What up everybody Baroque Medusa here. Guess what? We have another guest for
Top Shelf hijinks. None other than another best friend of mine, Blaine Dean of Blaine
Dean Media. He is a lifestyle and editorial photographer. You can find him
online, Instagram, at Blaine Dean Media, all one word, and also his home page
BlaineDeenMedia.com. Of course the web links for both of these are in the
show notes. So let's go ahead and get started.
Blaine Dean Media, what's going on? How you doing today? I'm doing good. How about
yourself? Doing well. Thank you. Good. You are welcome. Blaine Dean is one of my
best friends. He's my best guy friend. Let's start there. So why don't you tell
my listeners first of all what got you into photography and how long you've
been doing it for? Man it's funny. I actually just recently had to submit for
an interview and it was kind of fun to kind of go back through like go down
memory lane and kind of go through this but I'll shorten it because it was quite
long but just to give you kind of like a bit of a rundown I actually started
kind of messing around with it when I was in high school and my friend reminded
me of that because he was the one that kind of pushed me into it. I used to
just take pictures with my phone just messing around you know around campus
having a good time and stuff and I just like kind of like there was a bit of a
spark there like okay this is kind of interesting maybe I could look into this
a bit more and then as a gift for Christmas for graduation actually
was graduation gift I received a little blue Sony camera back in 2006 and that
was kind of like the starting point I just kind of like jumped into it messed
around started trying things here and there and then I started going to LBCC
and as a gift for for school because I needed one for class my uncle and my
mother got me my first DSLR and that's kind of where everything began for me
because that was finally my chance to use a camera that was like high quality
with all the functionality that I needed in order to produce the type of
photos that we were required to do in school and it opened up a whole new
world for me because it was like I had seen all of these amazing photos for
years and was like how do people do this stuff not knowing what the trick was so
when I got to learn how to do a lot of that stuff it just really like kind of
like open my mind to new things and then jump all the way to 2019 I had a uncle
who was really proud of me in my photography and he really loved what I
did and he always encouraged me to keep going and he passed away that year in
his will he told his widow to get me my next camera so it was kind of a touching
moment for me I'll never forget I was sitting at home it was like a random
Thursday in the afternoon it was like around 3 or 3 30 or so and you know this
is like before pandemic and stuff so people are just you know I was just
chilling or whatever and my aunt hit me up and was like hey I'm buying a laptop
for my grandson and I need your help can you meet me at Best Buy and I was
thinking okay cool let's meet at the Best Buy of the street and she told me to
come to this Best Buy way out in Torrance mind you I'm living mid north mid
Long Beach to Lakewood area so I was like what that's like random as hell why
do you want me to come way out there so I was like okay whatever maybe this is
where the particular computer is so I drive all the way out there and she told
me to go and look at some of the other computers while they bring his out and
see if I could find something better than the one that that she had chose you
know me still being oblivious not knowing what's going on and so I go look
at the computers like she said then I come she's like hey Blaine come here so
I walk across the store to where she's at and I see the Nikon box and I still
really hadn't it hadn't processed I was thinking oh maybe she's sitting on the
counter because she wasn't standing in front of it to make you know I didn't
know what was going on and I walk up and I was like oh what did you get in my
MacBook and the guy look behind the counter looked all confused and he was
like no she wanted to get a camera and I was like then it like finally snapped and
hit and I was like oh shit this is really happening right now and I'm telling you I
like almost bursting into tears I couldn't believe it I went from if you
were going to put to use something to make an example out of if you I went from
basically like a Honda to like a maybe like a Bentley coupe in terms of cameras
and I couldn't believe it I was like damn this is really happening right now
and that just like it's like blew me away you know and and that was the moment
that I realized that although I had already kind of wanted to be a
professional photographer that receiving that camera really pushed me into
wanting to like focus heavily on becoming a professional photographer like
really wanting to pursue it heavily you know what I mean and around the end of
2019 I met my now wife and we started dating and she was really interested in
my photography it's kind of funny because I actually met her because of
photography she asked me to take a headshot for her and long story short
that ended up being like how we started dating it's kind of funny a laugh at it
now but she really pushed and really encouraged me I love her support I have
very few people who like really really pushed me in photography one of them
being you you know how that is you always push me and give me encouraging
words and encouragement to pursue whatever my next goal in this particular
art form is but aside from you and a couple of my you know cousins and my
mom she's my my closest support system because I'm with her 24-7 you know so
she encouraged me and we kind of expanded our businesses together because she
does you know makeup and whatnot so her pushing me to pursue it heavier I just
decided one day I'm gonna pull the trigger and I upgraded to the most recent
camera that I have and I have not been happier I cannot say I've ever dealt
with a piece of hardware that has given me the the I want to say like 95% per
perfect results every time like I have with this camera it has been a godsend
and just you know really focusing heavily on this has has it has made my
life feel so enriched especially lately because I've been kind of like up and
down with it but I just as of right now I just feel incredible and I just want to
pursue the art as as much as I can and continue to grow in it and see where it
leads me okay so damn I didn't realize you've been doing this for 18 years I
know you're younger than me but that's a long fucking time shit
I didn't realize it until I wrote out what I just explained to you and I just
added it up and I was like oh shit this is crazy yeah you've been doing it for a
long fucking time so no wonder why you're so good I didn't realize about your
uncle so that's so cool that he blessed you after he left yeah it was like his
way of giving giving you his blessing on like you're doing good work or the way I
say it that you're doing good work and to continue he wants you to continue to
do it to follow your passion yeah that's that's how that's exactly how I felt when
he did it I just I really couldn't believe it I was like wow what a thing to
to have someone do it it actually made his his passing that much harder to be
honest with you but I I'm sorry I shouldn't cut you off go ahead I was
gonna say it actually feels like there's a piece of him with me whenever I do use
it like I've sold my previous cameras a lot of times but this one I refuse to
sell it's I have too much for it I feel like it was a pivotal turning point in
my life so I won't I'll never give it a violent care if it's 40 years down the
road it'll just be a dusty camera that I keep in the in the cabinet you know what
I mean right it said it has sentimental value yes and plus now you feel
obligated to fulfill his request yeah that's it I've been thinking about that
you're right okay so since he blessed you with the Nikon is that what you're
shooting with now are you because you mentioned that oh okay because it sounded
like you upgraded again after that from the way you were explaining it so I
wasn't sure well yeah it's a so original very first DSLR camera was a Nikon
I've had a total four now I had the D40 way back in 07 and 2015 I got the D7000
and 2019 I was blessed with the Z6 and then in April of last year I bought the
Z9 so I was just gonna say I'm like so you're a Zikon you're a Nikon
devotee I guess yeah I mean so okay there everybody has opinions on what model
camera they want to use I prefer to stay on Nikon only because it's what I
started with and I don't want to change I don't want to change up what I started
with because well first of all it's fucking expensive as hell so changing
changing bodies means I often after I also have to change lenses and I'm just
not before that shit people talk to the button icon that says the old man camera
I don't give a okay so let's go let's get into your photography style I know
when I first met you you were it was like more scenery and then you evolved
once I started wearing my sneakers I know you started shooting more fashion and
now I guess it's all fashion for you or what type of photography I guess would
you would you consider your your niche okay it definitely has I still do all
forms that I find interesting I typically only post model works like
editorial fashion style work I typically only post that only because it's what
brings me the most business but if I had to put a label on what I want to call
myself I would say in my niche is a cross between editorial and lifestyle I
actually recently discovered that I have this absolute love for lifestyle
photography about maybe two years ago I started to like yearly focus on these
the top 20 photographers at this one guy can't remember his name right now on
YouTube every year he does a list at the first of the year in fact oh shit I
haven't watched the one for 2024 but he does these lists every year and he
talks about the most influential photographers that he enjoyed from the
previous year and he does it like I said the beginning the first month of each
year and I started looking at the work of a lot of these artists and I was just
like blown away because I really love the ability to take a person and if
you're not doing studio work putting them in a in a what I like to call a
creative space which is basically you know everyone knows what that is but my
definition of it for myself is like for example I have wanted to do this project
of my cousin at my at my aunt's house where his mother sitting like on the
couch he's sitting on the floor and then his daughter sitting in front of him and
his mom braids his hair so his mom will be braiding his hair and he'll be
braiding his daughter's hair or not braiding it necessarily but just like
doing it you know how dads are just like putting it up just making it look
neat and whenever I see that image in my head I see just like this powerful black
experience like this photo that when you look at it reminds you of home it
reminds you of exactly what you experienced either as a young woman or a
young man if you ever had long hair or even if you just got you know your hair
brushed by your parent or whatever just that that feeling that comes over you
when you look at it there's an artist I recently started to follow he recently
did Beyonce's Essence cover for her most recent spread and I'm telling you
those photos they did something to me and this was literally like two days ago
I just have been so inspired by the look of this work because his work isn't
particularly staged imagery it's it's like in the moment it's in the now and
what's crazy is from what I've heard Beyonce handpicks all of the artists
that she works with so I imagine when she saw this man's work or when it was
recommended to her she was blown away by the fact that his work feels very alive
like when you look at it you just get this this deep enriched feeling of like
wow this is I can reach out and feel what I'm looking at like it does something
to me and I love evoking emotion with my photography I've struggled with that so
to answer your question because I've gone off on a tangent to answer your
question my niche would be a form of lifestyle of an artistic like yeah what
do you call it lifestyle and artistic editorial I just really love I really
love that style of work I do other things as well but I don't put those at the
top of my list because I don't do them frequently like weddings and stuff but I
will say if you are an editorial photographer or a lifestyle photographer it
is very easy to take that mindset and attach it to the like the engagement
photos or like the after ceremony photos you can really utilize those skills and
I have and I will say it has definitely made a difference in the work for me
okay really quick I don't think you've ever sent me the picture that you
described of the work that moved you because I would really like to see that
so I don't know if you can forward that to me of course I didn't it to you is that
online you want to see it you want to you're talking about the photographer that
I just that I just spoke of well though the actual the actual photograph of the
family with the break doing their hair let me see if I can find it real quick if
you send it to me and then I'll post it in the show notes as well so that the
the viewers can I'm sorry the listeners can view it on their phones as well
you don't have to send it to me right now okay okay okay so lifestyle I should
have thought about lifestyle I guess that's what I meant but yeah so lifestyle
shots I love it with that being said what is your funnest that I guess that
just comes straight away or come straight to your mind what's the funnest
shoot you've done that will always stand out as your funnest shoot thus far in
your entire photography career of 18 motherfucking years let me think
um so it's kind of funny because I don't necessarily have like the most fun
shoot I could think of I can give you a few highlights of moments that that
really really like stood out to me okay that work so one of the first shoots
that really really captivated me that I was just like super blown away by I once
well I won't say I once my sister got married in 2019 and I didn't I didn't
kind of a short backstory I didn't grow up with my father I've only actually
seen him before passing maybe three times my whole life and in 2019 my my
little sister got married and he came out here for her wedding and there was
this picture I took of him while he was unaware he was just chilling in a suit
sitting next to his wife and he took his glasses off and he kind of rubbed the
bridge of his nose and I noticed he was crying now this is after the ceremony
she had already walked and everything we're in the reception period but she
did the father daughter dance with him and I don't think he was prepared for
that and because we all were kind of a strange from our dad until recent you
know years and he reaches up to touch the bridge of his nose and I swear I have
to look at the picture again but I believe he's crying but at his eyes
closed and I took his picture and that picture has meant so much to me because
my dad passed in April of 2022 and I it's strange like I said I didn't really
have the greatest relationship with him but photography means so much more to
me than just taking pictures it's very much in my blood at this point so when
I took that picture and I looked back at it and I periodically look at it here
and there it still gives me like these this chill feeling because I don't know
I could just sense his energy when I took it like all of his kids who he has
not had the biggest connection with are all in the same place plus his grandchildren
and I think it was a bit overwhelming for him and then he gets to do the father
daughter dance with the the sibling of mine who had like the biggest impact on
him because she had some of the biggest issues with him and for her to have that
full circle moment where everything kind of like became solidified and it's like
wow this is really happening I think it was like a bit touching for him so that
picture always always hit really hard and I love I love that I have that memory
you know I mean yeah yeah that one that one it kind of gets to me when I look at
it sometimes I don't look at it frequently but but I love I love that
picture another fun moment was your 49th birthday shoot I think that that was
one of the most fun photo shoots I've ever done only because it was we had an
idea prior to the shoot and then we actually made it's so amazing and such
a great feeling when you when you have an idea and you execute it and it ends up
being better than you actually thought it would be or exactly to the degree you
thought it would be and wasn't your sister the one that did the photo yeah
on the birthday car I know not a damn thing about how to do it yeah I don't
know how to place I'm not good when it comes to the graphic design part in the
sister I was referring to her wedding it was that sister she did that for me
she's a professional graphic designer and she did that literally like it
within five minutes I was like wow the fact that she did it it made it so
seamless still is amazing to me so I really I was really thankful for that
and then in recent time my wife she graduated from makeup school I'm sorry
as the kitchen school recently and it was on graduation night before going to
her graduation I set up my backdrop I set up my lights and everything in my
studio and I was like okay cool so we got like a lot going on so let's just
make this quick I go to her graduation we leave graduation we come home all the
15 minutes it's all we had all the 15 minutes because we had reservations with
our friends that for her graduation dinner we took graduation photos and I
looked at them but I didn't really look at them you know what I mean I snapped
about maybe five or six pictures literally that was it and then we left
and didn't think about it anymore the next day our sorry not even next to
when we got back home it was probably like around 10 o'clock and I looked at
the photos with her on the computer and both of us were like oh shit these are
fucking beautiful she lost her mind because normally when we shoot there it's
always like a scripted moment we think it out we shoot it you know there's time
we take a number of photos and we go through them every single shot landed in
that moment and to see the reaction from her was it just it did something to me
those are the moments that I always remember because they the person's
reaction is always what makes the photo even more impactful if a person is sees
their picture and they react a certain way it always it always touches me I'll
give you one last story and this one it kind of tripped me out so I can't give
too much detail because there's things going on with them but I was asked to do
family photos for this couple they had adopted a little boy and a little girl
they were brother and sister and I think he was turning one and the baby was
maybe like four months so she was still a real little thing and they wanted to do
photos at El Dorado Park so I showed up to El Dorado Park and we did their photos
and then I took this one picture and I knew when I saw it I was like oh shit
this is this is the one it was just real simple shot of them sitting on the
ground or in the grass Ari and they're holding both the babies the little
girl's faces turned toward the camera little boy sitting in between one of
their legs and he's just got this really innocent smile his head kind of tilted
to the side but I took it with the idea of creating a large amount of negative
space so I took it where the bottom half of the photo was like right below them
on the ground and the upper half of the photo was the tree line but you don't
see any sky you literally just see all tree but I shot it and I and I made a
mistake which actually ended up being amazing I shot it with my aperture wide
open which creates like the bokeh effect of really thick blur so I want to say I
was a good maybe 20 feet away I was a good distance because I really wanted to
capture the surrounding space but I zoomed in tight and I took this picture
and I knew when I saw that it was like I thought it was amazing but it wasn't
until I was asked to shoot that baby's the little boy little boys first
birthday so I went over taking family photos and I asked him if I could use a
restroom and I walked into the house and I'm getting chills man I walk into the
house and the picture is on their wall and I'll never forget what this this lady
said to me when I saw it I was like wow I love the picture I don't know you
printed us that I was actually my favorite photo she was like just know
from this moment on you are part of this family and I know right tell me that's
not like to pull on your heartstrings you are part of this family and just
know that anytime you do a piece of work like this you will always be a part of
that family and you'll always know that you had an impact on them she was like
this is the first and only photo shoot we have done with these children and I
don't even think we need anymore at this point this is just this is all we
this is all we need right here and I don't know how many more they printed
but when I saw that picture on the wall I'm telling you my heart literally
dropped I could not believe it it just it just meant so much to me because I
knew in the moment when I took it how much I loved it I had no idea that the
family would react the same way I do the same way yeah that that that one got
me so those are like the moments that I can recall that really just like stood
out there's a bunch of other ones but those are the ones from current memory
that I just like absolutely love you know well this is a new side of you that
I didn't know about so thank you for sharing of course okay so I got a couple
more questions the listeners need to know that you fucking shoot or you show
up at fashion shows and you fucking shoot like you've done several fashion
shows like locally and you even went to Miami I want to say like a couple months
ago right yes but Miami was Miami was something different though I didn't
shoot out there but no I I have done quite a few fashion shows I've actually
done some in the past too I just isn't recent but yeah so oh sorry what was your
question um how many I guess how I guess how many have you done I don't know if
you want to speak on the shows that you did shoot okay so I started shooting
fashion like back in 2014 and that was when I did my very first fashion show I
didn't know a damn thing about shooting fashion show that no fucking clue what I
was doing so I just looked at the other photographers and kind of winged it and
it was pretty good at my lighting was pretty shitty because I didn't know what
I was doing like I said so it was you know whatever it was a friend that needed
some photos so I just helped her out but it wasn't until recent time was at
2022 I went to a fashion show I accompanied Ashley she was doing makeup at
the fashion show she was doing makeup for the models and stuff and mind you I
didn't come there to do that I just came to accompany her help her with some
equipment get some background photos and whatnot maybe network a little bit that
was the whole entire game plan and I went there and I ended up really hitting it
off with almost every model and all the designers I got really like cool with all
of them just hanging out talking to them while she was doing makeup and stuff and
I don't know something just felt right so I started asking each model when they
put on a different outfit to step outside and just so I can get one
individual shot of each person just for fun didn't think anything of it just
thought like okay you know I'll get a nice shot it was a beautiful setting it's
this massive mansion up in Orange County and it was it was beautiful and the
next day I decided to make a small reel out of just those individual photos I
think it was maybe like 12 or 13 and I posted it and I made sure that I
tagged excuse me I tagged the proprietor of the the location I tagged the the crew
who did like who had the event crew like the the her assistants and stuff and then
I tagged each model the makeup artist hairdresser I tagged everybody and I put
my phone down when I opened my phone back up I can't remember the amount of
followers I had gained that wasn't even the part that blew me away my phone was
hot it was hot because because the notifications were coming through so damn
fast and so frequently I've never seen anything I posted get reposted it was
like reposted 27 times and this lasted for like a solid three or four days it
just kept getting posted and it kept going up everything I want to say like
when I posted that I at the time I think I had 300 followers by the end of that
week I think I was like around 900 or so I couldn't believe to some people that
may not even seem like a lot and like a lot of people don't really care about
following which at this point in my life I it's not really that big a deal I love
the people that follow me that support I will say that not saying anything
negative but at that particular moment because I didn't really expect it to
take off the way that it did it just kept being reposted and reposted and
reposted then I find out crazy the fucking photographer who was supposed to
shoot the show fucked it up he shot nothing but horrible photos they were
all super dark they did he didn't get anything so this particular fashion show
I literally got like the pre-show and that did that was more impactful than
the actual photos of the show I had come to find out later on it kind of tripped
me out I was like wow that is freaking amazing so she invited me to her next
show and then she invited me to her next show and then that led to shooting
several other smaller shows that were just being hosted in LA and then Ashley
got invited to the really big fashion show that's at the LA
Convincing Center called the Model Experience I accompanied her to that as
well kind of snuck in there just keep it real but I came with her I snuck to the
backstage area behind the the media wall and it was funny I meet this guy's
name is Jacob shout out to Jacob because he is a cool motherfucker I'm gonna just
keep it real that motherfucker really he is awesome I have to send you his page
to he's dope as fuck I hope you hear this one day he was like bro just blend in
he was like come on man you got on a black shirt and khakis you looked
apart just chill so I hung out next to the media wall and crazy I actually
shot the entire show from that angle as if I was part of the set crew and I
posted them and that was another flurry of just random new followers and new
people and since that happened I ended up working with quite a few new people
because of that moment it was just kind of crazy like I've actually made
friends with quite a few of these models on these different shows but a lot of
them have become like close to us you know what I mean they work with me and
my wife closely and then I work with them frequently you get to know them and
they actually become real friends with you and I love it it's been I will say
I've been very blessed to meet such great people in doing this and that's the
one thing that I love about photography I always like to say that when I'm doing
photo shoots it's gonna sound weird but I getting your personal space so I get to
see your insecurities and I get to see how you feel I get to see what emotions
you're evoking all on your face from 10 feet away from you because when I zoom
in I'm less than three feet from you so I get to see all of that you know what
I mean and when you get to see people and to that degree and get to talk to
them and you get to work with them I mean in a sense face-to-face you you get
to understand them better and you realize that we're all in the same bracket
we're just trying to all make it you know what I mean and everybody just has
their their lane that they're trying to stay in and that's one thing I can say
I've gained from doing this and just getting to meet so many amazing people
I really really truly love what I do and it's been an awesome experience
another thing I didn't know about you so okay I'm learning more about you doing
this podcast than when we talk every day okay so one more question I have
because I have yet to get the story because I wanted to do it that's why I
wanted to do the podcast with you or have you on my podcast so I can hear the
entire story now my graphic designer that I work with all the time now for my
business Nicole Carmadi I met her through Instagram and she is a raw artist
showcase person as well so I attended her showcase I didn't attend yours I'm
sorry it was during the weekend but tell me I want to know because I actually
wanted you to go with me to the one in LA but I know you were shooting a wedding
that day so you actually signed up you are one of the raw artists artists further
showcase in Costa Mesa so I want to know how it went for you okay so yes again
good old wifey she sent me a an email and they were asking for makeup artists
photographers painters all kind of different art forms and they said they
had openings for a few more artists so I was just like why not I submitted my
portfolio signed up for it didn't think anything of it next day I get an email
like at five in the morning and it was like hey we want to give you the
opportunity to be a part of the show here's like the rules and you know
regulations and stuff so kind of to summarize everything you have to sell a
certain number of tickets to get into the show for free otherwise you pay the
difference long story short that part is not really relevant the part that's
awesome is you get to so what I did first was I went through and I was like
okay what am I gonna print out what am I gonna print so I started going through
my photos and I remember speaking to you ahead of time about this about our
podcast here and I wanted to save this moment to talk about Roy that's why I
didn't bring him up on the previous question when you said different
stories because Roy's story is different so okay at the art show I had brought
all my work in and whatnot I am brought in mostly mostly my editorial work and
they give you like a creative space to hang your stuff and you know it's people
just walk through and they get to it's like any other art show nothing too
different there but the thing I will say for me my experience because this is my
first actual exhibit it was one of the greatest feelings ever I I love getting
opinions from those that I know and those I don't know there's something
about getting a raw opinion from people face to face it is such an outstanding
feeling but there's one particular piece of art that stole the show and I mean
literally stole the show I'm talking the other artists were talking to me about
it the bartenders were talking to me about it the fucking people who ran the
whole show that hung out at the front desk were talking to me about it and
that is the picture of Roy it is for those who've never seen it it is a
picture a black and white photo of a elderly homeless man quick story I won't
make it long because it is a long one but Roy came from Texas years ago and he
kind of panhandled his way around Long Beach that's his story in a nutshell we're
gonna jump to 2011 I was in school and I had a project for school which was to
photograph an interesting person for five days in the same location so I
chose Roy he's a homeless guy that hangs out in the pike where I worked in Long
Beach got to know him he became a really cool guy we used to give him food and
different things when I worked at Segway he was he was pretty awesome he told me
a story and I asked him if I could photograph him and I I did for five days
straight on day four he didn't really feel like doing it but he's still
committed to the project and he gave me this weird kind of kind of like I don't
feel like doing this bro but I'll do it because I love you man type look and I
snapped that picture and I remember it didn't really hit hard until I took it
into school that night or yeah school a couple nights later when we had to turn
the project in I took it to school and my teacher looked at it all of this was
in color by the way and he stopped on that one photo he just stared at he got
close to the board because we used to put them on the on the on the laptop and
then he project them on to the one to the whiteboard so he he turned the
picture black and white in lightroom while we were in class and he grabbed his
chin he stared at it and I'll never forget that motherfucker turned around and
was like this this fucking picture right here this is this is fucking it man
this is what the fuck I'm talking about this is exactly what the fuck you need
to be doing you need to stick to this shit keep this up and I swear to God
you go fucking far in your career everybody else emulate this this is
exactly what the fuck you need to do I wish I could have recorded that shit
because my fucking heart almost jumped out of my chest I could not believe what
he had to say about that picture it blew me away so I was just like wow this is
the picture this is the one and so over the years that picture has followed me
through my career because one I love the story and the guy in the photo because
he became really close to me you know I'm saying yeah he actually passed away in
2017 but his picture has and has helped him live on and I have used his picture a
few different times for different exhibits that I've done like smaller
ones but that picture has now been printed in two magazines it has been
showcased at two art galleries most recently the one we're talking about
the the raw artist show and I centered I put his image in the center of a total
of five images he was right in the middle and I have never had so many
people I've never told the story that I just told you so many times I think I
told that story about 30 times that night and I never felt fatigued by it I
never felt like oh here we go again I was so happy to tell his story and talk
about him and just the details in his face and the emotion that it evokes it's
kind of a trip it was maybe a couple months after that photo what I was in
school right before we finished the class my teacher pulled me aside again and
there's this really famous photo taken by this photographer named she what's his
name I think it's Steve Curry Steve McCurry Steve McCurry is a national
geographics photographer and he took this really outstanding photo it's like
the most famous portrait in the world next to Mona Lisa it's a picture of a
girl from Afghanistan from 85 he took a picture of her in a refugee camp and
she's got these really piercing green eyes I know what photograph you're
talking about okay so check this out my teacher took my picture which I had
printed out for him because he asked me for a copy of it he took it and he stuck
it on the board next to the that girl yes to the national geographics cover
which he had removed and he said look at these pictures and compare them without
knowing any of this without even comparing the two photos ahead of time
without any knowledge of what I was doing he said you literally captured this
exact same image in this man said look at the eyes the eyes of this man looks
sad they look tired he said look at her eyes her eyes are alert and piercing he
said look at the shoulder placement her shoulders are rigid and hard look at his
shoulders they're smooth and relaxed look at the head like the way the head is
tilted her head is straightforward and and direct his is kind of slouched just a
little bit low he was like it's literally a come it's the complete opposite
yet it's the exact same photo in terms of its angle it's its direction and its
power he was like this picture is gonna lead you to a lot of places open a lot
of doors for you and so having the ability to have a picture I took in 2011
be a crown jewel for me all the way in 2024 or 2020 yeah 2024 at this point is
just like holy shit this picture really did it really is like a career-based
photo it really it tells me that what I've been doing not that is anything
wrong with it that that's what I probably should have remained focused on
taking those painful yet powerful portraits because they tell stories
without you even having to give words people can look at that man and tell
that there is depth to him just simply based off of his expression and so to
get back to your original question my experience with being in that art show
was phenomenal based off of my ability or my opportunity sorry my opportunity to
tell the stories of my photos and for me that that was that was all I needed more
than anything that was one of the greatest opportunities ever was just the
ability to be able to tell my stories to people that were interested in my art
and wanted to see what the story was behind each one of them you know what I
mean but specifically his so yeah well good I'm glad and are you able to send
me a link for that picture as well absolutely or is it on your Instagram oh
and then I can put it in my show notes I have the original picture I don't have
it on my Instagram anymore what I will actually say that I didn't mention I
have retired the photo I know you have crazy but I still have it of course I
never get rid of it right I retired it because I realized after everything I've
just told you I have I have relied on it I have relied on it for for everything
and I don't feel like that has given me the opportunity to grow like I should
have if anything I should use it as a stepping stone and not as a crutch and
I have done that okay well that makes sense and then that way I'm when you
evolve or when you grow and evolve more in your photography you can find a new
shot that would hold the same placement value as Roy yes absolutely okay okay so
let's end this plane let's do this give me or let everybody know your social I
know you have Instagram and I would know you have your website I don't know if
you have anything else and then also shoot me all the links so I can put it in
the show notes as well absolutely will I currently only use Instagram and I'm
considering getting back into YouTube doesn't a bit of drone drone video and
photography so I'm considering getting back into YouTube just to upload stuff
like that and to do more my BTS on there but as of right now Blaine Dean media is
my Instagram handle and that's where you can see the majority of my work and then
my website is Blaine Dean media as well so www.blainedeamedia.com God I sound
old actually repeating the W's I just realized that a long as time but yeah
so BlaineDmedia.com the link to my Instagram is on there as well so all of
my work can be seen there I'm actually gonna be doing some more uploading to
my website soon so yeah hope to see some traffic okay bestie I'm gonna call
today because I need to go pick up my car but thank you for being on this
podcast I didn't know a lot of stuff about you I guess and even though we're
best friends I just learned a lot more about you today I'm glad I could share
that with you all right well thank you again and everybody will see you next
week all right bye bye bye