The Past Before the Future

I know.

Deep title right?

Ha!

Aside from actually writing a blog entry I think coming up with the title is the hardest part…so, I give up…from now on it’s going to be the first thing that comes to mind no matter how stupid.

Anyway, today’s is relevant, thankfully. Last night I got the urge (as I sometimes do) to go through the discarded images from last year’s sessions and see if I could find a few gems to spark some creativity.

Some of them turned into very close crops like the one of Ashley above. I originally discarded it because the eyes aren’t tack sharp like I like them to be in my shots, but the crop wowed me so I had to work it and overcome that pickiness.

It’s been quite some time since I dirtied up a photo. I love playing around, and although I prefer clean n’ simple looking shots embellishments can really transform a piece.

The one above was done when creativity woke me up at 5 this morning. Such is life.

Back to work now, I have some jewelry photography to finish up today and then hopefully I’ll be able to post that up here too.

Hope you all have a great day!

-David

Central Missouri Humane Society – Charity Shoot

Finally!

I’m so happy this day came. I’ve been trying to do a particular project with the Central Missouri Humane Society for months.

See, here’s the thing. The Central Missouri Humane Society is having a very hard time staying afloat. They don’t turn animals away and they don’t have the funding for the essentials of care, let alone the space they desperately need. I don’t have much to donate except for some photo skills.

I felt this needed to be done.

So that’s what happened.

It was so much fun too.

A little difficult, but a lot of fun.

Read on for more photos.

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Halloween 2008

My favorite holiday has come and gone once again, and once again I am a total Halloween geek. Usually I have a big plan for my costume, but this year just wasn’t clicking for me and my costume efforts.  Originally I was going to do Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight, but given the fact that everyone on Earth was going to do that… I ended up recycling an old facial appliance mold from a few years ago and going with a different color scheme.

For the record, given the lack of planning this year, I couldn’t begin to tell you what I am supposed to be.

Behold the super scary “front door” background….OOoOOooOoooOoh.

Even with the complete absence of thought behind the character I still think it worked out ok.

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I’ll Never Sleep Again.

I have this curiosity about earthquakes. It is one of a few dangerous natural occurrences that I want to experience first hand. Growing up in the midwest I’ve been around massive thunderstorms my whole life. I’ve seen tornadoes, been in blizzards, been hit with golf ball-sized hail, watched fields of grass burn from a lightning strike, hell I’ve actually seen lightning strike the top of a car on the highway.

I have never felt anything like an earthquake though, not even a tremor.

Apparently Illinois had an earthquake this morning. A 5.2 quake they say, with tremors felt nearly 450 miles away. Everybody I’ve talked to today is focused on these tremors. Everyone I’ve talked to today, felt these tremors.

“Did you feel them?” they ask me.

I have to report, over and over again that no, I did not. Do you know why I missed out on this life-changing, ground-shaking event?

I was asleep.

The Sandman decided that today David Bickley – a generally light sleeper – would not wake up when the rest of the city felt the ground move. Oh no sirs, he would stay sound asleep dreaming of being a superhero, completely oblivious to this life-altering event.

I’m tired of the lack of earthquake experience in my life.

I’m going to San Francisco, where the earthquakes flow like wine.

Adios.

It’s Advocacy Time!

When I was growing up I had a series of books full of animals. “The Wildlife Fact File” was what it was called. In the next 20 years, many of those animals may be gone. We are facing a point in history where our children face a very real possibility of living in a world devoid of biodiversity.

We are not disconnected from our environment, we are not above it. We are a part of it. As humans, we are responsible for it. The sad fact is that for centuries we have obliterated our environments to make way for “progress”. Now we see the damage, and something must be done because we’re running out of time.

The number of oceanic dead-zones is on the rise. Many places on Earth have become toxic that were beautiful and full of life just 20 years prior. Commercial loggers devastate acres upon acres of vital, oxygen producing, Co2 processing rain forests.

News about global warming is everywhere, but many people either underestimate it’s impact, many more simply don’t understand it. There are even those that completely discredit the idea that we impact the planet and it’s environment. Maybe you are one of those people. I am not well versed enough to counter your arguments but, what I can say is this. Everyone can benefit from living greener, everyone can live a little freer without having to pay $3-$5-$8 per gallon for fossil fuel.

Global warming is an urgent, but solvable problem. I’ve recently joined the “We Campaign”, a powerful nonpartisan movement of concerned citizens that was founded by Nobel Prize Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. We’re already a million strong — and growing each day.

Visit this site to learn more and add your voice: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Sign up, take a stand. This isn’t an issue we can afford to lose on. Our world is too precious, and it’s the only one we have.

The We Campaign is working to ensure that elected leaders make the climate crisis a priority. Visit: http://www.wecansolveit.org/. Here, you can learn about solutions to global warming, take action steps and even find events happening in your community. Although it’s not too late, global warming is very serious and there is no time to lose. So please don’t wait any longer to get involved – sign up today: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Together, we can solve the climate crisis.

Thank you for reading,

David Bickley

Portraits With Ashley

Ashley came in for her second session with me last Saturday, stunning me with another breathtaking shoot.

She likes to be humble and say that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. That may be true and if it is, the girl is a natural. Any of you photographers out there reading this… Get a hold of her, not only could she use the experience but you know you need her face in your book. End of story.

I will post some more as I get her approval.

Until then, ciao my audience.

David Bickley, Professional Photographer

Busy Busy Bee

Lots of cool stuff in the pipes folks. Since the launch of the new site several things have happened.

1.) A local college has asked me to come speak at a fashion design class about fashion photography and the fashion industry.

2.) I will be speaking at two middle schools about my career as a professional photographer and designer.

3.) Two of the free photography sessions I was offering were donated to the Missouri Heart Gallery to help foster children find a home (unfortunately I will not be able to show you those photographs, but I will post the gallery tour schedule so you can attend if you like).

4.) The fine folks at Bludomain.com asked to interview me for my new portfolio at www.davidbickley.com. The interview hasn’t been posted yet but I will post a link to that as well so you can all revel in my dorkiness.

5.) Two projects that I worked on at my former agency won Silver Addy’s (an advertising award). One of them was my very first project for that agency (The logo for a company called Purple Tree Technologies, I am also responsible for the web design for that company). One client that I did some web programming work for, took best in show for their trade publication campaign. Kudos to the whole team for their hard work.

6.) My current agency also won two Addy’s, one silver and one gold.

7.) I also gave this blog a face-lift. I will be trying to rotate it out every few months.

Cool stuff all around.

I am a man with plans, and there will be plenty more to announce soon.

Until then, take care.

David Bickley, Professional Photographer

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Live

Chances are if you are a frequent visitor here, you will have already noticed the new section of the site. For those that didn’t, you will find that www.davidbickley.com no longer takes you to this blog, but now leads to a site where you can view a brand new portfolio section of my photographic web presence.

There is still some work to be done, but I plan to have this site in it’s final iteration by the weekend.

Thank you all for your patience and support while this has been underway. It has been an experience for sure.

- David Bickley, Professional Photographer

Crazy Photo Weekend

Let’s just jump right into the photos, eh?

This is Ashley, a young woman with a ton of potential who has taken part of the offer I posted about last week. She doesn’t have a ton of modeling experience, but as I’m sure you’ll all agree…you can’t tell.

More after the jump.

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Unprecedented

After I started talking about things I would do in the new year. I started thinking “I’m going to do something this year, that I haven’t done in many years”, and as a result I’ve decided to hand out a bunch of free shoots.

So, here’s what I’m doing:

10 free full-day modeling shoots ( 5 random people, 5 of my choosing )

1 free wedding.

“So how do I get this deal David?”

I’ll tell you. In the upper right corner of this website is a button that says “contact me”. You click that and fill out the contact form with the subject line “free photos”, in the message box…tell me a story. Tell me who you are and why you want to shoot with me (yes “because it’s free” is acceptable, I suppose)

I’m going to give this until the end of February. Then I will choose the winners and post them here.

- David Bickley, Professional Photographer