Home of director and photographer, Daniel Finley dannyjive.com

Lord Xodus and I met at a magazine launch party. He was looking for photos that could represent him and his multiple talents. He wasn’t just a musician but also a model, an actor, an artist, and a poet. His official name was Lord Xodus “The Wild Onion” because he felt a tie between the multiple layers of an onion and his own creative sensibilities. He wanted this represented in the photo and it created an incredible challenge for me.

How do you represent the multiple layers of an artist and an onion without hitting it on the nose?

I have to admit, it took me time to wrap my head around a concept. It wasn’t until I threw out the idea of an onion began to think about emotions and color that image came together for me.

I pitched the image to the artist and he loved it. We decided to move forward and shot the basic images on my back patio with a sheet of foam core behind him hung from a c-stand. During the shoot I captured a few surprise images that I consider “bonus” images. They don’t address the challenge but struck me as great images worth keeping.

Bonus Images:

I have wanted to show these images for a while. We shot this back on February but finally got the ok for release. This was a personal project where we tackled the idea of a period piece but in modern times.

Crew:
Model: Domonique Brown
Hair: Jocelyn Powell
Makeup: Gosia Gorniak –Matkovich
Wardrobe: Maggie SanFilippo
Wardrobe Asst: Sophie Mussell
Photo & Edit: Dan Finley

The images I shot for the May issue of Me: In Focus magazine are out! This is the issue with Ms. Illinois USA and may be my first “official” celebrity. The spread is on pages 30-37.

It’s been a busy past few weeks. Most recently, I taught a filmmaking workshop which was a lot of fun. I love being able to share some of my experience with new filmmakers. This workshop was a basic overview of getting your film from script to screen. I should have taken pictures!

I’ve also had the great opportunity to photography Miss Illinois USA on Monday. We were shooting her for a featured article in an upcoming issue of Me: In Focus magazine. Since she supports student fashion design, we chose two remarkable fashion students at IADT in downtown Chicago and photographed her wearing their clothes. As an added element, we shot in one of their classrooms with students working in the background. The images turned out great and I can’t wait to show them. Here’s a behind the scene image of us at work. Special thanks to Bi Li for the photo!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, I’ve been published in the April issue of Hush Chicago magazine. This issue features images from the Bryan K Osburn shoot I mentioned a month back. Order your copy over at MagCloud.com.

For those who don’t know (which would be strange because I’ve told everybody I’ve ever met in my life), I was selected as an Emerging Photographer of the Year finalist by Scott Bourne and Photofocus.com. I’ve been reading Scott’s blog for some time and find it a great inspiration and guide for my photography business. Just to be noticed by him is an incredible honor and I am very thankful.

So the way this works is, Scott will select a total of 24 finalists (I’m the 15th) and then choose a winner from that group. I’m not sure if he will invite people to vote or if he will choose the winner himself but I think they won’t be chosen until December.

I usually don’t win these things and the competition is pretty stiff, but to be honest, I think just being selected as a finalist by a photographer whose work I admire is the best prize. Thanks Scott!

And if you have come to this site via Photofocus.com, let me guide you to another contest that I’m applying for. The PND Faces contest is put out by a national magazine. It has a people’s choice award where you can vote for your favorite photo. Right now we’re up to 85 votes and on the first page! Click over and place your vote here: http://bit.ly/akbUAZ

Thanks for all the support. I have some great news I will announce soon, so stay tuned!

Two of the magazines I shot for have arrived! It is really exciting to see my work in print. This is the first time I’ve ever shot a cover and I consider myself truly lucky and blessed.

I started shooting fashion photography in September of 2009. I have to admit, up until then, I pursued things with great difficulty and have had a couple businesses fail. It has been a real struggle to find something at which I could be successful. When I started doing photography last year I was just goofing around and playing with a friend’s camera. Immediately, I started to get some positive responses from my images. At first I disregarded the comments. After all, these were my friends and I felt that they were just being “nice”, but the positive reinforcement just kept coming.

Now, if you would have asked me two years ago if I would like to be a photographer I would have said “no way”. I knew the field was incredibly competitive, especially with digital cameras coming down in price. I also knew that defining your own style through photography is incredibly difficult, but I decided to go after it anyway.

Since last September, I’ve been published in four different magazines with one or two more on the way and I’ve earned a few clients to boot. I’ve had amazing opportunities open up for me including meeting great people like talented artists, models, designers, and stylists. I really do enjoy photography. It has become an outlet for my passion to create visuals and tell stories.

I hope to continue and grow and while I do, I’ll post my progress here. Stay tuned!

I’ve entered my first photography contest! It’s pretty big and a little scary. PDN is an amazing photography magazine that I like to read. Even though I never win anything, I’d love to see if I can at least place.

The best part is that they have a “people’s choice” award that allows YOU to place a vote. Please check it out and vote for me! We’ve already made it to the front page (which is pretty shocking) and we’re on the 5th row with a total 55 votes. I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who has placed a vote so far. I really appreciate the support.

Now, the guy in first place has a photo of Shaq with over 200+ votes. Will I be able to beat that? Probably not, but I’d like to at least make it to the third row. It’s a nice goal and I try to be realistic about these things. That means I only need about 10 more votes to get there.

If you would like to place a vote and help me out it would be much appreciated: http://bit.ly/akbUAZ

Hush Chicago Magazine has released a cover preview for their debut March issue. For a while there I wasn’t sure which cover they were going to go with so I was delighted to see that they chose this one. I don’t think they have a website at the moment, but feel free to follow them on Facebook.

I can’t wait until the issue comes out. Not only is the cover one of the editorials that I shot for the issue, but I also have two more editorials that will appear inside.

Here’s the cover:

A few weeks back, I was invited to shoot the cover of Hush Chicago Magazine which is launching their first issue in March. When I arrived on set there was another shoot happening right next to ours, also for Hush Chicago Magazine. It was a crazy day and lots of fun. We had some incredible outfits provided by vFish designs. I got a chance to meet some great people and shoot some fun images. Here’s a look at behind the scenes for the Hush Chicago fashion shoot:

Here is a look at the amount of accessories that are brought to a typical shoot. Suitcases full of shoes, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. What can I say? This team comes prepared!

Santana, one of our models, gets some last minute touch ups before she steps in front of the camera as her mother watches. Santana was so cold she was shivering and needed a hot cup of tea. Poor girl.

Bee, the editor of Me: In Focus Magazine, talks to a visitor on set. Bee let us shoot the cover in her huge studio.

Here, makeup artist extraordinaire, Lillian Murphy applies the makeup for a model that will be appearing in an accessories shoot. This is the other team that was shooting next to us.

Hush Chicago Magazine is about to release a cover preview for the March issue. Keep an eye out here for the final image!

A wonderful night last night. Despite the blizzard, people came out to the directing seminar. There was beer, there was conversation, there were good times. We were supposed to be in the back room, but the place double booked us. So we held the seminar out in the open bar. It was strange because there was a mix of attendees and bar-goers. I wonder what the bar-goers were thinking.

There were a lot of great filmmakers, new and experienced, with tons of great questions. It was a very basic seminar so I can’t help but think that some people, with more experience, walk away a little disappointed, but what can you do. I hope, for the most part, people walked away with some new insight to the process or a few good tips they can use on their own productions.

Here are some photos from the night:

Here’s the crowd from my POV.

A few other angles.

And me, trying to stay warm.

I want to thank everyone for coming out in that weather. It shows real dedication from the members. If you want to get involved with film making in the Chicago area, check out Chicago Filmmakers in Action.