July 2010
4 posts
Sparklers
Took this on July 4th, it makes me happy to look at.
Kim & Justin
Rita and I headed up to Charlotte to take some engagements of Kim and Justin. They are absolutely hilarious and we had a great time exploring and shooting. I love shooting in new cities; being unfamiliar with the area is a challenge but also opens up new potential creativity.
“I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs...”
– Stephen Colbert
June 2010
8 posts
George & Alexis
George and Alexis are old friends who are about to go overseas to do awesome stuff. I was honored that they asked me to shoot some photos of them before they head out.
Photo Site Update
I made a bunch of updates to my photography web site, www.michaelcosta.net. I added a bunch of fresh pictures and expanded more on my strengths while eliminating some weaker stuff. I decided that whittling away unnecessary photos and projects probably improves the overall quality of the site and enhances the experience of the viewer. One change I am trying is to mix lots of different projects or...
Some more favorites from Megan and Chris’s shoot.
Megan & Chris
Just shot some engagement pictures for Megan and Chris this weekend in the Old Village in Mt. Pleasant, SC. I haven’t gone through all of them, but picked out a few I’ve worked on that I really like. It was like 100 degrees outside but they didn’t sweat a drop and were patient with me while I had to wipe my sweat a million times!
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your...”
– John Wooden
May 2010
4 posts
Mary Norton
I was lucky enough to shoot accessory designer Mary Norton in her awesome home for the cover feature for summer. She designs purses and shoes for tons of celebrities. Her house was ridiculously awesome. Beth Ables would love it.
Jenny Bridals
I had a great time a while back hanging out with Jenny and her friends and taking some bridal portraits for her. She picked an awesome area in North Carolina near Charlotte to take these pictures, and she and Tanner got married there as well. Congrats guys!
Kitchen in Kiawah
From a shoot I did a while back in Kiawah for Hostetler Custom Cabinetry.
I’ve been experimenting with minimal internet usage the past few months. There’s something freeing about pretending it’s 1996 again. After getting married, going on a honeymoon, moving, unpacking, and designing and shooting nearly an entire 180 page magazine in two and a half weeks, I begin to forget what I used to fill my time with. At first, I wondered what internet gems my...
March 2010
1 post
“Ringo’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles.”
– John Lennon, when asked if he thought Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world
February 2010
7 posts
Why have I never known how awesome/disturbing Skittles commercials are?
“Sometimes asking the right question is better than having the right answer.”
– Barbara Brown Taylor
Lulie & Harrison
I love shooting engagements for people I know. Lulie and Harrison are fun goofy people like me and that always makes for a fun time. Lovely day, lovely couple.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss...”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
Conflict
A portrait I took of my roommate Matt. Part of a series I worked on this winter called “Conflict.”
Kitchen Product Shots
I had today off work so I set up a little studio in the kitchen so I could practice for a product photography shoot I have in a couple of weeks. I hung the sheet, pulled out the flashes, but then realized I didn’t really have anything in mind to shoot.
Here is a bottle of rum my roommate has had forever and never drank.
Then I grabbed my Diana camera.
Here’s my beloved...
January 2010
1 post
2009 Favorites
2009 has come and gone. It was a tough year for a lot of people, and judging by Facebook statuses it appears that I might have been the only person that had a pretty decent year. I wish everyone a hopeful 2010. Be strong, work hard, have faith, and live for something.
I was reflecting this morning on some of my favorite things of 2009 and decided to make a little list. It’s pretty random...
December 2009
1 post
November 2009
4 posts
“If there’s a target in our present society, it’s people not willing to change...”
– Stephen Colbert
Kings of Convenience - Freedom and its Owner
from...
Jenny & Tanner
Jenny & Tanner were great to shoot, they are one of the coolest couples I have ever met. They were up for hopping in the car and exploring, which is my favorite way to do engagements. It was a perfect day in a perfect place. I love Charleston more and more every day I live here.
October 2009
3 posts
Kalyn & Isiee
Isiee was in town for just a few weeks to get married before he had to ship back out to South Korea. They are an incredible couple.
Influence
A couple of years ago, I shot a Shinedown concert for a local radio station in Charleston. It was in a big dirty music hall. The crowd was mostly rough grunge dudes, goths, or hipsters. The place was 95 degrees and reeked of weed and BO. I’m not a huge fan of the band (they can write some decent rock songs) but there was a moment in that show that stayed with me. Between songs, while the...
Rita and I Went Swimming!
Point of water impact:
Point of high-five impact:
Thanks to Matt and Beth Ables for rocking out the awesome photography. You should check out our obligatory wedding web site also. It is RitaAndMichaelCosta.com!
September 2009
5 posts
“Be generous with ideas. Ideas are not property—you can reap great benefits when...”
– Milton Glaser (speaking about design)
Kings of Convenience
Kings of Convenience have been some of my favorite songwriters for several years now. Everything about this Norwegian duo’s music is intricate. They tell detailed stories through their lyrics. They weave guitar parts together with one nylon strong guitar and one steel string. The harmonies work together so well, it’s usually difficult to tell what is the melody and what is harmony.
...
Here’s some stuff from a new series I’ve been working on. The only problem is, I can’t think of a name for this project. I need something really awesome. Any ideas?
Pull Your Kids Out of School Today!
God forbid they hear garbage from the President today like this:
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know...
August 2009
2 posts
Iron & Wine - Serpent Charmer
from Around the...
July 2009
2 posts
This dude’s name is Anthony. I met him on the street in downtown Charleston and we talked and hung out for a while. He told me some messed up stuff but he was really nice.
Chicago
Rita and I just returned from a great trip to Chicago. Saw some old friends and made some new ones too. While I we were in the airport waiting for our flight, I decided to sharpen up on my guerilla photography skills.
June 2009
9 posts
Paper Route - Enemy Among Us
from the new album...
Recent Interior Shots
Product Photography
Another form of photography that fascinates me is product photography. It’s very difficult to get a professional look with limited resources. Most people build an entire white box to shoot in, but I haven’t done that. I don’t even use soft boxes, I use umbrellas (cheaper and more convenient, though they have their drawbacks). So depending on what I’m shooting, I have to rig...
I Put Out a Fire!
Last weekend my pal Johnny and me were sitting around the house, trying to be as unproductive as possible. Suddenly we smelled smoke and knew something was going on. It wasn’t the normal burned pizza smoke smell, it was the “your stuff is on fire” smoke smell. We looked out the window and saw that our neighbor’s big green roll out to the street trash can was a giant...
Big News!
So at work I have this binder that I put all my important stuff in: contracts, notes, designs, stuff like that. I was getting so much stuff in there that I decided I needed a new binder. One that can handle anything I throw its way. One that will laugh at all the crap I want to store in it and say, “bring it on,” then thank me for playing and send me a free t-shirt. I found that...
Portraits
I stayed busy shooting a lot of portraits this spring, mostly for the magazine. We had a feature called “Charleston’s Most Influential People.” I had to find a fine line between making the portraits look professional and magazine worthy but not too dramatic or artsy. I used a strobe off a silver umbrella or two for most of these, but lately I’ve started getting into turning...
Over the past year, I’ve disappointed myself...
