Zach Petschek Photography Blog

Mushroom cap in a cold wet forest floor

In its own world the mushroom grows out of the decay of life. We view them as disgusting but they are beautiful in their own way. The essential side to every form of life, the mushroom breaks down life matter for another flower to grow. The mushroom is the negative flower.

Above Ground

Everyday that we are alive is one more day we’re not dead. Life is uncomfortable, disturbing, painful and unusual. The range of human emotions is enormous, but that is what makes us human. That is why we are who we are. Life can get unbearable, as it has for me many times, but I can always rely on one thought. At least I am still breathing and walking. At least the grass roots are still below my feet.

Walking into the kitchen after a long day. Kick his shoes off as the blood runs down his elbow. Adding color to the stark clean tile of the kitchen he lets it drip onto the floor. What once was perfect is now natural and alive. The fresh blood adds a highlight to the black and whites. Now it is the only thing to look at on the cold polished floor.

After a long day walking into the stark clean kitchen. Blood on the floor of the kitchen

Punk rock girl with an attitude.

Punk girl with attitude

Oceanside pier at sunset. I took this shot while photographing a portrait on the beach. Good times.

Oceanside Pier at sunset

Here is an old photo from the archives. I tried to play on the idea that the clothes you buy make you different than everybody else. It helps people express who they are as an individual. Every pair of jeans is different and unique like all of us are unique and different.

Horizontal version of the Jeans art show.

While searching for this file I came across an experiment I did. I don’t even remember why I did this but I created a vertical version of the same photo. This is the same file photoshopped to be a vertical. I had to cut the people out and move them in closer and make it believable. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

If clothing is art then it should be framed and displayed in a gallery.

Night Sky in Backyard

Sometimes you just gotta go shoot. I was sitting outside the other day as the sun was setting. It was a clouds day with small patches of sky. It looked cool but nothing special. Well apparently the clouds didn’t go all the way to the horizon because the underside of the clouds started turning red. Being the photo dork that I am I quickly grabbed my camera just in time to miss it. Just my luck.

But the cool part is that the street lights started to reflect off the clouds instead. Sodium vapor is an ugly red color. HOWEVER I made light of it. (pun intended). I switched my white balance to tungsten and fired off a few.
I after playing around with the sunset it got too dark so I started playing around with the evening light, shutter drag and painting with light. I first took a photo at the pool. The light looked good but there was no character to the shot. I grabbed a flash and set my exposure to 30 seconds. During th exposure I walked to the other side of an iron gate and popped the flash towards the area being exposed. I then played with other angles, popping the flash into the water of the pool and the array of colored lights available in night photography.

Pool with night clouds

Sunset in Vista

Pool with night clouds

Pool deep end

House and a pool at night

Everything was printed, prepped, with fine attention to detail. However in the end due to some technical complications my submission won’t be in the San Diego Fair this year. **it happens. But I still have the print. This one is going to be listed on my prints for sale page. If you lost track of it please visit del mar fair submission to see what it was. It is a 10×16 print on a 16×20 board. The photo is called “Ghost Train”. Check out http://zachpetschek.com/saleprints for other prints available for sale.

I finally broke down and I am selling some of my photos from the last 10 years of work. Here are a few listed on ebay.

Skateboarder

Orange Girl

Dream Room

UPDATE!

I have created a web page with my photos that I am currently selling. http://zachpetschek.com/salephotos

Email me for inquiries at zachp@zachpetschek.com

On Wednesday the 18th I went out to take photos of Carlsbad. There was a full moon out that night which lit up the city well. Here are a couple photos from it.

Carlsbad at at night photos