Tuesday, September 29, 2009

One of my Favorite Stories - Michael Creagh

This last week I did a great shoot with graphic illustrators Vault49 (http://vault49.com) of 3D cutouts that hopefully I post soon. But it reminded me of my first shoot with Vault and my dear friend, photographer Rinze Van Brug (http://www.dutchhouseofphotography.com/newyork.htm). It is one of my favorites shoots with the gorgeous Bekah Jenkins.



BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh1

BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh2


BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh3


BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh5


BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh4


BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh6

BekahJenkins_MichaelCreagh7


The photos then had graphic illustrations added to them and were exhibited at the Conningsby Gallery in London. Here is a sample.

Vault49 - 1




Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

.

Buy my Book!

http://www.blurb.com/books/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.










Friday, September 25, 2009

Photos from the Archive

Here is a shoot from my archive. I must have shot this about 9 years ago. I happened upon it today while trying to search for some other old shots for a makeup artist friend. It appeared on my first website and did make it into my anthology book. I think it was one of the first fashion shoots I did. It was with the impeccable hair stylist Christophe.

The models were April from Ford and David, Travis and Danielle from Wilhelmina. It is crazy that I did not have to look up their names. The memory works in very strange ways how it stores information. Sometimes, I cannot recall who I photographed last week. But somehow the people from the earlier days are cemented in my brain. I guess you just store the information in a different place in your brain.

The shots were taken in film on a Hasselblad 503CW with a 150mm lens. I cannot recall if I used a 13mm extension tube to get closer on some of these. I often did. Film choice was most likely Fuji Astia or Provia transparency film. Lighting was a mixture from a lot things. I was using Bowen Travelights with a Fresnel spotlight (also with an umbrella on some). But the first photo is a slide projector with a slide of snakeskin that I photographed earlier in the week for the shoot. I had the spot light and a light with a snoot coming from behind on each side on the hair.

DutchWeb

WorldWeb

SpanishWeb

TurbinWeb

Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Photography.Book.Now Awards New York 2009 - Michael Creagh

Last night was the awards ceremony for Photography.Book.Now 2009. Best described as a gala, it was held at the swanky Tribeca Rooftop in Manhattan. Blurb put on a first rate ceremony filled with some of the best self published books and all the hors d'oeuvres and drinks one could wish for. I was impressed and could not have been more excited to be one of the honorees (see my post on the 1st Runner-Up Award from a week or so ago; http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/1st-runner-up-in-photography-book-now-competition-awarded-to-michael-creagh/).

Below is a little mix from the event. The rooms and roof deck were lined with flat screens showing the judging process and quirky imagery of people holding open different books. Also, there were books everywhere. Lining the walls, on the tables, on special shelves, and even in little reading areas with nice armchairs so people could peruse the winners in style.

Blurb-MichaelCreaghMix

I have to take my hat off to Blurb CEO Eileen Gittins and her team Brenna Lewis, Lori Reddy, Mike Barash, Robin Goldberg, Bruce Waterman, and Audrey at Henry Grey PR. Blurb (http://Blurb.com) is the leader in self publishing. There were a lot of big name sponsors (B&H Photo, Canon, PDN, American Photo, Virgin America etc), but I want to give a special thanks to lead sponsor Hewlett Packard. HP Vice President Yishai Amir gave an excellent speech about the circle of innovation that makes things like self publishing possible. He also backed it up with a $25,000 check to the Grand Prize Winner Rafal Milach. Rafal's book was a beautiful exploration of landscapes and portraits on the Black Sea Coastline.

RafalMilach

.

Here is a link to my book which was honored at the event with the first Runner-Up prize in the Commercial Category.

MichaelCreagh1

http://www.blurb.com/books/455779

Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

.

.

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Busy Day, Plus a Beautiful Model

I am actually just about to go to bed. I've got a busy day tomorrow with a half day photoshoot tomorrow morning and then a very cool dinner to attend. I was invited by a magazine publisher to have dinner with him, a champion of the printing industry and 2 amazing photographers. I am very excited as I don't often get to hang with the upper echelon of my industry. And that's not it. Later this week I have the award ceremony for the Photography.Book.Now competition (see my earlier post, http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/1st-runner-up-in-photography-book-now-competition-awarded-to-michael-creagh/). I was just watching one of the judges of that competition, famed photography critic Vince Aletti on the Ovation Channel talking about truly famous phtographers like Steve McCurry (http://www.art-dept.com/artists/mccurry/).

What would a photography blog post be without a photo? So somewhat unrelated, here is another photo from my natural light work. This photo was in my first book and taken in Brooklyn. The model is Irina (but not to be confused with another beautiful Irina who made it in my blog last December, http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/new-shot-irina-by-michael-creagh/). Irina was a gorgeous subject as evidenced because I only used the absence of light to create the shot. This was taken in low light with a window unseen illuminating the background. The settings were ISO800 at 1/60sec at F2.0 on Canon.

Irina-MichaelCreagh


Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

.

.

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Natural Light Beauty by Michael Creagh

I always post all my catalogs and studio stories, but I rarely post my natural light work. Also, I am going to try to make an attempt to post more of the beautiful models that I shoot from the many New York modeling agencies. Here is Kerstin from New York Models; absolutely beautiful and very sweet. I shot this last week in my studio. The photo is taken with existing ambient light using my Canon 5D Mark II and my 85mm F1.2 lens. My settings were ISO640 with 1/125 at F2.


Please let me know if I should be posting more of my model work.

Kerstin-MichaelCreagh


Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

.

.

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.




Thursday, September 10, 2009

1st Runner-Up In Photography.Book.Now Competition Awarded to Michael Creagh

Commercial_Congratulations MichaelCreagh


My book was awarded 1st Runner-up in the Photography.Book.Now competition. I am really excited as it is a huge international competition for independent book publishing. I am also overjoyed as this prize is not just for 1 photo but for an entire body of my work. The competition is produced by Blurb (http://blurb.com) and sponsored by American Photo, Canon, Virgin Airlines America, Hewlet Packard, flickr, PDN, The Royal Photographic Society and many many others listed below. I was pleased to be recognized by the judges; including Darius Himes Co-founder of Radius Books, Vince Aletti who reviews photography for the New Yorker and was Art Editor for the Village Voice, Platon one of my favorite photographers, Anthony Bannon the Director of the George Eastman House (Kodak), Karen Hansgen Associate Publisher of Skira Rizzoli, Dana Faconi the Publisher of Blind Spot Magazine, Kira Pollack the Deputy Photo Editor of the New York Times Magazine, Artist Todd Hido, Renowned New York Collector W.M. Hunt, and Jodi Peckman the Photo Editor at Rolling Stone magazine.

Sponsors

Here is the link to the announcement on Blurb's website. Clink the link or the photo below:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/pbn-runners-up-09

PBN

I also want to give a big shout out to the photographer who beat me in the Commercial Category, Denis Kleiman (http://www.denniskleiman.com). I really like his stuff. His book is filled with very cool and quirky shots of bands and music artists. He is a fellow New Yorker. Click on the photo of his book below to view a full preview.

DennisKleiman

I also want to congratulate the Grand Prize Winner, Rafal Milach (http://www.rafalmilach.com/). He is a Polish photographer who shot a beautiful series on Ukraine. The coloring is beautiful. It is a mixture of landscapes and portraits during a bitter winter on the Black Sea Coastline. Again, click on the image of the book to see a full preview.

RafalMilach

My book is the new 2nd edition of my 11x13in over-sized hardcover fashion book; now 180 full bleed pages of editorial stories. It is sectioned into 17 separate photo series that comprise my favorite stories from my creative catalog work with Susana Monaco (http://susanamonaco.com), several magazine editorials, and my London art exhibition with graphic illustrators Vault49 (http://vault49.com). Click on the photo below to see or purchase my book. The link underneath the photo will bring you straight to the full book preview.

MichaelCreagh1

http://www.blurb.com/books/455779

Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

.

.

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

My Partnership with Vault49

Many of you know I have long standing partnership with the premier graphic illustrators, Vault49 (http://vault49.com). They are the best of the best with worldwide campaigns for everyone. Here are a couple shots.





Vault49 produces some really progressive design and graphic illustration. We have been working together for years on projects for Samsung, McDonald's, Disney, an art exhibition in London and some magazine editorials. You may recognize 2 of the above shots from the Susana Monaco Winter Holiday Catalog (http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com/2008/05/16/susana-monaco-winter-holiday-catalog/)

See more of Vault49's work at their website, www.vault49.com.


This link is to a Q&A with them on clickforart.com. There may even be a brief mention of me and a couple photos. I think there is even a behind the scenes photo from a Susana Monaco shoot that I have never posted.

http://www.clickforart.com/q&twithVault49

Also, see their blog as it is a whirlwind of creations.

http://www.vault49.com/blog/


Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com


National Jeweler Magazine by Michael Creagh and Adrienne Weinfeld-Berg

Here is a cover shoot I did for National Jeweler Magazine last summer with Fashion director Adrienne Weinfeld-Berg and model Allie Crandell (You have also seen here in MTV's The City).

nationaljewelercoverweb2

nationaljewler1web

nationaljewler2web

nationaljewler3web

nationaljewler5web


nationaljewler7web

nationaljewler8web1

fashionjewlercreditsweb




Here are the Behind the Scenes shots from the editorial. I think it gives a really good insight on the anatomy of shoot.

nationaljewelerbehindthescenes

nationaljewler3web1

behindscenesmix

CLICK TO ENLARGE

behindscenes8text

behindscenes5text

Behind the scenes photos by Sandra Birklbauer

Principal Photography by Michael Creagh

Fashion Director: Adrienne Weinfeld-Berg

Makeup: Hiroshi Yonemoto, http://hiroshiyonemoto.com/

Hair: Wesley, The Wall Group

Model: Alexandra, Marilyn NYC

Thanks

Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Trapeze by Michael Creagh

Here is one of my all time favorite shoots. I shot it in Milk Studios for the Susana Monaco Catalog. I used my Hasselblad H3D 39 megapixel camera.



























Behind the Scenes – Michael Creagh and Susana Monaco

Here are some behind the scenes shots of the Susana Monaco Spring 2008 catalog. Here, I am going to try something a little different and put the final shot next to the behind the scenes shot. I am going to start with the bicycle shot above. for the entire series, see “Trapeze” at http://www.michaelcreagh.com

Michael Creagh Shooting Valya on an old style Bicycle.

Michael with the Hasselblad strap of his H2D 39 megapixel camera. The second picture shows the cyc wall and the props waiting on the side.

Michael and Susana Monaco going over ideas during the shoot.

Joe Victorine from Wicked East Productions filming the video. The link to the video is:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bfs2y29Ng9I

Michael, Valya and crew looking over the shots.

The crew setting up the trapeze set. It was very cool and glad Milk Studios has some very high ceilings.

Michael and Joe on the floor to give the illusion of height. That said, Valya really flew on that thing!

A great overview of the set.

Behind the scenes photos by Katrina Eugenia


Thanks!
Michael Creagh

http://www.michaelcreagh.com

Buy My Book!!!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/455779

http://highartweddingphotography.com

Check back at http://michaelcreagh.wordpress.com as I update it weekly.