I had the opportunity last week, through an assignment for the Chronicle of Higher Education, to spend a little time with Paul Debevec at Light Stage 5 at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) Graphics Lab in Marina Del Rey. Debevec is being honored with an Academy Award for his work in creating the animated faces in Avatar. His research has lead to some pretty significant advances in the realism of digital animation and has been utilized in such films as the Spiderman movies, Hancock, and Benjamin Button. The light stage he’s standing in is comprised of 156 LED lights that enable them to study the way light hits a face from every possible angle and then create a digital representation of it that looks as close as any animation has ever looked to real. It’s also a really fun place to make a portrait. The face in the third photo is “Digital Emily,” an early animation made using the same stage. And the puzzle is made from a photo of Light Stage 6, which is held at another location and is now being used to create full body animations. His research makes me feel like I know absolutely nothing about light, but is really interesting. You can view some samples of his work at www.debevec.org

Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Backstage during Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Last week was quite fashion-heavy, with Thursday spent doing an all-day editorial fashion shoot up in Simi Valley and Friday night spent shooting the final night of Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Blvd. Both were done in collaboration with my friend Erika Stanley for her fashion website, SNOBStyle.tv, and will appear there soon. I’ll be sure to add links when they do. Although the editorial shoot came first I’m posting the Fashion Week images now, as it may be awhile before the first shoot publishes. We’re also hoping to publish it in a new upstart magazine, SoCal-Scene, with which Erika has recently become affiliated. More on that later.
For this event I stayed away from shooting the standard, down-the-runway shots in favor of shooting more of a behind-the-scenes piece. It was the second of two nights of Gen Art’s Fresh Faces in Fashion show and featured a variety of designers I’m not personally familiar with. I was really just curious to check out the scene. Fortunately, Erika was able to get me a backstage pass to facilitate this and I came away with some decent images. I surely outshot Ashton Kutcher at least.

Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Backstage during Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Backstage during Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Backstage during Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Fashion Week L.A. at the Petersen Automotive Museaum

Last week Erinn and I spent an afternoon trying to navigate the miles of unmarked trails that make up Griffith Park in northeast L.A., home to the “Hollywood” sign and Griffith Observatory, made famous in the climactic final scene of James Dean’s “Rebel Without a Cause.” Difficult to do, even with a map. But we made it back before dark (barely). Despite the sprawl of the city, one of the things we’re both loving about this town is the integration of urban and natural areas, such as the beaches, La Brea Tar Pits and Griffith Park, with its more than 53 miles of hilly hiking trails. Plenty to do!