Lanterns For Japan

Last night was the culminating event for Multicultural Heritage Month at Eastern Illinois University.  The disaster awareness event, Lanterns For Japan, to benefit the March tsunami and earthquake victims, successfully raised money which will be sent to Japan through the Salvation Army.  The Lanterns For Japan project featured 799 white and red paper bags, each with a scoop of sand and a candle, arranged along the concrete steps in the EIU quad.  The resulting image of the Japanese flag softly flickering in the evening was quite beautiful.  We were honored to be requested as the event photographer.  Thank you to all those who participated in making Lanterns For Japan a successful endeavor.   

Nathan Bassett - Spray Paint Artist

Nathan Bassett of "Nathan's Spray Monay" was the featured artist at the 2011 Celebration: Festival of the Arts at Eastern Illinois University. He amazed crowds with his unique and impressive art, creating other-worldly paintings with spray paint in just minutes.  It is hard to imagine how spray paint as a medium can provide so much specificity and detail on a 16x22 canvas, but Nathan achieves the unthinkable.  Check out this video we created featuring his spectacular talent!

More footage and images of his exhibition at the 2011 Celebration coming soon!  

Check back with us!

Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars at EIU

As the headlining act of the EIU Celebration 2011, The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars really brought down the house.  With their unmistakable West African sound, their bright smiles and costumes, and their message of happiness, they transformed a traditional concert hall into a foot-stomping, arm-waiving, reggae festival.  The Doudna Fine Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University was only the 2nd stop on the US leg of their 'Positive Revolution Tour'.  By the end of the show, strangers were dancing with each other in the aisles (and some were dancing on the stage), everyone was smiling, and the energy was buoyant. 

Here are some of my favorite images from The Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars Concert...

EIU Celebration Weekend had a lot going on, so check back over the next few days for more photos from the festivities!

Thanks for visiting!

Central Illinois in Black and White

Over the weekend we took a drive north of Paris to enjoy the amazing spring weather and to play with our new Canon 60Ds!  The high contrast light and impressive clouds really complimented the variety of textures we found along way -- these conditions also lend themselves very well to Black and White Photography.  Here are a few of our favorites from the day... 

The 60Ds have been really fantastic for us so far -- both in our Style in Indianapolis shoot last week, and on our country drive.  Keep an eye out later in the week for a review of the new cameras!