Kneejerk is the name of the budding LLC for my (John Lucia's) pro photo studio. I say pro lightly, however - my methodology has always been one of casual practice in the field and until now photography had always been more of a hardline hobby than a viable profession. It took a Fight Club style near life experience to stir me from the sloth and actually chase the dream down instead of constantly long for it through a window. As such, I'm now taking those critical baby steps to turn this sideline passion into limelight life pursuit.

I've been in the photography game for well over 10 years now, coming from goofy kid shooting macro dioramas of action figures with a junk little point and shoot 35mm to my current fixation, abandonment and urban decay. I've passed through many cameras and many camera systems and have settled on the fact that there are unique advantages to packing a compact system, hence my current preference of the Olympus E-P3 and its line of compact lenses. It serves well in public because few people see it as the threat a glass canon of an SLR can be, allowing people to remain comfortable as they're candidly immortalized in an image. It also allows for great flexibility during planned shooting given its tiny form factor, a real benefit for on-location shooting when the location is less than ideal (as many abandoned structures tend to be). I like to move when I shoot, sometimes running a marathon in a space barely adequate for pacing - should you collaborate with me, please do not be alarmed, I did not have a seizure.

My style is decidedly low key, erring on the side of darks and heavy contrast. More so, my colors tend to be heavily muted, but rarely black and white entirely, with just enough warmth to give it an almost duo or quad toned look (barring my night shooting). When lighting a model my process is pretty basic and low budget - shop lights galore with 150 watt bulbs, usually with one backlight and one or two for the subject, maybe one as diffuse. When not in a studio environment and the sun is happily shining I try to keep things as naturally lit as possible, opting to move myself (and ultimately the model) to get the light right. When the need arises, however, a pair of compact slave flashes do the trick. In the future I aim to assemble an entourage of LED lighting for both the mobility (battery powered LED units could replace the slaves) and comfort of the model (shop lights get hot pretty quick).

Kneejerk's presence on Model Mayhem is straightforward - networking. My studio experience is painfully intermittent, with no steady, continuous work having reared its head in the past year. That inconsistency of business needs to change. To develop a strong studio style, performance and rapport I need to actually shoot in the studio. I have the equipment, I understand its use. Now I need the models. I've been using myself recently but any photographer knows the difficulty of generating a strong image when a ghost is standing behind one's camera. I like photographing people as much as I like photographing decay. Pitting beauty against rust and rot may have become cliche in the past few years but just because it has been done before does not mean it has been done by me, and I promise that I will bring something new to the table.

If you would like to work with me or collaborate on a project of your own, you can either find me on Facebook under "Kneejerk Imagery" or e-mail me directly at [email protected]. Hope to hear from some of you fine folks soon!

Tags

See All Tags (4)