AND a Happy New Year~

Happy Holidays & Solstice, from all of us @ NKreps.
Wishing you health, peace and good fortune in the new decade!
Photo by Rick Chou.

Caterina Bernardi's APA Award

Congratulations, Caterina, on snagging 4th place in the APA Something Personal Exhibition!!

Photo's from the party's photobooth can be viewed here.

Team Fortress II by ALTER

Lay your eyes on what ALTER did with this Team Fortress 2 game art!

^ game art ^

^ CGI render ^

^ photography ^

^ Final Composite ^

Pretty cool stuff!

First image, Game Art, is the inspiration for the final image. Alter took the Team Fortress 2 screen shot and turned it into a photo-real CGI composite image.

Eric Sahrmann did the people photography, first casting for individuals that resembled the game characters and then, once their sizes were known, purchasing the proper attire. They were shot in studio to match the CGI lighting for the recreation of the low-poly game set, which was in simultaneous production.

Read more on ALTERS blog.

Award Winning CGI by ALTER!

We are proud to announce that Alter has won a slew of awards with their amazing CGI.

MM&M Gold Award
Rx Award of Excellence
Client: GSW Worldwide


Rx Silver Award
Client: Dudnyk


Manny Award Finalist
Rx Award of Excellence
Client: Brand Karma


Rx Award of Excellence
Client: Pacific Communications

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE AMAZING WORK ALTER!

Rick Chou's Sexy POM bottle

Rick Chou’s POM bottle image used in POM’s sexy “Aphrodite” commercials.

Here's an intresting behind-the-scenes video as well:

Andrew Wilz makes semi-finals in Red Bull Illume contest

Congratulations Andrew! Out of 23,000 entrants, Andrew Wilz was one of 250 semi-finalists of the Red Bull Illume, a world-wide action and adventure sports photography competition.

The rider is Andy Holloway doing a flat-3. The photograph was taken at a contest in Berthoud Colorado. Cool dude!

A Tribute to Fran Crippen, Open-Water Swimmer Who Died last Weekend

Over the weekend, Fran Crippen, the 26-year-old open-water swimming star, died of a heart attack during the last leg of the Marathon Swimming World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Steve Bonini got the pleasure of photographing Fran Crippen before his untimely death and here are two of those shots.

A Tribute to Fran Crippen:

"I had the good fortune of photographing Fran during my 4 years shooting for TYR, and was saddened to hear he had died during a race last week. In addition to being a world class competitor and athlete, I also saw that he was kind, thoughtful, and a great guy to hang out with. No frills, no b.s, just the kind of guy this world needs more of." ~Steve Bonini

You can go to Fran Crippen's official website here.
Or read more details about the news from ESPN here.

Shoes BANNED by NBA

Rick Chou shot the shoes that just got banned by the NBA!
The shoes were banned because of a spring-like device hidden near the front of the shoe, which violates a league rule against ‘Undue Competitive Advantage’ that increases a player’s vertical leap.

Here's what Rick had to say about it: "I was very impressed by the design and the technology of the product. But even more so, I was impressed by the people who made it happen. The principals of the company are some the most inspiring clients I have ever worked with. The shoes have unique texture and colors, we experimented with different lighting, angles and background treatments aimed to give the viewers an initial impact as well as something we can carry into the future."

Read the article & video from the LA times.
Or read the story by the New York Times.
It's also on NBC, ESPN, Wired, CBS, MSNBC, Yahoo.... Everywhere!

Caterina Bernardi and the Primavera beauty

"In the famous painting 'Primavera,' the artist, Sandro Botticelli, draped the women subjects in a translucent chiffon to highlight the contour of their bodies and create a romanticized angelic feel. This was the inspiration for the underwater images I took of Aliona at her pool in LA a week before she was due to deliver her baby. She and I had brainstormed quite a bit and agreed we wanted something different than traditional portraits, and the underwater idea was definitely a winner."

"The inside of her pool has a gray/blue tone cement finish which gave a beautiful background to work with, plus perfect weather created gorgeous natural lighting conditions underwater. We experimented with different colored chiffons but the white one felt more ethereal and aesthetically compelling against the blue water, and also enhanced the shape of her belly. Aliona worked with grace despite the extra weight she was carrying, and at the end of the second day Aleksandr was kicking quite a bit (he was tired too).
Adam over at Sugar Digital sprinkled his consistent magic dust to finalize the images."

Click on either image to to view more of Caterina Bernardi's work.

Samsung Smart Phones by ALTER

The above ad, "Space Ships" is a geeks dream!

What's makes Alter stand above the rest, is how well the CGI terrain and stock terrain work together. A lot of times when you put CGI next to a photograph of something real, it will make the CGI look fake. This is not the case with Alter - they integrated the two seamlessly. The mountain tops add and intensify to the CGI created background.

The terrain is made with a mixture of CGI and stock imagery. The space ships are CGI custom built then composited together with the photographed explosions.

Hide and Seek Robot

New personal work & thoughts from Curtis Johnson:

"The inspiration for this idea came from a scene that I witnessed while enjoying a beautiful summer evening. I saw 2 boys playing at a playground and one of them was chasing the other around using a remote controlled toy car. I thought it was pretty funny and the image is a result of this experience. I had the Robot prop built for me and I decided to change things up a bit and went with girls playing instead of boys."

"As is the case for much of my work the entire image was shot in pieces. 7 shots in all were combined to create this image. The various shots are as follows: playground scene, sky, tree on the right, Robot, and 3 separate shots of girls. I performed most of the retouching with the final touches added by Brad Palm, a retoucher whom I work with fairly often. The result is a wonderfully fun scene of kids at play as if it were just another day at the playground. I'll be using this as a promotional piece for myself."

Curtis Johnson's medical portraits

Curtis Johnson shot these images for 3M Infection Prevention Services.

"It was a 2 day shoot that was done at Woodwinds hospital in MD. It was difficult to shoot these during normal hospital hours but we got it done with minimal disruption to staff and patients. We shot in an OR, ICU room, Pre-Op room, Hallways, Entryways and at a Nurse's station. They really wanted to communicate the pressures that doctors are under, yet portray the quiet confidence needed to perform on a daily basis."

Andrew Wilz hikes for Project Athena

Another pro-bono mission for Andrew Wilz.

Over the Labor Day weekend Andrew Wilz hiked and shot for the Project Athena Grand Canyon Trek. Project Athena gives grants to help and empower survivors (of cancer, car accidents, autoimmune diseases, etc.) to live out their athletic dreams.Andrew was not only the photographer, but also part of the support team. "I wasn’t just there to document and record… I was there to do my part to ensure that we made it as a whole to the North Rim."Hiking the Grand Canyon is no joke!
44 miles, close to 24k vertical ft total, in 2 days, in over 100 degree heat.

"I think along with me, some other folks didn’t quite comprehend the level of physical commitment involved in the undertaking. It ended up probably making the experience all-the-more profound, and I’m happier for it. People were stretched, bonds were formed, and attention shifted from self-serving to group-serving. Everyone pulled together, shared food, shared love, shared encouragement, shared their voices… to sing our way up-hill in the dark during the last 3 challenging hours it took for us to wind our way up the last several thousand vertical ft to the top of the North Rim."

To view more photos and read more about the hike, visit Andrew's blog.

Rick Chou pretzel mania

Rick Chou recently did a photo shoot for Pretzel Crisps.
Not only did he shoot the "hero" shots of the packaging, he also did the flavor cues.^ Buffalo Blue ^
Buffalo Wing Pretzel Crisp, Blue cheese, Celery sticks^ Scandinavian ^
Cream cheese, Smoked salmon, Fresh dill^ Mini Margherita ^
Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Crisp, Fresh Italian mozzarella, Sliced cherry tomatoes, Fresh basil leaves^ Brie-for-All ^
Everything Pretzel Crisp, Baked Brie, Sliced grapesRick said it was a very successful shoot and that he had never tried Pretzel Crisps before but now he loves them!

Steve Bonini most published in Archive!

Steve Bonini is the most published US photographer in Archive this year.
Congratulations Steve!

Summertime is almost over

NEW WORK BY CATERINA BERNARDI!

"The inspiration for this image comes from one of the most popular Norwegian artists, Theodor Kittelsen. His work evokes the legends and fairytale stories I grew up with, tales of moody and mystical Nordic environments brimming with depictions of trolls, princesses and nature."

"These two girls look like they are in a scene from one of Kittelsen’s paintings. All that is missing is a troll surfacing in the water..."

Curtis Johnson stops the pests

"Here's something I shot in early June. This ad illustrates the concept of what Viptera can do for your corn crops. It is not a herbicide that is sprayed on the field but is bio-engineered into each seed. The deadline for the job and the growing season dictated that the corn field be shot in Florida. The road and pasture were shot in Minnesota. The sky is from my personal files, shot in Mexico and the hand was shot in my studio. The bugs were created CGI."

Woof, Woof

Steve Bonini recently got back from a shoot in Oregon's Columbia Gorge, for a line of organic pet food.

"We arrived mid-morning and shot 5 or 6 different locations all within walking distance of each other. It was one of those beautiful ethereal Northwest days with diffused light and nice clouds. Thankfully, we had a mellow and well behaved dog (not from a talent agency). That is until the very end when he dove off a 6 foot rock into the Columbia River. Not a big deal, until his owner said he had never been in the water before. ...Never... Since he didn't know anything about swimming, we had to jump in and drag him back to land. Fortunately, we had the shots in the can by that point, and good thing because he was a wet furry mess!"

Steve Bonini's tribute to Jimi Hendrix

"So, I had this idea to recreate a famous rock photo of Jimi Hendrix, who, during a performance at the Monterey Pop Festival of the 70's, lit his guitar on fire and prayed to the fire gods while on his knees. Great portrait of the music scene during those years.
Anyway, this guy looks nothing like Hendrix, which is what's funny about this shot, I suppose!
Just a friend and aspiring musician who had no idea what I was talking about, and some 40 years later...." ~Steve Bonini

Making of the TYR bus by Steve Bonini

Check out this blog post with out-takes, and commentary on how the TYR bus image was created!

Final image:

Alison Miksch answers: Why Flowers?

Why flowers? For me, a country girl from Lancaster PA, growing up surrounded by beautiful fertile fields filled with everything you can imagine, was an early influence for my natural, earthy, style.
I love the details... Love a close-up. I can remember laying on my belly in my neighbors yard as a kid and falling in love with the velvety texture of the deep purple and yellow faces of violas, one of the first spring flowers.

They have delicate textures, gorgeous deep rich vibrant color, light penetrating transparent petals, and luscious scents filling the air... a very sensual subject.Shooting flowers for Kimberly Clark, for the classic brand Kleenex tissues, has been a challenge and a highlight.
First round of the shoot we were working in a South facing daylight studio in Chelsea mid July. It was hot. Flowers are incredibly delicate and require cold to remain in perfect shooting condition for this kind of work. Unfortunately, the air conditioning in the studio went down for 2 hours in the midst of our shoot. We were working with single selections of some cultivars that didn't tolerate the lack of air conditioning very well. The outcome was, however, a great success and the client was exceptionally happy coming back for rounds two and three.