Upper Peninsula Discovery

I was prepping some files for a client from a shoot I did well over a year ago in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The client was finally ready to proceed with the project and requested a nicely edited suite of images from the trip.

I stumbled upon this outtake of a vintage car passing me. It was totally a grab shot...the camera pointed out an open window...a small diversion from hours and hours of driving in between cities.

The shot is totally over-exposed, blurry, technically flawed, random...

...beautiful.

(You can see earlier posts about this trip here and here.)

Lux Land-Album Packaging

Lux dropped off her new CD over the weekend called "Sweet Suspension." I was really pleased with the packaging and printing. The front cover photograph coupled with the album title is a really nice match.

Last summer Lux and I shot for a few hours on a mosquito infested afternoon...we shot deep in the woods and also alongside a swampy bayou of Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids.

The album is fantastic and features some amazing production by Texas' Kristy Krueger. Lux's music is always the hardest for me to describe...so I won't even try. Just order her album he

re and thank me later!

Here's some outtakes from the shoot:

Photographer Platon and the Civil Rights Movement

The famous portraitist Platon talks to Charlie Rose in a video here about a series of incredible images he made for The New Yorker; Platon took portraits of many of the surviving figures of the the civil rights movement.

I very much connected to 3 things Platon discusses with Charlie Rose:

1. That he still gets nervous before each shoot (as I do)

2. That it's very hard to emotionally connect to the people you're photographing

3. That these inspiring civil rights figures had a profound effect on his life

Last fall I was in Memphis. And on somewhat of a whim I went to the National Civil Rights Museum located at the site of the now infamous Lorraine Motel. This is where Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered on the motel balcony.

As I toured the Museum, I became overwhelmed at the enormous sacrifices and injustices that so many in the civil rights movement endured to provide others a chance at social justice and freedom from oppression. Many were murdered...many others beaten, jailed and treated worse than animals.

This all occurred when I was baby...not that long ago. These were people born in The United States. It seems incomprehensible today.

I only managed to take two simple photos w/my iPhone...both of them were of that damn balcony.

David Byrne Documentary

A source of inspiration...can't wait to see it.

Can Design Save Newspapers?

Can great design save newspapers? Yes. Magazines too. This brilliant designer transformed many European newspapers through design...readership is exploding.

My favorite quote from his speech is "Remember, to be good is not enough."

This video is well worth 6 minutes of your time...the ideas presented apply to many industries...not just media.

My New Web Site is LIVE!!!

What does 2 months of a lot of photo editing, some very late nights and a lot of tweaking get you? I'm proud to announce that my new portfolio web site (briankellyphoto.net) is now live!

This new site is certainly media rich...with large photos (try the site on Fullscreen!)...and a large integrated video player. This is a huge change from my old Flash based site.

The iPad, Kindle and other portable media devices are rapidly changing how we view newspapers, magazines and television shows...this revolution is just starting...and it's a content rich world.

I believe photography and visual storytelling (short films, photo essays, videos, etc.) are going to more important than ever in a high bandwidth, multi-media world...it's a VERY exciting time to be both a photographer and videographer!

I welcome your feedback on the new portfolio. Oh, you can also view a nice mobile version of my site on your iPhone or other SmartPhone device!

Brian