Paul Elledge ♥’s You

We want to share our latest video of “Dependability”.  This is the fourth and final piece from a fantastic project for Maytag that we worked on in 2011.  This was created in a documentary style using the Canon 5d and 7D.  We traveled to various featured Boys and Girls Clubs around the country photographing and filming these special subjects.  The four featured “faces of dependability” have all touched many young lives and have helped shape the next generation.

© 2010 Paul Elledge

We would like to send our condolences to the friends and families of the lives lost and still missing on the Costa Concordia near Isola del Giglio.  While creating images for the San Diego Mia Francesca,  Paul and Leasha spent time on the island and photographed near the disaster site a year and half ago.  They had the good fortune to experience the magical island culture with all of it’s natural beauty during better times.

©1991 Paul Elledge

This month’s image “From the vault” features rocker and both Grammy & Acadamy Award winner Trent Reznor.  This image was taken in 1991 during the “Pretty Hate Machine” time period of his band “Nine Inch Nails “.

Paul photographed this image backstage at the very first Lollapalooza in Chicago.  This is an early example of what the studio calls a “Lunar Portrait” which is a reference to the lighting set-up.   Lunar portraits started out as a style Paul created for a series of personal portraits that quickly  became a signature style in the early days of Paul’s career. The first images, like the one of Trent, used the Hasselblad 500 CM with an 80mm lens shot wide open at f/2.8 using either using Tri-X or in this case,  Agfa 3200 asa transparency film.   In order to more closely connect with Paul’s point of view, this method of creating images  migrated to working with the 4X5 format within a year of this shoot.

The inspriation for this “look” came from Paul’s childhood love of vintage photographic imagary.  Paul was enchanted with the connection of the eyes, and the smooth tonal scale of early photographic portraits he discovered at flea markets and thift shops.   “My aesthetic has always been grounded in the honest portrayal of the common person in early photographic portraiture.”

©2011 Paul Elledge

Team Elledge just delivered new Italian work for yet another Mia Francesca.  This body of work is a combination of portraits and landscapes from Paul’s last trip to Tuscany.   The prints are printed on Harman Gloss Baryta Warmtone with the custom sepia being applied in Lightroom 3.   This paper has fantastic tonal scale and a print surface that rivals Paul’s classic silver prints.  We have pushed the limits on scale this time producing many super sized prints.  Check them out in person at the Mia Francesca D.C Ranch location or here.

Staff Inspection of the big pano from Cortona

©2011 Paul Elledge

As we reflect on this past year,  we would like to take a moment and thank everyone that has helped make 2011 a great year.  Where you look is where you go, so in 2012 keep your eyes on the path you have chosen.  Team Elledge would like to extend the best for everyone this new year.