Anthony Simms

I'm a Retoucher at Happy Finish, this blog is a place for me to post personal projects that I've been working on with some behind the scenes insight on what goes into each project I do.

[anthonysimms]

After 7 years of college I’ve graduated with a degree in photography! The best is yet to come and I’m so excited to be able to share with everyone some of the work that I’ve made. A lot of time and effort goes into the work that I do, and I couldn’t have hoped to accomplish as much as I have without the support of my friends and family. They mean the world to me.

A big shout out goes to annaowenart for all that you do and more. You’re truly the best friend that I could have. Thanks also to smashleyart, my graduating buddy, for all of the times that you helped out on projects that took us to almost every corner of the beautiful place we live. And thank you to everyone else that had a hand in helping me create my graduating portfolio; your constructive criticism and encouragement mean the world and I’m a better artist for it.

After all this the thing that I’ve learned the most is that you just have to chase after what you want and don’t slow down. I took my first darkroom class in sophomore year of high school and 10 years later I’m still in love my craft. I’ve met so many great people and I couldn’t be happier with the route I’ve chosen for my life. I look forward to the future and chasing after even more dreams yet to come.

I’m also excited to say that I’ve been working as a junior retoucher at happyfinish! It’s been a really great experience so far and I love all the people I work with. I’m also incredibly lucky to be working with fellow junior artist and previous schoolmate Sierra Breshears!

[anthonysimms]

Final Portfolio: After a very long term I finally put together my graduating portfolio! It was a long process that paid off very well in the end. It was such an exciting adventure bringing everything together. I can't wait to make more of this work in the future!

Part 1/2

[anthonysimms]

Final Portfolio: After a very long term I finally put together my graduating portfolio! It was a long process that paid off very well in the end. It was such an exciting adventure bringing everything together. I can't wait to make more of this work in the future!

Part 2/2

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: The idea for this series came from an earlier project of a self portrait I made of my face emerging from paper stripes. I decided to keep the same crop and have my face emerge out of a variety of different materials: Dirt, Flowers, Paint, Water, and Paper.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: The idea for this series came from an earlier project of a self portrait I made of my face emerging from paper stripes. I decided to keep the same crop and have my face emerge out of a variety of different materials: Dirt, Flowers, Paint, Water, and Paper.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: The idea for this series came from an earlier project of a self portrait I made of my face emerging from paper stripes. I decided to keep the same crop and have my face emerge out of a variety of different materials: Dirt, Flowers, Paint, Water, and Paper.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: The idea for this series came from an earlier project of a self portrait I made of my face emerging from paper stripes. I decided to keep the same crop and have my face emerge out of a variety of different materials: Dirt, Flowers, Paint, Water, and Paper.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: Keeping a cool, sea-breezed color palette I photographed this concept image of a girl who, after building many paper boats, built one large enough to carry her across the ocean. She looks out across the fog-laden coastline and thinks of the wonderful adventures about to unfold.

Building that giant paper boat was a really fun part of this photo. It was 3 feet tall and 9 feet long. We constructed the base out of cardboard and then lined it with newspaper. We made smaller paper boats of varying sizes and scattered them throughout the frame of the photo, starting with some in the foreground to lead the eye into the main subject.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: This is an older image from a previous term that I decided to take further to make fit with the nature of the whimsical portfolio I was building. I wanted her skin to be luminous and for the colors in the image to complement each other. She is meant to be a fae creature that has woken up, not in her home of plush greenery and sun-covered flowers, but on hard stone and to the strange noises of an unfamiliar land.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: Perhaps blurring the line between the very whimsical and the darker tones of the fantasy elements I was exploring, I came up with this concept of a boy making his way through a forest laced with strings. He is caught in the midground with string surrounding him from all sides. As he peers through the opening of trees in front of him, he wonders what created the tied up trees, and what lurks deeper in the woods...

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: Still exploring the darker side of fantasy, this image shows a shadowy figure bubbling up from the forest floor. I like to think of her as the lady version of Hexxus from FernGully. We stood her on a step stool and wrapped her in garbage bag upon garbage bag until she looked like some sort of toxic maiden.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: Trying to explore a somewhat darker side of my fantasy element I came up with a concept that shows a laboratory type deconstructing a camera. Strips of film spill out of the back of the camera and fill the frame as shadows shift around the edges. The source of light on his face makes this much more of a character moment and lends itself nicely to looking like a scene from a movie.

[anthonysimms]

Independent Study: The focus for this term was to finalize my portfolio with a series of personal projects that catered to a cohesive body of work. I decided to move forward with the idea of cinematic styled conceptual illustrations that had a feeling of wonder and whimsy with some sort of story element behind them.

This photo is my re-shoot of an earlier project that I felt didn’t capture the wonderment I was trying to achieve. I shot with a 300mm to collapse the space and to fill the frame. I kept the color palette airy and pastel. I wanted a moment that felt enchanting and magical. All in all I think that it worked out well in the second attempt.

[anthonysimms]

Senior Studio II: The concept for this was to have someone on the beach writing a really long message in a bottle. Talking with my instructor led me to the insight that this might call on the theme of desolation, isolation, the need for help, and so on. As this was not my intent or the direction that I wanted to go with the concept I decided to have the subject reading the message instead of writing it. This way it seems as though the subject has stumbled into an adventure. A trove of messages in bottles. I had a good time collecting all the wine bottles necessary for the photo and I think that it turned out as the strongest of the bunch from the term project.

[anthonysimms]

Senior Studio II: In addition to having a lot of paper leftover from the first photo, I also had a spool of twine that was longing to be used for something else. So I centered my concept for this image behind that. A spiderweb with a keyhole center with keys caught inside was what I came up with.

[anthonysimms]

Senior Studio II: After the first project I had a lot of leftover paper from the fortune tellers, so I decided to use them somehow for another project. I came up with the idea of emerging through the paper. I wanted the subject's face to match the color of the paper so I painted it to correspond. I glued strips of paper to a piece of cardboard that I had cut a face shape from and curled the edges of the paper to give it more appeal. Then I set a light up to the side so that the light sweeping across was defined and offered interesting variety. I adjusted the color in post to make it more whimsical and light.

[anthonysimms]

Senior Studio II: This term long assignment was to create conceptual illustrations using photographs. This image shows a young lady sitting in a room full of hanging paper fortunes while she looks into a larger fortune in her hands. I wanted to keep the photo lighthearted and whimsical so there is a soft hazing light and pastel colors. Repetition, scale, and color were some of the themes I explored in this image. The initial sketch has more of what I imagined. I plan to re-shoot, working on filling more of the frame with fortunes, capturing a better light/color in camera, and working on the gesture of the subject.