Kevin Twomey

Halloween was here and I remember the excitement of...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:25:08 -0800

Halloween was here and I remember the excitement of trick-or-treating as a kid. The costumes, the decorations and most importantly, the candy! I had a simple idea for a new video, two kids fighting over candy after a long night of trick-or-treating Halloween night. I sketched out a storyboard and was ready to go. I was able to use a cool new (to me) camera, the Sony NEX-FS700. This camera was instrumental in getting the slow motion shots we needed. I was very lucky to work with great actors, John Carrasco and Syn. Syn is a professional wrestler from the organization Big Time Wrestling at www.btwrestling.com. They made my storyboard come to life and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Enjoy!

Here is a little teaser about an upcoming video about candy,...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:51:25 -0700

Here is a little teaser about an upcoming video about candy, Halloween and how to play nice!

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” When it comes...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:50:24 -0700

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” When it comes to food, that saying won’t steer you wrong anywhere in Italy you happen to visit and enjoy a meal.

This past August I went to see the in-laws in northern Italy with my wife. We spent a week in the Alps eating, hiking and eating some more. I am a big proponent of eating home cooked meals and locally grown food and I am happy to report there was no shortage of either on my trip.

A mile up the road from my in-laws summerhouse, close to the town of Oltre il Colle, is an abandoned ski resort where a handful of cows graze at the granite peaked base of Monte Alben for the summer months. These cows belong to a local herder, Tobia. Tobia and his brother have lived amongst these mountains their whole lives. Things are much simpler than my current urban city life and it was good to see the old methods of doing things were just the present day routine for people in the surrounding villages.

We met Tobia and his brother as they were milking their cows. Sonoyo, my sister-in-law, gets her milk products from Tobia and thinks nothing of the daily errand that I found to be such a luxury. Tobia didn’t have any fancy milking machine, no weird tools or suction devices. A bucket and an old wooden stool to sit on was all that was required, go figure.

After a few introductions and a brief conversation about weather, health, family and how two of his cows will be turned into Bresaola this fall, Tobia took his bucket full of fresh milk and filled up Sonoyo’s liter bottle.

A few days later we went to Tobia’s house to buy cheese. The first thing I noticed was the breathtaking view surrounding his home. Lush green rolling hills as far as the eye can see, mountains upon mountains towering over on all sides. And the garden! He had a rich array of so many different kinds of vegetables, it was quiet a sight and put my town’s community garden to shame.

There was a separate room devoted to storing and aging Tobia’s home made cheese. He had some that was days old to a couple years and he wanted us to taste them all. We had our tasting and made some hard choices of what to schlep back to the states. We walked away with about a two month supply.

It was refreshing to see things done old school style with little fuss producing such high quality product. Tobia has been doing things the same way his father and his father’s father and so on and so forth. Generations not obsessed with doing better but instead knowing what works is sometimes the best way to do it.

I look at food as a still life challenge, asking myself how I...

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:35:51 -0700

I look at food as a still life challenge, asking myself how I would represent it in a way that stimulates the senses beyond the predictable “mmm, delicious”. How might I evoke an emotional, rather than salivary, response?
The gummy bear imagery emerged after toying with ideas for a holiday card a couple of years ago, where I explored the after-effects of destroying candy (mostly by smashing them to bits). Experimentally melting some pieces, I saw how beautiful they looked as their sugars liquified. That led to the microwaving of gummy bears, which then led to my seeking a more precise way of melting: the hair dryer. As I strategically melted the gummy bears for my still shots, I noticed how beautifully the thick liquid flowed. The dynamics were so compelling, I had to film them, not just melting to their demise, but in a way that celebrates the creation of the beloved candy.

Ice Cream and I have had a long love affair. I remember my dad...

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:45:45 -0700

Ice Cream and I have had a long love affair. I remember my dad piling us kids into his big chevy wagon after some little league type event and taking us to the popular east coast ice cream shop, Carvel. In addition to the incredible amount of sugar, I was drawn to the velvety texture of the ice cream and that draw kept me a dedicated and loyal fan to Carvel throughout my childhood. It wasn’t till my mid 20’s, while assisting on a shoot on Long Island, that I realized there was a whole big world of really good, if not gourmet, ice cream out there. Cream of the Hamptons was my introduction to extraordinary ice cream. This was not the simple ice cream of my childhood, it was creamer, richer, had more interesting flavors, and seemed to made with happiness. From that moment I became a searcher and seeker for truly wonderful ice cream. Cream of the Hamptons was a real game changer and that experience cemented my love affair with not just ice cream but exceptional happiness which seems to be the new commodity with specialty ice cream makers these days.

Here we take a little break from the dog days of summer for a couple of interviews with people talking about ice cream. While experimenting with the color during the editing process I couldn’t help but be a little influenced by the memory of those Carvel TV ads from the 70’s & 80’s

Thanks to the following people who helped me with creating this video:
DP: Marc Virata,
Camera Operator: Steven Powell
Sound: Kevin Crawford
Editing: Pete Fleming
Assistants: Alex Sammak & Ross McKnight.
Special Thanks to the local San Francisco ice cream company Three Twins for supplying the ice cream.

Ice Cream! Drug of Choice.

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:42:00 -0700

Ice Cream! Drug of Choice.

Are the sculptors of the ancient Greek Olympians rolling over in their grave?

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 13:06:00 -0700

With the storm of criticism over the portraits of the 2012 USA Olympic
athletes (click here for story) , I had to stand back for a moment and wonder who it was in theOlympic Committee that approves the creative direction and final imagery. Was is headed up by someone so green as to have had no idea how to go about producing a cohesive collection of beautiful photographs? Was the committee looking to find ways to cut budget numbers or time constraints?

One of the most important factors in successfully producing a cohesive set of images is consistency. Right from the start, the decision to use multiple photographers created a consistency-management issue that was clearly not addressed by the Olympic committee. Success would have required combining clear creative direction, a great producer, and the right photographers and crew.

Still within all of the chaos of trying to capture portraits at a Media Summit , the image of Wallace Spearmon by Victoria Will shines.

http://www.victoriawill.com/

Along with giving the website a face lift, we have a sampling of...

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:39:58 -0700

Along with giving the website a face lift, we have a sampling of images from a recent project.

In April, I went down to LA to shoot a paper sculpture, 16’ in diameter, build by Jeff Nishinaka, an incredibly talented, world-renown artist. It took 8 months to build, days to construct and shoot but only minutes to burn.

Bulwark is a company that makes flame-resistant apparel and the metaphor was simple. This beautiful structure, made only of paper, is no less fragile than life.

“Because people aren’t fireproof.”

It was a glorious site watching the structure crumble under the flames and I had a great time hanging with the artist and all the wonderful people from Bulwark and Fitzgerald + CO.

Circadian Rhythms: The Timekeepers WithinWas gifted with working...

Wed, 30 May 2012 16:02:10 -0700

Circadian Rhythms: The Timekeepers Within
Was gifted with working with Nissa Quanstrom on this shoot for Proto Magazine about sleep, metabolism and night owls. As always, Nissa pulled through and was able to locate these wonderful parts and gears under a very tight deadline. Thanks again Nissa!

Photographing a Pelican for Fuse book cover - behind the...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:46:00 -0700

Photographing a Pelican for Fuse book cover - behind the scenes.

A few captures with the iPhone by Dan & Alex while shooting Neptune, the pelican, for the cover art of Julianna Baggott’s Novel, Fuse

4/14/2012 update

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:47:46 -0700

The last few months have been busy filled with gigs and personal projects which has caused me to slack off on my blog. My most recent gig took me Long Beach, shooting at Southbay Studios. Images of what was shot to come in a month, but here is a shot of the space we rented for a couple of days.
After the shoot, I had decided to take my time driving back to San Francisco and capture some some imagery of the landscape along i-5 in between the storms that blew across the central valley this past Friday.

My “Calculating Machines” series continues to be picked up...

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:36:12 -0700

My “Calculating Machines” series continues to be picked up by various design related blogs.

Yesterday, the series was featured by Fast Company’s Co. Design.

Click here to go to the site.

One of my recent assignments was with Bicycling magazine,...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:15:19 -0800

One of my recent assignments was with Bicycling magazine, photographing head tube badges. Before the project I had never taken much notice because most of todays badges are merely stick-on decals of the company’s logo, like the one on my Gunnar. The attention that was given to creating these badges was quite amazing, as seen in the opening spread of the story.

Most of the badges in the story came from collector Jim Langley, who is very passionate about anything to do with bicycles. He has been collecting badges since the late 1970’s and now has approximately 600 of them dating from the 1880’s to current day.

After the shoot, I went online to do a little more head tube research and found some people filling the void by creating their own badges. One bicycle shop in Maryland, The Bicycle Escape, created badges out of bottle caps. Another was a Star Wars Stormtrooper with what looked like a Hello Kitty bow.

So now when someone pulls up next to me on a bike, instead of checking out their components, I’ll be looking for a nice head badge.

We made this behind the scenes video while creating my latest ...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:28:19 -0800

We made this behind the scenes video while creating my latest promotional piece of exploding water balloons. We had a blast using a couple of GoPro Cameras and lots of balloons.

Delicious candy? Modern glass lighting fixture? It’s colored...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:04:00 -0800

Delicious candy? Modern glass lighting fixture? It’s colored water, captured at 1/6,000 of a second just after the latex shell has exploded but before the water has completely lost its shape of the balloon.

This year’s theme for me has been all about the dandelion....

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:43:00 -0800

This year’s theme for me has been all about the dandelion. Photographing it, blogging about it, trying it as a salad for the first time and putting it on the front of my holiday card. So, I thought I’d milk the dandelion theme one more time before closing out 2011.

I received an email from a native Japanese friend who was replying to my Holiday wishes and she said, “Reminds me that I should clean my ear canal”. I laughed at her reply, thinking of the beloved Japanese ear cleaning tool, Mimikaki.

At one end of this tool is a tiny spoon to scoop out the wax and at the other end is the white fluffy ball, usually made form a bird’s feather to scoop out what ever the spoon didn’t grab.

I was brought up with the saying, ” Don’t put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear”, so when I was introduced to the Mimikaki, I cringed at the thought of a wooden spoon entering my ear. If i was to attempt this act, I would need to have a 6 foot clearance all around me.

For those of you who are really curious about the science behind the westerner’s wet vs the easterner’s dry ear wax, please read this October 2010 article from Discover Magazine.

Wishing everybody a Happy Holiday and safe 2012!

A few years ago, artists from Emeryville were asked to create...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:58:00 -0800

A few years ago, artists from Emeryville were asked to create imagery base on the theme of “Flora & Fauna”. 9 artists, including myself, were selected and their work has been exhibited on Bus Shelters throughout the city, for the pat 2 years. My images will be exhibited through January 2012.

Last month while at a restaurant in Brooklyn, I saw that they...

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:07:47 -0700

Last month while at a restaurant in Brooklyn, I saw that they were offering a Dandelion Salad as an appetizer. After spending countless hours photographing them, I could not pass up the opportunity to experience the plant in another way beyond sight.

I wonder why we spend so much energy trying to eradicate them when right out on our lawns is a nutritious salad just waiting to be harvested? And what about the medicinal uses, not to mention the ever so important relationship it has with the bees?

For me, my obsession with the dandelion lies after the flower blooms and turns into that white fluffy ball, so fragile, just waiting for a subtle breeze to release the seed-bearing parachutes. ….and so many wishes.

Had some good fun with one of the trophy’s I picked up at a...

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:36:00 -0700

Had some good fun with one of the trophy’s I picked up at a salvage shop.

John, the model, was a wonderful sport having his face splashed about 50 times over.

Al in all, I think the promo piece came together well.

Recently, I was asked “Who would you call your hero?” Here is...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:51:04 -0700

Recently, I was asked “Who would you call your hero?” Here is my answer to that question.

“If you had asked me who my hero was when I was 7 years old, I would have immediately answered, “Tom Seaver of the NY Mets.” During my college years, maybe it would have been Tennessee Williams or Sebastião Salgado.

Today that is a bit more difficult to answer. It ranges from organic farmers to whistle-blowers, but in the creative realm, one person I have admired for years is the musician Peter Gabriel.

Beyond my appreciation for the catalogue of music he has created throughout his career and how he has branded himself, I have admired his passion for world music. He was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the WOMAD festivals, as well as founding Real World Records, a label that focuses on bringing together musicians from all over the world.

In addition, his involvement in Human Rights, starting the organization Witness to put cameras in the hands of people to document human rights violations, shows his focus is on solutions, not problems.

In my eyes, he is truly a musician who is not just “mouthing the words.”