Gavin Sexton

So I knew which house I wanted to shoot for this assignment, but Madison was way too far of a drive for me to go scouting.  So I wasn’t sure where the sun would be by the time I got there.  Well it was behind the building.  So my sky was BLOWN OUT.  I tried what seems like almost 100 different selections on the sky to composite one in, but it always looked awful.  So I decided to leave it white.  At least I did my exposure and corrections properly.

This shoot was the most “real world situation” shoot I’ve done. I got to the restaurant at 10:15. the manager said I could do anything I wanted as long as I moved everything back and was out of there by 11:00 (This is not what the other manager told me, he said I could take my time). But nonetheless I still had to leave by 11:00. I had to move four rows of chairs and tables, turn all the bar stool properly, arrange all the bottles on the wall, and clean the counter all before I could start shooting. By this time it was 10:27. I set up my camera, tripod, and strobe with an umbrella. I had to unplug the cash register (without anyone knowing) for my strobe. I found 3 angles I liked, bracketed like crazy, and was done shooting at 10:42. I packed up all my gear, moved the room back to how I found it and rolled all my gear out and made it to my car at 10:55. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

The only architecture assignment I dont have lined up yet is commercial interior.  I’ve thought about shooting a winery in Dahlonega called Monteluche.  The have a nice looking foyer with high ceiling and a very long bar for wine tasting with 100′s of bottle lined on the walls.  My other idea is of the bar of the restaurant Cheddars (the same place I shot the onion rings.)  Its a very classy looking bar that has a fish tank built into the wall.  I feel this could look nice as long as I’m able to light it properly.  I wasn’t able to find a shot of the bar in cheddars, but here is a shot showing the inside of Monteluche.  

For this assignment I was very fortunate.  I was able to shoot my parents bedroom.  I had a light at camera angle for fill.  Then I had a light behind the bed pointing towards the dresser with the TV so the furniture on that side of the room wouldn’t go so dark.  I tried using HDR to get detail in all of the lights but it never looked natural enough.  I was happy with the corrections in perspective I was able to achieve without a tilt-shift lens.

I chose to do a residential home for low rise.  I chose this house because it was symmetrical , the light was great on it around 6pm, and they had a well maintained yard.  The owners were very nice and told me to, “Knock yourself out, let us know if we can help!”  I’m stuck between two images from slightly different angles.  Any suggestions?

Shooting The Sovereign building in Buckhead was a really fun shoot for me.  I drove to the top of a 12 story parking garage.  I timed the lighting perfectly!  I set my gear up, corrected the my perspective (first try I might add!), shot and left.  After getting my film developed at E6 I was very proud of myself.  I scanned my image in on the Hasselblad at school, and wow, the detail in this shot is amazing.  I looked the shot over with my professors, we struggled to see if there were any perspective issues, but the buildings architecture isn’t perfectly square, so we used the surrounding buildings and determined that it was spot on.  I only had to retouch a few imperfections and was done.  All in all this assignment was stress free with an outcome I’m proud of. 

I shot this image on location at a restaurant called Cheddars in Gainesville, GA. They always serve their onion rings in the stacked manner. It was a simple subject to set up. They didn’t make it easy on me though. They put me in a back room with minimal window light and minimal space. I was cramped and forced to use my least sharp lens in my bag. The the results show, but I made due with what I could.

I’m very late on posting these. But its the first chance I’ve had the time and gas to drive around Atlanta looking for buildings. I’m happy with what I’ve found. And I’m especially happy with the vantage points I’ve found.

This assignment is for my portfolio.  We were assigned to choose an older decade and replicate a portrait from that period.  I chose the 1920′s because some of my friends had some flapper girl dresses.  We had a blast doing the shoot!  I’m not sure which pictures will be approved for the assignment, but I’m just going to post a few of my favorites from the day.  

I couldn’t come up with many ideas for this shot because I was so stuck on my first idea.  Cheddars has the giant onion rings that they stack almost ten high diagonally and they just look so neat.  I feel I can come in before hours and ge them to make me a special order of them that look “perfect” for my shot.  I’ll be doing an editorial style shot.  So it’ll be in the restaurant on their tables back lit by window light.