David Mejias: Photographer

In case you haven’t read the news, Boulder is burning.

While fires are somewhat common in Colorado, it’s hard not to be heartbroken when you hear about 40 60 90 plus structural fires in your backyard. A lot of these structures are homes that belong to regular working class folks too. It’s been reported that nine firefighters in the area have also lost their houses.

Here are a few ways to help:

• RT @RedCrossDenver: You can help your neighbors by donating to the Red Cross Colorado Disaster Relief Fund http://ow.ly/2AJMP
• Volunteer Connection = 303-444-4904 or email services@volunteerconnection.net. They’re setting up a volunteer contact list
• You can also find other inquiries for help by following the #boulderfire hashtag on Twitter

And finally, while I’m not sure if there will eventually be a lot or very little demand for photographers to document property damage for insurance claims or personal records, I’d like to offer my time and services at no charge for those in need of images. If you need a photography resource, please email me your requests at image (at) davidmejias.com or leave me a voicemail on my Google voice account at 303- 731.6741.  Once it is safe to venture back up the canyon, we can schedule some time to document whatever needs to be documented. If the need is great, I’m confident I can find other photographers to help as well.

To our many volunteers, thank you. Let’s all pray for rain.

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Whenever an image is produced for commercial or advertising purposes, it is rarely “what you see is what you get.” Instead, every image is put through the Photoshop grinder where the walls in a room, a model’s wardrobe color, and the lighting are all scrutinized with exacting detail. Even “documentary” style images used in ad campaigns are put through a rigorous retouching process. Accidents aren’t allowed. When mistakes do happen, you’ll often find them on: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com

I recently finished a small non-commercial shoot where I played around on my own time to show what the image might look like after going through retouching. Here are the Photoshop layers for your amusement. As you can see, there are lots and lots of changes to the original image – changes to saturation, color, and even the structure of walls.

Once this image releases in the next few weeks, I’ll break it down some more. For now, take a look at the organization behind something like ten hours of Photoshop time.

Note: I try to name all my layers so that I know what is being done at a particular step to the underlying image. I got a bit lazy towards the end though – hence the generic non-named changes at the top.

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My friends Eric and Sarah had a baby girl a few weeks ago. Lots of work, little sleep, but a beautiful baby.

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Don’t ask me how I knew, but when the impulse hits to photograph rooftop workers I don’t question it.

Or maybe I’m just paranoid.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Oh summer. A portrait of my friend Mark from my weekend trip to D.C.

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I’ve recently been thinking a lot about Facebook’s “Like” button and how it seems to have so quickly become a big part part of my online life. With every photo, link, or news story there’s this innocent looking white hand and blue sleeve calling out for interaction.

The thumb seems to be here to stay too. Within a week of Facebook announcing the “Like” button’s availability, 50,000 websites added the functionality to their sites. Many however aren’t fans and have criticized Facebook’s reach and management of our collective privacy.

So is the ‘Like” button harmless? Is Facebook too powerful?

While I personally have mixed feelings about riding the thumb wave, I thought I’d try to consider things further by re-imagining the omnipresent white hand through a photograph. With some theatrical paint and a piece of rolled up blue paper for a sleeve, I shot this on Friday. I figured it might have some stock use too.

The question is still open though. What do you think? Do you like or not like?

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A few weeks ago I had this idea to reach out through the interwebs to find a daring photography subject that would be willing to help me test out some new lighting gear. After announcing the drawing on my Facebook like page, on Twitter and on the blog, I got around 22 entries. All in all, a fun approach to connecting with folks.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to throw their name in the hat. I very much appreciate it. Also, If you have any ideas for how to approach/stage my shoot with the winner, please post in the comments below.

And the winner is…

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I’m still editing images here and there from my trip last month.

So Ben jumps into the pool naked and I decide to make some photographs. I really like how water and color can make subjects less literal.

An aside. Someone asked me at a bar last night why I don’t sell prints. I answered that I really don’t know why I don’t. I think there are somewhere around 5 prints that I’ve made out there. So maybe I’ll experiment with these.  If someone wants 13×10ish prints of these for their pool house or bathroom or bathhouse(?) I might run a short edition. Hit me up in comments or email.

Hope you’re well out there.

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A friend of a friend of a friend in Vegas.

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