather obscure city out in the countryside - Cachoeira or in english Waterfall. There they have a yearly celebration of African roots and Roman Catholic traditions called "Festival da Irmadade da Boa Morte" or "Festival of the Sisterhood of Good Death."

In the middle of the square a large crowd gathered to watch drummers. The presentation was interupted with a sudden downpour of rain that left everyone taking cover from the rain in awkward places.

Walking up the hill to the the Hansen Bahia museum, we came across a bunch of kids flying kites or "Pipas."

We made some friends with some of the kids on the street.

Photos from the Pelourinho

This woman practices the religion of Candomblé - a mixture of Roman Catholic and traditional African beliefs. The truly unique Bahian lifestyle includes animal sacrifice, spirit offerings, and dances.

This young woman seemed very proud to tell us that not only does she fervently practice Candomblé, but that she loves using Facebook, Myspace, and Orkut.

In one of the more tourist ridden, yet beautiful places in Salvador, we were certainly the only people taking pictures of the local culture rather than the typical sights. There is amazing texture everywhere - This man managed to sleep in such an awkward position a few feat away from the busiest intersections in the area, yet he seems to fit very comfortably into the landscape around him without effort.

This woman sat for a long time in front of the Igreja Sao Francisco - one of the oldest churches on the continent which happens to hold millions of dollars worth of gold encrusted onto its walls. Every few minutes or so she would bang on the door. No one answered.

No comment.

Photos of Graffiti Artists

A candid kiss between two artists.

We spent the entire day with about 50 different graffiti artists in Salvador. Together they covered an entire wall along the stretch of beach in a short time.

This little boy was the nephew of one of the painters, he stayed within 15 feet of his uncle the entire day and didn't say a single word.

Photos from Salvador

We made friends with the fishermen in the Barra area our first day in Salvador. After catching the fish, they carry it through the streets until finding a buyer. 

This is the back view of my favorite place in Salvador, Farol da Barra. We woke up early today and went swimming here. 

Photos from Feira de Santana

I took this picture in downtown Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil. His name is Nenen who supports his "Rasta" lifestyle selling homemade bracelets, necklaces and other small things on the street. He has a shinny metal tooth thats easy to see when he laughs or smiles.

We spent some time with Ze das Congas, a man who teaches traditional african drum music in a small school for children who come from neighborhoods with heavy drug traffic. Several of the children followed us around the entire time we were there, we had a good time talking to them. This is one who was watching us put our film equipment away.

One of the first people we spoke with in feira at the Centro de Abastecimento. He was friendly and didn't realize I had my camera on him.

This young woman sells meat with her family. At the moment this picture was taken, she was talking to Murillo about how she studies when she has time so she can finish highschool.

Nick's Artwork

Portraits on reversal film

I shot this series of portraits on Fuji Velvia 100 and 50 reversal film which provided the intense warm colors. Using vintage lenses and camera equipment I tried to create a nostalgic look. Most of the outdoor shots were taken at sunrise in the desert which gave them a golden hour look. The shots outside of the studio were mostly candid effectually enhancing the sense of nostalgia, giving the viewer the sense that he or she were flipping through an old photo album from decades past.