My First TV Commercial...

This is a pretty exciting week for me... my very first produced-all-by-myself TV commercial is airing! I am shooting a short series (3?) of :30 spots to promote ASAP - the Appalachian Sustainable Agricultural Project and MTMA - the Mountain Tailgate Market Association. We are highlighting different farms in the area, folks who sell their food at the tailgate markets. The first farmers profiled are the good folks at Flying Cloud Farm. Annie and her kiddo's were fantastic and Isaiah was the force unseen. Galen Kipar of Asheville, a musician who's played many a tailgate market, supplied the awesome tunes.

Shot on a 5D with a crew of me I learned one thing well, the sucker is not easy to use. One day soon Canon will shove their APS-C sized CMOS sensor into an actual video housing, and that day will be a good day.

Please leave feedback... there is nothing better than good old-fashioned constructive criticism.

My Printed Portfolio...

Just found an interesting website, ISSUU.com, that lets you upload and "publish" a PDF... I embedded it in my website HERE and am now doing so on my blog too. This is the most recent update to my printed portfolio, the one I mail to folks I want to work for. I've got some cool shoots coming up in the coming weeks, included the former governor of SC, so this sucker will be updated regularly... but here it is for now. What do you think?

The Art Of Fashion...

Who would a' thunk it... Me shooting fashion? Well it happened... and it was a whole lot of fun and didn't turn out half bad.

The shoot was for G Magazine... The editor, Jack Bacot, came to me with the idea of combining fashion and art... in the sense that we'd actually stage the shoot in an art museum. The initial plan was to use the galleries of Bob Jones University... they claim their museum to be "recognized as the finest collection of religious art in America." It is in fact amazing. When asked, they said no... for obvious reasons.

The Greenville County Museum of Art, on the other hand, was willing to assist and absolutely amazing to work with. Mary McCarthy, the media relations director, and her fellow employees were more than helpful. There were some really neat works of art which provided fantastic accompaniment and contrast.

I had some awesome folks backing me up... Mary Ann Sudnick and Taryn Scher styled the whole thing... They were crucial in the selection and pairing of the clothing to the art pieces. Karen West came in from Charlotte for the hair and makeup. These images are as much theirs as they are mine.

Matt Tierney, Paul Mehaffey, Sally Morris, and Jay Vaughn were also more than crucial to the entire project... a big thanks to everyone. You can see the rest of the images and the story here at G's Website.

See more HERE!

New Website!!!

Guess what, folks? I just launched my new website! I did every little ounce of design and coding myself, and I am looking for your feedback... honest critique, please, not just typos. If you hate it, just say so, and tell me what you hate.

Some of the galleries (especially in the world-map area) still need to be updated, and some of the full-screen features aren't working as they should. If you run into any other technical flaws, please holler!

Visit: patrickcavanbrown.com

Commercial, Editorial, Portrait, Documentary Photographer... Asheville NC, Greenville SC, Charlotte NC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA...

Thanks!!!!!

Meet the Pearsons...

Meet the Pearsons... Richard and Alison. Richie is one of my best buddies from Brooks and last weekend he married a stunning and magnificent young lady.
In my eyes, most PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT ART... but Richie is an artist, in the truest sense of the word.
These pics were taken in Charleston a few months back... it rained on us just about the whole weekend, but boy was it fun!

Richie + Alison = Love 4ever

Meet Kimberly Johnson...

Meet Kimberly Johnson... Kim is a freelance journalist specializing in Conflict and Environmental stories. We've only worked together once so far, a feature on CU-ICAR, but the piece came out fantastic... I've been posting tidbits of it now and then... so far here and here... Full story here.

Kim got married a few days ago... this is her bridal portrait. She asked me to shoot it, and despite not having shot a bride in at least 5 years, I jumped at the opportunity to help her out. Kim marches to a different drummer (a better, more talented and creative drummer)... she chose red for her dress, and her Beau chose black overalls... a cool crowd they are. Thankfully, I was able to easily talk Kim into rock-hopping through the Saluda River. A precarious balancing act, slippery rocks, very cold water, one umbrella and two strobes later, we had a really cool shot...

...and I found an awesome pro lab down in Greenville, TNT Color Lab, who did a fantastic job with the printing... it's nice to have good folks around...

Holy Smokes! Bird Helmet Cam!!!

Someone emailed this to me, and it has to be shared... amazing! Just wait until the technology gets really good. A Falconer, Jose Luis Ortiz, from who-knows-where, strapped a video camera to his eagle... that's right, HIS EAGLE! I recommend starting the video at around the 5 minute mark... the music gets good and the bird-of-pray starts flying very fast. To see more, click here.

Can You Hear It?

Sounds like BS to me... I can hear it just fine, and I'm not a teenager anymore... unfortunately.

Photoshop Disaster - Vanity Fair & Leibovitz, Really?

First of all, let me state, I find nothing wrong with compositing images ("photoshopping" - for all you nobodies) for an editorial shoot.... and I have nothing but respect and admiration for Annie Leibovitz, even if she has used a sub-par lens (unlike some, who will remain nameless). This isn't adding smoke to Beirut, or missiles to the Iranian fleet. This is only doctoring a portrait to make it look better... totally legal and crossing no ethical bounds in my mind. Just please, if you are Vanity Fair and Annie Leibovitz, do a better job and don't make Sam Mendes wear only one sleeve of his jacket while holding his wife Kate Winslet..... although maybe it was a just a test to see if we would notice... I've done that myself.

For the record: I'd bet a pack of rechargeable AAs that Leibovitz had nothing to do with the composite and didn't even know about the goof until recently.... that woman is much too busy making a higher day-rate than I ever will.

An admitted and obvious (Heath Ledger is actually dead) Leibovitz composite...

Beirut:

Iran:

What's the Hap? - View from my chair

What is happening right now (via iPhone)...

Sophie Cat...

Merry Christmas Everyone...

SAS 2009 World Calendar - Get Yours!!!

Yet another calendar... everyone needs one, eh?

End the hassle that is shopping... order these now for everyone you know!!!

This version is comprised of various different images from various different countries... including Vietnam, Burma, Iceland, Hong Kong, Poland, Spain, Egypt, India, and Japan.

Follow the links below to preview and purchase.


Premium Calendar - $36.33 - 12 months, 13.5" x 19"

Standard Calendar - $24.99 - 12 months, 11" x 8.5"

Burma - Calendar of Support

I've put together a few high quality wall calendars for the new year. This version contains images from Burma shot just prior to the military crackdown. A portion of the proceeds from each calendar sold will go directly to The US Campaign for Burma.

Follow these links to preview or purchase the wall calendar.



Burma - Premium $36.33 - 12 months, 13.5" x 19"

Burma - Standard $24.99 - 12 months, 11" x 8.5"

Portraits of Hope - Calendar of Support

I've put together a few calendars for the new year... (great gifts for those "what-the-heck-should-I-get" folks)

...the first is comprised of images from my Portraits of Hope series... images of orphans from around the world. A portion of the proceeds will directly benefit the House of Hope in Haiti.

Click on the links below to view a preview of the images or purchase the calendar.



Premium Calendar - $36.33 - 12 months, 13.5" x 19"

Standard Calendar - $24.98 - 12 months, 11" x 8.5"

Burma - The Power of a Crop

I was digging through my Burma gallery in Lightroom, trying to come up with a few new images for a Support Burma calendar I'm making, and stumbled across a pretty lame image that, once cropped, wasn't half bad... Due to the now low resolution, I had to bump it up a bit in Photoshop... it's staring into these faces that make the pic worthwhile.

Bent Creek Lodge

There are times (many) in photographers' lives when they don't get to shoot what they want to be shooting... whether it be weddings, trinkets, head shots, buildings, or (insert your least favorite things here)... One can only hope that during those times the monotony or displeasure can be displaced by something special: humor, coworkers, money, whatever it happens to be. At times I shoot Bed and Breakfasts for $$... it is usually the owners of these Mom & Pop Shops that make my day... as is the case with Bent Creek Lodge and Doug Sellers. His previous life was much like my own... outdoor awareness, kayaking, teaching... now he lives in the mountains and runs a B&B with his wife. Cheers to Doug!

Hamster On A Piano

It's been a while since I've updated this thing... been busy... things are slowing down a bit now, so to celebrate (or grieve) I am kicking November off right... Enjoy.

James Nachtwey Needs Your Help :: TED

James Nachtwey and TED need your help. In 2007 Nachtwey won the TED Prize, and on October 3 he will be revealing the documentary photography project he has been producing as a result of winning that prize. Nachtwey has asked for help from the digital community in breaking this news story. Follow the links above and below for more info.... or revisit this blog on Oct 3rd.

End of Days...

Welcome to the End of Days (4 years early)... This is why I've got a Ron Paul sticker on my truck. There are a thousand videos out there like this, Ron Paul saying what we need to hear, this is just one of the most recent. We may be about to get 4 years of Obama, but when you're playing Grapes of Wrath games someday soon, remember to vote for The Revolution of 2012.

New Website (again!!!)

Well, I did it again... I rebuilt my website, again... I needed a faster way to update the galleries, so I am going with a Slideshow Pro plugin for Adobe Lightroom. The actual site itself I built in Dreamweaver. In the past I build the galleries with Flash, but that proved too tedious to update regularly. The Slideshow Pro plugin is adequate, but not perfect.

There may be a few bugs... I'd love to hear from you if you find them!

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