Suspended

'taken empty handed'



'the thin separation'

Beneath it all

Underwater shoots turned out to be no joke when it comes to editing, here are a few more shot's I just finished.


'melting through dark spaces'



'breaking the surface'




~K

Underwater

I've been working on a new series of underwater shots, it's been exciting and daunting to say the least. Here is the first image I finished editing, I might take one more pass at it, but for the most part it is finished. Thanks to my wonderful model Jess for jumping in cold water for 5 hours with me.




'peace comes in still waters'

~K

The Greatest

Assignment; Shoot a landscape like Irving Penn, if he shot landscapes that is.

Noctuary

Finally !!! Here are some of the Noctuaries I’ve been working on that last few months. Each background is a composite of about 8 to 29 images,the actually prints are 4 feet by 4 feet, and have been treated with wax, varnish and so forth (Example; last photo) Once I can get them in a studio and Photograph them in a way that’ll actually do them justice I’ll post them up. Thanks to all who participated in this project, I will definitely have to do somthing like this again.



OK. I'm an olympian sleeper. Fall asleep in seconds & usually sleep 6/7 hours without waking. When I rarely wake in the middle of the night, I'm pretty blank unless someone close to me is ill or dying, or a breakup is taking place. Then it's all concerns or what if I did this or that? mostly though, I am wondering if I'll fall back to sleep or be a zombie the following day or just awake and blank.


~DW



My First Love

A young naive heart taken hostage
Hung by his love noose, tightened by passion
Quick pulses were suffocated by unbearable tension
His taut words cut into my veins
Tears of blood; he kissed her instead of me
But it was just once, he says, with Irresistible She
He loosened my knot to strangle infidelity
Despised liberty and a short breath of freedom
He’s the only one that will give my heart rhythm
Staunchest vessel, a narrow-minded nook
I was safely trapped when I heard “I love you”
Lesson learned; chest throbbing, I’m through
-Crossing my fingers for this one... I'm tired of searching for "the right one". I'll probably be better off on my own but I've already been sucked into him. Love this boy.

~MS



Ever since I met my boyfriend Benjamin last summer, my life has completely changed. It has for the better. I've never met someone so kind-hearted, loving, caring, respectful, funny, someone who can just simply listen to me, someone who I can talk for hours and hours with about life and everything in between. For a big part of my life, I was depressed, due to childhood memories of having low self esteem and never getting over the fact that I won't ever be good enough for anyone. Meeting Benjamin at the time I did in my life, was perfect. As strange as it may be with all that happened in my past up til that moment, I needed it. I needed someone like him. We have been friends for six years now. We were friends who fell in love with each other. It's been a little over ten months now and within all of that has happened in between; Benjamin has shown me that there is hope in everything. Everything in life, to the smallest to biggest things. Also that I don't have to try to be someone else just to have appreciation and love in return. That I can be exactly who I am without any worries. That I do have beauty in me, inside out. I have never met anyone so optimistic and hopeful in my life before and I've just got to say, Benjamin, you are the greatest person I'll ever know. Thank you for everything you've ever given me and taught me. Life would not be the same without you.

The bird represents hope Ben has given me each and every day/Benjamin, for his love for birds, and the hands represent what we once told each other, "No matter where we are in life, we'll get through everything together, hand in hand.

~MX



Busy as a bee these days...so much on my plate it's no wonder I'm gaining weight! Haha ;) But seriously, I can't wait for this semester to be over with, I can't wait to graduate already! At the same time, I wonder: Am I rushing through life instead of taking time to enjoy it? Aren't bees supposed to stop and smell the flowers every now and then? Ugh, gotta go...too many things competing for my time again...

~MN




I live for all that is good. I live for peace, for freedom and for love. I live for empathy. The wrongs we as humans have committed and continue to commit today are far beyond my comprehension. I wish there was something I could do to right those wrongs. I would be happy to see a world where there is no ‘victory’ in war. You can only lose a fight, there is no winning. I would be happy to see a world where it is possible to live as one with each other and with nature, where no enterprises or monopolies control society. I would be happy to see a world where we can treat each an every man and woman with trust and respect. ‘Until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eye, me say war.’ And this is truth. Though the ghosts of our pasts do not allow this. There are so many different human beings in this world today and we all have a physical and psychological connection. We all see the sun as we rise and the moon as fall to rest. We see the stars and the planets and continue to explore other worlds. It is only a matter of time before we discover other life outside our world. I want to know if there is a more perfect intelligent being than mankind. One that doesn’t give into misguided genocides and all of our sociological imperfections. It’s amazing to think about all the different types of life forms that are gazing up at the stars thinking the same thing as us!

~IN



I love this girl.
funny, beautiful, artistic, smart, compasionite.
perfect
forever
can't trust
cant let my guard down
scared of pain, past
I can trust you
I can love you
Future.

~BC



Mask

the maddest dreams in which I fall
are the only state in which I feel
an inch higher than my waking life
for only in them it is real
it is much too far to sense
no warmth is in the air
the distance is now blinding
I'm in the darkness of despair
more than a sensation, its a weighty silhouette
it blocks out every spec of light
it smothers every bit of breath
I'm curled up in a burrow
hiding from their eyes
I've lost the face they've come to know
raw absence crumbled my disguise

~BF


~K
P.S. I have about 6 more to post so stay tuned !

Field of endless sneezes

The Field of Sneezes

I recently landed my self in the hospital after having a horrible allergic reaction to something in a field I was shooting in. At least I got the shots I needed (bright side).

Urban

Class: Location Lighting
In class Assignment: Shoot two urban portrait's using the surroundings.

Self Portrait

This self portrait is by far the hardest piece to photograph. In total it's a four foot by two and a half foot print fit together by 7x7 inch squares. Each square has been burned, deconstructed, and treated with encaustic wax. Since the wax is highly reflective it's almost impossible to photograph what it truly looks like. It's mounted on a acrylic board and is meant to be viewed standing up with a small light source behind it. The wax gives the prints a luminous, almost transparent appearance.

~K

Sin CIty

Assignment: Imitate Sin City cross lighting.

Decayed

Mad Women

I've been shooting like a mad women these last four day's, I mean seriously shooting 14 hour days. Here are a few shot's I took in between shot's.

Panorama

Photoshop is not my favorite thing, basically anything I can do to avoid it I will. Well... I have a Photoshop class this semester (yuck) Here's a panorama I had to do, it's a combination of 5 images.

Noctuary

Noc´tu`a`ry

n 1. A record of what passes in the night; a nightly journal.


I have always had such a fascination with the silence that is night. For me the world seems to stop, and I am alone, alone with my thoughts, my feelings, my insecurities, wrapped within the warmth of my bed. Besides the occasional rain, the only noise that I hear, is the steady breathing of my dog. It is then that the most amazing ideas seem to manifest in my mind. It is then that I am the most free to HEAR my own thoughts.

While laying in bed the other night, I wondered about all the people, near and far, dreaming, thinking, crying, tossing and turning, thinking. Who are they? What passes through their head’s at night?

I’ve decided to find out, and that’s where you come in. I’m asking for a moment of your time, for your thoughts, for your emotion, for your honesty. I have no idea how large this series of images will be. All that I know is, this project is something I want to do, and I’m hoping that your sheer curiosity and that fact that I know that I’m not the only one who lay’s awake at night thinking will compel you to join me in this project.

If you want to be a part of this sort of documentary experience through words and images I ask you to write, please write for one week, every night, whatever comes to your mind. It can be one word, it can be a poem, it can be a full blow paragraph, it can be whatever you want it to be, I just want to know your thoughts, just for one week. After you’re done send them to me via mail, e-mail, facebook, text, whatever is most convenient for you. After I receive it I’m going to read through them and create a concept shoot based on each persons individual text. I know not all of you are in the bay area, however I travel to LA and other parts of SoCal frequently, and I have no problem coming to where you are in order to shoot this. In return for your time and words, each person will receive their own custom print.

The Deadline for completion of your Noctuary is March 31st.

I will also be posting my own Noctuary and Image on March 24th.

Feel free to e-mail me or call with your questions at Krystaldz@gmail.com

Join Noctuary HERE- http://touch.facebook.com/?w2m#/event.php?eid=210654565614685

Location Lighting

Here's a shot from my recent location lighting class. Enjoy !

Duplication

I'm taking a conceptual class this semester. Our first assignment was to duplicate one of out favorite photographs. Of course I choose something difficult :)

Here is the original by Chema Madoz





Here is mine.

The Journey

Here it is! My color final, after hours and hours of editing for just three minutes of video. Enjoy

Woof Woof

I've been swamped with projects! Up to my eyeballs I tell ya. Here are my shots from my visualization class, the project- expected and unexpected.

A Little Model Behavior

Chair

The title says it all, project- take a picture of a chair. And here it is !


© Krystal Donovan Photography 2010