About John-Paul

I was an undergrad pre-med student turned film student and continued my film studies at Emerson's graduate program in Boston. During the summer of 2003, I became more interested in cinematography and shot a few projects during my final year at Emerson, but was a directing student and focused mostly on that. After graduation, I became more and more interested in cinematography and began shooting 16mm shorts for NYU students. As I shot more films, I started getting offered better films and in addition to building up a nice reel, I also shot for students at Columbia, SVA and NYFA. From March 2005 - February 2007, I worked in New York City with the International Emmy Awards.

I've always been interested in photography and finally decided to take Photo 1 during the summer of 2006, not just for learning the darkroom, but to learn more about framing, hoping to improve the way I shoot motion picture film. To me, the way stills are composed is more critical because it's just that - still. You can't do as many fancy camera tricks or start moving the camera around to divert attention. For now I'm just shooting when I can, trying to hook up with new people who need a photographer or who have interesting subjects, as well as going out and working on my own.

One thing I'm not afraid to do and I sometimes come under criticism for is experimenting. I like seeing how different films react and capture images, so often when I'm shooting - people, landscapes, whatever - I'll bring several kinds of film with me and mix up what I shoot on. I do have staples tho and i tend to shoot a lot on Kodak, Ilford, Fuji, Rollei and Efke.

While I do shoot some digital, I love shooting film, even tho it can get a little pricy. I don't think it matters quite as much for color, but for b&w, film has a huge advantage. Digital can't reproduce the look of a b&w negative - not only in terms of grain, but also the dynamic range and different spectral sensitivities of film. As of late, I've been shooting more slide film due to it's more accurate color rendition as well as more digital on my Canon 5D, which has certainly delivered with the quality of its photos.

These days, I really don't do a whole lot of work with motion picture film. The last time I shot a film was May 2006. It was a big budget NYU period piece thesis project called "Meta Incognita" that we shot on Super16 over the course of five days in Montauk, NY. I would DP something again, if it were the right project, but I seem to have settled more on still photography for now. During the spring of 2007, I took Photo 2 and Lighting. I have Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Minolta SLR's, but the lighting class introduced me to a lot more medium format and digital photography. I recently got a vintage Kodak Medalist II which takes beautiful photos in the 6x9 format.

I'll shoot anything that strikes me. I started off doing a lot of landscapes, street photography and candids, altho lately I've been trying to work more on model/fasion photography. My dog Tartufo is also a favorite photographic subject of mine and has a small portfolio to show for his efforts.

As of this January, I'm actually back in school, working on finishing up my science classes so I can apply to med school.

oh, and i like contrast

Photography Equipment

Nikon 8008s // Nikon FE
AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8
AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8
AF Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5
AF Nikkor 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6
Nikkor 28mm f/2.8
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5
Series E 50mm f/1.8
SB-25 Speedlight
Vivitar Zoom Thyristor 2500

Canon AE-1 Program
Canon FD 28mm f/2.8
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4
Canon FD 50mm f/1.8
Canon FD 85mm f/1.8
Canon FD 100mm f/2.8
Canon FD 135mm f/3.5

Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP
Super Takumar 28mm f/3.5
Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5
Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4
Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5

Minolta SR-T 101
Minolta MC 28mm f/2.5
Minolta MC 50mm f/1.4
Minolta MC 50mm f/1.7
Vivitar 2X Teleconverter
Vivitar Auto Thyristor 2800

Kodak Medalist II
Ektar 100mm f/3.5

Adobe CS3

Nikon Super Coolscan 9000