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January 27, 2012 by Michael

Salon: Strictly Local – Post Show Wrap-up

I am neither stoned, nor arrogantly smug, so I don't know what's going on with my face.

Wow. Last nights show was pretty overwhelming. 75 Artists. The show was packed for most of the evening so I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I didn’t think you needed to see several shots of the backs of peoples heads. From what I could tell, paintings were the biggest submission for this show. My friend Eugenia Mancini Horan had three pieces in the show herself, and I think you should go take a look at her work, I adore it.

A rather small turn-out for photography, but that was alright by me – I look at photography everyday, it’s always nice to see works in other media. I’m looking forward to going back down and going through everything at a slower pace. There were so many people last night that it was difficult to see everything and really appreciate each piece.

If you get a chance, I hope you’ll take the time to stop by the The Tech Garden at 235 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY and see all the great Art on display. Gallery hours are from 9-4 Monday through Friday, and extended hours on Friday from 5pm-8pm. Were you at the show last night? Leave some feedback in the comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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January 25, 2012 by Michael

Art Show – Salon: Strictly Local

Tomorrow night is the opening reception for Salon: Strictly Local, an Art show that I’ll be a part of, along with many other local artists. Opening reception is tomorrow night (Thursday) from 5-7pm at the Tech Garden in Syracuse. I hope to see you all out there! Come on out and say “hi”! I’ll make sure to snap a few shots of my favorites and write a nice long blog post about the show – I’m long overdue for a decent sized blog post.

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December 28, 2011 by Michael

Anti-Valentine’s Photo Shoot

Tired of cliché roses and chalky candy hearts to show your beloved the intensity of your affections?

Looking for something a little…darker this Valentine’s Day?

Make your intentions clear with a little lust and a dash of danger. Beginning January 16 and running through the 20th, delve into love’s baser cravings with an anti-Valentine photo shoot. From the sinfully sinister to the playfully wanton, I can bring out the devilish cherub in you.
You bring the wardrobe reflecting your Valentine style, I’ll provide everything else to make this romantically devious interlude come alive. Black angel wings, fake blood, bloody hearts, and more reside in my arsenal of provocative props! Makeup and hairstyling is included in the package price to make you look your most seductive, risqué and steamy.

You will receive a black, faux leather, 5×7 album with 20 images of your choice. The total cost of this package is $375. A $50 non-refundable deposit is required to book your session. Call me today at 315-775-3887 to get started dreaming up your sensuous walk on the wild side!

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December 28, 2011 by Michael

Find your thing…

I don’t know if I’ve just been paying more attention to his blog recently or if his posts are somehow more relevant lately, but I’ve really been enjoying reading Chase Jarvis’ Blog a lot and he’s had some really good posts recently. So here’s another one really quick that hit home:

Find your thing and do that thing

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November 25, 2011 by Michael

Emaleigh the Deer

Recently took a trip to Geneseo for a shoot with my favorite makeup artist A Mandaline’s Makeup who sadly will be leaving the area in a few short months. So I contacted her about setting up a shoot – one last hurrah, as it were. And what a hurrah. We had no real concept other than “Let’s shoot, I’ll bring a bunch of stuff!” We brought Emaleigh, the model, on board and she helped us solidify a direction, asking to do something earthy and connected to nature. She also had a pretty amazing location. There are sometimes when going into a project with no concept is scary as all hell, and sometimes when it’s exciting and invigorating. This time was one of the latter. It’s exciting because since there’s no concept, everyone is envisioning something different – which has the potential to go very very wrong – but with personal work, that’s ok. Leaving the images room to breath and grow organically can be very rewarding in the end when all of these disparate elements coalesce into something tangible that wows everyone involved. The key to making something like that work and not devolve into a chaotic mess, is to work with people who know their job and whom you can trust. I’ve worked with Amanda, the makeup artist several times and so I knew I could trust her. And although this was the first time I had shot with Emaleigh, it took all of two seconds before I knew she was someone who could handle herself.

So the final concept came together as the makeup was being done and on a whim Emaleigh suggests adding white dots to her cheekbones. After doing so, Amanda proclaims: “You’re a f*cking deer!” (She has a mouth – but she earns it). I had also just happened to have bought the deer skull the day before and thought it’d be cool, so I brought it with me. Ended up being a great prop and tied in with the theme really well.

Me and Emaleigh got to the location first and spent about an hour testing and exploring the location.

And one final experiment, catching the last few rays of sunlight left.

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November 17, 2011 by Michael

Melissa

Melissa was kind enough to swing by and fill in for a shoot that fell through. We got some great shots, and I got to try a few new techniques. Looking forward to expanding on these ideas…

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November 4, 2011 by Michael

Hana in clay

I really really wanted to sit down and write a long post about this shoot. Mostly because I loved the concept, and I was very pleased with the results. But when I sat down to write about this shoot, I realized that what I liked about it was so very intangible as to make it difficult to write about. For sure, I love the texture the clay creates on the models skin as well as the contrast of it all. But beyond that I’m having a hard time describing what it is that makes me love these shots so much. Too often I feel like what I like about an image is simply “it looks cool”, but that doesn’t tend to make for very interested blog posts, now does it?

It’s something I’d really like to work on some more – possibly take it out into a natural setting. I like the organic nature of the clay and the models poses. I think taking it outside will seal the deal for me. Of course, it’s something that’ll have to wait a few months at this point, but I’ll probably shoot some more in the studio and see where else I can go with this.

Thanks for viewing!

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September 30, 2011 by Michael

Sara – Nudes in the Studio

Shoot I did with Sara just before she left for the other side of the continent. Very glad I got to work with her before she left since she’s pretty much awesome. Her idea, my execution. Shot this alongside Laura Marino who helped out with makeup/hair and lent us use of her studio.

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September 5, 2011 by Michael

Update; and a new job

So, what has looked like a serious lull in activity at Michael J Huxley Photography Central has actually been a long period of prep work for several shoots that should finally be going down this month. I’m REALLY looking forward to what September has in store and I hope you are too. But first…I have some news to announce:

Starting this week, I will begin a new job assisting at April McClintock Photography!

“But wait,” you say, “why is this a good thing?”. I know, I know, it sounds all backwards – I own my own business, I shouldn’t be assisting. Poppycock, I say! Fact is, my business is still in it’s infancy and is growing slowly but steadily. At the stage I’m at, it’s easy for me to schedule shoots around a normal working schedule. And owning my own business does not make me above learning more. There’s still so much I have to learn about photography – I plan on saying the same thing when I’m 80. I would never give up an opportunity to learn more about my craft, and this is a fantastic way to do it.

“But isn’t April your competition?” Well, no, not really. I mean, I don’t see it that way. April has a very distinct style. My work is very much different from hers. If you feel like some Italian, you don’t go to Red Lobster. You go to Olive Garden (we’ll leave the discussion of Olive Garden’s “Italian-ness” for another time). Olive Garden and Red Lobster aren’t competing – they serve different clients with different needs. Same thing with me and April. April is a good friend and I’m looking forward to starting to work with her.

If you’re interested in keeping tabs on what we’re working on, go friend April on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1749650729

Go ahead and send her friend requests, maybe if we inundate her we can get her to actually make a Page.

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July 7, 2011 by Michael

Just a Memory w/ Thrifter @ Fatboys in Watertown

Hey, welcome back, I hope you all had a fantastic 4th of July holiday weekend! I realize, it’s almost a whole other weekend again, but I have an excuse! I was busy editing my most recent live show, which was fantastic. Just a Memory (formerly Augustine) played with Thrifter at Fatboys this past weekend.

Thrifter, a band out of West Monroe, opened the evening. I’m not a music connoisseur nor am I “hip” to music genres exactly, but I would label them as a “College Radio” band and they reminded me a bit of Weezer. I really enjoyed their set – they all seem like really cool guys and they definitely had a “sound” without sounding derivative. I don’t always expect much from opening bands, but Fatboys seems to always deliver some very good talent.

Let me tell you a little about Just a Memory. They rock. ‘Nuff said. Ok, I’ll say more: It was a big holiday weekend and as such the crowd was pretty thin. Just a Memory played as if to a packed house. I didn’t feel like I was getting anything but the best out of this group. I kept squishing myself up against the stage because as I was watching them, it felt like I had a crowd at my back. Most of the time, when shooting bands it’s normal for the lead singer or maybe the lead guitarist to be fairly animated, but the rest of the group will stand stock still and stare down at their instruments as if the answers to the Universe are written on them. Every member of Just a Memory was animated and engaged with the crowd. Every. Member. As such they were both a sheer delight and also a pain in the ass to shoot. Focusing on any one person was difficult and I got a lot of blurry shots, but the ones I DID get were full of energy and passion. It was a challenge, for sure, but I think the same things that made it a challenge, also made the shots that much better.