A blog by Chris Pino

New blog

2009-05-30T15:33:00.003-04:00

Won't be using this blog anymore if you haven't already noticed

New blog here:
Chris Pino: BLOG

Eleven.Twenty Two

2008-11-22T14:27:00.002-05:00

Phase 2 is well under way and I love it
The assignments are way better and I'm learning so much more than Phase 1

Don't feel like writing a whole lot
I'll let the photos due the talking

Glassware assignment:

Bokeh abstract

Still life shot (yes I glued every bean onto the mug by hand; took 4 hours):

Random shot of Tyler:

And a 100% crop of the catchlights from the shot above

Peace all!

Busy, busy, busy

2008-11-10T22:25:00.014-05:00

Hey all!

Haven't wrote in some time now

School was crazy for the past few weeks putting the finishing touches on some final images for the Phase 1 review
Last week was I pulled 7am-1am Monday-Thursday getting some last minute shots, toning and printing done
It was crazy stressful, but it was also the most fun I've had in a while
It's times like those when I realize how much I love shooting and how much I wouldn't be happy doing anything else with my life

I had a lot more freedom with the images too
There were a few constraining images I had to produce, but for the main part it was pretty open
Here are some of my favorites from the final

Consumer Product on location:

Warm on cool portrait:

Warm on warm portrait:

Outdoor portrait:

Self portrait (posted earlier as well):

We're also starting to learn some gnar stuff in the commercial studio
I'm really enjoying working in there; more so than I thought I would
We just got done shooting silverware, which is surprisingly hard to light
Here's what I came up with
Much room for improvement, but not terrible

We also had to do a product shot using props
Something that would appear in a generic catalog
Here's what I got (peep my awesome scanner, haha!)

This week is shooting glassware, which I am pumped for
Keep an eye out for those

Last weekend my girlfriend came up to visit
We went to Northampton; she loved it
I got some abstracts from there
I'll leave you with those

And one out take from the warm on cool portrait

And one more from my new camera: Nikon D3 :)

Peace all!

Phase 1: T-minus 2 weeks

2008-10-24T18:17:00.006-04:00

Edit: Updated from computer

Well, I'm going to try and post this from my phone on the back from PhotoPlus in NYC.
The expo was real good like always.
Didn't get a chance to talk to some of the people I was really looking forward to talking to. Kinda bummed about that but no worries.

Have some crazy news as far as gear goes for me. You'll see soon enough.

School is really starting to pick up.
Finally starting to learn some interesting stuff which I'm stoked about.
I am currently working on the phase 1 final. One of the photos was a self portrait.
Here's what I came up with.
It cropped when I embedded it for some reason
Click if for the full version

Ill refine this post once I get to a computer

Peace all!

It's gonna be a big one

2008-10-18T14:43:00.002-04:00

Lots of images, lots of updates

School is getting busy
We are getting lots of stuff to shoot
The assignments are still kind of so-so but we are slowly getting more freedom with each passing week
Speaking of weeks, it's hard to think I've already been up here for 7 weeks (in school for 6 of them)
Wild

A few weeks ago when I first got my 645 I shot a few rolls of expired Kodak 220 160NC that I had lying around
I think it expired in 1992 or something, so it was pretty old
Just got that developed and scanned so check those out at the end of the blog
Excuse the dust, I didn't feel like cloning it out

My 70-200/2.8L IS came in yesterday so I went out for a while with it and my trusty 5D
Got a few nice images, nothing super fancy
I've been trying to shoot my way out of this funk I've been in for a while
I do miss the 200/1.8, but the 70-200 is much more practical for what I shoot

Lets see, what else to tell you about....

Nothing comes to mind right now, so here's a load of photos

I think it's pretty obvious as to which ones are the film scans and which are the 5D files

Peace all!

Color!

2008-10-15T21:57:00.002-04:00

The trees are really starting the change up here
Ben and I went out yesterday afternoon to see if we could find anywhere cool to shoot
Didn't have the best of luck finding a good place but managed to grab a few frames before calling it a day
See the end of the blog for the images

If you haven't heard yet, Apple released to cool new stuff yesterday afternoon. Among them was the new MBP (Macbook Pro) which sounds so dope. If I had the money I'd upgrade, but honestly my current MBP is fine for now.

My 200/1.8 is officially in it's new owners hands
I will, for sure, miss it a lot, but I didn't use it enough to justify it's price
My 70-200/2.8 IS should be here tomorrow
Pretty pumped for that

I'm selling a Nikon D40 I got for my girl last Christmas that she didn't use a whole lot
Check it out and let me know if you are interested

We started printing at school today
All I can say is that I am going to be going through a lot of paper :)
I haven't printed anything in so long so it was good to see my stuff off of the computer screen again

I'll leave you with these:

Peace all!

What a weekend

2008-10-13T21:51:00.002-04:00

This weekend was my birthday weekend so I decided to make the 300 mile trip home

I left Friday around 1pm and TomTom said I should be home at 6:15
I didn't get home until 8:45
I didn't stop for gas or food either
The traffic was out of hand
Going through NY around 5 was such a bad idea

Fast forward to Saturday night
Adrienne, Gina, Adam and myself went to Finnegans Wake in Philly
We got there around midnight
5 drinks later it was 1am and I was a dancing machine
5 more drinks on an empty stomach and it was 2am; time to leave
From 2:30am on, I was in a bad bad place
Overall, it was one of the best nights I've had in a while

Sunday night everyone went to D&B
Like always, it was a ton of fun
Won some silly prizes
Good times

It was a great weekend, spent with the people I love
Thanks to everyone who made it a good weekend

Peace all!

P.S. Drunk pictures from Saturday night coming soon!

P.S.

2008-10-08T19:44:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to add a few more important things that are happening in the industry

If you haven't heard about the Orphan Works bill (officially the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act, S 2913) you need to read up on it. The Senate just passed a version of it amidst the media mayhem of the highly profiled first Presidential debate between Obama and McCain. Sneaky bastards.
We need to make sure that it does not pass the House and, therefore, we need your help. If you have not yet done so, visit the ASMP's Orphan Works page. You can generate a contact to your representative in less than 1 minute.
Please take action. It is very real and very important.

Another thing I wanted you to be aware of is the project James Nachtwey has just recently completed.
Please visit this page for all the information and details
Very powerful stuff

Please take the 5 minutes and check out those who issues
They are very important

Peace all!

Winter is here!

2008-10-08T17:59:00.002-04:00

Haven't written in a while so I thought I'd update

Winter has come early
This morning my car said it was 29 degrees at 7:30am
Pretty damn cold for early October if you ask me
During the day it will warm up to around 60-65, which is my favorite weather ever
I love being able to rock a hoodie and be comfortable

School is getting a little better
We started working with flash, granted it was on camera, but still flash nonetheless
The assignments are still super basic and constricting, but I see where they are coming from with them
Regardless, I can't wait for Phase 1 to be over

We also starting learning the large format view camera for commercial studio work
I had never used one before so I was pumped to get acquainted with one
They are dope. The stuff you can do with them is wild
I cannot wait till we start using them more often
I have some cool ideas for some product shots

During the first few days of school a while back they announced a contest
The name of the contest was "Fabbleschonff" or some bogus word a few kids made up
You can pretty much submit anything you want since the word has no meaning
I have a cool idea for a shot, I just need to find a model to do it for me
Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow evening

In other news, my 21st birthday is on Saturday
I'm going home to celebrate and I can't wait
I leave Friday around 2ish
I've been away from home for almost 6 weeks now
I can't wait to see everyone. It should be a lot of fun

I haven't taken any photos that I really like lately
I'm in kind of a funk that I need to get out of ASAP

I leave you with an abstract

Might as well throw this one of my roomie, Tyler up as well

Peace all!

The secret to any success, is that success is in the process

2008-10-01T15:44:00.005-04:00

So I have a few new and exciting this to tell you about

First we will start with the acquisition of the Leaf Aptus 22 digital back
We finally got them last Friday
They are a totally different beast than a DSLR and I'm still undecided if I love it or hate it
Here's my opinion so far

Pro's:
- Outstanding image quality
- Fairly easy to use
- Insane image quality

Con's:
- Very slow in every way (I realize it's not meant for speed, but its extraordinarily slow)
- Anything above ISO200 looks like ISO1600 on my 5D
- Lack of fast lenses (if you know me, you'll just know)

I understand that it is not meant to be anything like a DSLR; I think I just need to spend more time with it and get used to it
Once I start working in the studio with some nice lights I'm sure I'll love it
More on that in a later blog

Next, I am thinking about selling my beloved 200/1.8 and just going with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS and save the rest to buy some nice Profoto's toward the end of the year
Here's the for sale ad: 200 f/1.8L FOR SALE
I'm not going to let it go for cheap either because I don't need to get rid of it
So if you know of anyone that might be interested or if you yourself are interested, shoot me an e-mail

Lastly, a few friends and I went to go see The Rocket Summer last night
Thanks to Josh we ended up getting photo passes
Such a fun show
One of the better shows I've been to in a while

As usual.....photos

For more photos click here

Peace all!

What lies beneath

2008-09-23T21:10:00.001-04:00

Let me first start off by saying that I do not believe in first impressions for many reasons, which I am not going to get into now
The first few weeks of school have reaffirmed my belief in that
One should never judge another, yet I did the first week or so of school and am just now starting to see people open up and their real personalities are now starting to shine through and I regret it
There are a lot more down to earth people at school than I had originally thought, but I guess it's like that anywhere you go where no one knows anyone else. The majority put up a facade that is really nothing like who they really are
Time will show what, or rather who, lies beneath

Now that, that is out of the way...

School is slowly starting to get better day by day
The assignments are getting better, people are opening up, teachers are loosening up
Things are falling into place

I have yet to get any of my film scanned from the assignments, but will post up when I do

We get our digital backs on Friday, which is immensely exciting...at least to me
I cannot wait to start using that

In other news, if you haven't heard the long awaited Canon 5D Mark II finally dropped on the 17th and I promptly put in my pre-order that night :)
Here's the link to Canon's site: Canon 5D Mark II
Among a slew of new features added to the camera is the highly controversially 1080p HD video feature
I'll admit it, at first I was a little bit confused on why such a feature would be put into an SLR...then I saw this video by one of my favorite photographers of all time, Vincent Laforet
The video is straight out of the camera, just resized for the web
It is truly awe inspiring
This camera is going to dominate in low light
I cannot wait for them to start shipping around late November

I'll leave you with a few images, all of which are for fun

Peace all!

More of the same

2008-09-15T22:17:00.005-04:00

Haven't wrote in a little while
To be honest, nothing super exciting has happened recently...at all

School is more or less the same
A little boring and redundant, but I expected that so it's not a big deal
We are starting to get some more assignments and things should be picking up significantly within the next few weeks, so I am looking forward to that

I am also looking for some models in the general area to shoot
So if you are reading this, not that anyone does, and know of someone, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment

As much as I thought Philly was boring, after having lived in the area for 20 years, I really miss it
There really is no place like home, as cliche as that sounds

My girl is coming up to visit this weekend and I cannot wait
By then it will have been 23 days since I last saw her...too long for me
She's the best and I absolutely love her

Well anyway, today after school the light was absolutely beautiful
Trevor, Josh and myself decided to go get lost and see if we can't find somewhere cool to shoot
We ended up on a farm where the grow "commercial grass" for golf courses
It was the greenest, most perfect I have ever seen in my entire life

Here's a few photos from the adventure:

Like a kid on Christmas morning

2008-09-09T21:39:00.002-04:00

Finally got the camera

Went out this afternoon and shot some 220 Kodak 160NC that expired in 2002

We'll see how those cone out...ha

Camera is definitely awesome and has a completely different feel than a DSLR or 35mm

Pretty sweet if you ask me

Now if only I could fast forward a few weeks when I get my digital back, then I'd be set

I'll try and get the negs scanned and posted sometime soon

Gotta find a decent place to get them processed though

I'll leave you with a quick snap of the beast

Tomorrow cannot come fast enough

2008-09-07T20:40:00.004-04:00

Well, tomorrow will be my first day of official class and I am pumped
I'm also feeling kind of nervous; like I won't live up to my own expectations
So, I set this goal for the year: "Be a better photographer than the day before; take chances and be more confident in myself and my work

Tomorrow I get my new camera: Mamiya 645AFD III
Talk about a sweet camera
Then in another week or so I get the Leaf Aptus 22 digital back
Image quality is going to out of this world
Can't wait!

Well anyway, did some more exploring today
This time at an abandon train yard a few miles from our house
Tons of stuff to shoot there
I'll will definitely be return there with a model and the new camera at some point

Keep an eye out for new posts with the new camera and stuff

First few days...

2008-09-05T17:24:00.006-04:00

Orientation was brutal; its over now though

Gary Land spoke today
The guy is very down to earth and a definite inspiration
If you don't know his work, check it out here: Gary Land Photography

Monday marks the first day of official class
I absolutely cannot wait, yet at the same time I am extremely nervous

The whole being away from home thing is really starting to sink in now

I miss everyone very much

Here are some photos from a group of us that went out to explore the old run down factories in downtown Turners
For sure of the sketchier places I've been

The move

2008-08-26T21:51:00.005-04:00

What can I say?
Millers Falls, MA is definitely an interesting place to live
Very different from home for sure

I'm pretty much all settled now
Thanks to my girlfriend my room looks a good as its going to look
House is pretty nice, nothing fancy but it will do just fine

I'm going to miss everyone at home a lot
I know everyone is supporting me which means so much
The whole idea of leaving everything I know and moving 5 hours away it still a little new to me
It's going to take some getting used to

I hate posting a new post without a photo and haven't had the time to go out up here yet so here's some photos of my friend bike I shot right before I left
Nothing super special just some quick snaps in the driveway

I should be updating more often now that I am settled in

Beginnings

2008-08-20T15:49:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided to start a blog
Never thought I would, but here I am
Lets see if I can keep it somewhat up to date; doubt it, but you never know

I guess I'll start off with what's going on right now.....packing
If you haven't already heard, I'm moving up to Turners Falls, MA to attend Hallmark Institute of Photography. I move in on Tuesday the 26th. So that's what, six days from now? Whoa, closer than I thought. My garage is pretty much full of all my stuff for the house. It's unfurnished so I have to bring up a ton of furniture.

Anyway, today I picked up my new car
02 Exploder
It's pretty nice
Low miles
Super clean
Great price
Can't beat it

Also, my 200/1.8 showed up today
I think I'm actually more excited about the lens that I am the car

Lens looks just about brand new
Got a pretty good deal on it too

I'm in the middle of packing everything I own into boxes, getting ready to move in a few days so I won't have a lot of time to go out and shoot
I'm hoping I can get out tomorrow, well see

Here's a pic off my cell

That about does it for now