drink more wine.

my favorite beverage, shot from my favorite perspective, right before consumption.

cheers.

be inspired.

i recently came across the work of ernst hass and i will admit; i was blown away. his work really took me off guard. i guess i was just having one of those days where i didn't expect to be surprised, and then BOOM. although i guess that's how surprises work, right? his work was really solid as was his career...to say the very least. but what i really responded to was reading his philosophies. there are ten total on his website but one in particular that i would like to share. for those that are interested, it's #9 of his 10 total:

"vision and taste

i looked at an apple for such a long time until it became the first apple i had ever seen. i was so excited that i called a friend to tell him my experience. but how could i find the right words for what i had experienced? how could i describe my visual sensations with such literary words as red, yellow, green, shining, round? after this movement of nuances and counteractions in form and color, even in touch and smell. anyhow, i did not find the right words, and my friend did not believe me. so, i ate the apple, as i have eaten many an apple before. it was a fairly good apple.

i called my friend again, telling him i just ate a fairly good apple, and he understood me immediately. conclusion: in visions we are alone, in taste we can be together. all i try is to find the inside images in the outside reality."

those two paragraphs kept me smiling the rest of the day. to read more of haas's philosophies or to check out some of his amazing work be sure to check out his website:

http://www.ernst-haas.com/index.html

the images below are a direct response to being inspired.

family feast

this is one of my favorite images from the "best of asian restaurants" issue. we wanted to convey a very compartmentalized and intentional composition that incorporated flavors and dishes from a multitude of asian cuisine.

crystal

this shot started as an after thought after a busy last week. i had a bunch of extra rental equipment sitting around from a rather lengthy shoot and my girlfriend had just purchased some new crystal stem wear that we apparently could not live without. i definitely learned that good light and good crystal belong together. having the extra equipment here allowed me to line up one head to every two facets of the glass. all the heads were equal distance to the glass, the same height and at equal power settings. the trick was the find the place in the glass where the reflections would create something interesting to look at and not be a distraction. although the visual itself is fairly simple the process is rather complex and precise.

the solo glass also kind of reminds me of a snowflake and what a perfect day for that... happy solstice and happy holidays.

crystal
Originally uploaded by kooiman photo

the classic revisited

as a student my favorite project was an assignment called "objective-subjective". the concept was to force yourself to look at things in multiple ways and not settle for the first idea that came to mind or at least that was my interpretation of it. over the years this has been reoccurring theme in my work. yesterday and todays images can be found in the advertising section of my website.

coke 2d
Originally uploaded by kooiman photo

hair clips

i'm back from a week long blog break with a new blog and some new work. i really enjoyed sharing some my peru pictures with you, but am back to showing what is going on in my day to day.

i have been experimenting a lot lately with 2-d techniques and using a less traditional subjects to create dynamic images that satisfy my sense of design.

this image can be found in the editorial section of my website.

one-a-day.

hair clips
Originally uploaded by kooiman photo