Godman.

Tag: photography

  • Bushwick Open Studios

    Bushwick Open Studios

    Today I was featured on the Arts In Bushwick blog for Bushwick Open Studios, which I am participating in this year for two days in what I’m calling Metaphysical Delight. Come on by my studio if you’d like Friday or Saturday. Info here.

    Below are the questions I answered for them, but also check it out on their site.

    AIB: What are five hashtags that describe your work?
    JG: #abstract #transformation #decay #life #jamesgodman

    AIB: What is your artist origin story?
    JG: My art practice started with me as a teen, airbrushing t-shirts in a local mall down the street from my high school in Evanston, Illinois, where people from all walks of life would bring me photographs to reproduce by hand on various apparel. Looking back now, its quite clear that this careful study of photographic images led me to fall in love with photography and use it extensively in my work.

    AIB: What is your favorite medium right now and why do you love it?
    JG: After much experimentation and work, I’m happy with the processes I use to create my work.

    AIB: What is on the horizon for your work in the next year?
    JG: In the coming year, I will be furiously creating work and sharing it with a wider audience.

    AIB: How has being in Bushwick influenced your work?
    JG: Bushwick is an amazing place to live and work. I see and interact with vernacular architecture, surfaces, and people that work their way into my work one way or another. The surrounding sounds also contribute.

    AIB: What Bushwick artists do you admire and why?
    JG: I admire all Bushwick residents and world residents that are doing their thing, working hard, and helping others.

    AIB: Tell us your most memorable exchange during Bushwick Open Studios.
    JG: Me: Tell me more about this piece. Fellow artist whose name I’ve forgotten: Thats life itself.

    AIB: If a movie is made about your life, who would play you?
    JG: A phytoplankton.

    AIB: If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?
    JG: My Mother, because she is the best.

    AIB: What is the future New York Times headline about you?
    JG: James Godman, dead at 107 years old.

    AIB: Was there something you want to share that was not asked?
    JG: Thanks for supporting artists in our community and beyond!

  • Godman at Drexel University

    Godman at Drexel University

    Film, Photography, and Animation Production Experts James Godman to Speak at Drexel University

    New York, NY (PRWEB) July 27, 2016

    James Godman will speak to eager students on the state of animation and film production today, how to best prepare for a career as a creative, and present some examples of recent projects. The pair will then field questions from students.

    The talk will take place at Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. on July 27th, 2016. This event has been arranged by Bernard Falkoff, Associate Professor, Drexel University.

    About James Godman
    Both a director and an artist, James Godman thrives at the intersection of art, technology, and business. Known for creating unique and highly effective visuals, Godman’s extraordinary career has led to successful commercial projects for many international brands including Bank of America, Holiday Inn, McDonald’s, Pillsbury, and Sony Entertainment.

    Godman uses his masterful storytelling ability to create memorable campaigns. His thoughtful approach yields striking and emotive lifestyle imagery that captures the milestones of life, family and friends, dreams for the future, and the graceful simplicity of everyday experiences.

    Godman’s award-winning talent has earned him the loyalty of numerous clients and agencies worldwide. He believes that strong production is about removing the unknown so those magic moments on set are allowed to flourish and be perfectly captured. His experienced staff is dedicated to excellence for each and every production.

  • Flash Duration

    Flash Duration

    Back when I taught college photography classes, I would force my students to do some practical flash duration comparisons. Why? Because flash duration is a very important thing to consider when choosing the right lights to make images. If the assignment requires moving fashion models, jumping athletes, or any other action, then the best choice for capturing sharp images are units that have short flash duration. Simply put, flash duration is the amount of time that the flash is on, typically between 1/200th and 1/3,000th of a second, but these vary widely with the amount of power output and type of flash unit. So please compare the flash durations at full power when shopping for or renting strobes. Shorter flash duration is the best choice for freezing motion.

    The image above was lit with some old Elinchroms, one 250R (flash duration at 250 watt seconds = 1/6200th) and one 500r (flash duration at 500 ws = 1/4000th). Its nice and sharp!

    And another of a pizza guy throwing that dough!

  • Joshua Cody Shoot

    Joshua Cody Shoot

    Two weeks ago, over a few wonderfully poured Guinness in the preferred TriBeCa watering hole, Joshua Cody and I started talking, and after a comfortable Midwest bred exchange that ranged from girls to tennis to Gerhard Richter, we had a friendship. A few days later I made some portraits of Joshua at my home away from home in SoHo (thanks Mark and Bonnie). The only idea I had going into the session was to project a movie on his face. Everything else was spontaneous, and therefore probably worked better. Joshua is a gifted writer and director, and in fact he just signed with William Morris Endeavor, the best literary agency in the world.

    We shot for about an hour:

  • My Grandfather’s Pictures

    My Grandfather’s Pictures

    With a certain curiosity and reverence, I started scanning my grandfather’s negatives awhile back and I’m delighted to share a few of them now. I’d always known that my father’s family struggled quite a bit while living on the South side of Chicago in the 1920’s and 30’s, but through a long overdue conversation with my father, I learned that my grandfather, Lawrence Hensil Godman, always managed to keep a job, even through the depression years.  He worked in the parts department of Ford Motor Company at 12600 S Torrence Avenue in Chicago (which surprisingly is still a Ford assembly plant) and then during the war, built aircraft engines for the B-29 in the Dodge plant at 7401 S Cicero Ave, which was the largest free span factory in the United States, and was later used by Preston Tucker to build his infamous Tucker ’48.

    My grandfather started making pictures for the same reason most people do, to document family, friends, and daily life, and thankfully the activity was passed on to my father and then me. When I look at these images I feel a strong sense of wonder and kinship for someone I never knew. A kinship not just as family, but also knowing that nearly a century ago my grandfather was making photographs as I do now: observing, chasing light, arranging people, hurried before an opportunity escapes, fiddling with the camera, and maybe even forgetting the lens cap was on for a few exposures. And at times, surely with a windswept brow and dangerously cold hands in a brutal Chicago winter. I hope you enjoy my grandfather’s pictures.

    South Side Beach, Chicago circa 1923
    Unknown subjects
    The Wrigley Building, North Michigan Ave., Chicago circa 1921
    Esther in Jackson Park, Chicago 1920
    From the train, circa 1921
    Unknown boy, 1926
    My Great Grandmother Parks, 1930
    Michigan, August 21, 1928

     

  • Modern Craft

    Modern Craft

    Modern Craft was kind enough to feature some of my work, and they asked me a few questions.

    I had the pleasure of meeting artist James Godman recently. Godman is both a photographer and a painter. His pieces are beautiful and provocative. I asked him about his work and here are some excerpts from our exchange:

    What inspires you?
    What inspires me to create is a general belief that the experience of making art is at once philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic. It fascinates me to see the kind of self-assembly that takes place when I touch a thinned acrylic to a thinned oil. My painting is informed by my photography and vice-versa. I do both because I love both and am passionate about imagery. A line of tar in the street, that was applied without aesthetic intent and only to delay inevitable decay, may be very beautiful and inspirational.

    What do you look for?
    With my photography, I try to make images that have a certain timelessness and universality. Sometimes I’m trying to enhance and share the feeling I get and the sounds I hear when I am in a particular place, rather than just capturing what is there. Of course, commercial and editorial photography projects contain certain requirements, and this can be limiting, but I always try to put as much of myself in the work as possible.

    Do you like digital photography as much as shooting film?
    I think digital is really cool and amazing, and I use it quite a bit, especially for commercial projects. But at this point in its evolution, I do find digital limiting for several reasons. I generally prefer the tonal transitions of film. Also, I have encountered many different types of technical problems with many different digital cameras, including color fringing, which consists of a pink line that occurs around subjects, especially in back lit situations.

    Also, I generally love the look of a larger piece of film including 4×5, and I believe that instant capture digital is at the moment confined to the smaller side of medium format. But I was able to get some great images in the more controlled setting of my studio. Digital is just another option to consider.

    Where can we see your work?
    Lensmodern.com is a wonderful site that is both an online gallery for print sales, and a source for licensing imagery of some really terrific photographers. Its quite unique in this regard, and the imagery is very high quality. I’m proud that the founders invited me to join.