Influences

Rupert Truman:

I listen to a ton of music.  I think i have over 22,000 songs on my ipod and every month it continues to grow.  Saying that I really like album artwork.  It gives you a sense of what the music is going to be about.  Rupert Truman is one of my favorite favorite photographers because most of his work (at least that of which I’ve seen) is album covers for some of my favorite bands, which include The Mars Volta, Audioslave, Pineapple Thief and I believe he even did a Pink Floyd cover.  What I like about his work is that it’s all so…bizarre.  You look at some of the album covers he’s done and you think, what the hell am I looking at?  He is one of the most creative photographers I’ve seen out there, and I love him for it.

Rupert Truman – Audioslave Cover – 2006

Fin Costello:

Sticking with music, I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock and metal.  Dio, Deep Purple, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, blah blah blah, the list goes on and on.  There was one photographer that always stood out to me (even then I didn’t know it at the time) and his name is Fin Costello.  He photographed so many of the early rockers it’s not even funny.  I was exposed to his work by the pictures of the band which were included in either the cd cases or the vinyl sleeves.  What I like about his photography is that it always captured whoever he was photographing in action, while they were playing onstage.  None of this stand here and do this kind of poses.  It was the artist in their natural habitat and nothing else.  Seeing these pictures when I was a kid really made the music stand out more to me.

Fin Costello – Ritchie Blackmore- 1975

Michael Turner:

When it comes to the artist who had the biggest impression on me, it would have to be Michael Turner.  Michael Turner is the most wonderfully talented comic book artist I have ever seen.  I bought my first comic drawn by Mr. Turner when I was in middle school, and upon seeing the art I decided I wanted to be a comic book artist.  This dream was alive and well until only recently when I realized I was never going to be able to draw professionally.  There’s not much to say about his art, because it speaks for itself.  It’s just so beautiful.  Unfortunately, he lost his battle with cancer and he is no longer with us so I picked this piece to show.  You should google him or rent one of comics he’s drawn from the library, you won’t regret it.

Michael Turner Tribute

Steve McNiven:

With Michael Turner aside, Steve McNiven is my current favorite comic artist.  I first noticed him with Old Man Logan (which I HIGHLY recommend you get) and the rest is history.  I started getting everything with his name attached to it.  The amount of detail he puts into each picture yet maintaining a level of simplicity is truly astounding.  He’s one of those guys where you see his work and say, “Hey I can do that”, but then try and crash and burn.  You should google Steve as well AND get Old Man Logan.

Steve McNiven – Wolverine: Old Man Logan #71 Cover – 2009

Alex Ross:

Alex Ross is a boss.  Nothing more to it.  This man can do magic with watercolors (or gouache to be more specific) that people working with oil paints or any other painting medium wish they could.  I mean seriously, he has to be the most talented painter I know of.  If i could have the talent of anybody, I would have the talent of Alex Ross.  I would give my left leg to be half as good as him.  You getting the picture?  I would highly recomend you get his Mythology:  The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross from the library.  Two words…holy crap.

Alex Ross -Crisis on Infinite Earths – 2000 – 65″ x 25″

Main Photographer Influence:

The main reason I started photographing was because of my cousin, Alex.  Since I could remember, Alex has been such a big role model for me whether it was music, movies or anything else.  When he started photographing in high school for a class he was taking, I immediately wanted to start photographing too.  He has since stopped because of life and what not, but I have kept on trucking.  It’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for Alex, I would not be here in this class right now or even be an amateur photographer so I thank you Alex.  Note, I don’t have any examples of his work because he was working with film, and it wasn’t necessarily his photos that influenced me to become a photographer but just the fact he was photographing himself.