Author: lukeadamsphotos

Luke Adams – Final Project

Inspiration – Work by Allen Daniel
Interpretation – Jayden
Interpretation – Renae

Luke Adams

PHOTO201 – Final Project

An Interpretation of Allen Daniel

Allen Daniel, a Los Angeles based photographer, storyteller, content creator, social media influencer, etc. has constantly pushed me to make better street styled portraits. I have always had a great sense of inspiration from Allen Daniel, especially his work with model and influencer Darion Famous, but have never been able to pull apart his photos so intricately to create my own interpretations of his stylistic choices. 

Within my own stylistic approach to portrait photography, I have always tried to find a sense of balance amongst the relationship between the background and subject, and how they play roles into each other’s presence within the frame. I feel like there are two approaches to creating an aesthetic (at least in my mind); one being scouting the location in which you’re planning to use and modeling an outfit and vibe around that location, the other is quite opposite by finding the location based on the outfit already chosen for the shoot. These two approaches are crucial to my portraits as the colors and tones that are chosen within the subject are completely based off of the background, or vice versa as well. 

This creative process seems to relate to Allen Daniel, as each background seems perfectly chosen for the subject matter and clothing choices, creating a striking array of colors (and sometimes the lack of) to make an in particular vibe that can be seen across his work. In some projects he uses a very monochromatic color palette with one striking pattern to differentiate the background from subject, but still tying each individual part into the final product. In other projects he uses a color instead of a pattern to have a similar, if not the same effect on the final product. 

Across Daniel’s different social media platforms he obviously has another style that focuses mainly on architecture and city landscape. He has taken many exhibitions to different cities across the world to document these places within his unique style. I think that this being part of his roots within photography translates into his portraiture immensely, as you can see the attention to detail he includes both within the subject and architecture within the background. 

In response to Allen Daniel’s distinct style of work, I wanted to create a project with two different models to encapsulate his work within both male and female portraits. Within this interpretation I wanted to stay aware of two main variables of Daniel’s work, and a third variable being to continue practicing safe social distancing while taking the portraits. The two variables that I wanted to stay aware of and incorporate into the portraits I was going to create were the attention to detail both within the background and the subject, and the overall composition used to create the ending feeling of the images. 

When creating the images of my friend and model, Jayden, I paid close attention when selecting outfit and location, choosing an architecturally pleasing location with arches, columns, bricks, and railings, with a color palette of beiges, browns, yellows, greys, and blacks. Within the outfit I chose mainly black items to accentuate the detail of the black railings, but chose a patterned bandana to give contrast to the smooth black materials, closely related to Daniel’s creative choices. The other part of the project was a photoshoot with my friend and model, Renae, and within this part of the project I focused on the outfit as a whole having great contrast to the background. The background of these images are very similar to Allen Daniel’s choices as it looks to be the backside of a building, with a kind of run down grungy approach. 

I chose a camouflage patterned jacket which some would jokingly say would blend into the background, but the brown and red tones of the background allowed the pattern of the jacket to have contrast to the rest. I focused more so than the other shoot in this, on the full body approach to the images, keeping the lines of the background almost perfectly straight and parallel. I tried to keep the overall tonality of the images across both shoots light in relation to the background, to make the images relate to the tonality of Daniel’s images. 

Luke Adams – Assignment 4

During my time isolating myself from the rest of the world, it has only brought me closer to the natural aspects of my life in which I have always enjoyed, but haven’t always appreciated quite this much. Natural areas are my place to reconnect to the world, feel at ease, and to slow my mind down with everything currently happening that can create huge stressors while living in this weird time. Although I have my family to spend time with and gain a sense of homeyness from, without the constant flow of having school, work, photoshoots, and creative projects to continuously keep me going, I have started to lack a great sense of motivation.

When I go to natural areas, just me, myself, my thoughts, and my camera, I tend to regain a sense of creativeness and motivation. Although there is still a sense of loneliness or desolation within these photos, my true intentions are to share beyond the visual aspect of the photos, and more so for the viewer to experience what I feel per situation through the mood of each photo. Branching off of Assignment 3, I tried to create a play of words in correlation to the photos to create a better sense of how I’ve been dealing with my mental health throughout.

Luke Adams Assignment # 2

The photographer in which I chose to imitate was a photo by Vivian Maier from 1953

The photo on the left is my inspiration, a photo from Vivian Maier’s collection called “Street Photography 1”. Maier had this style of shooting that was the perfect balance between candid and posed. There’s just enough context present in order to portray that the subject is just a businessman traveling on the street to work, but also enough posing to make him the center of attention of the photo. Composition wise, I think that I portrayed a similar feel to the photo on the left, but didn’t exactly nail the natural, uneven lighting present in her photo.

The photo on the right is my imitation of the original. I captured this image of a friend on a white background as it was raining the day I planned to shoot, but masked in a different background to get a similar feel to the original. Although I think that the actual contents of the photos are similar, they differ in areas like the lighting, facial expression, background, and overall feel.

Doing this assignment / experiment, I realized that achieving the original look that I was trying to portray takes more than one try. If I could repeat this again to try to make a better photo, I’d take measures to have more similar expression, a more street styled background (would be better to shoot outdoors), and to better balance the lighting between the background/subject.

Luke Adams – Photo Assignment #1

Inspiration from George Hurrell

I decided to try to emulate the work of George Hurrell, an American photographer prominent in the 1930’s and 40s. Hurrell was a Hollywood photographer that showcased the beauty and glamour of celebrities with many different techniques that he developed over time. One of the things that he invented was the use of a monolight, a singular light placed above and shining down on the subject, creating a spotlight type look. This style of lighting makes the images have natural vignetting, creative shadows, and higher contrast. Another noteworthy thing that Hurrell mastered was his use of a retouch pencil. He would draw in small and big enhancements like more glamorous eyelashes, smoother skin, skin texture, hard shadows, and more. 

My Imitation


Although I feel like both images capture George Hurrell’s style accurately, I think that the first image (on the left) has the best connection to the original inspiration. When I learned of Hurrell’s use of the monolight, it inspired me to step out of my usual comfort zone within portraiture. For portraits, I mainly use a speedlight with an umbrella to capture a full face of light, focusing less on shadows and more on even lighting. To emulate the monolight look, I used a snoot on my speedlight to condense the light into a beam or spotlight look. This allowed me to capture creative shadows, while still having good lighting, contour, and balance between dark and light. Hurrell focused on the subject not being directly facing the camera, but having an angled pose to accentuate jawline, something I think I was able to capture in these images.