andyBATTstudio

Keystone Light Campaign Live

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Pledge allegiance to the smooth! I shot a nice series for Keystone Light through Avenue A. We had the run of Petereson's Convenience Store for a day - they were going to demo the whole interior the next day, so short of busting out the sledgehammer, we could do no wrong. The featured shot was taken on the MAX line in front of one of the other Peterson's - a great day of "what are you doing?" "Can I have some money?" "your in my way" and "Do you want to buy this cell phone? It doesn't work, but it's really cool". I'll be posting some of the work in the Quirky catalog soon. In the meantime check it out at keystonelightbeer.com

Sojourn Theater - BUILT - TBA

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:25:00 +0000

I got to play with some of the members of Sojourn Theater
this weekend. They will be performing as part of TBA (that's Time Based Arts to you non-portlanders) this year, and PICA needed some images to run in their sales materials. The performance is titled BUILT, and is a site specific theater piece that creates a discussion about housing, development, and who lives where. BUILT is still in being created, so we ran around a small section of South Waterfront and created 3 quirky images of a non-existent but soon to be realized play. I don't know how much influence my images will have on the piece, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm happy with the work.

My series of Birds On the Skylight was chosen to be in the 2008 PDN Photo Annual! See more in the NEWS blog.

The Beautiful Kaitlyn ni Donovan

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:43:00 +0000

I'm posting an image from the soon to be edited/mastered and released High Violets music video. I got to play DP, Gaffer and Director on this project, and sorta dived in not sure of exactly how it's all 'supposed' to work. I'm facing a nice big learning curve right now, but I've given myself 2 years to build a reel, and do some fun projects as DP and Director.

If you would direct your glance a little to the right, and upwards from these words, you will see a tab marked FREE. If you are an Art Director, Art Buyer, Designer or just a Fan of my work, I'd like to give you something. For Free. Srsly.

-cheers

andy

Studio Lighting Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:36:00 +0000

I taught a lighting demo on Monday at my studio to a class of fine art photography students. I love the opportunity to do this stuff-creative lighting for the sake of creating lighting. I created 3 scenarios: a mixed light (tungsten 2k with broncolor strobes) setup with a strong backlight; an open 'gigantic north window' light; and a complicated setup with 5 strobes that ended up being called the "Jill Greenberg Close Encounters Lighting". My point was to show off studio lighting in a range from simple to complicated, and to get them to think 'bigger' - not bigger in the amount or size of the gear, but bigger in terms of how they approach lighting. It's important to learn and master the traditional lighting styles, and to emulate and learn from the modern masters (hey Jill Greenberg). But it's just as important to keep pushing the boundaries of what you know and what you think you can do, even on a limited budget with a limited amount of gear.

2008 March Fourth birthday party!

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:23:00 +0000

I had the great privilege of hanging out with the March Fourth Marching Band on their 5th birthday. I was dancing in the audience on March 3rd, and working the shots on the 4th. Truly a fun, wonderful bunch of people that know how to throw a party!

Cinematic Roadscape

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:24:00 +0000

I don't know what the movie's title is, but this shot is definitely in the film that's been building in my head.

In case you missed it, I'm in CA for the March/April issue! The print edition is due any day now, but if you can't wait, you can see it online.

And if that's not enough cool press, I was chosen by STEP Inside Design Magazine as one of their top 25 emerging artists! From the cover: "A first look at the 25 freshest minds in design". Terry Lee Stone curated and wrote the cover story. The content isn't online yet, but you can download a PDF of the article here.

CA Front Page!

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:35:00 +0000

So CA surprised us this morning - they launched the March/April content, and put me on the front page! Holy Exposure Batman! We were expecting to make a big deal of this when the print issue came out, but there's no time like the present! Thanks CA! Thanks Rebecca! Thanks Therese!

I did a nice campaign for Oregon Regence/BlueCross BlueShield. This image is an alternate version to the pick. The pick did a better job of familying with the other images, but I prefer the flow of this one.

Snow Curl

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0000

We stepped away for a short vacation on Mt. Hood, and did a little snowshoeing. The snow covered trees are amazing. If this had been a group of photographers, I would have wandered around all day taking shots. As it was, I grabbed a few shots here and there just to have some snapshots to share.

Fantastic

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Now that the holidays are over and done with, I thought I'd share a top secret project with you. On pain of death, I couldn't talk to anyone, or share this image. Until now. Take a close look. Closer.

Does this ring a bell? Well check this out:

When a friend says: "I want to do a parody of WHAM's Fantastic album for my christmas card" you always say yes. I think we did a damn good job of capturing the inner beauty of George Michael and the other guy, and the stately grace of the mid 80's rock portrait. Plus I got to dust off the old "salmon" gel for the background. And if you think this is cool (or at least weird and entertaining) just wait till next year.
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And just to keep the plug going, I was chosen by STEP Inside Design Magazine as one of their top 25 emerging artists! The online content will be up at the end of the month - so hit your local newstand today!

STEP Magazine + Stage Fight

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:43:00 +0000

First, the news: I was chosen by STEP Inside Design Magazine as one of their top 25 emerging artists! From the cover: "A first look at the 25 freshest minds in design". Terry Lee Stone curated and wrote the cover story - this is from her opening statement: "I looked for creative people doing intriguing work with a strong voice... I wanted people doing new work in new ways for new audiences. I had to first evaluate based on my stated criteria, then consider something else: What is "emerging" anyway? The individuals on my list couldn't be "too emerged" or "not quite emerged yet." They needed to be representative of where we are now, and where we might be going."
Wow. It's always been tough for me to see my work from an outside perspective. I get so connected to the work, and in such a different way than my 'audience' that it always amazes me to hear somebody talk about me and my work in terms like that. So thank you STEP, and thank you Terry Lee Stone!

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I finished photography for the 2008-2009 OBT collateral work right before the holidays. Chris and Josh assisted me, and took the test shots up a level. Rock On!

Our Lady of Cell Phones [update]

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:39:00 +0000

I carry my camera most places-but I'm not a documentary photographer, or a PJ. I just like to find + create pictures in a different way than my production intensive work. This was in the window of a storefront in Buffalo - it's one of those I shoot as I walk past, then stop and decide to go back to make sure I got it. And then shoot a few more. And one last one - right up until the moment when my friends are about to give up on me. It's hard to go for a normally paced walk with a photographer.

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Update 12/19/07: I was asked a couple of months ago to provide images for the winter issue of Photoeidolo Magazine - a 2x a year Greek fine art photography magazine. Anastasia from Photoeidolo found my work on the web (thanks Google) by searching for motion photographers. The winter issue just got off the press, and I received a nice surprise in my inbox this morning: one of my Utah Flash photos was chosen as the cover!
You can read more about the magazine (and order a copy for yourself!) here: photoeidolo.gr

Cycling Portfolio - Cyclocross

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:38:00 +0000

I wandered around the Gran Prix event for Pacific Northwest cyclocross a week ago - the final event in the Cross Crusade series. I'd been trying to get to one of these for months, and the Sunday series proved really hard to line up with my schedule. Thankfully this was a 2 day event, and I was able to head out on Saturday. It snowed lightly, and was cold (for Portland) but no rain to speak of. Luckily the previous days had been crappy, and the ground was nice and wet for the riders - lots of great mud opps. I'm working on a cyclocross portfolio shoot - to add more sports motion work to the book. I got some great reference shots, and I think that a few of the shots will end up in the online sports book.

I had breakfast with a friend/colleague/photographer this morning - Jamey Stillings. I worked freelance for Jamey in ancient times, back in Rochester. It was great to catch up with someone who has taken his career up to that next level and is still the same down-to-earth nice guy I remember. He asked me (much paraphrased) "why do you blog? what's the deal?" It was actually Therese who had the answer - she said something like "It's Andy's chance to have a voice on the site. It's a section where he gets to do what he wants, and say what he wants". She nailed it. It's hard to know what the outward impact is of doing this, but I do this for myself, with the added bonus of letting everyone else in on some good stuff.

all right then - enough rambling -

andy

The High Violets - Storyboard

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:09:00 +0000

larger version here

I put this together as a proof of concept for a music video I'm producing/shooting for Portland band The High Violets. I did a still shoot a while back, and as part of an ongoing personal series, shot them in this style. The project involves 3 phases - large single portraits (prints), 'contact sheet' style prints on the same size paper, and portrait animations - hopefully shown in line with the print work, on vertical flat panels - in the same style as this video storyboard. What do you think?

Cycling Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:25:00 +0000

This image is from a recent portfolio shoot - I got to ride about 12" off the road, at about 20mph, strapped into a safety harness along a winding back road.

Red Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:51:00 +0000

This was one of those moments you see from the car, as you wait at the stoplight, and hope that you can get it before you have to hit the gas.

OBT - Midsummer Nights Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:53:00 +0000

Have you seen enough beauty today? I was backstage at the ballet on Sunday, and photographed Ansa as she waited to fly back on stage. The performance was wonderful, and I'm just starting to go through the shots, but I knew this moment was beautiful when I shot it. Just a slight bit of motion blur from the slow shutter adds a dreamlike quality to match the makeup. You have one weekend left to go see this - obt.org

andy
{You can also see the poster image I did for this performance in my Dance Gallery - just click the Gallery button over to the upper left, choose dance, and check out image 6.}

Sorry We're Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:49:00 +0000

Do you ever 'channel' another photographer? I taught a digital workflow class at newspace this past weekend. Part of the class had us grabbing some shots at our lunchbreak. I saw this garage, and just for tiny moment, felt a little like William Eggleston. And just to be clear, I'm not saying that my shot or my skills are like his. It was more like, for a moment, I saw this little bit of every day life differently.

Who have you channeled?

a

Matt makes a face.

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:37:00 +0000

Matt emailed me last week and asked if I would take his picture - he needed some PR worthy shots. Matt is an up and coming photographer - with a knack for both the art and business aspects. He's also great in front of the camera. Just had to share.

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I've been playing with LinkedIn for a few days now - go check out my profile to learn all about my business.

andy

birds on the skylight

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:10:00 +0000

In my office, I have a tiny skylight, one that seems like it was meant for an RV. This year has been a killer year for crows, and they have taken to picnicking on the roof of the studio. Usually it's just like there's someone stuck on the roof, knocking to get my attention. Lately though, they have decided the skylight is a fine place to hold a feast, start a fight, or do whatever the hell crows do when they think humans aren't watching them. The first skylight party, by the time I grabbed my camera, climbed up on a chair [damn wide angle lens] the crows went off to party on the neighbors roof - maybe he's got better shiny bits or more carrion on it. Today, I was ready - had the 100mm lens ready to go - so when the crows started dancing and carrying on, there I was, all sneaky like. The shots are really interesting and gritty, more than just graphic shapes. I'm almost tempted to launch some lunch meat wrapped in tinfoil up there to see what else I can get, but visions of my skylight covered in bird crap have stopped me. Maybe when the rains begin.

andy

The Pierced Arrows - Seattle Sound Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:41:00 +0000

UPDATE: Jozzy over at www.piercedarrows.com, the official Pierced Arrows site, just added my shots. Check it out!

I had the privilege of photographing Portland band, The Pierced Arrows, for Seattle Sound Magazine last month. Fred and Toody's previous band, Dead Moon, kicked serious independent rocker ass for over 20 years. New drummer Kelly Haliburton rocked his rock and roll sunglasses and a sense of humor. They were all great to work with - professional and experienced doing the photo thing, but totally easy going and mellow. I wanted to play with a vintage look for this shoot, referencing some 4x5 portraits I'd done years ago, but without sacrificing the speed and quality of my DSLR - renting the 24mm Tilt Shift lens, and creating a custom B&W post look did the trick. For publication, Seattle Sound opted for the color versions, processed to give a cool black, slightly desaturated look.You can check out the magazine's site here: Seattle Sound Magazine and download the digital edition of the issue
You can read the whole thing, but to see my stuff head to pg 8, pg 20, pg 79

Four from the Underground

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:07:00 +0000

I went on a short trip last week, and ended up staying at the Oregon Caves National Monument - a funky, but charming lodge in Southern Oregon, located at the mouth of The Oregon Caves. And of course, we did the cave tour. It was pretty fantastic. I'm more of a fan of doing things the hard way, so part of me wished we were scrambling around on our bellies in the mud with hard hats and headlamps - but I have to say the National Park Service does a very nice job of making the cave accessible, while still preserving the natural rugged beauty of the place. These shots remind me of (in a very humble snapshot-ish way) old stereograms of natural wonders. Not too shabby for handheld shots while being on the tour.

Ortho Style: The Jeff T Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 23:55:00 +0000

Being able to 'recreate' old image technology is one of the things I really love about digital. I've always enjoyed the look of the old school orthochromatic films-these are only sensitive to the blue and green spectrum. There is a transformative power in Black & White imagery that is enhanced by working this way. A B&W image is different than how we see the world, and the reduced 'sensitivity' of dropping out the red/orange/yellow spectrum goes further, as now it changes our typical expectation of a B&W image.

I also have been carrying a 100mm lens around as my point and shoot. It's no longer a stealth process, as people tend to notice you pointing a telephoto lens at them from a meter away, but I'm okay with that. I think I get more interesting pictures that way.

All of this makes you (I hope) spend more time considering and wondering about the image.
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Do you want to purchase a print? A 10" x 15" printed on archival paper, with archival inks will set you back $325, unframed, shipped FedEx Ground within the USA. Just let me know.

cheers

andy

globe dancing

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:38:00 +0000

I'm finishing up the initial series of portraits for March Fourth - Dan brought his own globe. Once I get a few more stragglers, I'll start working on the 'art' project i'm doing with the work. It will involve beautiful large B&W prints of individual shots, accompanying 'grids' printed to the same size as the singles, and an online animation component. Plus it seems likely that this work will also be used to create some awesome 'for sale' posters to raise money for the band.
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Do you want a print of this image? A 10" x 15" printed on archival paper, with archival inks will set you back $325, unframed, shipped FedEx Ground within the USA. Just let me know.

cheers

andy

Squish Your Head!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:25:00 +0000

What do you think is funny? The Kids in the Hall have place of honor in the mighty halls of the Legends of Sketch Comedy. The first time I saw Mark squish some innocent passerby's head, I fell out my chair. As I have proven here this joke just never gets old. NEVER.

cheers

Andy

Pond + Algae = Art?

noreply@blogger.com (Andy Batt) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:07:00 +0000

Flying over this little pond I was fascinated by the swirling patterns in the algae. The geekiest part starts pondering mandlebot fractals, but the artiest (real word?) part just wanted to capture it to print it out really big and stare at it.

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As faithful reader anonymous (who are you?) just reminded me, all of the work you see here in the FEED section is available to you as a beautiful archival print. Just email me!