Morgan Eddington Photography: News and Updates

Creation

2010-07-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

I've really been enjoying, playing around with watercolours, as of late. I think taking a step back from photography and just being creative with anything, is a good healthy thing for an artist to do. I think you can sometimes get overwhelmed with your own craft and your pursuit of it, that you can forget to enjoy just the little things in life and just the desire to create.

This new piece was inspired by the little bird that sits out on the lamp post of my apartment building. I don't have lights in the place, just yet (there is no ceiling lights, you have to get lamps) and so I spend a lot of my time sitting by my patio door. This bird, shows up and just sits there and keeps an eye on the parking lot and I've sketched him (or her) a few times in my sketch pad and thought it would be cool to do something a bit more of a permanent piece.

Tools used:

Watercolour

Pen and Ink

(a little photoshop for the web version)

The Road (mock book cover)

2010-07-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I had finished reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It was a really awesome read that kept my attention for a straight 24 hours (or however long it took to read).

After I was finished reading, I got this image in my head of the father and the son (the main characters) and their journey in the book. I sketched it out and came to think that it would look cool as a book cover.

I decided to pull out my fiancee's watercolour set that she gave me and this is what I came up with.

Tools used:

Watercolour

Pen and ink

Photoshop

Helping Nashville

2010-06-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for not posting these sooner. If your following me on facebook or twitter (http://twitter.com/morganeddington), then you probably know that I'm moving further south to Jacksonville, FL. This has been a big thing I've been focusing on for a few months and its finally coming to life.

A few weeks ago, I had decided to make a trip to Nashville to help with flood relief. I am pretty involved with my local church and whenever I can afford or find the time, I go on the mission trips to help with relief efforts and document what is happening. After talking to my missions pastor about going on a personal mission, he told me that they needed help in Nashville. My first thing was, make the time and pack up my camera and my body and get out there to help.

Now I have found a little time to post some of my favorite images from the few days I was there. I am not going to really describe what is happening or what happen in the images, so I'll just let you guys make up the stories you can get from them. When I finally move down to Jacksonville, I'll try to make a post talking a little more about it all.

Leave a comment, critique, do what you want... but most of all, think about what all is going on around you that needs attention. Its one thing to sit back and feel sorry and its another to get it done and help.

Almost done!

2010-06-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished cleaning the mats and glass and also putting wiring on the back this morning. Time to hang these suckers up!

This artwork is just an on going series of work I've been working on for the past two years. As of now, six pieces are going up but I am hoping to have two new pieces that no one has seen yet up as well.

There will be prints for sell and I will also be selling prints online (soon...), for those of you who can't attend the show.

Show at Corner Perk!

2010-06-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

On friday of this week, I will be showing my artwork at the local coffee shop here in Bluffton called, Corner Perk.

Link - http://cornerperk.com/

Here is a glimpse of the artwork framed and sitting in my casa.

I'll have some images up on here from the night, later on when it happens!

Also, Brandon Clark will be coming down from Atlanta to play some good ol tunes during the event.

Alli Hall Jewelry

2010-04-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Screen capture of some of the images from the phootshoot for Alli Hall's jewelry portfolio.

Alli and the model, Cassie, looking over the images during a break...

Not gone...just busy

2010-03-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I thought I would post on here since it has been awhile from the last one.

For those of you keeping up with my life on facebook or twitter, you know that I have a few new jobs along with the role of being a photographer. The jobs have kept me pretty busy, which is good! But it has caused me to not shoot as much. Some people think that I have given up on doing the photography thing, but I am just stepping back and preparing for my next swing at it.

Living the life of a full time photographer is a really tough thing to do and I learned that from first hand experience. I don't really believe in giving up on yourself. I do think that its sometimes smart to step back and rethink things in a logical way, than to just jump head first and try to plug all the holes in the ship on the way.

Probably the greatest thing to come out lately, is the skatepark in Bluffton. It has most defiantly become my getaway. The kids and the guys hanging around there are really cool and on top of that, the park has a really nice flow to it. Its probably the one place, you will see me at, whenever I can get some time from work.

A few days ago, I decided to bring my camera with me and snap a few pictures of the locals. Unlike the last couple of times I've shot skateboarding, I decided to go with the natural light look, over using strobes.

In the next two images, I wanted to show the difference between using a wide angle and a zoomed lens. I wanted to achieve the same effect of getting all the same objects in, but show how each can have a totally different look.

This next image, I really like a lot. Sometimes as a photographer, you see things in life where you wish you had your camera to take a picture and this was one of those instances, that I was glad to have it with me. It reminds me a lot of Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" photo, minus the dust bowl. The only thing that I wish I could have done a little different was, catch this zoomed in. I got a zoomed in image of this, but the girl turned her face and ruined the moment. :-(

Katherine

2010-02-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

Some of the images from the shoot I did for Miss Katherine's dance portfolio. Not the whole batch, but some of my favorite from the photoshoot.

Busy life

2010-02-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

Here is a few more images from the stuff I have been doing with the local boxing gym. This is a mix of two different days. The guy below is named Jeremy. The guy is really amazing to watch train. A lot of the guys are really amazing to watch in training. Its a lot of moving and just being quick. There is really only one guy, I have noticed, that uses more power than speed when his training and I made sure to watch what I said around him...no need to have my head literally knocked off.

Everyday I come in, there seems to be new people that I come in contact with me. Usually most of the guys in there are there for a healthy workout but some people (like the guy pictured below), show up at random and do their own training. Its awesome though, cause I get to meet them and we talk and the more they get to know you, the more comfortable they become.

SNAKES ON A CAMERA!

2010-02-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

I was able to hook up with my friend Brian Nettles, over the weekend. He needed me to do some portraits of the 20+ reptiles he owns. We didn't get to photograph all 20 of them, but I am hoping that after we edit down the images and I do some magic to the images, that we will have some pretty amazing "reptile portraits".

Anyway, here is a sneak peak, until we decide on the final images.

Blue Circle!

2010-02-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, I did a headshot shoot for dancer, Katherine Stanas. I am currently working on narrowing down the images and sprucing them up. But I thought I would introduce everyone to "the blue circle!".

(I guess its some kind of inside joke at the dance studio)

What you runnin' from?

2010-02-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

Recently, I helped in photographing a marathon here in Hilton Head. I decided to bring along a second camera body that I had fitted a wide angle on, to photograph some more candid images as the runners came closer.

My main body had a 200mm lens on it, that I used to grab them further away as they were coming down. These are more fun, I think. I thought you all would enjoy them.

Also, thank you to the police officer who took this image, kept me from getting hit by incoming cars, letting me warm my hands up on his car headlights, keeping me company and also jump starting my jeep... (turns out leaving your hazard lights on kills the battery)

Keeping it going...

2010-02-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

The blog post keep getting more and more spread apart, from the last time I posted something. But its not that I'm not shooting (heck, I have tons of new boxing pictures), its just I'm getting really busy and tired lately. Since I became a sub for the school district, I have been finding myself a little worn out at the end of the day. I mean, K-5th grade is a hand full, but I really enjoy it.

Today on the other hand, I was a sub for a high school in Beaufort. The great thing about being a sub in Beaufort or Hilton Head, is that its not a real long drive to get to a skatepark.

I'm always keeping my gear on me just in case I come across something I can photograph. I have the normal camera bodies and lenses but I just keep 2-3 flashes on me for a quick, throw together, strobe.

In the images is a local skater, who is sponsored by the local skateshop. He was doing some really, awesome flatland tricks and I asked if I could snap some pictures of him. He was totally up for it and it turned out that he is a videographer that is interested in photography.

Again, this is the Chase Jarvis, idea of Create, Share and Sustain. The fact that I now have a job that I can rely on for money makes it easier for me to say 'yes' to more low paying gigs or even doing something for fun. In this instances, I was able to snap some pictures without being a jerk at the same time about it, because I have to use these photos to put food on the table.

I totally believe that good things happen, to those that are involved. And to become involved, you sometimes just got to have fun with it.

For me, when no money is involved, then there is no strings attached. It becomes a free for all, for whatever I want to do and also gives me no deadlines to worry about. And whenever I do a 'free' thing for someone, they usually understand that paying clients come first.

So now, I am glad to put these up and go to bed. Enjoy.

Before and After

2010-01-31T13:56:00.000-08:00

My sister hired me to restore some old photographs she had. The woman on the left in the first two images is my mother when she was about my age. I thought it would be interesting to post these, so everyone can see the before and afters, of what I have done. Mostly it is minor color correction, spot and scratch removal, sharpening (they were all a little out of focus), contrast correction and color enhancement.

Keep Shooting!

2010-01-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last night, I uploaded some images where I had set up some lights and shot some more controlled images. With controlled situations, I am more confident in myself that a good image will come out. But there was a boxing class going on during the photo shoot. So in between the shots, I would try to grab some images of the boxers training with my second body fitted with a 50mm lens.

These images on the other hand, I am less confident about. Only because it is complete randomness. During a controlled shoot, I may shoot off 20 images and feel good and call it a wrap. Usually, I don't try to do this unless the person I am photographing is busy cause I like to get some type of variety. But with more candid stuff, I may shoot anywhere between 500-2000 images because of how random it can be. The more images you have, the more likely you will have something to work with.

Take the below image for example. I shot about 20 images of him in this pose. Why did I choose this one? Cause it was the only one, where he was on his toes, giving him the sense of movement. The other 19, he was flat footed.

Another example with the below image. He was yawning and looking in some weird direction that didn't fit. If I had snapped 1 image, I may have just been left with the yawning image. But I was able to grab an image that I enjoyed by taking about 8 different shots.

The one thing that I kept in my mind, from assisting a wedding photographer over a year ago, was that when your shooting something...always grab two images of your subject. The more images, the better. This way you know, at least you got one image that is in focus.

Other things that can happen in candid documentary photographs, is weird faces, blinks, covering up parts of the body that are main focus points. The biggest issue I had with the boxers, is that when they would throw a punch, I wouldn't see their face half the time.

Now the great thing about digital cameras, is that you can review the image to make sure everything is okay and if not, you can delete it and keep shooting. With film, it was a different story. You had no idea until you developed, to know if the image was workable or not. And if it wasn't you couldn't rewind the film and re-shoot it...well you could, but you would get a funky overexposed double exposure.

Get in or get out...

2010-01-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been in contact with a lot of "fighters" it seems. I guess the one thing about shooting for a local magazine, is that you get the "in" with a lot of different people, once they see an image they like.

Lucky for me, after shooting the MMA article, there was a boxing company that contacted the magazine, wanting an article on them. And they also wanted the same photographer to shoot it. Low and behold, I'm that photographer.

The funny thing is, I went to a club one tuesday night, at like 1am and it was completely empty. Now I'm not the one to drink a lot or really do any crazy things at night, but I know the owner, his a nice guy and his hanging up some of my work...so, I thought I would stop in.

I ended up staying there till 4 am because there was a guy named Tommy, who was also there. Turns out he was a boxer and he also really liked my photography (I showed him my portfolio on my phone). So, he was going to help set a day up, for me to come to the gym he trains at and snaps some photos.

The next funny thing is, the gym turns out to be the same gym that wants me shoot this article for them. So I meet with the owner of the gym, mention Tommy and the magazine, we kick it off and he is completely okay with me coming in and snapping some pictures.

During the shoot (which are the images you see here), I noticed this guy, his name is Corey, who is unbelievably good at boxing. He was doing his own thing outside of the class that was going on. So I decided to introduce myself and we started talking about boxing and photography. I ask him if I could take some pictures of him tomorrow and he was excited about it.

So, now I have another shoot set up for tomorrow and I am just basing it around Corey. I'm totally pumped about it!

I guess the point I am making, is that you need to get out there and talk. You either in or your out. And when your in, cooler things happen.

Chasing the dream

2010-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

Today, has hopefully become the start of something new for me. Most close friends and family know (and maybe from the last blog post I put up) that I may have a knack for teaching and that I would like to try and pursue it. Now after my last college experience and then being thrown out into the real world, I have noticed that it has not been as easy, as what I had expected.

And for those of you wondering, yes, photography is a very, very, very hard profession to get into.

Most of it comes down to niche photography and knowing business. Finding something your good at and marketing yourself to it. I think all steady working professionals would say the most important part, to being successful is your business and marketing plan. The thing is, for people like me who graduated college when the economy decided to tank, we have been having a very hard time either getting steady jobs or even finding work as an assistant.

Over the past 3 years, that I have been trying to do this professionally, I have gotten some really good advice from people that are making it work. Now its not that they aren't struggling also, I think everyone has taken some punches lately.

I decided to take one piece of advice and give it a shot. So this next month, I will let you know what the advice was and if it works or not.

But today, I have finally become an employee of the Beaufort County School District as a part-time substitute teacher. Why? Because it will still gives me the flexibility to be a photographer and also gives me the understanding on if I really want to pursue a masters in teaching.

So hopefully on Wednesday (after they put me in the system tomorrow), I will be making a little bit of moneyz.

Now does pursuing teaching mean that I am giving up on being a photographer?

Heck no.

But I am also taking another piece of advice that another photographer I look up to (Chase Jarvis), always talks about. And thats to create, share and sustain. You can find out more about his concept/theory/lifestyle thing, if you follow the link:

http://tinyurl.com/yjos2ez

My hopes of one day being able to sustain myself off my photography will hopefully come before I get married and have my first child (yeah, thats a scary thing). But until then, I am trying to get myself out there and doing the main part of this concept, which is to create and share.

Gotta love the internet.

P.s. I went to the beaufort skatepark today and snapped these images off. Enjoy!

Dylan

2010-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Everyone, meet Dylan. Dylan...well here is everyone.

My second love to photography is probably rollerblading. And not the type of tight spandex wearing rollerblading, but the type, where you will see people sliding on rails and ledges and maybe doing some jumps.

The other day, I decided to stop at the skatepark and have a small session. The normal crew that I usually hang out with, are all in college, so I thought it was going to be just me.

The Hilton Head skatepark is a really fun park. My favorite part, is a small free standing rail. As I was skating the rail, this little dude comes up to me. He wanted to tell me, that I was good but in response, I told him he should skate this rail with me. Only thing is, his never skated a free standing rail before. And I know what he was fearing, because there is nothing to fall on to, if you mess up. After a bit of talking to him, I got him to try it and he actually laced a few tricks.

Now, I love to teach. Its not something that I go out of my way to do all the time but if someone approaches me, I will teach them. Now lazy people, that ask for help is a different story. I truly believe that if I teach someone something and they are not willing to apply it and take interest in it, then it is a waste of my time and their time.

Growing up, I never had a role model when I was skating. I had a few role models in the art world, that pushed me to where I am now but with skating, most the people I looked up to locally, were jerks. The same goes for some (maybe even most) photographers. Everyone is always going to be better than someone else and people like to flaunt that.

I have been skating for 11 years now, so you would think with that much experience behind my belt, that I would be good but really I am okay. I would never win a competition and I could never become sponsered, only because I am not at the level that professionals are at today (and physically, I'm getting to old for it). In other ways, I am also not a good photographer. I think I can take a picture and I know how to take a picture, but I am no where near some of the master photographers such as Richard Avedon, Irvin Penn, Jack Mitchell, Lois Greenfield and Annie Leibowitz. Or even photographers that I really look up to, like Chase Jarvis, David Bean, Jeremy Cowart, Zach Arais or Dave Hill. Even my peers, I believe are better than me.

The one thing that I have learned , is that you got to keep trying and you have to have confidence in yourself and what you do. Because you'll never become good at something, if you don't push yourself to become good. Most people need a little push, like Dylan. But the thing is, your not always going to find people that will help you all the time. Sometimes you may not find anyone and even when you do ask for help, people will just laugh at you or ignore you.

I guess the one thing to remember, is that when you build yourself up to wherever you get to (and no matter how hard it is to get there)...rather you are sailing a boat, writing a novel, running a business, skating or taking pictures...that there will always be someone who is in your shoes, when you first started out.

Also, this kid below, really wanted his picture snapped. So hopefully this will be his ticket to fame.

Snow in Hilton Head!?

2010-01-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

Today was SNOW DAY, in Hilton Head. Hargray, a local company, puts on this event every year and this is the 4th one, they have done so far. But for me, it was a first.

What they do at this event, is they bring these trucks of snow in and spray snow into one area, where kids can go and make snow angels...really, they made snowballs and decided to beat each other down with them. To them, it was fun. To me, it was something extra to dodge.

Needless to say, I got a ton of great photos out of the day. Its a shame, that it doesn't normally snow here in Hilton Head, cause if so, I'm sure these kids would not have as much fun. I guess it is an amazement for people who don't normally get it. But most of the families that live here, mostly moved here to get away from it.

I don't know if I would consider the above image good or great...maybe okay, but it was a funny moment. They would lay the snow down in sessions, so everybody going in could enjoy fresh snow. At the end of one session, this grandfather thought it would be a blast to drag his grandchild through the snow. The grandfather, thought it was funny...the grand child, not so much. You could hear the grandfather laughing, while the child was screaming blood murder.

All in all, it was a great moment.

Besides the snow, they also had carinval games set up and small blow up slides and trampolines, for the kids to play on. It was awesome to catch all these kids having fun and see some of them (like the kid above), show off to his friends and family.

The other highlight was the local DJ putting on games and songs for the kids to get down to. It was funny cause this was a hoola-hoop game, but there was no winner from being good at the hoola-hoop. You were a winner if you picked up the right hoola-hoop and the number on the hoola-hoop matched the number from a bag. Kind of lame, but the kids loved it.

Now to show you all an image that I think is amazing but horrifying at the same time.

Below, is an image of a kid with a snowball. I asked the kid for a picture and so he decided to pose. In my head, I was thinking, "AWESOME! This kid is going to be my highlight of the day!" Once I checked to make sure I had the image, I proceeded to put the camera to my face to take another picture.

He, on the other hand, thought that holding that snowball was getting boring and that it would be better to nail me in the face with it. Little did he know, that I would put my camera to my face, when he would throw it.

Once I pulled the camera from my face and he was laughing his butt off, he realized that I was not a very happy man.

P.s. Kids are kids and the camera is fine. Its still an awesome image.

MLK day...again...

2010-01-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Last time I uploaded some photos, it was kind of a quick, "Here it is! Take a look!", kind of thing. I sat down today though and decided to pick some more of my favorite photographs from the event in Bluffton.

This month has been a good example, of just getting up, going out and photographing stuff. A lot of events happen here in Hilton Head and Bluffton, so it is a good opportunity to get up and go do something. In return, you may end up meeting some people that may become future clients or friends (sometimes both). But the important thing, is that your out there shooting.

The Ladyfriend

2010-01-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick portrait I did of my fiancee, for a local promotion, I am doing.

I thought I would share it with everyone.

MLK! Okay?

2010-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

Here is some images from the MLK parade, that I photographed. Its not all the images but the some of my favorites from the first memory card. I really do enjoy finding these events that happen around Beaufort County and just showing up and taking pictures. It gives me the opportunity to talk to some of the locals and meet people that I don't think I normally would get to.

Something I have been trying to pay more attention to in my documentary photographs, is trying to pay attention to the light and shadows everywhere. Which to me, is the hardest thing to really pay attention to, when you start to become really focused on the subject. It just is a different type of photography, cause your on someone else's time frame. There is no repeating what just happen. And the lighting is never the same.

The thing to pay attention to the most with natural light, is to do one of two things. One, photograph people in shadows (if its mid-day...which this was). Photographing people on overcast days is perfect, mostly cause the light between shadows and sunlight are the same. Clouds are your best friends! The only problem with photographing in shadows, especially trees, is to watch for patches of light coming through.

The second part, is photographing people in direct sunlight but keeping your back to the sun.

I feel like photographing people with the sun behind people, is now becoming a big hit. But out of my experience and from what I've noticed, its a big risk. Your risk the color and your risk how clear the image comes out. Thats why most the people you see who will shoot into the sun, will usually cross-process the images and really bump up the blacks.

Not saying there is anything wrong with people that cross-process (heck, me and the fiancee hired a photographer who does that to almost all their images), but the one thing about photography that I think is awesome, is capturing the details of an image.

Anyway, have a great week! I am in Raleigh, NC for now hanging out with my favorite lady photographer friend and got some cool things coming up in the works.

Des 2 Be in Lurvvvvvv

2010-01-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Everybody, meets the Blooms.

The magazine hired me to shoot a portrait of this couple of the island for the wedding/valentine issue coming out. The lady in the photographs, has given her kidney to her husband and if you that doesn't show that you love someone, then I really don't have a clue what does.

On the technical end, I used a 50mm lens with the aperture set to f/2 at 1/250sec. One light, to camera right with barn doors attached. I let the window light, coming in, add to the wall and the main light add more of a kick, to the face.

In a future post, I'll talk more about the lighting. Big lights, small lights, expensive lights, cheap lights, DYI modifers and the such and hopefully other useful tips.

http://www.morganeddington.com/

breaking down a cheerleader

2010-01-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

I said I was going to try and break down this image this week and how we get from point A to point Z and as promised, here it be!

The first part is probably the only part I can't show you, but its the phone call or e-mail. Some magazines call with a concept and its your job to see that concept come to life. Other magazines, will say, "Hey, this is the story and here is the contact information", which can sometimes mean, that you have free reign on the concept of the image.

Most local magazines (which this one is local), tend to do this. Not saying that national magazines don't (cause I have had one give me free reign on an image) but I would guess that since they have a bigger audience and budget, the over all outcome, is very important to them.

The above image is a snap shot of my sketch book. Having these concept sketches and delivering them to the client, not only gives them a good idea on your intention for the image, but also helps you to better visualize your shoot and knock it out as quickly as possible. Not only does it speed you up but when you show them to the models, they feel more confident in what they are doing and help you in return, to get the job done.

One thing to learn though, is to adapt to images not coming out 100% like you draw them out and expect there to be problems during shoots where you don't have a budget for a full day shoot. This shoot in particular, was for a girl in high school, so the shoot was scheduled during her class time after we got the okay from the school to keep her for an hour.

After contacting the model, getting the locations, coming up with a time, figuring out what you need on set, etc...you now come to the day of the photo shoot.

When doing a shoot, always show up anywhere from three to one hours, before your scheduled shoot. Not only is this good to get use to doing, but it gives you the time to set up, make sure your lighting is spot on and gives you room to try and get as many problems out of the way.

I say three to one hours, depending on the importance...sometimes you'll even spend more setting up in pre-production figuring out your shot. If your shooting a CEO for a company, show up three hours (or even more) before the shoot to make sure everything is working, no problems occur, etc. The worse thing you want to do during a shoot, is waste everyone's time by setting up, when all they are doing is sitting around.

For this I showed up one hour before and had everything set up ready to go. So when the cheerleaders walked in, all I had to do was tell them the idea, climb the ladder and start shooting. Because of the one hour before set up time (and double checking my equipment before leaving for the shoot), everything was up and working in 30 mins and left me with 30 more mins to brainstorm other ideas.

As you can see above and below, you can get a good idea on how I set up my lighting.

Not listed on the diagram below is the power outputs. The sb-800, was at 1/2 power...and the two sb-600, were at full power. I know that I want my model to be the main focus, so I aim the flash at her face and to add some depth to the images, I separate the girls from the surrounding with the other lights.

After the shoot, you now go to the post-production. Usually spending time uploading, doing RAW conversion, and then great ol' Photoshop wizard stuff.

Is photoshop cheating? Some people think so. I don't. For me, it gives me much more flexibility to make ideas come to life, that I couldn't normally do on a small budget. For more documentary work, I usually don't manipulate the images but use Photoshop for dodging and burning. Now in this tutorial, I used lightroom 2 for my RAW conversion and Photoshop CS3 (yeah, I'm outdated but I'm hoping to add CS5 to the workflow, when it comes out).

Now from the image above, you can see some of the issues that popped up. Again not everything comes out 100% how you plan. The image is pretty close to the sketch but there was a gym class going on and because the cheerleaders holding the main model started losing their strength (they can't hold her forever) , they slightly tilted a bit and now a light stand leg has appeared. Also the main key light did not catch the main models face completely.

If I had a full day with these girls, I would have made it perfect, with nothing going on around us.

So what do I do first?

Get rid of all the problems. Basketball is gone and the light stand leg removed.

In doing this, you need to pay attention to the detail of the floor. The lines of the boards and the lighting. I used the a mix of the clone stamp tool along with coping and pasting certain images from the scene into the problem places.

When you take something from one area and paste it into another, you need to pay attention to repeating patterns. Sometimes going in and changing the wood grain, can make this disappear.

Now I used curves to brighten certain areas. I brightened her face, arms, the floor and the girls at the bottom. I did all this on individual curve layers, which I masked on the areas I wanted to be brighter.

Now what?

I put the girls at the bottom, out of focus. The girls, at bottom, are not the focus and with the looks on their face, end up being more distraction than helpful. For this, I grouped what I had made so far, then made a copy of that group. I then flattened the new group and went into lens blur, where I played around with the focusing tool, till I felt I had a good blur that would work with the image.

I then added a mask layer to the new blurred image and then used the gradient tool to put a focus going from top to bottom, with the cheerleader being in focus and the girls out of focus.

I then took a brush and with 25% opacity, painted the floor behind the cheerleaders, slightly out of focus.

I made a new layer and then filled that layer with 50% gray and went into the layer adjustment and made that layer a soft light layer (basically the gray disappears...but trust me, its still there).

Then with the dodge and burn tools (dodge lightens and burn darkens), I went in and fine tuned every little piece of light on the cheerleader and other areas in the image, by painting on the 50% gray layer. This gives me the ability to smooth out her skin and to also add more emphases to places I want to pop out more (ex. her eyes, teeth, hair, etc.). Without destroying to much of the detail.

In the last part of this, I went in and selected the hue/saturation layer from the new adjustment layer option and picked the reds to desaturate. Why? Because i didn't want the reds to bleed and kill the detail in print and also on the web. It also keeps the red from over powering the main focal point, I want people to look at, which is the cheerleader.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at morgan.eddington@gmail.com. Also if you have anything you would like me to cover, please e-mail me.

Also, please check out the website, where I have uploaded the images from my visit to South Africa.

www.morganeddington.com

Purppies

2010-01-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

When I went home for Christmas, I was asked by my mother to photograph her two dogs. The black haired one is named, Andy and the blonde haired one is named, Katy (just in case I start saying names).

For my birthday, my fiancee got me a book by Nick Brandt. Its a book on the animals in East Africa. How he photographs them, gets so close to them and the focus on the animals is just amazing. Plus the printing is mind blowing. I want to say that he shoots with a large-format camera to get the type of focus effect he has, but it would seem very annoying and to long, to set up, focus and shoot.

So I am thinking that he either uses really nice prime lenses or he shoots with some type of lens on a medium format or SLR that gives him the tilt and swivel ability (like a lensbaby). By any means, he kind of inspired me to do this shoot.

For this shoot I just decided to use a 50mm f/1.4, with one off-camera flash (shooting into the wall/ceiling) to the left and using window light on the right for fill. Then do a little bit of post for the rest (which was just lightroom).

I actually really love shooting with my 50mm lens for portraits. Even though a lot of my commercial work is shot with either my 24-70mm f/2.8 or 70-200mm f/2.8, if I can get the chance to sit with the subject and not be limited with time, I pull out the 50mm. The shallow DOF that you get when you open the lens up to f/1.4 or 1.8, gives this surreal awesomeness look. It becomes a little tough also, because you want the eyes in focus and since the plain that the focus has is so shallow, you have to fire a whole bunch to get it right. You can imagine having untrained model dogs, would make this even more hard.

One way to offset this, is either have your subject further away from the lens (so there is kind of a bigger plain of focus) or set the camera on a tripod, have a marked place for your subject, tell the subject not to move, set the focus and then shoot away. But with animals, thats a little tough.

Also some people may ask me, why I shoot with an off-camera flash? I have actually been experimenting alot with off-camera flash and in this instants, I used an off-camera flash because I can never seem to get my strobes to shoot with a power output under f/5.6. By this I mean, if I open my aperture beyond 5.6, it tends to blow out the image. The only way, in the past, I have been able to offset this, is to put some type of scrim over the strobes, firing them into a wall (which makes a horribly huge spread of light...but works sometimes), or putting ND filters over my lens.

Flashes though, because of the power output being much small than that of a strobe, actually gives me the ability to shoot a subject and get the results I want, without having to come up with some fancy way to kill the power of the light. Now some of you may be asking now, "But you fired it into the wall?" And thats only because I didn't have any modifiers with me and a wall/ceiling makes for a great "always with you" umbrella.

The very last image of Katy, is probably my favorite of her from the whole shoot. She actually did not want to do this at all. My mom was holding her the whole time and you can tell that she had this sad look. I don't know how many times she tried to escape, but at some point she gave up and sat there. I was manually focusing the pictures and caught this when she moved on me. I think it best shows her expression about the whole photo shoot and thats why I like it so much.

Andy, on the other hand is a balla.

Creative Quarterly #17

2010-01-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Just got the new Creative Quarterly (issue numero 17) in a few days ago. I'm not sure if this is on bookshelves (cause I've been looking since October) but if not, I am going to say that it is now or will be very soon. I was selected to showcase a few of my personal photographs in it and when I thought they were going to show just one image, they ended up putting in the whole small series.

This marks my second national publication. Which is really exciting.

Its awesome to be where I am right now cause a lot of the local magazines and clients I have give me the opportunity to do what I like (with some small guidelines), so I am able to translate some personal ideas over into client work. I do have more personal photo shoots planned in my head and sketch book that I hope to make images of soon.

If you have a problem grabbing a hold of the new Creative Quarterly (as they don't send them out everywhere), then you can see the images on my website at www.morganeddington.com.

Hilton Head Monthly 2010!

2010-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hilton Head Magazine hired me to shoot three portraits for its January 2010 Issue, which is out now.

The January issue was on the most "Intriguing People" and it was really fun to put this all together for them and come up with the concepts.

For everyone who is curious about the images, I am going to be doing a dissection of the image above of Tom Young (on lighting and photoshop) and a dissection of the very last image of Andrea Keriazakos (on lighting, photoshop and interaction). So look forward to post in the following week on these two images.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

2010-01-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 2010 EVERYBODY!

I thought I would share the images I took during my trip to Atlanta for New Years.

Me and the fiancee decided to stop by the local Target and pick up some of these hats and it was just such a great thing that my friend, Brandon, showed up with these stick on mustaches. Really helped to make the images fun and exciting.

I think this is a great instance in being a photographer. When you can take some really fun pictures of all your friends at an event. It was probably the most fun I have had in awhile and also a great time to just meet all of my great friends and also make a few new ones.

Since I have posted some of the photographs on facebook and other places, I have had a few people ask me about how I have done some of the images. Some people want to know about the technical stuff and some people want to know about how I captured some of these images. Maybe some of you are curious about the commercial work I do for magazines and other people or other little things I get myself into.

I'm hoping to soon start making post about all these technical and backstory things. Things from how to work a camera, lenses, photoshop, compositing, lighting, lightroom, etc. etc.

If any of you are curious about something or have a question, please e-mail me at morgan.eddington@gmail.com.

For now, its time to start the New Year in Hilton Head and Savannah and git'r done.

Jingle Jingle

2009-12-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

Here are the images from the Jingle Jingle Marathon, that I shot a week ago.

I'm still working on the majority of the images and putting them on an independent website for purchasing.

If you were involved in the event and would like to be directed to the website,

please e-mail me at:

morgan.eddington@gmail.com

Standing Up for what You Believe

2009-12-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

Today, I woke up to shoot the marathon, that I thought was yesterday. I will post more on that later on but, I had to jump on top of this post.

A lot of things happen in life and most of the time you have to be the person to make something happen, for any change to happen. Something that truly makes me happy, is to see people who stand up for what they believe in. Things that they truly think should happen or things that think are the truth and sticking to it.

This may have been said somewhere before but honestly, if you want to put meaning to your life, stand-up for something and do it.

Now the story I am about to type up, is completely what I learned. It is not my personal views and I am not trying to hate on anyone. I am just getting the story out because seeing people stand up for what they believe, is amazing to me.

As I was leaving the marathon today, I drove by a group of three people, standing on the side of the road. Each person with a sign, of an older age and standing out in the freezing cold. They gave me the opportunity to talk to them and find out their stories and also why they are here.

They belong to an organization called "Hilton Head for Peace" and as you can figure, they are against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organization is mostly made up of about 200 people and have been running since 2003. Usually coming out, about once a week, for an hour to stand on the side of the road. Letting people know, that there needs to be a change in how we use our military.

As I was there talking to them and snapping pictures, people would drive by and honk their horns. Some would give a thumbs up. Even runners would come jogging by, praising them for what they do. But one of the protestors told me that they usually don't get that many supporters.

Since the beginning they have had a lot of people against what they stand for. Before they use to stand on the edge of the road. Almost in distance to possibly touch a car driving by. But now they stand back closer to the side-walk after one person drove off the road to try and hit them. People also will stop their cars, coming up to them, yelling,screaming and threatening to do harm. Other times, things are thrown at them. One of the protestors, once had a bottle thrown out of a car and if it wasn't for the bottle hitting his sign, he would have been seriously injured.

Another issue that is coming up for the organization, is members slowly dropping out since President Obama's election. The hope that our President would withdrawal our troops and being them home, made most of the protestors happy.

At the beginning they said that 75-100 people would show up to protest a week. Now it is moving down to smaller and smaller numbers. But they feel that is all going to change, since President Obama's action to send additional troops over.

One member, who is a parent of a troop, is watching their son finish his second term in Iraq and now beginning a new term in Afghanistan.

One protestor did make a good point, when I was there. He mentioned that the only reason for war is to steal things and that the biggest thing is stealing someone's life.

Updates on a rainy day!

2009-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! So today is beyond rainy...its been raining, since I woke up at 7am.

So, after leaving to go shoot a marathon and getting there in the pouring rain, I came to the conclusion that the marathon is actually tomorrow. This would be the third time this week, I've forgotten what day it is.

Anyway, updated the website with some new images. South Africa pictures soon to come!

Check out the site.

http://www.morganeddington.com

p.s. how do you spell check in the blogger? I can't find it! (is that sad?)

Point and shoot

2009-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

There is a big thing I have been reading a lot lately about how people who are photographers never get out and take photos. Reguardless of whatever it is you photograph. So whenever I leave the house, I bring the camera with me (with a 50mm on it of course). Mostly when I'm leaving, I like to keep the camera feeling light, so its more of a part of me and less of this heavy piece of equipment, that I use to make a dime every now and then.

Its mostly taking the Chase Jarvis idea, that you can find at least 10 interesting things within 10 feet of you. Going out in the world and just photographing anything and everything you see. It has even come across me to stop or turn around at locations and take pictures of the things I see on the road. I know that there are photographers out there, that when they drive by something, they wish they had stopped to photograph it. I'll go ahead and say that if your not rushing to make it to a shoot or a meeting or whatever, turn around and shoot it.

Sometimes, as with today, I'll even take pictures of things when I am in my car. My fiancee and I, were on our way to pick up some prints and I saw this awesome image. Grabbing the camera at my side, I just put the thing to my face and just snapped the image. Kind of a point and shoot thing... (but this isn't the greatest idea, if the roads busy)

The best thing I can say for this, is just to always have your lens cap off and have your settings set to something that will give you a decent image. I usually always keep my settings at 1/250-1/1000 at f/2.8 (or wider), just cause I'm a sucker for strong DOF.

Also...visit your local vintage/thrift store and shoot what's in there. Old beat up stuff is awesome looking!

Rocking Horse

2009-12-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

The other day I went out to Kiawah Island to help out on shooting a marathon.

The only road to Kiawah takes down a path, that is filled with a lot of awesome properties that may not help with the look of Kiawah Island itself, but definatily gives you this old time America fill. A lot of open farm land and tons of American flags. But on my way back to Hilton Head from Kiawah, I came across this house that had a bunch of rocking horses outside of it.

Since I have been in this taking a lot of pictures with my 50mm lens lately, I made a u-turn, went back and photographed the rocking horses dressed up in reindeer gear. As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed an open garage door with more rocking horses coming out of it and figured that there had to be someone in there.

Inside the garage, was basically a mom and pop shop, plus a pop. For the past couple of years this father (in the first picture) has been building these rocking horses and recently, his son and his son's wife have decided to help out on the business venture (picture at the very bottom). The rocking horses are freaking awesome! Its so amazing to see that this American child's toy is still being built cause it reminded me of my rocking horse. I was able to hang around and talk to them and it turns out the father is a jack of all trades and also a jack of all trades when it comes to the arts. He paints, can do wood cuts, carpentry, sewing, you name it, he can probably do it.

Anyway, if anyone who is reading this is interested in buying a rocking horse from these people, I have their contact information, which I would be glad to share.

50mm

2009-12-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

So my friend Erika and I have fallen in love with our 50mm lenses. I've actually been a big fan of the 50mm, since I bought my first one two years ago. It is the one lens that is all was in my bag whenever I need to go do a shoot. And is sometimes the only lens I use (depending on the assignment or just for fun).

The couple of images on this post today are just a few of the images I've taken with my 50mm lens over the past couple of days. The weather here has been pretty crappy for the most part. A few days ago, it was probably 60 degrees but now its dropped and its been raining. So big change. But that doesn't mean, that I can't stick my 50mm on my Nikon D80 and go snap some images.

But because of this love for the good ol little 50, Erika and I have started a few different things to showcase our love for it and for everyone else to!

The first thing is a Flickr page, where people can post everything they've shot with their 50mm. Even if no one joins, its a way for me and Erika to keep in touch with everything we've been shooting with it.

The second is a blog that we hope to showcase some of the best 50mm images on. Along with monthly things to shoot for, using your 50mm lens.

Again, all of this is for fun, but if you would like to visit the pages, below are the links.

Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/fixed50/

Blog:

http://fixed50.tumblr.com/post/277193438/welcome-to-fixed-fifty

So if you would like to join, then join on! If you would like to follow, follow on!

Do what you do and we will be there to provide.

Also, the image above is part of a group of images that I shot yesterday on my trip Charleston.

Tomorrow, I will post a few more along with what happen!

Red Hill, South Africa

2009-12-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

So I believe it has been about a month since I've come back to the United States from South Africa. Now I was only there for two weeks. But that two weeks opened my eyes to a lot of stuff. Not just how different cultures can be between a giant body of water, but also how people perceive photography.

Now the reason I went to Africa because of a mission with my church. Earlier in the year, I had attended a mission trip to New Orleans to document the rebuilding that is still going on. I said that if, I felt like it was a calling to continue this type of work after the trip, that I would sign up for the trip to Africa as well.

Long story short, I was able to make it over there and witnessed some of the most amazing things that I have been able to witness to this day in my life. And now I am putting up images for everyone to see.

Now here in the United States we enjoy photography and we look at it in two ways. We look at it as a precious moment that is documented on to a piece of film or a sensor and then we can share it to the world. We can let people know the things that we have done or that has happen, that will never happen again.

Now the second thing, is because of celebrity culture, we also view photography as an invasion of privacy. So even though there is that ability to capture those beautiful moments or even those tough moments, we feel like someone is stilling a piece of our souls. For the documentary photographer (this has nothing to do with paparazzi), I feel like you almost have to forget about yourself and think about the moment at hand, regardless if someone looks at you and says "NO!". (If someone did look at your with "NO" stare, then maybe you should second think what your doing)

The difference with South Africa, is that people are completely cool with you taking pictures! As long as you let them see the back of the camera.

Now I am not a documentary photographer BUT I have always been interested in it. So when I went to New Orleans, I was kind of testing the waters but at the same time, everyone I photographed was part of a group that I was focusing on. The trip to South Africa was a different story, because everyday offered something new. New people that had no idea what I was doing with this big hunk of glass and metal around my neck.

So imagine walking in there with the idea, that you would get the reaction of most people here in the States...and it turns out they were completely cool with whatever you would take. Now there was moments where I put away my camera away to respect certain people in certain situations and I believe that is a call for yourself. Most of this having to do with people's homes and also the AIDS clinic we visited.

The point of this post though, is that I wish more people here were cool with the idea of the candid moment. The documentation of life, I guess you could call it.

If anyone reading this, has something else they would like to add, please leave a comment! Its fully welcome!

Also if you want to check out more from the trip, you can check out the flickr site I have set up at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/morganeddington/sets/72157622743112841/

I will also have a site where I will be selling prints hopefully at the beginning of the year and also a section on my website showcasing my trip to Africa.

Album Cover

2009-12-05T05:01:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, this is a preview of an album cover for my friend Alex Kinsey. I had shot this while in NYC over the summer and finally came around to finishing up all the images for it.

Once the finished product is released, I'll upload a few pictures of the album and inside album art for everyone to see.

Also, here is a sneak preview at my attempt at being an illustrator. I've always enjoyed my friends work and other professionals work, who are illustrators and I thought while I would wait to let the above image save, that I would bust this out.

Enjoy.

Also, does anyone understand why everything is in a link?

New work

2009-12-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty horrible at updating this, but I do plan on making more of an effort. But then again, I have been busy. Picking up freelance work left and right, traveling around the U.S. and also Africa. And now planning out next year! (Which is exciting)

I hope to put a lot more images on here and give you all a better update but for right now, I am just going to give you a screen shot of the latest issue of Hilton Head Monthly, that I got two full-page spreads in!

Here we go...

2009-07-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Since catching up with all my client work, I have had the time to sit down and go over some past stuff that I have shot. Some of it for promotion, some of it for fun. I think that is the most important part of being a working photographer and something I've noticed with a lot of other working photographers, is always trying to make time for yourself outside of client work to either perfect your craft or expand your way of working.

Sometimes its not even testing out new gear (though right now that seems to be why I do most of my shoots lately), but to also become better. If there is one thing about being in business, its about always trying to better yourself. Cause when you make work your happy about, it will reflect over to your clients.

David Sterrit

2009-07-15T20:30:00.001-07:00

This is David Sterrit. His been becoming a good friend of mine in Atlanta over the past year and been a really big help for me as far as getting my business going in doing head shots. This is actually from the shoot I did with Jessica Rosa in Atlanta. Right now, I am currently caught up on all my work for clients, so I am just playing around some images laying around.

I am also trying a new e-mail thing...basically I am going to be making a ghetto set up as far as a mailing list goes for anyone interested in receiving this blog post.

If anyone stumbles across my blog and wants to be put on the mailing list, then I guess just e-mail me just put in the headline, mailing list.

headshot? I don't know...

2009-07-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

So I really wouldn't consider this a head shot as much as I would just a silly portrait...regardless, I think it came out awesome and I hope you all like it also.

I'm going to be trying some new stuff for a new portfolio in the future. I've been wanting to kind of take a different approach to how I do my photography and escape the portrait realm a little. Not completely, but enough that if I crossed a line, I would keep my smallest toe still in the portrait end, so that both of the two kind of got to tickle each other. Did that make sense?

So if anyone who is reading this, if I haven't approached you yet and your interested in modeling, then let me know and if I can get to ya, then i'll use ya.

Behind the Scenes

2009-07-14T13:23:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

Here is the behind the scenes of the last shoot I did. Most of you have seen the final image but for those who haven't...well...you may just have to wait.

This is champion...he is the champion of the world. End of story.

Enid, Cody and their love child...Casey.

This was an option for blowing hair around...we ended up with something else.

Davis Wedding

2009-07-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I know its been awhile since I last posted something on the blog. Here is some of the images from the wedding I shot a few weeks ago.

Since then, I have had a few other shoots that I have done for some families here in the Hilton Head area as well as been getting ready for my next trip to Atlanta and New York.

Olen Mills...eat your heart out!

2009-06-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with why I am here in Atlanta. We just couldn't pass up doing it.

Day 3 - TLT

2009-06-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the very late update. I just finished the wedding today and just got back. I am actually about to go grab some food and thought I would update the blog real quick with the images from yesterday.

I have not worked on these images yet and just did some quick screen captures. I think the images came out really well for running through a hot house down in Atlanta. Speaking of hot, the biggest bummer to everything is the heat. The past couple of days have been nothing but swimming in your own sweat. The great thing about it, is that we all have probably lost a few pounds. Hopefully it is a bit cooler when I leave for Chicago tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more cause tomorrow I have a 24 hour break (sort of). I am going to update the blog with pictures from the wedding, catch a plane, and start to sort out images and work on them a bit more.

Days 2 in ATL - Jessica Rosa

2009-06-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Just because you can never have enough pictures of people with sunglasses.

Meet Jessica Rosa. She is an actress out here in Atlanta that hired me to shoot a few pictures for her comp card. We had fun during this shoot, but man is it hot here. The temp is around 95 degrees but with the humidity, the heat index is well above 100 degrees. Most of the pictures were shot indoors or under some type of shade, but we had a bathing suit shot (not pictured), right out in direct sunlight.

Needless to say, we were all drenched in sweat afterwards...

These are only a few screen captures I made from my computer. I have not had time to really sit down and work on the images but once I come back from Chicago, I do plan to work on them.

Today, I am shooting some promo shots for a band called The Legendary Team. They are an old client that I did some promos for when I was still here in Atlanta. I'll have the photos of that shoot up later tonight or sometime tomorrow depending.

Chinua Hawk

2009-06-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple of quick screen captures from yesterday's shoot with Chinua Hawk and his band. Had a ton of fun and got a couple of good images out of the whole bunch. If there is one thing about hanging out with Chinua and his band, its that you are more than likely going to be laughing none stop.

Today I am actually taking pictures of an actress named Jessica Rosa. My friend David recommended me to her and we are doing a comp card shoot. Also tonight my friend Brandon Clark is playing at the Starbucks in Cumming, GA. So I am hoping to stop by there and give a big group high five to one of my favorite bands out there.

Long night

2009-06-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Up top is a picture of some of the local skateboarders at the Hilton Head skate park. I got a few pictures of them doing some tricks, but as soon as I finish editing them, I will put them up.

BUT the good news is that after a couple of days of just updating my website, I think I have come to a good resting point. In the past couple of days I have uploaded it with new images, added links, a client list, a new revamped non-boring thing about myself (thanks to Erika's help) and also just finished the TEAR SHEET section!

In the tear sheet section you can view some of my past work with magazines. Not everything is posted on there cause I had to steal older issues from my fiancees parents and scan them in, but after I make a nice little trip to Kentucky, I hope to grab some old issues and add more. But I'll also add to the section as more work comes along.

There may not be any updates coming up soon as I will be in Atlanta and Chicago in the next coming week. Unless I can grab some wifi. But stay updated as we are sending out to get the test of my new promo book! Yay son!

Website Update!

2009-06-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! If you go to the website (morganeddington.com) you may notice a few more pictures added on to the site as well as a more well thought out info page.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I will add a tearsheet page for all the editorial shoots, I've done in my career, as well as a section on my past clients and price list.

roller buddies!

2009-06-10T07:05:00.001-07:00

Meet Kelson (above) and Sean (below).

Give the ground a high five!

2009-06-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Sean, Kelson and myself decided to run to the Hilton Head Island skate park with hopes that the hurricane season wouldn't run us away. As luck would have it, we would end up hucking ourselves at tricks for a good 3 or 4 hours.

The above is a sequence of Sean doing a disaster BS backslide to fakie. I've been finding these fun to make and I'm not really going above and beyond to light them or anything. I just think its awesome to be able to read the whole trick in one image. Kind of like a movie but with photography.

The story behind 'give the ground a high five' is all due to me missing a trick and slapping the ground really hard on my way down. I didn't hurt anything else on my body except the palm of my hand is bruised. A few minutes later Sean did the same thing...its a trend that is catching on.

Stay tuned for some nifty portraits taken at the park that night.

MORE PICTURES!

2009-06-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

I just came across some images that I thought needed to be posted. I have a few more that I can also post, but I have to get on with some promotion material. Who would have ever guessed, I would spend more time on that. :-P

Got to lurv it!

Morgan and Katie

2009-06-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

So I got a hold of these two lovely ladies for a promotion shoot for my business. And because facebook is being lame with me for some weird reason, I am putting the images on here for everyone to few.

Enjoy!

New Orleans Portraits

2009-06-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

In this post, I am putting up some of the portraits I shot down in New Orleans. I really like the small batch that I was able to make from there and these are the best ones from the whole series.

Emmy Bone

2009-06-02T10:58:00.001-07:00

About a month and a half ago I had an aspiring model from atlanta, call me up to do some modeling shots for her.

We ended up using a lot of the locations around her place out here in Hilton Head and with a little help from her friends, we put together a small portfolio for her to use.

C(h/b)2 spread!

2009-05-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! In the mail today I received an issue of CH2/CB2. The images posted here on the blog are the images that made it to print! So this is exciting as it has been a few months since my last spread in a magazine.

The image above and the image below did not make it into the article. They were picked to be worked on with the batch of images, but the magazine probably didn't have enough room for the images to make it in. Either way, I still thought the images were fun and that I needed to include them in the blog.

In the next month or two, the website is going to yet again undergo another change. Or it may not. But I am putting together my business plan and trying to figure out the direction on how to take my business. I am currently trying to work on a family portrait business that has a twist to it, as far as the images go (no need to look like everyone else right?) and I want to continue doing the editorial/commercial route.

Also got my tickets to Chicago to do an event with Joe Montana. If everything goes right, I hope to post some awesome images from that. And got my tickets to NYC to see the fiancee, shoot and show my work.

p.s. just noticed that the images look kind of dull in saturation cause I didn't switch the color profiles...oh well to late :-P

What a day!

2009-05-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

So the images are in reverse order of how the day played out. But above is an image of my friend, Josh Palmer at the Hilton Head Skatepark. Rippin it up with a disaster BS unity to budget Savannah. It was just an awesome day of skating! Hopefully soon, there will be an edit up from the day.

So this is the Webers! They e-mailed me a few weeks ago to set up a shoot to take pictures of their son and them.

I really wanted to take a different approach to this shoot and not shoot it like the rest of the images done around here. For myself, I think I did a good job but we'll see how it plays out!

Also my fiancee just left me today to go to NYC to do her internship over the summer. So I am probably going to be missing her like crazy. But starting tomorrow morning, I am going to be placing a ticket in to go see her during the summer.

And just to let every know...REDWINGS WON THEIR FIRST GAME!

New Orleans part tres???

2009-05-21T09:31:00.001-07:00

So this may be the last batch of images to post from the trip. Above is the group I worked with during the trip. Besides the 6 of us that came there from my church, everyone else came by themselves to help from places such as Iowa, Florida, and Michigan. And there is even one local that decided to help.

More destruction pictures. It hard to stress how beat up the neighborhood still is. You will always see garbage and random bits of things that need fixing everywhere.

This is one of the houses that Samaritan's Purse is working on. Its by far the tallest so far.

This house was actually the first house built from the ground up. The owner is Ms.Clark. I had the opportunity to take a portrait of her and get her story. Ms.Clark would help out everyday in the cafeteria at the church, not because she has to but because she truly appreciates what has been done.

The next couple of images were from the dedication of the Montana's house. It was basically a big ol' cookout and people were just all over the place. The Montana's had an interesting testimony on the whole process from before the storm to after the storm til the restoration of their house. The only downer is I caught the tale end of it. But it had some people crying.

In the image below, is a picture of the Montana's and also of Pastor Luter of Franklin Ave. Baptist Church.

I am really hoping that I will be able to revisit New Orleans again in the next month or so. Continuing the documentary project of the 8th ward. I feel like the Lord has really hooked me up with a very awesome project but there is also more things to come. Like a trip to Africa ;-)

raccons and jack

2009-05-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

So at the end of the New Orleans trip we had to drop Missy off. During the trip her mom adopted 3 baby raccoon's from the vet and decided to raise them. So her is two pictures of them. I personally would like to take one in, but i'm a sucker like that and my fiancee would probably kill me.

The next couple of pictures is of Missy's son, Jack. He was all over the place like most boys but he had caught a whole bucket full of these small dime size crabs. He would just pick them up and they would just sit in his hand and not move a muscle. I'm sure if crabs could talk, they would have this dirty spanish accent and would be saying 'WOO MAN!' like a million times.

New Orleans, part dos

2009-05-19T11:28:00.001-07:00

Here is a few more images from the batch that I finished today. In this mix is a few shots from the house me and my group were working on and also some shots on the finished house for the Montana's.

The weather in New Orleans is actually how you would imagine it to be. Really hot and really humid. The heat was marked at about 80+ degrees for the week, but when you add the humidity along with it, the heat index came up near 100 degrees. I guess the best part was it was suppose to rain most of the days, so it was cloudy and windy but we never once was caught under any rain during our time working.

The next couple of images are of Ms.Joan Bundy. She was the second person to have a house dedicated to her from Samaritan's Purse. She was probably the nicest woman with the greatest testimony from the trip. If you ever see her, she would be more than happy to tell you of what happen during the storm and also of her faith in the Lord. The other upside is she is completely all about giving hugs.

The next image was just a few blocks down from Ms.Bundy's house. 'Rats don't live long', was a tag someone put up to warn a local gang (known as the Rats) to stay out of the neighborhood. The story goes, that after the storm, a local gang found shelter in this abandon house. The neighbors were not to happy about what was going on and so they ended up shooting one of the gang members and leaving him out in the middle of the road. After an ambulance came and took the gang member away, the neighbors than tagged that line on the walls, to let them know that they aren't putting up with them anymore.

The next few images are of the houses in the 8th ward. Most the houses are still in a poor condition, even 4 years after the storm. Whenever you see a house with a poster on it with an 'X', it has been deemed unsafe for anyone to enter. Just like the two houses below, they were everywhere. The house's structure was either unsafe for anyone to enter or were filled with diseases or mold that could be fatal.

New Orleans, PART uno of who knows

2009-05-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

So most of these images are out of order as far as they were taken.

I was hoping to upload them daily on the trip, but the church we were staying at (Franklin Avenue Baptist Church) did not have free wifi for the public and we couldn't pick up anything but printers. So boo...

This is only a few of the images. I am still knocking down around 1500+ images to the few good ones and saving the best for last. I cant really say what day this was from. I believe it was day 3. Only because there is images from when we went down to the French Quarters.

Most of the trip though was spent in the ninth ward rebuilding some of the houses for people that were still around. It was through Samaritan's Purse and if you have the chance you should check this group out. They do a lot of amazing thing for people in need and all out of the will of the Lord.

After attending this trip and meeting with all the different people involved and that have been helped in this project, it has really opened my eyes to the power of faith. Right now, there is an idea to make a re-visit to New Orleans again sometime in the year and also to make a trip to South Africa through the same church.

I'm hoping I can post more in the days to come. But its almost midnight and I needs to be heading off.

The come back!

2009-05-10T20:25:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I am going to start trying to post here on the blog again.

Lots of cool stuff coming up and I decided to ditch the other blog/website because it was just to much. It turns out simple is better.

But I am leaving for New Orleans tomorrow morning...or in the next 5 hours. I'll be down there with Lowcountry Community Church (LCC), helping out on the mission by building houses for people still in need in the 9th Ward and also documenting the trip with my photography.

If I can keep a daily posting, then I will. But I can't keep any promises, as I do not know if wifi will be something I will have access too. Just have to see where I am and what is around me. But I am excited as this may open up new adventures for me.

I am also beginning to shoot for a awesome up and coming magazine here in Hilton Head (p.s. I moved to Hilton Head now), called Celebrate Hilton Head or CH2. I have a spread coming out next month on a night club on the island and will post some of the images up here once I get a chance.

Other news...I am engaged to my beautiful fiancee Emily Delaney. But now worries on the wedding date cause we have another 2 and a half years to go. We just know its sometime in Sept of 2011. If you would like to keep a mini update on how we are doing then you c

Publish Post

an check out our blog at http://emilylovesmorgan.blogspot.com/. Emily keeps it updated from time to time as I would just turn it into a bunch of words that make no sense. Probably about the same as this is.

Anyway, need to finish packing.

Thanks to everyone who is supporting and praying for me on this trip.

site change

2008-11-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

okay, so this may be the last time I do this for a long time. Promise! But it'll make things easier for everyone in the long run, not only to view my blog but also to view my work and so on.

The site isn't completely done yet, but its near completion. I am trying to come up with a look to it, so you may see some changes in it as it progresses. But instead of having content all over the place, this will finally file it away. And instead of the whole 'morganeddington.blogspot.com'...all you have to type in now is just 'morganeddington.com'! See, that just takes away all the blogspot madness!

So I hope you all enjoy the new site and what all is on it.

-Morgan

p.s. here is the site again:

MorganEddington.com

new blog/website?

2008-11-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

So, I have been really busy lately...and its exciting cause its all coming together!

As of right now, me and a group of friends are putting our big project together and in the next week or two or three, I'll announce it on here :-D So its exciting, cause we've put a lot of work into it and there is always still more work to be done, but it is coming together!

Also...you may notice that I didn't post a picture to this post and its because I am hoping that I will soon have a new website/blog mixed site coming up really soon. Like in the next week or so. A lot sooner than the 'big project'.

Its not going to be as fancy as the website I have now, but there is some give and take stuff about it. Overall, I feel like its going to add more even though it kind of feel like it may take away from the old site. And yeah, I know...I just made this last website about 3-4 months ago...but with this new one, your going to be able to view my portfolio and also stay up to date with what I am doing (like you do with this).

It is also going to be feature some new photos I have taken and old ones and will be a turning point. As of right now, things are very exciting and even though what we are about to release in the next couple of months may seem nice...it is only the beginning.

senior portrait? Melanie Garrett!

2008-11-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

A couple of days ago, I had taken Melania Garrett's senior portraits and this is one of the five final picks.

Anyway...if you know need any or know anyone who wants their portraits done up, thug nasty gangsta style...then you know who to send them to!!

:-D

Paul Warner

2008-11-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

So I just noticed that as I was uploading the photos, that they are in reverse order as the night went along. So it wasn't that it was cold in there and he decided to put his hoody on, its just that the night get a little hotter and he wanted to flaunt the the MTV shirt.

Paul Warner is defiantly a talented guy, with real catchy music and a strong fan base. There were girls just sitting in the front row, screaming out his set list...which was funny, cause I am pretty sure he had a set list on the floor but it didn't become real useful.

Probably the coolest thing about his music, is that as he starts out, you think its this really laid back song. But as the song goes along, it turns into him just jamming out and picking up the rhythm.

Also, I'm not really sure what happen to the images when I was working on them in photoshop. They seem to really be blurred but sharp and patches of colors all over the place. But I think it gives it a really cool and old 4x5 from wal-mart look. I think it has a lot to do with how I saved the file, as I have been playing around with different color spaces, due to the fact that I notice that whenever I load images, they become desaturated. But I hope you enjoy them :-D

Farrell Wedding photos (part 3)

2008-11-02T19:37:00.001-08:00

jeremy dos

2008-11-02T18:52:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone,

So here is another photo of Jeremy Ezell. This one I decided to play around with photoshop a little to make the background a little bit colored.

:-D

Jeremy Ezell

2008-11-01T21:09:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I know its been a couple of days since I've last posted on here. But I have some really big projects that I am working on and things here in Atlanta are starting to pick up. In the next month or so, I'll probably make it public, as far as the big project that I am doing is going. In other news, except my website to make another change by the beginning of the year (if I can fit it in). Its going to take on a new look and also be a lot easier to navigate and update on a regular basis.

As for today, Jeremy decided to come out to my place today and hang out and do some photos. It mostly ended up with us just talking about anything and everything, but I got a couple of good shots out of it all. I'll try to post some more images on here as I finish them up. Well...I actually have a lot of images to start posting up here soon. So stay tuned!

A night at Kat's Cafe

2008-10-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

The photos posted on here, was from the Chris Cauley and Chinua Hawk show at Kat's Cafe. The cafe is a really awesome place located in downtown Atlanta, off of Piedmont road. And if you ever have a chance you should go check it out.

I was really lucky during the show as Chris paid for my drinks and made it easy for me to just come in shoot. Chris is a really amazing guy and he is also very talented as far as his performance goes. His friend, Chinua, also had a very beautiful voice. Together they made a really good team, mixing together some soul, blues and R&B music.

If you ever get a chance, you should go check out their show.

Oh yeah! More still lifes!

That is Kat, the owner of the Cafe, with Chinua!

This was one of the birthday girls that happen to be at the show that night...

Here is Haji Basim. He played 3 really nice songs, as a break for Chirs and Chinua.

Erika being a jew...

Me being SMOKIN RED hot!

A little something to look forward to :-D

2008-10-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo from the night Chris Cauley and Chinua Hawk played at Kat Cafe. It was an amazing show and I will post more images from this night later on today. Just because its 1:48 in the morning and I have to wake up in 4.5 hours to get ready for work.

p.s. its awesome to be able to be this busy all the time...

Farrell Wedding photos (part 2)

2008-10-26T22:15:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I just got done working on a batch from the Farrell wedding and decided that I would put my top 8 favorites from the third batch that I just finished. I still have a lot more to edit down and then do some adjustments to. But I am hoping that I'll be finished in the next 2 days!

Gareth McConnell

2008-10-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

Must see!

2008-10-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

This is probably the coolest thing I've seen adding two forms of art together. The end piece is really cool...but if you watch, I think he should had ended after he applied the black ink.

Farrell Wedding photos (part 1)

2008-10-25T16:55:00.001-07:00

While I was in Savannah, I was able to document the wedding of Brenden Farrell and Erin Oiler. These are just a couple of the images from the ceremony. I won't be able to post all the images from the wedding as I took way to many and only have time to really edit the amount that I had planned.

Coffee and Emily

2008-10-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

Above is an image that Emily took at our time at Gallery Espresso. And yes, I believe this was the best shots of this compared to the ones I took.

And I know...she is beautiful...

I think I have had this conversations with people before and a lot of people don't understand, but I can't take naps. If I take a nap it is out of two reasons:

a) I am sick

or

b) I have worked myself to death and just need to pass out.

And if I ever do take a 'nap', it turns into me taking a 8-10 hour nap.

I know...place a camera in my hands and I'll try to make a photo out of anything that catches my eyes. I guess that is the cool thing about doing random still life photography. You can take a picture of anything. I guess the difference that really makes meaningful still life photos compared to above, is if there is a deeper meaning behind it.

Over time, I have not really been a big fan of still life stuff.. Lately though, I have been finding a little bit of a fondness for still lifes. I think it is because a few months back I was looking through a Salvador Dali book and saw a still life of a piece of bread he did later in his life.

He had done a still life of bread earlier but to him the one later in his life was better. It was done to a realistic likeness and it was amazing. He had then stated that the bread is a symbol of life. Not as a giver but as a sustainer and at that time, I believe his biggest worry was death.

This is Vincent. He is a professor at SCAD that teaches Dance. He is a really awesome guy and I am so glad I had the pleasure to meet him.

One of the crazy props that Vincent is using in his next production. Which by the way, it is really really dark...but is going to be really good!

:-D

I heart America! (part 3)

2008-10-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

David Arms

2008-10-23T16:33:00.001-07:00

vladimir dubossarsky and alexander vinogradov - On Plainair

2008-10-22T08:52:00.000-07:00