Found Still Life

© David Torrence

New Amsterdam Gin Ad 2

© David Torrence

Another tear for the New Amsterdam Gin campaign.
This one features musician Lew Winer III.
In addition to strong photographic features,
he’s got great blues and jazz chops.

Shorpy 100 Year Photo Blog

I really like the Shorpy site. It’s named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a boy who worked in the Alabama coal mines and who was the subject of a collection of photos taken in the early 1900’s by Lewis Wickes Hine for the National Child Labor Committee. This “100 Year Photo Blog” is addictive. You’ll find known and unknown photographers’ work that capture everything from historic events to people in their everyday surroundings. It’s a real slice of life look at our culture over the last century. It’s also nice that it provides photo credit when known.

One of my favorite photographers included in the site is Russell Lee.




© Russell Lee

Professional Myspace Photographer

thanksgiving

© David Torrence

Found Still Life

© David Torrence

Bakery Productions: Pop, Lock & Drop It

© David Torrence

A recent tear from my shoot for Scratch Magazine out of New York
of PoPo, K-Kash and D-Scorch’d. Featured in the magazine’s “Fresh” section, the St. Louis-based Bakery Productions is gaining a reputation by creating beats for Huey, Chingy, Chris Brown, and Erykah Badu.

Apple Advertising at its finest

I wish I'd been hired for this job. I know the perfect location.


© David Torrence

Kim Massie New Amsterdam Gin Ad

© David Torrence

It was a great pleasure to work with St. Louis's legendary blues singer Kim Massie on this project. It was interesting that she talked about growing up near the train tracks and about how she heard the constant rumble of the engines idling all through the night. She has a low, soulful voice, and when she belted songs during the shoot, the studio rumbled just like the trains.

Did You Know 2.0

I found this quite amazing. I stumbled across this at Michael Sugrue's blog.

Wild, Weird, & Wonderful

photo © F.W.Glasier

One of my favorite photography books is Wild Weird and Wonderful: The American Circus 1901-1927 by Mark Sloane. The photographs of the Big Top by F.W. Glasier are both gritty and beautiful. Whenever the circus came to town (Brockton, Mass.) during the early part of the 20th century, the relatively unknown commercial photographer Glasier was there to shoot for promotional purposes. You can get lost in the details of the nicely reproduced B/W full-page plates, including panoramic views and composed portraits. It’s fascinating to see clowns, freaks, elephants, period costumes, and animal wranglers in the hey-day of the traveling circus.
You can get the book at Luminious-Lint (along with lots of other photographic collections.

VH1 The Shot

Taking 5,000 cellphone photos evidently qualifies you as a possible fashion photographer according to VH1's "The Shot" reality show. I first heard about this show from Andrew Hetherington's blog post here.
Fashion photographer Russell James is the host. Even if I dread these type of shows, I'll stay tuned to see what unfolds. My money is on
Mr. Butterpants.

Found Still Life

photo © David Torrence