israel david groveman

Israel is a very talented self-taught photographer and artist. He has a background in the arts reaching into the pre-history of his childhood, and studied the violin intensively from age five all the way through a completed violin performance degree. He also has a degree in computer science, and uses his deep knowledge of current tech to his advantage in creating his imagery. All work by Israel David Groveman is personally created and completed by him from beginning to end, including all shooting and post-processing.

Israel is a dynamic creative with an adventurous outlook on life whose work in photography began in hundreds of miles of exploration of the American West in his college years... he has taken that ability along with years of practicing portraits on through his high-demand work for clients in Hollywood, LA, New York, and beyond.

Israel has also been able to coalesce and utilize his collective experiences in multiple creative fields, and is rapidly developing as a filmmaker, director and a composer. His love for movies, stories, and filmmaking are reflected in his intensely cinematic photography that many people mistake for actual film sets rather than photos of sets, characters, and stories painstakingly created by Israel - which, of course, they all are.

Two short films were completed by him in 2011, including a 36 minute short about an assassin, and an 8 minute fantasy short about the disappearance of a mythical king. Israel has won awards for his creative work throughout his life, and recently was co-leader of a team that won a 48 hour film fest in New York City.

His intensive musical background enables him to find form, synergy, and the abstract in the intersection of all things, and he has a keen eye and understanding that enables him to accomplish this in settings with intense challenges and limitations with astounding results.

Please feel free to send him a note with this email address: photo@israeldavidgroveman.com

He will get back to you as soon as possible!

http://www.israeldavidgroveman.com
http://www.facebook.com/israeldavidgrovemanphotography
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http://www.twitter.com/igroveman

Surveillance Photos and Using Photography as an Actor || Twin Reflex, Independent Film, Indiana PA Shoot

Friday, August 31, 2012

As a photographer and a filmmaker and an occasional actor, how do all three sometimes mix? I just experienced one of the best examples of this with my part as Mr. Robb in the independent film “Twin Reflex.” You can learn more about the movie at their fan page, https://www.facebook.com/twinreflex. Ultimately, the story is about an individual whose mental stability and confidence seems to be collapsing, leading to some very, very dark things – that’s all I will say for now.

Part of my role in the film is basically a straight up stake out on a particular individual, and this includes taking surveillance type photos. What’s interesting about these photos is that they represent the actual perspective of a character in the film, and many of these photos were printed out and used on set for detail in scenes being shot the same or following day.

I had a great Director of Photography and great Director to work with, and most of these shots emphasize the collaboration of myself, the DP, and the Director, and along with good acting, they are a no-brainer to execute, but I thought they were lots of fun and would show a bit of creativity on the fly.

A bit of “bad photography” in surveillance photos lends to the feel of someone being watched and the shots being taken with great risk and under duress… including elements that interfere at the edge of your lens emphasizes that the photographer or character is undercover and hiding.

Though I didn’t put any of them in this post, some of the shots I took included the whole shot being blurred, which, from the eye of a set director looking for surveillance type photos, they often get selected to be printed on set as well. Some of the photos I took included elements purposely out of focus like they were taken with limited equipment at a great distance. These are basically straight out of camera and unedited, for additional fun, of course, you could add grainy or static elements to suggest surveillance or drone type camera equipment.

I particularly love the shot out in front of the cafe across the street with the 70-200 lens – the compression factor makes the subject of my spying look isolated yet crowded at the same time as traffic and window reflections cause the world through the lens to compress.