Ivan Guzman Photography's Blog

Mass Grave

A Play In 8 Parts

I recently got this really nice crushed canvas berry background that i wanted to use for a shoot. The main reason i got it was to create new portraits using it to give that old style flare to my work. But There was nothing better than to use it on some new still life too. With the use of more wooden blocks and orbs, the artist drawing figure stood out to me in my studio.

With my new subject ready to perform for me, i was at a lost on what to do with him. But then it hit me, a play. So i got a few more figures and felt that i wanted to create a small play. The script sort of grew as the shots emerge out of order. But as i introduce the two dark figures i knew one simple thing. The main figure should be the only one to ever be fully lit and the others should always hide in the shadows since their role was to be observing the main character and meeting him towards his demise.

In This Twilight Portfolio Pieces

Its been a hot minute since I was able to do a new portfolio piece for my long-term personal project In This Twilight. What was even more fun was that I manage to do a few different angles of the set and toy to capture four different kinds of images for it. This was different than my usual standard of one per toy. I also was reusing the Halo toy for this set. 

For this shoot, I wanted to aim for something that involved the camoflauge of the toy to have the character be lost in a forest ready to snipe someone. I know, I tend to enjoy making forest scenarios. So after building the set I wanted to give it one fill light from above and one key light on the character. But after looking around for the placement, I knew that I could do more with this toy since I could move the arms and legs, unlike the other anime statues that only give me one pose. 

A new year, a new series with Legos

Every year brings new beginnings and ways to improve from the last. To continue to grow in my field and create some original artwork, I decide to explore the world of cinema-graph and make some stop motion with Legos.

I never had the chance of growing up playing Legos but man, are they fun little things. The concept I had was to start the series by having one lego model that will oversee building stuff for the year. It will be fundamental things that I could make. A car, a plane, a building, etc. The character will be the foreman of the world, and he will create the masterpieces while I documented it all in some stop motion and fun ways with the animation.

Where can I buy a figure to use for all of it? Thankfully there was a Lego Land in the burbs of Philly and a few weekends ago I decided to make the drive out there. After being amazed by all the selections, I found a pile of parts that I could use to make my little hero. To my surprise, they had a special of making three of them for $10, and with that, I made three. Now with three heroes, the concept changed a bit, but by much, it will still be building things and breaking things with a dash of adventure life thrown in for the three heroes.

I wanted to the first part of the series to be like portraits for the adventures we will see in the following series. A way to introduce them to the world and have them be a focal point but still having a bit of movement in the background, sort of like a title sequence in a cartoon.

Can't wait to share the next steps in the series in the next few weeks.