Finally getting a haircut!

Well I did think it was silly when people were protesting not being able to get a haircut but I do gotta say it is a relief to finally get one. My hair was so long it was getting in my eyes and under my stylus.

For a while there I was wishing I had that stupid Flowbee thing I always joke with my barber about.

vacuum not included…

Maybe things will feel a tad bit normal, now that I dont look like a total hermit, just a partial one I guess. Now to sweep out the lair and get going with life! NO more hats!

Are we really open?

Are we really open for business in Multnomah County?

Black Cat Imaging has been open for business throughout the pandemic, but now there is hope the economy will be moving forward. The COVID-19 Sale is still going on, so maybe you have a tight budget or just want to have some extra padding for the (yikes) second wave. Sale goes on until I say it's done!

Take Care, Be Safe. Meow.

Reopen Multnomah County?

Looks like we have been given false hope that our fair city will be opening for business. Last night, at the last minute, the Governor made a change, looking to reopen possibly in another seven days.

While this makes no difference for us we work autonomously, no germ filled office here in the cat’s lair, it is still frustrating.

Honestly if the Governor really cared about stopping COVID-19, she would make masks mandatory, not only for employees of grocery stores and pharmacies but for everybody.

In my adventures out of the lair, I have seen some pretty silly mask use. Either on the mouth, but not the nose (?) or on the chin keeping the nose and mouth uncovered (???). My favorite was when I was at Home Depot, and I saw a customer approach a worker to ask a question. The gentleman responded first by removing his mask to talk!

Well one thing that is libel to happen is when my barber finally gets to fix my pompadour he will have a lot of hair to make a really ugly wig.

Remember our COVID-19 Sale is still going on!

Stay safe out there, and please for the sake of yourselves, families and everyone else…wear a mask!

BLACK LIVES MATTER

So here we go again, with another innocent life extinguished by police who are entrusted to “protect and serve”. This absolutely sickens me, and how it can continue in this day and age is appalling. Politicians should be shaking in their boots, but from what I’ve seen virtually little has been done to make this problem go away.

The systemic racism in America and anywhere for that matter must end-now!

The one good thing about this happening, if you can call it that is the COVID-19 Pandemic. I think that in the past it has been simple for politicians to ignore the screams from people across all racial groups has been one of timing. Someone gets killed for no reason, protests happen, then Monday everyone has to go back to work. The politicians forget-easily.

This is not happening and people are still motivated. Change will happen. It’s already happening. Confederate monuments are being torn down (finally). Even NASCAR has banned the southern swastika (though I’d like to see how they plan to enforce that). Policing is being looked at for reform.

I think its extremely ironic how protests over police brutality are being met with more police brutality. Police are acting like victims whining about how they have been treated. Demanding respect from a frightened public. People of color are afraid of the police. They are afraid for their lives. If police want respect they need to fucking earn it. Rubber bullets are not acceptable. Pepper spray is not acceptable. And Tear Gas? Most people are not aware that it was banned in combat by the Geneva Convention.

Please, America. Take note. This racism crap is wrong. If you feel people who get killed by police “deserved it” then you are in the wrong too.

Take care,

Peace.

COVID-19 SALE!!!

If you are in need of work during the pandemic I am excited to announce a COVID-19 sale on retouching!

Black Cat Imaging is offering a 15% discount on any work under 40 hours during the pandemic, but it gets even better. We are offering a 25% discount on any work over 40 hours!

Please contact us for further details or for a quote.

Stay safe out there!

Covid-19 got you down?

Coronavirus has struck everywhere, and everyone is either impacted by this or in complete denial. We have never seen anything like this in our lifetime. For the last couple of weeks I have been saying this is the “Dawning of the Planet of the Apes”, comparing this to the original 5 Planet of the Apes films I enjoyed as a kid. But there is another film that describes this calamity to nearly a T, and that would be the 1971 film The Omega Man. This film was shown often on weekend afternoons growing up in Portland. KPTV Channel 12 showed it at least once a year, and though it gave my brother nightmares and I was not allowed to watch it in his presence, I made sure to caught it every time.

In the movie, Charlton Heston is the last man left after a plague has ravaged the world, changing people into light sensitive, albino mutants who scorn all technology. They only come out at night to try kill Heston.

The story is one of the many post apocalyptic films from the era, predicting the end of the world in the near future (this one takes place in 1977, a mere 6 years from when the film was released). Though the plague in this film is a result of bacteriological warfare, there are some similarities to what we are seeing now. In the film they shot scenes in downtown LA some very early Sunday morning. This was the only way they could have empty streets in the bustling business district of one of America’s most populous cities. The impact on film was powerful, but not as powerful as the images I have seen of empty streets all over our country, from Los Angels to New York, and the world as well. I’m staying home at the Cat’s Lair, but I imagine the silence in these areas is…...disquieting.

Don’t forget your machine gun when you go jogging….

Empty streets in Queens, NY. Taken March of 2020. Photo by Juan Arredondo for the NY Times.

Shopping has also changed for the public, many stores across the country limiting the amount of people that can enter a store at a time. But that wasn’t an issue for the Omega Man. Crash a car or run out of gas? Just get a new one. Outfit too sweaty from jogging with your automatic? Drop in to a store and help yourself to one off the rack:

Wait a minute, where are the men’s clothes in this store? Say…. with nobody to judge I can wear whatever!

I know there is a lot of anxiety out there about what is going on, but if you have time on your hands and access to the movie, check out The Omega Man. Keep yourself safe and home if you can. Come to think of it, I never saw old Chuck wash his hand once in the film. 20 seconds of washing could have saved him a lot of grief.

Adidas Space Tech Laydowns

Always enjoy space photoshoots! These laydowns were a fun way to present these products for Champs online campaign. Check out the pages below, or our work here. Roundhouse agency was responsible for the design.

The Thing Title Sequence

One of the movies we enjoy here in the lounge area of the Cat’s Lair is John Carpenters 1982 classic The Thing. I recently saw how the title sequence was made. Back when there was no CGI, special effects were engineered with creativity and improvisation. Special Optical Effects Supervisor Peter Kuran explains the effect, taken from the documentary “The Thing: Terror Takes Shape”:

“When I did the effect for the title… a fish tank that was about, I don’t know, four feet wide by two feet high. and I put smoke in the fish tank and on the back of the tank I put the title “the Thing” I Drew it on an animation cel, ah, behind that I had a piece of garage bag plastic which I stretched over a frame and behind that I had a light with was pointed through the letters. And When I photographed it, I hit the garbage bag put a flame from a match to the plastic. The plastic would open up and let the light through the letters. That is how the letters look like they form and burn on with the [light] rays. It was a simple process but we went through a lot of takes….”

garbage bag, smoke, and a fish tank…

You can check out the documentary here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=iaZ1iopdKVs&feature=emb_title

Enjoy

Damian Lillard Billboard

Got to work on this billboard for Adidas and Roundhouse Agency. You can find the retouched image HERE.

Here it is in the wild. Those of you in Portland you can see it on the grain silos along the willamette, across from the rose garden!

Reebok Club C images in the wild

Check out images created for Reebok Club C campaign. Work was done for Roundhouse Agency. You can find some examples of the retouching done for this job here. Here is a lil snippet of what is on the site, but feel free to read the whole thing here: https://www.reebok.com/us/blog/302751

First 3D gig!

Very excited about our first 3D project. Client needed to match some props shot for an earlier shoot in another city, but the props are were not available at the time of the shoot, so they had to be built and inserted in post. 5 variations of these sets of columns were built, textured and lit.

wireframe

The final results were used in several shots and placed in the windows of Kids Foot Locker locations across the country. Examples of final results are below.

Special shout out to Art Director Matt Montagne, who was very supportive on my first 3D project!

A new day, a new web experience.....

Well here it is, my new website, ready for the world to see. Shiny, New & Improved!

Come on in, check out my work and enjoy the imagery.

It’s Shiny!