Jessica Lee shares fun Pro Photo Crew photos! September 17. 2008
| Hello there! I finally ran out of reasons to procrastinate... here is my first blog! So, lemme take a short moment to introduce myself. My name is Jessica Lee Dunning and I've been a Photographer for Pro Photo since May 2007. I just want to say that I LOO0O0OO0OVE my job! (And I'm not just saying that because I am getting paid to do this right now. haha) I'll just make this short and sweet (since this is my second time attempting to create a blog- last one got deleted somehow) and I'll get into how I got where I am some other time. Working for Pro Photo is a lot of fun! Everyday is different, there are new challenges and experiences everywhere my job takes me. From sitting glued to a computer in the backwoods of our Lexington office, to Fort Jackson or Fort Benning full of soldiers, weapons, and usually bad weather, to setting up and photographing vitamin bottles for hours and then days-ohmygosh that's tedious and boring, to cute little dancers in tutus and slippers at dance studios, or kids accidentally whacking you in the head with a baseball bat while posing their baseball picture for youth sports, to watching drunk older people dance at high school or family reunions... I've been everywhere and photographed everything! Yeah, we do work hard, but we have a lot of fun doing it. There are always a lot of laughs. For example, just this morning I laughed so hard my ears hurt. Yeah, I didn't know that you could laugh so hard your ears hurt either. I'll tell you the story, but it was kinda one of those "you had to be there" things. So, I was sitting at the laptop right in front of the window to the front porch of the office. Trevor walked out onto the porch and caught my eye for a brief second, just long enough to watch him step onto a pole, which rolled, and sent him backwards knocking four huge displays over and then he toppled off the porch along with the coat rack!!! He did like three summersaults on the grass before he finally came to a stop. I had to wait like four minutes for me to stop laughing before I went out there and asked him if he was ok. STATUS UPDATE: Trevor suffered minor cuts and bruises and is doing fine now. My ears don't hurt anymore, but just the thought of him flipping off the porch still makes me chuckle. |
The first picture above was from my first day working for Pro Photo! Fort Jackson Family Day May 31, 2007.
Me and Thomas playing around with the weapons at Fort Jackson, August 2007.
Bjana, Trevor, me, & Jason playing around before we started "shooting" the soldiers, November 2007
Bjana and I lookin tough!! Ready for battle!! July 2007
 | hahaha! Trying to pose for our Pro Photo Family Christmas Picture, December 2007. You would think Photographers would know how to pay attention, pose and smile, but I don't think we got one that we were all looking and smiling! That little bugger in the middle is Jackie the Pro Photo dog. She stays in the office with us. She is very friendly and greets everyone that comes to the office. |
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| Doing "test shots" at an outside portrait event, February 2008. |
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Me with Thomas as the Easter Bunny.... Dang Shannon, have enough equipment?.... Bjana & Tess shooting youth sports in the rain, March 2008 |
Me posing a group of dancers that performed at the Children's Home BBQ, May 2008. Dancers are one of my favorite things to photograph. |  |
 | All right, I guess I've shared enough photos for the day. What do yall think about my first posting? Boring? Entertaining? Worth the effort? Share your comments! Ok, I'm hungry, I'll catch yall next week... |
Cold in the Summer September 11. 2008
Hello all! Since it’s the hottest month here in sunny South Carolina, I decided to cool it down a bit by sharing some “cold” feeling photographs.
This is an abandoned van I found behind an old packing plant on Walter Rawl Road in Lexington, SC. The company used the van to transport the workers to and from the fields to harvest crops.
(February 2008, Canon EOS 40D f/4.5 1/40 sec. ISO 640 53mm focal length)
When I lived in Maine, one of my favorite places to take pictures was in the abandoned Bangor Water works. It once supplied the city with drinking water and generated electricity with one of the most powerful pumps in New England. For many years the building remained off-limits and just stood on the west bank of the Penobscot decaying. In 2006, the building was reconstructed and turned into a 35-unit affordable housing complex.
(September 2003, Mamiya 645AFD Medium format Black & White film All available light)
At the time, in early February 2004, Leah was just a model for my college portfolio. Four years later, she is one of the best friends I have. In the early fall in 2003 I was shopping in Northampton, Massachusetts when I saw this beautiful Italian girl, that I knew I had to photograph. She introduced herself as Hannah, little did I know at the time I had stumbled upon a student photographer’s dream, SHE WAS A TWIN! I continued to photograph these gorgeous girls over the school year and we became really good friends. After I graduated college I decided to stay in the area and we became housemates!
(February 2004, Mamiya 645 AFD with Leaf digital back Studio lighting, some Photoshop effects)
At least I have a beautiful picture to go with the ugly bruise that STILL remains on my right shin as a result of taking this picture. I was photographing an event on the Charleston SC Airforce base at dusk when I saw this picture-perfect moment by our company van outside. When I was “skateboarding” the tripod on wheels back inside, it got caught on the carpet somehow and halted to a stop and slammed into my shin. Somehow, four months later, I still have a visible bruise but at least I have a nice 20x30 print to remind me of my favorite things about South Carolina hanging on my wall. …Bruises. No, really, Palm Trees. :0)
(April 2008, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II f/4.5 1/8 sec. on a tripod ISO 640 38 mm focal length)
I firmly believe self portraits are vital to improving your photography skills. It puts you in the spotlight, where you always ask your clients/models to be. The best way to learn how to pose someone in a photo, is to do it yourself. It challenges your skills without having the pressure of other people there to distract you or contradict your abilities. Having to set up your tripod & camera, obtain correct exposure, lighting, & composition, AND pose YOURSELF with the right expression too, in time before the self-timer goes off, now that takes some skill! If you can successfully pull off a photo shoot of yourself, then your chances with photographing another individual are greater!
This picture was taken at the tree farm across the road from my parents’ old house in Kenduskeag, Maine. Here lies a dyeing bird in my hands. It was about 45 degrees outside and the bird was half frozen; so was I. The dress I am wearing is my mom’s wedding dress. Yes, I did ask her permission! I’ve used it for several other photo shoots over the years. Actually, I think this dress may appear in more photographs after my parent’s wedding 27 years ago!
(November 2003 Mamiya 645 AFD color slide film, Photoshop curves)
Inspired by Polaroid Transfers, I took this image of a sunset behind a telephone pole and used the smudge tool in Photoshop to create the effect. It was pretty cold on this evening, and when I look at this picture I remember thinking I had a long walk back to my car in the dark. My fingers were ice cold, but at least I had some great pictures!
(February 7, 2008 Canon EOS 40D f/11 1.3 sec. ISO 100 28 mm focal length)
This is another image from The Bangor Water Works. These girls are such troopers! I drug them throughout the building in like 40 degree weather wearing thin silk dresses. Luckily I was looking for desolate expressions because they sure were tortured by the cold. This image has won many photo contests that I have submitted it to. It also appears in a 2004 issue of Professional Photographer Magazine.
(November 2003 Mamiya 645 AFD B&W Medium Format film All available light)
I hope you enjoyed my pictures and they cooled your summer day off a bit!
~Jessica Lee~
