Style Bedlam Magazine

22/12/2023

Merry Christmas from The Photo Asylum!

16/12/2022

Fashion test model Theresa with the ! 1990s. Photo Hair/mua Jesus Bravo Wardrobe North Beach Leather

07/12/2022

While it's not really a big thing anymore, I still get a great deal of satisfaction signing my work for a customer! About to send off this print that I sold on

29/09/2022

Electronic flash batteries make great power sources! Two outlets powerful enough to run a small microwave and a USB to recharge the phone!

10/08/2022

I'm not one to boast about "projects in the works". IMO, that's a "counting chickens before they hatch" kinda thing and bad mojo. OTOH, throwing out a few teasers now and then never hurt anyone.

And so - I am finally getting my PhotoAsylum 101 photo tutorial videos rolling post-pandemic, and will begin shooting soon. I'm in pre-production on what should be a fun and stylish PROMO VIDEO for a local client. I'm also getting ready to provide a series of my older black and white portraits (shot for Miami New Times in the 1990s) for a documentary film that's being created, and getting ready to approach another local non-profit group about creating a video that will, well, be all about CATS and KITTENS! 😺 Exciting times! 👍

28/07/2022

Fun article. And if a pro - of a certain age - tells you they never used FOTOMAT, they're lying... 😝

The tiny photo processing kiosks could be found everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s. And that was the problem.

27/07/2022

Teaser - Ok, so we all know a model's face can be their fortune - and sometimes the photographer's as well - but do you know what most pros would you say is the SECOND most important element in a fashion or modeling photo? You may be surprised. Check back here Friday and find out! 🙃

18/07/2022

They say you always remember your first, and I finally made my first sale at my Etsy shop - ! I actually thought this would have happened sooner, and the shop would be much busier than it has been, but momentum often builds slowly, right?.

Download files of my artwork and conveniently print them or have them printed. Easy and inexpensive! Give it a look, and be sure to pass the word to designers and decorators! It might be the perfect solution for their customers! 🙃

Shop items by PhotoasylumDigital.

12/07/2022

HOT AS JULY Summer Sale of my at my Etsy shop! All listings 1/2 off this month! 😲

Shop items by PhotoasylumDigital.

08/07/2022

Hey kids, it's Some of the biggest mistakes I see in social media photo groups is POOR CROPPING, something that can quickly make an otherwise good or even a very good shot instantly flawed and mediocre.

It's no surprise, really, as photo composition and cropping - especially in an attempt to be stylish - are definitely not intuitive to everyone. It often takes years to become a professional fashion or magazine portrait shooter, and sometimes more years on top of that to develop the eye of an Art Director for a publication or an ad or photo agency. For many, cropping is something that has to be learned over time through trial and error.

As it's well beyond the scope of a FB post to cover all the guidelines for cropping photographs, let me simply share one of the CARDINAL RULES for cropping pictures of people - whether they are models or just subjects of portraits. DO NOT crop a subject's limbs at a joint! That means hands at the wrists, feet at the ankles, and legs and arms at the knees or elbows!

Yes, it really is that simple, but you'd be surprised how many times I see this rule broken in these groups, and it almost always makes your photo look bad.

Now, before you start arguing with me, yes, of course, any rule of photography can be creatively broken, and cropping is no different. But trust me, it takes a pretty decent amount of skill - or maybe dumb luck - to know how to intentionally break this rule and still have the image look good. I've come up with some acceptable exceptions over the years, and I'll try to find them and post a few here later.

I'm showing four examples of what I'm talking about. The top shots are quite similar to things I sometimes see here in the photo groups. As I really do not have any poorly-cropped photos in any of my books, the "real" photos are in the bottom row, which I intentionally cropped poorly or awkwardly to show the mistakes.

I realize that learning the "rules" of photo composition and cropping can seem overwhelming at times, but if you can try to stick to at least this one rule, you raise the odds dramatically of creating a stronger image! Happy shooting - and cropping!

30/06/2022

When you're shooting an Asian-themed fashion editorial, it's always nice to have a 20-foot-long, highly detailed CHINESE DRAGON as a prop! 🤪

Shot as a promo for my studio some years back at the entrance to the Orlando theme park, "Splendid China" (sadly, now closed). A large part of Splendid China was a life-sized, completely authentic Chinese village (built by Chinese artisans and craftsmen). It really was like no place else in Florida for those kinds of Asian visuals, assuming you had permission to shoot there - which I did! 😉

This also demonstrates why you should "break the rules" every so often, as I have quite freely here. Originally shot on 35mm reversal film (color slide), which I PUSH PROCESSED (Google it), the result was a much softer (less sharp), and grainier image. The angle is a bit severe, simply to frame model Lindsay with the dragon towering over her. Her pose is definitely "unconventional", with emotion replacing any kind of traditional glamour. Her makeup is dark and dramatic, the exposure almost making her eyes disappear. All intentional, to get a specific feel.

Another important thing to keep in mind is - if you plan to shoot for publications, you often have to compose in a slightly different way. All the "negative space" you see is also intentional, leaving room for the editorial headline, possible sub-head, caption, and credits. Not composing at least some of your shots with this in mind will often end up giving an Art Director a headache! Photo and styling: Steven Paul Hlavac Model: Lindsay Palmer, Elite Atlanta MUA: Sophie Locke Hair: Lori Jorgensen

28/06/2022

"The Wizard" is now home again safe and sound. Many thanks to the Leesburg Center for the Arts for their members show this month, "Magic and Mystery"!

21/06/2022

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PhotoasylumDigital

Digital Downloads are the easy peasy (inexpensive) way to go! Much of my artwork is now available, so be sure to mention it to your designer friends. Seaplanes, South Beach Deco, Donnelly House and other Lake County landmarks. I got it all! 😉

09/06/2022

My piece The Wizard showing this month at the !

08/06/2022

Digital Downloads of many of my fine art pieces now available at Etsy!

You searched for: PhotoasylumDigital! Discover the unique items that PhotoasylumDigital creates. At Etsy, we pride ourselves on our global community of sellers. Each Etsy seller helps contribute to a global marketplace of creative goods. By supporting PhotoasylumDigital, you’re supporting a small ...

30/05/2022

https://twitter.com/photoasylum/status/1531411003941994496?s=20&t=1LX38nxb_R9wj3wW94gnOA

“ Warsaw Ballroom in PINK! Now available as a at my shop! https://t.co/QSGJsuSDaw”

26/05/2022

https://twitter.com/photoasylum/status/1529908285960224769?s=20&t=3L5jdEJlMpE9K35C8Xxpmg

“Digital Downloads of many of my fine art images now available at my Etsy shop! https://t.co/MgaJcfEreX”

21/05/2022

Many thanks to Jeff and Mia at All About Images for allowing "The Wizard" to manifest herself into physical form. I suppose a sneak peek of my latest work won't hurt... 😉

I'll be matting and framing her in the next day or so, then it's off to the upcoming Members Show at the Leesburg Center for the Arts that runs next month!

05/05/2022

A great last-minute Mother's Day gift!

You searched for: PhotoasylumDigital! Discover the unique items that PhotoasylumDigital creates. At Etsy, we pride ourselves on our global community of sellers. Each Etsy seller helps contribute to a global marketplace of creative goods. By supporting PhotoasylumDigital, you’re supporting a small ...

27/04/2022

I'm very pleased and excited to share what I think is my next chapter as an artist - listing and selling DIGITAL DOWNLOADS of my work on Etsy!

The idea is simple - customers purchase high-res digital files of smaller versions of my photos, download them, then have them printed themselves. It's a win-win.

I did a lot of homework and thinking before I decided to open this online shop. While on the surface it may seem like a huge devaluation of my work, it really is much more like a stock photography or maybe even a "streaming musician" business model, where creators are paid a small amount for a single use.

Some of these online shops offering digital download products have made THOUSANDS of sales, so I can do the math. Those small amounts add up!

While I appreciate any individual buying my art, my target audience is definitely Interior Designers, Decorators, and Realtors, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pass this new information along to anyone you know in these businesses! Thanks! 😉

You searched for: PhotoasylumDigital! Discover the unique items that PhotoasylumDigital creates. At Etsy, we pride ourselves on our global community of sellers. Each Etsy seller helps contribute to a global marketplace of creative goods. By supporting PhotoasylumDigital, you’re supporting a small ...

13/11/2021

Once I began shooting fashion and feature portrait work for magazines, I stopped thinking of myself as any kind of photojournalist, even though technically, my first commercial work was for a newspaper. But in the last few days, as I poured through old negatives I shot for Miami New Times - preparing to create a slide show of my early work for my upcoming video series - I got a reminder that I shot hundreds of people for various covers and stories for the paper, and even though none of it was what you would call "spot" or "traditional" news, the work had a distinctly different style than most all of my later magazine photos. With a few exceptions, these newspaper shots were all black & white as well as a bit edgier in style.
Working for them was an amazing part of my life, and it certainly prepared me for what was to come in my career...
While I've never been much to follow "celebrity culture", like a lot of shooters who do this kind of work, I got the greatest kick out of occasionally photographing posed portraits of well-known subjects. I stumbled on this proof sheet from the early 1990s of Bessie Regina Norris, an R&B vocalist and songwriter who rose to fame in the 1970s.
Oh, in case that doesn't ring a bell, her stage name was BETTY WRIGHT, and anyone who remembers her probably does so because of her one huge hit, "Clean Up Woman". After her "15-minutes of fame", she continued to write and perform her entire life. These were shot as a follow-up cover story many years later.
A lovely woman, sadly, Betty died in May of last year...