www.dylanstruysphoto.com

Lifestyle - Editorial - Portrait

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DragonCon

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Revisited. Re-edited.

I revisited and re-edited a few photos I took a few years ago for music producer Chris Brann (Ananda Project).

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Therapeutic

I spent a half day wandering the streets with a camera in hand.  I have discovered that this is a great way to clear the mind and reset.  This is the closest I have come to meditation, I think.  No objective, no need to have produced anything of substance, just a way to “check-out” from the every day.  Strange that capturing someone else’s every day releases me from mine.

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Marietta Square, GA

My first day out with the Fujifilm X100T at Marietta Square as it prepares for the 4th of July.

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Dark Treatment

Back when I started taking photos, I really liked this dark treatment for these types of photos.

These were all taken in early 2010, while walking around Lincoln Park Zoo.

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Moreland Wrecks

Had a great time taking pictures of these guys in their practice space, the other night.

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Atlanta Neighborhoods 1

Little 5 Points

Cabbage-town

East Atlanta

Virginia Highlands

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Labrador of Wet Dynamite

This past weekend, I had the chance to photograph the alter-ego of one of my friends.  Well, not really an alter-ego, just a character he is in the process of creating.  This character has made a debut on the website Wet Dynamite, a site full of the ridiculous and absurd meant to entertain. The site is still in it’s infancy and has big plans to pull you in with humor and then link you to good causes to get involved with.  I wish them much success.  Now… let me introduce you to Labrador.

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Cars

I’m not really “into” cars.  However, it would be nice if designs today were as artistic as they used to be. 

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The Culprit

Twice, I have had to send my camera back to Nikon for repair.  Both times I rotated my 105mm beyond where I was supposed to and bent the aperture lever.  Sure, I should have been more careful but I thought there must have been some design flaw to make this such an easy error to make.

So I did a little research and found others that had the same issue.  Most people mentioning this problem on various forums received responses blaming them for being careless or telling them they didn't know how to mount a lens.  Then, there was one person who mentioned a stop screw on the lens that might be missing.

I looked at all my lenses and there it was....a little threaded hole on my 105mm. All I needed to do was find this tiny (maybe 1mm) screw and all would be better.

I contacted Nikon USA.  They would not sell me the screw.  I would need to send in the lens so that they could repair it.  Then, when they found out it was a gray market lens, they would touch it.  I had read in several forums that Nikon Canada was more helpful than their US counterpart.  Indeed they were!  They told me the SKU# and told me it would be $15.00 plus taxes and shipping.  Much cheaper than another $250 camera repair or shipping my lens to be fixed.  I gave them my address.....  They were not allowed to ship outside of Canada.

Okay...fine.  I now had the SKU#.  After a few days searching the net, I finally found ONE place that had these in stock in Colorado.  The price?  $0.32 plus $12 shipping, so I bought two.

If you have not been able to remove your lens from your DSLR and damaged the camera as a result, this may be the culprit, a tiny screw.

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Jeanpierre

This is Jeanpierre, a Flamenco guitarist in Atlanta.  We have been working on creating some photographs of him that are just right for the professional image he is trying to convey to his audience and clientele. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting closer.  What a strange coincidence it was to meet him in Atlanta when it turns out we grew up about 15 minutes away from one another in Belgium.

Check out his website: http://www.jeanpierreverbist.com

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Brian

Brian was the subject in my Smoke and Lipstick series.  He and I went to the same high school for a couple of years and we reconnected about a year ago.  Glad we did.  He is an interesting man with charisma and a great face to photograph.  I think he should have been in films.  I guess there’s still time…

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The Blue Room

These photos never actually became a series but I like them, so I’ll share them here.  I would like to do this again with a different model.  Not that Gabrielle is not wonderful to work with (she definitely is), but I need some new faces.

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I am learning

I am learning.  Hopefully, in twenty years, I’ll still be learning.  Over the past few years, the process of learning how to create images I like has been a rewarding experience.  It feeds my need to create the way writing music once did.  Like music, photography can be a social or solitary process and creates a result that can be shared with the world or not.  Most of the time, I get more enjoyment from working with others because I get energized from exchanging ideas.   Sometimes, it needs to be just me and a camera exploring.

Like so many others, I started to become serious about photography when digital technology finally began to be a viable and less expensive alternative to film.  So, I bought my first DSLR and enrolled in a couple of classes in Chicago to get the principles down.  I spent as much time as I could just walking around the city taking photos as I went.  Landscape and nature photography didn’t interest me so I was lucky to live somewhere urban with so much to explore.

Then I started taking photographs of friends and acquaintances at social gatherings.  I loved it.  Capturing a personality and what made them beautiful and interesting to me gave me a rush.  I knew then I wanted to focus on people.  The problem is that I am shy with people that I don’t know very well.  The social settings gave me “cover” but the idea of asking a stranger if I could photograph them has always been uncomfortable for me.

My first opportunity to do a shoot with a complete stranger came to me through a record producer friend of mine in Atlanta.  He wanted some photographs for a recording artist he had been developing.  The results were okay but the experience solidified my desire to continue in this direction.  I have since had a few more opportunities through the same friend.  These shoots have also let to other gigs, some paid some TFP.

I want to continue photographing musicians and artists because I find it rewarding.  I would also like to explore more editorial style and fashion photography.  My biggest road block is still approaching people I want to photograph.  I still have a pool of friends I have not yet had the opportunity to photograph, so I have a little time to get over this silly obstacle.

Welcome to my blog.