PROCESS
Color prints are printed on Kodak Professional Supra Endura VC Digital Paper and black and whites are printed on Illford's True Black & White professional paper for exquisite quality in tone reproduction. Papers are archive quality rated for 100 years typical and 200 years dark storage. Please contact for inquires regarding purchasing prints.
EQUIPMENT & STUDIO
My main photography setup is a Canon 5D Mk. II body. Main lenses are Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM and Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM telephoto, Canon EF 8-15mm L f/4 USM, with a Canon 50mm prime f/1.4 for low light and/or times where I don't want a big lens hung on the camera (i.e. shooting nightlife). Strobes are Elinchrom with Elinchrom modifiers. I use products from Canon, Manfrotto, Elinchrom, custom made pieces, and a myriad of other brands. Software is Adobe Creative Suite 5 (mostly Photoshop and Bridge) and Adobe Lightroom 3. A MacBook Air 13" is used at shoots/mobile and iMac 27" for post-processing (3 monitor setup), both with Wacom Intuos tablets. For in house printing I use an Epson R2880.
On the video and audio side, audio mastering is done on Bag End studio monitors, an M&K subwoofer, with Auralex acoustic panels and bass traps. The viewing room is a 106" front projector with an Epson Professional 7500 UB projector, Onkyo Professional pre-processor, dbX loudspeaker management, Crest and Crown amplifiers, JTR tops and Danley Sound Labs subwoofers, with Auralex acoustic panels and bass traps.
BIOGRAPHY
As a child, I hated photographs. I thought they were all lies. When someone would say, “Smile!” - sometimes even when I was sad - and take a picture, I'd think: "What a lie." I grew up walking through people’s homes seeing their photographs of smiling people, wondering if they felt the same way. Did they need those smiles to remember moments - even if they were often false? I wished they were real, but inside, doubted it.
The truth, I believed then, and still do, is that people may appear to have so many friends and fond family members, but it's actually not true. You're simply surrounded by them--and though you may feel for people, at the end of the day, we all return to our own space - a quite vulnerable place. This description of my pre-conceived image or opinion of most photography is the reason for my perspective in my photographs. They are not lies - they are what I see and what I believe in - and no one has to smile.
I grew up between Lake Forest and Chicago, Illinois, with a profound interest in computers, mechanics and technology. During my high school years I worked at my fathers boat building company, which gave me many opportunities to hone my interests in high-performance machinery and boat construction. It probably also influenced my decision to study mechanical engineering at Purdue University. After graduation, I went to work full-time as a mechanical engineer at Cigarette Racing Team, providing another perspective on how to make things work better - by seeing them from an engineering viewpoint.
My evolving interest in photography was as shocking to me as it was to others. It was as if the camera provided an awakening - melding mechanics and technology with art. Being exposed to different types of art taught me that a camera is a powerful tool for expression. I also learned that many of my fears about photography were simply operator error rather than a fault of the incredibly powerful medium. I began still-life photography as I enjoy pieces and pieces of environments that seem to have a soul in addition to their physicality. Seeing life in an object creates a contrast to the common, mass-produced, consumer products that surround us today. I decided from the outset to avoid, at all costs, the rigid formulaic path, and perhaps my lack of formal training simply requires that; my approach is based upon feel and emotion.
I promise you this - my photographs will never intentionality lie to you. I hope they comfort you. Maybe an image will even bring a smile to your face. One that someone else might capture in a photograph—one that is real.
Color prints are printed on Kodak Professional Supra Endura VC Digital Paper and black and whites are printed on Illford's True Black & White professional paper for exquisite quality in tone reproduction. Papers are archive quality rated for 100 years typical and 200 years dark storage. Please contact for inquires regarding purchasing prints.
EQUIPMENT & STUDIO
My main photography setup is a Canon 5D Mk. II body. Main lenses are Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM and Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM telephoto, Canon EF 8-15mm L f/4 USM, with a Canon 50mm prime f/1.4 for low light and/or times where I don't want a big lens hung on the camera (i.e. shooting nightlife). Strobes are Elinchrom with Elinchrom modifiers. I use products from Canon, Manfrotto, Elinchrom, custom made pieces, and a myriad of other brands. Software is Adobe Creative Suite 5 (mostly Photoshop and Bridge) and Adobe Lightroom 3. A MacBook Air 13" is used at shoots/mobile and iMac 27" for post-processing (3 monitor setup), both with Wacom Intuos tablets. For in house printing I use an Epson R2880.
On the video and audio side, audio mastering is done on Bag End studio monitors, an M&K subwoofer, with Auralex acoustic panels and bass traps. The viewing room is a 106" front projector with an Epson Professional 7500 UB projector, Onkyo Professional pre-processor, dbX loudspeaker management, Crest and Crown amplifiers, JTR tops and Danley Sound Labs subwoofers, with Auralex acoustic panels and bass traps.
BIOGRAPHY
As a child, I hated photographs. I thought they were all lies. When someone would say, “Smile!” - sometimes even when I was sad - and take a picture, I'd think: "What a lie." I grew up walking through people’s homes seeing their photographs of smiling people, wondering if they felt the same way. Did they need those smiles to remember moments - even if they were often false? I wished they were real, but inside, doubted it.
The truth, I believed then, and still do, is that people may appear to have so many friends and fond family members, but it's actually not true. You're simply surrounded by them--and though you may feel for people, at the end of the day, we all return to our own space - a quite vulnerable place. This description of my pre-conceived image or opinion of most photography is the reason for my perspective in my photographs. They are not lies - they are what I see and what I believe in - and no one has to smile.
I grew up between Lake Forest and Chicago, Illinois, with a profound interest in computers, mechanics and technology. During my high school years I worked at my fathers boat building company, which gave me many opportunities to hone my interests in high-performance machinery and boat construction. It probably also influenced my decision to study mechanical engineering at Purdue University. After graduation, I went to work full-time as a mechanical engineer at Cigarette Racing Team, providing another perspective on how to make things work better - by seeing them from an engineering viewpoint.
My evolving interest in photography was as shocking to me as it was to others. It was as if the camera provided an awakening - melding mechanics and technology with art. Being exposed to different types of art taught me that a camera is a powerful tool for expression. I also learned that many of my fears about photography were simply operator error rather than a fault of the incredibly powerful medium. I began still-life photography as I enjoy pieces and pieces of environments that seem to have a soul in addition to their physicality. Seeing life in an object creates a contrast to the common, mass-produced, consumer products that surround us today. I decided from the outset to avoid, at all costs, the rigid formulaic path, and perhaps my lack of formal training simply requires that; my approach is based upon feel and emotion.
I promise you this - my photographs will never intentionality lie to you. I hope they comfort you. Maybe an image will even bring a smile to your face. One that someone else might capture in a photograph—one that is real.
© Chad Braver // Digital Noesis