Silo Point - Turner Developement

While backing up some files I came across some stuff I've been meaning to post. Here's some shots I took for Baltimore Home, a special edition of Baltimore Magazine. They're of Silo Point luxury condo's, located close to Fort McHenry in Locust Point. The condo's are the project of developer Pat Turner, who I photographed with his wife Jeanine in what was to become a reception area (if I remember correctly):

The building is, as writer Martha Thomas describes, "...a 1923 cement structure that once shot five million bushels of corn, wheat, and soybeans up and down its cavernous shafts each day, loading them on railroad cars to be transported across the country for Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM)." I found "cement structure" to be a pretty accurate description of the building. Throughout the condo's, structural elements of the grain elevator still exist and are incorporated into the design of many of the condo's. In the shot above of the Turner's, you can still see large concrete pillars behind them, circled by fancy floor lights.

Part of the article on Silo Point also featured some of the early residents at Silo Point, such as Chris Guarda and his girlfriend Andrea Lasner (above). They had this gorgeous red wall in their condo which turned out to be a perfect backdrop for our shoot.

 Also featured was Michael Cox, another resident who lives at Silo Point with his wife Cathleen. I also photographed some of the interior of their condo, which had these two walls of windows with a beautiful view of the city.

I'll have to post more of some of the interiors when I get a chance, some of these condo's were really amazing....

Baltimore Magazine: November 2009

The January issue of Baltimore Magazine hits shelves in about 2 weeks, so there's still time to pick up the November '09 issue. But in case you miss it anyway, here's a few tear sheets:



This was the "UpFront" opener, which is always a full page and in my experience has always been a blast to shoot. This month, B-mag featured Jeff Hinton, a tailgating Ravens fan so passionate that he opened a Ravens tailgating supply store in Westminster, MD. We got permission to shoot just outside the Ravens M&T Bank Stadium, and Jeff brought a bunch of merch from his store. (Oddly, the address isn't in the piece, so if you're interested in checking it out, here you go):

Home Gamers
400 North Center Street
Westminster, MD 211457

When we arrived, the light outside was ideal- slightly overcast, perfect for the small light set up I packed. But by the time we finished setting up, the sun was out full bore and we were pretty much shooting into it (towards the stadium). One of the things Jeff brought was a giant tent, which under the glaring sun made anything under it go totally dark and obscured. Fortunately, it had a silver lining on the underside, pretty much making it a giant reflector so long as I could sneak a light in underneath. It took a few more to overpower the sun and have a little control, but it worked PERFECTLY. Here's an outtake where you can sort of see what I mean:



And here's the Dep't. Arts piece, featuring Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell, a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts, and her daughter Adia (who is currently enrolled):



The article was about four Baltimore School for the Arts alums, but only Linda and her daughter were available to photograph. The auditorium at the school is gorgeous, and we thought it would be a great place to shoot. For this shot, I played with some filters on the lights and the white balance to make it a little more dramatic, here's a better look at the shot they used:



And here's a shot balanced for the light available in the auditorium. Instead of using filters to make it more dramatic, I used them to match the available light in the auditorium. So in this shot, the background is actually closer to how it appears to the naked eye, in real life, etc:



I think this second shot is nice and all, but I'm glad they went with the more dramatic option. I thought it was much cooler, and somehow more appropriate for the Baltimore School for the Arts.

Last but not least, here's a few from the "Home" special edition section:






This was a piece on a "green kitchen", owned by the Plisko family in Catonsville. The kitchen was designed by Polly Bart, who owns Greenbuilders. The kitchen is energy efficient and environmentally friendly, and th Plisko's enjoy much of their family time together and were warm and welcoming in letting me into their space and their lives to photographs. It's too bad they could only use a handful of images in the article, there were plenty more!

Coming soon...

I'm getting to that point again where I feel guilty for not updating the blog more frequently. So to stop feeling like I've been slacking....

Just finished working on the Top Salons feature for the January 2010 issue of Baltimore Magazine, which went great! Got a lot of great shots, many more than what will be featured in the piece. When the issue hits stands, I'll post tear sheets along with some of the out takes and shots that weren't used (there are many - I shot a TON). Anyway, in addition to Top Salons they're featuring me as a contributor again. I wanted to use a different head shot this time, so here's what I went with:



This was shot while testing a lighting set up before a head shot shoot. Then I played with some of the post production techniques that have been so popular lately...

Anyway, that's all I have time for now, more posts to follow soon!