Archives:
12/01/2012
The Fight is Tonight!
Don’t miss the epic showdown tonight at 9pm, Dec. 1, 2012, between Miguel Cotto and Austin Trout on Showtime! I met both of these gentlemen to do their portrait and tonight they will meet in the ring in Madison Square Garden. Anything can happen so don’t you dare miss it! I turned the corner at 33rd St. and 10th Ave. and happened upon this billboard. I have to say, even after 27 years of shooting, I still get a thrill seeing my pictures reproduced this massively.
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11/14/2012
1996 Sci-Fi becomes 2012 Reality
Back in 1996 I was commissioned by Daniel Carter at Wired Magazine to illustrate a Science Fiction story that takes place 100 years in the future after sea levels rose from Climate Change and flooded New York City. At the time we decided on this playful image with a Jet Ski messenger blasting up the rivers of water between the skyscrapers. The last thing I expected was to see this occur in my lifetime, let alone a mere 16 years later. The photos in the gallery below show the reality that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York, eerily similar to our fantastical sci-fi illustration.
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11/07/2012
Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout
Another great assignment working with the Showtime creative team to photograph the poster for the epic, upcoming boxing match, Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout. “Showdown: Cotto vs. Trout” is a 12 round battle between Four-Time and Three-Division World Champion Miguel Cotto and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Austin Trout taking place on December 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Meeting and photographing these talented and fearsome athletes was exhilarating but I’m glad they were scheduled separately; wouldn’t want them to engage in a pre-match altercation in my studio. I recommend tuning into Showtime at 9pm on Dec. 1 to witness the action.
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09/12/2012
Inside the NFL, Showtime Ad
Premiering tonight on Showtime is Inside the NFL. Legends in their field Phil Simms, Cris Collinsworth and James Brown are the hardest-hitting team in sports and deliver expert insight, exclusive commentary and special on and off the field features you won’t find anywhere else. I was fortunate to meet them and photograph the key art for Showtime. Another great project with the creative team at Showtime, and it was wonderful to meet these three talented and illustrious commentators. Phil Simms in particular is a personal hero whose career I followed very closely back in the day. If you like football, tune in to Inside the NFL Wednesday nights at 9PM on Showtime and get the best analysis in the business.
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09/05/2012
Photoshop Masking and Compositing, 2nd Edition-Released!
After much dedication and hard work, I am proud to announce the publication of Photoshop Masking & Compositing 2nd edition, which I authored with Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan. This is a comprehensive guide to professional compositing in Photoshop and it’s a must have if you are interested in seamlessly combining images. The sections which I authored detail strategies and techniques for photography for compositing as well as a chapter on advanced Photorealistic compositing. It was a privilege to collaborate with Katrin and Sean on this venture; their combined experience in writing and teaching served to push me to more clearly articulate the techniques I’ve been exploring for many years. The book is available in bookstores and on Amazon.com.
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07/31/2012
Runaway Beauty
This image resulted from a collaboration with Hannah Thiem and Lily Blue. Hannah is a musician, photographer, and flame-haired beauty and she’s seen here wearing Lily Blue Designs. Lily Blue creates unique clothing that accentuate a woman’s feminine spirit as well as her form. The make up was done by Kayla Jo. The image was not made for any assignment but will be appearing in the upcoming book which I co-authored with Katrin Eismann and Sean Duggan, Photoshop Masking and Compositing. It will be released at the end of August and will encompass virtually every aspect of professionally combining images with Photoshop.
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06/21/2012
San Francisco Towers
San Francisco Towers is a luxurious senior living community located right in the middle of San Francisco. I was commissioned by Tim Paschke and Jeremiah Wright of Resin Global to execute their vision of an image that combined several of San Francisco’s iconic landmarks into a single image. What a great assignment it was to photograph my second favorite city in the USA and then solve the puzzle of this composite. It was both fun and challenging.
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04/10/2012
Phantasten Museum Exhibit-Vienna
Two of James Porto’s Winged Women gelatin silver prints will be shown at the Society for Art of Imagination show taking place in Vienna at the Phantasten Museum. They are 12 x 15 inches framed and from an edition of 10. The opening is Saturday, April 14, 2012 so please feel free to attend if you happen to be in Vienna. It runs through April 29. Read more to see the images and for more detail.
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02/02/2012
Subway Love at Photoshop.com
This image, Subway Love, was made as a portfolio piece. Adobe Systems is featuring the image at Photoshop.com as the 4th image in the slideshow through February. I guess they thought it would align well with Valentine’s Day. I am honored and grateful that they chose my work because their software has been central to my image making for 20 years. I’m still amazed at what this incredible program can do with images; it helps turn my dreams into realities.
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01/09/2012
2011 Paranormal Cover Art Awards
The Silence cover and the entire Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush Hush series, for which I created all the covers, in collaboration with Lucy Cummins and Simon and Schuster, has won the 2011 Paranormal Cover Art Awards in 3 categories. Yee hah, cue the trombones and ice the champagne! To see all the winners and runners up, click here.
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